Wednesday's Author

A native of Hanover, Indiana, Eric Arvin has been one of the brightest new stars in the world of literature for the past few years.

Leaping into the industry with his enormously popular debut novel The Rest Is Illusion, Eric has since continued to build his fan base with one hit title after another. SubSurdity: Vignettes from Jasper Lane, Supurbilicious, the holiday erotic novella Kid Christmas Meets Snow Globes and its sequel, and most recently his bestselling gay romance Simple Men, Eric keeps right on turning out one crowd pleaser after another.

A personal friend, and someone I've entertained on my former e-zine many times, I am proud of Eric and his success. Not only has he triumphed in the extremely competitive field of writing, he has also overcome some huge personal health issues, and he just keeps on coming back for more.

With three new titles due out after the first of the year, Eric is sure to keep right on with his winning streak. His blog, Daventry Blue, keeps his fans' appetites whetted for his unique insights in between book releases. Eric is a dynamo. I'm proud to present him here.

Report: White House Altered Drilling Safety Report

From Yahoo! News:

By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press Dina Cappiello, Associated Press – 1 hr 52 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Interior Department's inspector general says the White House edited a drilling safety report in a way that made it falsely appear that scientists and experts supported the idea of the administration's six-month ban on new drilling.

The inspector general says the editing changes resulted "in the implication that the moratorium recommendation had been peer reviewed." But it hadn't been. The scientists were only asked to review new safety measures for offshore drilling.

"There was no intent to mislead the public," said Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who also recommended in the May 27 safety report that a moratorium be placed on deepwater oil and gas exploration. "The decision to impose a temporary moratorium on deepwater drilling was made by the secretary, following consultation with colleagues including the White House."

The Interior Department, after one of the reviewers complained about the inference, promptly issued an apology to the reviewers during a conference call, with a letter and personal meeting in June.

The inspector general's report, which was originally requested by Louisiana Sen. David Vitter and Rep. Steve Scalise in June, said the administration did not violate federal rules because the executive summary did not say the experts approved the recommendations and the department offered a formal apology and had publicly clarified the nature of the expert review.

But Louisiana Rep. Bill Cassidy, a Republican, said in a statement that the investigation proved "that the blanket drilling moratorium was driven by a politics and not by science."

"Candidate Obama promised that he would guided by science, not ideology," Cassidy said. Cassidy said if that were true thousands of jobs and billions in economic activity would have been preserved on the Gulf coast.

The Web site Politico was first to report the inspector general's findings. The Associated Press on Wednesday obtained a copy of the report, which has not been publicly released.

Gay Minister Jim Swilley Talks With Joy Behar

Georgia minister Jim Swilley, who came out to his parishioners as a gay man, talks with Joy Behar about how the recent epidemic of gay suicides due to bullying prompted him to make his sexual orientation known.

AMC's "The Walking Dead" Renewed for 2nd Season

From Thaindian News:

By Gina Gomez

Nov 9, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Owing to the high popularity and demand AMC series “The Walking Dead” has been renewed for second season, AMC officials announced the news to the media. The hit zombie series managed to pull around 5.3 million viewers in its premiere and the interesting plot and storyline kept the audience riveted to their seats. AMC officials announced that the upcoming season will have 13 new episodes for the audience.

AMC’s president, Charlie Collier said in his statement that the “Dead” has spread its horizons and has left its viewers asking for more. The AMC president said that no other television series has attracted ”as many adults” between the age of 18 to 49 as “The Walking Dead”. He added that the high demand of this television series “reaffirms” the hunger of audience for “premium television” on basic cable network. In his statement he also said that the whole cast and crew of the series and also the AMC officials are proud to bring back zombie apocalypse “again” for the second season for the viewers.
The senior vice president of scripted programming for Fox International Channels, Sharon Tal Yguado said that “The Walking Dead” is a television masterpiece on many levels and the viewers would want to watch at least 10 seasons of their favorite show. “The Walking Dead” is based on comic book series penned down by Robert Kirkman who is also the executive producer of the series. Andrew Lincoln plays the role of protagonist Rick Grimes who after shooting rampage by the criminals goes under coma. After waking up from coma he finds a world is invaded by zombies which seems to him to be a disorienting and post apocalyptic nightmare.

Wednesday's Flashback

Irresistible number from 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas by the late Dom Deluise.

Thought for Today

"If we have a good heart, a warm heart, warm feelings, we will be happy and satisfied ourselves." -- The Dalai Lama