NPR had an interview on Obama’s new – sort of new – Chief of Staff, Bill Daley. Obama had brought Daley on to improve his position with the business community. He wanted to improve his position with the business community because….well, shit! I don’t know. It must have something to do with changing the way Washington works, it couldn’t have just been because he wants their campaign donations. Anyway, the buildup to one of NPR’s questions surprised me, The Chamber of Commerce, just across the park from the White House here, has put out a statement that I read as supporting Speaker Boehner’s plan, the plan that he is pushing in the House….

It turns out that, as NPR put it, Despite Daley’s business cred, when it came to one of the biggest crises of the Obama presidency to date, the business community did not have Obama’s back. I have always thought – OK, maybe not always – that there were the Tea Party people, who really didn’t understand economics and the stimulus thing, but were noisy;  and the real money, who did understand economics and would keep the GOP sane. I guess not.

To back up, I grew up being told that what made the United States great was our big middle class. That having a few rich people and lots of poor people like some banana republic was bad: bad for democracy and bad for business. I believed it then and still believe it now. I thought  everybody believed it; I thought is was one of the collective axiomatic cornerstones of my country. I know everybody wants to get as much as we can, but, when push comes to shove, I thought that people will do what they think is best for the country.

I have read about rich people bringing down countries by getting all the money; but they always seemed to be talking other places, backwaters like – I don’t know, maybe – Romania in  the eleventh century or Nicaragua during the 1960’s , not here in the good ‘ol USA.

Then I thought, listening to NPR, maybe the rich were so out of touch that they were like the Tea Party people and just didn’t understand the damage this tax code is doing, how far we are moving way from a big middle class.

But now the stock market seems to be saying they did understand. That this agreement is bad for biz and they still want it so they can keep their personal money. They seem to be saying We may be fucked as a country but, at least, I get to keep more of my money.

Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, Nordstrom has a waiting list for a Chanel sequined tweed coat with a $9,010 price. Neiman Marcus has sold out in almost every size of Christian Louboutin “Bianca” platform pumps, at $775 a pair. Mercedes-Benz said it sold more cars last month in the United States than it had in any July in five years, and Wal-Mart is now selling smaller packages because some shoppers cannot afford multipacks of toilet paper.

I guess that I am all three,enraged, scared, and sad.

I don’t know much about Governor Christie except for jokes about how fat he is that I hear on the Daily Show, but this leaves me very impressed. I wish more politicians would stand up for what they believe in.

A couple of days ago, on a nice 80° day, I went for a walk in Edgewood Park. Thinking the whole time that summer is finally here. The grass had, finally, turned golden – or dry, dirt yellow if you prefer-  and the summer flowers are blooming. Some, like the yellow star thistle Centaurea solstitialis in whole fields,

some hiding in the dry grass, like a bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) and purple clarkia (Clarkia purpurea)

At the end of my walk, I watched the fog come in through the pass behind San Mateo and thought How nice, the air conditioning is turned on,

But that was a couple of days ago, and who ever turned the air conditioning on, left it on at High. Too high. This has just been a cold summer, while much of the rest of the country is too hot, we are too cold. Even the peaches and tomatoes at the Farmers Market are too cold, they are just not getting sweet. I want more heat.

Yesterday, I was driving along, listening to NPR’s All Things Considered, and they started  started talking about the famine in Somalia. It turns out that a group called al shabaab is blocking people starving to death from getting food. According to the New York Times more than 500,000 children [are ] on the brink of starvation.

It just enrages me. For nothing more than the personal gain of some of their leaders, and by using Islam as a justification, they are starving people to death. They are even killing NGOs that are trying to help. My first thought – and I probably yelled it out loud in  the car –  was Just kill the sons of bitches, we ought to go over and just shoot em! Then, I realized that is exactly what we are doing with our drone program. We are just killing the sons of bitches! In Afghanistan, in Pakistan, Yemen, and now Somalia.

Of course we are not positive that they are the right sons of bitches and the whole point of International Law – hell, any law – is to prevent people from killing who ever they want. But that is besides the point.

Every couple of days, I get an email from the Digital Photography School that has links to photography tips. I often don’t completely agree with the tips, but what I do agree with is the overriding principal of mindful photography. While we might not always agree on how to accomplish something, we always agree that it starts with knowing what we want to accomplish,. Recently, in an article on Street Portraits, I read Before approaching a person to ask him or her if you can take a photo, have your settings spot on. When they say yes, lift your arms and snap snap snap, say thank you, and walk away. Easy.

I have learned to take a different approach. Years ago, I signed up for a class in Portrait Photography at  the Omega Institute. The course was cheap, but getting there was  – with airfare to New York and then driving to Rhinebeck  – too dear and I never got to the class. But the sub line, A portrait is an artifact of a relationship., has transformed my travel photography.

Ever since, I have slowed down. When I see an interesting local, rather than try to grab a shot or shoot as fast as possible, I stop to ask. I try to to banter back and forth a little bit, even if it is only with sign language. I establish a mini relationship. Counter intuitively, when I used to be as quick as possible, it was often an intrusion, I was obviously trying to steel a photo; by having a relationship, even if only for five minutes, I honor the person. This is especially true when traveling in countries where people normally don’t like their picture being taken.

I have gone from a fifty tries and three successes – using the term success very loosely –  to ten tries and ten successes. I know that the woman above is named Maria and she comes from Nebaj, Guatemala, that she was raised in an orphanage and her sister orphan is also named Maria. I know that they find humor in calling themselves sisters and both having the same name.

Here are several samples: