Folks, here’s an example of someone in a persistent vegetative state, with a demonstrated lack of higher cognitive function and a minimal level of consciousness. This person has been lingering in an institution for decades. While the patient may appear to communicate, we really just see primal reflexes, not evidence of brain activity. It’s just the same rudimentary moaning over and over.

I’m talking, of course, about Chronicle editorial cartoonist [1] Clyde Peterson, aka “CP Houston.”

I beg the Chronicle’s editors: please, let this poor soul go. Pull the paycheck tube.