Nancy’s Starlight News Blog

Geithner relieved of duty sounds good to me.

And a lovely Saturnalia to all. Yech!

Sadly. Starlight, all of your astrology seems to dovetail with most of the economic indicators I’ve been watching both here, in the U.S., and abroad.

Long-suffering seems indeed to be the national ethos of the next year.

Now for Rham. Surely we can do better.

Very helpful article Nancy, and clearly written as usual! Are you among those who say it is best to get out of the market.

………

http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/07/heavyhitting-tampa-trial-lawyer-steve-yerrid-building-legal-team-to-take-on-bp.html

State of Florida assembles its legal team for a case against BP.

Yerrid now has wide latitude from Crist to assemble a posse of high-powered trial lawyers, similar to the “dream team,” hired by then-Gov. Lawton Chiles, who secured an $11.4 billion settlement with the tobacco industry in 1997.

will - I do expect things to improve around the end of August. But Saturn square US Sun and conjunct Saturn will be felt. Israel lost (or tied) in its war with Lebanon during its 10th house Saturn return. I think we might diminish our role in Afghanistan, narrow our goals, rather than doubling down again.

Geithner stands out with his heavy Saturn at the end of the year, whereas they all share aspects until then (as described in the article).

US pushes direct Middle East talks

The US president has called for direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to be restarted before a partial freeze on the construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land expires in September. .. …

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/07/20107704831288704.html

http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/07/05/corporations-sitting-on-1-84-trillion-cash/

Corporations Sitting On $1.84 Trillion Cash

Pat C.,

Yes, big corporations are indeed sitting on billions and billions. Nonetheless, there is a paralyzing crisis of confidence.

One of my biggest nightmare scenarios is that progressives in the Democratic Party do all of the heavy-lifting and the Obama Presidency carries the nation through this horribly grim, difficult, spartan time only for the Rethugs to get back into office when the The Great Recession finally begins to heal. Just our luck.

Here’s someone who agrees with your prognosis Starlight.

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/07/imf-engaged-in-gold-swaps-to-about-380.html

IMF - BIS In 380 Tonnes of Gold Swaps; Organized Looting of Sovereign Wealth; No Confidence

“Manipulation can only go so far…..especially when gold is reverting to its primary function which is as a currency in its own right or as means to substantiate existing currencies.” Richard Henley Davis

These swaps have significance because of the speculation that the public sale of gold by the IMF, which was secretive and selective, was not a legitimate sale to raise funds, but a means of bailing out the bullion banks who had taken gold previously on lease and sold it into the public markets, but were unble to return it because of the tightness of supply in the physical bullion market, increasingly disconnected from the NY based paper market.

Several private bullion buyers, including Eric Sprott, are reported to have made firm and well priced offers to buy large tranches of gold from the IMF, only to be curtly turned away as ‘ineligible.’ The IMF is selling at the prices they determine ex-market to the people to whom they wish to sell. It appears that they may be managing this through BIS.

Just as Gordon Brown sold England’s gold at artificially low prices to bail out the bullion banks in NY and the City, so the IMF and its constituent members are selling the public stores of gold, largely from a few developed western nations, to support what essentially appears to be a crony capitalist banking fraud involving the secretive sale of public assets at artificial prices with the gains pocketed by a few state-sponsored banks.

“Gold swaps are usually undertaken between monetary authorities. The gold is exchanged for foreign exchange deposits (or other reserve assets) with an agreement that the transaction be unwound at an agreed future date, at an agreed price. The monetary authority acquiring the foreign exchange will pay interest on the foreign exchange received. Gold swaps are typically undertaken when the cash-taking monetary authority has need of foreign exchange but does not wish to sell outright its gold holdings (at least not on their own books - Jesse). In that manner, gold is a leveraging device. Gold swaps sometimes involve transactions where one of the parties is not a monetary authority (usually it is another depository corporation). Gold swaps between monetary authorities do not usually involve the payment of margin.”

Repurchase Agreements, Securities Lending, Gold Swaps and Gold Loans, An Update - IMF

..more (read to the end as it directly pertains to Nancy’s post)

Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history, and its approval for use in food was the most contested in FDA history. In the end, the artificial sweetener was approved, not on scientific grounds, but rather because of strong political and financial pressure. After all, aspartame was previously listed by the Pentagon as a biochemical warfare agent!

It’s hard to believe such a chemical would be allowed into the food supply, but it was, and it has been wreaking silent havoc with people’s health for the past 30 years.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/americas-deadliest-sweete_b_630549.html

Am I alone in thinking that we have GOT to get past this whole “We’re the best nation / We’re the SUPERPOWER of the Universe” thinking? Every time I hear that, it rubs me the wrong way.

I’d like to see us just be the best United States - for me, that’d be enough. Taking care of our citizens needs: health care, employment … etc.

I know it’s a pipe dream but we just can’t continue to be all “Rah Rah Rah” when our country has gone to shit.

I don’t expect President Obama to perform miracles - just cannot imagine what it must be like to have all this at your feet, knowing that no matter what you do, half the country will think it’s wrong, it sucks, whatever. There isn’t enough money or power in the world for me to think twice about it.

Who among us didn’t know that the economy was tanking even as they were saying otherwise? So so tired of the lies and obfuscations.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/sc-dc-oil-spill-pipes-20100626,0,3318295,print.story

The gushing BP oil well is a mystery still unfolding, and late last month, a team of scientists from the Energy Department discovered a new twist: Their sophisticated imaging equipment detected not one but two drill pipes, side by side, inside the wreckage of the well’s blowout preventer on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

BP officials said it was impossible. The Deepwater Horizon rig, which drilled the well, used a single pipe, connected in segments, to bore 13,000 feet below the ocean floor. But when workers cut into the wreckage to install a containment cap this month, sure enough, they found two pipes.

