Nancy’s Blog

Great British cartoon on global warming.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/photo_galleries/article5845863.ece?slideshowPopup=true&articleId=5845863&sectionName=PhotoGalleries

Thank you, Starlight, for your insight. What an awful time to be President. We are fortunate to have Obama willing to take on the problems of the world. I was disappointed for a while but he is clearly doing all he can.

The president is acting more like a man who is a victim of extortion and is being coerced into following the policies of the previous Bush administration.

Seems like night and day- pre-election and post-election Obama.

Thank you Starlight. I wonder how Mar’s retrograde will affect the ‘normal’ expression of Mars as it hits these sensitive points?

As for the sluggish economy, besides outer circumstance contributing to the poor economy, I wonder if the disillusionment with capitalism and its relative set of values (our consumer culture) is also playing out as an expression of Saturn/Venus and Pluto/Venus. Not only are things more difficult to afford, but acquiring ‘things’ may be losing their appeal.

Personally I’ve lost interest in the consumer aspects of Christmas and only feel anxiety when confronted with those whose hopes/expectations are caught up in maintaining it.

Interesting to have such a buoyant, transcendent, idealistic and hopeful planetary combination as Jupiter/Neptune playing against the darkly brooding, menacing and deeply transformative Saturn/Pluto energies. Like hearing a piano concerto by Wagner on one side of the stage while on the other, a child sings the theme from Annie….”Oh the Sun will come up tomorrow…!” Both transformative energies…but very different tones.

P.S. - Just realized this country is one year away from its 19th House Saturn Return in Libra which will also activate the natal Saturn/Sun square.

So next November ought to require some major adjustments for us as we continue to mature.
Saturn/Sun in a personal chart is indicative of some ‘father issues’ and in a nation might make reference to its patriarchy, authority, etc. A lot of insecurities about ourselves to work through that drive our collective national personality and angst relative to our position/relationships in the world.

Oops…meant to say 10th House Saturn Return.

Andre - I quite agree. He is doing all he can in very difficult circumstances. I think his Sun/Neptune square makes it very easy for people to project either positive or negative fantasies about him and then be disappointed.

zea - That is a perfect musical metaphor of these crazy times: Annie/Jupiter/Neptune on one side and Wagner/Saturn/Pluto on the other!

I am hoping the Saturn return along with Saturn square the US Sun will be easier than Pluto and Saturn aspecting Venus. Probably not by much though.

We are under 16 inches of snow and counting. Could easily be 20 before we are done, not to mention the drifts!

Is this another part of Jupiter (expansion) conjunct Neptune (water)? And with Mars stationary and Mercury slowing to its station, everything is basically stuck in the Northeast with ripple effects through the country.

Good luck with the snow storm!! The whole NW of the US was virtually shut down for 2-3 weeks around xmas last year (Portland and Seattle don’t seem to have more than a couple of snow plows - only the hwys and major streets - no others were plowed for days and days). It was horrible for small businesses - many of which had to go under since December sales were only one week of sales - and a weak week at that. It WAS pretty, but the apparent loveliness wore off completely after the first week. Hope the sledding, warm hearth and hot chocolate are fun tho!

———-

GlennGreenwald has a fascinating post up - it is a great astrological read. I’ll snip in a bit but recommend the whole thing.

“The health care bill is one of the most flagrant advancements of this corporatism yet, as it bizarrely forces millions of people to buy extremely inadequate products from the private health insurance industry — regardless of whether they want it or, worse, whether they can afford it (even with some subsidies). In other words, it uses the power of government, the force of law, to give the greatest gift imaginable to this industry — tens of millions of coerced customers, many of whom will be truly burdened by having to turn their money over to these corporations — and is thus a truly extreme advancement of this corporatist model. It’s undeniably true that the bill will also do some genuine good, as it will help many people who can’t get coverage now to get it (though it will also severely burden many people with compelled, uncontrolled premiums and will potentially weaken coverage for millions as well). If one judges the bill purely from the narrow perspective of coverage, a rational and reasonable (though by no means conclusive) case can be made in its favor. But if one finds this creeping corporatism to be a truly disturbing and nefarious trend, then the bill will seem far less benign.

As I’ve noted before, this growing opposition to corporatism — to the virtually absolute domination of our political process by large corporations — is one of the many issues that transcend the trite left/right drama endlessly used as a distraction. The anger among both the left and right towards the bank bailout, and towards lobbyist influence in general, illustrates that.

snip

Even if one grants the arguments made by proponents of the health care bill about increased coverage, what the bill does is reinforces and bolsters a radically corrupt and flawed insurance model and an even more corrupt and destructive model of “governing.” It is a major step forward for the corporatist model, even a new innovation in propping it up. How one weighs those benefits and costs — both in the health care debate and with regard to many of Obama’s other policies — depends largely upon how devoted one is to undermining and weakening this corporatist framework (as opposed to exploiting it for political gain and some policy aims).”

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/12/18/corporatism

AKA - I’ve often wondered if the back room tradeoffs with the Insurance companies was mandatory coverage for pre-existing and existing conditions for the mandatory insurance. It is a terrible bill and shameful given the number of Dems at the helm. My only hope is that it is the first step that opens the door to more severe steps as some have postulated.

I don’t have insurance (let it go many years ago when the company doubled the costs for no apparent reason). Same reason I have cut up my credit cards.
Short of catastrophic health issues it has actually been cheaper to pay as I go which has consisted of preventative holistic treatments and checkups.
I’m not thrilled about being forced to pay for health insurance that probably won’t provide the kinds of things I actually do to maintain my health. But my holistic approach is another conversation entirely.

Starlight, I hope you and yours will find a way to enjoy and celebrate the snow as much as possible.
It certainly will slow things down. Some of my fondest memories of living in N.Y. were the snowfalls that brought everything to a stop and a beautiful, quiet peace softly settled in. I agree that Jupiter/Neptune sounds like a big wet storm. Also lots of stories right now about ocean rise relative to climate warming.

Starlight - Looks like Americans will need to work on a positive attitude for the next several months.

zea - I appreciate your thoughts about the consumer culture and Christmas.

Weather on the U.S. east coast and across Europe. Can you imagine being stuck beneath the English Channel?! Claustrophobia.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Eurostar-Trains-Trapped-In-Chunnel-As-Snow-And-Ice-Brings-Services-To-A-Halt/Article/200912315504284?f=rss

Thank you AKA for the greenwald link. He really nails it. Like Katrina where bushco kept saying everything was under control and the images (and reality) showed a very different story here too the dems are so thrilled with their healthcare bill but it does nothing for the american people other than force us to buy health insurance from for profit conglomerates. Which do you believe - their talking points or the words that comprise the bill they are about to enact? Two very different realities.

My Christmas wish is that a “more assertive” Obama will replace Robert Gates as Sec of Defense and reclaim his Commander in Chief status.

Our reality is that we are slowly realizing that the government is dead broke, that many of us are dead broke and still we want to pay for things by charging them to future generations.

Perhaps my fantasy was that Obama was going to tell it like it is and help us take the tough medicine to help fix the debacle we are in, instead of shepherding the most massive transfer of wealth in our nations history into the hands of the few.

More from Obama’s Mars transit:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-missiles-strike-yemen/story?id=9375236

On orders from President Barack Obama, the U.S. military launched cruise missiles early Thursday against two suspected al-Qaeda sites in Yemen, administration officials told ABC News in a report broadcast on ABC World News with Charles Gibson.

The Yemen attacks by the U.S. military represent a major escalation of the Obama administration’s campaign against al Qaeda.

Something to keep in mind about the “war on terror” is how much we (the public at large) doesn’t know about the last decade. The war in Iraq has made the public very cynical, but there are some real threats when you think about the nuclear collusion between North Korea and players in places like Pakistan. I suspect our footprint in Afghanistan is all about Pakistan.

It’s also important that Obama came in as a wartime President from day one - in many ways he’s going to spend the next few years patching up what happened under Bush. Frankly Obama doesn’t have any silver bullets and these are complex situations with no easy answers.

There’s also a huge connection between the economy and our external relations: You’re seeing China not touched by the recession while it’s going to take America a while to come back. And China is filling that vacuum in places like Asia and Africa. Also filling that vacuum are players like Iran and Venezuela. So while this isn’t a hot war, it’s going to take a great deal of work.

America has always had a robust military and the economy to back it up - but the military is now spread thin (although getting out of Iraq will help) and the economy is hurting. So when you look at Obama’s visit to China or Copenhagen the US isn’t holding all of the cards, which means playing a careful game of Poker the next few years.

I have lived at or below the poverty level pretty much since I divorced in 2001. If they want to fine me I’ll look at which is cheaper, worthless insurance or the fine. My guess is the fine will be cheaper…

Matt Talbbi and Robert Kuttner interviewed by Bill Moyers.

Obama adm: “We need to do whatever it takes to get a bill.”

Admin, drug cos, insurance cos all on same side.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1363172387/

Above is a must watch.

Starlight: Excellent insight about the snow storm literally wiping away stores’ expectant money. It is crushing it here in the East. I too believe healthcare will pass, but I am hopeful that it will be something to build upon, in fact I know it will. One must have something to build upon before more can be improved. And, with the shameful acts of the GOP, I can only hope that people will remember and remind others when the voting time comes again, the inactions of the GOP for people.

Pres. Obama on Copenhagen Agt:

“I don’t know how you have an international agreement where you don’t share information and ensure we are meeting our commitments. That doesn’t make sense. That would be a hollow victory.” U.S. President Barack Obama.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/science/earth/19climate.html?_r=1

Raymond Merriman writes - “Next year promises to be a significant turn for humanity. Four of the five furthest out planets in our solar system will be changing signs. They will be moving from mutable (planning) signs into cardinal (action) signs. It is vitally important that they get the big picture right, for much is at stake. In many ways, 2010 may be considered the most important astrological year of our lifetime. And it is likely that the decisions made will have consequences for many, many years afterwards on the quality of life we will have.”…

http://www.stariq.com/marketweek.htm

Democrats Stepping Down (and Republicans, Too)

“Mr. Bart Gordon (60), a 13-term Tennessee Democrat, is leaving the House at the end of next year to explore other career opportunities, making him the 11th Democrat and the fourth centrist Blue Dog from a competitive swing district to announce that he will step down.”

“While they profess to be calm over the departures, Democrats are moving to stem any further retirements, consulting with other senior Democrats who might be vacillating about making yet another run for re-election in what could be a tough year. In a meeting with reporters, Ms. Pelosi, the House speaker, ticked off the names of four House veterans who were rumored to be potential retirees and said she had been assured that they would all run.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/us/politics/20cong.html?_r=1

B.A.–agree that PBS video is a must. Insurance company stocks are at 52-week highs. So much disappointment in Obama and the health care bill expressed in this clip. Negative political consequences for Dems could hurt for a generation, according to Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone. “A pro-industry bill that does not get to the heart of the problem,” from Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect. Also from Kuttner,”The country is looking for leadership and Obama is not doing that.”

AKA–thanks for the Greenwald link.

Excellent article from The Financial Times:

‘Obama’s Not Perfect…But’

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ccaa6d92-ec0c-11de-8070-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1

More from Bill Moyers interview:

ROBERT KUTTNER: Look, there are two ways, if you’re the President of the United States sizing up a situation like this that you can try and create reform. One is to say, well, the interest groups are so powerful that the only thing I can do is I can work with them and move the ball a few yards, get some incremental reform, hope it turns into something better. The other way you can do it is to try to rally the people against the special interests and play on the fact that the insurance industry, the drug industry, are not going to win any popularity contests with the American people. And you, as the president, be the champion of the people against the special interests. That’s the course that Obama’s chosen not to pursue.”

“MATT TAIBBI: The Democrats are in exactly the same position that the Republicans were in once the Iraq War turned bad. All the Republicans have to do now is sit back and watch the Democrats make a disaster out of this health care effort. And they’re going to gain political capital whether they’re in the right or not. And I think it’s a very- it’s a terrible thing for the party.”

More from Bill Moyers interview:

“ROBERT KUTTNER: I think the other problem, frankly, is that those of us who consider ourselves progressives invested so much in this remarkable figure, Barack Obama. And we read our own hopes into him. We saw him as a potentially great president. We saw this as a potentially transformative moment, I certainly did, where he could’ve chosen to be the kind of president Roosevelt was. And it turns out that’s not who is characteralogically and that’s not how he chose to play the moment.”

“ROBERT KUTTNER: The fact that even at such a moment, even with an outsider president campaigning on change we can believe in, that Barack Obama turned out to be who he has been so far, is just so revealing in terms of the structural undertow that big money represents in this country. The question is: Is he capable of making a change — he’s only been in office less than a year — in time to redeem the moment, redeem his own promise?”

“ROBERT KUTTNER: I don’t think I would bet my life on it but I think there’s a possibility that by the fall of 2010, looking down the barrel of a real election blowout, you could see him (Obama) change course, if only for reasons of expediency, but hopefully for reasons of principle as well, if he feels that the public doesn’t have confidence that he is delivering the kind of recovery that the public needs. This is a guy who is a very smart, complicated man. And I think don’t speak too soon, for the wheel’s still in spin. I don’t want to totally give up.”

“MATT TAIBBI: Yeah. I mean, obviously, it’s too early to completely abandon hope that he’s going to turn things around. But I think that’s a belief that’s not really based on evidence.”

I found this assay and reasoning behind his rectification of President Obamas birth time to 7:24 PM quite interesting. He voices the exact intuitive feeling I had when he announced his candidacy.

In January 2009 there was a solar eclipse conjunct (0°) to Obama’s Jupiter and opposition (180°) to his Sun. Jupiter is a planet that rules royalty and government. The Sun is a planet that rules positions of power. If Obama’s time of birth is 7:24 PM, the solar eclipse in January 2009 fell in Obama’s 12th house of illness and depression. So the question I pose is this: has Obama been offered a poisoned chalice? What do I mean by that? The American economy and its people are on its knees, on the verge of bankruptcy in every possible sense of the word. George W Bush’s presidency dragged the reputation of America around the world to one of the lowest points in the country’s entire history. This is a poisoned chalice that I believe has been delivered to Barack Obama.

http://www.astrology-reading.com.au/President_Barack_Obama.html

Michael from NYC

“I suspect our footprint in Afghanistan is all about Pakistan.” -absolutely!

