26th May, 2008

Barack Obama, the Next Six Months

With the Democratic nomination now winding down, the battle between Barack Obama and John McCain has begun in earnest. Animosity has been building for the past month and erupted in high dudgeon in the last several days when McCain (8/29/36, Cocosolo, Panama, unverified 8:37 AM) testily responded to Obama’s criticisms over the former’s lack of support for the GI bill. McCain’s attack included intimations that Obama (8/4/61, Honolulu, 7:11 PM) was somehow weak and wanting for not having served in the armed forces. We can expect this tension to increase over the next week with Saturn reaching an exact conjunction to the composite Mercury/Mars conjunction (2Virgo16 and 2Virgo26) on June 1. It is likely to explode into a very nasty confrontation from May 29 through June 1 when Mars crosses Obama’s Sun (12Leo32) and McCain’s Mars (12Leo16).

Vicious attacks against Obama and an aggressive response from the candidate will continue unabated through July 12 while Uranus sits in opposition to his Mars (22Virgo34). Late May through mid-June may be particularly difficult due to the Saturn transit square his Moon (3Gemini14). We have already seen the denigration of his wife (the Moon) by the Tennessee GOP from this transit. There may be some further setbacks or struggles until June 15, at which time some kind of relief begins to take hold. It may be that within a week of that date, Hillary Clinton (10/26/47, Chicago, unverified 8 AM) will finally give up her race for the White House. The Mars transit from June 16 through June 19 quincunx her Moon/transiting Uranus conjunction (22 Pisces50), compounded by Saturn crossing her MC (4Virgo35) for the second half of June, could prove to be the astrological signature of the demise of her campaign.

Around August 12, Obama will enter the sweet spot of his presidential contest, and this will continue, with only a few days exception, right through the election and into late November. The Jupiter station from August 12 through September 11 will be exactly, to the minute, quincunx his Sun (12Leo32), suggesting a huge surge in his popularity at that time. This transit will also be opposite the US Sun (13Cancer19), suggesting new hope and optimism in the general population as well. Because George Bush’s Sun (13Cancer48) is also strongly impacted, we may also see some boost in his stature during this period (through October 6) perhaps for the short-lived, seeming success of his military exploits.

By September, Obama’s progressed Venus will move into a one-degree orb conjunction of progressed Uranus (28Leo07) where it will remain for roughly a year. In addition, converse Moon will be sextile natal Venus (1Cancer46) for a month through October 8, followed by converse Moon quincunx natal Jupiter (00Aquarius51) from October 8 through November 8. The latter progression will be triggered by the transit of Mercury on November 4 and 5 from 00 Scorpio and by the Moon, late on the night of the election when it enters Aquarius. In addition, Obama’s progressed Moon (16 Aquarius), will be sesquiquadrate his natal Venus (1Cancer46) from October 22 through November 22, and transiting Jupiter (18 Capricorn) will be sesquiquadrate natal Moon (3Gemini14) from November 3 through November 9. Although many of these are minor aspects, they are quite numerous, and they each bring the influence of either Venus or Jupiter, suggesting a very uplifting and successful period of time. It should be added that Obama’s location chart for Chicago, where he will be on the night of the election, has natal Jupiter exactly conjunct the MC, and this will be activated by converse Moon, transiting Mercury, and transiting Moon, as described above.

Comparing these astrological configurations to the multitude of Saturn transits McCain will endure from July onwards, including the Saturn station opposite his natal Saturn immediately after the election and continuing through mid-February, makes it seem quite likely that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. The series of Jupiter transits, including his Jupiter return, that he will enjoy in January and February 2009 would seem to confirm this prediction.

Responses

In the previous thread, Jerry brought up Obama’s solar return chart which when drawn up for Washington,DC at 9:37 AM, 8/4/08, suggests at least the potential for violence. (Moon/Mars on the Ascendant with Uranus on the Descendant). It would be interesting to draw it up for the location he will be in on August 4 which might improve the picture some. Nonetheless, the Mars/Uranus opposition from August 4 through August 6 is quite dangerous, and extra protection at that time would be a good idea.

I also think that the polls that say Hillary is doing better than Obama against McCain are part of the Saturn square to Obama’s Moon. I think that will shift by late June.

Stephanie,

In case you missed that last post of mine because of the change in a new thread. I’m reproducing it here for you. I think you brought up a very valid issue and it needs to be addressed……

I sincerely hope my stab at humour didn’t make you feel uncomfortable or that I was trivialising your sentiments. I’m sure most of us are sympathetic to your frustrations. There are just those times when you have to see the humour in it. The Bushies did it not just once, but TWICE! It reminds me of Bush uttering similar words in his comical dislexic manner in 2002. It is one of the classic Bushisms of all time. - Fool me once (awkward silence) - shame on you (stutter, stutter)…. Fool me twice (stutter, stutter) and then proceeded to get it all twisted and convoluted. Here’s a brief clip that includes that strange moment in time….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ux3DKxxFoM

You’ve got to admit, whoever is pulling the strings up there has an amazing sense of humour.

You rock, Nancy. Love the larger typeface with words bolded for emphasis, too.

Stefanie,

From the last thread. I’m with you on this one. The republicans have more than earned the nickname “rethuglicans”. I’ve got my doubts about the Dems battling the “rethuglicans” too. It isn’t that I think the Dems won’t win in November, rather I think Dems are making some mistakes of their own that may come back to haunt them. I see no humor in that whatsoever.

A timely word from ‘Women for Hillary’:

“RUNNING STRONG

Hillary has won 7 of the last 12 states.
She has won a majority of the more than 12 million votes cast since March 1 — despite being outspent heavily.
She has won more earned delegates.
Swing voters and swing states continue to strongly support Hillary.
All the evidence – at the polls and in the polling — shows that Hillary is the stronger candidate to defeat John McCain.”

A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM HILLARY

“I am running because I believe staying in this race will help unite the Democratic Party. I believe that if Sen. Obama and I both make our case - and all Democrats have the chance to make their voices heard - in the end, everyone will be more likely to rally around the nominee.

I am running because my parents did not raise me to be a quitter - and too many people still come up to me at my events, grip my arm and urge me not to walk away before this contest is over. More than 17 million Americans have voted for me in this race - the most in presidential primary history.

I am running for all those women in their 90s who’ve told me they were born before women could vote, and they want to live to see a woman in the White House. For all the women who are energized for the first time, and voting for the first time. For the little girls - and little boys - whose parents lift them onto their shoulders at our rallies, and whisper in their ears, “See, you can be anything you want to be.” As the first female candidate in this position, I believe I have a responsibility to finish this race.

I am running for all the men and women I meet who wake up every day and work hard to make a difference for their families. People who deserve a shot at the American Dream - the chance to save for college, a home and retirement; to afford quality health care for their families; to fill the gas tank and buy the groceries with a little left over each month.

Finally, I am running because I believe I’m the strongest candidate to stand toe-to-toe with Sen. McCain. Delegate math might be complicated - but electoral math is not. Our campaign is winning the popular vote - and we’ve been winning the swing states we need to get 270 electoral votes and take back the White House.”

COUNT EVERY VOTE

Speaking in Boca Raton, Florida, last week, Hillary addressed the question of whether Florida and Michigan’s delegates will be seated at the Democratic National Convention:

“The decision our party faces is not just about the fate of these votes and the outcome of these primaries. It is about whether we will uphold our most fundamental values as Democrats and Americans. It is about whether we will move forward, united, to win this state and take back the White House this November. That has to be the prize we keep in mind.”

“We believe the outcome of our elections should be determined by the will of the people – nothing more, nothing less.

“We believe the popular vote is the truest expression of your will. We believe it today, just as we believed it back in 2000 when right here in Florida, you learned the hard way what happens when your votes aren’t counted and the candidate with fewer votes is declared the winner. The lesson of 2000 here is Florida is crystal clear: If any votes aren’t counted, the will of the people is not realized and our democracy is diminished.”

Millions of people in Florida and Michigan went to the polls to make their voices heard in the Democratic Presidential primary. They deserve to have their votes count.

The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is meeting on May 31 to make a decision about Florida and Michigan. Send a message to the DNC telling them to count the votes and seat Florida and Michigan’s delegates.

Go to http://www.hillaryclinton.com/action/flmidnc/ to make your voice heard.

MUST SEE

Young Staffers Speak up

Twenty-somethings on the campaign talk about why they support Hillary and what it means to work for her in this historic election.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im1rX5xlKhI

MUST READS

“Clinton Campaign Goes Door to Door in Rapid City”
Black Hills FOX News, May 26, 2008

Door after door after door; these women walk the streets canvassing for Hillary Clinton votes. Suzan Nolan says, “I really believe in Hillary Clinton. She’s a strong, educated, experienced woman.
http://www.kevn.com/NewsStories.aspx?StoryID=10164

Misogyny I Won’t Miss
Washington Post by Marie Cocco May 15, 2008

I won’t miss reading another treatise by a man or woman, of the left or right, who says that sexism has had not even a teeny-weeny bit of influence on the course of the Democratic campaign. To hint that sexism might possibly have had a minimal role is to play that risible “gender card.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/14/AR2008051403090.html

Hillary Clinton holds a solid lead over John McCain in the latest Gallup general election tracking poll while Barack Obama is in a statistical tie with the presumptive Republican nominee.

Clinton’s fans are highlighting the latest results to argue that Democratic Party superdelegates should overturn Obama’s margin among pledged delegates to give her the nomination. Or at the very least, some argue she at least needs to have the No. 2 spot on the ticket.

and Bill Clinton says:
Clinton also suggested some were trying to “cover up” Sen. Clinton’s chances of winning in key states that Democrats will have to win in the general election.

” ‘Oh, this is so terrible: The people they want her. Oh, this is so terrible: She is winning the general election, and he is not. Oh my goodness, we have to cover this up.’ ”

Clinton did not expound on who he was accusing. Watch Clinton talk about the “cover up.” »

The former president added that his wife had not been given the respect she deserved as a legitimate presidential candidate.

“She is winning the general election today and he is not, according to all the evidence,” Clinton said. “And I have never seen anything like it. I have never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running.”

“Her only position was, ‘Look, if I lose I’ll be a good team player. We will all try to win, but let’s let everybody vote, and count every vote,’ ” he said.

The former president suggested that if the New York senator ended the primary season with an edge in the popular vote, it would be a significant development.

“If you vote for her and she does well in Montana and she does well in Puerto Rico, when this is over she will be ahead in the popular vote,” Clinton said.

“And they’re trying to get her to cry uncle before the Democratic Party has to decide what to do in Florida and Michigan,” which Clinton said the party would need to do “unless we want to lose the election

Thank you, Nancy, for the Obama update. You have been so right on about everyone in the two campaigns from the beginning, so trust this will also be an accurate assessment. I personally hope it does. As one astrologer once said to me, “If it ain’t in your chart, it ain’t going to happen.” In other words, I can hope and pray to be Queen of England or President ofthe US,but if my chart doesn’t support it, then all the trying in the world won’t make it so.

Ending High and Ending Low

Who would have thought that as the primary season in America winds to a close, that the candidate who looks most likely the become the presidential nominee would be ending shakily while the loser would be closing on a high? It still looks likely (but not certain) that Obama will be the presidential nominee but his campaign is ending on a much lower note than Hillary’s. Where there should be excitement, jubilation and celebration, the Obama campaign has lost 5 of the 6 most recent contests and is trailing Hillary in match ups with John McCain. And as Maureen Dowd points out, “Obama may have started the primary season with an inspiring win in 94-percent-white Iowa, but he is winding it up with a resounding loss in 94-percent-white West Virginia.” There doesn’t seem to be as much confetti and balloons lining his path to the nomination now that it seems unobstructed.
Meanwhile, Hillary is riding high, emerging from her campaign alight and alive, a phoenix-like rebirth that has granted her a convincing populist image, the adoration of millions of voters, and the respect of her competitors on both the left and the right. A day doesn’t go by that CNN doesn’t mention her tenacity; superdelegates, out of sheer respect, are no longer calling for her to drop out; and there’s a flood of articles and blogs hailing her fortitude, her composure and her strength.

It’s interesting to watch the nomination process close and see Hillary ending so positive, so upbeat, with a blowout win in West Virginia in her pocket and two more crushing victories in Kentucky and Puerto Rico on the horizon. Look out if Hillary upsets in Oregon, Montana or South Dakota, and if the Democratic Party Rules Committee seats Florida or Michigan’s delegates. If those happen, then this interesting close to the primary season may get a little more lively yet.

http://thefledglingblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/ending-high-and-ending-low.html

Nancy,

Really loving the larger font - oh, those tired eyes of mine!

Re: the Democratic nominee; may the person who can serve the highest good of all concerned prevail.

cheers!

Jerry,

No offense taken whatsoever — I thought that McBush poster was very funny. But even funnier cuz’ it’s true. And that’s scary.

“Last night, before a packed crowd at Hay, Carter spoke of his “horror” at America’s involvement in torturing prisoners, saying he wanted the next US president to promise never to do so again.

He left an intriguing hint that George Bush might even face prosecution on war crimes charges once he left office.

When pressed by Philippe Sands QC on Bush’s recent admission that he had authorised interrogation procedures widely seen as amounting to torture, Carter replied that he was sure Bush would be able to live a peaceful, “productive life - in our country”.

Sands, an international legal expert, said afterwards that he understood that to be “clear confirmation” that while Bush would face no challenge in his own country, “what happened outside the country was another matter entirely”.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/26/israelandthepalestinians.usa1

Hillary supporters are coming from a very dark place. It’s very unfortunate that she has lead so many people into such ugliness.

Hillary now not only wants all her votes in the Michigan election which she pledged NOT to participate in and which she said did NOT count…

AND she wants a percentage of the Uncommitted.

That’s right. Those voters who went to the polls on a snowy day to vote in an election they were told wouldn’t count and pulled the lever for anyone BUT Hillary should
have their vote go TO Hillary.

And yet, she bleets she wants all the voters intentions honored.

What a piece of mendacious work.

The thought Hillary is ending on a high note is delusional.

Teamsters Endorse Obama (A little aside from the Onion)
The powerful Teamsters labor union endorsed Barack Obama. What do you think?

Ann Pepperell,
Systems Analyst
“It’s still not an official endorsement until he pumps his arm and gets one of them to blow their horn.”

Barry Lyall,
Smoking Cessation Counselor
“I’m not sure what that really does for him aside from adding another tacky hat to his collection.”

Steven Henley,
Heating Engineer
“Well I was going to vote for him out of hope, but I suppose voting for him out of fear and intimidation is just as good.

In esoteric astrology, Mars is Awakening. Ripping apart the veil of Ignorance associated with Saturn.

The Mars influence that Mundane Astrologers are seeing as “violence” in August could more likely refer to the point where those who have been deluded by Clinton machinations finally waking up and realizing they’ve been misled and lied to.

Rather than being on the receptive end of Mars, Obama may be its Agent.

There is the analogy of trying to wake someone who is fast asleep by gently shaking them. In their dreams, the sleeper thinks they are being attacked by a violent animal but upon awakening find it’s a family member lovingly trying to rouse them.

The Clintons and those who are financing them have a LOT invested in keeping this farce going.

Over half of the contributions Clinton received last month came from Washington DC.

McCain continues to attack Obama: Uranus opposite Obama’s Mars and the building Mars transit to Obama and McCain’s charts.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0508/McCain_says_Obama_has_long_wanted_to_surrender_in_Iraq.html

Obama’s GE Margin Of Error: Nonexistent
By Big Tent Democrat, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Sun May 25, 2008 at 04:51:16 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)

I am sorry to continue to harp on the need for a Unity Ticket, but I feel it is important. I just looked at the latest McCain-Obama head to heads (forget the electoral college math problems for a moment) and here they are:

Rasmussen: Obama 44, McCain 46

Gallup: Obama 45, McCain 47

Newsweek: Obama 46, McCain 46

Forget for a moment that Clinton is beating McCain in these same polls, excuse me, is no one but me worried about needing a unified Democratic Party in November? I pray there are grownups in the Obama camp that will give him a reality check on this.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/25/175116/499

BA:

I think those poll numbers are very temporary. They have been up and down all year and will continue to do so. I believe the race metrics will change once the Democratic nominee is clear. This is not only my intuition, its also my experience with the 2004 election.

2004 is ancient history. The political demographics are chaging. The democratic party is disolving. The inner circle who manipulate power who have given the new neophyte kid of the block the inside track in secret circular power ploys to further aid their own agendas, will publically flounder. Metrics smetrics. we soon will be beyond the point of no return with a new clique becoming the same as the old clique. The party is split, and don’t fool yourself for one moment that all Democrats will now gather under a big tent and hug. The bile and bitterness will continue to gestate. Saturn opposite Uranus will be shattering for the Dems and Repugs alike. Bitter feelings will fester and erupt in spurts of political necrotizing fasci. And quite pointedly the next American president will become increasingly a more insignificant abstraction on the world stage, constantly distracted by social upheaval, finacial atrophy, governmental incompetence, rampart inflation, racial infighting, cryptic policies that go nowhere, and a rather puerile approach to restructuring. I other words, morebof the same but worse. The era of we all hate each other is fast approaching. is this the brave new world? Film at eleven.

read ‘Necrotizing fasciitis’

CS,

The present rapid rise in oil prices, which shows no signs of abating, especially as we approach the peak driving season this summer appears to be unsustainable. It is clearly affecting world economic activity and only a matter of time before it will put severe stress and the brakes on the financial markets…….

Protests Over Soaring Fuel Costs Spread In Europe
By Emma Charlton
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

About 200 fishermen battled with police in the streets of Paris Wednesday as European protests against soaring fuel prices stretched from the U.K. to Bulgaria.

Continued…..

http://www.metalprices.com/metalNews.asp?id=70435&svc=ODJ&type=1

I think the Aug 1 s. eclipse/ Mars-Uranus opposition in early August leading up to the Mars-Pluto square at the time of the August 16th lunar eclipse is activating a lot of the built up tension.

An awakening may be in the cards and Obama may very well be the catalyst where it all begins. But whether that takes shape as a gentle rousing from a deep slumber as you are suggesting or a massive explosion as I tend to think is open to interpretation. Remember, the Mars-Pluto square will be activating the March 18, ‘07 solar eclipse. Nancy has given considerable amount of attention to this particular eclipse, especially in relation to Iran: http://www.themetaarts.com/2007july/nancysommers.html .

The inception of all this, beginning with the Aug 1 s. eclipse actually has two eclipses involved. Mars at 18 Virgo conjoins the 3/18/07 solar eclipse. This to me might be indicative of an imminent terrorist attack, and/or a violent attack on one of our political leaders during this period.

CORRECTION: Read instead: Mars at 18 Virgo conjoins the 9/11/07 solar eclipse.

We as a people are at a defining moment or Choice for our planet — that of right human relations with people everywhere on this planet or the possible annihiliation of our planet due to men with war-mongering minds who want to try and delude us that the continuation of wars with all the nuclear bombs out there will not somehow escalate to a fullblown war of these nuclear bombs which will bring about the destruction of the earth! So we can chose peace and diplomacy or a march toward nuclear proliferation. It is our choice.

Thank you C.S for your writings which I personally find insightful.

Julie W,

The momentum is towards war, but that doesn’t imply peaceful co-existence is beyond our grasp. I think all of this inflammatory tension sitting just beneath the surface has to find some entranceway - to be released out into the open, a purging if you will, in order for us to arrive at a deeper understanding and the peace that you speak of. Is there a choice involved in that? I think people generally feel uncomfortable about radical change and so there may be a lot of resistance involved in this process.

‘Karma’: Actress Sharon Stone Blames China’s Treatment Of Tibet For Earthquake

Sharon Stone’s remarks are not anything out of the usual. But what is remarkable is that this editorial video segment had been aired on CEN; a Chinese television news network program. Here it is……

http://www.breitbart.tv/html/102463.html

A differing view re new birth time for Obama by Michael WolfStar: http://www.stariq.com

NewsScope for May 27, 2008

Was Barack Obama Born at 7:11 pm?