The discovery suggested that the force of the erupting petroleum from BP’s well on April 20 was so violent that it sent pipe segments hurtling into the blowout preventer, like derailing freight cars.

It also offered a tantalizing theory for the failure of the well’s last line of defense, the powerful pinchers called shear rams inside the blowout preventer that should have cut the pipe and stopped the rising oil and gas from reaching the Deepwater Horizon 5,000 feet above. Drilling experts say those rams, believed to be partially deployed, could have been thwarted by the presence of a second pipe.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/lincoln-mcclellan-and-stimulus/

Lincoln, McClellan, And Stimulus

There’s now a lot of talk about the fact that U.S. corporations are sitting on a lot of cash, but not spending it. I don’t find that particularly puzzling: with huge excess capacity, why invest in building even more capacity. But almost everyone seems to agree that if we could somehow get businesses to spend some of that cash, it would create jobs.

Which then raises the question: how can you believe that, and not also believe that if the U.S. government were to borrow some of the cash corporations aren’t spending, and spend it on, say, public works, this would also create jobs? (Brad DeLong has tried to make this argument repeatedly).

More at the link…

……..

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/confidence-fairies-have-infiltrated-the-white-house/

Confidence Fairies Have Infiltrated The White House

I was on Good Morning America this not-so-good morning, doing what I could. But I was struck by something that George Stephanopoulos said: he claimed to have been speaking to an administration official who asserted that what we need to get businesses investing is for business to know that the government has stopped — presumably, that means no new spending, no new regulation, whatever.

GS is a careful guy, so this must be true. And it’s shocking — not that people are saying this, but that someone inside the administration is saying it.

It’s garbage, of course: businesses are refusing to invest because they don’t see enough demand for their products. And administration economists know that it’s garbage. But obviously some people in the WH — I’m guessing a political person, but who knows — have bought the right-wing line hook, line, and sinker.

More at the link….

Smile or die

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo

The other side of positive thinking.

U.S. Expected to Double Exports in Five Years

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama is scheduled to unveil a report Wednesday showing the U.S. is on track to double exports in the next five years and name the chief executives of United Parcel Services Inc., Walt Disney Co., Pfizer Inc. and other firms to a presidential advisory board on trade issues.

The report shows that in the first four months of 2010, exports were up 17% from the same period last year, according to a copy of the report.

Other large, publicly trade companies that will be represented on the council include Metlife Inc., UAL Corp., Dow Chemical Co., Ford Motor Co., Verizon Communications Inc., and Archer Daniels Midland Co.

Mr. Obama had pledged in his State of the Union address to double exports in the next five years, saying doing so would help support several million jobs. … ..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703636404575352731258196298.html

Double Dip was so well written, Nancy and a detailed analysis of what you’ve previously shared.

This article underscores the continued (and escalating) bleed by our misguided “nation building” priorities. http://www.alternet.org/world/147428/america%27s_tragic_descent_into_empire/?page=entire

Taxpayers continue to be burdened — not with taxes supporting social programs — but by supporting a massive military.

I was speaking with an engineer working as a military subcontractor. The indirect costs incurred by the military cannot be accounted for. For instance, parts and components are purchased from various retailers for “security” purposes. There are other equally insidious “cost” factors, factors that have networked into every aspect of American life.

How do we extricate ourselves from this Orwellian world? Must the dollar itself fall? Must we appeal to media, forcing a change in focus?

Abandoned oil wells make Gulf of Mexico ‘environmental minefield’AP investigation finds BP was responsible for 600 of more than 27,000 abandoned wells in the Gulf of Mexico

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 7 July 2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/07/abandoned-oil-wells-gulf-mexico

Am I alone in thinking that we have GOT to get past this whole “We’re the best nation / We’re the SUPERPOWER of the Universe” thinking? Every time I hear that, it rubs me the wrong way.

Mystical chick - You are not alone!!! It makes me crazy, too. That was why I loved the World Cup. It wasn’t like the Olympics where we inevitably shine. We were one among many nations competing. We did well, but many others did better. And we all cheered. When our team went down, we found another to cheer for in the next game.

Double Dip?-thank you Nancy for delineating exactly what we are experiencing as a nation and even as a culture. I appreciate that Obama will be experiencing some relief-for myself I am hoping that he will be on the campaign circut talking the line I love. I could use a little sweet talk right now-you know, we need jobs and here is how we are going to get those jobs- things like that.
I believe and have believed that banks are sitting on the money the better to bring Obama and crew to failure. The “Masters of the Universe” want to bring us down so that we will accept Europe’s austerity plans. Just my intuition-I am not a money person.

Here is my hope for Afghanistan and one which fits with one reading of the planets. Obama reevaluates our progress in January 2011 as planned. He gives them 6 more months to strengthen army and police, then declares that al Qaida is no longer there and even the Taliban don’t want them. In reality, it will be the failure of our nation-building enterprise, and we will have to admit that we can only do so much (Saturn return in the 10th). August 2011 is the final crossing of Saturn to US Saturn and square the US Sun. It is the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one. We begin to pack up around September, maybe keeping one base there to keep an eye on Pakistan. After watching Rachel last night, I really can’t envision us changing them in any way. Obama needs to separate himself from this neocon wet dream.

By the way, two nights ago she also talked about Ron Paul and Barney Frank coming together to try and pare down our defense budget. I think we will see this bit by bit, perhaps pushed by the depressed economy and the need to build things other than weapons. As progressed US Mars moves faster while retrograde, I think this may happen.

Taxpayers continue to be burdened — not with taxes supporting social programs — but by supporting a massive military.

Karen - Exactly. I think this message will become stronger and stronger. And it fits with the shrinking footprint promised by the Saturn return in the 10th. Saturn’s message is to scale back and become leaner and more efficient.

