Olbermann

Keith Olbermann writes - and he does it better than most anybody:

The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack.

Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet.

Mr. Rumsfeld's remarkable speech to the American Legion yesterday demands the deep analysis--and the sober contemplation--of every American.

For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or intelligence -- indeed, the loyalty -- of the majority of Americans who oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land. Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants -- our employees -- with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither common sense, nor this administration's track record at home or abroad, suggests they deserve.

Dissent and disagreement with government is the life's blood of human freedom; and not merely because it is the first roadblock against the kind of tyranny the men Mr. Rumsfeld likes to think of as "his" troops still fight, this very evening, in Iraq.

It is also essential. Because just every once in awhile it is right and the power to which it speaks, is wrong.

In a small irony, however, Mr. Rumsfeld's speechwriter was adroit in invoking the memory of the appeasement of the Nazis. For in their time, there was another government faced with true peril--with a growing evil--powerful and remorseless.

That government, like Mr. Rumsfeld's, had a monopoly on all the facts. It, too, had the "secret information." It alone had the true picture of the threat. It too dismissed and insulted its critics in terms like Mr. Rumsfeld's -- questioning their intellect and their morality.

That government was England's, in the 1930's.

It knew Hitler posed no true threat to Europe, let alone England.

It knew Germany was not re-arming, in violation of all treaties and accords.

It knew that the hard evidence it received, which contradicted its own policies, its own conclusions -- its own omniscience -- needed to be dismissed.

The English government of Neville Chamberlain already knew the truth.

Most relevant of all -- it "knew" that its staunchest critics needed to be marginalized and isolated. In fact, it portrayed the foremost of them as a blood-thirsty war-monger who was, if not truly senile, at best morally or intellectually confused.

That critic's name was Winston Churchill.

Sadly, we have no Winston Churchills evident among us this evening. We have only Donald Rumsfelds, demonizing disagreement, the way Neville Chamberlain demonized Winston Churchill.

History -- and 163 million pounds of Luftwaffe bombs over England -- have taught us that all Mr. Chamberlain had was his certainty -- and his own confusion. A confusion that suggested that the office can not only make the man, but that the office can also make the facts.

Thus, did Mr. Rumsfeld make an apt historical analogy.

Excepting the fact, that he has the battery plugged in backwards.

His government, absolute -- and exclusive -- in its knowledge, is not the modern version of the one which stood up to the Nazis.

It is the modern version of the government of Neville Chamberlain.

But back to today's Omniscient ones.

That, about which Mr. Rumsfeld is confused is simply this: This is a Democracy. Still. Sometimes just barely.

And, as such, all voices count -- not just his.

Had he or his president perhaps proven any of their prior claims of omniscience -- about Osama Bin Laden's plans five years ago, about Saddam Hussein's weapons four years ago, about Hurricane Katrina's impact one year ago -- we all might be able to swallow hard, and accept their "omniscience" as a bearable, even useful recipe, of fact, plus ego.

But, to date, this government has proved little besides its own arrogance, and its own hubris.

Mr. Rumsfeld is also personally confused, morally or intellectually, about his own standing in this matter. From Iraq to Katrina, to the entire "Fog of Fear" which continues to envelop this nation, he, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, and their cronies have -- inadvertently or intentionally -- profited and benefited, both personally, and politically.

And yet he can stand up, in public, and question the morality and the intellect of those of us who dare ask just for the receipt for the Emporer's New Clothes?

In what country was Mr. Rumsfeld raised? As a child, of whose heroism did he read? On what side of the battle for freedom did he dream one day to fight? With what country has he confused the United States of America?

The confusion we -- as its citizens-- must now address, is stark and forbidding.

But variations of it have faced our forefathers, when men like Nixon and McCarthy and Curtis LeMay have darkened our skies and obscured our flag. Note -- with hope in your heart -- that those earlier Americans always found their way to the light, and we can, too.

The confusion is about whether this Secretary of Defense, and this administration, are in fact now accomplishing what they claim the terrorists seek: The destruction of our freedoms, the very ones for which the same veterans Mr. Rumsfeld addressed yesterday in Salt Lake City, so valiantly fought.

And about Mr. Rumsfeld's other main assertion, that this country faces a "new type of fascism."

As he was correct to remind us how a government that knew everything could get everything wrong, so too was he right when he said that -- though probably not in the way he thought he meant it.