“Astrologers from 45 different countries gathered at the United Astrology Conference (UAC) in Denver last week and were treated to a new birth time for Barack Obama. The announced 7:11 pm* time was not from his birth certificate as originally billed, but from a circuitous route that leaves the data rated DD—Dirty Data. Still, many astrologers are touting this newly-found horoscope as accurate.

I don’t buy it. Obama’s theoretical Aquarius Ascendant puts Uranus, the ruler of his chart, in the Seventh House of partners, where it’s much afflicted by hard aspects to Saturn, the Midheaven, Vesta, and Pallas. How could such a placement be descriptive of Barack and Michelle’s long-term, stable marriage? This 7:11 pm chart also features zero planets in the Tenth or Eleventh Houses, necessary elements to assuming a national leadership role.

Every single president since World War I has had major natal placements in the First or Tenth Houses, emphasizing their sense of responsibility and self-motivation. The most common angular placements were Mars or Saturn (7/11), with Jupiter and Pluto in these houses also strongly represented (8/11). Obama’s 7:11 pm time gives only Chiron in the First House, which describes him as a sensitive, wounded type—not exactly the image he’s projecting in his campaign.

A 1:06 pm birth time** works well in practice and gives a Scorpio Ascendant, with the chart ruler Pluto in the Tenth House. Pluto here describes the fundamental change that is Obama’s campaign message. The co-ruler Mars is in the Eleventh House of community action. Mars has progressed into the Twelfth House of secret enemies, giving rise to the collective fear of assassination, which Hillary so indelicately expressed last week.”

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174936/frida_berrigan_the_pentagon_takes_over

Entrenched, Embedded, and Here to Stay
The Pentagon’s Expansion Will Be Bush’s Lasting Legacy

A full-fledged cottage industry is already focused on those who eagerly await the end of the Bush administration, offering calendars, magnets, and t-shirts for sale as well as counters and graphics to download onto blogs and websites. But when the countdown ends and George W. Bush vacates the Oval Office, he will leave a legacy to contend with. Certainly, he wills to his successor a world marred by war and battered by deprivation, but perhaps his most enduring legacy is now deeply embedded in Washington-area politics — a Pentagon metastasized almost beyond recognition.

The Pentagon’s massive bulk-up these last seven years will not be easily unbuilt, no matter who dons the presidential mantle on January 19, 2009. “The Pentagon” is now so much more than a five-sided building across the Potomac from Washington or even the seat of the Department of Defense. In many ways, it defies description or labeling.

Who, today, even remembers the debate at the end of the Cold War about what role U.S. military power should play in a “unipolar” world? Was U.S. supremacy so well established, pundits were then asking, that Washington could rely on softer economic and cultural power, with military power no more than a backup (and a domestic “peace dividend” thrown into the bargain)? Or was the U.S. to strap on the six-guns of a global sheriff and police the world as the fountainhead of “humanitarian interventions”? Or was it the moment to boldly declare ourselves the world’s sole superpower and wield a high-tech military comparable to none, actively discouraging any other power or power bloc from even considering future rivalry?

More at the link….

Pat C,

Looking at it from another angle, there are fundamental challenges that face us in the near term. With the approaching Presidential elections in the Fall, we as a country and the government that represents us is in transition and as such, are much more vulnerable to terrorist attacks………

Perfect Storm Could Change Presidential Election
by Robert Maginnis

3/09/2008

A series of erupting international crises may force the presidential candidates to change the focus of their campaigns this fall. There are so many developing situations that a sort of geopolitical “perfect storm” could hit them when they would rather be talking about economic and social issues. Weather phenomena rarely combine in predictable harmony: geopolitical events are more predictable.

The forces behind a 2008 perfect storm would likely be terrorists or foreign governments creating a mass of challenges that overwhelm the candidates and place the debate squarely on how the Bush White House is dealing with the world in the president’s final months.

A major terrorist attack at home, the start of another war and the emergence of a threatening nuclear enemy are examples of geopolitical crises that could occur simultaneously. Such a confluence of events would severely stretch our government’s resources, torpedo the political rhetoric of the presidential campaigns and, thereby, expose the country to dangers that have kept us at war since 2001.

A peaceful fall campaign bodes well for the Democrats but a series of geopolitical crises could help Senator John McCain due to his extensive national security experience. The question is how many crises our government can juggle simultaneously without impairing our national security.

Some crises are planned to influence politics. Terrorist attacks are purely political events. And sometimes they succeed in overthrowing governments. The terrorists that struck the Spanish rail system in 2004 timed that event to occur just prior to national elections in order to influence Spain’s decision to abandon Iraq. They succeeded in causing the defeat of incumbent Jose Maria Aznar. The victor, Jose Luis Zapatero, lost no time in deciding to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.

Our fall elections also offer opportunity for terrorists to have an influence. The American response to the 9-11 attacks was to rally around the president and aggressively pursue al-Queda in Afghanistan. Another attack could stir the same sort of response. But after five years of war in Iraq, the same response is not certain.

Continued………….

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25400

Very soon now!

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

YES WE CAN! and DID!

For further elaboration, here is an excerpt from another article that helps the reader to have a better grasp of the magnititude of the crisis with an American administration in transition……

“……..The 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the attacks of September 11, 2001, both occurred within eight months of a change in presidential administrations. (At the time of the first attack, Bill Clinton had been president exactly 37 days.) In March 2004, Qaeda-linked terrorists bombed four Madrid commuter trains three days before Spain’s national elections. Periods of political transition are, by their very nature, chaotic; terrorists know this, and they exploit it. This is the reality: Terrorists strike when they believe governments will be caught off guard.

As of June 2, there are 597 days until the next presidential inauguration, on January 20, 2009. As the Bush administration’s days wind down, the government’s level of vulnerability — and the nation’s risk level — increase, and they will stay high until the next president gets on his or her feet. This is true in any transition. “The first year and a half of a new administration is really the most vulnerable in terms of political leadership,” says Paul Light, a professor at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.

Be Prepared

January 2009 has current and former officials particularly worried, because it marks the first time since 9/11 that the reins of national and domestic security will be handed off to a completely new team. At the Pentagon, this changeover doesn’t matter as much. It has an entire joint staff of senior military officers who oversee worldwide operations, as well as regional military commands whose senior leadership stays in place. The Homeland Security Department, however, is another story. It is still run almost entirely by political appointees and stands to be the most weakened during the transition.
“Any of the other main Cabinet departments have civil servants that step in” as acting officials during a transition, says Stephen Flynn, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a leading expert on the department and its history. “Homeland Security doesn’t have any of those…. And that’s extremely unusual.”

In the four and a half years since the department opened for business, few career officials have been promoted into positions of senior or even middle management. As a result, most of the responsibility for running the department, and its plethora of critical missions, is still in the hands of people who will be walking out the door as the Bush administration wanes or leaves en masse after the election. “The department virtually has no backbench,” Flynn says.

The upheaval that strikes all organizations during presidential transitions will be magnified at Homeland Security, which has the third-largest workforce of any Cabinet department. And because the department’s primary mission is to prepare for and respond to catastrophes, the magnitude of a terrorist attack or natural disaster during the transition could be compounded.

“The attack, when it happens, will be far more consequential,” Flynn says. Light echoes that sentiment, and alludes to the department’s most notorious disaster response. “The odds of a repeat of [Hurricane] Katrina are higher.”
Former officials and experts are alarmed that so few Bush administration officials or lawmakers of either party have fully grasped this, and they worry that come Inauguration Day, national security could suffer.

“My fear is that on January 20, where does that transition team go to triage, quickly, the first 10 decisions they need to make?” asks Randy Beardsworth, who left the department in September 2006 as the assistant secretary for strategic plans. “There’s not going to be a senior official with broad experience to answer that unless the transition team gets a couple of key folks to stay on a while.”

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0607/060107nj1.htm

Charming comment David. We are all guilty of that to one extent or the other. Care to elaborate?

Some interesting points made here about various governing systems.

The US constitution can’t let Bush go
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/article3734207.ece
Snip….
Yet Bush will remain in office, whatever happens, until next 20 January, despite a record of virtually unmitigated failure both at home and abroad. No matter that ordinary Americans are realising the damage he has inflicted on their country’s reputation and moral standing. No matter that three out of four of them want him gone, or that historians have long rated him one of the worst presidents ever, if not the very worst. There’s no way of getting rid of Bush before the appointed moment. Such are the increasingly evident shortcomings of that lauded exemplar of human political order, the American constitution.
Snip….
Alas, the monument is showing its age. Yes, it is a marvellous construction of checks and balances, and written down for all to peruse. But these checks and balances did not prevent Bush from launching his disastrous “pre-emptive” (or was it “preventive”?) war in Iraq. Nor did the US constitution stop Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, renditions, waterboarding, CIA “ghost camps” and the rest. Britain has no written constitution; the scope for such abuses, one might imagine, would be greater. But in the “war on terror”, Britain’s record in terms of preserving civil liberties is clearly better than that of the US.
And while Gordon Brown teeters, the US political system, as enshrined in its constitution, generates only stasis. The country is largely paralysed, while the world too waits for America to choose a new leader.
The nomination contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has been riveting, and the general election this autumn will be no less so. But the term “lame duck” inadequately describes Bush and Condoleezza Rice as they traipse around the Middle East and elsewhere, ignored by almost everyone. There’s only one thing Bush does have the power to do as these wasted months slip by – start a war with Iran.
Will the American system change? Of course not, no more than the British one will. They reflect different traditions and cultures. Both systems are set, if not on parchment, then in stone. But right now, as Brown trembles and Bush drifts on, I know which one I prefer.

David,

The extent of some people’s vocabulary, like your own, is very telling.

David, I’ve used many words and expressions over the years to describe my intense dislike for Hillary, suck was never one of them.
I guess it’s not powerful enough for my feelings, and I really didn’t know how to interpret the phrase.
So………I just looked up the “meaning of suck” and found this on a Kriyayoga site.
Recommended reading for all.

http://www.kriyayoga.com/love_blog/post.php/204

I erased David’s comment. (He remains completely unedited at home.)

Nancy:

Still much antipathy and divisiveness out there between the two camps, but I think its natural for this phase of the process as the nomineee is formalized.

I think ultimately, the country’s desire for change from the status quo, regardless of the players, is going to be the zeitgeist of Pluto in Capricorn. And its about time, don’t you think?

Actually I could use many words to describe how I feel and what I think about Hillary but why clog up the blog when one word alone says it all. What it “tells” is that enough is enough - step aside. Thank you.

The Asia Times article “Bush plans air strike by August” by Muhammad Cohen certainly could relate to Nancy’s article saying that August through early October may see some boost in Bush’s stature perhaps for the short-lived , seeming success of his military exploits.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE28Ak01.html

David, she’s not going to step aside. The Clintons invested everything they have in getting Hillary the Democratic nomination, and subsequently the Presidency. They did not bank on the oursider Obama being as popular as he is. I feel that she will take it all the way to the Convention in August, and there, if she doesn’t get the nomination, she and her husband will demand that she gets the consolation prize - Obama’s running mate, in the hope, that if something happens to Obama, she will eventually end up being President, and that may well happen. I sincerely hope that they don’t cave in to her and Bill’s demands that she be given the VP position on the ticket, if she doesn’t snag the nomination. I have already written to the Obama campaign about my concerns, and whoever doesn’t like it, can lump it.

Nancy, thank you for your wonderful article on Obama. Two questions: (1) What is a quincunx?
(2) Does Obama experience his Jupiter return on election day?

David, why do you hate her? I do not understand this cruel and bitter criticism that is leveled at Hillary Clinton.

David,

The first impression one has with that kind of comment is that it was a prank and therefore, I for one, did not take it very seriously. Thanks for taking the time to explain your feelings. If you want your message to be heard and understood, it may be helpful to articulate your thoughts clearly.

David, my intention was not to correct your expression, but a sincere question. I do not understand what has happened to Democrats. To me this is uncalled for, and damaging.

I don’t understand why everybody including Obama and his supporters must tiptoe on eggshells around Hillary, while the Democratic Party crafts a graceful exit for her, which I doubt she’ll take anyway. Obama and his supporters have been robbed of the joy of celebrating his victories for fear of offending the sensibilities of Queen Hillary. We must pay homage. Frankly, I am fed up with the whole situation. I want Obama to be declared the nominee so that I can start ceeeeellllleeeebrrrating! So far, the celebration has been muted.

The attacks on Hillary Clinton this past weekend were the most egregious pummeling I have ever seen. The Bush bunch are criminals, I doubt seriously any sane person can honestly put her in the same category. If anyone tries, it’s your first tip that they are either not playing with a full deck, or are playing with your head.

Don’t shoot the messenger - but the stats seem to bear it out; it appears that if the election was held now, McCain would win if Obama is the nominee. The rethugs haven’t even begun to make their mark on him. I don’t think he will be able to carry the country. At least not now.

Pat C.; you wrote:

“The attacks on Hillary Clinton this past weekend were the most egregious pummeling I have ever seen. The Bush bunch are criminals, I doubt seriously any sane person can honestly put her in the same category. If anyone tries, it’s your first tip that they are either not playing with a full deck, or are playing with your head.”

It is precisely the very violent, persistently hateful anti-Hillary rhetoric on this blog and others generated largely by Obama supporters that causes me great concern and hesitation about the soundness of mind of those who are perpetrating it.

Nancy and David,

Nancy,

In respect for you I offer my apology for responding as I did. I was not aware you and this particular David were connected. My sincere apology!!! It used to be that we could come to Starlight News and agree or disagree, but still discuss any manner of issues in a calm adult manner. That atmosphere has definitely changed these past weeks. Maybe it’s the campaign and election but it seems to be deeper than that.

David,

I will only say one more thing about this. I thought your comment was an attempt at humorous sarcasm, hence my comment of “The extent of some people’s vocabulary, like your own, is very telling.” My apology!!

It might help to keep in mind that not everyone thinks Hillary Rodham Clinton is the devil in female form. On the other hand, not everyone thinks Barack Hussein Obama is god in male form either. Most people, hopefully, want to get rid of Bush and his like enough to see beyond that age-old fear of an imperfect but still very capable man or woman.

It worries me will. It really does.

This certainly forces one sit up and take notice. According to the article just posted by Midge…..

“The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently.”

If this report is substantiated or has serious merit to it, could the August 1 solar eclipse be the target date the Bushies are looking at? An eclipse right on George W’s natal Pluto-Mercury in close proximity to his ascendant? With tr. Mars in square to Bush’s Uranus and nodes and within one degree of square to the US Mars… could this be it?

Eclipses often tend to release conflicting elements that had previously been obstructed or hindered from free expression. It creates the environment for change, the disengaging of ones inhibitions so to speak. Is George W’s message (Mercury) to the world (ascendant) about to go explode (Pluto)?

Here’s some info I found on the net regarding eclipses…….

Eclipses & Their Meanings
by Karen McCoy

When the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth a solar eclipse occurs; a lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon. Prior to your birth (sometimes between conception and the first breath of life) there were at least two eclipses — one solar and one lunar. These prenatal eclipses have a profound influence on an unborn child, and the energy pattern dispensed during these eclipses follows you the rest of your life.

The magnetic pull of the Sun and the Moon eclipsing is strong enough to open the Earth’s sheath temporarily so that these energies can be received. At the time of the solar eclipse the planet is seeded with the energy pattern that correlates to the psychodynamics of the constellation the Sun is in at the time.

One way to think about this is that when the Earth’s “window” opens to receive this “cosmic dusting”, the “view” (energy, information and knowledge) that is in front of the window is what is perceived. So if the Sun is in Sagittarius when the eclipse occurs, the knowledge and information available through Sagittarius is visible. When the window is open, not only is that knowledge visible, but the Earth’s magnetic field pulls in the energy of that constellation. When the Moon is eclipsed, a similar process takes place.

At birth, both of these energies enter the body. By knowing the sign of the solar eclipse preceding your birth, you can identify the covenant you made with the universe in exchange for the privilege of having a body and being on the planet.

Impact Of Eclipses

The immense impact of the eclipses on individual destiny seems to be tied in with the workings of the planet Pluto. Our research has shown that those born prior to the discovery of Pluto in January 1930 may not be as subject to the effect of their prenatal eclipses. However, those born before 1930 who are particularly evolved and aware beings are just as sensitive to these influences as those born after January 1930. This can be explained, in part, by the fact that even though the planet Pluto was in existence prior to 1930, humankind’s consciousness had not yet evolved to the point where Pluto’s energies could be received. Once that point was reached (in 1930), Pluto was “discovered” on the physical plane.

What Eclipses Mean

The sign of the solar eclipse shows a “universal” destiny. It is the energy of the collective unconscious that needs to be actively expressed on the Earth at that given point in time for its own balance. The souls that are born into each solar eclipse have been “dusted” with that energy and have promised to spread that energy on the Earth to help with the growth and evolution of the planet.

Thus, whatever solar eclipse preceded your birth is the energy the universe has invested in you and that you have promised to share during your travels on Earth.

The solar eclipse energy is what you are here to clarify for the collective whole. Where your solar eclipse is concerned, you must share as you have promised in your covenant with the universe. Your only choice lies in whether to share your gift in a positive or in a negative way. You can go about your life willingly sharing this gift with your fellow beings, or you can teach the lesson by having such negative traits that those around you learn what not to do from your behavior and personality. If you do choose to teach these lessons in a negative manner, you are creating an imbalance within your life that causes your own lessons to be learned with more difficulty than is necessary.

You promised that you would share the energy of the “solar” eclipse in order to earn the right to come onto this plane and learn the lessons represented by your “lunar” eclipse. The universe operates in perfect balance.

If you give something, you open yourself to receiving something. So when you accepted the gift represented by your solar eclipse and promised to share it with others, you earned the right to learn the lessons you need in order to evolve, as shown by your lunar eclipse. The lunar eclipse is what you need for your own soul growth pattern: what you have come to learn, where you hurt, where you need completion. And as you master these lessons, the entire planet learns them, and part of the universal balance is attained.

Evolved souls cooperate with this universal plan, spreading their solar eclipse teachings and mastering their lunar eclipse lessons, thus fulfilling their contracts with the universe. At that point, they are freed to enjoy being on the planet without obstructions, free to attract and experience the beauty, fun, and bounty available on planet Earth.

Typo: read “forces one TO sit up and take notice”

For those of you who do not understand why most Obama supporters are not kindly disposed towards Hillary, this article may give you an inkling why, but you first have to remove the moat in your eye. The sad thing about Hillary, is that in her single-minded goal to try and claw her way back to the top, she has become careless with her choice of words, and this can only do her more harm than good.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/opinion/27herbert.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Ahh…a breath of fresh air, and maybe some sunshine too, to dispel the darkness…

http://raginguniverse.blogspot.com/

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10649.html

Exclusive: McClellan whacks Bush, White House

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in a surprisingly scathing memoir to be published next week that President Bush “veered terribly off course,” was not “open and forthright on Iraq,” and took a “permanent campaign approach” to governing at the expense of candor and competence.

Among the most explosive revelations in the 341-page book, titled “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” (Public Affairs, $27.95):

• McClellan charges that Bush relied on “propaganda” to sell the war.

• He says the White House press corps was too easy on the administration during the run-up to the war.

• He admits that some of his own assertions from the briefing room podium turned out to be “badly misguided.”

• The longtime Bush loyalist also suggests that two top aides held a secret West Wing meeting to get their story straight about the CIA leak case at a time when federal prosecutors were after them — and McClellan was continuing to defend them despite mounting evidence they had not given him all the facts.

• McClellan asserts that the aides — Karl Rove, the president’s senior adviser, and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the vice president’s chief of staff — “had at best misled” him about their role in the disclosure of former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity.

More at the link….

Professor - A quincunx is a 150 degree angle and can be seen in a natal chart to indicate a need for “adjustment” between the two planets involved. As a transit, I see it less as “an adjustment” and more as bringing the energy of the transiting planet to the natal planet, not as strong as a conjunction but stronger than a sextile or possibly a trine. I also think the strength of a transit is increased when there is a planetary station, and the Jupiter station is exactly quincunx Obama’s Sun, thus giving him the full force of Jupiter impacting his Sun for several weeks. This of course is only if the 7:11 chart is correct as was presented in Denver. There seems now to be some question about it by Wolfstar among others.

