Pitch black coat,
Darkness with legs,
Eyes gleaming outward,
Mouth opens, shimmers teeth,
Meows march forth,
Gripping my ears,
Demanding attention.
-
It tangles in my ankles,
Increasing the volume.
-
I hasten to fetch the dry cat food,
Unable to refuse such a creature.


The neighborhood beggar.

Mistakes

To be human is to make mistakes. We all have done so on various occasions, more often than any one would care to admit. The recent mortgage-backed securities debacle is a good reminder of that. Not too long ago, we could pat ourselves on the back and smugly observe, "look at us here in the USA - we are housing more of our people than ever before, sharing the good life with more and more." Until the whole mortgage securities market unravelled.

Most of the time we can learn from mistakes. We can learn our limits, or learn not to do something or other, as the outcome will be bad. When growing up, we had to learn the limits of our capabilities the hard way. Every action had a price (still does), and every stunt we pulled had some kind of cost involved, more or less depending on what we did. In adulthood, the penalties increase for various kinds of foolishness. Mistakes are the one thing we all have in common, no matter how hard we try and avoid them. Heaven knows, I have made more than my share. I just try to bow my head humbly and keep going sometimes, flaws and all.
-

Trouble is, we are all on this moving platform called our lives. Moving down the timeline, trying to make decisions in a changing world, changing society, changing country, even as we find ourselves changing. Juggling concerns, wishes, fears, hopes, dreams, desires, for ourselves or our children or families. Sometimes we take our best guess, our best shot at the time, given the circumstances. Some outcomes are unforseeable. Is it no wonder we make mistakes and blunders, small or large? To be human is to fumble in the dark, trying to find our way in a hostile universe. Seems to me we can hardly help making a lot of errors. Although hopefully we will try and correct them, learn from them.
Sometimes an error to one person is a smart move, or a well-performed act to another. Depending on belief systems. So it is difficult to even quantify what is a mistake sometimes. My definition is if it causes human grief, pain or loss, it is highly likely to be a mistake or error of some kind. Although I could be mistaken, after all, I'm only human *grin*.
-
-
Speaking of large mistakes... It also seems to me that the major root of terrorism is the human desire to get even with someone. If you are large and powerful, you have a huge regular army. If you are little and angry, you resort to terrorism to get even, because it is all you have. So for a counry to declare a "war on terror" is seemingly the same as a "War on Human Nature" . Well, that is us against us, and who is going to win that one? The (to me) mistaken notion that we can invade and bully our way to security is ineffective, and has a tendency to turn more against us. Hopefully the next president will realize this and rein in the dogs of war, giving our economy a real break. And, redirect the energies thus preserved into making our nation energy-independent.
-

Mistakes - life is hell sometimes, but if we learn from them as much as we are able, we can still end up better off than before. Just an opinion, of course.

Palin-tology
The analysis of Sarah Palin, her effect on McCains' campaign, her dress, speech, and most of all, her appearances on Saturday Night Live.
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Sarah Sonnet


Sarah speaks in her red dress getup,
Mimicking Tina Fey mimicking her;
News coverage continues without letup,
Keeping her name front and center.
-
For all of this publicity and attention,
Things are not changing in the polls;
Obama is good at support retention,
Palin noise machine not taking any toll.
-
Colin Powell weighed in with his support
For Obama, despite his party affiliation;
Sarah Palin proved she is a good sport,
Cannot guarantee White House destination!
Sarah will be able to go back to hunting moose,
When this failed campaign season turns her loose.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would love to have someone like Sarah as a neighbor or member of a neighborhood association. A fine person she may be, but not for political office (IMHO), please.

Here is a quote from an email - factual information on financial history in the US.

..."From 1929 to 1931, hundreds or thousands of banks failed when depositors panicked and withdrew their money because they didn't want to be the last in line - the first guy to take his money out got his money, the later guys got nothing. The Glass-Steagall Act was put into place to stabilize the situation. Banks were forbidden to invest in anything other than loans and obligations of the US Government. In exchange for this limitation, banks were offered the chance to buy insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
-
About the same time, the Savings and Loans were chartered and insured by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation - and they too were restricted in their investments. They could only make loans secured by real estate, and originally the interest rates they could pay on Certificates of Deposit were set by the federal government. How boring is that? -

In 1981 or early 1982 those rules were loosened to the point of elimination.A few years later the FSLIC went bankrupt and it cost the US Government $160,000,000,000.00 to bail them out.
-
Never prone to learning from mistakes, Congress in 1999 passed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which did away with Glass-Steagall. Nine years later, we're staring at a default of the $56,000,000,000,000.00 FDIC - thanks to the repeal of Glass-Steagall.