This country faces a new type of fascism - indeed.

Although I presumptuously use his sign-off each night, in feeble tribute, I have utterly no claim to the words of the exemplary journalist Edward R. Murrow.

But never in the trial of a thousand years of writing could I come close to matching how he phrased a warning to an earlier generation of us, at a time when other politicians thought they (and they alone) knew everything, and branded those who disagreed: "confused" or "immoral."

Thus, forgive me, for reading Murrow, in full:

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty," he said, in 1954. "We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.

"We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular."

And so good night, and good luck.

Welcome Back...

Shane Willis


David Tanabe


Jesse Boulerice

Ladies and gentlemen, the theme song for the 2006-2007 Carolina Hurricanes.

Anyone seen Arturs Irbe?

Brain damaged soldier? Who cares...

... not the government, that's for sure.

More than any other war in American history, the war in Iraq is sending home young men and women who suffer from closed-head trauma. IEDs, mines, urban combat, traffic accidents: all these things can lead to head trauma, and are, in increasing numbers. As a result, an entire generation of soldiers is returning home suffering from the sometime's baffling effects of head injuries.

And your government is slashing the funding for their treatment.

Sayeth the Republican Party to America's wounded vets: "Thanks for your service. Screw you."

Whether through the incompetence of Secretary Rumsfeld's Pentagon number-crunchers, or through the heartlessness of the Republican Congressional majority, it is now clear that the U.S. Military's cutting-edge brain-injury research and treatment centers could have their budget slashed by over 50% this year.

This story in today's Raleigh News & Observer [on edit: by reporter Jay Price] details the work that is going on at Fort Bragg's innovative research center, and its companion facilities at Walter Reed and other places around the country. This work is vital to understand the nature of combat brain trauma and how to treat casualties and return them to a useful, fulfilling life:

Employees at the Bragg facility could not be interviewed for this story. But in an interview this spring for another story, E. Wayne Johnson, the program manager there, said it tests 200 to 300 healthy soldiers each month for such things as cognitive skill, reaction time, mood and military skills.

Its clinic, meanwhile, treats 30 to 60 soldiers a month, most with mild injuries.

The center's research at Bragg and elsewhere isn't just academic, Zitnay said. "It's developing new helmets, it's developing drugs we can use to treat memory loss, it's developing innovative rehabilitation strategies," he said.

The center's work, for example, can help battlefield commanders quickly determine whether a soldier who has received a blow to the head is fit for battle.

But the real kicker in the story is this paragraph:

House and Senate versions of the defense appropriation bill would chop funding for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center from $14 million to $7 million. The center runs 10 facilities across the country, including one at Fort Bragg that has performed research and treated soldiers' injuries since 1998.

"It's just ridiculous," said Sgt. Maj. Colin Rich, a Fort Bragg soldier who has been legally blind since he was shot in the head while serving in Afghanistan in 2002. "Whoever is cutting the budget must have a head injury themselves."

"With the bombs, the gunshot wounds and everything else, their plate is full," he said. "They need that money."

The Pentagon asked only for $7 million and didn't respond properly when congressional staffers tried to find out whether it needed more money for the program, said Jenny Manley, a spokeswoman for the Senate appropriations committee.

"The Pentagon needs to get behind the things that they want," she said. "Otherwise, we'd just be kind of guessing about what they really need."

Did you get that? Jenny Manley, spokeswoman for the Senate Appropriations Committee, whose official contact information can be found here, essentially says "wounded Vets be damned, if the commas aren't in the right place on form 12345547aw2, they don't get any freaking money."

Maybe Miss Ms. Manley needs to hear from us how unfair that process is. When the Senators won't listen, call the staffers:

Maj. Communications Director: Jenny Manley - (202) 224-7363
Maj. Gen. Counsel: Clayton Heil - (202) 224-7363
Maj. Staff Dir.: Bruce Evans - (202) 224-7363
Min. Communications Director: Tom Gavin - (202) 224-7363
Min. Staff Dir.: Terrence Sauvain - (202) 224-7200

But maybe Ms. Manley has a point. Have you ever seen a greater sign of incompetence than failing to ask for sufficient funds to treat the men and women who return from Iraq with wounds they will keep for the rest of their lives? This is your Defense Department at work. Men are cannon-fodder. If they aren't man enough to withstand a headinjury without whining about it, then screw 'em. They're probably pansy-boy Democrats anyway. Right!?

