. . .and must be regularly and lovingly nourished

"The male ego is not a hardy perennial;
it's a very delicate flower."

--David Rudgers, a 22-year veteran of the CIA, and author of Creating the
Secret State, speaking about the U.S. military's pricklish attitude toward gays and lesbians in its midst, in one of a number of interviews conducted recently by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara.