Triple Sevens

Monday, surreal brightness outdoors,
Foul blackness in financial corridors;
Nature's fall warmth, color magnificence,
Paralleled by markets' disastrous incidents.
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Backroom paper-shuffling steals and deals,
Increased mortgage debts exponentially;
Commissions and kickbacks greased wheels,
Most people keep paying bills, fortunately.
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In a normal casino, Triple Sevens mean big payoff,
A hundred or thousands of tokens to one;
On Wall Street it means a gigantic selloff,
Traders deciding that losing is no longer fun.
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It remains to be seen what will happen to us all,
The average joes and janes, slogging through days.
A lot of giant companies are taking the fall,
Paying the ultimate penalties for fraudulent ways.
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Perhaps a time to size up things overall,
Time to start fresh, after cleaning up mess,
Of failed companies, large and small,
Re-learning while under economic duress,
Why we need tight regulation of financial markets.
So we can build real value to back our paper assets.
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I keep hoping we have hit bottom with this mess, and then it keeps getting worse.

Does it?

Because I'm called "kid" does it mean I am young?
Because I'm called "Fag" does it mean I'm a burning stick?
Because I am accused of doing nothing, does it mean I do?
Because I'm called "nigger," am I suddenly African-American?
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Because I'm called a man, should I suddenly walk taller,
Given a reprive, today, by hidden forces of judgement?
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Because I'm called a 'writer' and a 'poet',
Do I put on the snot and sneer?
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Because I'm smirked at in the bars, should I be surprised
When some of them later hit on me at a different venue?
Should I grovel in the mud, or stand tall with the stars?
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It all depends upon who I chose to believe.
I have worth - I know this. It is usually enough.
But some kind words also make a huge difference!

Modify the bailout. Ideas here!

I applaud the bipartisan rescue effort underway described by the President tonight. , it shows there is still a bit of cooperation left in our society. But here are a couple of ideas that I wish they would all consider, in their haste to free up markets and keep our economy going.
Take 200 billion of that 700 billion, and allocate it to energy independence. The remaining 500 billion could be used to shore up and free up markets, etc.
Spend the 200 billion over a number of years, but don't drag it out too long. Spend at least 20-30 billion a year Over what we would probably have spent otherwise, and do not alter the course a few years out. Our survival may depend on it.

Allocate massive sums to build electrified rail transport in medium-sized cities. People would no longer need to pay for expensive and polluting buses, instead they could ride a clean, efficient, frequently-running electrified rail system to get around. Less gasoline usage. Fares could help offset costs.

Also, allocate massive sums to get many more plug-in electric vehicles on the roads. Fund further research into cars that can get part of their battery energy from the sun, say, incorporated into the paint (solar collectors).
Fund the development of cars that run on natural gas, and help fund the deployment of refuelling stations (pay gas stations to install pumps.)

Fund hydrogen production garnered from renewable sources. Fund wide-scale deployment of Hydrogen refuelling stations. Fund deployment of fuel-cell powerplants for houses.

Fund massive deployment of solar and wind power generation on a neighborhood scale, widely deployed around the U.S. Especially on farms and ranches.

The idea here is to attain near-total independence in energy. If we are going to throw around hundreds of billions of dollars, we should be throwing some into gaining energy independence. This will garner an enormous savings to us all in the future, shore up our balance of payments, and make us a stronger, more secure nation overall. It is an obvious thing, really.

Rather than throw all this wealth into buying up bad wall street paper, we should at least throw a good chunk into purchasing energy security and independence. This will give us real returns, over and over. And it will pay back the government with taxes on the resulting energy produced. This should be far easier for many to support, than just a direct bailout of incompetent bankers on Wall Street.

So - anyone out there who reads this, the idea is, use at least some of our tax money to buy us all a brighter future, rather than just bail out the irresponsible few. Thanks for reading.

Yield up beat cop slot

Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Energy price spikes,
Unending overseas warfare, bleeding wealth;
Not much on the evening news to like,
Depressing facts overtake us with stealth.
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The US today is being overwhelmed,
Variety of disasters hitting at once;
Left with powerlessness at the helm,
Any leader would look like a dunce.
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The lone superpower, leader of the world,
Cut off at the knees, floundering around;
Natural disasters, self-made debacles hurled,
Desparate financial stop-gap schemes abound.

