So Long, Agony Machine.

The $11-million-a-year random scandal generator officially known as the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, more commonly called Rights and Democracy, is over and done with at last. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird issued R&D’s death certificate on Tuesday.

This is precisely the mercy I wished for in my last column, where I also expressed the hope that Ottawa would start over with something that actually works.

It's a long story.