States are doing this for two reasons. They want to be ethical institutions, and they want the skeptical public to view them as ethical institutions.

The scandal at the congressional level has received so much publicity, it does permeate down to the state legislative level. Legislators will take a look at where their laws may be vulnerable _ and what is the public's expectation of them.

In the case of Sudan, the Sudanese government's presence on the commission meant that African states and others watered down language that human rights groups around the world thought appropriate to address crimes against humanity.

[For both, it's a way to woo a public increasingly skeptical of sweeping pronouncements or simple solutions.] We are in an era when specificity is a sign of credibility, ... Do the numbers add up? Do the proposals work? There have to be enough details to satisfy [critics] that it's real and it's sensible.

My take is that the optimal approach to food, for health and ethical reasons, may be vegetarianism.

By the way, I'm not a vegetarian. I have a lot of respect for people who are vegetarian for religious or ethical reasons.