jeff, you want to excuse us for a minute? functionaries. nice people, the schedule c's. about twelve graduate degrees apiece, but it seems sometimes all they do is start rumors. i'm not sure i made the slightest difference. i tried. i really did. you're here for two years, three maximum. what'd they promise you? court appointment? what? district? appeals? not supreme. supreme? when kruschev was forced out, he sat down and wrote two letters and handed them to his successor. he said "when you get into a situation you can't get out of, open the first letter and you'll be saved. and when you get into another situation you can't get out of, open the second." soon enough this guy found himself in a tight place. so he opened the first letter. it said, "blame everything on me." so he blamed the old guy and it worked like a charm. he got into another situation he couldn't get out of, so he opened the second letter, which read, "sit down and write two letters."