As Taps approached, they raised their instruments and played, echoing Taps down the long, long brass line that stretched over hill and dale, from village to town, while motorists slowed, stopped and stood.

FORBES: 42 Miles Of Echo Taps: A Memorial Day Tribute

Politics dictate that all those delightful lines that run over hill and through dale should survive, because the government fears that by cutting such services it would also cut its vote in those areas.

ECONOMIST: Railways

Sharif's wife Tahira Tabassum, 28, of Northumberland Street, brother Zahid Sharif, 37, of Upper Dale Road, and sister Parveen Sharif, 36, of Breedon Hill Road, deny that they knew of his intentions but did nothing to stop him.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Sharif relatives jury sent home

Capitol Hill and the White House have their own institutionalized pageantry (think the State of the Union address), but when Dale Bosley, the marshal of the Supreme Court, came into the chamber on Friday to declare, "God save the United States and this honorable court, " it was hard not to feel a little bit moved.

CNN: May It Please The Court