Just another day? Flag Day minus 1

And the clock ticks...

• Tim Russert - suddenly dead. A shock to the media; a shock to the nation. One of our country's very best journalists. The point in noting it here: no man knows his time. A co-worker asked me today if I thought a life-sentenced inmate found to be terminally ill should receive a special parole. First of all, I have issues with life sentences. Second, we are all "terminally ill." I told him, "No." The guy in the cell next door could suddenly die before the gent who learned he was terminally ill. He gets no parole. No man knows his time.
• Japanese earthquake - 7.0. Are these getting to be a yawner for you? Would it be zestier if it were Knoxville?
  
• Iowa underwater. Iowa?!? The state that comes to mind if states had the capacity for innocence would be Iowa. Maybe it's Radar O'Reilly. Second on the list would be Wyoming. Maybe it's Dick Cheney.
  
• In Zimbabwe, an opposition leader's wife was found brutally murdered by President Robert Mugabe's presiding regime. Nothing funny to be found in this one. Actually, nothing funny in any of these.
  

Only four items today. Only four. Be a praying people.