We can no longer afford to be worlds' beat cop;
Should let go, let someone else bleed at the top.


(why do we have to guard the worlds shipping lanes?)

Multitasking

One often hears the comment,
He or she can multitask;
Usually followed by a lament,
Only one thing at a time can I grasp.
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The truth is, as usual, more complex.
We all carry multitudes of thoughts;
Billions of neurons that can multiplex,
A trillion signals, something nature wrought.
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In the store, on the road, or at work,
Each of us awash in a sea of thinking;
Eddying currents of concerns lurk,
Intents, purposes, desires never shrinking.
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We twitch, fidget, shuffle our feet, drum our fingers --
Completing some tasks as other concerns still linger.


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- Now, what else was it I was going to do? Ah, yes...

Going out on a chilly September night

My workday will be done, thought I,
All done so I can relax and read.
Then my boss called, did not know why,
To tell me of emergency, then beg and plead.
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Could I go clean a building, way out west,
Just a quck trash and dash, nothing hard;
Co-worker gone to funeral - could not protest,
Sympathy caused me to lower my guard.
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So now I must venture out later tonight,
At the hour when I usually go to bed;
Drive twenty miles in the moonlight,
Show up to clean a building, brick red.
Despite leadened limbs and tired brain,
Will clean it quick and out, not complain.

------->And I did, made OT too<-----------------

They are at it again.
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Now the party, claiming to detest government control,is
Emplacing two mortgage entities directly under it!
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been taken over.
Officials high in the Fed and Bush administrations
Have decided that our nations future is too valuable,
To be left to market forces. Needing to guarantee
Financial markets, they have siezed control of two
Giant financial institutions, ones that underwrite
Home mortgages for millions of homeowners.
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Debts will be covered, but stockholders are left
Holding nearly-worthless paper. Poor investors.
So much for laissez-faire. So much for free-market
Economics. Welcome to closet socialism?
Maybe it will work better? We can only hope.

Relationships

Relationships, solid as rock, or ethereal as the wind.
Moving from one to the next, tarrying awhile.
Like a monkey grasping limbs to move about in the trees,
Some branches are solid, hold a long time. Others
Snap after a short time, forcing the monkey to move on.
Some relationships become more solid with time,
Enduring weathering events, gaining strength of character.
Others shatter easily, were never meant to be at all.
The monkey keeps moving, wondering to himself,
"When will I ever settle down?"
"When will I grasp that final limb?"
Only time will tell.

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The Last Gift
The Republicans have given us one last gift.
And it is a doozy.
One that will reverberate throughout the years,
Warfare clashing resonating throughout history.
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To recap, they gave us an unpopular war
In Iraq, one costing trillions of dollars,
As well as thousands of US soldiers, and untold Iraquis.
They showered big business with tax breaks,
And the rich saw their taxes go way down.
President Bush made enemies around the world,
Emboldened regimes like Venezuela and Cuba.
Antagonized our longtime allies, especially France.
Bullied countries large and small.
Basically pursued a line of helping the rich.
Corporate thieves get away with wholesale theft,
While small-time criminals do hard time. Wear
A suit, give money to the GOP, and you can seemingly
Do anything and get away with it.
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But now, the final gift, or rather, time bomb.
Georgias' president invades his own provinces,
Russia invades them back, upon a request for help.
And the U.S. jumps all over Russia, sending aid and munitions
To Georgia. The administration rounds up the allies,
NATO, and in general takes a confrontational tone
With Russia, riling them up big time.
So, in leaving office, George & Co have left the USA
With a huge debt, badly tarnished international image,
A reputation for torture and flouting international laws.
And now, we are also stuck with a new cold war.
Thanks a lot, G.O.P., you have destroyed our country.
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Love energy


What does it mean?
Down in the doldrums,
Sitting in a chair,
Several choices, none appealing.
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Mind gets made up, fingers punch buttons,
I call, he answers. "Sure, come on over!"
My heart soars. A place to go, full of love.
Visit him and his roommate, eat pizza,
Chatter like crazy, pet the cats, view hail damage.
At my home, I struggle to move through routine.
At his home, I'm on fire.
What does it mean?
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Who knows. It felt good to visit an old friend again.