[quote user="erchess"]1. For the immediate future how do I delete this email?[/quote]

Open its message properties (right mouse click on the message in its folder or F12 while selected) and check whether it's flagged as "read-only" (and if it is: I have no idea why ...).

[quote user="erchess"] 2. Why is it apparently acceptable that there are emails that can be sent but cannot be opened in our program?[/quote]

The error message you're trying to quote usually also says that you can open such a message on the attachments tab of the reader. Most probably it doesn't have any kind of readable text body but just an attachment which cannot be displayed in the reader window/pane.

I got an email from kim komando that pmail can neither display nor delete. When I select the email and click delete nothing happens. When I double click the email to open  it I get a message that pmail cannot display the message because it contains binary or something. Anyway I am full of questions.

1. For the immediate future how do I delete this email?

 2. Why is it apparently acceptable that there are emails that can be sent but cannot be opened in our program? I would have thought that being able to open every possible email would be a non negotiable expectation of an email client.