FROM TPM: Democrats are looking at raising the retirement age to shore up deficit:

“It’s the Democrats who have progressives feeling queasy.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer explicitly put the idea on the table as well in a speech last month. “We should consider a higher retirement age or one pegged to lifespan,” Hoyer said.

He echoed House Majority Whip James Clyburn, who put it this way: “With minor changes to the program such as raising the salary cap and raising the retirement age by one month every year, the program could become solvent for the next 75 years.” One month a year may not sound like much, but if you’re 30 years away from retirement, that adds up to almost three years.

In the House, though, Nancy Pelosi is the linchpin, and she’s not nearly as enthusiastic as her colleagues. But, notwithstanding the enthusiasm gap, she also left the possibility of raising the retirement age on the table. When asked about it by TPMDC at her press conference last week, she criticized the plan, but mainly to say she disagrees with putting Social Security on the chopping block ahead of other measures.

“Why they would start talking about a place that could be harmful to our seniors — 70 is a relative age,” Pelosi said. “Around here, there’s not a lot of outdoor work or heavy lifting. But for some people it is, and 70 means something different to them. So in any event let’s talk about growth, lets talk about how we can reduce spending, lets put everything, those initiatives: promoting growth, tightening the belt, looking at entitlements. But let’s not start on the backs of our seniors.”

There’s one catch, though. Last week, Democrats included a rider to the supplemental war spending bill that will force the House to vote on a forthcoming fiscal reform plan, if the Senate passes it first. That package is being put together by President Obama’s deficit and debt commission, and will be ready to go after the midterms. Pelosi had already pledged to give the package a vote, so perhaps nothing has really changed. But in a way, she also tied her own hands: if the Senate passes a broad tax-and-entitlement reform package at the end of this Congress and her own caucus is willing, she can’t stop the Social Security reforms she thinks should come last.

Of course, that puts the onus on the Senate, which can’t pass much of anything these days, especially if it includes tax hikes — and any serious effort to pull the country back from the brink of fiscal crisis will have to include some of those.

But if there’s a fluke, or an unexpected decision on the part of 60 senators to hold hands and jump together, it could happen swiftly, with very little notice.—TPM

+++++

So the battle will be in the Senate, and which party will be willing to put the Third Rail of Politics on the line first.

This reminds me alot of what is done in cities to deal with budget crises: Name a program that is loved for the chopping block and see if the public is willing to pay a little more in taxes to keep it going. It feels a little like a smoke signal to check political winds and see if there is political will.

This also re-affirms my thought that we still have corporations and upper income people paying less taxes, not enough income coming in from tax revenues because not enough people are working, and bloat and fat elsewhere — including and especially the military, that needs to be trimmed. I think putting a portion of Social Security into the stock market is only one of many problematic solutions that the next Congress is going to have to face, since it seems no one is will to address it before mid-terms–at their peril.

This is about dealing with the substantial number of people on Social Security that will come when the Baby Boomers fill the rolls.

I’m ready if this gets hard-wired into Congressional thinking, and it will be a rallying cry in the mid-terms.

For any of you who are interested, on the Spirit of M’aat website there is an article stating that the well that is gushing actually went into a volcano and the worst that could happen would be an emerging methane gas bubble. The article was entitled Chaotic Node, I believe.

Sorry I can’t be more informative but I’m a one-armed paperhanger at work today.

Breaking: Obama Goes Radical, Appoints Berwick
by geomoo

Tue Jul 06, 2010 at 09:44:40 PM PDT

Finally, a real pony for me and my friends. President Obama may have set back bipartisanship by several minutes in using a recess appointment to put in place his choice for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The move was announced an hour ago on the White House blog. I’m no expert in this field, but my son-in-law is deeply involved in the health care battles, and he is quite excited. Republicans had promised a huge fight on this appointment so it’s great to see Obama just get it done.

In April, President Obama nominated Dr. Donald Berwick to serve as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Many Republicans in Congress have made it clear in recent weeks that they were going to stall the nomination as long as they could, solely to score political points.

But with the agency facing new responsibilities to protect seniors’ care under the Affordable Care Act, there’s no time to waste with Washington game-playing. That’s why tomorrow the President will use a recess appointment to put Dr. Berwick at the agency’s helm and provide strong leadership for the Medicare program without delay.

CMS has been without a permanent administrator since 2006, and even many Republicans have called on the Administration to move to quickly to name a permanent head.

There’s no question that Don Berwick is the right choice to be our next CMS administrator: he’s the founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and has spent decades as a practicing physician and a Harvard professor. He’s dedicated his career to finding ways to make our health care system work better for patients and cost less for taxpayers.

Dr. Berwick has the support of hundreds of health care groups and experts, including the AARP, the American Medical Association, and the CMS administrators under the most recent Republican presidents. As Mark McClellan, who served as Administrator under President George W. Bush from 2004-2006, said:

“What happens at CMS in the next few years will determine whether the new legislation actually improves quality and lowers costs. Don [Berwick] has a unique background in both improving care on the ground and thinking about how our nation’s health care policies need to be reformed to help make that happen.”

From Geomoo’s diary, cont’d.:

If you want to get a feel for the solid humanist, patient-centered credentials of Berwick, read this blog he wrote in May 2009. (It is very promising for this progressive that, in googling for this article, I was told to put the word “radical” in google along with other terms.)

I freely admit to extremism in my opinion of what patient-centered care ought to mean. I find the extremism in a specific location: my own heart. I fear to become a patient. Partly, that fear comes from what I know about technical hazards and lack of reliability in care. But errors and unreliability are not the main reasons that I fear that inevitable day on which I will become a patient. For, in fighting them, I am aligned with the good hearts and fine skills of my technical caregivers, and I can use my own wit to stand guard against them.

