Medieval Notions Of Morality

Someone should let the Democratic presidential campaigns know that the buying and selling of indulgences has been frowned upon for several centuries.

Several Democrats have even taken the unusual step of compensating for their campaigns' sizable carbon footprints by contributing to groups that seek to reduce greenhouse gases by planting trees and funding clean-energy projects. Edwards gave $22,000 to NativeEnergy to atone for the emissions of his campaign's travel. Clinton gave just under $11,600 to the same group to cover her campaign's operations in April, May, June and July. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) paid $1,000 to CarbonFund.org for July, August and September, and uses a charter air company that offsets the carbon footprint of its flights.

"Atone"?