Markets

The stock market goes up and then it goes down. The fuel prices rise when the stock markets rises and they rise a bit more when the stock market has a tough day. Other energy sources are tied to the rise of the petrol prices. More people walking, more riding scooters and motorcycles; even more using public transportation. America.

Thoughts

We continue to do the things that make us feel comfortable. America is on the verge of becoming something very different than what it has ever done before. Our recent Democratic Presidential candidate selection process - a non-white male and a Caucasian woman. Something is going on here that the pundits and sages have not been able to predict. The right is upset and slinging mud like no one's business.

The US is also teetering on the edge of financial disaster. Economic policy of the current administration has accelerated an already sure decline in US authority and respect around the globe. We have enriched the pockets of a few for favors and influence. Now the Piper is taking just due - not demanding it, simply exacting the veritable pound of flesh.

Oil up (NPR reports because of the Fed and it's poor money policies); housing down(Bush cronies take advantage of poor and reap huge profits); employment down and accelerating; food up (production and transportation costs as well as biofuels); productivity ironically higher that it has been in many years, yet wages stagnant or decreasing (except for the 1%).

It touches all the old sectors. Here is an "irony" for us all. China needs steel and is exceeding the demand of steel they can produce. Gary, IN, is bust. Didn't we make the steel for the world just years ago? India and China are becoming economic behemoths (just by the sheer size of their populations). Russia is becoming a petro-rich power-wielding no-quarters yielding global power. Our Old Glory has faded in influence and respect; perhaps rightfully so.

China exports to the world. We are the largest debtor nation. We spend our resources on war while we watch global competitors use R & D to bolster economies. We stick our heads in the sand when China dumps "knock-offs" here. We purchase weapons and over spend. We laugh at the folly of the working class...caught between that rock and that hard place called bankruptcy.

We have SUVs and high gas. We have overpriced condos and townhomes, but someone made a bundle. We have speculators making a Wall Street killing and producing nothing. We have the DJIA tanking regularly. We have lies, damn lies and even more lies, but we have too much "information" to make good decisions. We have public sale of media and FCC cooperation with conflict of interest companies. We have stuck our tails between our legs and come back lacking a strong backbone. We are now the bully who no longer commands respect. Get over ourselves. We are a 3rd world nation who does not know it yet.

Next to go will be off-shore drilling, continued rape of our forests, contamination of our water supplies and the depletion of our natural resources. Enough enough enough already.

Dark Woman?

inspired by the photograph linked above

what is a dark woman?

is it the mystery
she contains within?
is it the contrast between
the iris and the white of her eye?
is it the veil
that obscures natural beauty?
the glowing quality of her skin?
is it the needs
we know she will fulfill?
mammy, wet nurse, cook, the maid.

who is the dark woman?

one whose presence remains unknown
indifferent to us yet not alone
she who heals and removes the hurt
she who moves quietly now
patient discrete persistent replete
she who knows us; staid and mighty.


no, simply the shadow of doubt
cast upon her by a society troubled
by years of indoctrination, centuries of
unexplored psychology, a history of
repression and xenophobia.

your neighbor, your wife,
your colleague or boss, your
partner for life.
we are the dark woman...each of us
in some type of way. we who serve
we who pray. we who birth we sashay

we smoke and drink we work we play.
we dance we live we love we laugh

who is the dark woman for you today?

What Eyes

, originally uploaded by lucienphoto.

she was watching her sister play softball. she was running the bases after a wonderful hit. i casually grabbed this and a couple of other shots. she was sitting with mother and his twin.