Obama’s Jupiter return is in early January followed by Jupiter quincunx Venus, Jupiter opposite Mercury, and Jupiter trine the Moon (timing of this depends on the birth time but will fall in January at some point). For the Inauguration there will be a Sun/Mercury conjunction on his Jupiter which sounds like a speech to me.

Continuing on with my thoughts from the previous entry:

So how will US hostilities with Iran begin? If we are looking towards the August 1, ‘08 solar eclipse for clues; the eclipse conjoins within a degree, the Gulf of Tonkin incident of August 2, 1964. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on Aug 5th propelled the US into a dramatically escalated conflict with North Vietnam………

Iran Showdown Has Echoes of Faked Tonkin Attack

by Nick Juliano
January 11, 2008

A dramatic showdown at sea. Crossed communication signals. Apparently-hostile craft nearby. Sketchy intelligence leading to ratcheted up rhetoric.

The similarities between this week’s confrontation between US warships and Iranian speedboats and events off the coast of North Vietnam 44 years ago were too hard for many experts to miss, leading to the question: Is the Strait of Hormuz 2008’s Gulf of Tonkin?

On Aug. 2nd and 4th, 1964, the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy, patrolling off the North Vietnamese coast, intercepted signals indicating they were under attack. Within days, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which paved the way to the escalation of the Vietnam War. However, as some intelligence agents suspected at the time, the Aug. 2nd attack took place after the USS Maddox fired first, according to a National Security Agency report released in 1995.

Continued……

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Echoes_of_Tonkin_seen_in_averted_0111.html

Brzezinski Suggests False Flag Event Could Kick-Start Iran War

Top globalist warns Congress of provocation or terrorist attack inside U.S.

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Former National Security Advisor and founding member of the Trilateral Commission Zbigniew Brzezinski tacitly warned a Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that an attack on Iran could be launched following a staged provocation in Iraq or a false flag terror attack within the U.S.

Brzezinski alluded to the potential for the Bush administration to manufacture a false flag Gulf of Tonkin type incident in describing a “plausible scenario for a military collision with Iran,” which would revolve around “some provocation in Iraq or a terrorist act in the US blamed on Iran, culminating in a ‘defensive’ US military action against Iran that plunges a lonely America into a spreading and deepening quagmire eventually ranging across Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

Continued……..

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/060207falseflag.htm

Rep. Ron Paul Concerned a “Contrived Gulf of Tonkin Type Incident May Occur”

http://www.davidduke.com/general/ron-paul-a-contrived-gulf-of-tonkin-type-incident-may-occur_1693.html

Flo - No apology needed. I deleted David’s comment, but unfortunately not before several people had seen it. Then my computer crashed for several hours (Mercury station: Comcast is very consistent on this several times a year). I thought the comment really uncalled for. As Jerry says, it is better to lay out one’s thoughts more clearly ( a nicer way of putting it than I bothered with). I personally don’t elucidate my feelings about Hillary so as not to anger half the population here. I feel it serves no purpose. We all see things through our own lens. “Desire colors perception.” I am glad our two candidates have mostly refrained from bashing each other of late, though some comments are still destructive. If we want to beat McInsane, we need to get together.

Tonight’s Olberman covered the latest scandal from the McInsane camp: Phil Graham was one of the most influential senators in the deregulation that led to the mortgage crisis and continues to preach deregulation to McInsane. What a lovely talking point to connect McCain to the mortgage crisis. Yum!

Folks - If you don’t want your post to have to wait on the moderation panel, please only put in one link at a time. Otherwise, they have to wait for me, and I am not always here.

Big Brother IS Watching You

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19989.htm

“The Government is planning to introduce a giant database that will hold the details of every phone call we have made, every e-mail we have sent and every webpage we have visited in the past 12 months. This is needed to fight crime and terrorism, the Government claims.”

Big Brother IS Watching You

http://tinyurl.com/4443w9

JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: ANXIOUS HIATUS

http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/

“The crisis at hand now goes way beyond a crisis of capital — though that is certainly part of it. Notice how many of the things we had in 1933 are gone now. Our cities, with a few exceptions, are imploded husks. Our small towns and small cities (Schenectady, home of G.E.!) are gutted, especially in terms of locally-owned business. Our passenger rail system is worse than anything a Soviet ministry might produce (while the airline industry that replaced it is dying of a kind of financial hemorrhagic fever). Our local transit hardly exists anymore. Family farms have all but disappeared. We have plenty of manpower earnestly eager to become American Idols (but certainly not for heavy labor). Our oil industry now supplies only a fraction of the world’s daily supply (and not even enough for half of our own needs).”

Scroll down for the video and pass it on:

http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/27/191613/927/960/523806

Pat C –

Thanks for posting the Kuntsler piece. He has been incredibly prescient. I have long thought that Saturn in Virgo would bring Peak Oil finally into the mainstream, where it should be taken as seriously as global warming and every other major threat to the existence of humankind. Oil shortages, oil wars, and oil obsession in general were the big story thirty years ago, last time Saturn was in Virgo. Although I think the last transit was just the prelude — this is the real deal. We are truly running out, and we have to change our lifestyles, frankly, if we want to eat.

This will be the last of my contributions on this particular theme, at least for now……….

How the US Has Gotten Into Wars
By Ed Rippy 5/27/02

In this article, sixth in a series about the US’s so-called “war on terrorism,” we examine the history of how the US (or the thirteen colonies) got into six wars (not all of them declared). We cannot delve into the entire context of each war, but focus on the events which “justified” new or increased US (or colonial) military response. They are (in chronological order): The Boston Massacre, the sinking of the Maine, the sinking of the Lusitania, the attack on Pearl Harbor, The Gulf of Tonkin “incident,” and the invasion (by Iraq) of Kuwait. We also examine a plan (not carried out) to fabricate a set of “Cuban” attacks on the US and other countries to “justify” a US war on Cuba.

In four of the wars which actually happened, the prior events “justifying” them (the Boston Massacre, the attack on Pearl Harbor, The Gulf of Tonkin “incident,” and the invasion of Kuwait) were set up, fabricated, or some combination of both. Even the sinkings of the Maine and Lusitania resulted from knowingly placing US troops or civilians at risk. It is clear that when certain elements of the US power elite decide on a war, they often manipulate international events and people’s perceptions to get their way. More than once, these attacks have killed US (or colonial) troops, civilians, or both. Given this historical pattern, it would not be extraordinary if powerful elements in the US government set up and permitted the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

History, of course, is an interpretive art. None of these accounts can be taken as absolutely true or final. They are, however, the best evidence this writer has been able to find.

With all the lies and secrecy surrounding these events, it is impossible to say exactly who’s pulling the strings. Even powerful people may feel forced to do things they would rather not and to lie about them. The author’s intention is not to impute motives or assign blame, but to get closer to the truth of events, and to show how rarely things are what they seem.

Of course, it is not only the US which engages in such murderous duplicity. We examine US history here because we wish to understand the context of attacks on the US and ensuing US military actions.

Continued…..

http://erippy.home.mindspring.com/How_the_US_Has_Gotten_Into_Wars.html

This will be the last of my contributions on this particular theme, at least for now……….

How the US Has Gotten Into Wars
By Ed Rippy 5/27/02

In this article, sixth in a series about the US’s so-called “war on terrorism,” we examine the history of how the US (or the thirteen colonies) got into six wars (not all of them declared). We cannot delve into the entire context of each war, but focus on the events which “justified” new or increased US (or colonial) military response. They are (in chronological order): The Boston Massacre, the sinking of the Maine, the sinking of the Lusitania, the attack on Pearl Harbor, The Gulf of Tonkin “incident,” and the invasion (by Iraq) of Kuwait. We also examine a plan (not carried out) to fabricate a set of “Cuban” attacks on the US and other countries to “justify” a US war on Cuba.

In four of the wars which actually happened, the prior events “justifying” them (the Boston Massacre, the attack on Pearl Harbor, The Gulf of Tonkin “incident,” and the invasion of Kuwait) were set up, fabricated, or some combination of both. Even the sinkings of the Maine and Lusitania resulted from knowingly placing US troops or civilians at risk. It is clear that when certain elements of the US power elite decide on a war, they often manipulate international events and people’s perceptions to get their way. More than once, these attacks have killed US (or colonial) troops, civilians, or both. Given this historical pattern, it would not be extraordinary if powerful elements in the US government set up and permitted the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

History, of course, is an interpretive art. None of these accounts can be taken as absolutely true or final. They are, however, the best evidence this writer has been able to find.

With all the lies and secrecy surrounding these events, it is impossible to say exactly who’s pulling the strings. Even powerful people may feel forced to do things they would rather not and to lie about them. The author’s intention is not to impute motives or assign blame, but to get closer to the truth of events, and to show how rarely things are what they seem.

Of course, it is not only the US which engages in such murderous duplicity. We examine US history here because we wish to understand the context of attacks on the US and ensuing US military actions.

Continued…..

http://tinyurl.com/6qlbpv

This is a bit terrifying. Any thoughts from anyone (I’m talking to you, Jerry W) about the next few weeks with regard to this new tape?

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2730566220080528

Hi Stefanie,

It’s difficult to discern what it’s all about. There have been so many of these video releases over the years that never followed through with their threats, although that’s not to minimize the dangers.

I found the following article over at ‘The National Terror Alert Response Center’ helpful…..

Al-Qaeda Call For Nuclear Or Chemical Weapon Attack Against West - Threat, Attack Signal or Hoax?

http://tinyurl.com/4rdvve

In Nancy’s July 2004 article entitled ‘Terrorism, The Olympics and 9/11′ she uses the Feb 23, ‘98 Al Qaeda chart as a reference point, and significantly, some attention had been given to the Al Qaeda Mars placement (22 ‘43 Pisces). This of course is the degree where Uranus will be stationing in late June. I would think this area of the chart should be fairly active for the next couple of months. Tr. Mars will be opposing Uranus and the Al Qaeda natal Mars on August 6th.

The new book by former Press Secretary Scott McClellan, scheduled for public release today is causing shock waves in Washington DC. NBC news reports that the Bush administration will not comment, but it is clear they are stunned.

McClellan was considered a close, loyal aide to President Bush. His long-standing personal association with George W Bush stems all the way back to Bush’s tenure as Governor of Texas…….

WHAT HAPPENED?
Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception
by SCOTT MCCLELLAN

With unprecedented candor, one of George W. Bush’s closest aides takes readers behind the scenes of the Bush presidency, and what exactly happened to take it off course

Scott McClellan was one of a few Bush loyalists from Texas who became part of his inner circle of trusted advisers, and remained so during one of the most challenging and contentious periods of recent history. Drawn to Bush by his commitment to compassionate conservatism and strong bipartisan leadership, McClellan served the president for more than seven years, and witnessed day-to-day exactly how the presidency veered off course.
In this refreshingly clear-eyed book, written with no agenda other than to record his experiences and insights for the benefit of history, McClellan provides unique perspective on what happened and why it happened the way it did, including the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, Washington’s bitter partisanship, and two hotly contested presidential campaigns. He gives readers a candid look into who George W. Bush is and what he believes, and into the personalities, strengths, and liabilities of his top aides. Finally, McClellan looks to the future, exploring the lessons this presidency offers the American people as we prepare to elect a new leader.

http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/publicaffairsbooks-cgi-bin/display?book=9781586485566

Exclusive: McClellan Whacks Bush, White House
By MIKE ALLEN | 5/27/08

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in a surprisingly scathing memoir to be published next week that President Bush “veered terribly off course,” was not “open and forthright on Iraq,” and took a “permanent campaign approach” to governing at the expense of candor and competence.

Among the most explosive revelations in the 341-page book, titled “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception”……………

Continued:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10649.html

Pat C if you wonder why people hate Hillary you must have been asleep the past six months.

This woman has single-handedly divided the Democratic Party.

From her ‘please vote for me racist white people’ to her trying to have the delegates from Florida and Michigan seated even though she signed the pledge last August along with all of the other Democratic candidates to deny those delegates seats at the convention.

Now Bill is in crybaby mode claiming that Hillary is losing only because the mean press is biased against her because she is a woman.

The only reason she is running is because she is married to a former president and the only reason she got her senate seat is because people felt sorry for her because she was humiliated by her husband.

It just seems as if Hillary profits much from her status as permenant victim. However I don’t believe the American electorate wants a perpetual victim to be CIC.

That is your opinion. Hate is an unfortunate emotion. It distorts everything genuine and real by the person perpetrating it. It feeds on itself and creates a continued imbalance. Worse, it is such negativity and intransigence that gave us GWB, and it is such vitriol coming from a certain surprising segment of the purported Democratic left that in and of itself not only threatens real democracy but spiritually shifts the quality of any positive message meant to be imparted by a movement at large. It simply is a disease. Such germinators of hate should know that hate is adding karmic weight to the scales. All that continued negativity spewed will be more than
responsible for a horrible karmic backlash, fully indicated by chart activity and transit action, than by any misconstrued comments made by a political candidate in a campaign. The coming eclipses are dangerous, energies feed on themselves. Holster your hate. It does not serve you well, and it will end up harming the cause you suggest you support in a more destructive way than you realize.

Oh! Too true robert! This is really worrisome.

Brian, no one can accuse me of not paying attention. I pay attention more than most, and I see quite a bit.

Brian,

Some who support a candidate besides Barack Obama also look around and see the truly horrific mess men have made of this world. Check the daily headlines for endless examples. Then some look at an imperfect but capable woman running and ask why not? The reasoning goes something along the line of men have certainly done us no favors, so why not give a woman a chance at running this country? As I mentioned above in an earlier post not everyone is convinced Barack Obama is god in male form. Nor is everyone certain that Hillary Clinton is the devil in female form.

It’s apparent the media wants everyone to believe that most of the support for Hillary Clinton comes from “uneducated southern white working skinheads” as I’ve seen it stated. If that claim was turned around and made about Barack Obama whites would be crucified for it, but that is not happening. It’s truly unfortunate that so many supposedly intelligent adults are buying into that argument too.

I have only one wish regardless of who America ends up voting for in November. I sincerely hope this country does not again live to regret the choice they make. We’ve lived through eight miserable years of regret for a choice made. I, for one, would like to look to the WH and for once be proud of who resides there.

I liked Edwards and Gore……sigh. I think we got the candidates that were given the publicity to move forward. The only candidates that ever made my skin crawl were Nixon, Reagan, Bush 1, Bush 2, and McCain. I consistently dislike Republicans. Bush 2 is the cherry on the sunday.

Look at this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/washington/28mcclellan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

robert c,

Holy Karmic Backlash, Batman!!!

SOOO glad you are back with your astrological brilliance, vision and karmic insight….

Well, some see only what they wish to see, and hear only what they wish to hear. Hillary’s advisers and her campaign have been divisive from the beginning, and that is why they have inspired so much “hate”. Obama’s campaign started out with high ideals, but could not remain so, because of attacks from the Clintons and their camp to which Obama’s campaign was forced to respond. One fine example of Hillary’s petty and childish attacks (just in case your memory fails you), is when she publicly mocked Obama at one of her rallies, with her “the sky opening up, and heavenly rays pouring down on him” speech, in reference to his audience being moved by his speeches. I found this particularly churlish of her, and this is just one of the minor attacks on him. Another vicious one, was when she said that she and Mc Cain were equipped to lead, but all Obama had was a 2004 speech. That was beyond the pale to demean another Democratic candidate in that fashion. Not to mention the “Muslim” smears. Have I managed to jog your memory just a bit?

Flo,

“It’s apparent the media wants everyone to believe that most of the support for Hillary Clinton comes from “uneducated southern white working skinheads” as I’ve seen it stated.”

It’s not the media that promulgated that, it’s Hillary who repeated it over and over. I have never heard Obama claim to represent any particular group. In fact, he has always stressed, and promoted unity to include all races, classes and cultures. Unity, hope and change were the mainstays of his campaign.

Same words to a different person. Choose your words and emotions carefully. You reap what you sow. I am not speaking politically here. Everyone knows who is for or against whem for whatever reason. I am speaking of the collective consciousness, what is pulled from the Akashic records. Energies can be made manifest or dissapated. Its time to be circumspect.

I would like to add another reason why Hillary does not command as much respect as Obama does. Obama has consistently played by the rules that the DNC, and DLC laid down for the Primaries. Hillary and her camp have consistently and unethically try to change the rules, and keep moving the goalposts to accommodate her every time that she saw herself getting further away from the prize.

Hope nobody here has lost their sense of humor, ’cause this is a barrel of laughs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/opinion/28dowd.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

robert c,

robert c, I enjoy reading your words. thanks for the sanity breaks.

With great appreciation to Sally’s earlier post:
“The Law of One

The most important belief within the Law of One is that “All is One, One is All.” Following from this, and also reflecting the Golden Rule found in most religions, the Law of One holds that each should treat others as they would want to be treated themselves. The rationale held by the Law of One is that since everyone is all ultimately One, in hurting another one is ultimately hurting oneself.”

crystal,

You asked, “Have I managed to jog your memory just a bit?” I try to “jog” my memory every day with the latest events on this campaign as well as other issues. So, yes, I do remember quite well the remarks you referred to.

What I was trying to do, and continue to do now, is present some insight into why some may not be in lockstep with everyone else. Regardless of who this country votes for in November, we are going to get plenty of imperfections. Therefore, as most others have sung the praises of one I’ve tried to point out that both Democratic candidates have plenty of flaws. As a minor example, both candidates have to answer for what their spouses say and do. One should not be exempted from press scrutiny while the other is made out to be a demon.

I simply hope everyone can get beyond what feels good or sounds good at the moment and see the long term affects of their choice. This idea of suffering, with everyone else, through four to eight long years of misery because of a bad WH resident got old long time ago.

Nancy, I didn’t get a chance to read David’s post before it was pulled, but I hope he’s not banned from posting.

Hillary’s letter to superdeligates:

BTW: I think all her points are valid.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/05/28/politics/horserace/entry4131914.shtml

Dear ___________,

The stakes in this election are so high: with two wars abroad, our economy in crisis here at home, and so many families struggling across America, the need for new leadership has never been greater.

At this point, we do not yet have a nominee – and when the last votes are cast on June 3, neither Senator Obama nor I will have secured the nomination. It will be up to automatic delegates like you to help choose our party’s nominee, and I would like to tell you why I believe I am the stronger candidate against Senator McCain and would be the best President and Commander in Chief.

Voters in every state have made it clear that they want to be heard and counted as part of this historic race. And as we reach the end of the primary season, more than 17 million people have supported me in my effort to become the Democratic nominee – more people than have ever voted for a potential nominee in the history of our party. In the past two weeks alone, record numbers of voters participated in the West Virginia and Kentucky primaries. And with 40 and 35 point margins of victory, it is clear that even when voters are repeatedly told this race is over, they’re not giving up on me – and I am not giving up on them either.

After seven years of feeling invisible to the Bush administration, Americans are seeking a President who is strong, experienced, and ready to take on our toughest challenges, from serving as Commander in Chief and ending the war in Iraq to turning our economy around. They want a President who shares their core beliefs about our country and its future and “gets” what they go through every day to care for their families, pay the bills and try to put something away for the future.

We simply cannot afford another four – or eight – years in the wilderness. That is why, everywhere I go, people come up to me, grip my hand or arm, and urge me to keep on running. That is why I continue in this race: because I believe I am best prepared to lead this country as President – and best prepared to put together a broad coalition of voters to break the lock Republicans have had on the electoral map and beat Senator McCain in November.

Recent polls and election results show a clear trend: I am ahead in states that have been critical to victory in the past two elections. From Ohio, to Pennsylvania, to West Virginia and beyond, the results of recent primaries in battleground states show that I have strong support from the regions and demographics Democrats need to take back the White House. I am also currently ahead of Senator McCain in Gallup national tracking polls, while Senator Obama is behind him. And nearly all independent analyses show that I am in a stronger position to win the Electoral College, primarily because I lead Senator McCain in Florida and Ohio. I’ve enclosed a detailed analysis of recent electoral and polling information, and I hope you will take some time to review it carefully.