What chills my bones is indignity. It is the loss of influence on what happens to me. It is the image of myself in a hospital gown, homogenized, anonymous, powerless, no longer myself. It is the sound of a young nurse calling me, “Donald,” which is a name I never use—it’s “Don,” or, for him or her, “Dr. Berwick.” It is the voice of the doctor saying, “We think…,” instead of, “I think…,” and thereby placing that small verbal wedge between himself as a person and myself as a person. It is the clerk who tells my wife to leave my room, or me to leave hers, without asking if we want to be apart. Last month, a close friend called a clinic for her mammogram report and was told, “You have to come here; we don’t give that information out on the telephone.” She said, “It’s OK, you can tell me.” They said, “No, we can’t do that.” Of course, they “can” do that. They choose not to, and their choice trumps hers: period. That’s what scares me: to be made helpless before my time, to be made ignorant when I want to know, to be made to sit when I wish to stand, to be alone when I need to hold my wife’s hand, to eat what I do not wish to eat, to be named what I do not wish to be named, to be told when I wish to be asked, to be awoken when I wish to sleep.

Call it patient-centeredness, but, I suggest, this is the core: it is that property of care that welcomes me to assert my humanity and my individuality. If we be healers, then I suggest that that is not a route to the point; it is the point.

mystical chick-yes if only we could get to the point that we are no longer fear based and desire only to take care of everyone and our land and seas and air which in the end is the highest expression of Cancer.
I like you am weary of the clannishness,read racist, that is at the bottom of our feelings of exceptionalism and I pray for the day that we see how blessed we are and realize that we can do so much without hurting anyone or stepping on anyone.
What great links, PatC. So much to read and grow with.

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=177598

High School student interviews candiate. Priceless!

Russia could arrange ’spy swap’ deal with U.S.
Arrest of suspected Russian spies in the United States

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100707/159722503.html

Europe puts limits on banker bonuses

The European Parliament passed a bill today that would cap and defer financial traders’ and bankers’ bonuses, giving Europe the toughest regimes in the world. The caps are a backlash against the global financial meltdown, and the bonuses that followed. …

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/0707/Europe-puts-limits-on-banker-bonuses

Social security and your “friends” in the democratic party:

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/republicans-and-democrats-endorse-major-changes-to-social-security.php

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/06/obama-s-ceo-problem.html

Obama’s CEO Problem
He needs business on his side now.

BA:

I looked at that article, in fact, I quoted upthread on it.

No one want to touch that until after the mid-terms, and there’s a clearer picture of which party has the majority. This is from McJoan at Kos:

Pelosi’s gambit: more gridlock or filibuster reform
by Joan McCarter
Wed Jul 07, 2010 at 06:16:03 AM PDT

Much of the attention on last week’s House action was the convoluted Afghanistan war funding vote, and with it the “cat food commission” vote, in which the House locked itself into voting on any recommendations made by the commission and approved by the Senate.

Related to the cat food commission, Hoyer had announced the decision of House leadership to not pass a budget resolution this year, arguing that “It isn’t possible to debate and pass a realistic, long-term budget until we’ve considered the bipartisan commission’s deficit-reduction plan.”

Ezra points out the problem in that: no budget resolution, no reconciliation instructions. No reconciliation instructions, no possibility of passing critical legislation with fewer than 60 votes.

“The 2010 elections, however, are likely to return a much-reduced Democratic Senate majority. As the situation stands, Democrats couldn’t pass unemployment-insurance legislation with 59 votes, because they couldn’t quite get to 60. If they have only 52 members in their caucus, they really have no chance. That’s why setting down reconciliation instructions now was so important: It was their best chance to actually govern next year.

Senate Democrats are hanging this one on the House. “It was our intent in a budget resolution to include those instructions,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow told me. “And we passed such a resolution out of committee.” House aides retort that they were told Senate Democrats didn’t have the 51 votes necessary to pass the budget on the floor, and in any case, it’s not their fault that the Senate is paralyzed by the filibuster. In fact, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called just today for an end to the filibuster.

But the fact remains: By not passing a budget with reconciliation instructions this year, Democrats are setting themselves up for further gridlock and failure next year. If you can’t get 51 votes for a budget when you have 59, you sure can’t get 60 votes for controversial legislation when you only have 52. ”

That’s true, and you could look at this as a massive failure of planning for the future on the part of House leadership. Or, it could be the House trying to force the Senate’s hand on filibuster reform. By taking away the possibility of passing key legislation via reconciliation, Pelosi and Hoyer have made that reform absolutely essential. If, that is, they intend to actually do any governing between now and 2012.

Bette:

I just checked the last thread and saw your question:

Fe: What’s going to happen with my social security payroll withholding taken for the last decades if the GOP stops the benefit? Secondly, who gets the interest earnings on the paycheck withholding and what is it used for other than accumulating in the SS account.

Bette: The answer is nothing yet. There has been no budget with proposed cute to Social Security, nor FICA tax increases to vote on. Right now, its structuring committees (hence Cat Food Commission) to provide input and recommendations.

And there seem to be many options on the table, including using the recommendations of the Cat Food Commission on deficit reduction using cuts to Social Security as one of their ideas. Its one of several. The other was raising the age limit by adding the number of months equivalent to the total number of years before you retire. As a 55-year old right now, if I chose to retire at 65, I would have to wait another ten months after I hit 65 to collect Social Security.

But as I posted above, Ezra Klein points out the problem in that if there’s no budget resolution, there’s no reconciliation instructions. No reconciliation instructions, no possibility of passing critical legislation with fewer than 60 votes.

Its clear both parties are afraid to make the commitment to making too radical moves to Social Security, especially now before midterms–even though putting a portion of Social Security in the stock market seems to be a running theme with a whopping (snark) 17% of the Republican voters polled at the Republican Party’s “Listening to America” website.

Nothing has been voted on yet, and probably won’t be until January, after the midterms is my guess. But staying alert is important.