I cannot think of a situation that more perfectly encapsulates the incompetence and atrocious priorities of the Rumsfeld Pentagon and the Republican Congress than this one.

Update Just imagine what a Senator from North Carolina, "the nation's most military-friendly state," could do to fix this. You know, if we had a real Senator from North Carolina instead of the Empty Wig.

Tell me again who hates America???

Update II There are a few folks in comments who say I have been too harsh on Ms. Manley. First, I apologize for using "Miss." I have no idea if she is married or not. Nor should it matter. Stupid on my part. But I do not apologize for calling a Republican ideologue - for that is what one must be to rise to the position of majority spokeswoman for a major Senate committee - to task for the natural result of her ideology. More specifically, I think a woman who would whisk away responsibility for this outrage in such a cavalier fashion deserves to hae a few phone calls. If I generated any, good.

A year ago today

A year ago today, the National Weather Service issued this prescient and vivid warning to those in the path of Hurricane Katrina. President Bush remained on vacation.

000
WWUS74 KLIX 281550
NPWLIX

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

.HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED
STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT
LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A
FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH
AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY
VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE
WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN
AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING
INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY
THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW
CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE
KILLED.

AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR
HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE
CERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.

ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTURE
OUTSIDE!

Surgeon General's Warning

Danger, hair plugs and porcelain tooth veneers are now proven to reduce intelligence and vocal control!!! In a controlled study, the comments of Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) were compared to those of politicians without hair transplants and ultra white caps.


Senator Biden..

The results of the study prove conclusively that having another person's hair surgically implanted in your scalp, so as to produce the effect of a Chia Pet does in fact lower IQ. The added effect of porcelain lowers the recipients IQ until the patient begins sounding remarkably like a Republican Senator.

The proof is in this statement from Joe Biden, yesterday:

Biden dismissed the notion that he was a "Northeastern liberal" who would have a poor showing in the South against other likely contenders such as Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee.

"Better than anybody else," Biden said, when asked on "Fox News Sunday" to rate his chances of winning Southern states.

"You don't know my state," he said. "My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a Northeast liberal state."

See? He sounds like George Allen already.

Another great one moves on

In the late 1940's, a fat kid from Montreal showed up in New York and amazed the established musicians with his freakish range, solid timing, and brash style. He was classically-trained, and as he put it, "they told me not to play Jazz music. So I've been playing Jazz music ever since."

Maynard Ferguson died yesterday, of organ failure, at the age of 78. He had just finished a series of sold out concerts at New York's Blue Note Club. He played until the end.

You may not know who he was, but if you've heard "Gonna Fly Now (theme from Rocky)" or "Chameleon," you've heard his trademark wail. Nobody, absolutely nobody, had the command of the high register that Maynard Ferguson had. But he was more than a one-trick musician. He had superb timing and rhythm, and he was as talented an arranger and band leader as he was a trumpeter. In the end, he might best be remembered for the legion of young players who came up through his band, which managed to survive the decline of the Big Band and the rise of Rock and Roll.

My father is a trumpet player and music educator. Maynard Ferguson was a hero of his and mine. I can remember sitting on the floor of our den, with two sets of headphones: one on Dad and one on me, as he played tape after tape, album after album - "listen to this one" "you won't believe this..." "did you hear THAT!?" Maynard Ferguson was part of my childhood. With Clark Terry and Wynton Marsalis, he formed a kind of holy trinity of the trumpet.

When you think "lead trumpet" in your mind, you hear Maynard. As one wag has said today: "The Angel Gabriel is now playing second." Listen to why on the Maynard Ferguson Tribute Page.

Merci, Maynard.

Meat the Urologists

(cue loud rock music)

AND NOW, Youuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrr MEATY UROLOGISTS:

At Defense, from INdianapolis, the number 4 scoring defense in the NFL, THE COLTS!!!

At Kicker, out of Virginia Tech and CINcinnati, Mr. Accuracy, Shayne GRAHAM!

At TIGHT END, the man you love to hate, with a degree in South Beach from the University of Miami, Jerrrremmmyyyy SHOCKeyyyyyyyy!

At Second Wide Receiver, out of Atlanta, by way of Washington, by way of Denver, tissues and diapers in hand, Ashley LeLEEEEEEEE.

At First Wide Receiver, you know him as 7-11, 'cause he's open all night long, from Cincinnati, CHAD... JOHNsonnnnnnn!