In addition, when the primaries are finished, I expect to lead in the popular vote and in delegates earned through primaries. Ultimately, the point of our primary process is to pick our strongest nominee – the one who would be the best President and Commander in Chief, who has the greatest support from members of our party, and who is most likely to win in November. So I hope you will consider not just the strength of the coalition backing me, but also that more people will have cast their votes for me.

I am in this race for them — for all the men and women I meet who wake up every day and work hard to make a difference for their families. People who deserve a shot at the American dream – the chance to save for college, a home and retirement; to afford quality health care for their families; to fill the gas tank and buy the groceries with a little left over each month.

I am in this race for all the women in their nineties who’ve told me they were born before women could vote, and they want to live to see a woman in the White House. For all the women who are energized for the first time, and voting for the first time. For the little girls – and little boys – whose parents lift them onto their shoulders at our rallies, and whisper in their ears, “See, you can be anything you want to be.” As the first woman ever to be in this position, I believe I have a responsibility to them.

Finally, I am in this race because I believe staying in this race will help unite the Democratic Party. I believe that if Senator Obama and I both make our case – and all Democrats have the chance to make their voices heard – everyone will be more likely to rally around the nominee.

In the end, I am committed to unifying this party. What Senator Obama and I share is so much greater than our differences; and no matter who wins this nomination, I will do everything I can to bring us together and move us forward.

But at this point, neither of us has crossed the finish line. I hope that in the time remaining, you will think hard about which candidate has the best chance to lead our party to victory in November. I hope you will consider the results of the recent primaries and what they tell us about the mindset of voters in the key battleground states. I hope you will think about the broad and winning coalition of voters I have built. And most important, I hope you will think about who is ready to stand on that stage with Senator McCain, fight for the deepest principles of our party, and lead our country forward into this new century.

It’s nice that you agree with her, BA. But she’s wrong, and her points are self-serving and not valid. Hillary Clinton is not the stronger candidate, and she would do us well by dropping out and supporting the person who can defeat John McCain.

Nancy, Thank you for your prompt reply. Wolfstar posits 1:06 pm as Obama’s birth time. Any comments?

Professor - Mercury is stationary. We may not have the answer til it goes direct again. I will look at my older calculations for you later, but I have to go to my office now.

Any ideas on the May 31 Democratic Party rules showdown that the pro-Hillary forces are seeking to prevail at, with Mercury retrograde and all?

The publication of former WH Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s book “What Happened?” is actually scheduled for release on Monday June 2nd and not as I erroneously posted earlier this morning - for today.

A partial glimpse of the book’s extraordinary details are riveting and revealing - something we all knew about Bush, but goes beyond anything previously written as far as I can gather. It is upfront and personal - and confirms ones worst fears about the man in the Oval Office. Also characterized in the book are other cabinet members, such as Rice and Cheney, portrayed in an equally unflattering light. Here is a preview of what we can expect…….

In an interview Tuesday, McClellan said he retains great admiration and respect for Bush.

“My job was to advocate and defend his policies and speak on his behalf,” he said. “This is an opportunity for me now to share my own views and perspective on things. There were things we did right and things we did wrong. Unfortunately, much of what went wrong overshadowed the good things we did.”

He said the Bush administration fell into the “permanent campaign” mode that can cripple a White House and has tainted much of Washington.

In the book — subtitled “Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” — McClellan said that Bush’s top advisers, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, “played right into his thinking, doing little to question it or cause him to pause long enough to fully consider the consequences before moving forward,” according to McClellan.

“Contradictory intelligence was largely ignored or simply disregarded,” he wrote.

Bush’s real motivation for war

In Iraq, McClellan added, Bush saw “his opportunity to create a legacy of greatness,” something McClellan said Bush has said he believes is only available to wartime presidents.

The president’s real motivation for the war, he said, was to transform the Middle East to ensure an enduring peace in the region. But the White House effort to sell the war as necessary due to the stated threat posed by Saddam Hussein was needed because “Bush and his advisers knew that the American people would almost certainly not support a war launched primarily for the ambitions purpose of transforming the Middle East,” McClellan wrote.

“Rather than open this Pandora’s Box, the administration chose a different path — not employing out-and-out deception, but shading the truth,” he wrote of the effort to convince the world that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, an effort he said used “innuendo and implication” and “intentional ignoring of intelligence to the contrary.”

“President Bush managed the crisis in a way that almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option,” McClellan concluded, noting, “The lack of candor underlying the campaign for war would severely undermine the president’s entire second term in office.”

Bush’s national security advisers failed to “help him fully understand the tinderbox he was opening,” McClellan recalled.

“I know the president pretty well. I believe that, if he had been given a crystal ball in which he could have foreseen the costs of war — more than 4,000 American troops killed, 30,000 injured and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis dead — he would never have made the decision to invade, despite what he might say or feel he has to say publicly today,” McClellan wrote.

‘Plenty smart enough’

In a summation, McClellan said the decision to invade Iraq “goes to an important question that critics have raised about the president: Is Bush intellectually incurious or, as some assert, actually stupid?”

“Bush is plenty smart enough to be president,” he concluded. “But as I’ve noted his leadership style is based more on instinct than deep intellectual debate.”

McClellan also expresses amazement that Bush seemed flummoxed by a query by NBC’s Tim Russert in February 2004 as to whether the invasion of Iraq was “a war of choice or a war of necessity.”

“It strikes me today as an indication of his lack of inquisitiveness and his detrimental resistance to reflection,” McClellan wrote, “something his advisers needed to compensate for better than they did.”

McClellan tracks Bush’s penchant for self-deception back to an overheard incident on the campaign trail in 1999 when the then-governor was dogged by reports of possible cocaine use in his younger days.

The book recounts an evening in a hotel suite “somewhere in the Midwest.” Bush was on the phone with a supporter and motioned for McClellan to have a seat.

“‘The media won’t let go of these ridiculous cocaine rumors,’ I heard Bush say. ‘You know, the truth is I honestly don’t remember whether I tried it or not. We had some pretty wild parties back in the day, and I just don’t remember.’”

“I remember thinking to myself, How can that be?” McClellan wrote. “How can someone simply not remember whether or not they used an illegal substance like cocaine? It didn’t make a lot of sense.”

Bush, according to McClellan, “isn’t the kind of person to flat-out lie.”

“So I think he meant what he said in that conversation about cocaine. It’s the first time when I felt I was witnessing Bush convincing himself to believe something that probably was not true, and that, deep down, he knew was not true,” McClellan wrote. “And his reason for doing so is fairly obvious — political convenience.”

In the years that followed, McClellan “would come to believe that sometimes he convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment.” McClellan likened it to a witness who resorts to “I do not recall.”

“Bush, similarly, has a way of falling back on the hazy memory to protect himself from potential political embarrassment,” McClellan wrote, adding, “In other words, being evasive is not the same as lying in Bush’s mind.”

And McClellan linked the tactic to the decision to invade Iraq, a decision based on flawed intelligence.

“It would not be the last time Bush mishandled potential controversy,” he said of the cocaine rumors. “But the cases to come would involve the public trust, and the failure to deal with them early, directly and head-on would lead to far greater suspicion and far more destructive partisan warfare,” he wrote.

‘Too stubborn to change and grow’

The book also recounts Bush’s unwillingness or inability to come up with a mistake he had made when asked by a reporter to do so.

“It became symbolic of a leader unable to acknowledge that he got it wrong, and unwilling to grow in office by learning from his mistake — too stubborn to change and grow,” McClellan concluded.

A page later, he recounts what he perceived as a moment of doubt by a president who never expresses any. It occurred in a dimly lit room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a room where an injured Texas veteran was being watched over by his wife and 7-year-old son as Bush arrived.

The vet’s head was bandaged and “he was clearly not aware of his surroundings, the brain injury was severe,” McClellan recalled. Bush hugged the wife, told the boy his dad was brave and kissed the injured vet’s head while whispering ‘God bless you’ into his ear.

“Then he turned and walked toward the door,” McClellan wrote. “Looking straight ahead, he moved his right hand to wipe away a tear. In that moment, I could see the doubt in his eyes and the vivid realization of the irrevocable consequences of his decision.”

But, he added, such moments are more than counterbalanced by deceased warriors’ families who urge him to make sure the deaths were not in vain.

Rice, Cheney not spared from criticism

McClellan’s criticism of Rice — who he pegs as “hard to get to know” — is blistering.

“I was struck by how deft she is at protecting her reputation,” he wrote. “No matter what went wrong, she was somehow able to keep her hands clean, even when the problems related to matters under her direct purview, including the WMD rationale for the war in Iraq, the decision to invade Iraq … and post-war planning and implementation of the strategy in Iraq.”

Continued…….

http://www.ajc.com/meetro/content/news/stories/2008/05/27/mcclellanbook_0527.html

A curious row has developed between well-known Hollywood actress Sharon Stone and the government of communist China. It is a tit for tat reciprocal exchange that can truly be called BAD KARMA for all concerned…….

“….Sharon Stone is facing a ban on the showing of her films in China after suggesting the recent earthquake that killed up to 67,000 people may have been the result of “bad karma” over the country’s occupation of Tibet.”

Continued……

http://tinyurl.com/6e953j

Well boys and girls - Let’s forget about those US elections for a moment…….. If Bush has his way and decides to throw ‘One Last One For The Gipper’ and make a legacy for himself, there may not be any elections. Be prepared for martial law if Bush and Co. actually follows through with the unsubstantiated reports coming in for another controversial conflict in the Middle East…….

‘Bush Gearing Up To Wage War On Iran’
28 May 2008

The Bush administration is drawing up plans to launch a strike against Iran within the next two months, says a former top US diplomat.

The source, a retired US diplomat and former assistant secretary of state, said senior Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein of California and Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana have already been briefed on the attack plan.

Senator Feinstein, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Senator Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, plan to go public with their opposition to the new Iran war plan in a New York Times editorial ‘within days’, Asia Times Online reported the source as saying on the condition of anonymity.

According to Asia Times Online, Feinstein and Lugar will attempt to offset the August attack by creating a furor about President George W. Bush’s intentions of launching air strikes against the headquarters of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.

In September 2007, the US Senate approved a resolution by a 76-22 vote, calling on the White House to brand the IRGC a terrorist organization.

Continued…….

http://tinyurl.com/5drof4

The Senate Resolution mentioned in the above article was introduced into the US Senate for debate in September 2007 during the period of time when the 18 Virgo September 11, ‘07 solar eclipse was well within orbit of influence, reflecting the traumatic events of 9/11 experienced 6 years before. The upcoming August 1, ‘08 solar eclipse has tr. Mars precisely on that 18 Virgo degree.

For further explanation on this senate resolution, we have further analysis on the implications from an August ‘07 article…….

Bush To Brand Iranian Force As “Terrorist”
By Peter Symonds
16 August 2007

In a move with ominous implications, the Bush administration, according to articles in yesterday’s New York Times and Washington Post, has resolved to brand the entire Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “specially designated global terrorist” organization. In doing so, Bush will use powers provided under a presidential order signed shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The highly provocative step not only sets the stage for intensified economic pressure on Tehran, but also formalises a potential casus belli for US military action against Iran.

The decision to unilaterally criminalise a major branch of the military of a sovereign nation is unprecedented. The IRGC, which was formed after the 1979 Iranian revolution, has an estimated 125,000 soldiers and other personnel in its land, sea and air forces.

The designation will place the IRGC in the same category as Al Qaeda, Lebanon’s Shiite militia Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups, all of which have been attacked either by the US military or its Israeli allies, and their members detained and tortured as “terrorist” suspects.

Continued……..

http://tinyurl.com/6auuwc

Fla. Democratic Leader’s Plea to DNC
http://blog.thehill.com/2008/05/28/fla-democratic-leaders-plea-to-dnc/#more-6018

Dear Chair Herman and Chair Roosevelt:

I have read a summary of Jon Ausman’s appeals to be heard by your committee on May 31, 2008. Although I agree with most of Mr. Ausman’s statements, I must respectfully disagree with a few of Mr. Ausman’s comments. I also believe that you have not been given accurate information as to what occurred in Florida. I am asking you to review this letter, and distribute this letter prior to the May 31, 2008 committee meeting to your other committee members.
I have known and have been friends with Mr. Ausman for over twenty-five (25) years. I know him to be a good Democrat, with an excellent knowledge of the rules. I must point out, however, that Mr. Ausman is clearly not speaking on behalf of the elected Democratic legislative leadership. Please note that I am Senate Minority Leader of the Florida Senate and the duly elected Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
Where I would disagree with Mr. Ausman is his statement where he appears to acknowledge that the elected Democratic legislative leadership and Party leadership did not do everything which we could to prevent non-compliance with the DNC Delegate Selection Rules. Despite any inaccurate information which you may have received, we did, in fact, do everything which we could to attempt to comply with the DNC Rules. That is one of the reasons that there is such great anger in Florida about the sanctions which have been taken against us.
It is my position, and I believe that this letter will conclusively show, that Florida Democrats did not do anything which merits penalties against us. Rather, this was something done by the Republican leadership over the objections of the Democratic leadership. This was not a case of the Democrats committing suicide; rather, I would allege that we were murdered by the Republicans.

(There is much more to this article and it is an interesting read. I hope every Democrat/Liberal reads it.)

A little diversion…

Lynn Hayes points out that interviews from the UAC in Denver are posted at http://www.planetwaves.fm/uac2008/

Flo — Thanks for posting that.

The simple truth is, with a republican majority in the legislature, and a republican governor, the florida Dems could not schedule their own primary.

Now they are being punished by the DNC for what they could not prevent.

This is from the full article:

I also ask the RBC to consider the ramifications of not fully seating Florida’s delegates in a fashion representative of the January 29, 2008 primary. I am aware of at least three polls which have been done of likely Democratic voters, asking what they will do if Florida’s delegates to the convention are not seated. All three polls show between 25% and 30% of likely Democratic voters will either stay home or vote Republican if our delegation is not seated. Florida is the largest “swing state” in the nation. It will hurt our ability to win the Presidency and increase our margins in Congress if many of Florida’s Democrats don’t vote Democratic because they are protesting this committee’s decisions.

OMG, I didn’t think it was possible for me to hate Bush/Cheney any more than I already did. How wrong I was. I’m having trouble getting this to post but it concern Brown and Root and our military. Please check it out.

Green Beret electrocuted in shower on Iraq base
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/05/28/soldier.electrocutions/index.html

A highly decorated Green Beret, Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth died a painful death in Iraq this year. He died not on the battlefield. He died in what should have been one of the safest spots in Iraq: on a U.S. base, in his bathroom.

The water pump was not properly grounded, and when he turned on the shower, a jolt of electricity shot through his body and electrocuted him January 2.
The next day, Cheryl Harris was informed of his death. A mother of three sons serving in Iraq, she had feared such news might come one day.
“I did ask exactly, ‘How did Ryan die? What happened to him?’ And he had told me that Ryan was electrocuted,” she said.
Her reaction was disbelief. “I truly couldn’t believe he would be electrocuted … in the shower,” she said.
Maseth, 24, was not the first. At least 12 U.S. troops have been electrocuted in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003, according to military and government officials.
In fact, the Army issued a bulletin in 2004 warning that electrocution was “growing at an alarming rate.” It said five soldiers died that year by electrocution, with improper grounding the likely culprit in each case.
The Army bulletin detailed one soldier’s death in a shower — eerily similar to Maseth’s case — that said he was found “lying on a shower room floor with burn marks on his body.”
Maseth’s mother says the Army was not immediately forthcoming with details about her son’s death.
At one point, she says, the Army told her he had a small appliance with him in the shower on his base, a former palace complex near the Baghdad airport.
“It just created so much doubt, and I know Ryan, I know Ryan, I know how he was trained, I know that he would not have been in a shower with a small appliance and electrocuted himself,” she said.
The Army refused to answer CNN’s questions about the case, citing pending litigation by Maseth’s family.
(there is more….)

Zero Aries - You could see the Mercury retrograde as the Rules committee REvisiting something that was already decided. Assuming our new birth time for Obama is correct, there would seem to be difficulties through mid-June (Saturn/Moon). And he could get angry on Saturday night and Sunday morning with Mars on his Sun. On the other hand, he seems quite happy on the night of June 3 with Venus sextile his Sun, moving to trine his Ascendant on the 4th and 5th. But Saturn remains in square to the Moon, so something remains unresolved and heavy (Clinton) until mid-June (assuming our 7:11 PM chart).

Because the Democrats in Florida are the minority party, the DNC only required the Democrats vote NO on the move to change their primary date as a gesture of good faith and the DNC would have accommodated them.

The Democrats in Florida WANTED that date changed. Some are on record advocating for it.

Damn Clinton to hell for propagating lies. Haven’t we had enough these last 8 years?

If anyone doubts that Florida’s Democratic party were complicit in changing Florida’s primary date and deliberately set out to create this mess here is a link to madfloridian’s journal on DU. It contains many, many links to vidoes and news articles that quote primary sources:
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian

A big part of the reason Hillary is dragging this thing out is she’s fighting to retain NeoLiberal control of the Democratic party.

One part of Clinton strategy has been to oust Howard Dean from the DNC. The last time that push was evident was after the last elections when Carville & Co. trashed Dean endlessly and tried to make the case for installing Harold Ford as DNC chair.

The mess in Florida and Michigan is just another contrived controversy. Another bit part in the sick drama the Clintons and their cronies have subjected ALL Americans to.

Harold Ickes was on the DNC Rules Committee and VOTED FOR the rule barring counting the Michigan and Florida votes.

Now, as Hillary’s chief negotiator of this issue, he was asked recently on one of the Sunday morning political talk shows, “You voted for the Rules Committee decision, but now you are complaining about it. What has changed?” Ickes replied, “What has changed is that now we are behind.”

Hillary exhibits the negative aspects of Scorpio. Slavishly devoted to maintaining wealth and privilege for the Plutocracy.

Dear dear me. Just your opinion and a predjudiced one at that.

So much endless energy and attention is being poured into this Clinton versus Obama thing over the past couple of months (the phrase ‘petty bickering’ comes to mind, but I realise some in this forum would refuse to recognize it that way). Anyway, I thought to myself - what the heck, if you can’t beat ‘em - join ‘em. So, here is my contribution. It’s the Hillary - Barack wars brought to its most absurd limits (coming to a movie theater near you)……

http://tinyurl.com/6qbfoz

P.S. Disclaimer: The above enclosed video clip was meant purely for entertainment purposes only. Political views or positions were not intended.

Here’s another artistic, creative view of the race (this piece may be perceived as propagating a pro Obama stance, but I thought it was very cleverly done and a reminder - let’s not take ourselves too seriously)…………….

Baracky Movie - Barack Obama as Rocky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkpa53n8dNk

I would like to think that comments like, “Damn Clinton to hell for propagating lies. Haven’t we had enough these last 8 years?” was a product of actually having read the article in full. The article was trying to point out that a “Yes” vote shot Democrats in the foot in one way, and a “No” vote would have shot Democrats in the foot in another way. I think it’s called a “catch 22″ position.

I’m not touting one candidate over the other right now because, like it or not, what will be will be. Quite often I do ask myself one question though. Does it not seem strange that a majority of the media is trying so hard to make Obama out to be a saint while making Clinton out to be a demon?? Keep in mind that a good portion, if not a majority, of our media is ultra-conservative owned and/or operated. Clear Channel and Robert Murdock come to mind. So the question I ask myself is, What would conservatives gain by having Clinton out of the picture? I have some ideas but I’m still working on a final answer.

Jerry W,

The video clips are hilarious!! Thanks!

Watching Scott McClellan being interviewed this morning on the NBC Today show regarding his views expressed in the book “What Happened?”, it began to dawn on me that these damning allegations of Bush and the present administration may very well be a symptom of the approaching Aug 1st solar eclipse on Bush’s stellium of natal Pluto (undergound) Mercury (personal information details) on the ascendant (coming into purview within the public domain). How interesting!

and one more short one….