Starlight

This goes along with your prediction about Geithner and Summers. From “The Nation”

—–

Two More Candidates for the McChrystal Treatment
by Robert Scheer

The president conceded last week that our economy is 8 million jobs in the hole despite his bailout and stimulus program. With deficits running wild, heartless Republicans get to claim that six months more of unemployment insurance to 1.7 million out-of-work people whose benefits have ended is more than we can afford.

Of course it’s not. That would be a $34 billion outlay to people who would actually spend the money instead of using it for acquisitions, as the big banks have done with far larger gifts of taxpayer funds. That the Republicans who favor huge military spending and tax breaks for the rich and who launched the Wall Street bailout are being hypocritical scoundrels when they say we don’t have the money to help ordinary folks is obvious. But the problem is that Barack Obama embraced the GOP strategy, and the failures of the bailouts to turn the economy around, along with the cost of two wars, are now his problems to explain.

What we need is for the president’s economic hotshots, Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, to grant damaging interviews to Rolling Stone as General Stanley McChrystal recently did in self-destructing. Perhaps then President Obama would have the gumption to fire the misleaders of his economic team. It was always bizarre that those two, who did so much to wreck the economy, were put in charge of the effort to salvage it. Their previous records should have provided ample warning that their economic outlook begins and ends with the demands of Wall Street.

http://www.thenation.com/article/37140/two-more-candidates-mcchrystal-treatment

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/planners/calculators.htm

Calculate your social security benefits …

Total Solar Ocean Eclipse over Easter Island
July 11, 2010
by Carol Ann Ciocco

The Ocean is Eclipsed

We, from the heart of Turtle Island, have a great message for the World. …Many Animal Nations are being threatened, those that swim, those that crawl, those that fly, and the plant Nations. Eventually all will be affected from the oil disaster in the Gulf. We pray that all will fully understand that we are all connected, and that what we create can have lasting effects on all life. - Chief Arvol Looking Horse,19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe (Wolakota.org)

The July 11, 2010 eclipse casts a shadow on the waters of the deep. As the Eclipsed Eye in the Sky glances across the ocean, its gaze sweeps over the Navel of the World, the Center of the Earth - Resurrection (Easter) Island. And something looks back: ‘Mata-ki-Te-rangi’, the Island of the Rapa Nui, has its own Eyes looking to the sky.

In recent times Easter Island has served as a cautionary tale about the cultural and environmental dangers of overexploitation. In addition, the introduction of diseases carried by European colonizers - as well as slave raiding - in the 1800s devastated the inhabitants of Easter Island as well.

Easter Island is an iconic image of what collapse looks like. In his book “Collapse,” Jared Diamond says Easter Island provides the best historical example of a societal collapse in isolation. “The question is: what were they thinking when they cut down the last tree?” says a documentary on the History Channel, which aired in March 2010.

Easter Island is a perfect metaphor for what happens on a small, fragile island no longer able to sustain a consumptive lifestyle. Earth is a small fragile island in the sea of space. Can we learn sustainability?

The Eclipse Eye sweeps across the deep and the Moai open their Mo(ther) Eyes — Eyes which must acknowledge the Mother. With this TSE in the sign of the Mother (Cancerian - see next section), we of Turtle Island are asked to open our eyes and see the earth, the creatures of the deep, and the potential for self-destruction if we continue to mistreat our Mother. We are asked to see that we are all connected, and that we cannot live in isolation from the whole. We are given a grim, visceral reminder as the shadow moves across Rapa Nui: we are eating ouselves alive when we destroy earth’s resources. It is, in the final analysis, cannibalism.

Easter Island was *discovered* on Easter Sunday. Easter is a time of Resurrection. We are at a crucial (as in crux, cross, cardinal cross) turning point right now. Under this eclipse it is vital that we raise our consciousness to higher levels. We need to die on the Cardinal Cross which is in the sky right now and raise ourselves from the old, dead ways of the past. Our destructive ways can be eclipsed. Can they?

To subscribe to this newsletter, go to http://conta.cc/9q8Oma

BP Collapse Could Crash Financial Markets:
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article20778.html

So many dire predictions; where are the pleiadians when we need them….

Fe, I read several articles saying that removing the social security payroll cap will have little effect solving a future shortfall in the ss trust and in fact would add to an economic downturn. They use the example of Bill Gates. Bill earns say one million a year and there is no cap on ss, so he pays the same percentage as all other earners on all his wages. Two things, when bill retires he will get a greater benefit relative to any other wage earner so the ss trust is reduced by Bill’s huge benefit (unless there is a benefit cap, is there?). Bill’s employer will pay the matching ss for employing Bill and this reduces the employer’s bottom line and less taxable income paid to the government. Further Bill has less money to purchase goods and this affects the economy because company’s don’t produce as much and therefore pay less tax. So the cap benefits the employers but puts the ss burden on people/couples earning less than the cap. Medium/low wage earners pay the greatest taxes so that Bill Gates can consume as much as he can and when he retires will only collect a ss benefit relative to the cap. So is their a benefit cap? I guess that is what I’m getting too.

By: lizzie on July 7th, 2010
at 5:53 pm

“To again quote Jim Sinclair at jsmineset.com: “BP is the primary player on the long-end of the energy curve. How exposed are Goldman sub J. Aron, Morgan Stanley and JPM? Probably hugely. Now credit has been cut to BP. Counter-parties will not accept their name beyond one year in duration. This is unheard of. A giant is on the ropes. If he falls, the very earth may shake as he hits the ground. As we are beginning to see, the Western pension structure, financial trading and global credit are all inter-twined. BP is central to this, as a massive supplier of what many believe(d) to be AAA credit. So while we see banks roll over and die, and sovereign entities begin to falter… we now have a major oil company on the verge of going under. Another leg of the global economic “chair” is being viciously kicked out from under us.”

It seems this article nails it on the head….

Great postings Starlight and everybody.