-When will they ever learn? "

Indeed, we are seemingly afflicted with a giant case of the 'stupidity flu' when it comes to passing financial laws in this country. Lately, while washington pols have been admonishing people to "not panic", they have done major panicky moves every day. Throwing hundreds of billions at the problem, bailing out corrupt companies left and right. Acting panicky is not a good way to inspire confidence. Someone should read up on what was done in the early thirties perhaps, and re-do those things. In any case, it looks like we are in for
another rough ride.

Two Cars

Riding my bicycle blithely along,
Decided to stop by a friends' place;
Right on the way home, won' t take long,
Instead of a holler, will greet him face to face.
-
Upon stopping by, found him standing outdoors,
Rode up, greeted him, began to chat;
He informed me his vehicle was out of order,
Danged timing chain went, and that was that!
-
So, later I drove over to his place,
Fetched him and his friend;
We drove to where the car was placed,
Lined the two cars up, our way to wend
-
Pusher and pushee, through stops and turns,
I kept my bumper aimed straight and true;
Hands gripping wheel, stomach did churn,
Finally pushed him into his driveway, up which he flew!
-
Mission accomplished, I travelled back home.
On the way, what did I see?
A neighbor stuck at an intersection, alone,
I was thinking, "It sucks to be me!"
-
Felt like I should help him out,
He has helped me oftentimes before;
So I got in the car, went back out,
Pulled up behind him: he swung open his door.
-
We greeted each other, with customary jibes,
Me and another offered to push him off
The roadway, into a nearby lot, an easy ride;
We did so, swiftly, even as some kids scoffed.
-
After chatting a bit more, I took my leave,
Legs felt tired and rubbery from a long day;
A sigh of relief I can now heave,
Two good deeds done, now can rest and play!



.....Almost reminded me of a winter snowstorm, pushing cars around and all.

Triple Sevens

Monday, surreal brightness outdoors,
Foul blackness in financial corridors;
Nature's fall warmth, color magnificence,
Paralleled by markets' disastrous incidents.
-
Backroom paper-shuffling steals and deals,
Increased mortgage debts exponentially;
Commissions and kickbacks greased wheels,
Most people keep paying bills, fortunately.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
-
-
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?
-
Because I'm called a man, should I suddenly walk taller,
Given a reprive, today, by hidden forces of judgement?
-
Because I'm called a 'writer' and a 'poet',
Do I put on the snot and sneer?
-
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?
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
We twitch, fidget, shuffle our feet, drum our fingers --
Completing some tasks as other concerns still linger.


-
- 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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Now the party, claiming to detest government control,is
Emplacing two mortgage entities directly under it!
-
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.
-
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.

--

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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
-

Love energy


What does it mean?
Down in the doldrums,
Sitting in a chair,
Several choices, none appealing.
-

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?
-

Who knows. It felt good to visit an old friend again.

Round Universe

Was noticing the other day, how a metal framework looked curved out of the corner of my eye. My very rounded eyeball, that is. This set me to pondering.

Our universe seems filled with round shapes. Planets, stars, asteroids, all spherical. Spiraling galaxies, going round and round, tracing some kind of circle.

Nature spins, whorls, coruscates, branches out in increasing diameters. There is so much that is round, and so little that is a naturally occuring square or parallelogram. Sharply-angled lines, boxes, geometric shapes seem to be an artificial imprint of humankind. We impose our gridded-out sense of order, to keep track of things. To make the universe hold still, show a count, display a picture. Even though we are ourselves a product of the universe, replete with all of our curved and rounded bodily surfaces. We square off everything to get a better grip on things. Which makes me wonder a few things.

Would we be better off with round houses? Circular rooms, that overlap perhaps? Round cars? Round TV's, computers, chairs, etc.

Are we a product of universal entropy, the final "running down", and our lines and squares and angles yet another manifestation of finality, entropy, and ultimately, an ending of things?
With the common state of matter existing energetically in a circular, rounded shape of being, should some of our philosophies and institutions better reflect this, to better insure our survival as a species?
Heady stuff, to be sure. Like the thought experiments we used to do as schoolkids, IE maybe our universe is a speck orbiting an atom in a giants universe, or vise versa. - maybe our solar system/galaxy/universe is a particle contained in a drop of water, that is falling as rain. or is in water being drunk or digested by a giant being. Silly, perhaps. Also, in a way, illuminating.

