Webcam check on Linux

#!/usr/bin/env python

import time         # import time to let the program sleep a bit
import thread           # import to create separated thread
from Tkinter import *       # GUI imports
import os.path as path      # import to check if a file exists

def check_state():
    """ Method to check if the video camera is on """
    global statelbl
    while 1:
        if path.exists("/dev/video0"):          # if the camera is on there's a file called video# in /dev
            stateLbl.configure(text="on")
            stateLbl.configure(foreground="green")
        else:                       # the camera is off
            stateLbl.configure(text="off")
            stateLbl.configure(foreground="red")
        time.sleep(.5)                  # wait a bit

abl = Tk()
abl.title("Webcam")
abl.resizable(width=False, height=False)
Label(abl, text="The webcam is ").grid(column=1, row=1)
stateLbl = Label(abl, text="...checking...")
stateLbl.grid(row=1, column=2)
thread.start_new_thread(check_state, ())            # start a separated Thread to check
abl.mainloop()