Straight to the Source: An Addendum to the Scorpio Full Moon

http://sabiansymbols.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/04/straight-to-the.html

Pat C: Thank you for your story on the electrocution of soldiers.

Dan Bartlett is going around stating that the reason for going to war was based on “flawed intelligence.” However, there are some who believe that this Intelligence was not flawed, but MANUFACTURED, as in the forged Niger documents yet to be truly investigated! I cannot in good conscience let Dan Bartlett’s statement go unchallenged!

David Gregory thinks it is ok for the Bush Whitehouse people to come out and say the exact same identical talking points, as if they are devoid of a thinking, rational mind and are unable to use their own ideas — ideas which might get them in trouble, however. This form of speaking in this manner is Brainwashing and dictorial, and it is not ok. And, I think David Gregory knows this. This type of brainwashing and parrot-like mimicking and chorus from our elected officials is indefensible and inexcusable in a working democracy.

And many are shooting the messenger and missing the point, the content of the book the glimpse it gives into a mind or a group of minds who thought it important enough to invade a country which has not invaded us, something never done before in American history and boarders on barbaric! What matters when he wrote it or why he wrote it, when we are getting a sliver of a glimpse into the truth and inner workings towards a war which should never have been Authorized and waged!

And YES, the Media failed us then and it looks as if they are failing us now. Going all around the issues that this war was planned first and then reasons given out later to fit the scenari and that maybe the so called intellegence was most likely manufactured! If I, who am just an average Joe knew that this war was wrong and most likely manufactured way back when, when a few courageous people stood up and said NO to this war against the chorus of the Yes Men and Women, then the Main Stream Media, shoud have also known or at least asked the hard questions, something they failed to do. This lesson in history is not only a failure of the Bush administration due to lies and distortion but also of a Media who did not do their job and was led by their “journalistic” noses to enjoin into a disastrous and unjust course of action which has badly devastated and devitalized the American way of life and those too of the Iraqi people. There is no true reconstruction moving forward in Iraq or in America — are bridges are falling for God’s sakes and our Cranes, weekly or monthly around the United States there are incidents of cranes falling! Where is the media on those stories? No, they rather spend hours on superficial stories on Britney Spears, hollywood socialites, Rev. Wright, Barack’s bowling score, how many beers did Hillary drink, Saturday Night Live skits, etc. There are a few champions in the Media but they are few indeed and often silenced out! Hopefully this tide will turn and journalists will find and live up to their calling again!

Scott McCllean’s book is a story waiting to be finished. Slowly, steadily the truth will emerge, layer by layer until the whole pattern takes shape and form, as in the unburdening of our conscience of some long-dark held secret — the full pattern has yet to emerge, this is just a part

Scott McClellan for a Pulitzer Prize! A true hero!

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hMGWbl8L60Y1Xq9MmT41qWXXDYRQD90VBBQG0

… And McClellan recalled a day in April 2006, when the unfolding perjury case against Libby revealed that the president had secretly declassified portions of a 2002 intelligence report about Iraq’s weapons capabilities to help his aides deflect criticism that his case for war was weak. Some of the most high-profile criticism was coming from Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson.

The president was leaving an event in North Carolina, McClellan recalled, and as they walked to Air Force One a reporter yelled out a question: Had the president, who had repeatedly condemned the selective release of secret intelligence information, enabled Scooter Libby to leak classified information to The New York Times to bolster the administration’s arguments for war?

McClellan took the question to the president, telling Bush: “He’s saying you yourself were the one that authorized the leaking of this information.”

“And he said, ‘Yeah, I did.’ And I was kind of taken aback,” McClellan said.

“For me I came to the decision that at that point I needed to look for a way to move on, because it had undermined, I think, a lot of what we had said.”

Julie W, it is our Flo who deserves your thanks for that story. There have been so many tragedies throughout this administration, it is mind numbing.

Better female picks for VP other than Clinton:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080528/pl_politico/10672

Obama has a wide choice of capable female VPs sans the polarizing qualities of Hillary. I posted a link to the article but it hasn’t made it through yet.

A Video taken at 30 Min. before the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China on you tube. I could be caused by something like the Bluebeam Haarp project like some conspirationalists might think or just a natural piezzo electric discharge known to happen before an earth quake.– but for what purpose are the antennas on the mountain top .
http://tinyurl.com/3r8p8t

Charles,

The multi colored clouds, although it’s obvious they aren’t regular clouds, are a bit disquieting aren’t they?? As for the antennas, they could be anything from phone, TV, etc.

My posts with links are not going through, so I have to post them separately.

Murdoch (of all people) is predicting a landslide win for Obama in the GE.

Link next post.

It’s unfortunate, but probably required, that I request everyone not try to kill the messenger. I’m presenting this simply because it disturbs me, regardless of who it is about. I’m NOT saying Clinton or McCain are any better but simply that this disturbs me. If a candidate wants to campaign for the WH (and Commander In Chief) shouldn’t they start with, or at least visit, those veterans in their own state who will be doing the dirty bloody work?? I’m sure this could be verified or discounted by reviewing this veteran’s paperwork and other communications. I am so ashamed to be an American these days in regards to how our returning veterans are being mistreated and left to fend for themselves.
Obama Slow to Respond to Veteran’s Request
http://blog.thehill.com/2008/05/29/obama-slow-to-respond-to-veterans-request/
Friday May 23rd, I appeared in a television advertisement on behalf of Vets for Freedom PAC, an organization committed to winning the war on terror. On Sunday, Senator Dick Durbin responded to the advertisement on CBS News attacking both the organization and me with outright falsehoods that I believe need to be corrected.
While in Iraq, I lost my right arm and received multiple shrapnel wounds to my head and face. Since returning home, I have been steadily recovering while learning to use my new prosthetic arm. Unfortunately, I was having difficulty securing my benefits through the VA. So I turned to my state politicians, including Senator Barack Obama for assistance. But Senator Obama did not respond to my letters or offer his assistance until after my claim had been successfully resolved…and Senator Durbin should know this, because it was through his own staff that I was finally able to receive my benefits.
I have always been very vocal about Senator Durbin’s efforts made on my behalf and the fact that he and his office worked very diligently to ensure that the VA treated me fairly in reviewing my claim for disability benefits. Senator Durbin was correct that there was a second Illinois politician who worked very hard to see that I received a favorable outcome; however, that politician was State Representative Tim Johnson. I am very disappointed that Senator Durbin provided credit to Senator Obama, stating that they both worked very hard on my claim, when in fact, Senator Obama was never involved in resolving my claim with the VA.
My family is thankful for all of the assistance that Senator Durbin and his office provided to us at a time when we felt so overwhelmed by my injuries and the responses we were receiving from the VA. I extend this same gratitude to Representative Johnson and his staff for all of their efforts as well. But while I am truly grateful to Senator Durbin for his help, I cannot sit back and allow both my Senators from Illinois to issue these attacks.
I also wish Senator Durbin would be more honest and forthcoming when discussing Senator Obama’s failure to meet with Illinois veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. I wanted to make sure that I set the record state and just appeared on Fox Live Desk to correct Senator Durbin’s misstatements this past weekend. It is my hope that Senator Obama and other leaders will speak to those who have seen the success in Iraq first hand and meet with the commanders on the ground. Get the facts and be informed beyond pundit papers and political consults talk to the veterans, the troops on the ground and make informed policy from there.
Sergent Garrett Anderson is an Iraq War veteran and a Vets for Freedom member.

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/29/george-bush-authorized-the-leak-of-valerie-wilsons-identity/

George Bush Authorized the Leak of Valerie Wilson’s Identity

Scottie McC doesn’t know it yet. But that’s basically what he revealed this morning on the Today Show (h/t Rayne).

During the interview, Scottie revealed the two things that really pissed him off with the Bush Administration. First, being set up to lie by Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. And second, learning that Bush had–himself–authorized the selective leaking of the NIE.

snip

Now, for the most part, this is not new. … Scooter Libby testified that after Libby told Dick Cheney he couldn’t leak the information Cheney had ordered him to leak to Judy Miller because it was classified, Cheney told Libby he had gotten the President to authorize the declassification of that information.

Thus far, though, we only had Dick Cheney’s word that he had actually asked Bush to declassify this information. But now we’ve got George Bush, confirming that he, the President of the United States, authorized the leaks of “this information.”

snip

Think of how much sense this makes. We have evidence that George Bush ordered Libby to respond to Joe Wilson on June 9, 2003. We now have Bush’s own confirmation that he authorized the leak Libby made to Judy Miller on July 8, 2003–which included the leak of Valerie Wilson’s identity. We know on July 10, Condi told Stephen Hadley that Bush “was comfortable” with the response the White House was making towards Wilson. And we know that–when Cheney forced Scottie McC to exonerate Libby publicly that fall, he did so by reminding people that “The Pres[ident] [asked Libby] to stick his head in the meat-grinder.”

More at the link….

……and this…..

http://www.vanityfair.com/ontheweb/blogs/daily/2008/05/more-mclellan-r.html

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/obamas_woes_a_tale_of_three_st.html

Obama’s Woes: A Tale of Three States
By Richard Baehr

If you want evidence that the Democrats are taking a huge gamble by nominating Barack Obama as their Presidential candidate, you need look no further than the current state of the race in three Southern/border states.

In 1992 and 1996 Bill Clinton won Kentucky, West Virginia and Arkansas. In 2000 and 2004, George Bush won all three states. In the current Democratic Party nominating contest, Hillary Clinton won all three states by huge margins — 30 points or more in each case. West Virginia (3%), and Kentucky (7%) have relatively small black populations. Arkansas is just over 15% African American (in the same range as Florida and Tennessee).

The three states have 19 Electoral College votes among them, almost as many as Ohio (20). In 2004, Bush won the Electoral College by 286-252. Had he lost Ohio, Kerry would have been elected. In 2008, Ohio will undoubtedly be a battleground again.

Were the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the Democrats would be in very good shape even without Ohio. That is because current surveys show Hillary Clinton winning all three states by solid margins over John McCain. But John McCain trounces Barack Obama in the same three states by over 20% in each case. So with Clinton as the nominee, these states vote as they did when her husband was the nominee. When Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee, these states vote as they did when George Bush was running. The differences in the poll results are shocking. Clinton wins Arkansas and Kentucky by 14% and 9% respectively. McCain wins against Obama in the two states by 25% and 24% respectively. This means the shift from Obama to Clinton is a change of over 34% margin in one state, 38% in the other.

Roughly 40% of the voters who are for Clinton will not support Obama in these two states.

The poll results in these states suggest a few things:

(1) If Clinton were the nominee, she would have an opportunity for a broad based national victory. In addition to the three states above, Clinton appears to be the far stronger nominee in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. While both Democratic candidates seem to have a good shot at winning Pennsylvania’s 21 Electoral College votes (the Democrats have won the state 4 straight times), Clinton has a much better shot at winning Ohio (20) and Florida (27). Bill Clinton won Ohio twice and Florida in 1996. In other words, Hillary Clinton has the opportunity to create an Electoral College map that looks more like Bill Clinton’s races in 1992 and 1996, when he won 32 and 31 states and 370 and 379 Electoral College votes, than the much closer Presidential races in 2000 and 2004.

(2) If Obama is the nominee, the 2008 race looks like it will be a squeaker again, with a few tight races in smaller states — Nevada (5), New Mexico (5), Iowa (7), Colorado (9), New Hampshire (4) and Wisconsin (10) being decisive. There is far less margin for error with Obama than Clinton. If Obama is shut out of Florida (which seems likely) and loses Ohio, where he ran very poorly in the Democratic primary and trails in most surveys at this point, he will need to hold all the Kerry states from 2004 and pick up the needed Electoral College votes from the West and Iowa, and perhaps Virginia. (13).

But holding all the Kerry states is easier said than done — with Michigan (18), New Hampshire and Wisconsin all at risk, with 32 Electoral College votes among them, and perhaps Pennsylvania too, another state in which Obama ran poorly despite spending well over ten million dollars on campaign ads for the primary. Some of the same voters who appear to be soundly rejecting Obama in West Virginia, Arkansas and Kentucky, also populate Pennsylvania and Ohio, though not in the same percentages.

At this point, Obama appears to be the all but certain nominee. This is despite Clinton winning the same number or perhaps slightly more total popular votes, and winning virtually all the contested primaries since February when the Reverend Wright story surfaced. Obama’s wins since then have been in states with very heavy African-American voter percentages — North Carolina and Mississippi, and in very liberal Oregon. With almost all super delegates now breaking for Obama, he could wind up with close to a 10% delegate margin, but be only even in the popular vote. This will result from a 5% elected delegate margin (built on low turnout caucus victories), and perhaps a 30% super delegate margin, if the remaining 200 or so uncommitted super delegates break as this group has since North Carolina (62-10 for Obama). A system built on proportional distribution of elected (pledged) delegates will have grossly expanded the popular vote margin to give one candidate a decisive victory among these delegates, which has been used to justify the shift to that candidate of super delegates.

Obama’s caucus victories (he won every caucus except Nevada) were built on enthusiasm from activist left wing Democrats and young voters willing to participate in the several hour process. In the general election, the participation rate will be much higher and voting patterns should mirror much more closely the results in primary states, where Obama has not done nearly as well.

(3) The serious daily tracking polls, Rasmussen and Gallup, show John McCain with a 3-4 % national popular vote lead. This is a stunning result given the general weakness of the Republican Party this year, the low approval ratings for President Bush, the strong perception the county is headed in the wrong direction, the still unpopular Iraq war, the economic slowdown, gas and food prices, and what was supposed to be a consolidation among Democrats for Obama now that the media chorus has awarded him the nomination.

It is I think a reflection of the weakness of Obama as a candidate. Starting with the revelations about Reverend Wright, the Obama campaign has dropped from the semi-celestial status it enjoyed in the eyes of many. The gaffe-a-day express, the foot in mouth disease among Obama advisors, the glaringly weak posture on national security and foreign relations the candidate has put forth (and for which several times he has been forced to backtrack), all have damaged Obama’s chances. Now he is a mere mortal — except to the true believers, and they are not enough to put him over the top in a general election.

He could still win with the huge financial advantage he will undoubtedly have, but it will be close and hard fought, and he will have to be lucky to triumph. The Democrats in their “wisdom” will take a pass on what could have been a much easier road to victory with Clinton.

John McCain may not be the perfect Republican, but he may appear much safer, more experienced, and less of a risk than the untested junior Senator from Illinois for many voters.

Pat C:

Thanks for the Linda Hill link! I am truly looking forward to this next New Moon!

BA,

I hope you’re ducking for cover. Only kidding!! It may not be what most people want to hear but if we want to avoid 4 to 8 more years of Bush policies it’s at least worth thinking about.

OBAMA & the LEO SOLAR ECLIPSE; AUGUST 1. 2008

by Paul W.

“Eclipses in Leo portend death or misfortune for royalty, nobility and ‘persons of quality’; the ruination and destruction of ancient buildings, palaces and churches; division amongst the clergy, the besieging of towns, and a scarcity of horses and grain.”

On Friday, August 1. 2008 at 6:13 am EDT, there will be a total eclipse of the Sun in the astrological sign of Leo. Solar Eclipses also contain the New Moon of the same sign. The bookend Eclipse to this Solar occurrence is the partial Lunar Eclipse in Aquarius, August 16, 2008. Presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama’s Sun sign is also in the sign Leo and his birthday is August 4, 1961. He also has a stellium, 3 or more planets, in Leo. They are Mercury, Uranus and of course the Sun. The Solar Eclipse on August 1st 2008 will be in the middle of a crucial time for everyone. This pivot point, the core, the central hub of activity from where things begin to finally move. The focus of the world’s attention intensifies. Will this eclipse bring evil or good, beginnings or endings, sorrows or joy? The proximity of Obama’s birthday to this Solar Eclipse, three days away, will magnify its energy one hundred fold.

A Solar Eclipse in Leo is defined by Nostradamus and refers to it as a great astrological event that warns of violence and brutality before and after the eclipse in the “sign of Kings.” Leo is the Kingly Lion! These events bring resignations, deaths of persons, place or things, Stock Market woes, wars and scandal. Eclipses, because of their sudden eruptions and spectacular events that take place, and especially during a Solar Eclipse, this particular signpost is the most singularly striking alignment between then and the Inaugural. Inauguration Day, January 20. 2009, will be 6 days before the next (Aquarius) Solar Eclipse and Election Day ’08, November 4, 2008 has no eclipses near to it. Two other quick observations are that Election Day’s Sun will be in H. Clinton’s natal Scorpio Sun and her Scorpio Mercury. But however, Obama’s natal Aquarius Jupiter will begin transiting a few days after the Inauguration.

Will Obama finally shed Sen. Hillary Clinton as his opponent or will she eclipse him as the nominee? This Solar Eclipse of August 1, 2008, is the total blockage of the Leo Sun by the Leo New Moon. The full Leo New Moon will come exactly in-between the Earth and the Leo Sun and darken the Leo light’s presence. Like the window shade being pulled down over the once, brilliantly over powering light and preventing that Sun from shining on us. But it seems too, that it could resemble a halo effect with streams of light, circumferences a black hole, omen of despair. The dark Sun seemingly squirts out from behind the shadowed Lunar disk, like a silver lining on a dark cloud. On the flip side, this may also mean a “Black King, “ the Black President or it just may mean as eclipses usually do a good ol’ fashioned American sex scandal. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, both Leos, may have something else in common besides politics and birth signs? But whatever the case, the Eclipse will bring drama and definite “Change!” A Solar Eclipse in Leo is the worst defeats the Sun can suffer, what are the circumstances in which this outcome renders with in this defeat or “death?” Sen. Clinton also has a stellium of natal Leo planets too, but not the Sun! Another possible defeat for Obama could be that near the August 1 Eclipse, Republican Sen. John McCain could chooses Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as his Vice Presidential running mate, although she doesn’t want to consider it now, but it could happen. This would change the whole dynamic of the Presidential race if there were a McCain/Rice ticket, and causality as it may, move the Democrats to switch their strategy and replace Obama as the possible nominee. Replacing him with Sen. Clinton. Obama can be eclipsed if Condi enters “stage left.” Condoleezza could very well be the shadowed Lunar influence of the August 1, Solar Eclipse. Women naturally, are representative of the Moon’s astrological and female influence. Hillary too, her three Leo natal planets, Saturn, Pluto and Mars, combined with the female eclipsing Lunar force, may block Obama’s path. Obama’s over confidence may turn out to be his down fall as we have witnessed the chipping away with his pastor, Rev. Wright and a former political financer, the indicted Antonin “Tony the slumlord” Rezko. But according to “Chicago lawyers,” Barack Obama could very well have to testify, as a defense witness in Rezko’s trial. Boy would that feed the eclipse. Interestingly enough, also, FOX News.com has just reported that Rev. Wright is building a two million dollar mansion with church funds; I thought he denounced greed, one of the seven deadly sins! Ah yes, religious hypocrisy. - Stay Tuned!

Back on track, the Solar Eclipse in Leo’s effects worldwide, are significant disruptive effects on the people and nations concerned, economic (in the U.S., stock market problems due to gas prices and the foreclosure mess), political crises and civil unrest. Solar Eclipses also seem to either trigger, or amplify, natural events in the regions they affect (e.g., severe weather, earthquakes). Whether this effect is an astrological one or not, is a moot point.

“There is still another side to Obama’s Solar Return Eclipse after the August 1, 2008 eclipse, however, which some astrologers have already suggested. Alluding to a previous eclipse on 22 Feb. ’08 with this comment about Obama’s possible fate, “that it seems there have been instances of large numbers of people not being screened by the police for weapons when they come to Obama’s rallies, that this is deliberate, and may have been ordered by higher authorities. HIS SOLAR RETURN, WITH THAT ANGULAR MOON/MARS-URANUS-PLUTO T-SQUARE, ALSO POINTS TO EXTREME DANGER TO HIS LIFE FROM VIOLENT ATTACK FROM AUGUST ONWARDS.” THIS IS DISTURBING INDEED! (upper caps highlighted are mine - JW)

Continued……..

http://hubpages.com/hub/OBAMA-ECLIPSA

These are excerpts of what Michelle Obama said yesterday about fear:

Michelle Obama in Phoenix: “Fear Is a Useless Emotion”
by dawnt [Subscribe]
Thu May 29, 2008 at 09:13:18 AM PDT
Cross-posted at HuffingtonPost.