“It’s also important that Obama came in as a wartime President from day one - in many ways he’s going to spend the next few years patching up what happened under Bush. Frankly Obama doesn’t have any silver bullets and these are complex situations with no easy answers.”

So true.

Gypsi,

“If they want to fine me I’ll look at which is cheaper, worthless insurance or the fine. My guess is the fine will be cheaper…”

It is preposterous, isn’t it? How can there possibly be a fine imposed on peeps who can’t afford to buy health insurance? How can that possibly be enforced without the law looking something like Nazi Germany?

The song, “This Is Not America” by Bowie comes to mind.

http://firedoglake.com/2009/12/20/democrats-tell-progressives-america-is-a-center-right-nation/

Democrats Tell Progressives: America Is A Center-Right Nation

Any takes on Tiger Wood’s chart? I think it would be a good one to look at in terms of a major fall from grace, loss of credibility, confusion, deception, drop in polls, etc, etc.

Without seeing his chart, I would say that Neptune is moving out and Uranus is definitely moving in, though maybe the last crossing over something.

http://www.chartplanet.com/famous/charts/tiger.html

Tiger was born December 30, 1975 at 10:50PM in Cypress (Long Beach) California

Copenhagen … not everything is as it appears.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/final-copenhagen-text-includes-global-transaction-tax.html

Tiger? Pluto quincunx his 01 Leo 07 Rx Saturn.

For some reason, the chart posted for Tiger is not correct. The birth time given there is correct but the calculations are not. the Ascendant is 24Virgo25 (MC is 24 Gemini), which is getting an exact quincunx from Neptune this month, but has been very active all year. Meanwhile, Uranus’ station is pretty near the Descendant and will be crossing it again and squaring the MC through early February. So he is still in the midst of major turmoil and change through February (Uranus) as the self-delusion (Neptune) begins to wear away after Christmas. I imagine things will calm down a lot after that. Could be he returns big time by next November when Jupiter stations on his Descendant and squares the MC.

To elaborate: When the whole Tiger Woods disaster got underway, I looked at his natal chart to see what might be up, because it looked like he was undergoing a serious unraveling. Given what I (and Will) have experienced recently with Pluto squaring our natal Suns, I looked to see what Pluto might be doing in Woods’ chart. Sure enough, Pluto had quincunxed Woods’ Saturn in late October, and it was still in orb. Not sure if that was the culprit, but I’m guessing it may have helped.

The one signature item in Woods’ chart that jumped out at me is the so-called Gaquelin effect, which is where an athlete has a planet, especially Mars, right on an angle. Woods’ Mars is at 17 Gemini 34, right on his 17 Gemini 00 Midheaven. And it’s retrograde, which is probably why he excels at golf instead of something more classically “athletic.”

Anyone look at the chart of actress Brittany Murphy, who died this morning?

zerariestrian,

OMG - Brittany Murphy was a big client of mine in 2004 and 2005 - wow, what a shocker - I just watched 8-Mile yesterday - she was terrific in it. And a terrific girl - very friendly, warm, funny, engaging.

Terrible shock!

Yeah, sad. A beautiful, if haunted, Scorpio woman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlbwEhvEGI0

And, this year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj9D41bMC5I

Nancy, are you sure the chart for Woods posted by Will is wrong? That chart has Rx Mars right on his Midheaven, which would make sense. His ASC/MC combo you cite is one degree off mine. Bruce Willis has a similar one, and what’s even stranger is that he was born one or two days before me, so his planets are pretty much in the same place, barring his Moon and Mercury (which are conjunct in the sixth house in early Pisces in my chart).

O Aries - I drew it up and it didn’t come out the same. So I checked Astrodatabank which came up with the same result I had. It also makes more sense with the Uranus and Neptune transits to the angles.

http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Woods,_Tiger

Neptune Cafe’s Michael Wolfstar shows the same chart as Starlight.

Tiger Woods’ “Traffic Accident”
Juno, the marriage asteroid, is all over the place in this incident. Tiger Woods (December 30, 1975; 10:50 pm; Long Beach, CA) was born with his Mars near the Midheaven, a logical place for the world’s richest athlete. His Mars is challenged by an opposition to his Moon and a square to Juno in his 12th house of secrets. Both his Juno and Moon have been under severe stress lately.

Transiting Juno and Uranus have been traveling closely together over the last two months while straddling Tiger’s Descendant, the critical partnership angle. The emotional crisis over relationship status is evident from this combination since Uranus is turning direct while precisely squaring his Moon (orb 0º19′). Uranus in this position often leads to divorce.

http://www.neptunecafe.com/nsc113009.html

Hi,

I have next to no experience reading charts (a few months, at best) but as soon as the Tiger news broke, I looked at his and told my husband “big problems with women/relationships and maybe even drugs.”

This was the day after the weird accident, when everyone was saying Tiger is a Saint, and my husband adores him. I got some really funny looks for that from the husband. But he has newfound respect for my new astrology hobby now.

The other astrology sites I’ve seen that mentioned Tiger seemed to think he’d be back in the public eye in March. The Masters is in early April and the golf people mentioned that might be a very safe environment for him. That it’s really hard to get tickets, and they mostly go to long-term, hard-core golf fans, people who wouldn’t heckle him merely because he’s so important to the health of the sport, if for no other reason.

–Teresa

Teresa - The Uranus transit to his descendant (marriage) will be done by mid-February, and Jupiter makes its first pass square his Moon and then onto his Descendant by mid to late April, so things could be pretty good for him by then.

Senate vote will be held with the Moon (21 Aqu) moving to conjunct an exact Jupiter/ Neptune (24 Aqu) conjunction with Venus (24 Sag) exactly sextile. There are great hopes tonight!

India wants tapes from FBI to identify 26/11 handlers Sachin Parashar & Vishwa Mohan, TNN 20 December 2009, 02:00am IST

LONDON: In the “bluntest” warning issued by British police, Scotland Yard has said that businesses in the city of London could face a Mumbai-style

“Mumbai is coming to London,” said a senior detective from SO15, the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command.

The detective said companies should anticipate a shooting and hostage-taking raid “involving a small number of gunmen with handguns and improvised explosive devices”, ‘The Sunday Times’ reported.

The warning — the bluntest issued by police — has underlined an assessment that a terrorist cell may be preparing an attack on London early next year, it said.

During the Mumbai attacks in November last year, 10 terrorists from Pakistan had killed 166 people over three days in India’s financial hub.

According to the newspaper, concerns had been raised by “chatter” of a prominent ‘jihadist’ website two weeks ago. ……..

Read on .. think NYC trials next year.. Holder must be ready..

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-wants-tapes-from-FBI-to-identify-26/11-handlers/articleshow/5357525.cms

Starlight,

My husband says the golf world will embrace him because they can’t do without him financially. But it seems to me like he’ll never be able to play a round of golf again without hearing nasty comments about what he’s done. (I’m not arguing whether or not he deserves to, just that he will.)

Golf is so quiet so much of the time, and the players walk past the whole crowd as they go around the course, so close to people. Seems like it would be impossible to not come face to face with people saying things to him forever.

On health care - I remember you saying last thread there was a window of hope around Dec. 22! You hit that one!

–Teresa

WALL STREETS GREATEST FEAR…
( Who Really Crashed the Economy?)

“Mobs disrupt town meetings. Glenn Beck amplifies a careless remark by a mid-level White House staff member into a threat of a national communist takeover. The right wing spin machine creates a parent revolt over a presidential pep talk to students urging them to study hard and stay in school. Meanwhile, the Party of No blocks action on health care and climate disruption with lies and distortions and declares President Obama’s stimulus package a socialist plot and a failed waste of taxpayer money.

There is a common thread. Each of these media events has diverted attention from Wall Street’s responsibility for crashing the economy, taking trillions of dollars in public bailout money, and then rewarding itself with outlandish bonuses.

The Wall Street corporations funding the front organizations that orchestrate these and other diversions hope we will forget that America’s number one problem is Wall Street—and the overpaid Wall Street casino gamblers who destroyed our economy in a reckless test of the theory that markets can self-regulate and that the unrestrained pursuit of individual greed is beneficial to society.

Wall Street’s greatest fear is that the public might demand Congress and the president shut down the casino. Any issue that shifts attention away from Wall Street and pins the blame for job loss and mortgage foreclosures on President Obama works in its favor.”

http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/david-korten/blog-who-really-crashed-the-economy

(I love the fact that Vicky Kennedy was there in the Senate last night for the vote.)

Sports is pretty open about sex. Probably half of his male colleagues have had affairs now and then-it’s an occupational hazard for men who spend long days and weeks on the road. So once the fuss dies down, he won’t be as hassled as some folks think, and most of his advertisers will come back.

I don’t know about you all, but whenever I hear or read about someone (non-Astrologer) acknowledging the ancient truth of Astrology it is excites me. They may not even be aware of what they really mean. Today, in the Cincinnati Enquirer, the city manager is quoted as saying “The stars seem to be aligning for the city to have dramatic growth in the next couple of years.” Where would I find the birth time of the city? BTW, the manager is referencing a batch of development going on here - Riverfront, streetcar, and now casino.

Teresa - Me too, I am learning, and Starlight’s site is a very good place to do it.

Yesterday Fareed Zakaria interviewed a former Microsoft geo-engineer who discussed an entirely new way to deal with global warming. I think the idea needs to be circulated, further studied, and seriously considered, especially given how difficult it was to get even the most watered-down thing accomplished in Copenhagen. It would give us more time to go green, etc.

Combat climate change by pumping liquid sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere through nozzles in a hose lifted more than 15 miles into the atmosphere using helium-filled balloons. As described by Myhrvold in an interview this week, the idea behind this “Stratoshield” would be to dim the sun in critical areas of the world by just enough to reduce or reverse the effects of global warming.

“We think it’s a simple, relatively cost-effective, pretty practical way that you could intervene and cool Earth off enough to present disaster,” Myhrvold said.

http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2009/10/video_nathan_m...

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/podcasts/fareedzakaria...

Excellent Joe Klein article:

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/12/20/rich-poor/?xid=rss-topstories#ixzz0aJDQANPV

Received from Firedoglake this morning:

FDL Action

Sign our petition to Congress and President Obama:

The Senate health care bill must be killed.

Click here to sign our petition.

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/killthisbill?source=email&subsource=122109

Hi Bob -

The Senate’s health care bill must be killed.

It is an ungodly mess of errors, loopholes, and massive giveaways. When the American people find out what’s actually in this bill, they will revolt. Congress and President Obama have no choice but to do better for health care than this bill.

Sign the petition: the Senate health care bill must be killed.

How bad is the bill?

1. Forces you to pay up to 8% of your income to private insurance corporations — whether you want to or not
2. If you refuse to buy the insurance, you’ll have to pay penalties of up to 2% of your annual income to the IRS
3. After being forced to pay thousands in premiums for junk insurance, you can still be on the hook for up to $11,900 a year in out-of-pocket medical expenses.
4. Massive restriction on a woman’s right to choose, designed to trigger a challenge to Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court
5. Paid for by taxes on the middle class insurance plan you have right now through your employer, causing them to cut back benefits and increase co-ays
6. Many of the taxes to pay for the bill start now, but most Americans won’t see any benefits — like an end to discrimination against those with preexisting conditions — until 2014 when the program begins.
7. Allows insurance companies to charge people who are older 300% more than others
8. Grants monopolies to to drug companies that will keep generic versions of expensive biotech drugs from ever coming to market.
9. No reimportation of prescription drugs, which would save consumers $100 billion over 10 years
10. The cost of medical care will continue to rise, and insurance premiums for a family of 4 will rise an average of $1000 a year — meaning in 10 years, you family’s insurance premium will be $10,000 more annually than it is right now.

I could go on, but it should be clear: this is not reform. This is a con job.

Sign our petition: kill the Senate bill.

Make no mistake, we need health care reform. But the Senate’s idea of reform is a disaster, and will make things far worse than they are today.

We must kill this fake reform.

Thanks for all you do.

Jane Hamsher
Firedoglake

P.S. Please, after you’ve signed, forward this email to your friends, family, coworkers - anyone you know. It’s critical we act fast to kill the Senate bill, and we need everyone we can on board.

Of course, I signed.

B.A.–thanks for the FDL kill the bill petition link. I signed it as well.

Jane Hamsher has convinced me: Pass The Bill! Mon Dec 21, 2009 at 03:10:12 PM PST

by deaniac83

Ooh, I forgot to put this up first. My bad, Jane. I pay myself. I’m a freelance web designer who’s having a lot of trouble paying for my insurance.

None other than Jane Hamsher has convinced me that the Senate health care bill is, in fact, better than the status quo. I know, what? Jane Hamsher? Isn’t she the FDL warrior fighting against this Senate bill? Yes, yes she is. But she gave me some particular pieces of information that I was very impressed by.

I got an email from her this morning excoriating the vices of the current Senate bill. Don’t get me wrong, I think the bill is full of vices. It’s also on the FDL website with a petition. And it convinced me that this bill must pass and is much, much, much better than the status quo.

She argues that the bill:

“Forces you to pay up to 8% of your income to private insurance corporations — whether you want to or not.”

What? Really? 8%? That’s incredible! If American families could get health insurance for only 8% of their income, you could bet a lot more of us would have it. In 2008, the average family premium for health insurance was $12,298. In 2003, the median income of a family of 4 was $67,019. So, umm… a typical family of 4, in the status quo is paying, let’s see, over 18% of their income in health insurance premiums. Put it another way, a typical family of four would see their premiums reduced from $12,298 under the status quo to $5361.52.

And remember that incomes over about $66,000 a year are not provided premium subsidies by the government, and still cannot be charged more than 8% by law - indicating a real and overall significant reduction of premiums going to insurance companies. Wow. This is fantastic!

