Barbara Mertz Quotes
A lady cannot be blamed if a master criminal takes a fancy to her.
Peters, Elizabeth. Lion in the Valley. Atheneum, 1986.
He was referring to the charge that Richard A. Clark, Chief of Counterterrorism, had politicized the 9-11 investigations. In reality, while the hearings had been apolitical, after he testified, there were massive attacks on him by the Republicans and then massive defenses by the Democrats and the hearings had indeed been politicized. It is noteworthy however that the Commission itself remained bi-partisan in its procedures and votes.
In some societies, drunkenness is an extenuating circumstance which diminishes moral and legal guilt. In others it is not. In the United States is sometimes is and sometimes is not. Generally, a drunk person will not be relieved of all guilt but often the charge will be lessened—for example from murder to manslaughter. Aristotle suggested, and in some Islamic countries it is observed that the person who commits a crime while drunk is punished twice—once for the crime and once for being drunk.
Barbara Louise Mertz was an American author who wrote under her own name as well as under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. In 1952, she received a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago. While she was best known for her mystery and suspense novels, in the 1960s she authored two books on ancient Egypt, both of which have remained in print ever since.