Tuesday, George Bush and Michelle Obama each traversed McCain’s home state of Arizona to raise money for the presidential election. Bush headlined fundraisers for John McCain in Phoenix, and Michelle Obama headlined fundraisers for her husband in Tuscon and Phoenix.

Even in Arizona, the heart of McCain country, President Bush and Senator McCain were unable to draw enough supporters to fill the reception/banquet room they had rented at the downtown convention center. The two part Bush-McCain event was combined into a single event in a more intimate setting in a private home. Local news reported that the McCain campaign was worried that the hoards of protesters picketing his fundraiser would outnumber his guests. Wednesday, Bush and McCain held a similar fundraiser in Utah that was also moved to a smaller location due to lack of interest.

While the president and Arizona’s sitting senator had dismal showings at the McCain fundraisers, Michelle Obama filled a large banquet room just around the corner from McCain’s originally planned location in Phoenix, Arizona (McCain’s home town).

Many of the Obama donors drove by the Bush-McCain protesters in Phoenix on their way to the Obama fundraiser. According to local news, hundreds more also gathered in the suburb of Mesa to protest a campaign stop made by Bush and McCain at a local business. I had heard that the Phoenix protesters would have a bed with McCain and Bush dolls, but I was unable to see it as I drove by. My husband says they showed it during the local news.

When I arrived at the Obama fundraiser, it was clear that this was not the typical swanky crowd seen at high dollar fundraisers. Michelle Obama drew an unusually diverse crowd for a political fundraiser — every race, class, age, gender, and ethnicity was present. It was no surprise that more women than men attended. Michelle Obama is well liked and admired by Democratic women. Some friends who have been unsure of Barack have a fondness for Michelle. When I told a long time Republican friend that I would be attending a fundraiser headlined by Michelle Obama, she said, “Tell her my vote for Barack in November is really for her.”

Michelle began by talking about the beginning of Obama’s political career. She has told this story many times. In the beginning of his political career, she was an unwilling participant. She draws a picture of herself a typical cynical American. She was unsure that she wanted to make the personal sacrifices that candidates’ spouses must make. She indicates that she was, at first, unable to believe in the possibility of political change.

Most of all, she was unsure that she wanted her children to bear the burden of political parentage. She held up her index finger and declared, “I am a mother first and foremost,” her point punctuated by loud, enthusiastic applause.

This story has been a constant in a stump speech that she has honed and changed for months. She explains that whenever she thought of her vision for a better America, she thought of her husband’s dedication, intelligence, and ability. She seems introspective, remembering the moment of her own realization. With a wide smile, she says,

“I realized, he is the man I’d been waiting for. ”

The audience laughs. Then she pivots, gently shaking a finger, reminding the audience,

“Never let anyone tell you that your vision for America can’t happen. ”

She explained that she did not believe that people would stand outside in the bitter cold to hear a man named Barack Obama announce his candidacy for president, but 16,000 people did show up on that bitterly cold day in Springfield, Illinois. She reminded us that 16,000 people stood outside in the freezing cold because they believed in Barack Obama’s vision for America, a vision of hope and change, a vision of a better America.

She reminded the audience, as she often does, that she is not supposed to be here. She was raised on the South Side of Chicago in a working class family. She was not supposed to go to Princeton. She was certainly not supposed to go to Prince and Harvard. It is beyond a statistical oddity, she says, that she could be the First Lady.

She talked about her family — her parents, her children, the vision for America shared by the Obama campaign, the crowd interrupting throughout, punctuating each point with enthusiastic applause. After a rousing ovation, she took questions from the audience.

The first person Michelle Obama called on said that she had a comment not a question. She wanted Michelle to know that many of the campaign volunteers will also become active participants in the American democracy after Obama is in office. They will continue to campaign for change long after the presidential campaign has ended. Michelle Obama took this opportunity to thank the supporters who have volunteered. She talked for a moment about what it means to give back to the country, how important it is that America has a participatory democracy.

Another questioner started off by saying that she had been disappointed in Barack. Michelle smiled at the audience and said, “Uh oh,” as nervous laughter rolled through the audience, everyone wondering what the question would be. Then, Michelle Obama focused on the questioner, looking her in the eye and listening, letting her know that her concerns matter. The questioner explained that she is the wife of a prominent member of the community. She asked if we could count on Michelle “to rein Barack back in” whenever necessary.

Michelle said,

“You have just explained the complexities of being the wife of a political figure. ”

She added,

“My husband is not perfect. I say this all the time.”

She reminded the audience that when we expect perfection in our leaders, we will always be disappointed. She talked about Obama’s role as a father and husband — taking out the garbage, doing household chores, how important it is that he set a good example for their children. She said,

“This campaign has shown American that Barack Obama may not be perfect, but this campaign has also shown America that Barack Obama will always take the high road. Consistently. Over and over and over. He will always take the high road. ”

She went on to talk about how she also does not like being the news. She does not like seeing herself in a headline. She said she was on a candidates’ spouses panel last October with Elizabeth Edwards who said,

If I said something that ended up on the front page of Drudge, I didn’t do it right.

Emphatically, Michelle Obama remarked,

“I hate clips. I do not like clips. ”

She smiled knowingly, and grim laughter filled the room.

She called on another supporter, whose voice quivered and broke with barely contained emotion as she explained how important it is to her, personally, that Barack Obama be elected. How important it is to her, personally, that our country change its course.

She was on the verge of tears as she explained that she just returned from Oregon where she campaigned for Obama and attended the 75,000-person rally by the river. She had noticed, she said, that the Secret Service had increased security dramatically for Barack Obama’s rallies since the Phoenix rally in January.

The room collectively gasped and murmured, some aghast that these fears were being spoken aloud directly to Barack Obama’s beloved wife. Some nodded, concern and fear clear on their faces. Others shifted on their feet, displaying a range of emotions — concern, discomfort with the topic, indignation — it is not often that such topics are broached in polite company.

Pulling herself together, the supporter asked,

“What can you tell us…

and then her voice caught and broke as a sob rose up from her chest. She paused for a moment to quell her emotion, to find her voice again.

“I’m afraid of what might happen. What can you tell us, after last week’s comments ”

…another sob broke up her words…

“after last week’s comments, to make us feel more at ease. ”

She cried unabashedly after finally getting out her words.

The room that had been electrified with positive energy throughout the evening suddenly became still and quiet, all eyes focused on Michelle Obama. Michelle Obama’s eyes, though, were focused on that concerned supporter. She paused, allowing the clearly distraught supporter to pull herself together. It seemed like several minutes went by, as we all waited, wondering how she would answer this highly personal and evocative question. Probably only 30 seconds went by, but it seemed like several minutes. Finally, she said simply, firmly,

“I’m ok.

Really. I am ok.

And if I’m ok, you should be ok. ”

She paused, then talked for a moment about what this means, personally, to her.

“You know, we talked about this as a family.”

She held the microphone with one hand, the other curved inward over her heart as she talked. Her tenor and body language was clear. Michelle Obama was talking as a mother. She was introspective and intimate, looking the questioner in the eyes as if they are the only two in the room.

We talked about this as a family.

The room remained still and quiet. Imagine having that talk with your children. Then, she paused, gathering herself, pulling herself up, seeming to grow even taller, Michelle, the campaigning wife returns. She says,

“I’ve talked about this before. Barack is probably safer now than he was before. Kids are dying in the street in our community. They get shot walking to class, sitting in school, taking the bus home. They are dying in the street. ”

Her eyes roved the audience, and she implored,

“Send us good vibes. Pray for us. Think positive thoughts. But most of all, be vigilant. Be vigilant about stopping this kind of talk.

It’s not funny.

You don’t have to like Barack to dislike that kind of talk. Be vigilant about stopping that kind of talk. ”

In that moment, Michelle Obama’s voice displayed a mixture of emotions. She was talking as a mother of two young girls who need their father. She was talking as a wife, whose love for her husband is plain to see in her eyes. She was talking as a compassionate human being who believes that kind of talk is inappropriate and unacceptable about any political candidate, not just about her husband, not just about the father of her children — about any politician.

What Michelle Obama says next was powerful. It would have brought the crowd to its feet if the crowd weren’t already standing. She reminded us what we are fighting for, and why it is important to forge ahead with no fear,

“Fear is the reason this country is where it is today. Fear is a useless emotion.

Don’t ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions based on what should happen, not what shouldn’t.”

Don’t ever make decisions based on fear.

Jerry W,

That isn’t quite as rosy a picture as Nancy painted especially, “…ALSO POINTS TO EXTREME DANGER TO HIS LIFE FROM VIOLENT ATTACK FROM AUGUST ONWARDS.” THIS IS DISTURBING INDEED.”

As much as I’m not convinced Obama is our best choice for a win in November, I still don’t want to see anything happen to him. Talk about racial unrest, that could do it. Wow!!

BA ~
With regards to your post at 2:30 pm which was written by Richard Baehr at the right wing blog American Thinker ~ Since the American Thinker blog is very highly touted by the likes of self-serving extremist Michelle Malkin it seems rather likely that any analysis written by Richard Baehr, concerning the presumptive democratic presidential candidate Senator Barrack Obama, would undoubtedly be and certainly appears to have a skewed view point resembling nothing close to reality.

I think with eclipses to have any effect, they must be exact or with a maximum 2 degree orb. Without knowing the degree of the ASC/MH of any candidate, or progressed positions, it’s virtually impossible to make accurate predictions, but the Aug 1st eclipse does come within 1 degreee of squaring Obama’s Neptune. It also falls close to George Bush’s ASC. @ 7 Leo, and exactly conj. his Merc. at 9 Leo. However, the lunar eclipse on Aug 16th at 24 Aqua. does come within 1 degree of opposition to Obama’s Uranus, but I don’t think it necessarily portends physical harm being done to him. There might be an element of surprise for him, but good or bad, I can’t say. Anyway, Nancy has already dealt in depth with all transiting, and I believe progressed aspects in Obama’s chart as best she could without knowing his exact time of birth. All I can add, is “que sera sera”.

Hi Flo,

The conversations and astrological analysis revolving around Obama have been for the most part mildly upbeat as you say, especially since the senator took a more pronounced lead in the primaries back in early February. But serious discussion has cropped up periodically on the ramifications of that tr. Uranus-natal Mars opposition he will soon have to face. On a personal level - on the surface at least, it would indeed appear as a tragic event if it were to happen. But looking at it from a larger perspective, I would view an event such as this as a necessary pre-requisite. Why? To prompt people to delve deeper within. We need to find substantial, radical solutions to the monumental, perplexing problems we are struggling with. Politics has its limitations. It is not the answer. If it were the ‘magic bullet’ to all social ills, we would have arrived there a long time ago.

Jerry W, I think you have spent too much time in India with the Hindus who seem to be very fatalistic. You seem to have an almost morbid fascination with death. I think you would be better off turning your thoughts towards the light, and more positive events in life. Life should be a cause celebre. Of course bad things happen too, but we shouldn’t dwell on them. You are almost Catholic in your belief that redemption is only possible through pain and suffering. By the way, there are a lot of parallels between the Hindu religion and Catholicism.

Dang, sorry for the double post. Not sure how it happened.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/28/9263/

John Bolton Escapes Citizen’s Arrest at Hay Festival

This should be a Democratic talking point: McCain’s economic man is the author of the subprime meltdown.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/foreclosure-phil.html

Who’s to blame for the biggest financial catastrophe of our time? There are plenty of culprits, but one candidate for lead perp is former Sen. Phil Gramm. Eight years ago, as part of a decades-long anti-regulatory crusade, Gramm pulled a sly legislative maneuver that greased the way to the multibillion-dollar subprime meltdown. Yet has Gramm been banished from the corridors of power? Reviled as the villain who bankrupted Middle America? Hardly. Now a well-paid executive at a Swiss bank, Gramm cochairs Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign and advises the Republican candidate on economic matters. He’s been mentioned as a possible Treasury secretary should McCain win. That’s right: A guy who helped screw up the global financial system could end up in charge of US economic policy.

Jerry W,

The Trinity Church is building Rev Wright a multi-million dollar home in a 96% white suburb of Chicago, where the Rev will be able to hob-knob with those “rich, privileged white folk” far from the south side church family that’s financing the home–and get this–Rev Wright will be living within a gated community within the white suburb of Tinley Park. Talk about privilege and hypocrisy.

Like a typical limousine liberal, who preaches Marxist, liberation theology to a church group who is willing to devour the message, and then willing to finance their preachers move to a position of capitalist privilege. Michael Moore, Harry Balefonte, et al, have made a lucrative living from blaming American, while laughing all the way to the bank. Live like capitalist, and talk like Marxist.

Now, Father Flager, a white activist Catholic priest, who pastors an inner city parish in Chicago, preached at Trinity this past week. Obama has had to disown Flager’s excoriating statements over Hillary(which included (“I’m white. I’m entitled. There’s a black man stealing my show.”) It was part of a larger context of whites and privilege. This guy was noted on Obama’s web site until recently as an advisor. He and Obama have been friends for years. It has begun to raise the question on CNN, that enough is not know about Obama and his Chicago roots–why are his roots so radically left, while he attempts to present himself as anything but? Rest assure, more and more will be coming out in the weeks and months ahead
.
The Rev came out later and apologized, …if he had offended Hillary or anyone else.

Hmmmm. Hinduism? Fatalistic? Come on my friend. Is it that difficult to move away from that kind of unyielding, politicial mind-set? Haven’t you ever felt compelled to question these things? Is the ’status quo’ that sacrosanct that we do not dare look and question these things with a little more depth and understanding? The worlds problems are virtually beyond repair and may require a whole lot more thoughtful consideration than simply expressing our voice at the ballot box.

If you are truly serious and circumspect about this, and it isn’t just a casual, fleeting interest, I would like to share with you one of the most profound, eloquent words spoken on the subject, at least as far as I am aware of. It comes from one of Meher Baba’s discourses. It’s entitled……

The New Humanity

My apologies to the forum for the lengthy text, but it is a rare, precious treatise on the human condition and the ultimate solutions that are required.

“As in all great critical periods of human history, humanity is now going through the agonising travail of spiritual rebirth. Great forces of destruction are afoot and seem to be dominant at the moment, but constructive and creative forces which will redeem humanity are also being released through several channels. Although the working of these forces of light is chiefly silent, they are eventually bound to bring about those transformations which will make the further spiritual advance of humanity safe and steady. It is all a part of the divine plan, which is to give to the hungry and weary world a fresh dispensation of the eternal and only Truth.

At present the urgent problem facing humanity is to devise ways and means of eliminating competition, conflict and rivalry in all the subtle and gross forms which they assume in the various spheres of life. Military wars are, of course, the most obvious sources of chaos and destruction. However, wars in themselves do not constitute the central problem for humanity, but are rather the external symptoms of something graver at their root. Wars and the suffering they bring cannot be completely avoided by mere propaganda against war; if they are to disappear from human history it will be necessary to tackle their root-cause. Even when military wars are not being waged, individuals or groups of individuals are constantly engaged in economic or some other subtle form of warfare. Military wars, with all the cruelty which they involve, arise only when these underground causes are aggravated.

The root-cause of the chaos which precipitates itself in wars is that most persons are in the grip of egoism and selfish considerations, and they express their egoism and self-interest individually as well as collectively. This is the life of illusory values in which men are caught. To face the Truth is to realise that life is one, in and through its manifold manifestations. To have this understanding is to forget the limiting self in the realisation of the unity of life.

With the dawn of true understanding the problem of wars would immediately disappear. Wars have to be so clearly seen as both unnecessary and unreasonable that the immediate problem would not be how to stop wars but to wage them spiritually against the attitude of mind responsible for such a cruel and painful state of things. In the light of the Truth of the unity of all life, co-operative and harmonious action becomes natural and inevitable. Hence, the chief task before those who are deeply concerned with the rebuilding of humanity, is to do their utmost to dispel the spiritual ignorance which envelops humanity.

Wars do not arise merely to secure material adjustment; they are often the product of uncritical identification with narrow interests which through association come to be included in that part of the world which is regarded as “mine.” Material adjustment is only part of the wider problem of establishing spiritual adjustment, but spiritual adjustment requires the elimination of self not only from the material aspects of life but also from those spheres which affect the intellectual, emotional and cultural life of man.

To understand the problem of humanity as merely a problem of bread is to reduce humanity to the level of animality. But even when man sets himself to the limited task of securing purely material adjustment, he can only succeed in this attempt if he has spiritual understanding. Economic adjustment is impossible unless people realise that there can be no planned and co-operative action in economic matters until self-interest gives place to self-giving love. Otherwise, with the best of equipment and efficiency in the material spheres, humanity cannot avoid conflict and insufficiency.

The NEW HUMANITY, which emerges from the travail of present struggle and suffering, will not ignore science or its practical attainments. It is a mistake to look upon science as anti-spiritual. Science is a help or hindrance to spirituality according to the use to which it is put. Just as true art expresses spirituality, so science, when properly handled, can be the expression and fulfillment of the spirit. Scientific truths concerning the physical body and its life in the gross world can become a medium for the soul to know itself; but to serve this purpose they must be properly fitted into the larger spiritual understanding. This includes a steady perception of true and lasting values. In the absence of such spiritual understanding, scientific truths and attainments are liable to be used for mutual destruction and for a life which will tend to strengthen the chains which bind the spirit. All-sided progress of humanity can be assured only if science and religion proceed hand in hand.

The coming civilisation of the New Humanity shall be ensouled not by dry intellectual doctrines, but by living spiritual experience. Spiritual experience has a hold on the deeper truths which are inaccessible to mere intellect; it cannot be born of unaided intellect. Spiritual truth can often be stated and expressed through the intellect, and the intellect surely is of some help for the communication of spiritual experience. But by itself, the intellect is insufficient to enable man to have spiritual experience or to communicate it to others. If two persons have had headaches they can co-operatively examine their experience of headache and make it explicit to themselves through the work of the intellect. If a person has never experienced a headache, no amount of intellectual explanation will suffice for making him understand what a headache is. Intellectual explanation can never be a substitute for spiritual experience; it can at best prepare the ground for it.

Spiritual experience involves more than can be grasped by mere intellect. This is often emphasised by calling it a mystical experience. Mysticism is often regarded as something anti-intellectual, obscure and confused, or impractical and unconnected with experience. In fact, true mysticism is none of these. There is nothing irrational in true mysticism when it is, as it should be, a vision of Reality. It is a form of perception which is absolutely unclouded, and so practical that it can be lived every moment of life and expressed in every-day duties. Its connection with experience is so deep that, in one sense, it is the final understanding of all experience. When spiritual experience is described as mystical one should not assume that it is something supernatural or entirely beyond the grasp of human consciousness. All that is meant is that it is not accessible to limited human intellect until it transcends its limits and is illumined by direct realisation of the Infinite. Christ pointed out the way to spiritual experience when he said, “Leave all and follow me.” This means that man must leave limitations and establish himself in the infinite life of God. Real spiritual experience involves not only realisation of the soul on higher planes, but also a right attitude towards worldly duties. If it loses its connection with the different phases of life, what we have is a neurotic reaction that is far from being a spiritual experience.

The spiritual experience that is to enliven and energise the New Humanity cannot be a reaction to the stern and uncompromising demands made by the realities of life. Those without the capacity for adjustment to the flow of life have a tendency to recoil from the realities of life and to seek shelter and protection in a self-created fortress of illusions. Such reaction is an attempt to perpetuate one’s separate existence by protecting it from the demands made by life. It can only give a pseudo-solution to the problems of life by providing a false sense of security and self-completeness. It is not even an advance towards the real and lasting solution; on the contrary, it is a side-tracking from the true Path. Man will be dislodged again and again from his illusory shelters by fresh and irresistible waves of life, and will invite upon himself fresh forms of suffering by seeking to protect his separative existence through escape. Just as a person may seek to hold onto his separative experience through escape, he may also seek to hold it through uncritical identification with forms, ceremonies and rituals or with traditions and conventions. Forms, ceremonies and rituals, traditions and conventions are in most cases fetters to the release of infinite life. If they were a pliant medium for the expression of unlimited life, they would be an asset rather than a handicap for securing the fulfillment of divine life on earth; but they mostly have a tendency to gather prestige and claims in their own right, independently of the life which they might express. When this happens, any attachment to them must eventually lead to a drastic curtailment and restriction of life. The New Humanity will be freed from a life of limitations, allowing unhampered scope for the creative life of the spirit; and it will break the attachment to external forms and learn to subordinate them to the claims of the spirit. The limited life of illusions and false values will then be replaced by unlimited life in the Truth, and the limitations, through which the separative self lives, will wither away at the touch of true understanding.

