I know you were not specifically referring to me about Tom's stupidity, but just for the record, my feeling is you never can predict how people will react under abnormal circumstances, when threatened or in a mob or when a sack full of money lands at their feet for example. Will they take the ethical high ground or will they follow their baser instincts? Certainly all of us have done something at some point in our lives that we regret. I live in a country with a whole generation of people who made alot of bad choices under abnormal circumstances. The better ones faced their mistakes afterwards. Most remain(ed) in denial till their death. So that was a long way of saying that I don't condemn Tom for his initial actions, though I do have to wonder at his current tendency to rationalise everything away.