Responsible Heroes and Irresponsible Congressmen

A contrast of two individuals:

A pilot suffering a heart attack made an emergency landing on a highway, saving his three passengers shortly before he died.

Jack Francis, 61, president of Francis Trucking in Brigham City, had taken off from Jackpot, Nev., and was headed home with his wife and another couple when he suffered a heart attack Sunday morning, Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Derek Jensen said. He landed the single-engine Cessna 185 on Utah 30 near Park Valley and was taken to Bear River Hospital in Tremonton, where he died, Jensen said.

The plane went off the highway and hit a fence before coming to a stop, but the passengers were not injured. "He basically saved these other three peoples' lives by landing the plane on the highway," Jensen said.

Wow. On the other side, there's Patrick Kennedy:

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy said Monday he was feeling good after nearly a month in drug rehabilitation and was looking forward to getting back to work. "I can tell you today, I feel confident about my health, positive about my future, and passionate about my work representing the people of Rhode Island," the Rhode Island Democrat said in a speech at Brown University on the future of mental health care and addiction treatment.

The six-term congressman checked into the clinic on May 5, one day after a middle-of-the-night car crash near the U.S. Capitol that he said he could not remember. He also had been treated at the clinic over the Christmas holidays.

I still have serious questions about what actually happened one month ago, and this only reinforces my suspicions. I would be interested in the opinions of experts as to whether one month of rehab for someone who claims not to remember a middle-of-the-night crash is normal. As I noted one month ago:

Is he picking the lesser of two evils? A prescription drug problem that many can relate to over a drunk-driving incident?

I'm still wondering.