Just as a person may seek to hold onto his separative existence through escape or identification with external forms, he may seek to hold it through identification with some narrow class, creed, sect or religion, or with the divisions based upon sex. Here the individual may seem to have lost his separative existence through identification with a larger whole. But, in fact, he is often expressing his separative existence through such an identification, which enables him to delight in his feeling of being separate from others who belong to another class, nationality, creed, sect, religion or sex.

Separative existence derives its being and strength by identifying itself with one opposite and contrasting itself with the other. A man may seek to protect his separate existence through identification with one ideology rather than another or with his conception of good as contrasted with his idea of evil. What results from identification with narrow groups or limited ideals is not a real merging of the separative self, but only a semblance of it. A real merging of the limited self in the ocean of universal life involves complete surrender of separative existence in all its forms.

The large mass of humanity is caught up in the clutches of separative and assertive tendencies. For one who is overpowered by the spectacle of these fetters of humanity, there is bound to be nothing but unrelieved despair about its future. One must look deeper into the realities of the day if one is to get a correct perspective on the present distress of humanity. The real possibilities of the New Humanity are hidden to those who look only at the surface of the world-situation, but they exist and only need the spark of spiritual understanding to come into full play and effect. The forces of lust, hate and greed produce incalculable suffering and chaos, but the one redeeming feature about human nature is that even in the midst of disruptive forces there invariably exists some form of love.

Even wars require co-operative functioning, but the scope of this co-operative functioning is artificially restricted by identification with a limited group or ideal. Wars often are carried on by a form of love, but it is a love which has not been understood properly. In order that love should come into its own, it must be untrammeled and unlimited. Love does exist in all phases of human life, but it is latent or is limited and poisoned by personal ambition, racial pride, narrow loyalties and rivalries, and attachment to sex, nationality, sect, caste or religion. If there is to be a resurrection of humanity, the heart of man will have to be unlocked so that a new love is born into it—a love which knows no corruption and is entirely free from individual or collective greed.

The New Humanity will come into existence through a release of love in measureless abundance, and this release of love can come through spiritual awakening brought about by the Masters. Love cannot be born of mere determination; through the exercise of will one can at best be dutiful. Through struggle and effort, one may succeed in assuring that one’s external action is in conformity with one’s concept of what is right; but such action is spiritually barren because it lacks the inward beauty of spontaneous love. Love has to spring spontaneously from within; it is in no way amenable to any form of inner or outer force. Love and coercion can never go together, but while love cannot be forced upon anyone, it can be awakened through love itself. Love is essentially self-communicative; those who do not have it catch it from those who have it. Those who receive love from others cannot be its recipients without giving a response which, in itself, is the nature of love. True love is unconquerable and irresistible. It goes on gathering power and spreading itself until eventually it transforms everyone it touches. Humanity will attain to a new mode of being and life through the free and unhampered interplay of pure love from heart to heart.

When it is recognised that there are no claims greater than the claims of the universal divine life which, without exception, includes everyone and everything, love will not only establish peace, harmony and happiness in social, national and international spheres, but it will shine in its own purity and beauty. Divine love is unassailable to the onslaughts of duality and is an expression of divinity itself. It is through divine love that the New Humanity will tune in with the divine plan. Divine love will not only introduce imperishable sweetness and infinite bliss into personal life, but it will also make possible an era of New Humanity. Through divine love the New Humanity will learn the art of co-operative and harmonious life; it will free itself from the tyranny of dead forms and release the creative life of spiritual wisdom; it will shed all illusions and get established in the Truth; it will enjoy peace and abiding happiness; it will be initiated in the life of Eternity.

JR –

Your reply seems to be: If you cant rebut the facts, smear the source.

That methodology may work on some, but certainly not on all, or on me.

It is a tactic lately used by our Republican friends.

Not worthy to be used here, IMHO.

If you have information or argument to rebut the article, post it.

If not, the lack same also speaks.

Crystal,

Sorry. In re-reading my opening sentence to you - after posting, I regretfully realized it could have been interpreted as a personal jab. It wasn’t meant to be. My sincere apologies.

People these posts are interesting, but some are so long they need their own blog.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/05/30/dnc_meeting/

The fight over Florida and Michigan

Here’s what to expect when Democratic leaders meet to decide the fate of delegates from the two states’ outlaw primaries. - By Walter Shapiro

If I were to do it over again, I would have simply posted the lovely article by Baba. It would have suffiiciently served the purpose. Live and learn I suppose. Once again, my apologies.

That’s a funny last sentence in Hillary’s letter to the superdelegates (posted somewhere up above): “And most important, I hope you will think about who is ready to stand on that stage with Senator McCain, fight for the deepest principles of our party, and lead our country forward into this new century.”
Funny choice of the word “WITH”. Mercury slip of the tongue, maybe.

This is a good article on the mechanics of awarding democratic deligates.

Think all districts are awarded deligates based on the number of voters? Not exactly.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080530/D90VTEV00.html

WOW - some astro in the mainstream!

Michael O’Reilly of Neptune Cafe & Jennifer Angel are quoted in today’s NY Daily News:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/05/30/2008-05-30_forget_votes_stars_say_hillary_clinton_m.html

Forget votes: Stars say Hillary Clinton may well just fall to Pisces
BY David Saltonstall

Friday, May 30th 2008, 4:00 AM

Sand/AP
Hillary Clinton

Miller/Getty
Barack Obama

The delegates aren’t aligning for Hillary Clinton, but here’s the really bad news - the stars aren’t, either.

With Clinton and Barack Obama headed into a fateful weekend - the Democratic National Committee will decide how to count Michigan’s and Florida’s votes Saturday, and Sunday is Puerto Rico’s primary - the Daily News asked top stargazers to look into the candidates’ astrological future.

It turns out to be a zodiacal disaster for the former First Lady, a Scorpio born with her moon in Pisces, experts said.

That vulnerable, Piscean moon is bad enough - no President has ever boasted such a weak sign - but it’s made worse by a crossing Uranus, said Michael O’Reilly, author of “Political Astrology.”

“Uranus is crossing her natal moon, and the moon side of her horoscope is the part where she is weak,” O’Reilly said. “It represents her vulnerability.”

Obama, on the other hand, is rockin’ the planetary house. A Leo by birth, he should pick up a boost of energy this weekend from a well-placed Mars, the warrior planet.

“It’s all systems go for him,” O’Reilly predicted.

Others cautioned not to count either Democrat out.

“Hillary, being a Scorpio, has loads of charisma, and being true to her star sign she is definitely not a quitter,” said Daily News astrologer Jennifer Angel. “If Hillary is ever going to win the prize of her life, then she has the capacity to pull it off this weekend.”

Clinton, for her part, is choosing to look only on the sunny side. Thursday, her campaign put out a traveling schedule through next Friday, when many have predicted she could already be forced from the race.

Said Clinton spokes-swami Jay Carson, “There are a lot of places for us to go between June 4 and November.”

Here comes the GOP slime machine.

http://www.queerty.com/did-jeff-gannon-know-scott-mcclellan-20080529/

and

http://www.queerty.com/who-what-20080528/

Scott McClellan’s birth data:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_McClellan

Crane collapses in New York City; at least 1 dead
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_on_re_us/crane_collapse;_ylt=Ao.30ukbGy_7.0nkX7M5zh2s0NUE

A construction crane collapsed Friday on New York’s Upper East Side, smashing into a 23-story apartment building before crashing onto the street below and killing one person.

t was the second deadly crane accident in 2 1/2 months in the city, which is undergoing a building boom. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the latest collapse was “unacceptable,” and the city would investigate.
“The sound was like a thunder clap. Then, an earthquake,” said Peter Barba, who lives on the seventh floor of the building across the street from the construction site that was hit by the crane.
One body was brought out of the rubble at East 91st Street and First Avenue, placed on a gurney and covered in a white sheet. A construction worker knelt over the stretcher, gently stroking the sheet.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether there were additional fatalities.
Crews pulled others out of the wreckage, the Fire Department said. Their conditions were not immediately known.
Firefighters and rescue workers continued to search through the tangled wreckage.
Barba said it appeared the entire cab came off the crane; its main arm hit the penthouse of his building, then “took out the northeast corner,” he said.
more……..

I’m having trouble getting two different links to post about a crane accident in NY where there is one known casualty. The story, so far, can be found at yahoo and CNN.

I HATE this when the filters are so picky, and especially when there is no way of knowing exactly what the filter object to.

Women increasingly speaking out re Hillary’s media treatment:
/www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052903261.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Here is today’s Washington Post article re media treatment of Mrs. Clinton:
‘Look What They’ve Done to Her’

» Links to this article
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, May 30, 2008; Page A13

“How much anger is there among women about how Hillary Clinton has been treated during this campaign? Some of the nation’s leading female politicians will tell you: quite a lot.

“From the beginning, she’s been treated very badly,” says Therese Murray, president of the Massachusetts Senate. “No woman would have run with Obama’s résumé. She wouldn’t have been considered.” But Clinton has been “demonized by the press and the talking heads. How do you get away with that?”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) says she is regularly approached “by women of all races, of all ages, of all faiths. They stop me, grab my hand and say, ‘Look what they’ve done to her, we were so close.’ They wanted this for their daughters and granddaughters. . . . It’s so heartbreaking.”

For Rep. Darlene Hooley (D-Ore.), the evidence that “sexism reigns supreme” lay in the wide availability of offensive anti-Hillary paraphernalia in stores and on the Internet. For Barbara Johnson, president of the Minneapolis City Council, Clinton may have been the victim of “ageism” as much as sexism. The message, she said, was: “Your time is past, it’s time for somebody new to take your place.”

Many women, said Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), “knew we had made many strides. They asked, ‘Aren’t we past this? What’s going on?’ They’re not happy with what they see as sexism, permitted by the media and in some cases encouraged by the media.”

If there is good news for Barack Obama in any of this, it is that the rage felt by Clinton’s female supporters is directed in large part toward the media. “The anger is aimed much more at you all,” said Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts of Rhode Island. Added Murray: “Obama wouldn’t have gotten to where he got today if it weren’t for the bias of the male media — no offense.”

It’s true that campaigns and political movements use anger as a bargaining chip. The message is: Appease us or we will cause trouble. The Clinton campaign is hoping that such rage will strengthen its hand in the battle to seat pro-Clinton Michigan and Florida delegations at the party’s national convention, even though those states held early primaries in violation of party rules.

But the conversations I had this week with prominent female politicians from around the country who support Clinton suggest that the fury and disappointment is more than short-term maneuvering. In many cases, it is rooted in the empathy of women who themselves broke gender barriers at various levels of politics.

Murray, for example, is the first woman to lead the Massachusetts Senate. Hooley was the first woman on the City Council in West Linn, Ore., and the first woman elected a commissioner of Clackamas County. Johnson says proudly that she is the second woman to serve as president of the Minneapolis City Council. Her mother was the first.

Clinton “is striking a chord among women who have been involved in politics for a long time and who have been waiting for a long time,” said Nancy Kopp, Maryland’s treasurer.

Female politicians feel for Clinton as someone who regularly faces questions that male politicians would never be asked. When a reporter queried Roberts about “my brand of lipstick and what color was it,” she revealed the vital information — “Revlon Number 235″ — but noted that “some of my supporters were offended that she asked me.”

These are professional politicians, so they know that Clinton is on the verge of defeat because of her campaign’s organizational mistakes, its failure to take Obama seriously early on and the difficulties created by her husband’s presence. Roberts points to an age split among women, noting that her 19-year-old daughter, Kathleen, is a staunch Obama supporter. Obama, Kopp said, clearly has a strong appeal “among younger women, though that’s true among many older women, too.”

Indeed, Obama has the support of many prominent female elected officials, notably Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Govs. Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. He won significant female support in the primaries, carrying a majority of the women’s vote in 13 states and splitting it evenly with Clinton in Wisconsin.

Nonetheless, even these very pragmatic female politicians who very much want a Democrat to win the White House are looking for signs of “understanding and respect,” said Kopp.

“It’s a campaign, someone wins, someone doesn’t win, that’s life,” she said. “But women don’t want to be totally dissed.”

Jerry W, no need to apologize, no offense taken. I am very familiar with Eastern philosophy, especially Hindu and Yogic teachings; less so with Buddhism. I grew up surrounded by a large Indian community on a British island, and all those famous Swamis that you spek of visited fom India at one time or another. There are also a lot of Hindu temples (mandirs) there. I was also a member of Paramahansa Yogananda’s (disciple of Swami Sri Yukteswar) Self-Realization Fellowship Organization headquartered in Calif., and I benefitted greatly from their teachings Two books that are a must-read for everybody are - Autobiography of a Yogi, and Man’s Eternal Quest, both authored by Paramahansa Yogananda. Things that we consider miracles are everyday occurences for them. I also studied Swami Rama’s teachings. All great spiritual men. Yet in India, you have the teeming unwashed and unfed masses living on the streets, and existing side by side with the very wealthy, and the highly spiritual. I believe this is a direct result of the Hindu caste system, which has been in effect from time immemmorial, and still pervades Indian society today, coupled with their fatalistic belief in karma. Yes, I believe in karma up to a point, but when it is used as a reason to not exterminate some disease-spreading pests, and other unsanitary practices, as well as to perpetuate the caste system, then it becomes counter-productive to progress.

There’s an urgent need in India to strike a balance between the spiritual and material kingdoms especially in regards to their poor and “untouchables”. It’s no surprise that Mother Teresa found so much fertile ground for her work in the Indian slums. I think they are starting to make some headway but it’s a long and arduous process.
I would also like to point out another area where Mother Teresa (God bless her), came in for some criticism, and I believe that this stemmed from her belief as a Catholic in redemption through suffering for one’s sins which meshed perfectly with the Hindus’ karmic resignation. She was criticized for helping the poor to die, rather than helping them to live, and I think that it was a justifiable criticism, and as we have learned recently, even her religious beliefs were shaken, and questioned, by what she had to face everyday in India.

“The Clinton campaign is hoping that such rage will strengthen its hand in the battle to seat pro-Clinton Michigan and Florida delegations at the party’s national convention”.

Somehow, I don’t think rage (which Clinton and her supporters seem to have an abundance of), is a good position to bargain from, when one is trying make a case for the Democratic nomination.

Nancy, you were right on “Mars crossing Obama’s Sun” May 29 through June 1st, which has brought out this new Pastor business. What would make this Pastor do this when Obama has had enough problems and he knows they are watching?

Fe: That was a beautiful piece you did on Michelle. I love her.

If Hillary was half the women she is, she would not be going around stating she is a victim of Sexism, she would be taking the high road and not call attention to something that she is trying to create.

Kat,

As we are painfully aware this same kind of treatment goes on all over the web as well as in society. “Here is today’s Washington Post article re media treatment of Mrs. Clinton”. There are obviously many females who, according to their language used toward one of their own, apparently don’t think like themselves much less their own gender. Then women wonder why there isn’t more progress for lawful control over their own reproductive related issues. Or issues of truly equal pay, and on and on the list goes. Who will ever take a group of people seriously who, at the drop of a hat, will vilify and verbally destroy one of their own?? If females don’t care about their own then we can’t demand that males do. It saddens me but is a little bit more understandable that males sometimes speak derogatorily about females, it’s a power struggle for them. But females doing the same thing and all too often the females are even worse, what’s that all about?? “Telling the truth” is one thing but purposely trying to destroy one of your own is truly self-destructive.

Oops!! That should read: “…apparently don’t like themselves much less their own gender.” The word “think” doesn’t belong there.

Julie:

I didn’t do that piece. It was a diary posted at Huffpo and Kos by Dawn T.

I wish I was there when Michelle spoke the words, I would be whooping it up to the rooftops.

I tell you, I was stunned by these words, too. They are or should be the mantra for how the country will need to operate from now on. Let’s work and pray this comes to pass.

Scott McClellan’s mother….one tough cookie!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carole_Keeton_Strayhorn

One more on McClellan because I really respect what he has done..this is a post on Salon that was just right to me. It is well thought and well worded by a poster called What Constitution?.

“An observation about why McClellan did it, why he did it now, and whether he is a “traitor” as has been reported as being a comment from White House “insiders”:

There’s a scene at the end of the movie of Tom Clancy’s (now there’s a lefty lib guy, huh?) “Clear and Present Danger”, where Jack Ryan/Harrison Ford visits his dying boss in the hospital and confides his concerns over the illegality of the Colombian drug incursion “black op”. Admiral Greer/James Earl Jones responds to Ryan’s “I don’t think I’ll like what I find if I keep digging” comment with “Remember what you did when you came to work for me, Jack? You took an oath, and not to the National Security Advisor, and not to his boss the President. You took an oath to his boss. You took an oath to the People of the United States.”

McClellan was certainly a Kool-Aid drinker, he certainly followed his orders and he certainly lied to the American people. And on reflection, maybe somewhere somehow the light went off in his head, and he realized that the country cannot function if it is accepted dogma within the Executive Branch that it is more important to be able to lie to the People in order to expand, consolidate and preserve executive power than it is to adhere to a rule of law, not of men. There he was, enabling direct attacks upon the Constitution of the United States, the public point man of a comprehensive effort to circumvent the very structure of our democracy in order to further the political agenda of the White House.

There are “traitors” here, to be sure. But McClellan isn’t one of them, at least not any more. The real traitors are those who would react to McClellan’s disclosures (and by the way, I’ve seen nobody claim he is lying about anything, just that it’s “sad”…) by accusing him of being a traitor. Those within the Administration who would accuse McClellan of being a “traitor to the Administration” fail to acknowledge that the standard, the protected entity in “traitor” analysis must be the US Constitution and the People, not Mr. Bush and his hacks. If McClellan’s acknowledgements of the factual activity which he witnessed and participated in at the White House falls critically upon White House personnel, that only exposes those persons’ traitorous conduct toward the rule of law, the Constitution — to which at least some of those WH folks presumably have sworn their oath — and therefore to the People of the United States.

So I don’t have much trouble appreciating what McClellan has done by publishing his book (and the reports about a mere five-figure advance simply gut the “for the money” slime), though I would have preferred him having told the truth back when Fitzgerald might have been able to obtain Rove’s conviction, too. And I would certainly appreciate it if somebody would ram that “traitor” tripe back down the throats of anybody vile enough to mouth it publicly.”

Reality interfering with rebate dreams

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/30/spending.rebate.ap/index.html

I remember saying to my OH when Bush first proposed this, “Ok, now what’s the catch? Bush isn’t going to do anything for anyone without there being small print attached.” He thought a moment and said, “That’s easy, shut everyone up about the economy and divert attention from Iraq.”

Many Americans allowed themselves to fantasize about large-screen TVs, European vacations and other luxuries when they learned of the federal rebates they’d be getting this spring and early summer.

Or maybe — shh, don’t tell the president — they’d pay off a credit card or set the rebate aside for a big purchase in the future, notwithstanding Washington’s intentions that they pump it immediately into the flagging economy.
“It’s not often you get a windfall like that that you can just stash away for something you need later,” said Sara Jackson, 29, a graphic designer in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

But reality has interfered, in the form of ever-climbing food bills and $4-a-gallon gasoline.
While some consumers got their dream TVs, as confirmed by a spike in April retail sales in anticipation of the economic stimulus payments, day-to-day living costs have sopped up the checks for many other early recipients and spoiled their rebate fantasies.

