I understand he should've stayed to be sentenced, understand he should've done time, and I think I've made it clear that what I don't understand is why anyone should forget about it, or why we should drag aspersions and characterizations of the victim and her mother into it, when they are not the adult criminal. That's all.

I understand the frustration and outrage behind hyperbolic remarks on this thread, including those of Michael Moore, which do not really make practical sense, but are genuinely expressive of those feelings. And I think he's right--when Holly Hunter went on about playing the piano, and her piano teacher, and blah blah, as if she was at a piano recital, it was because she was in a movie about a piano. When Tom Hanks talked about issues affecting gays, and how those issues lent power and resonance to his performance in Philadelphia, nobody said these political remarks were inappropriate. It's what the movie was about.

I set aside my own opposition to the war when it started, and hoped for the best, hoped it could be short and with minimal civilian casualties, but seeing injured kids and distraught families on the news, it seems to be more and more the awful mistake it was bound to become. I tried not to let my general distrust of Bush make me utterly cynical about everything he touches, but he makes it very difficult.