Pat C

The Smile or Die video was illuminating, as are most all of your links. Please do not withhold information that you find.

I am trusting that all is in Divine and Perfect Order……

Rain in the Middle Atlantic region would be most welcome.

Bette:

Links would be good to share so we can compare notes. I am reading differing opinions on raising the cap.

Fe–hope i can find link again for you. But look at this!!

California:

Ex-EBay Chief Whitman, Brown Tied in California Governor’s Race

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-07/ex-ebay-chief-whitman-brown-tied-in-california-governor-s-race-poll-says.html

Bobby Jindal Signs ‘Guns-In-Church’ Bill Into Law

Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed into law one of the more controversial bills from the recent legislative session, one allowing guns to be carried into houses of worship.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/07/bobby-jindal-signs-guns-i_n_638047.html

Conflict of Interest - Supreme Court!!

Virginia Thomas, Wife Of (Supreme Court) Justice Clarence Thomas, Cements Her Role As Tea Party Star

Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has risen rapidly to the top ranks of the Tea Party movement with the help of two large undisclosed donations and her reputation as a well-connected conservative activist.

Thomas’s group, Liberty Central, secured two key donations last year, amounting $500,000 and $50,000, which vaulted it into both Tea Party prominence, as well as a debate about a potential Supreme Court conflict of interest.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/07/virginia-thomas-wife-of-j_n_637596.html

Worth Repeating Suzy, thank you
- from the Nation

“What we need is for the president’s economic hotshots, Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, to grant damaging interviews to Rolling Stone as General Stanley McChrystal recently did in self-destructing. Perhaps then President Obama would have the gumption to fire the misleaders of his economic team. It was always bizarre that those two, who did so much to wreck the economy, were put in charge of the effort to salvage it. Their previous records should have provided ample warning that their economic outlook begins and ends with the demands of Wall Street.”

Great article Nancy. I’m battening the hatches and preparing for the next drop in the market and in sales. At least this time I’m prepared. In fall 2008 I wasn’t.

Bette:

Saw that in the SF Chronicle this morning. Brown is such a cheapo when it comes to campaign funds. He underspends, while Whitman is basically buying the state having dropped $70 M into her campaign.

What is worrisome is the Latino votes swinging to Whitman, which is reminiscent of Gov. Arnold taking the election after Davis’ was voted out through initiative. Brown needs to hurry up and start getting public face time with voters, and sharpen his message.

This is one of my favorites from over the years. I found it while on a Jesuit novitiate retreat back in 1984. I thought some here might be able to relate.

I Asked
By Author Unknown
I asked God for strength that I might achieve,
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey…
I asked for health, that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things…
I asked for riches that I might be happy,
I was given poverty that I might be wise…
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God…
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things…
I got nothing that I asked for-
but everything I had hoped for,
Almost despite myself,
my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men most richly blessed.

Thank you for that, Will. It definitely resonates.

Very timely, Will

Ray McGovern and Robert Parry on Truth Unflinching and the Price of Integrity

(Washington, DC) Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern and investigative journalist Robert Parry spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, DC last night. They were guests of The McClendon Group [2] which holds periodic meetings at the press club featuring investigative reporters and newsmakers. Parry publishes and reports at Consortium.News.com [3]. McGovern is on the steering committee of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) [4].

They focused on the risks of integrity in both journalism and government service. Parry had a successful career with AP and Newsweek, where he was a leader in Iran-Contra reporting. McGovern’s career in intelligence spanned three decades and put him in front of presidents and cabinet members for daily intelligence briefings by the CIA, among other duties.

Both received awards and acknowledgments for their efforts. Yet both left the beaten path of conformity to establish their own independent critiques of conventional wisdom and establishment mythologies. They chose telling the truth as they knew it and saw it over the comfort of corporate and government perquisites and security.

More at the link….

http://agonist.org/mcgovernparry

Fe, another item I read (which I will find but have to run to work to pay my ss) is that the government has been borrowing on the ss trust for decades and holds all these IOU’s that it will have to pay back some day but in order to do so the government will either have to borrow the money, raise tax on the people, or lower goverment costs. Imagine being taxed to pay the ss trust that we paid into!
So while the benefits are paid monthly to retirees, what is left over does not accumulate in the ss trust but is taken by the government thus leaving the ss trust with considerable IOU’s pending government repayment. The ss trust doesn’t collect interest on accumulated funds because there are no accumulated funds just IOU’s.

Too, too bad if Jerry loses!

If Arizona can ban immigrants, maybe North Carolina could ban Floridians. These Floridians are killer drivers taking down many innocent people!

GOP Playbook

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/07/07/empires-strike-back-status-quo-will-fight-reformers-on-many-fronts-lessons-from-the-nonpartisan-league-part-five/

Empires Strike Back: Status Quo Will Fight Reformers on Many Fronts – Lessons from the Nonpartisan League, Part Five

The people who benefit from the status quo will fight tooth and nail against movements to reform it. Any grassroots movement that tries to put the power back in the hands of regular people will inevitably be attacked by those who profit from having the power. As we have seen with the Nonpartisan League, its enemies smeared it, tried to subvert its message and stole its techniques.

[This is part five in a series on lessons to be learned from the history of the Nonpartisan League. If you missed the previous four, part one, part two, three, and part four, can be found at the link.]

More at the link….

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/07/obama-more-adult-americans-disapprove.html

Obama: More Adult Americans Disapprove of His Presidency Than Approve

As so many forget George W. Bush was in a similar position in his lackadaisical early presidency, prior to 911 and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

One thing that W never forgot, in fact it was almost a central tenet of his political life, is to never lose your base, always keep their interests in mind.