Oh and by the way, the 8% cap is also an improvement over the House bill, which has a cap of 12% on premiums. It is also improved from the previous senate version, which had a 9.8% cap (link). This is real insurance reform.

If you refuse to buy the insurance, you’ll have to pay penalties of up to 2% of your annual income to the IRS. Yes, yes you will. That is, if your premiums aren’t entirely covered by subsidies. Let’s see. If you have the means to, but refuse to purchase insurance (these are the only people subject to this penalty, since there is a hardship exemption), you are going to use emergency rooms as your primary health care center. And we, as taxpayers, will be paying for you. Don’t you think it’s fair for you to pay a little bit in so that when you do come to the emergency room, they are not all closed down?

“After being forced to pay thousands in premiums for junk insurance, you can still be on the hook for up to $11,900 a year in out-of-pocket medical expenses.”

Where is she getting this $11,900 number? Out of pocket expense cap? If that’s where she is getting it, I would like to compare this to the out of pocket expenses under the status quo. There are no caps. You can have a “deductible” per incident of $1000 or more. If you have “good” insurance, maybe your insurance covers 80% of your hospital care up to 30 days every year. That’s the status quo. Under the senate bill, it caps your out-of-pocket expenses. That’s supposed to be worse than the status quo? I’m at a loss over here.

Jane is also a little misleading. The Senate bill’s out-of-pocket cap of $11,900 is on a family plan. An individual plan would have a $5,950 cap. What’s more, not everyone would be subject to this high cap. The cap is actually 10% of one’s income, and no more than the dollar amounts capped.

So in simple terms - the Senate bill is limiting the total amount of health care expenses to 18% of your income - whereas it is more than that for simply your premiums today, and all your out-of-pocket expenses (may include your home) is extra. If someone wants me to believe that this is not progress, I am going to need to see the dictionary definition of progress changed first.

“Massive restriction on a woman’s right to choose, designed to trigger a challenge to Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court.”

Just when she was about to get one right, she screws up. Yes, the bill places disgusting restrictions on a woman’s right to choose. That’s deplorable. But it is not, in any way, shape or form, designed to “trigger a challenge to Roe v. Wade.” That’s insane. Roe makes abortions legal, and nothing more. The Supreme Court has always been regrettably deferential to Congress and legislatures about whether public dollars may fund, or contribute to any plans that fund, abortion services. That’s stupid and it’s nuts, but to say that this bill is set up to challenge Roe is nonsense.

“Paid for by taxes on the middle class insurance plan you have right now through your employer, causing them to cut back benefits and increase co-pays” [sic]

Yes, because your employer isn’t already cutting back your benefits and increasing your co-pays. And middle class insurance plans? The so-called Cadillac tax applies to individual plans costing over $8500 (and only to the amount over $8500) and family plans costing over $23,000 (and only to the amount over $23,000). It’s a steep 40% tax, and I would rather not have it, but it is not by far what most health insurance premiums cost.

“Many of the taxes to pay for the bill start now, but most Americans won’t see any benefits — like an end to discrimination against those with preexisting conditions — until 2014 when the program begins.”

This is a right wing talking point, and dead wrong. Several progressives have pointed out the benefits of the bill that begin immediately upon the drying of the presidential ink such as ending of denial of coverage based on pre-existing condition, small business tax credits for providing insurance, the ending of the most annual and lifetime benefit caps (it ends completely in 2013), etc.

“Allows insurance companies to charge people who are older 300% more than others”

Finally, something she gets completely right. 7th point out of 10. Bravo.

“Grants monopolies to to drug companies that will keep generic versions of expensive biotech drugs from ever coming to market. ”

And which bill would have allowed this, Jane? The House bill does not have a re-importation nor a quicker way to bring generics to the market.

“No reimportation of prescription drugs, which would save consumers $100 billion over 10 years.”

Ding ding! Correct, but see above. The House bill doesn’t do it either. It’s not like Jane would be falling over everyone to pass this bill if a simple reimportation clause was included. By the way, the Dorgan amendment, which I support vigorously, got a vote in the Senate. Sadly, it was defeated.

“The cost of medical care will continue to rise, and insurance premiums for a family of 4 will rise an average of $1000 a year — meaning in 10 years, you family’s insurance premium will be $10,000 more annually than it is right now.”

This is sheer baloney. First she argues that the out-of-pocket caps and the premium caps aren’t strong enough, and then now she seems to be saying there aren’t any caps at all! Your premium expenses are capped at 8% of your income, which is too high, but your premium will also go up by $10,000 even if your income doesn’t rise comparatively. $10,000 is 8% of $125,000, i.e. for your health insurance premiums to rise by $10K, your income would have to rise by $125,000 under the Senate bill. She can’t have it both ways. There can’t both be a 8% “too-high” cap on premiums, and your premium go up $10K over 10 years.

I do credit this email for focusing my attention and priorities. Overall, I am now convinced that if this isn’t a good bill, it is light years better than the status quo. I am sorry, but I am not willing to join Jane’s coalition of status quo caucus. So today, I am standing on the status of kicking status quo’s ass, however imperfectly. I’m standing on the side of a better bill. I am calling on the Senate to pass the bill.

Apologies for the length. Nancy, you may want to trim the above post. Here’s the link:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/21/817668/-Jane-Hamsher-has-convinced-me:-Pass-The-Bill!

Howard Dean on MSNBC says pass the bill by vc2 [Subscribe]

Howard Dean on MSNBC says pass the bill Updated w Video Mon Dec 21, 2009 at 10:11:10 AM PST

Well, just tried to capture some of his points as he talked live on msnbc just now.

Seems he does not agree with killing the bill anymore.

His points down below.

He just said that it should pass, he now wants it to pass.

-Said the changes he wanted from his MTP interview have been made..named at least 3 of them.

-said that rockefeller amendment is huge

-states still have the right to make the bill better too

-says that disappointed in no PO but best that can be expected

-cost panels with teeth in them now (3 of them)to regulate costs by insurance co

-hospitals can be self exmpted (sounded positive but missed part)

-great thing in bill with how they treat small business

-he agrees with feingold about wh and PO

Starlight,

Joe Klein piece pretty-much nailed the sound and sobering methodology of POTUS and his handlers. It has Pluto-in-Capricorn written all over it.

Fe,

Thank you very much for posting the Hamsher piece.

FE,Will,B.A.,AnnH.,Starlight, I have decided to go along with Howard Dean because my leader,Bernie Sanders of Vermont,says that the bill should be passed. I will listen to Bernie Sanders always because he is my kind of politician.

And yes! that is a very good article by Joe Klein.

Starlight - As to the “Stratoshield” idea you pointed out earlier, I expect we will be seeing more innovative proposals about how to overcome global warming as Uranus arrives into and transits Aries. Its challenging square of Pluto in Capricorn could be overcome, and maybe spur new methods along, when corporate interests realize money (already happening with green tech) and governments receive subsequent revenue flows.

What do you think? This is my attempt to understand these outer planetary influences.

Fe, thank you for your insightful information to a very confusing issue!

Fe,

Your posts are so greatly appreciated. As is yours Starlight. It will be interesting to watch Mars in action for the President, and us as individuals as well.

I am honored to be a part of your community. Happy Solstice to all.

Deborah - I agree that Uranus in Aries is likely to bring all kinds of interesting innovative ideas with it. It is interesting that it will be in square to Pluto in Cap (corporate power). It seems likely that the wave of the future and its innovative ideas (Uranus) may run counter to the profit motive of the corporate giants.

That could be one of many manifestations of the Pluto Uranus square. I also think we will see major upheaval on a number of fronts: people pushing for liberation of their particular agenda. I hope the teabaggers don’t proclaim a civil war, but the planets are pretty potent and just about anything could happen. I also see global upheaval of some kind involving Russia, Iran, US, maybe Britain, China, perhaps separately or perhaps in some kind of related way. Too soon to tell. All of these national charts will be hit hard by the coming square.

yes, lunagardner.

HAPPY SOLSTICE TO ALL!!

Just a note to all: You don’t need to accept that Pluto in Capricorn is “about those in power winning”. If you want you can tap into the progressive side of that sign: Being practical, professional, ambitious and patient. When you look at it that way the losers in this era are the Glen Beck’s of the world who distract us from the real issues that everyday people have to deal with.

My gut tells me that things are going the right direction, but there’s a hard road ahead - be it health reform, foreign policy or the economy. All three of these issues don’t have silver bullets and are the result of not dealing with the core issue. As a nation we went to sleep after the Cold War (and maybe during it as well) and now it’s time to deal with that. It’s also time to deal with “greed is good” vs. giving the US an advantage in the global economy.

When you look at the lack of a public option the glass is half full - but frankly just a year ago that glass was empty. Progressives need to get practical and be in it for the long haul. Progressives need to treat 2010 as if it were a Presidential race — so if you hate Joe L. & Co. now is the time to be looking at getting past the 60 mark in the Senate.

Sorry, didn’t agree with Klein’s article at all. I think a lot of people are felling completely screwed by Obama over not just this healthcare bill, but just about everything he’s done to-date that has any significance. Frank Rich just put the idea in a nutshell and nailed it.

Wonderful Klein article. My take on Obama, basically, is: I can’t imagine another US born human being I’d rather see as POTUS right now. And I’m sure we all have absolutely NO idea of the real dreck left behind by the previous occupant.

And the thought of using Fareed Zakaria’s idea of screwing with the atmosphere is just too frightening to even consider. What if it goes wrong (like so many things humans have done to manipulate the earth). We would be toast. Immediately. Dumbest thing I ever heard.

Leadership, Obama Style, and the Looming Losses in 2010: Pretty Speeches, Compromised Values, and the Quest for the Lowest Common Denominator

“Somehow the president has managed to turn a base of new and progressive voters he himself energized like no one else could in 2008 into the likely stay-at-home voters of 2010, souring an entire generation of young people to the political process. It isn’t hard for them to see that the winners seem to be the same no matter who the voters select (Wall Street, big oil, big Pharma, the insurance industry).”

“What’s costing the president are three things: a laissez faire style of leadership that appears weak and removed to everyday Americans, a failure to articulate and defend any coherent ideological position on virtually anything, and a widespread perception that he cares more about special interests like bank, credit card, oil and coal, and health and pharmaceutical companies than he does about the people they are shafting.”

“Consider the president’s leadership style, which has now become clear: deliver a moving speech, move on, and when push comes to shove, leave it to others to decide what to do if there’s a conflict, because if there’s a conflict, he doesn’t want to be anywhere near it.”

“Like most Americans I talk to, when I see the president on television, I now change the channel the same way I did with Bush. With Bush, I couldn’t stand his speeches because I knew he meant what he said. I knew he was going to follow through with one ignorant, dangerous, or misguided policy after another. With Obama, I can’t stand them because I realize he doesn’t mean what he says — or if he does, he just doesn’t have the fire in his belly to follow through.”

“Unfortunately, what Democrats just can’t seem to understand is that the politics of the lowest common denominator is always a losing politics. It sends a meta-message that you’re weak — nothing more, nothing less — and that’s the cross the Democrats have had to bear since they “lost China” 60 years ago. And in fact, it is weak.”

“Am I being too hard on the president? He’s certainly done many good things. But it would be hard to name a single thing President Obama has done domestically that any other Democrat wouldn’t have done if he or she were president following George W. Bush (e.g., signing the children’s health insurance bill that Congress is about to gut to pay for worse care for kids under the health insurance exchange, if it ever happens), and there’s a lot he hasn’t done that every other Democrat who ran for president would have done.”

More at the link below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/drew-westen/leadership-obama-style-an_b_398813.html

President Obama, Congress should set health-care reform aside

“THE health-care dance in Washington, D.C., has gone on long enough. Congress needs to focus on the economy and set health care aside.”

“This is a change of position for us. This page supported Barack Obama for president, enthusiastically. We have supported the health-care effort until now. We still support universal coverage as a social goal.”

“But the longer the fight goes on, the more it feels that the timing is all wrong.”

“President Obama has promised that any health-care bill he signs will not add one dime to the deficit, which already has swelled beyond anything since World War II. The president has put himself in a position where he cannot keep that promise.”

“Already the Democratic Party’s former chairman, Howard Dean, says the bill is not worth passing in this form.You know he’s right when you hear statements that something has to be passed, for political reasons.”

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2010544086_edit20healthcare.html

Starlight: Indeed, this is proving to be an amazing Solstice! Right back at you.

From Starlight:

Frank Schaffer piece is so dead-nuts on. Its what I have believed, unwaveringly.

Fierywoman,

You are so right on - how do we remove the fetid stool from the minds of the persistently toxic, turn-coats?

How Obama Will Win and Prove Critics on the Left and on the Right Wrong

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7595

Here are the Key Quotes from Joe Klein’s article on Frank Rich:

Rich Poor
Posted by JOE KLEIN Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 11:46 am

Frank Rich is a former theater critic. As such, he’s been a valuable observer of the histrionic trivialization of our national politics, the scandalous metastasizing of infotainment over substance. But he also has a tendency to see everything as theater, to overlook the details of policy on some difficult issues…like health care, for example. Today, in an unusually foolish column in which he posits Tiger Woods as the Person Of the Year, he offers this paragraph as his peroration:

“This can be seen in the increasingly urgent political plight of Barack Obama. Though the American left and right don’t agree on much, they are both now coalescing around the suspicion that Obama’s brilliant presidential campaign was as hollow as Tiger’s public image — a marketing scam designed to camouflage either his covert anti-American radicalism (as the right sees it) or spineless timidity (as the left sees it). The truth may well be neither, but after a decade of being spun silly, Americans can’t be blamed for being cynical about any leader trying to sell anything. As we say goodbye to the year of Tiger Woods, it is the country, sad to say, that is left mired in a sand trap with no obvious way out.”

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is irresponsible crap–the sort of false equivalency that Rich has rightly criticized in the past.

