Category: Uncategorized

(This was probably inspired in part by Gordon’s recent post.)

In the USA, lung cancer kills more men AND more women than any other cancer. Peter Jennings who was a smoker until about 20 years ago, then “was weak” and started up around 9/11/01, died from it. Vasssar Clements died from it. These questions are limited to tobacco (not any of the other stuff, like that “wacky tobacky”):

1. Do you smoke or chew tobacco? If so, how much? If you do, why, and if you don’t, why not?

2. If you partake, have you tried to quit, by what method and how many times? If you’re a former smoker, are you particularly obnoxious about smoking? (Be honest.) If you’ve never smoked, how tolerant are you of smokers around you?

3. What are the public smoking regulations in your area? Are they fair, too tough or too lenient? What has been the actual/anticipated economic impact of the law?

I have attended a number of Taize sevices in the past decade or so. They are wonderful, reflective times. My old church used to have a service on Saturday afternoons. The Westminster Presbyterian church in Albany currently has a regular Wednesday service.

So I was saddened to hear of the death of Brother Roger, (a good name, that), the founder of Taize. I was particularly disturbed by the manner in which he died. I’ll send a prayer in his memory.

A whole bunch of rallies yesterday, all in the name of Cindy, still camped out in Crawford. The mother of the late Casey Sheehan is the cover story in the Albany newsweekly Metroland. Will any of this change American policy in Iraq? Maybe not in the short term. But as American casualties mount (59 U.S. fatalities in August 2005 at last count, and we won’t even talk about the Iraqi deaths, and with the Kurds threatening to pull out of the Iraqi government, one continues to get the feeling of the q word: quagmire.

When the war started in March 2003, I predicted that there would be an independent Kurdistan within five years. The “no-fly zone” enforced by the U.S. and U.K. between 1991 and 2003 created essentially an independent Kurd state. I’m inclined to stick with my prognostication.

Still, I wish I knew the solution to the mess that W hath wroth.

Fiddle great Vassar Clements died this week. If you don’t know who he was, I hope you take an opportunity to find out. I was fortunate to see him play while I was in college at New Paltz, and he was extraordinary. Lung cancer-DAMN!

Write a couple sentences and win a free graphic novel. One of the choices is a book by the great Will Eisner. Anyone can do it! But you must do it before midnight tonight in the East. Four more chances on Thursday through Sunday for different GNs.