Who is Obama’s base? He has lost the independents, the new voters who came out for his promises of change and reform. He has lost his party from the left to the middle, when he dropped the pretenses after the election and packed his administration with big business shills and Chicago cronies. The core of the Republican party will never accept him no matter what he does, because they cannot trust him, and do not easily compromise as they are ideologues, as inflexible as the far left whom they despise. He does maintain the hard core of the Democratic faithful, but their support is stronger in the public faces than in their private conversations.

I admit I cannot figure the man out even now. He is obviously well spoken and intelligent, but is lacking in principle, weak willed, seemingly light in what used to be called character, and even worse, softly corrupt in the ‘go along to get along’ and low class grubbiness of the Chicago machine. The choice and continuance of Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary epitomizes his presidency. The American people voted for change, for a Roosevelt, and were delivered something closer to a Warren G. Harding.

Why bring this up at all? Anyone who has followed this blog knows that I identified Obama as a pivotal figure well before he was a credible presidental contender. He was going to be the change agent, immensely important. And he has failed to deliver anything that could conceivably change the lumbering decline of his nation and our worst case forecast.

And it indicates how rough things will be for his party in the November elections, if not for all incumbents. This means that changes in policies, in approaches, will be de rigueur. That is, if American politicians will care about the electorate anymore, or are merely content serve the money masters in the corporations. Those changes will affect the economy and foreign policy of the last remaining superpower, even as it might be faltering, and that has implications for the world.

Starlight - right on!!!!

Geithner and Summers: Candidates for the McChrystal

http://www.truth-out.org/

“Inequality in America”

It is not multimillionaires who have been hit hardest in the recent economic downturn. As Katherine Newman and David Pedulla show, it’s African-Americans, low-skilled workers and a generation of young people at risk of being permanently scarred. The downwardly mobile Americans who should most concern us are not traders on Wall Street, which managed to pay its employees $145 billion in 2009. They are the children of black middle-class parents who, as Orlando Patterson notes, are losing ground in a nation where segregation in housing and education is once again on the rise.

http://www.thenation.com/article/36894/inequality-america

Top 10 Most Patriotic Songs Ever

http://www.thenation.com/blog/37177/top-10-most-patriotic-songs-ever-nation-readers-speak

I’m investment illiterate. However, the underlying theories in this article regarding BP’s tentacles in world markets was understandable. It may also explain the complex nature of the so-called partnership between BP and the administration during this cleanup.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article20778.html

Bette, yes. (Nation article) I would suggest, however, that the downward spiral has been occuring slowly over the past 30 or so years. Recebnly, the slide has accelerated.

Bette - how about banning crappy remarks?

Sarah Palin to run RNC?????

Amidst buzz that Sarah Palin could replace Michael Steele as RNC chairman, The Nation’s Ari Melber joins The Dylan Ratigan Show to weigh in on who’s more dangerous. “Would they be just trading in one clown for another?”

http://www.thenation.com/blog/37139/sarah-palin-run-rnc

Military psychologist face ethical violations at Guantanamo

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/8/military_psychologists_face_complaints_with_licensing

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/7/8/882745/-Federal-Court-Holds-DOMA-Unconstitutional

Federal Court Holds DOMA Unconstitutional

About to go to the EPA meeting on fracking for natural gas in Fort Worth. Wish me luck, I got a speaking spot. I’d just like to make sense and for them to tighten up safety issues around this.

That’s good Floridian–hope you can all take some driving lessons before killing more of us up here!

We’re in a Recession Because the Rich Are Raking in an Absurd Portion of Wealth
Our economy can’t thrive when the richest 1% get an ever larger share of the nation’s income and wealth, and everyone else’s share shrinks.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/147469/we%27re_in_a_recession_because_the_rich_are_raking_in_an_absurd_portion_of_wealth

Gypsy, do us proud! Sending all my best public speaking thoughts with you.

Bette - surely not ALL folks in North Carolina are as meanspirited as you!

Nancy - some months back you wrote a post that gave me hope about the Nov. election not turning into a flip in power for the Republicans in the House and Senate. I think you also indicated Senator Boxer may lose the election to Fiornia, who is backed now by palin.

I can’t find the article and hoping you could provide me with a link?

Thanks!

Francis- In the archives section for March of this year, there was a post entitled Election 2010. In it, Nancy predicted that the November election wouldn’t flip control of the House and Senate. I also remember the prediction that you reference about the Boxer/Fiorina race, but that wasn’t part of the March post. Maybe someone else will remember where that appeared?

Betty..living in Blowing Rock, NC …the Floridian vacation spot de jour…..it is not mean spirited, it is a real phenomenon here. We all are on red alert when the hoards of flatland dwelling Floridians hit the mountains. Most of the local dialog in the local markets involve the latest incident of pulling a tourist out of the gorge and kudzu. I bought new tires, brakes, and am extra alert when I drive here in the summer. Giant RV’s wander all over the road loaded with motorcycles, and cars being towed behind. In Virginia, I could relax a bit driving along a country lane….not here.

We can’t ban them….it is the soul of the local economy. Ken Lewis has a Summer home here.

By: will on July 7th, 2010
at 10:53 pm
Your Jesuit prose post is much appreciated.

Francis - Here is the link:

http://starlightnews.com/wordpress/?p=140

As for Boxer, I really need her birth time to make any predictions. If she was born in the early morning, the planets suggest a very stressful election but she keeps her seat. If she was born later than around 6 or 7 AM, she may well lose her seat. I will look again more carefully, but that is what I came up with last time.

…. as if killer drivers never ever have NC plates. Hoards of bad driving tourists are year ’round phenomenon here.

Gypsi,

Please share about who (e.g. drillers, greens, residents, lease holders, local govt)made up the audience at the EPA meeting. Who are the stakeholders? What did you find interesting or surprising? I will attend the July 22nd meeting in Canonsburg, PA.

Thx.

a Floridian

So true….I didn’t mention all the NC NASCAR wannabe’s on the road year round….lol…not to mention the clunkers who parts are hanging by a thread and falling into the road because folks can’t upgrade their vehicles.