Rich is right that Americans have grown cynical. But the extremists of right and left have exploited that cynicism, have raised big money by distorting the truth, have denigrated the slow, tortuous compromise that is at the heart of progress in any real democracy. Obama’s is the least cynical of the seven presidencies I’ve covered. It is a presidency that took effective action to prevent a depression, that has refused to engage in arrogant jingoism in its dealing with the rest of the world and–most important–spent its political capital on the most important piece of social legislation, health care reform, of the past 45 years.

That Rich would even implicitly compare Barack Obama, who has made a significant and very substantive intellectual effort to deal with every problem he’s faced, with an adulterous golfer is facile to the point of slander…And so is the judgment that the country is “mired in a sand trap with no obvious way out.” From where I sit, the country is facing very difficult problems–caused, in large part, by the right-wing extremism Rich seems to be crediting here–but it is in much better shape than it was a year ago. And the way ahead seems very clear to me: After a thirty year period during which the very notion of governance was ridiculed, we need to take the work of government seriously again. Barack Obama is doing precisely that.

You can disagree with Obama’s decisions and his philosophy. You can argue that that he has tried to take on too much. You can argue that health care reform was the wrong priority in the midst of a deep recession. But you cannot gainsay the intensely serious nature of this presidency. And to give any credit to the notion that Obama is “spineless” requires a fundamental lack of knowledge about what he has been trying to accomplish this year…and about the limits of the possible.

Read more: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/12/20/rich-poor/#ixzz0aOMmhJDT

This is such a very happy and active season its hard NOT to be happy.

————

Its just how to be happy.

Just watched the Stepford Wives and it reminded me so much of the happy happy dems. Those happy dems. Lets bake some more cupcakes and be happy. Figure out some way to be so very happy. Let’s find ways to justify corporatism and be very happy. Some can go against what they were when they were real and now can be happy!! Happy happy dems! Happy health care reform! Happy wars! Happy environmental progress! Happy with our leader/man. HAPPY with our political parities! Happy with Corporate Power!! Happy!

Sorry, just kidding around a bit. Its a fun season.

________

Really, this IS a fun and happy season. HAPPY solstice to all ! Have fun with family and wonderful friends. Good cheer to all online people, friends and others (maybe physical neighbors, and really global neighbors in any case). We really ARE all global neighbors - a nice thought for Aquarius.

Fierywomana and Will, as you so sweetly put it:

Fierywoman,

You are so right on - how do we remove the fetid stool from the minds of the persistently toxic, turn-coats?

Back to you … as they say in spanish, “espejito”.

And in the end, who, exactly, is the turncoat? I mean, really.

FROM THE FIELD by Al Giordano

Countdown to Health Care: Pray for the Dead but Fight Like Hell for the Living
Posted by Al Giordano - December 21, 2009 at 8:00 am
By Al Giordano

Around 1 a.m. ET last night, the Senate passed its second necessary “cloture” vote on the road to national health care.

Democrats had asked that the vote be held earlier in the evening as a courtesy to 92-year-old Robert Byrd, the senior Senator from West Virginia. Republicans kept delaying and their floor leader against health care reform, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, prayed aloud to God that Byrd perish before the vote could take place:
Going into Monday morning’s crucial Senate vote on health-care legislation, Republican chances for defeating the bill had come down to a last, macabre hope. They needed one Democratic senator to die — or at least become incapacitated.

At 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon — nine hours before the 1 a.m. vote that would effectively clinch the legislation’s passage — Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) went to the Senate floor to propose a prayer. “What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can’t make the vote tonight,” he said. “That’s what they ought to pray.”

…Coburn was wearing blue jeans, an argyle sweater and a tweed jacket with elbow patches when he walked back into the chamber a few minutes before 1 a.m. He watched without expression when Byrd was wheeled in, dabbing his eyes and nose with tissues, his complexion pale. When his name was called, Byrd shot his right index finger into the air as he shouted “aye,” then pumped his left fist in defiance.

As Detroit Field Hand Pamela Hilliard Owens reminded me this morning, this GOP business of praying to God to plague their political rivals has produced contrary results. In August 2008, they prayed for rain upon Denver’s Mile High Stadium to drench Obama’s nomination speech. Instead, a sunny day and clear skies were the backdrop. But a week later, when Republicans convened in Minneapolis-St. Paul, a Caribbean hurricane reminded the nation of the GOP’s mishandling of Hurricane Katrina and almost grounded the flights for their Southern delegates. Republicans also prayed for a delay in this week’s Health Care cloture votes, but they got a big-ass snow storm locking the Senators in DC to finish the job. Based on those results, if I were a senior Republican US Senator, I’d be looking over my shoulder for a plague of locusts right now.

I’ll add that when I get to be Senator Byrd’s age, I hope some asshole calls for my death on C-Span and they can wheel me in for a defiant “aye” and a fist bump. That golden moment will keep Byrd’s spirits up through the completion of the conference committee report and subsequent cloture vote!

Meanwhile, rank-and-file Daily Kos blogger Icemilkcoffee has produced the health care bill’s exact language on the so-called “mandate” that has some progressive bill-killers invoking Godwin’s Law and screeching that the bill forces people to buy from insurance companies even if they don’t want health care or can’t afford it. As no Johnny-come-lately to opposing mandates, I’ve been pointing out that the Massachusetts experience has demonstrated that such mandates are unenforceable anyway. But it turns out the exact wording of the bill codifies the escape plan into law.

It turns out that the so-called $750 “fine” for not purchasing health insurance is not going to be enforced against the folks:

(2) SPECIAL RULES.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law—
‘‘(A) WAIVER OF CRIMINAL PENALTIES.— In the case of any failure by a taxpayer to timely pay any penalty imposed by this section, such taxpayer shall not be subject to any criminal prosecution or penalty with respect to such failure.
‘‘(B) LIMITATIONS ON LIENS AND LEVIES.—The Secretary shall not—
‘‘(i) file notice of lien with respect to any property of a taxpayer by reason of any failure to pay the penalty imposed by this section, or
‘‘(ii) levy on any such property with respect to such failure.

In sum: No criminal penalties, no IRS liens on your property or bank account. The “fine” is purely voluntary (you can still pay it if you wish, but they can’t force you).

That now out in the open, will the dwindling band of bill-killers stop shouting their over-the-top emotional and invented claims that this plan will “force” you to personally finance the insurance companies? More likely, as in Massachusetts, the most insured population in the nation, people will choose of their own free will to avail themselves of the benefits of government subsidized health plans that they couldn’t afford before.

Finally, one of our memes has broken into the mainstream media. In E.J. Dionne’s nationally syndicated column today, titled, Progressives - Don’t Scream, Organize, he echoes what we’ve been saying here:

Enactment of a single bill will not mark the end of the struggle. It will open a series of new opportunities. It’s a lot easier to improve a system premised on the idea that everyone should have health coverage than to create such a system in the first place. Better to take a victory and build on it than to label victory as defeat.

Successful political movements prosper on the confidence that they can sustain themselves over time so they can finish tomorrow what they start today.

I’m sure I’ll have more updates as the day goes by, but it does seem like the bill-killer storm has subsided and we’re on schedule for history to be made in the coming hours and days..

Fe, you appear to have not included in your excerpts of Joel Klein’s article. the Frank Rich quote, which provoked it. Please allow me to assist you and Happy Solstice to all, most assuredly :

“This can be seen in the increasingly urgent political plight of Barack Obama. Though the American left and right don’t agree on much, they are both now coalescing around the suspicion that Obama’s brilliant presidential campaign was as hollow as Tiger’s public image — a marketing scam designed to camouflage either his covert anti-American radicalism (as the right sees it) or spineless timidity (as the left sees it). The truth may well be neither, but after a decade of being spun silly, Americans can’t be blamed for being cynical about any leader trying to sell anything. As we say goodbye to the year of Tiger Woods, it is the country, sad to say, that is left mired in a sand trap with no obvious way out.”

Read more: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/12/20/rich-poor/?xid=rss-topstories#ixzz0aOUIbwQg

Fe, my apologies, YOU DID POST IT! Ha! I’m sorry! :)

I think it is just too soon to make any sort of definitive judgment whatsoever on President Obama. Although I tend to agree with Joe Klein and Frank Schaffer, the jury is still out and will be for a while. It is out on the manifestation of the healthcare legislation also. (And what many don’t realize is that it is out on Bush as well; if Iraq eventually turns out to be a half-way descent democracy - this is what people will remember about the Iraq war).

A saying I like very much is “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” In this chaotic, overcrowded world, it will be difficult to know what is going to work immediately because there are going to be glitches in almost everything. Don’t be so idealistic that you perfection.

(I looked the line up, btw, and it’s from a quote by Voltaire - ‘the pefect is the enemy of the good’)!

What Your Favorite Blogger May Not Be Telling You About Health Reform
By RJ Eskow Monday Dec 21, 2009 6:00pm

The progressive “journo/blogospere” is sharply split over the Senate health bill. Some, like Jane Hamsher and Matt Taibbi, are saying “kill it.” Others, like Paul Krugman, Ezra Klein, and Jonathan Cohn, are saying “pass it” - as is. Steve Benen says ” it’s worth appreciating the vibrancy, energy, and seriousness with which progressives are engaging in the debate.”

I say maybe - but there’s been a lot of condescension and hostility, too. And what bothers me even more is the tendency of some bloggers - good people, people who are seen not only as advocates but as information gatherers on health policy- to ignore data that undercuts their position while pushing a false political choice. I’m not saying their decisions are deliberate, and I assume they’re not. But it’s disappointing, and it’s worth discussing.

It’s difficult for me to name names, since I respect their work a lot, but I’m talking about people like Jonathan Cohn, David Leonhardt of the New York Times, and Ezra Klein (who has been very friendly and helpful to me since the beginning.) Since I know they’re people of good will, I can’t help wondering if the polarized nature of this debate has something to do with what’s been going on.

I’ve been working on a campaign to resist the excise tax (on cadillac plans), which I have long thought was based on flawed logic and would turn out to be counterproductive both as politics and policy. (Let the first part of that statement - “I’ve been working on a campaign” - serve as a disclaimer and full disclosure regarding what follows.) Both Klein and Leonhardt have written admiringly about the tax’s ability to “bend the cost curve,” but a broad range of studies have been released that challenge that assumption, whole polls have shown that its likely to be highly unpopular politically.

These are not unscientific, flaky studies. Two papers were published in the highly respected journal Health Affairs. These are studies from respected firms that seem to overturn the conventional economic wisdom behind the excise tax. Citizens for Tax Justice has reviewed data from the Joint Committee on Taxation (pdf) and drawn negative conclusions about the tax. Other studies by top benefits consulting firms like Martin E. Segal, Watson Wyatt, Mercer, Towers-Perrin, and Hewitt (whose livelihood depends on a corporate clientele) challenge the arguments made in support of the tax, while polling from a well-regarded firm suggested the tax would have a devastating political impact in front-line states. So how much have Klein, Leonhardt, or Cohn written about all of this new and revelatory information?

As far as I can tell, not a word.

The silence bothers me more than disagreement ever could. These guys are viewed as experts in health policy and as gateways and interpreters of the latest research. Sure, they’ve come out foursquare for accepting the Senate bill, but does that really excuse the silence? Maybe they’re too busy to write about these reports. Maybe they haven’t seen them (although I sent a few links to one of them.) Maybe - and I hope this isn’t true - they’re so concerned about ensuring that a bill passes that they’d rather not muddy the waters with new data that undercuts that position.

Or maybe I’m out of line. Maybe people don’t see them as reliable sources for all the new health policy info. Perhaps they’re perceived as strong advocates for a certain position, with no newsgathering brief. If so, I apologize - sincerely. But, if I’m right, they really need to address these studies. They can argue that they’re methodologically flawed , or that they’re inconclusive, or that it’s too late to change anything now. But ignore them? That’s disturbing.

“Gah,” writes Paul Krugman, who also presses for passing the Senate bill. “I see that some people are still using the Rasmussen polling on MA’s health care reform. You shouldn’t do that …” I’m one of those who has used those polls - but I’ve written about and linked to his critique, which includes another poll he likes better. That’s what we should all be doing if we want to have a serious debate. (Now, as it turns out, I don’t interpret the poll data the same way he does - but I’m acknowledging its existence, responding, and letting people decide for themselves.)

I identify with Prof. Krugman’s frustration, though. Gah, why are people still saying the excise tax “bends the curve”?

There’s a basic structural flaw in the Klein/Cohn/Krugman position, too: that it’s either this health bill or nothing. I believe that’s a false choice. Opponents of the Senate draft don’t all believe that no reform is better than this bill. But they should act as if they do. Once you say the Senate bill is good enough, the negotiations with the left are over.

The Senate health bill has been improved in some areas, including strengthening the Medicare cost containment commission and - most critically - once again lifting lifetime caps on coverage. Like McJoan, I believe that’s a direct result of the outcry on the left. Fear of a progressive backlash has already improved this bill, and it may continue to do so - if we don’t back down too soon. In a very practical sense the Deans, Hamshers, and Taibbis are accomplishing more than any other progressives to get a better bill.

There are many people who disagree vehemently with that statement. By all means, let’s keep talking about it. But let’s do so openly, with all the information at our disposal, and without either hostility or manipulation. I’m not out to antagonize anyone here. I’d really like to see debate that’s based on data and grounded in strategy - and not in false choices.
Tags: David Leonhardt, excise tax, Ezra Klein, Google, health reform, Jane Hamsher, Jonathan Cohn, Matt Taibbi, New York Times, Paul Krugman, progressives, senate health, taibbi

http://crooksandliars.com/

Here’s a pragmatic, sane opinion:

Hullabaloo

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Clarifying Debate

by digby

After reading a number of posts and emails misinterpreting this piece of mine, it’s obvious that I need to elaborate. There’s an awful lot of literalism on all sides going around these days, so it’s important to be precise with my hyperbole.

