It could have been worse

No, probably it could not.

Moriya Takemasa's live televised testimony to the House of Representatives Special Committee on Prevention of Terrorism and on Aid to Iraq, what little I could stand of it, looked and sounded bad.

Really bad.

Moriya would wince, his face saying, "Why are you asking me this? I don't know the answer to that. Don't you understand your question is formulated in a way as to be impossible to answer?"

A natural response...but it was in Moriya's interest--and the interest of the ministry he once worked for--to not look annoyed at any of the Diet members' questions.

Moriya's repeated reliance on "Eeeeee...to" in order to to buy time to recollect what he had already said reminded me of something a wizened and dignified African-American gentleman once told me as we both awaited the arrival of a bus in Goleta, California.

"Never be a liar."

(He pronounced it with such a molasses-thick accent what I first thought he said was "Never be a lawyer")

"Never be a liar...because if you never tell a lie, you never have to remember nothin'."

It was a lesson in efficient living that Moriya clearly could have benefited from.