The world feels really empty to me right now.

On a personal level, anyway. I feel lonely. The source of this feeling is not clearly known to me. Have I driven everyone away? It feels as if the wheels could blow off everything at any moment. Also, I'm going to miss my grade school reunion this weekend because I have to work. I feel as if I am letting down my classmates and expect to regret missing the outing.

More significantly, I might have written before about a dear friend who is serving a lengthy prison term. I learned today that a substantial reason for him getting a terrible defense at trial was that the U.S. Attorney's office pressured his former employer to stop paying his legal fees, under a threat that the company would be indicted, too. This makes me so sick that there are no words. Despite all of the terrible things the Bush Administration has done to our government, I have relied on an abiding faith that this, too, shall pass and that our system was built to withstand such low points in the Executive Branch. But knowing this could happen--that the U.S. Attorney's office would do it, that the company and its lawyers would go along with it--so shakes my faith in our system that I don't know what to do. His trial counsel won a $2.5 million dollar verdict against the company earlier this year for its failure to pay his legal fees. But my friend remains in federal prison.

I'm trying really hard to think positive thoughts right now.