To clarify, when I wrote “most people are already “free” to buy insurance” it was in direct response to the language being used to sell the bill: “We are giving health care to 30 million people” and “this is the greatest progressive achievement since Social Security.” I was making an argument about the politics not the substance of the bill. However, it’s not inaccurate to say that policies are available to many of the 30 million — even some of those with pre-existing conditions, by joining the high risk pools that exist in 31 states. The problem, obviously, is that they just can’t afford them or have made the assessment that they would rather take the risk than spend the money. I certainly never said that fact made the reforms completely meaningless. (Indeed, I said the opposite.)

But that wasn’t the point of my post. In my view these mandates make this bill something quite different from “entitlements” as people know them. And it’s a psychological/philosophical difference as much as a practical one which I believe it makes these reforms much more vulnerable to repeal.

I’ll let Robert Kuttner make the point much more artfully, as he did on Bill Moyers last night:

ROBERT KUTTNER: Think about it, the difference between social insurance and an individual mandate is this. Social insurance everybody pays for it through their taxes, so you don’t think of Social Security as a compulsory individual mandate. You think of it as a benefit, as a protection that your government provides. But an individual mandate is an order to you to go out and buy some product from some private profit-making company, that in the case of a lot of moderate income people, you can’t afford to buy. And the shell game here is that the affordable policies are either very high deductibles and co-pays, so you can afford the monthly premiums but then when you get sick, you have to pay a small fortune out of pocket before the coverage kicks in. Or if the coverage is decent, the premiums are unaffordable. And so here’s the government doing the bidding of the private industry coercing people to buy profit-making products that maybe they can’t afford and they call it health reform.

You should watch the whole thing if you missed it. Shrill bloggers aren’t the only ones who have this point of view.

One thing the old political hands may not realize is that in this era of 24/7 cable and the internet this is the first time most people have watched a big piece of legislation enacted in such close-up detail. And what they are seeing is shocking and disturbing — the obvious corruption of the process by wealthy corporate interests. There’s a lot of populist resentment out here and it’s coming down on the heads of the Democrats who are now ironically seen to be funneling taxpayer dollars to rapacious corporations which have been making people’s lives miserable, insurance companies being among the worst of them. This health care debate has reinforced that perception. (And sadly, that perception isn’t exactly wrong.) It makes health care reform a very different animal than our other social welfare programs.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/clarifying-debate-by-digby-after.html

Oh, dear. In the midst of the healthcare angst … much is ado in the land … our hero is again falling off his horse. You just can’t make this stuff up. Unbelievable. As a friend used to say … don’t listen to what he/she says, watch what they DO.

http://www.chris-floyd.com/

Excerpts from the Frank Schaeffer piece:

“The Context of the Obama Presidency

Not since the days of the rise of fascism in Europe, the Second World War and the Depression has any president faced more adversity. Not since the Civil War has any President led a more bitterly divided country. Not since the introduction of racial integration has any President faced a more consistently short-sighted and willfully ignorant opposition - from both the Right and Left.

As the President’s poll numbers have fallen so has his support from some on the Left that were hailing him as a Messiah not long ago; all those lefty websites and commentators that were falling all over themselves on behalf of our first black president during the 2008 election.

The Left’s lack of faith has become a self-fulfilling “prophecy” — snipe at the President and then watch the poll numbers fall and then pretend you didn’t have anything to do with it!

Here is what Obama faced when he took office– none of which was his fault:

* An ideologically divided country to the point that America was really two countries
* Two wars; one that was mishandled from the start, the other that was unnecessary and immoral
* The worst economic crisis since the depression
* America’s standing in the world at the lowest point in history
* A country that had been misled into accepting the use of torture of prisoners of war
* A health care system in free fall
* An educational system in free fall
* A global environmental crisis of history-altering proportions (about which the Bush administration and the Republicans had done nothing)
* An impasse between culture warriors from the Right and Left
* A huge financial deficit inherited from the terminally irresponsible Bush administration…

And those were only some of the problems sitting on the President’s desk!

‘Help’ from the Right?

The reactionary white, rube, uneducated, crazy American far Right, combined with the educated but obtuse neoconservative war mongers, religious Right shills for big business, libertarian Fed Reserve-hating gold bug, gun-loving crazies, child-molesting acquiescent “bishops”, frontier loons and evangelical gay-hating flakes found one thing to briefly unite them: their desire to stop an uppity black man from succeeding at all costs!

What did the Republicans and the religious Right, libertarians and half-baked conspiracy theorists — that is what the Republicans were reduced to by the time Obama took office — do to “help” our new president (and our country) succeed? They claimed that he wasn’t a real American, didn’t have an American birth certificate, wasn’t born here, was secretly a Muslim, was a white-hating “racist”, was secretly a communist, was actually the Anti-Christ, (!) and was a reincarnation of Hitler and wanted “death panels” to kill the elderly!

They not-so-subtly called for his assassination through the not-so-subtle use of vile signs held at their rallies and even a bumper sticker quoting Psalm 109:8. They organized “tea parties” to sound off against imagined insults and all government in general and gathered to howl at the moon. They were led by insurance industry lobbyists and deranged (but well-financed) “commentators” from Glenn Beck to Rush Limbaugh.

The utterly discredited Roman Catholic bishops teamed up with the utterly discredited evangelical leaders to denounce a President who was trying to actually do something about the poor, the environment, to diminish the number of abortions through compassionate programs to help women and to care for the sick! And in Congress the Republican leadership only knew one word: “No!”

In other words the reactionary white, rube, uneducated, crazy American far Right,combined with the educated but obtuse neoconservative war mongers, religious Right shills for big business, libertarian Fed Reserve-hating gold bug, gun-loving crazies, child-molesting acquiescent “bishops”, frontier loons and evangelical gay-hating flakes found one thing to briefly unite them: their desire to stop an uppity black man from succeeding at all costs!

‘Help’ from the Left?

Those that had stood in transfixed legions weeping with beatific emotion on Election Night turned into an angry mob saying how ‘disappointed’ they were that they’d not all immediately been translated to heaven the moment Obama stepped into the White House! Where was the ‘change’?

What did the Left do to help their newly elected President? Some of them excoriated Obama because they disagreed with the bad choices he was being forced to make regarding a war in Afghanistan that he’d inherited from the worst president in modern history!

Others stood up and bravely proclaimed that the President’s economic policies had “failed” before the President even instituted them! Others said that since all gay rights battles had not been fully won within virtually minutes of the President taking office, they’d been “betrayed”! (Never mind that Obama’s vocal support to the gay community is stronger than any other President’s has been. Never that mind he signed a new hate crimes law which included language punishing hate crimes against homosexuals for the first time!)

Those that had stood in transfixed legions weeping with beatific emotion on Election Night turned into an angry mob saying how “disappointed” they were that they’d not all immediately been translated to heaven the moment Obama stepped into the White House! Where was the “change”? Contrary to their expectations they were still mere mortals!

And the legion of young new supporters was too busy texting to pay attention for longer than a nanosecond… “Governing”?! What the hell does that world, uh, like mean?”

The President’s critics Left and Right all had one thing in common: impatience laced with little-to-no sense of history (let alone reality) thrown in for good measure. Then, of course, there were the white, snide know-it-all commentators/talking heads who just couldn’t imagine that maybe, just maybe they weren’t as smart as they thought they were and certainly not as smart as their President. He hadn’t consulted them, had he? So he must be wrong!

The Obama critics’ ideological ideas defined their idea of reality rather than reality defining their ideas — say, about what is possible in one year in office after the hand that the President had been dealt by fate, or, to be exact, by the American Idiot Nation that voted Bush into office… twice!

[Ed note: Did they vote him into office twice? Or even once? That’s a question for another article, on another day. - BF]

Meanwhile back in the reality-based community — in just 12 short months — President Obama:

* Continued the draw down the misbegotten war in Iraq
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Thoughtfully and decisively picked the best of several bad choices regarding the war in Afghanistan
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Gave a major precedent-setting speech supporting gay rights
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Restored America’s image around the globe
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Banned torture of American prisoners
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Stopped the free fall of the American economy
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Put the USA squarely back in the bilateral international community
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Put the USA squarely into the middle of the international effort to halt global warming
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Stood up for educational reform
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Won a Nobel peace prize
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Moved the trial of terrorists back into the American judicial system of checks and balances
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Did what had to be done to start the slow, torturous and almost impossible process of health care reform that 7 presidents had failed to even begin
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Responded to hatred from the Right and Left with measured good humor and patience
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Stopped the free fall of job losses
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Showed immense personal courage in the face of an armed and dangerous far Right opposition that included the sort of disgusting people that show up at public meetings carrying loaded weapons and carrying Timothy McVeigh-inspired signs about the “blood of tyrants” needing to “water the tree of liberty”…
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

* Showed that he could not only make the tough military choices but explain and defend them brilliantly
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

Other than those “disappointing” accomplishments — IN ONE YEAR — President Obama “failed”! Other than that he didn’t “live up to expectations”!

Who actually has failed…

…are the Americans that can’t see the beginning of a miracle of national rebirth right under their jaded noses. Who failed are the smart ass ideologues of the Left and Right who began rooting for this President to fail so that they could be proven right in their dire and morbid predictions. Who failed are the movers and shakers behind our obscenely dumb news cycles that have turned “news” into just more stupid entertainment for an entertainment-besotted infantile country.

Here’s the good news: President Obama is succeeding without the help of his lefty “supporters” or hate-filled Republican detractors!

The Future Looks Good

After Obama has served two full terms, (and he will), after his wisdom in moving deliberately and cautiously with great subtlety on all fronts — with a canny and calculating eye to the Possible succeeds, (it will), after the economy is booming and new industries are burgeoning, (they will be), after the doomsayers are all proven not just wrong but silly: let the record show that not all Americans were panicked into thinking the sky was falling.

Just because we didn’t get everything we wanted in the first short and fraught year Obama was in office not all of us gave up. Some of us stayed the course. And we will be proven right.

Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays, depending on your point of view) to everyone!

P.S. if you agree that Obama is shaping up to be a great president please pass this on and hang in there!”

Democratic Senator Accuses GOP of Playing to “Ardent Supporters” in “Right-Wing Militia” and “Aryan Support Groups”

By Sheldon Whitehouse, AlterNet

http://www.alternet.org/story/144703/

EDITOR’S NOTE: This floor speech was delivered by the junior senator from Rhode Island yesterday, as the Senate remained in session to debate the health-care bill before a procedural vote that will bring the bill to the Senate floor later this week. References to “Madam President” or “Mr. President” refer to the senator who is presiding over the body at the time of the senator’s comments. When Whitehouse began speaking, Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., was presiding; when he finished up, it was Al Franken, D-Minn., wielding the gavel. Transcription and links added by AlterNet.

Madam President, as we are here in the Senate today, Washington rests under a blanket of snow, reminding us here of the Christmas spirit across the nation — the spirit that is bringing families happily together for the holidays. Unfortunately, a different spirit has descended on this Senate. The spirit that has descended on the Senate is one described by Chief Justice John Marshall back in the Burr trial: “those malignant and vindictive passions which rage in the bosoms of contending parties struggling for power.”

Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Hofstader captured some examples in his famous essay, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.”

The “malignant and vindictive passions” often arise, he points out, when an aggrieved minority believes that “America has been largely taken away from them and their kind. Though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion.” Does that sound familiar, Madam President, in this health-care debate? Forty years ago he wrote that.

More at the link….

From whitebison.org.

Elder’s Meditation of the Day - December 22
“From Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, there came a great unifying life force that flowed in and through all things: the flowers of the plains, blowing winds, rocks, trees, birds, animals, and was the same force that had been breathed into the first man. Thus all things were kindred, and were brought together by the same Great Mystery.”
–Chief Luther Standing Bear, SIOUX
The Great Spirit has six things that make up this life force. They are life, love, intelligence, soul, principle, and truth. These are the reasons the life cycle continues. None of this can be altered by man, but we can have access to these powers any time we wish. Just think about it - anytime I have a need I can access one or more of these powers.”

Oh Great Mystery, let me know how to use these powers. Today, let me love life, let me know truth, let me live by principle, and let me follow Your intelligence.

Will: Love the Schaffer piece.. Thank you for passing it on and I will do also!

Pat C: That was great theater from the Jr. Senator from RI, He and the Jr. Senator Al Franken have some spunk!

To Will (and Frank Schaeffer),

I love you guys! You have the courage to speak up in the face of the insanity that has become part of the daily life in America. Won’t change that, at least not for a long time, but it gives those of us who are weary from the onslaught of stupidity the stomach to carry on in spite of it.

I think I will print this piece out, copy it many times and mail them with New Year’s cards to give my friends something to encourage them to keep on keepin’ on.

Thank you for posting will, I would have surely missed it. Sometimes the negative Neptune with Jupiter is just too wounding to endure. This helps a lot!

Well, it sure was long (the Shaefer piece) and half of it is either not true or half true or disingenous. No, Obama is earning his knocks from the left, one day at a time. All on his own. He had a massive base. We expected him to perform as his lofty speeches indicated he would. We expected him, when in office, to do the things he said he’d do, be faithful to the values he said he espoused.

What most of his base and volunteers didn’t expect was that it was all about branding and smoke and mirrors. The day he was inaugurated and tears of joy ran down our faces because we finally thought we’d said goodbye to the worst nightmare in our lives, we couldn’t have conceived that it was possible that the nightmare would continue under Obama. What we didn’t expect was the HUGE disappointment in Obama’s lack of performance on any of the important metrics confronting us. Economy, jobs, Iraq, AfpaK, healthcare, torture, civil rights, privacy rights and on and on and on.

Obama has continued the Bush legacy of shafting this country and it’s citizens and now will, apparently, without even blinking, take us on over the edge. Most likely with a darn good speech to accompany us on our travels over the cliff. As so many point out, at least he can speak coherently. Great. So he’ll give a nice little speech before he sticks it to us (at least we’ll understand it).

No. He’s the President. He owns his actions now. Remember? The buck stops there, at Obama’s desk.

