Tree of Smoke
Book Review by Weeden Nichols of Novel by Denis Johnson (2007; Picador; New York) Tree of Smoke is a 2008 National Book Award winner. The reason this novel, or a review of this novel, might be of interest to many readers is that the novel is concerned most centrally with the Vietnam War and, in a broader way, with the Cold War era. Many of you, like me, have been around, since long before the Cold War. Some of you, as I did, participated in the Vietnam War. Many of those who are younger are old enough to remember the Cold War. All of you have watched the entire world affected by policies and decisions driven, or purportedly driven, by our intelligence agencies. I begin with my usual

SC: Looking deeper into Act 388: Richland County
I decided to dig a little more into the Act 388 with the county mentioned in the story WIS's Drew Stewart did. That county? Richland.

In South Carolina, veterans who fought for your 'freedom' have none
A sad story today was published in The Sun News about a veteran who took his life because he was denied health care.

The purpose of a life...
Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. There is no gift-buying that adds to the stress of other holidays...just family getting together and doing what they do best--some cook, some clean, some take pictures... I have so much to be thankful for. Thankful was the word that came to mind when I watched this TED video:

Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation Establishing Thanksgiving
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreig