The Econ River

Well, the Econ River, heroine of my fabulous novel Paradise Interrupted, is in the crosshairs again. This time the county commissioners uncharacteristically didn't perform all manner of unspeakable acts of passion on the developer before granting his every wish. Ah, maybe because the developer in this case is the three women who inherited the land from their father and not some big company from the charismatic "out of state". Suspiciously none of the commissioners condemned the proposal, just saying things like it's not the right time, clearly leaving the door open for future pandering. Kind of like saying it wasn't "the right time" for the Iraq war.

As always, though, the developer lawyer was bald.

Panama

I went to Panama recently and saw what a real warning label looks like on a cigaret pack. Several different images are randomly placed on all packs. One features the open mouth of someone with mouth and teeth rotted by smoking. My favorite features a dead rat beside a backstroking roach, drawing the link between ingredients in rat and roach poison and “smokes.” Perhaps in Arabian countries they depict a dead camel.

I used to be proud of United States warning labels until I saw what can be done in what they call “the developing world” where people lack our modern advantages. Before I ever saw a cigaret pack there I had noticed nobody smoked. The only people I ever saw smoking in Panama were European tourists. Guess it'll never happen here. This attack on a huge health problem is just too simple, effective and bad for business.