Just call me "Vincent"

myainsel and I were written up in the new issue of Blank Canvas Magazine. It's a lovely little piece (although I'm inadvertantly referred to as "Vincent" throughout. Sigh.) and they print a couple of each of our poems. All very nice. I absolutely adore their layout.

Missed dkeali_i at Storytellers last night, alas. The night got away from us. May drop in to see androidlustre at the Poet's Asylum on Sunday, but because of other commitments, we'll probably be late.

***

Heard discussion on the radio that there's an issue as to which minimum security prison to incarcerate convicted ex-Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, because he has special medical needs. I'm less than sympathetic. Considering the damage he and his cohorts in bribery do to the state of American democracy, I'd wholeheartedly support a mandatory sentence to a maximum security prison, because frankly, they cause more harm than your average street thug. Plus, the maximum security prisons have all the best medical facilities, so he'd be fine. Really, it's practically a vacation. Isn't that what Republicans are always saying?

***

Have no opinion about Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic dying. He was a monster, and now he's gone. For some attrocities, such as his, the scale of the evil is so large that there isn't any justice. There may only be moving on, and I hope his death lets the former Yugoslav republics do so.

If you meet the Buddha by the road ... err ... have him phone home, will ya?

So it seems that Ram Bahadur Bamjon, the 15-year-old boy who's been allegedly meditating sans food or water since May, and whom some folks believe is the next incarnation of the Buddha, has disappeared. The Reuters story is sketchy, but evidently he and some of his followers, are missing.

I don't know why I find this fascinating. In all likelihood, the whole thing is a hoax -- despite thousands of pilgrims to Nepal, few have even seen him. He's kept out of sight. So no one can really validate the "no food or water" for months claim, although Nepalese officials claim to have checked in on him and seem conviced. Still ... the very idea is haunting.

According to some people -- and I'll confess, I don't know the ins and outs of Buddhism well -- a long period of meditation by the Buddha is usually a precursor to a big announcement. One imagines that there's quite a bit of edginess and uproar among Bamjon's followers right now...

I'm used to the Bush administration being crooks, but...

...it seems Bush's former top domestic policy advisor, Claude Allen, was arrested in Maryland on Thursday on charges he conducted a theft scheme involving fraudulent refunds at area department stores.

Yep. That's right. The arch conservative who was advising the president on domestic policy -- mostly social issues, including hot topics like same-sex marriage and abortion -- was allegedly ripping off Target by trying to return items he didn't buy. Evidently, he did this multiple times.

Allen resigned from his Bush administration post rather suddenly Feb. 10th, supposedly to "spend more time with his family" but, according to the rumor mill at the time, over a flap about Bush refusing to pressure military chaplains to be more explicit about their faith. Which is one of the dumber issues I'd ever heard, and I doubt anyone would quit a cushy, influential government job over it. At tht time, the prescient Wonkette said, "He’s a morality-issues Christian-right Republican. So he’s probably a drug-addicted gambling gay adulterer with illegitimate children."

Sigh. These are the people who are running our country. Is it 2008 yet?

Boring stuff

Finished my essay for B., and she seems all right with it, although I'm unsure if I'll be making edits on this side. Doesn't matter. I don't much mind edits, although I know other writers freak out about the thought of having to change their precious, precious words. Please. You do this for a living long enough, and you get a lot less romantic about the process. Sure, you'll defend particular bits and sometimes the editor's stark raving mad, but on the whole? Eh. Edits are edits.

Also filed my column for GotPoetry. Didn't mean for it to go away for two months. It just sort of ... well, I finished the novel and was dealing with that, and then I had to get the newest issue of Nov3rd online, and then ... the world blew up or something. Frankly, disappearing like that is kind of unprofessional on my part, even when I'm writing for free. I'm not pleased when I get behind on something I'm committed to. But the fact is, I managed to drain all my creative juices soundly out of my body, and am only now starting to recharge.

I think it may be a winter thing. I seem to recall having similar problems last year. Huh. Worth considering.

But the fact is, everything immediate is finally cleared off my desk, so I can get back to other projects for awhile.