Artful Dodger: Well, AD, if it was written by a professional journalist, I wouldn't be put off by it at all. But this was written by a doctor as a want-to-be scientific article, the goal of which was to prove that the mortality rate of American infants is not as bad as reported. To me, the purpose of the first sentence was to tune the reader to the patriotic frequency, thus distorting the whole view of the issue. There is no place for such "literary devices" in articles of this kind. But yes, maybe I really am reading too much into it, as in general I do agree with the point the doctor is trying to make in that article.