Obama Quits

Smoking, that is. Discussion of whether this means anything here. The discussion widens (ahem) to include comments about whether some candidates are too fat to be president. I liked this remark:

It means that the body has become an ever more important consideration in choosing a President, whereas the soul (with its virtues of prudence, courage, etc.) is ever less important for us. But attributing such importance to the mortal body really indicates the power of a death-centered culture which seems to show little sign of abating.

We should have news crews pixellate the faces of political candidates during campaign season. Who would be ahead in the polls if we couldn't see the candidate's faces or figures?