This NYT story on the latest court ruling on Big Tobacco adds another datapoint to support that old (cynical) saying that the only difference between a whore and a politician is that a politician makes more money. The money section of the article:

"The federal case dates from 1999, when President Bill Clinton promised in his State of the Union address to unleash the Justice Department to bring a civil racketeering suit against tobacco manufacturers. The suit filed that year was one of the government’s largest in the scope of charges and the resources devoted to it, accusing cigarette makers of decades of fraud, deceptive advertising and dangerous marketing.

Career prosecutors working on the case protested a Justice Department decision last year to scale back its request for the companies to finance the national stop-smoking campaign, to $10 billion from $130 billion."

Doesn't the Chosen One workout with a vengence? Oy ve! si, si, but Big Tabacco is damn patriotic, for what would the Wild West be without the Marlboro man? This also reminds me that I must put in a request at the library for that recent movie on "MOD" lobbyists, Thank You For Smoking. Thank you for smoking, as you read this.

[2]Me Be Beautiful

Calling all the desi natural cosmetics folks; this market is huge -

"Euromonitor International, a market research group in London, has forecast that the $3.9 billion global natural cosmetics market will grow annually by 9 percent through 2008, to $5.8 billion, compared with a growth rate of 1 percent for conventional cosmetics and personal care."

• if done right. Maybe Madonna can be persuaded to get back to her "OM/Hindu" shtick from her recent foray into Middle East peacekeeping. A pop song that mentions the powers of turmeric and chandan may work to make it all hip and cool! Also is someone already selling this stuff in the market?

Glenn Gould, the piano god, playing Bach's (the god of western classical music) Goldberg Variations. And yes, Gould is MAD in these recordings, a madness that every thunking person should ask for. Also, this is an earlier post on pianos.

(h/t to YouTube user opus3863 for uploading an extensive collection of piano music)

for K, three études with words borrowed from Seamus Heaney.

[1] As affection purls at the edge of talk, Need to keep distance notes the mind. Harden the dry earth, resist the plow Of language, the harrow of longing.

[2] The fantailed edge of a fell winter Lashes my spine even though it is Summer again, and the cardinal Brood, all grown up, is ready to Take wing into its blood light, absent any memory of falling.

[3] The night with its starred mantilla is a witness To the sodalities of endearments deployed in Spanish: “Mi azúcar marrón” I say, “mi burrito” you reply. So the carnevale progresses, with its removal of meat masks Till we are ribbons in the sprinkled confetti of words.