On the front page of the Times today is a depressing photograph: a suburban street of otherwise pristine white houses submerged under mucky, brown water. Buried deeper in the paper on page A17, the story reports on disaster flooding in Georgia. After days of torrential downpours, Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia declared a state of emergency in 17 counties. Several bridges and sections of interstate highways were closed, houses and cars were swept away and at least 8 deaths have been confirmed. These natural forces can be dangerous; we saw that last year here on campus when the icestorm hit in December that knocked out power. Its only lucky for us that no one was hurt or killed.
My roommate is a lover of clove cigarettes, and I knew this would get her goat when I read the headline to her, "Eye on Youths, U.S. Bans Flavored Cigarettes." Federal health officials made the ban official on Tuesday. The article comments that this is the first major crackdown since the FDA was given the authority to regulate tobacco, but I've seen plenty of "major crackdowns" on smokers in only the past ten years. No more the days of walking into Applebees to be greeted with "smoking or non-smoking?" and no more the days of taking that long-needed drag where you please. Amusement parks, campgrounds, and other public areas now have designated "smoking areas." They have jacked the prices and taxes on cigarettes. I know this because all my life, I've listened to members of my family bicker and grumble at these same headlines. My mother and aunt now share tips on where tobacco can be bought at its cheapest. My mother has recently taken to rolling her own cigarettes with a cranker. It makes me wonder what they will ban, prohibit or regulate next in the tobacco industry.
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