It is testamentary of the gutlessness of (most) liberals and centrists in the decades succeeding the Rosenbergs' execution, that few could do more than quite theatrically roll their eyes at the ensuing controversy, rather than point out that, guilty or no, neither person should have been executed. Or, if it isn't cowardice or squeamishness in debate, it's a perverse tendency to jettison the most humane aspects of one's ideology in defense of said belief system. Perhaps that's an odd little corner to focus on, but I share a house with a conservative who dismisses the Katrina refugees as behaving like children in relation to the state; never mind that the very purpose of government, according to her belief system, is to protect property and the citizenry against the ravages of Mother Nature and the threatening state of nature. This sort of sloppiness drives me up the wall.