Please. No more apologias. No more haranguing those who’s blinders have come off. If you want to believe. Great. Have a nice life. But don’t expect to excoriate those who don’t and somehow make them out to be bad people just because we don’t believe in the mirage anymore. We don’t believe because our old nemesis, Bush, didn’t decide to send 30,000 more troops to Afganistan. Obama did. Bush isn’t keeping the troops in Iraq. Obama is. Bush didn’t send his attorneys to the Supreme Court to uphold “non-personhood” and the right of the United States to Torture, Obama just did. Bush didn’t put Summers, Geithner, Bernake in charge of the country’s finances (the very same people who contributed to the vast mess we’re in), Obama did. Bush didn’t just spend trillions which will have to be paid somehow (one way or another), Obama just did….

The list just goes on and on and on. Trust me, Will, it’s as long as your list. But I don’t want to bore you. The difference between you and me, Will, is that I was never enamored of Obama. I voted for him and I expect him to produce. End of story. And that’s the metric that I’m judging him on. Not some dreamy, idealistic, messianic image of Obama that now that I’m disappointed, I have my knickers in a twist. Heck, disappointed is too gentle a word. I’m PISSED. I’M ANGRY. And so is a great number of his base. One year into his term. What a sorry state of affairs. His approval ratings are tanking not because people are unreasonable. NO. They’re tanking because they (his former base) do NOT SUPPORT THE CONTINUED RAPE AND PILLAGE OF THIS COUNTRY UNDER A NEW PRESIDENT, who’s acting just like the former president in IGNORING THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE and thinking he can get away with it (which, I guess he is, but there’s always a cost. The cost is the loss of a substantial number of his base and all the young people who came out for the first time to vote for him).

So, No. I never saw Obama like that and didn’t get at all the gushing, swooning deal people made about him. So, don’t add me to your list of people who have somehow betrayed Obama. Obama has betrayed me and my vote. I voted for CHANGE. Remember that catchy little slogan? Not STATUS QUO and same ‘ol, same ‘ol. Which is what we’re getting.

and to the ever-courageous Fe,

The same goes to you re: the Rich remarks by Joe Klein, and for your huge contributions toward raising the consciousness level of humanity.

Starlight - “the teabaggers don’t proclaim a civil war, but the planets are pretty potent and just about anything could happen. I also see global upheaval of some kind involving Russia, Iran, US, maybe Britain, China…”

I realize we are all excited about health care reform (the l o n g posts demonstrate this!), but wow, looks like this blog has many, many more topics to cover as the future arrives.

Thanks everyone for following the health care issue. There is a lot to it and you have helped clarify the issues and debates. The biggest piece that I cannot wait for is when insurance companies are no longer allowed to decline an individual due to pre-existing conditions. This makes me so angry. It really shows where their interest lies.

Happy Solstice!

Quinnipiac: Majority Oppose Health Care Plan

“Fifty-three percent say they “mostly disapprove” the changes, and 56% say they don’t want the system overhauled if it will increase the deficit — 73% say it will do just that.”

“A majority (56%) also disapproves of President Obama’s handling of the issue, and the margin of voters who trust him more to handle health care than they do Republicans in Congress has shrunk.”

“Interestingly, voters do approve of two options that were recently dropped from the Senate bill in order to win over moderate Democrats — the public option (56% support it) and expansion of Medicare, which has 64% support.”

http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/12/22/quinnipiac-majority-oppose-health-care-plan/

I think it is worth noting that many aspects of this health care legislation include some regulation of the health insurance industry, exactly what we have been talking about regarding Pluto in Capricorn bringing a push for regulation (Capricorn) of corporate excess and greed (Pluto, especially in US 2nd house). The insurance industry will no longer be allowed to throw people out for getting sick or exclude people for pre-existing conditions, and they will be forced to use 80% of their money for patients.

The insurance industry has spent an incredible amount of money lobbying against all of this and against the public option. Thus, we also see the quintessentially Plutonian power struggle playing out. They feel they are fighting for survival as they know it; so do we, as we fight for health care.

Marta–thank you for your 8:39 AM post. In support of your thesis, the January 2010 edition of Dell Horoscope magazine has an excellent article on Obama and the US entitled, “Destiny in the Balance.”

Excerpts below.

“Since President Obama was elected under a Neptune station (never the clearest time), many voters have been glamorized by the costume he wore rather than the true man inside. The emphasis on Neptune can be like personal and mass ‘hypnosis’–the desire to believe in an ideal even if it’s not real.”

“The media (third house) contributes greatly to the illusion because a large part of America wants to see the ideal, not the reality.”

“So we have a President whom we don’t really know (and who may not really know himself) and a substantial part of the information system (the media) unable or unwilling to do its correct task.”

“Furthermore, transiting Neptune begins to square President Obama’s Scorpio Midheaven, an aspect that is constant throughout the four-year Administration of this Neptunian soul! All this is very debilitating to him and to the nation. Uncertainty, insecurity and weakness are felt in the land–and confusion and doubt within him.”

I can’t provide a link as there is none.

Exclusive: Rep. Parker Griffith switches to GOP

“POLITICO has learned that Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, will announce today that he’s switching parties to become a Republican.”

“Griffith’s party switch comes on the eve of a pivotal congressional health care vote and will send a jolt through a Democratic House Caucus that has already been unnerved by the recent retirements of a handful of members who, like Griffith, hail from districts that offer prime pickup opportunities for the GOP in 2010.”

FROM DAILY KOS:

Here’s what John Conyers has to say about the Senate bill, and what he’ll be pushing for leadership to do in conference.

“Last night’s vote in the Senate should be applauded for what it was: an affirmative statement by that body that comprehensive health care reform legislation should not be held captive any longer by a select few. As this legislation moves towards its constitutionally mandated reconciliation with the House of Representatives, I also want to make it clear that, in my mind, this bill does not adequately address many of the problems that plague our current system. Without material changes, this legislation will be reform in name only.

“In order to pass the House of Representatives, a final health care bill must provide universal affordability and competition to the American people. Additionally, it should be financed by those with the ability to pay and not by working class Americans lucky enough to receive quality health coverage through their employers….

“I supported the House bill because I believe that it is immoral to continue to allow the private health insurance industry to operate without any real checks on its ability to charge unaffordable premiums and deny needed care. That is why I believe competition, as provided through a national Medicare-like public health insurance option and the repeal of the industry’s antitrust exemption, is a necessary component of true reform.

“The sole remaining ‘competition’ provision that remains in the Senate’s bill is woefully insufficient. These multi-state non-profit plans run by the Office of Personnel Management will not be transparent; they will not have a built in network of doctors; they will not allow us to move away from the wasteful fee-for-service system that inflates costs; and they will not attract a risk pool big enough to create real savings and efficiencies for consumers.

“The American people have already experienced private non-profit health insurance. It hasn’t worked in the past and there’s no reason to think it’s the answer now. Relying on private insurers to police other private insurers is like asking the fox to guard the hen house.”

“I look forward to working with the Senate and House Leadership to ensure that the final health care bill address these core principles of affordability, competition, and progressive financing.

“Lastly, I am troubled that some Senators believe that the House must accept the majority of the concessions embodied in this Senate bill. My message to the these Senators is this: Just as it took compromise to pass your bill last night, so now will it require additional compromise to successfully reconcile your legislation with the House. The Constitution established a bicameral legislature so that neither body would dominate the other.”

It’s not just “some Senators” who seem to believe that the Senate bill as compromised is the bill that must be passed, though Conyers was undoubtedly reaction to the latest from Kent Conrad who has basically told the House to bow down before the glory that is the Senate.

There is still an opportunity to improve this bill, to get it somewhat closer to the reform that we’ve been promised, and many of the provisions in the House bill would be much better at achieving that.

CNN Poll: 6 point jump in support for health care bill
Posted: December 21st, 2009 03:01 PM ET

Washington (CNN) - Support for the health care reform bill that Democrats are pushing through the Senate has risen six points since early December, according to a new national poll, and although a majority of Americans still oppose its passage, only four in ten agree with Senate Republicans that the bill is too liberal.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Monday, also indicates that President Barack Obama’s approval rating has experienced a similar six-point rise.

According to the poll, 42 percent of Americans, based on what they’ve read or heard about the bill, support Senate Democrat’s legislation. That’s up from 36 percent in a poll conducted December 2-3. Nonetheless, a majority of people questioned in the survey, 56 percent, oppose the bill.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted Wednesday through Sunday, as Senate Democrats were negotiating a final health care bill, but before a crucial party-line vote early Monday morning to end debate, a huge hurdle to eventual passage of the legislation that the Democrats successfully were able to jump.

“Virtually all the increase in support for the Senate health care bill has come from Democrats, with a 10-point increase since early December,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Support is also up 10 points among younger Americans, compared to only two points among people 50 and older.”

The survey also indicates the public’s divided on whether the Senate bill will help most Americans, with 38 percent saying if the bill becomes law things will change for the worse, 34 percent feeling that the bill will change things for the better and 26 percent saying things will not change.

But less than 1 in 4 think the bill will make their own health care coverage better, 15 points lower than the 37 percent who say their health care will get worse if the bill becomes law. Nearly 4 in 10 say there will be no change in their or their immediate family’s coverage.

According the to poll, 54 percent of Americans approve of the job Obama’s doing as president, up 6 points from early December, with 44 percent disapproving, down 6 points.
“Obama’s approval rating is up ten points among younger Americans, but only two points among older Americans,” Holland says. “Since the same pattern occurs in the figures for the Senate health care bill, it’s possible that the two are related. Obama’s support is also up mostly among liberals, to 81 percent.”

But the survey also indicates Obama may not be living up to expectations. Nearly half of those polled, 48 percent, feeling that Obama’s fallen short. The 48 percent who say the president’s fallen short of their expectations is up 20 points from May.

“There is less confidence in Obama at the end of his first calendar year in office,” says Holland. “In the spring, 64 percent thought his policies would succeed. That’s down 12 points. And the number who say they want his policies to fail has doubled, to 22 percent, in that time.”

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted December 16-20, with 1,160 adult Americans questioned by phone. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

FROM TALKING POINTS MEMO:

House Braces For Final, Painful Compromises But Leadership Confident They’ll Win Over More Blue Dogs

Christina Bellantoni | December 22, 2009, 9:50AM
House Democrats believe they will secure additional health care reform votes from Blue Dog Democrats thanks to the Senate’s more conservative version of the legislation. And despite deep misgivings, the House Democratic leadership expects to lose few if any progressive Democratic votes over the demise of the public option, paving the way to get a final bill to President Obama’s desk by Feb. 1.

As the Senate prepares for a final vote to clear the bill, TPMDC chatted with several top House aides to get a sense of where things stand and what can be expected over the next few weeks. There are four key sticking points to be negotiated: the public option, abortion language, immigration and how taxes are applied to pay for it.

Leadership aides say progressives are prepared to take it on the chin and will vote for a final bill without a public option. But they say pro-life Democrats will seek direction from the U.S. Conference of Bishops as to whether they can support an amendment weaker than Rep. Bart Stupak’s, thus setting up what will likely be the most difficult negotiation before a final vote.

Senate Democrats have repeatedly warned that any substantive changes to the bill they will pass tomorrow night will lose the fragile 60-vote coalition they’ve built, and it looks like they will get their way.

“I don’t see how we don’t largely accede to the Senate,” a House leadership aide said.

The House bill raises taxes on people earning more than $500,000 per year and the Senate’s does not. House aides point out the idea actually polls well and suggested they could meet in the middle and increase the income threshold for the new tax so it affects fewer people. Also, unions are not happy with the Senate’s plan to tax high-end insurance plans so the House will argue that point.

Our sources tell us they expect a swift conference committee made up of relevant House chairmen Reps. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Henry Waxman (D-CA) and George Miller (D-CA) but that most of the tough negotiating on the items above will be done by leadership and the White House health care team outside of the formal conference process. They expect it to function in a similar fashion as the perfunctory February conference on the $787 billion economic stimulus, which lasted less than a week.

The consensus among leadership aides is that the report would be completed and approved by both chambers in mid to late January, before Obama gives his first official State of the Union address.

“A long conference committee doesn’t serve anyone’s interests besides Republicans,” one aide said.

Another Democratic aide told TPMDC that rank-and-file members are irritated Obama has shown more deference to his former colleagues in the Senate throughout the entire process. Still, the aide conceded that members are going to have to accept the Senate version because they are ready to be done with the fight.

“I don’t think you’ll see that much that’s left up to chance, the negotiations will likely play out much farther in advance,” the aide said.

Progressives will demand a good explanation from Senate colleagues on how choice and competition can be accomplished through their bill, another aide said.

“It would serve the House well to go another round on this, it’s important to send a message to our base and some of our progressive allies that we’re not just going to roll over on this,” the aide said.

In 2010 it will prove politically valuable to have picked the fight, even though progressives understand it won’t make the final compromise, the aide said. But it’s not clear what that fight will amount to beyond a lot of grousing for effect on TV, all with the knowledge that in the end they will have no choice but to give way.

On the immigration front, aides believe that a promise of comprehensive immigration bill will probably be enough to quell any House dissent about illegal immigrants not being allowed to get coverage under the new legislation.

Leadership believes these issues can all be dealt with, noting weary staffers and members want to clear the decks.

“It’s time to pass a good bill and move on” so members can start campaigning on its benefits for the 2010 midterm elections, an aide said.

The confidence that Democrats would add to the 219 members who supported their bill last month is thanks to the Senate bill being substantially less progressive than the bill the House passed in October, several aides said.

Democrats doubt they will get any Republicans - and may even lose the lone one they had, Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana - but think Blue Dogs will have a hard time voting against legislation that cuts the deficit while also having no public option. The numbers give them political cover, aides said.

Aides said despite the political discouragement from progressive members, there is optimism the bill will actually help people and do a lot of good, even at its most bare bones.

The Nation on HCR.

“The POS (HCR bill) is going to pass. The Republicans are going to oppose it and run against it. The Democrats are going to look ridiculous for a year defending it, and the Democrats who most opposed it are going to look the most ridiculous, because it is going to be politically impossible for a Democrat to run against this bill. The prevailing media narrative will prevent it. Millions more American will have health insurance, but millions of Americans will be forced by law to fork over their money, during a grisly recession, to the greediest and least popular industry the country has seen since the railroads were running amok in the 1890’s. These people will go broke a little more slowly, depending on how sick they get. The industry will jack up its rates until we all have to put in new attics. The subsidies will fail to keep up. And then the industry will lie about doing any of it, and the White House will send out a sternly worded letter. The industry will be stopped by the new “consumer protections” approximately as effectively as a butterfly stops a freight train.”