Which brings me round to light. Is light not a particle, or a wave, but a "something spinning in a circle so fast, it gives off a glow? What is the glow made of? Who knows. It makes my head spin (in a circle) thinking about it.
But our universe does seem to be made with roundness in mind. Perhaps we should incorporate more roundness into our devices - maybe they would mesh better with the external enviornment.
I'm sure I'm not the first one to think of this - but it does give me pause.
-
-
-

Homeownership

Lessons learned from owning a home,
Include various remodeling skills;
Plumbing, laying tile, electrical code,
Roofing, painting, landscaping thrills.
-
One ability no one warned me about,
One neccesary quality to survive and thrive,
Is a very thick hide, ignorance of doubt,
Ability to press onward despite jeers and gibes.
-
For no matter what one says or does,
Someone is always complaining,
Criticizing, laughing as if it was
Any of their business pertaining.
-
Every time I decide to go out into my yard,
Criticized or jabbed by some neighborhood retard.
Wish that they would be similarly jarred,
Cut down derisively, hoist by their own petard!
-
-
-
Sometimes I almost don't hear anything at all,
Other times it seems to be a chorous of negativity.
It really is a shame.

The Iowa State Fair is Coming!

Pickups are lining the space along the fence now.
Rides are being erected, cranes dotting skyline.
Front Gates are barricaded shut now, no more pre-fair gawkers allowed.
Animals can be heard, lowing, mooing, bleating.
Sound systems tested, heard in ones' living room.
Ready or not, here it comes - the food, the noise, the hustle and bustle.
Worst of all, the endless traffic.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aug. 6th

Neighborhood quietude beautific, peaceful.
Sunday afternoon sunshine dapples quiet streets;
Children play in roadways, parents casually watchful.
Fairgrounds silent after weekend horse trainer meet.
-
Silence soon shattered by frenetic increase
Traffic, activity pick up, campers begin streaming
Into lots, along with many pickups, without surcease.
Agricultural trailers, combines, grain bins massing ...
-
Sky glider rides soon take flight,
Food vendors pile in, lining the avenues;
Trailers of every description fight
For any free space to unload their purviews.
In preparation, state fairgrounds fill up in a jiffy,
When the hordes arrive, it all must look spiffy!
------------------------------------------------------------------
Aug. 7th

The fair is here, the fair is now,
Come on out and see the butter cow.
Shaun Johnson in creamy yellow,
Other famous faces, also with a dairy glow.
Horses, pigs, sheep, and camels,
Variety of types of four-footed mammals.
Food stands galore, loaded with greasy goodies,
Dessert counters to top off high-calorie feasts.
Gawk at displays as you avoid travelling beasts,
Take in a free show, or artwork display at least.
Thrill to the rides, cruise the sky glider,
Enjoy people watching, can be even wilder.
Indulge yourself in fairs' sensory overload,
Before returning, satiated, to your humble abode!

------------------------------------------------------

Like it or not, the fair is here. May as well enjoy it.

RAGBRAI
-

One sweltering day in late July,
Humidity saturating warm summer air;
What do the news crews, cameras spy,
Many bicycles appearing out of nowhere.
-
Thousands of enthusiastic riders,
Swarming down state highways;
Towns welcome the two-wheeled gliders,
Offering refreshments, and a hearty welcome always.
-
After a grueling daily ride, hills and all,
Riders offered showers, food, other measures;
As long as one avoids flats and falls,
Then one can revel in post-ride pleasures.
Ragbrai, the huge bicycle party across the state,
Now a staple activity on Iowans summer plate!



They are at it again *grin*

Planetary Spectacle

Fun celebrations of US Independence Day,
Barbeques, music, fireworks galore;
Throngs of citizens, festive and gay,
Enjoying time off, concerts, parties and more.
-
Television showing cooking, drink concotions,
Inexpensive, enjoyable activities for families;
Financial cares, employment woes forgotten,
Viewing sky spectacles, hearing patriotic homilies.
-
Yet even as we celebrate, a bigger show is coming,
Many nations are gathering, joining efforts together;
Scientists from around the globe are meeting,
Conferencing, writing papers, taking measures.
-
Future Space exploration, colonization efforts,
Will be international, combining many abilities;
Dwarfing any one nations' more meager effort,
We will occupy our living space with more agility.
Humans, whether Americans or other nationalities,
Will leave our cradle, discover amazing new possibilities!


Something I wrote around July 4th.