At Flexback, with the opportunity of a lifetime and he'd better make good or he'll be gone by October, welcome back, from Indianapolis, DOMinic RHOOOOODESSSSSSSS!

And at Quarterback, the Bayou Bomber, Mr. Fourth Quarter, From the next Super Bowl Champions, your favorite Cajun and mine, Jake "the Man" DelHOMMMMMMMMMMME!

And NOW, at Tailback, for the fourth straight year. The best runner in pro football. Mr. Touchdown. The third Barbour. From the Seattle Seahawks, let's hear it for SHAUN ALLLLLexANDERRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Head coach, Owner, President and Director of Fantasy Operations, yours truly.

Welcome the rest of the Meaty Urologists:

Aaron Brooks (QB). Matt Schaub, (trade bait for Mike Vick owner). Joe Jurievicius (WR). Brandon Stokely (WR). Zach Hilton (TE).

And the steal of the draft, the waterbug. The Memphis Special. Future keeper, DeANNNNGELOOOOO WILLiamss.


I don't know what to think of this team, but it is what it is, and it isn't half bad for a 14 team league, live draft after 10 minutes of preparation.

Who do you have? If you're in my league, d you want to trade? (I'm talking to you Gombita)

Spike

Tonight I watched on HBO as Spike Lee earned every accolade that has ever been thrown his way. His documentary "When the Levees Broke: a Requiem in Four Acts" premiered tonight with the airing of the first two acts. It is, so far, a staggeringly important work that looks at Katrina with a fair, unflinching and deeply caring eye.

The story is told in the words of those who lived it, from Governor Blanco to Ray Nagin, to the media, to hundreds of people from New Orleans, many of whom swam through the waters and waited in the heat and the stink for their government to come. Waited in vain.

The nation owes a debt to Lee, who has held up the mirror of this disaster once more to our country, and refuses to let us look away.



I've been to New Orleans. The nation is looking away. But New Orleans is still there. We need to look into that mirror, the one in the train station with the flickering flourescent light. The one that shows our blemishes and our flaws. The one that shows the truth. Spike Lee's film shows us that we failed ourselves, miserably, but it also shows one more thing:

New Orleans is still there. New Orleans will come back.

The Conservative mind

I flew up to Pittsburgh on Sunday night beside a dumpy guy in a red shirt who had three items of reading material. (1) The Limbaugh Letter. (2) The John Locke Foundation's "Conservative Citizen" and (3) Ann Coulter's piece of garbage titled "Godless".

Let's say we had little to talk about, though I did enjoy asking him if he thought he saw an Adam's Apple on the skinny hermaphrodite.

He was less amused.

Here for your enjoyment is Olbermann's complete dismantling of her. Unfortunately, you have to see her and listen to her grating voice. But it's good.

overwhelmed

I truly don't know how I could get through the day if Matt Lauer et al weren't repeatedly telling me that I was overwhelmed by the thought of preparing to fly without liquids.

Overwhelmed? Dump out your drink and check your luggage and shut the hell up. What's so overwhelming about that? It's not as if I am trying to get my family from Tyre to Beirut on the back of a toyota truck with three bad tires.

The American media are clinically insane.

PS - good thing our President has led us to safety, huh? So glad the terrorists no longer have the power to disrupt our lives....

The Administration wets the bed . . . again

The Bush Administration has released the latest proof that they are so terrified of the challenges posed by Al Qaeda that they need Pampers, rubber sheets and a pocket copy of the Constitution.

This time, in response to Supreme Court decisions striking down the authority previously granted to illegal military tibunals, the Administration approaches Congress, removes its thumb from its mouth, hides under a table, and throws on the desk a proposal to -- get this -- EXPAND THE AUTHORITY OF THE TRIBUNALS.

I wish I was kidding. I'm not.

How about these two little jewels:

A draft Bush administration plan for special military courts seeks to expand the reach and authority of such "commissions" to include trials, for the first time, of people who are not members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban and are not directly involved in acts of international terrorism, according to officials familiar with the proposal.

The plan, which would replace a military trial system ruled illegal by the Supreme Court in June, would also allow the secretary of defense to add crimes at will to those under the military court's jurisdiction. The two provisions would be likely to put more individuals than previously expected before military juries, officials and independent experts said.