Based on a small but broadly diverse group of consumers who tracked their rebate spending in detail for The Associated Press, there was no mass rush to the malls for shopping sprees after the payments started showing up in bank accounts in significant numbers in May. The greater economic ramifications may not be seen for months.

Vanessa Church, a 49-year-old Chicagoan with six children, was grateful for the rebate but found there wasn’t much left over after big payments for utilities and other basic needs were taken care of. “Things are getting tighter and tighter,” she said, adding jokingly: “I’m thinking they should do this twice a year.”

I remember saying to my OH when Bush first proposed this, “Ok, now what’s the catch? Bush isn’t going to do anything for anyone without there being small print attached.” He thought a moment and said, “That’s easy, shut everyone up about the economy and divert attention from Iraq.”

Many Americans allowed themselves to fantasize about large-screen TVs, European vacations and other luxuries when they learned of the federal rebates they’d be getting this spring and early summer.
Or maybe — shh, don’t tell the president — they’d pay off a credit card or set the rebate aside for a big purchase in the future, notwithstanding Washington’s intentions that they pump it immediately into the flagging economy.
“It’s not often you get a windfall like that that you can just stash away for something you need later,” said Sara Jackson, 29, a graphic designer in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
But reality has interfered, in the form of ever-climbing food bills and $4-a-gallon gasoline.
While some consumers got their dream TVs, as confirmed by a spike in April retail sales in anticipation of the economic stimulus payments, day-to-day living costs have sopped up the checks for many other early recipients and spoiled their rebate fantasies.
Based on a small but broadly diverse group of consumers who tracked their rebate spending in detail for The Associated Press, there was no mass rush to the malls for shopping sprees after the payments started showing up in bank accounts in significant numbers in May. The greater economic ramifications may not be seen for months.
Vanessa Church, a 49-year-old Chicagoan with six children, was grateful for the rebate but found there wasn’t much left over after big payments for utilities and other basic needs were taken care of. “Things are getting tighter and tighter,” she said, adding jokingly: “I’m thinking they should do this twice a year.”

The link to this article absolutely refused to post even after separating almost every letter with a dash. So please go to CNN and then to the living section. The date is May 30. Grr!!

Flo,
Agreed, dear friend….
Self-esteem seems very high on the consciousness list.

I recall w/ anguish a scene in a restaurant in which a tv news reporter interviewed diners re the negatives pertaining to Hillary’s running for pres. and 1 woman strongly said:”well she’s a woman!!!”

Other women are upset w/ her personal choice to stay w/ Bill and not break up her family after Monica. etc. etc.

Women have been so shamed, belittled, bought and sold through out most of recorded history, securing unequal, abusive power and control for men, that I think many women actually believe the sotto voce grotesque propaganda….

One need only ask a woman if she is truly happy with her inner life, her male-female relationships, the condition of her country/world and Mother Earth…imo.

Hopefully, in our lifetime, the majority of women and men will look into each other’s eyes and see Spirit….

Flo,

The MASL URL link (acronym for Make A Shorter Link) is an excellent source to use for that problem. It’s easy to use and works well on Nancy’s Blog. Here’s the website URL address:

http://masl.to/

You wrote:

“I remember saying to my OH when Bush first proposed this, “Ok, now what’s the catch? Bush isn’t going to do anything for anyone without there being small print attached.” He thought a moment and said, “That’s easy, shut everyone up about the economy and divert attention from Iraq.”

The McClellan revelations comes at an interesting time. Tr. Mars has just activated the upcoming August 1st solar eclipse on Bush’s natal Pluto/Mercury/Ascendant (9 Leo). Should we expect more of same only on a larger scale - a Wag The Dog scenario, involving a military venture into Iran which would divert attention away from the economy and Iraq at the time of the eclipse? Just a thought.

http://www.astroworld.us/archives/2008/05/comin_through_the_rye.html#000686

COMIN’ THROUGH THE RYE

The famous Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759 - 1796) wrote a poem called “Comin’ Through the Rye” A poem of a bedraggled worn out life and dragging through the wet grasses of Scotland. America kind of feels like that right now, like we are coming through the rye. In Burns poem it’s questionable whether “Jenny” ever dries out again and is it important if she does or can she just go on with life even with wet petticoats.

I said weeks ago that this period of time would see answers coming out and a glimpse of who people really are, and that has and is certainly happening.

This campaign is shaking up politics as usual, some of it has jumped beyond ugly at least to those of us who lived through the specter of political assassinations and what goes on behind the scenes of campaigns, politics that is. Scott McClellan (Feb. 14, 1968 Austin, TX N/T) with his Moon conjunct Jupiter at 1 degree Virgo certainly supports his claim of a tell “almost” all book as driven by his love of truth. He will absolutely pay a high price for his truth as he is in a Sadi Sate (Saturn in the sign before, during and after the Moon) right now Saturn is directly on his Moon and yes he will feel he paid a high price. Scott will often remind himself of “what profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul.” In time, he will not regret standing on the side of truth.

More at the link….

Jerry W,

You wrote: “The MASL URL link (acronym for Make A Shorter Link) is an excellent source to use for that problem.”

OMG, THANK YOU - yes I’m shouting that one! I didn’t even know that web site existed. Thanks very much!!!!

Also: “The McClellan revelations comes at an interesting time….a Wag The Dog scenario, involving a military venture into Iran which would divert attention away from the economy and Iraq at the time of the eclipse? Just a thought.”

My thoughts as well. Bush and McCain have both spoken of being in Iraq for 100 years. Also Bush spoke a time or two of arranging circumstances so “the next President can’t just walk away from Iraq” (sorry I don’t have a specific link). An attack on Iran would certainly insure all the above.

What is conveniently not mentioned here is the fact that our military is horribly broken. They couldn’t take a three pronged war.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103×362588

Marines bringing combat training to Indy

U.S. Marine helicopters will land at the old Eastgate Consumer Mall, Brookside Park and other Indianapolis locations when the city becomes a mock battlefield next week.
About 2,300 Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., will conduct urban warfare training from Wednesday through June 19 in and around Indianapolis.
Most of the troops will be deployed at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and the Raytheon facility on Holt Road, said Debbi Fletcher of the Indianapolis/Marion County Emergency Management Agency.
“We don’t want anyone thinking that there’s an invasion happening or that we declared martial law or something like that,” Fletcher said.

More at the link…

Flo.

Also, re your earlier observation per the article on the mean - spirited treatment of Hillary by pundits in the media - you mentioned that women also turn against their own gender (how sadly true).

We recall 2000+ years of Christianity that starts w/ New Testament story of Eve being created not purely and completely in focused direct, deliberate way from God, but from 1 of Adam’s many ribs when Adam was sound asleep/ unconscious…almost as an afterthought.
Then Eve is said to be responsible via the counsel of an evil reptile for getting the entire human race banished for possibly Eternity from the lush Garden of Eden; consequently we are all born in (mortal) Sin & going to Hell Eterna lfire damnation unless we are redeemed by the Son…who we must learn about through priests, who alone can baptize us with cleansing, blessed water as early after birth as possible; since women are not worthy to baptize anyone or teach the word of God…after all the Son was male…and the Only child of God, the Father.

Pan to the Middle Ages….
During the ‘witch hunts’, approx. 6 million European women were burned alive at the stake, some just for having red hair!

Women remember—the subtle bodies hold past life memories, some say, and it is understandable, imo, that women would turn against other women, given the lifetimes of fear breeding mass hatred of women’s ‘mysterious power’ e.g. child birth, healing, intuition etc.
Some men are stuck in 3rd/ Solar chakra= power/control, many women have moved up to the 4th/Heart chakra, I have read…(and know from experience).
Men who are still relating to ‘others’ and the ‘outer world’ from their 1st 3 chakras(money-sex and power=the lessons/tests of Scorpio, that we learn at some point in evolution), when they relate to a woman who has moved up into her 4th chakra, these men know that there is a power present that they do not quite understand, and often try to take it, through abuse, sex etc.

Have also read of this as an explanation for Some of the incompatibility between Some men and Some women, e.g. ‘Men are from Mars and women are from Venus’.

Also, people trying to relate to others from different soul groups, often go into power struggles, etc.

When meeting someone from one’s same soul grouping there is said to be a definite harmonious vibe, (both are on the same page, so to speak) that is known to be very passionate, regardless of the gender, as we are all Yin/Yang - male and female to different degrees, heading toward androgeny and equality, some say….

Others say, the problem is, God the Father never listened to the Mother Goddess, and men still don’t…. Amen, Awomen….

Kat,

You wrote: “We recall 2000+ years of Christianity that starts w/ New Testament story of Eve being created not purely and completely in focused direct, deliberate way from God, but from 1 of Adam’s many ribs when Adam was sound asleep/ unconscious…almost as an afterthought.”

I’ve often wondered why more people; women in particular, don’t question the whole premise of the Bible. It seems based on the idea that men are everything; women are little more than servants so start serving already. Oh, and if women get any bright ideas about equal rights there’s always the fear of something called hell and brim fire to keep them in line.

You also wrote: “Women remember—the subtle bodies hold past life memories, some say, and it is understandable, imo, that women would turn against other women, given the lifetimes of fear breeding mass hatred of women’s ‘mysterious power’ e.g. child birth, healing, intuition etc.”

Remembering “past life memories” should be reason enough for every woman to say “never again. Men have learned well that there is strength in numbers. The sooner women learn that the better off they will be. When and if every last woman sticks together and brings down the roof each and every time a woman is mistreated or spoken ill of, (as Hillary has been by fellow women) better treatment is sure to follow. This better treatment through sticking together should be every women’s goal if for no other reason than our daughters, nieces, cousins, grand daughters, and so on. Who in their right mind would tolerate their imperfect mother, aunt, or grandmother spoken of as Hillary has been by other women??

You also mentioned: Others say, the problem is, God the Father never listened to the Mother Goddess, and men still don’t…. Amen, Awomen….

This is one of the truer things ever said. On the other hand, isn’t it about time women band together and start changing that??

There is a story that perfectly illustrates what I’m talking about. A man is driving the family car down the highway and next to him is his wife, and in the backseat is his son. The mother and son start having a disagreement that escalates into a full-blown argument, during which time the son starts using some foul language. The husband tries repeatedly to calm tempers but the son continues using ever more foul language. Finally, the father has had his fill and pulls the car over to the side of the highway. He gets out, opens the door where his son is, sticks his finger in his son’s face and says, “You can talk to your mother any way you want to, but as long as you live in my house don’t you ever talk to my wife like that again.” The father then gets back in the driver’s side of the car and proceeds to their destination.

Think of the affect it would have if every single woman stood up for a fellow woman when she was being spoken ill to, spoken ill of, or mistreated.

Kat, Flo, 30,000 years ago women were the prime goddess energies, and were worshipped for those very things you list as mysterious. Then it changed, and the origins of the bible are rooted in that change.

Women were reduced to being mere slaves for a very long time….and whenever women had an idea which would give them more power, inevitably, it would be snatched away by males.

You are probably aware of the guild system in Europe in the 1200’s or so….women would band together to make cheese, or bread, or cloth, etc. They did SO well at it, and obtained so much power…that men outlawed women being a part of such a business on pain of death. Then they took it all over. The guild system worked for men for a long time, and women once again were not allowed to own property, or have a formal education (our founding fathers had wives who were not formally educated despite the fact that many of them were brilliant, they were not allowed to go to school.)

Yes, the subtle bodies do remember this. And this is the backlash coming in terms of Hillary’s treatment…..this is the bad karma.

I once was visiting an old friend in Phoenix, and a group of us got together, maybe 7-8 women….we started talking about occult matters….and I asked, has anyone every thought they’d been in Salem for the witch hunts? Everyone’s hand went up…..

well, there were more than just Salem witch hunts over those centuries…we all probably had our turn on the bonfires.

Check out some of the stories on http://www.johnadams.net

I particularily like the various revolutionaries who have returned. And no, Obama was not Lincoln…but was close to him.

Adding to the discussion of women’s rights and issues in the Democr. Pres. race, any thoughts on Bill Clinton’s role in Hillary’s bid for the White House? Leaving aside his personal ambitions and interest in politics, I wonder how much of that guilt over the Monica Lewinsky affair has been the driving factor. Is Bill making efforts to compensate Hillary for her allegiance and support during that difficult period of ‘98?

And from a different angle, I found this profile on the gender issue very interesting…..

US News

ANALYSIS: For Women, Pride and Anger In Hillary’s White House Bid

http://tinyurl.com/5m3xoe

I will be happy to have the nomination decided. I cannot stand all this hatred and charactor assination going on. I guess people on this forum feel it is ok to do such things. Whether it is Hillary or Obama the true democrats will vote for the nominee. If they don’t then shame on them. There is something to be said for responsible debate. Name calling is unseemly and will cause a backlash. Hillary and Obama are very close in issues so the problem is the I hate Hillary and if you don’t your craszy, and other nasty words.

Margreit
What woukd you have said instead? If she is the nominee then she ould have to be on the debate stage with someone. McLame is the other nominee. Your reaching for a slam only too far this time. She has a right to state her case what are you afraid of?

Judi Gem,

You wrote: “Then it changed, and the origins of the bible are rooted in that change.”

I agree, men figured out a good scheme on the issue of religion and for better or worse women accept it as being so without question.

I too believe in reincarnation and past lives. I also believe our subconscious (inner core?) remembers some of the more traumatic experiences from those past lives. That remembering certainly explains why some women are no better, and in some cases much worse, in their treatment of Hillary Clinton and other women.

Without having to spend much time thinking about it every woman can no doubt come up with examples of being reduced to mere slaves, witch trials in practice and attitude, instances of the glass ceiling, and the list goes on forever. The remembering of our history as well as modern examples of mistreatment is all the more reason, at least for me, no woman should ever speak ill of another woman. Men indeed criticize other men but notice they generally do it in a controlled and/or humorously respectful manner. My main problem is not with men being involved in the ill treatment of women because men are going to do whatever they are allowed to get away with. Women speaking so ill of fellow women though, that is a completely different story. I realize we, as humans, do what we know and what we’ve been taught to do. But, and this is a mighty big but, where and when do women finally look around and say, “Why are we doing this to ourselves? This is not working to our benefit so let’s try something else.” Simply because women know the feeling of being marginalized, mistreated, and spoken ill of is all the more reason they should be determined to prevent that same thing for their loved ones coming after them.

Then there is the little issue of people, especially women, looking around themselves and seeing the mess men have made of one society after another. It doesn’t take a PHD in history to figure out that a woman couldn’t possibly do any worse and just might do much better than the men have done all these centuries. So common sense would indicate that women should be standing together cheering Hillary Clinton on, and verbally bashing every male who tried mistreating her. On the other hand, common sense, especially among women these days, seems to be a very rare commodity.

Last but not least, for many women there is Hillary Clinton right in front of women’s faces as a constant reminder of their own lost opportunities. Women go through hellish experiences but what do they learn from those experiences other than to hate certain things/situations? Do women learn and use those experiences to their own advantage, and especially to the advantage of women coming after them? In most cases the answer is no. Instead, women judge fellow women much more harshly than men treat other men. By doing that women perpetuate past mistreatment and ruin their own present day opportunities, as well as ruining the opportunities of future generations. That in a nutshell is my issue will all this Hillary bashing. My issue is not who will or will not be the Dem nominee, it’s the Hillary bashing. We’ve got daughters, nieces, female cousins, grand daughters, great-grand daughters who need a better example than we have had.

Jerry,

To an extent I agree that Bill Clinton may be trying to make up for the embarrassment, financial issues, and other problems his affair with Monica Lewinsky caused Hillary and his daughter.

Most women can accept Hillary not wanting to cause even more political fodder for the republicans by separating from Bill Clinton while he was still in office. Yet it seems to gall women that Hillary chose to take everything Bill Clinton could slap her with, everything the republicans could dish out, remain married to Bill Clinton even after he left office, and still build a career for herself. I even found myself questioning how Hillary could possibly want to stay with Bill Clinton until I took time to really think about it. What too many women seem to conveniently forget, or purposely choose to block from their mind, is that many women have stayed in a less than perfect situation simply because the advantages far outweighed the disadvantages. I’ve certainly done it myself and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if the circumstances called for it. That is why I think Hillary stays with Bill Clinton to this day; there are advantages for her. Of course there are advantages for Bill Clinton too. Let’s face it Bill Clinton earns big bucks on the speaking circuit and has worldwide contacts that Hillary would loose out on if she left him. Who knows, Hillary’s decision to stay will Bill may simply involve her daughter and nothing more, we don’t know.

Then there is the issue of her pantsuits and being a strong willed woman, in other words being a “b….”. What’s that all about?? I generally wear pantsuits or jeans and my comment to anyone who questions it is, “What’s the issue? Is a seam out or a button gone that I don’t know about?” That, or some variant of it, should be the reply of every woman when a fellow women’s dress is questioned. As for the being a “B….” a good come back might be, “Yes, I am strong willed and capable, thank you for noticing.” That would take the air out of many a sail.

As I’ve tried to indicate many a time, it isn’t who will be or won’t be the Dem nominee that I have the issue with. My preference may or may not run against McCain, but so what? My vote in November will be adjusted accordingly. My main point is strictly about the Hillary bashing.

Former Bush Donors Now Giving to Obama

http://www.truthout.org/article/former-bush-donors-now-giving-obama

Greg Gordon writes for McClatchy Newspapers: “Beverly Fanning is among the campaign donors who’ll be joining President Bush at a gala at Washington’s Ford’s Theater Sunday night, but she says that won’t dissuade her from her current passion: volunteering for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. She isn’t the only convert. A McClatchy computer analysis, incomplete due to the difficulty matching data from various campaign finance reports, found that hundreds of people who gave at least $200 to Bush’s 2004 campaign have donated to Obama. Among them are Julie Nixon Eisenhower, the granddaughter of the late GOP president Dwight Eisenhower; Connie Ballmer, the wife of Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer; Ritchie Scaife, the estranged wife of conservative tycoon Richard Mellon Scaife and boxing promoter Don King.”

Flo: Let me add a few additional words to your wise perspective on Hillary’s marriage status. She simply may love him. Additionally it really is nobody’s damn business. I feel complelled to point out that she is not the first First Lady to remain with a presidential husband who has been involved in an adulterous complication. Would the same hypocrites berate Eleanor Roosevelt for her decisions? Would they minimize her credibility or her national role and involvement in supporting New Deal policies or in the founding of Freedom House or the United Nations? Do we belittle her for her extramarital affairs or her possible secret lesbian relationship? To quote Eleanor herself “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” I doubt Hillary feels inferior because of Bill’s pecadillos, or really gives a rat’s pituny what the bible crushing moral high handers or the double standard shrews say about her marriage. Neither did Jackie O for that matter. Have we excoriated Jackie? Lady Bird? Mamie? Do we insult their choices? Dance on their graves? Really, the sole problem with the issue with the Clinton’s is that Bill got caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar. Why? Because of the willingness of the press to destroy a presidency, and the willingness of the republicans to make an issue out of something that in all prior presidencies was considered off limits politically. The fact that Hillary Clinton has not succumbed to such pedestrian rancor only enhances her status with those who think rationally. To once again quote Eleanor, “A woman is like a tea bag- you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.” Well, she is one helluva tea bag! And without delving into astro-wars once again, that tea bag will be around for quite some time brewing up many more tasty cups.

Robert C,

Thank you!! A guy gets it!! My hope is that someday my own gender will be so enlightened!!

Umm….the latest Gallup tracking poll has Obama ahead of McCain by one and Clinton ahead by two.

New thread up.

Ok, the math says that Barak is it; so let’s talk about vice-pres. I’ve heard talk that he’s going to want someone with “war” experience to counteract Gampy McSame’s Vietnam record. (What does the chart for Webb look like?) Also heard he may want good people like the governors of Kansas (Sebelius) or Ohio (Strickland). Does anyone have their charts?

My major concern at the moment is that it seems the Democratic nomination on August 27, in the form of the roll call, will occur on a void of course moon. And election day, moon will be void all day, and then go into Acquarius, Obama’s lunar low.
Why doesn’t the democratic party employ astrologers?

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