Every time I start to think that our country might be on a trajectory towards improvement, a story like this comes along to throw that out the window.<p>It really astounds me that Dr. Hatfill managed to put up with the abuse for so long without doing anything irrational - just reading about it makes me understand why someone would want to mail anthrax to the government. Imagine how many innocent people might have been subjected to similar treatment without our knowledge, simply because - like Dr. Ivins - they didn't manage to survive?