“By the end of 2009, these “reforms” will be thoroughly despised by a healthy portion of the electorate. The Republicans will then use the weaknesses of the reforms to assume control of the Congress, whereupon they will leave the mandates in place, gut the regulations, and laugh their way to the bank doing it. And that is what’s going to happen.”

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/altercation/508018/slacker_sunday

Julie W., AMEN!!

Ann H, thank you.

Seizing the moment on health-care reform

By Eugene Robinson
Tuesday, December 22, 2009

When all is said and done — and, yes, there is a bit more saying and doing to endure, which means that anything can happen — the health-care reform legislation that President Obama now seems likely to sign into law, while an unlovely mess, will be remembered as a landmark accomplishment.

The bill making its way through the Senate by the slimmest of margins is imperfect, to say the least. But before listing its many flaws, let’s consider the measure’s one great virtue: For the first time, we will enshrine the principle that all Americans deserve access to medical care regardless of their ability to pay. No longer will it be the policy and practice of our nation to ration health according to wealth.

When you blow away all the smoke, that’s what this fight is about. The Senate bill lacks a public health insurance option, the House bill is burdened by gratuitous abortion restrictions and the final product of a House-Senate conference will probably have both those failings. But once the idea of universal health care is signed into law, it will be all but impossible to erase. Over time, that idea will be made into reality.

The loose ends are so many and varied, in fact, that it will probably be necessary to revisit the health-care issue sooner rather than later. Even if it takes years to get it right, eventually is better than never. History suggests that major new social initiatives have to be perfected over time — and that basic entitlements, once established, are rarely taken away.

Progressives who argue for killing the Senate bill and starting over should explain their position to the 30 million Americans without health insurance who would be covered under this insufficiently progressive legislation. They should recall that when Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress began this crusade, public opinion solidly favored reform. With polls now showing widespread wariness, with Republicans having confused and frightened many voters who already have adequate health insurance, why would anyone think that beginning from scratch is likely to produce a more progressive result?

It surely wouldn’t. For anyone who believes it is shameful that the richest, most powerful nation in the world cares so little about the health and welfare of its citizens, this is the moment. It should be seized, not squandered.

Is it ridiculous that the Senate bill essentially bribes Sen. Ben Nelson with special Medicaid reimbursements for Nebraska alone? Yes. Is it galling that the public option and the idea of a Medicare buy-in fell victim to Sen. Joe Lieberman’s whims? Supremely so. But our eyes should be kept on the prize.

The bill has been described as a gift to the health insurance companies because it provides them with 30 million new customers and no competition from a public plan. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that the stock prices of health insurers are soaring. But I also don’t believe the main point of this exercise was to stick it to the insurance companies, however satisfying that might be.

Someday, perhaps, we will deal with the perversity of having for-profit health insurance companies. Executives of those firms have a duty to maximize value for shareholders, which gives them the incentive to behave badly — rejecting those who are most in need of health care, denying reasonable claims, raising premiums whenever possible. If health care is a fundamental right and a societal good, then why should its allocation be mediated by the private sector? But this is not the debate we’ve just had.

Eventually, we probably will ask that question. While the reform package nearing completion bends the curve of rising health-care costs, more bending is going to be needed. Ultimately, we’re going to have to take a more fundamental look at how the health industry is structured.

So this isn’t the end of a process that leads to a rational, sustainable, more efficient health-care system. It’s the beginning. But when a reform bill passes, as now seems likely, Obama and congressional leaders will have achieved a goal that progressives have sought for decades. They will have established that quality health care should be for all, not just for those who can afford it.

We have a system now in which Americans go bankrupt trying to pay doctors and hospitals to keep them alive. When you have the opportunity to change this, you take it — even if it means winning ugly.

Neptune is a truly powerful planet, sustaining illusions in the hard face of reality.

Ann H:

Agreed - on both sides of the coin.

Fe–what two sides of the coin are you speaking of? I’m not sure I understand.

Hey astrologers out there:

I know we have a Merc retro happening as of Boxing Day, December 26th–when does it station and go direct?

Trying to gauge the progress of the bill that’s coming out of the Senate, what the chances are of it getting re-written in conference during the retrograde, and the deadline of February 1, 2010, for the President to sign.

Ann:

The terms delusion and reality are all the same, depending on who is doing the perceiving, and maybe even the judging. Lets say for now, you and I disagree on the health care debate, and leave it there, with nothing personal added.

Also, a democratic process is not a neat one, where one side pushes and another one pushes back. These are our opinions, nothing more. And its these opinions that guide the greater whole, but they are still, just a part, a facet of the debate.

As a career public servant, I have seen how legislation is made and it is never pretty. But it ultimately works out for the common good, especially if there IS tension and opposing sides. That’s the purpose of a democracy. You and I can therefore be both right, and yet never be completely pleased with the outcome of a law made for our entire country, which is filled with neither a majority of Ann H.’s or Fe’s, but all of us.

I wish everyone here at Starlight News the Happiest of Holidays. Will be checking in over the next few days!!

nancy–xxooxxoo!!

Happy Holidays, everyone.

Health insurance does not mean health CARE. When did that little switcheroo happen? In many cases forced purchase of an insurance product will limit care. And we’ll have Fast Food Care. Its hard to really find anything substantive in this bill to support because the cost controls are so minimal. If that were to change it might be worth it.

Re Neptune. I like the word “glamorization”. These are politicians we are talking about. They’re not that different from each other in many ways. Yet dear leader gets pretty much worshiped, justified at all costs, and given the green light on policies that under another leader would be NOT supported. Frankly, the willful blindness and infatuation behavior of people with their leaders scares me. It is creepy!!! And strikes me as dangerous.

Fe–I do not wish to get personal. In fact, I abhor the personal attacks that occasionally appear on this site. However, I still do not understand your analogy, which is why I posed the question.

There are two sides to a coin–heads and tails. The two sides of the Neptune coin broadly speaking are illusion and idealism. So how does the analogy fit?

We agree that perceptions often differ and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

We Disagree, though, that legislation ultimately works out for the common good. I can think of plenty of bad legislation (the Iraq war, FISA, Patriot Act, etc.) that was not only not good, but actually harmed the American people. In my opinion, this HCR bill is bad legislation that will hurt not only Democrats, but more importantly, the American people.

Ann H, I agree. Let’s not forget NAFTA and the exportation of our jobs offshore, which was sold as a good deal for the American people. Ring any bells?

Ann and Marta:

NAFTA was propelled by the Clinton Administration and there were too many loopholes in it that allowed companies to offshore jobs. The offshoring habit became instititutionalized, and companies looked for profits for their shareholders, and not their workers. Those loopholes were never fixed. There were too many interests in Washington, and too many Republicans in Congress to get it fixed.

The other aspect that we need to discuss is the repeal of Glass Steagall which led to regulation-free banks, stock market derivatives that had no value, and interesting investment instruments that were fantastical in their development and screwed us in 2008.

You know, Richard Tarnas talks about the Uranus-Neptune alignment which brought forth new revolutionary ideas in politics, technology and philosophy that we are still affected by today. This alignment, roughly from 1985 - the height of the Reagan Era to 2001 and 9-11 is the direct result of that alignment.

Along with the breakthroughs in thinking, in politics and in technology came decit as well, which is the Neptune element, and after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 (one of the many political breakthroughs of that alignment) something had to take its place. In 1993-94, the American neoconservative movement spawned a new think tank that would become the Project for the New American Century (PNAC)–the neocons.

The PNAC moved stealthily to acquire allies, including Bibi Netanyehu as well as Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld. By the time 1996 rolled around, a treatise on how they saw the world working under a new Pax Americana was born. Couple that with a Republican Party that drumbeat Bill Clinton into impeachment for Monica Lewinsky, a growing religions right that was gaining both empire and political power, and the perfect candidate with the perfect political puppet, George Bush II who represented corporate interests, and you have a trifecta creating the last eight years of America - wiped clean of any thought of democracy: including the illegal Iraq War, which was part of the PAC, FISA - an invention of John Yoo, David Addington — aka Cheney’s Gang, and the Patriot Act.

The Uranus-Neptune effect takes at least seven years after its completed to see the final results, and now we do.

Its what we have to do next that’s part of the next set of alignments: challenge the status quo with the Saturn, Uranus and Pluto alignments. Build something different. Stop being afraid and take creative action, or we will be mired in divisive politics that have set the framework for political discourse the last eight years. Its like we have all been beaten down so long we don’t know what’s up and feel victimized at every turn.

Its time we gave ourselves a victory after over twenty years of this amazingly hard last two decades. We can’t isolate ourselves from each other by either ideological purity of cause or seeming lack of commitment. We aren’t in this alone. We can get out of it if we act in concert, and begin to think creatively out of this cycle.

FYI: The Richard Tarnas reference is from “Cosmos and Psyche”, one of the best books on astrology and the cycles of history I’ve read.

We reference it alot at Planet Waves. The chapter on Uranus-Neptune alignments is called “Towards a New Heaven and a New Earth”, and it is very compelling.

starlight’s concern for what the teabaggers might do reminds me of several Edgar Cayce readings. This one from June 23, 1940, reading #3976-25

“1. GC: You will give at this time a discourse on world affairs which will aid those assembled here in understanding what is taking place in the world today and in meeting the conditions which are to come in America.

10. Then, as to the needs for those things and conditions which are to come to pass in America:

11. When many of the isles of the sea, many of the lands, have come under the subjugation of those who fear not man nor the devil, but rather would associate with that in which they may proclaim MIGHT and power as being right in that of the superman, that would be of the generations as would be established, - then shall thine own land see the blood flow as in those periods when brother fought against brother.

12. Then, what may ye do, what may ye think? Upon what may ye call? Only He who is able to keep that ye have committed unto Him against any experience that may arise.

13. When thou hast gathered thy hoards of the earth together, and have entrusted them to the keeping of those who are wastrels, what has been and is the result in thy own experience? Want and need has come to thy hand!

14. Yet when thou hast trusted only in Him, who is the Creator, the Maker of heaven and earth, then there has been peace and harmony, and sufficient unto the day the needs thereof.

15. Ye only live moment by moment. Then, make that moment - each moment - as one in which ye will give GLORY to GOD! by just being KIND, and patient, and loving to thy fellow man. Thus ye will indeed find that ye will entertain Him, who has promised to be thy Brother, thy helper.

16. For as He gave, “Put thy burdens on me - LEARN of me.”

17. Then - as ye, as an American people, stand as a nation that has accepted Christianity, and has even put upon the coin of the realm “In God We Trust,” - ye must not trust in the might of man, nor in political or economic conditions. For these, too, will find their changes; and in high places many will be brought low; and many who are of low estate will be set as a city on a hill - whose light also may be cut off from not being planted in Him who is the TRUE light.”

Fe,

Mercury stations direct on Jan 15. He returns to 21+ Cap on Feb 4. The New Moon on 2/13 at 25+ Aquarius is conjunct Neptune and Chiron, while Mercury is opposed Mars and trine Saturn.

The Full Moon on Jan 30 is 10+ Leo and conjunct retrograde Mars and only 2 degrees from Obama’s Sun.

Like Eugene said, keep your eyes on the prize.

Greetings all!
I’ve been away for a while, but just dropped in to catch up and wish everyone a Superlative Solstice!
Haven’t time to read all the messages - hope to make time later. By the way, was there a rule change I missed? I thought we were supposed to avoid really long messages and post brief excerpts with links instead. Apologies if I have it all wrong.
FWIW, I think Obama ultimately will prove to be one of our best presidents, and certainly the most patient and even-tempered. I strongly suspect there is MUCH going on behind the scenes, things we may not hear about for quite a while yet, that will explain what a delicate and precarious game is in play. Please, let’s be sending him love&light.

Happy Holidays to you all.

Ann:

The other thought on HCR is to work to eliminate the perks to the insurance companies and other bad parts of the bill in conference committee when the House and the Senate go into reconciliation of both bills. This still can happen. It might be good that we’re going into a Merc retro period. That actually may benefit the people if we can keep, as Eugene Robinson said: “Our eyes on the prize.”

I am calling my Representative, Ms. Barbara Lee to get that done!

Just a yawn by the politicians and public about the recent passage of the of the almost 3/4 Trillion Defense appropriations bill. Now if you want some Pork just look there.

No pay as you go here! More unseen costs off budget to boot.

So let’s tell it like it is. We feed the war machine and not the people.

I hope you had a happy solstice.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Kadie/824

I just checked the planets for Thursday morning for the Senate HC vote. They are abysmal. As much hope and expectation as there was for many on the cloture vote (Jupiter/ Neptune), there is some very difficult energy going on on Thursday. Now some of it could be this ice storm they are talking about. Mercury is almost stationary, turning retro on Thursday. So traffic and travelers will be going very slowly. So could the vote.

The real trouble comes from the Sun (2Cap51) moving to conjunct Pluto (3Cap02), square Saturn (4Libra17) with the Moon at 00Aries41. In other words, anyone who is under the Saturn/Pluto square with something at 3 or so cardinal signs will be getting a big wallop all Thursday morning and early afternoon through at least 3 PM (Moon opposite Saturn). Stress, tension, depression, anger, and frustration. The Sun/Pluto conjunction is exact around 12:15 PM with the Moon exactly square by 12:35. We could see some very nasty power plays and power struggles all morning, maybe ending after 12:30 or 12:45, but with very bad feelings remaining through the afternoon and really for another day as the Sun moves the square Saturn. I don’t think this will go smoothly, or if it does and goes really fast (doubtful), the travel conditions will be horrendous.

