We have three comments late Friday of what was, until today, an unseasonably cool and rainy week. We hope the weekend is/was more enjoyable.

1. Global warming may or may not  have produced a lot of odd weather conditions and cataclysmic shocks experienced in the last few years. The tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004 was the result of an undersea earthquake.  Since then, the planet appears to have had more than its share of cyclones, floods and quakes, as well as tornadoes in the midwest.  Perhaps the most important weather event in the United States, was Hurricane Katrina, which struck the gulf coast from Louisiana to Mississippi in late August 2005, rupturing the levees and flooding much of New Orleans.  As the tsunami and Katrina recede in memory, we should remember that natural disasters can strike at any time.  We may not have to wait for that asteroid to terminate us dinosaurs.

2. The new tag team in Albany appears to be Governor Paterson and his successor in line in the event of death, resignation, conviction, incapacity or other misfortune, Senate Senate Majority (through December at least) Leader Joe Bruno.  The chronicle of their partnership, in which is amity is the antithesis of the antagonism of the Spitzer-Bruno relationship, is related by Danny Hakim, starting on A1 of today's Times, and jumping to B6.  The story is well done, and you should link to it to understand the latest Albany waltz of the toreadors. David and Joseph appear to be taking after el toro Ferdinand.

In November, either the Democratic tide will overwhelm the Senate Republicans, or it will not. It doesn't look as if the new Governor will have much to do with the struggle, which was the pattern of his predecessors. People in politics know it is easier for a governor to work with a divided legislature than with one which can unite against him.  We know from history that ballyhooed political friendships and alliances are easily sundered when the interests of the parties conflict.

3. The second suicide of an employee of the state police, reported today in the Albany Times Union by Brendan J. Lyons, is alarming.  One officer could be a victim of depression, but the suicide by hanging of a State Police forensic scientist worried about a pending investigation into the handling of evidence causes additional concern. The police say the case is not related to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's investigation of the state police, which he was asked to undertake by Governor Paterson, who disclosed his past extra-marital affairs the day he was sworn in (March 17) because he believed that he had been targeted by the State Police.

Former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and his spokesman Darren Dopp leaked repeatedly in their day, and in one case salaciously.  Leaking is a traditional, if not particularly honorable, way for prosecutors to pursue and degrade people who they believe, often correctly, are wrongdoers. Do you think this is ethical conduct?

We do not, however, remember Spitzer or Dopp driving anyone to suicide.  Nor do we know to what extent there were leaks in inquiries into the State Police, whether the leaks led to deaths, or whether there were any leaks at all.  Predictably, the authorities will deny any leaks, and attribute the stories to the fevered media itself, which may be the case but which usually is not.

The twin tragedies of public employees taking their own lives over an investigation in which, so far, no one has been accused of an index crime should make crystal clear the responsibility of the Attorney General, and all other prosecutors, Federal, State and local, not to try their cases in the press, and to prevent their eager subordinates from doing so, without their knowledge, of course.  No one knows how or whether responsibility in these cases should be shared between the victims and their accusers. But there are,whatever the cause, two dead state police employees with previously unblemished records, and two families broken forever.

We hope you enjoy the Memorial Day weekend. If you have already left for the holiday, which is likely at this hour, we hope that you will have had a good time, and that you will read this article on your return.

Remember that Memorial Day is not simply a weekend for shopping and vacationing, but its origin lies in the desire to respect and pay tribute to those men and women who died in the service of our country. It was originally called Decoration Day, because people went out to place flowers on the graves of soldiers who were paying tribute to those men and women who died protecting.