Katha Pollitt and Andrew Sullivan

Good morning Andrew,

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I seem to be the early riser here, so I'll start with the day's tobacco story, which I read at the Washington Post's Web site. It seems that tobacco industry lawyers (no!) and scientists (no!!) tried to sneakily invalidate scientific studies of the dangers of smoking--the dastardly plot coming to light as Minnesota tries to make the tobacco industry help pay for the costs of treating sick smokers. ("They're not lawyers," said one defensive member of the bar on NPR's Morning Edition, "they're tobacco lawyers.")
All this talk about cigarettes makes me want one. (I quit four years ago, and now I'm really fat, but my lungs are pink and shiny. I hope.) The whole obsession with tobacco--defending it, fighting it--leaves me cold, almost as cold as news about Hollywood, which, I totally agree with you, is boring. The only interesting thing about the tobacco wars is how truly duplicitous and energetic to do ill the tobacco companies are. They're like Iago--shrewd and secret and vital and malign. Very entertaining.
More later ...

Cheers,
Katha

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