Starlight,

The most recent story I’ve seen says the final vote on health care is planned for 8 a.m. Thursday. It seems hard to imagine Senators would want to stick around and argue for hours on a battle they’ve already lost if they can vote quickly and rush home for Christmas Eve. So maybe it’s just travel hassles in the stars for them.

–Teresa

China wrecked the Copenhagen talks:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/22/copenhagen-climate-change-mark-lynas

Starlight, I wonder if this could be part of the stress and tension.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34551523/ns/politics-health_care_reform

It looks like Graham has got a monkey wrench in the works with other repub states’ prosocutors questioning the Nelson deal.

Teresa - I don’t know what to think. Certainly, it is an important travel day with a bad weather forecast. I think we can expect some seriously stressful events, not just in the US but elsewhere as well. Sun/Pluto/Saturn/Moon all acting together. And the Sun/Saturn square goes through much of Christmas Day until around 7 PM. This is not going to be the cheeriest Christmas.

Let me put it this way, the Saturn/Pluto square aspecting US Venus describes much of the economic and other stress in the country right now and the power struggles that are so fierce in so many areas. This is all being activated on Christmas Eve Day through around 3 PM and Christmas Day through around 7 PM. It will ease by Christmas Night.

Midge - You may be right. I happen to agree that the Nebraska compromise is really shameful. All the states are hurting, not just Nebraska. It really is unfair. It is not impossible to imagine the deal being scuttled under these planets. If it is, it could explain the sour feelings likely under these planets. I do expect some kind of struggle Thursday morning.

Fe, thank you for your post of 3:29 p.m. We agree!

Thursday looks like I should stay home and celebrate the holiday with my pets. Which, as a matter of fact, is what I have planned.

It is a rest day. Thanks for the tip off

Hi Nancy (and all),

Nancy, I read your ‘Israel Update’ entry with great interest.

It seems to resonate with what we were discussing in one of the other blogs.

To refer to your words ‘The returning Saturn/Pluto square (4Libra21/4Capricorn21) from January 13 through February 2, 2010, may be a particularly stressful time for many.’

Israel has been making it unequivocally clear over the past several months that if there isn’t a political resolution to the containment of Iran’s nuclear program by the end of the year, Israel will take matters into its own hands. See related articles:

Israel planning to attack Iran after December

http://tinyurl.com/yke9db6

Israel Says Threat of Attack On Iran, No Bluff

“….The renewed threat comes as earlier in October, Ephraim Sneh, a former Israeli deputy defense minister, said that time was running out for action to stop Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.

“If no crippling sanctions are introduced by Christmas, Israel will strike,” Sneh said. “If we are left alone, we will act alone.”

http://tinyurl.com/yjhwsva

Debkafiles, in a Dec. 10th article reports that Tehran is anticipating an Israeli attack within the next 30 days, and therefore is actively seeking Syria’s support as a deterrent:

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6413

In a clear indication that US policy may be sympathetically tilting towards Tel Aviv’s more active oriented approach, Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff made some very candid remarks on Dec. 21 (the day of the Winter Solstice)…….

We Must Be Ready For Force Option Against Iran

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6426

The December 31 New Years eve lunar eclipse at 10 Cancer forms a grand cross square to the Israeli Neptune (10 Libra) and Iranian Sun (11 Aries) in semi/ sesqui square to tr. Jupiter (26 Aq). I think the beginning of the New Year will find these two countries embroiled in escalating tensions. The New Year deadline is fast approaching.

Ok, here is one of several crucial deciding factors. As far as I can determine, there has not been any deviance in the planned delivery of those sophisticated Russian S 300 anti-aircraft defense missile systems to Iran. News of the resumption of the planned delivery was announced in late November; a development that Israel contends would not only be deemed unacceptable, but absolutely intolerable. One can make a rational argument therefore, that if the scheduled delivery date remains on course; calculations are by late January - refer to the following article:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=112314&sectionid=351020101 , presumably an Israeli military strike prior to the acquisition should be expected. Optimum period for IDF military operations would likely center around the January 15th period when a narrow window of opportunity presents itself; during the dark phase of the New Moon. To exercise restraint and wait longer would place Israel at a severe disadvantage. According to Israeli intelligence, once those Iranian missiles are installed, Iran’s defense system would effectively neutralise any Israeli military offensive operation. No doubt, Israel will be compelled to act before it’s too late.

Interestingly enough, the January 15, ‘10 solar eclipse (25 Cap) happens to be the same degree as the January 15, ‘91 solar eclipse. If one recalls, that was the day of the UN ultimatum to Iraq to withdraw its forces from Kuwait. It was the UN deadline with the threat of military action, spearheaded by America and its coalition forces that precipitated the Persian Gulf war one day later. America’s natal Pluto (27 Capr.) hovers very close to that degree.

The Jan 15, ‘2010 solar eclipse has some stunning components to it.

POINTS OF CONTACT

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel

Netanyahu has natal Uranus at 4 ‘58 Cancer. It is closely aligned with Israeli’s natal Venus (4 ‘48 Cancer); perhaps symbolic of Netanyahu’s campaign pledge to protect Israel’s territorial integrity at all costs. This 4 Cancer degree will be t squared by the Saturn (4 ‘39 Libra) Pluto (3 ‘48 Capr.) square. Remarkably, Mercury turns stationary direct (5 ‘33 Capr.) on the very same day of the eclipse in close conj. to tr. Pluto and in opposition to Netanyahu’s n. Uranus/ Israel’s n. Venus. This, in my mind at least, describes that a breath-taking decision could be taken; that would serve as a release point to all that pent-up energy. Netanyahu’s natal Pluto at 18 Leo is in harsh semi-square to tr Saturn and Pluto. Certainly a very violent, explosive combination of aspects.

The Jan 15th 25 Capr. solar eclipse conjoins tr. Venus (25 ‘50 Cap) activating Netanyahu’s natal Jupiter (24 Capr.) Sun (27 Libra) square. Tr. Jupiter at 29 Aq. and tr. Neptune (25 Aq.) are both in close opposition to Netanyahu’s natal Mars (26 Leo) and the Israeli Mars (28 Leo). As Nancy pointed out, tr. Mars will be conjoining Israel’s natal Saturn in mid January. Lots of Mars war-like energy emerging to the forefront in mid January. This conjures up images of Israel embarking on a frenzied war-path. Given the prevailing mood, I seriously doubt Israel would be receptive to the voice of reason, even from their strongest friend and ally; the US.

President Obama

The triple conj. 25 Capr. solar eclipse precisely conjoins Pres. Obama’s natal Saturn in quincunx to his natal Uranus (25 Leo). Tr. Neptune simultaneously forms an opp. to natal Uranus. Would this be an indication that he could lose control over circumstances? There’s something extraordinarily karmic and sudden about those aspects. Does it indicate an undermining of his position? Would his physical safety be compromised? An assassination attempt? Hopefully not. Any thoughts out there? What evokes thoughts about this are the following astrologers observations…..

“….. This solar eclipse occurs in conjunction with President Obama’s natal Saturn in Capricorn, awakening both secret enmity and self-doubt. Saturn in his natal chart is in the twelfth house, and, with Mars retrograde and applying to his natal Sun in his seventh house of enemies, he also needs to deal with open enmity and confrontation, possibly even warfare. So the knives are out. The stars are warning him not to permit himself to be stabbed in the back while fending off attacks from the front. Mars first crossed his Sun in mid-November, then recrosses it in retro mode on Jan 21, with mighty Jupiter changing signs to Pisces………

When we look at his Washington chart, which is perhaps most proper in terms of his role as leader of what used to be called the Free World, we see that the eclipse occurs in his eighth house of other people’s money; no surprise there. Yet the eighth house is also the house of life’s mysteries, especially sex, death and taxes. This eclipse may mark a death in his intimate circle, hopefully not his own, but it will also mark the need to release an old situation, in order to find something his soul requires. He must trust his instincts, or he will be swamped by conflicting demands, particularly those concerning extravagance that has little real value..”

http://www.astrologycom.com/eclipse.html

In the most vivid of terms one can imgine, there is compelling evidence of something brewing; the Yom Kippur/ Ramadan War that erupted on Oct. 6, ‘73 occurred the day before an exact Saturn-Pluto square (4 ‘39 Libra-Cancer). Relate that to the approaching January 13, ‘10 Saturn station which will arrive precisely at that 4 ‘39 Libra/ Yom Kippur War degree (no orb) in its square to the current tr. Pluto (3 ‘48 Capr.). Once again, Israel’s natal Venus (at 4 ‘48 Cancer) is in the line of fire 37 odd years later.

The waxing New Moon on Jan 13, ‘10 conjoins Pluto in square to Saturn. Might there be some unexpected incident on the 13th to catapult Israel into a militaristic posture. Perhaps a deadline will be introduced similar to that of the UN deadline of Jan 15, ‘91 with the onset of the Persian Gulf War. Is history about to repeat itself?

Other aspects to consider in the 1/15/10 solar eclipse chart: Tr. Uranus at 23 ‘31 Pisces is within two degrees of sextiling the 25 ‘01 Capr. eclipse and on the other end, sextiling the Israeli Sun - 23 ‘41 Taurus. Tr. Uranus in square to Israel’s n. Uranus (24 ‘21 Gemini) and closely conjoining Iran’s n. Mars (25 ‘37 Pisces). Tr. Chiron at 23 ‘59 Aq. will be squaring the Israeli Sun.

If a mid-east conflict doesn’t erupt in mid January, then some unforeseen, unusual intervention would have to occur. Considering that the January 15th solar eclipse overshadows President Obama’s natal Saturn in quincunx to natal Uranus, it certainly doesn’t sound like he is a leader in control of any given situation. Politically and militarily, circumstances could overwhelm him. American efforts to restrain Israel will probably prove futile.

My apologies if this post turned out to be longer than intended. Should we throw this up for discussion?

Starlight,

Could it just be tons of stressed-out Americans seeing Christmas come without the money to buy presents and a nice Christmas dinner?

I’m not saying it won’t be something worse. Just that it seems natural that a lot of people would be stressed out about the economy as the holiday arrives.

I was at the mall yesterday with my daughter, letting her pick out shoes, and it was a really strange atmosphere. People were there, not as many as I’ve seen in year’s past this close to Christmas, and they had packages in their hands, but there was an attitude that was… hunkered down, maybe? Determined. They were going to do this, buy some presents, celebrate this holiday, but they were not happy about it. More, grim and determined. enduring. I know a lot of poeple are grim at having to endure the mall at that time of year. Still, it felt different to me. And odd. Like maybe they wish we’d all never bought into the whole shop-shop-shop thing, that they now know it was foolish but haven’t managed to break the habit yet.

–Teresa

“Thursday looks like I should stay home and celebrate the holiday with my pets.”

Nice idea!! Pets are always good!

I wish the senate would just have the vote and put us all out of our misery. Jeez, I can’t imagine what it is like in DC - snow, soon freezing rain, a bunch of senators and all their staff and all the support people and news folks all annoyed (seriously) and slipping around on the snow and ice.

Best wishes for all !!

Marta, well said. This in a nutshell is my problem with the bill. And IMHO will turn out to be most everyones problem with the bill once they figure it out, once they get the “bill” or should I say “Invoice”.

ROBERT KUTTNER: Think about it, the difference between social insurance and an individual mandate is this. Social insurance everybody pays for it through their taxes, so you don’t think of Social Security as a compulsory individual mandate. You think of it as a benefit, as a protection that your government provides. But an individual mandate is an order to you to go out and buy some product from some private profit-making company, that in the case of a lot of moderate income people, you can’t afford to buy. And the shell game here is that the affordable policies are either very high deductibles and co-pays, so you can afford the monthly premiums but then when you get sick, you have to pay a small fortune out of pocket before the coverage kicks in. Or if the coverage is decent, the premiums are unaffordable. And so here’s the government doing the bidding of the private industry coercing people to buy profit-making products that maybe they can’t afford and they call it health reform.

Fe: Re penalties assessed by the IRS:

These come in two flavors: Criminal and Civil.

The Criminal division of the IRS is very small, most fines are Civil… And if you dont pay the fines the interest just builds and builds… and they do have ways to collect it.

The IRS does not exist to play footsie with you. That is not their function.

B.A.:

Did not catch your drift. Did I mention anything earlier about the IRS?

icemilkcoffee, a Daily Kos Blogger who has been following the legislation closely, is going through the Senate’s version of the Health Care bill with a fine tooth comb and finds there are some good devils in the details:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/22/817834/-Devil-in-the-Details-2:-AHIP-took-a-left-hook-to-the-liver

from Kos at Daily Kos:

(key quote from the video - link provided below)

“Once we have a final bill, and things are set in stone, then we can re-examine that bill. But right now, things can still change. To stop fighting for that change, to me, is patently ridiculous.

Any positive change from here on out is going to be because we keep pushing from the left not because we say, “Good enough. Let’s pass it.”

Kos goes on to say:

At this point, there is no question about whether or not a health care reform bill is going to pass the House and Senate and be sent to the President. The only question is how strong it will be, and there’s no reason to take our foot off the pedal now. Even small improvements can make a big difference in the quality of people’s lives. And in the end, isn’t that what this whole exercise has been about?

Here’s the link:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/22/817849/-Markos-on-Countdown:-Dont-stop-fighting-for-change

Starlight: Sounds like the best place to be is safely at home on Christmas morning, and consider avoiding contentious conversation topics. Yikes.

Jerry W: Very interesting observations. Wouldn’t the quincunx also mean that the President would need to make an adjustment of some sort? And, that it could result in a positive outcome?

The Copenhagen that Matters - Friedman highlights Denmark’s success…

“How long are we Americans going to go on thinking that we can thrive in the 21st century when doing the optimal things — whether for energy, health care, education or the deficit — are “off the table.” They’ve been banished by an ad hoc coalition of lobbyists loaded with money, loud-mouth talk-show hosts who will flame anyone who crosses them, political consultants who warn that asking Americans to do anything important but hard makes one unelectable and a citizenry that doesn’t even ask for optimal anymore because it believes that optimal is impossible.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/opinion/23friedman.html?_r=1

New brief thread up!