Democracies are actually not difficult to convert to authoritarianism. Scare the people enough, and they flock to the imagined security of dictatorship. Ask Argentina. America has faced challenges which tempted us to throw away our freedoms before. Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt and Eisenhower all looked into the abyss and backed away, in the face of dangers far graver to the continued existence of the Republic than Osama bin Laden. Not these idiots. They get smacked around by their own military legal experts and the Supreme Court, and they come back with even worse proposals.

How can people with so little faith in our system of government and the ideals of American democracy be allowed to lead?

Actually busy

Getting ready to go on a two week discovery adventure in warehouses in Western Pennsylvania. Whoopeee.

Meanwhile, BlueNC has a heck of a point. If they can't keep the pipeline in Alaska from corroding and spilling, why in the world do we want the oil industry on the North Carolina coast?

The answer? We don't.

Five weird things

So Brian tags me with the latest blogfad - list five weird things about yourself. Ok:

(1) I blog.

(2) Somewhat like Brian, I have a thing with doors, except I am more of a Wild Bill Hickock. I hate being in a room with my back to the door. If I'm sitting down in a room, it will usually be in a chair facing the door.

(3) Ticking clocks at night drive me nuts. All my clocks are digital and I bury my watch in the sock drawer.

(4) I greatly prefer Thanksgiving to any other holiday, including Christmas.
Maybe not weird, but it's how I roll. So there.

(5) I am a chronic talk radio caller-inner. I've been on the Young Turks on Sirius Satellite Radio; Sam Seder and Janeane Garofolo's show on Air America; Tim Brando on SportingNews Radio; pretty much every show on 850 the Buzz; the right wing gasbag shows on 680 WPTF; and, at least 5 times in the last three months alone, the Hockey Network on XM Radio. I have yet to cross the threshold from weird into plain old loser by calling into CSpan's morning show yet. But who knows...

OK, there you go.

Your turn, Atrios, Apostropher, Congressman Brad Miller, and Dave from RedBlack Hockey. Tag, you're it.

Thoughts on the Death Penalty

The Greensboro News & Record's Doug Clark - a longtime friend and certainly no liberal - has a thoughtful post on the death penalty today on his blog, Off the Record. Says Doug:

Samuel R. Flippen doesn't deserve much sympathy. Convicted of murdering his 2-year-old stepdaughter, he's next in line outside North Carolina’s death chamber. His scheduled execution date is Aug. 18.

What he does deserve -- what every American, convicted killer or not, deserves -- is equal treatment under the law.

When it comes to capital punishment in this country, even in this state, there's no such thing. ...

Doug notes the differences between Flippen, who will die, and several recent cases of equally reprehensible child killings where women were given much lighter sentences. Look no further than the horrible Jamie Lee Wilson case in Hillsborough.

Why the disparity?

Here's one hint, from Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall:

Though Orange County's aversion to the death penalty was a factor, he said, juries in general don't sentence women to death. Even pursuing the death penalty, he said, can invite sympathy and lead a jury to convict on a lesser charge such as second-degree murder.

Some will argue that this situation demands MORE death sentences, not fewer. I hope not.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't categorically oppose the death penalty. I feel there are some crimes for which the ultimate sanction should be imposed - sexual killings of children, for example. But it certainly should be exceedingly rarely imposed, and if juries were told thaty life in prison now means LIFE IN PRISON, I venture to say there would be far fewer death penalties imposed. And if it can;t be imposed fairly and impartially, then it shouldn't be imposed at all.

Of course, that's all somewhat esoteric and theoretical. In his post, Doug drills right down to the core of the issue: How on God's green earth can we contend that we are a just society when whether one receives such punishment depends largely on how much money one has to hire a good lawyer? How can people, who are supposedly equal under the law, and who commit essentially the same crime receive disparate sentences?

Joe Cheshire's clients tend not to get the death penalty. Clients defended by overworked and underpaid public defenders? Not so lucky. What's wrong with that picture?

Doug puts the problem squarely in focus, and reaches a compelling conclusion:

...what's at stake is a critical principle. By what standard do we decide that child-killer Flippen dies but children-killer Crespi lives? Or that lethal injection can't be administered humanely without a physician's help in Missouri but can be in North Carolina?

If we can't explain or justify these disparities, then the death penalty is arbitrary and should be abolished.

Not out of sympathy, but fairness. Because unfairness is inexcusable in matters of life and death.

Well put, my arch-Conservative friend. Well put.