This conversation for me highlights the need to abandon our vehicular based society….it is truly insane what we risk daily in our lives in this oil based engine world.

Daily I pray a giant boulder will not land on my little Honda Element as they blast the mountain between where I live and where I work to build a two lane hgwy….all in the name of progress and tourism. I live where I live because it is affordable…I have to drive 18 miles up the mountain to pay the bills…..it is all truly askew.

I really can’t see either Whitman or Fiorina winning. In Whitman’s case, she has five years of her Republican predecessor’s boneheaded moves, along with the bonehead move of her own of naming Pete “Pedro” Wilson has her campaign chair. In Fiorina’s case, she’s just Gordon Gekko in a dress with an ugly haircut. And please don’t be offended when I say this, but there’s nothing worse than a white Republican woman in politics: Whitman, Fiorina, Palin, Brewer ….

After less than 8 hours a jury has come back with a verdict of involuntary manslaughter for a young transit cop who shot and killed a young man who was lying face down,handcuffed on New Year’s Eve. Sickening since the young man was black and the cop was white and the reversed situation would not have had the same result.
Then if this is not enough the very hideous Meg Whitman is even with Jerry Brown-Meg had not voted for 28 years prior to attempting to buy her way into public office-she has already spent more than $100 million-Meg owns E-Bay. And Carly also horrible may very well beat out Barbara Boxer. Carly Fiorina who fired every one after taking over Hewlett-Packard and literally destroyed a wonderful company.
Whoa on my beloved homeland tonight. I am a citizen of California and I weep for us tonight.

If BP goes bankrupt, will it leave that mess in the gulf?
The Australian says:

THE British government is drawing up contingency plans for a possible collapse of BP.

This is amid mounting fears that the oil giant could be broken up or taken over in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.

The talks, which are being led by officials at the Department for Business and the Treasury, reflect growing concern within Whitehall about the implications that a corporate failure of BP, formerly Britain’s biggest company, would have on British interests domestically and around the world.

BP, whose value has more than halved since the April 20 accident, has liabilities of up to $US70 billion ($84bn), according to estimates by Goldman Sachs.

more…
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/britain-prepares-for-the-collapse-of-bp/story-e6frg8zx-1225888689087

Deborah,

There were greens, fair number of sierra club members, neighborhood associations. I was 2 people in line behind the head of Texas Railroad Commission (which regulates drilling), multiple members of the railroad commission and many groups, groups that represent people who collect mineral rights checks for leases on their land. Etc. There was occasional applause, especially for the mayor of Dish, Texas (google it) And there were occasional boos, but overall if was quite orderly, 2 minute limit. I did OK, but will submit a longer comment via their website to the special address on the matter.

If you want to speak, sign up early. I was #37. I believe 82 people reserved early and signed up to speak. They expected perhaps 160, then maybe 400, then there were 600 chairs and they were getting more chairs.

Jackson,

“…In Fiorina’s case, she’s just Gordon Gekko in a dress with an ugly haircut. And please don’t be offended when I say this, but there’s nothing worse than a white Republican woman in politics: Whitman, Fiorina, Palin, Brewer ….”

You are hilarious! I call them Schmeg Whitman and Gnarly Carly. I totally concur - these elitist pigs have no business in politics let alone even being on the face of the planet. I’ll f——g train porpoises to take them out of the running if I have to - but they are so self-evidently gross that that they will self-destruct.

Its going to be a very interesting time in our beloved albeit beleaguered Golden State when Jerry Brown steps back into the political arena. Imagine: a politician who regularly goes on solo spiritual retreats and actually has a conscience. God save us!

The surprising part - no one knows what they are injecting into the shale to fracture it. It is a proprietary formula - I was told it was saltwater when this all started. Saltwater doesn’t usually have benzene in it however. The water contamination in rural areas is bad. A woman within 10 miles of me had a story in the Crowley newspaper today. Her tap water tasted bad, so she didn’t drink it. Then she took a shower - her hair changed colors.
Another rural family bought a house water filter to filter out the sediment that their well water acquired. In a year the water filter blew out, but it wasn’t removing the carcinogens from the water successfully.

This is why I went to the meeting. There are wells in populated and rural areas all over North Texas.

I don’t see how Boxer will keep her seat. Saturn will frustrate her campaign.

Prabhata,

Do you have an accurate time of birth and chart for Barbara Boxer? She’s a Scorpio sun.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100006808/hobos-and-welfare-for-americas-rich/

Hobos and welfare for America’s Rich

Will, I don’t have birth time. I’m using noon. Saturn will hit the nodes in October. The timing is not helpful.

I have a question for those who understand eclipses. On October 29, 1929, when the market crashed, Pluto was at 19 degrees Cancer. This is almost the same position for the Sunday solar eclipse. How does an eclipse impact a sensitive point in a chart?

Prabhata, I will share my experience with eclipses;
pluto = destruction, wipe out, ( so that something new can replace it)
Sunday’s eclipse is a lunar, meaning an ending.
solar eclipse = a beginning.
IN 1990 solar eclipse 29o04′ cancer conjuncted my N pluto 29o19′ cancer 2nd house. I had lost my main client in May, my battle with FHA over foreclosure ( due to corruption, galloping property tax increases in NJ, & failure of the middle class, job market -specific to Philly/NJ THEN, not the total USA.
In June of that year I sold off my remaining energy stocks * read footnote; came to Maine found the house I live in now, & made an offer to buy it OUTRIGHT, no mortgage. ( a lot of the old original farming/fishing based NJ residents did the same drawn by the farming/fishing aspects of Maine, leaving NJ to the mid level corporate CEO’s, developers & landscapers.) ( rip out the native pine barrens vegetation, & put down turf & Australian Pines which mostly die & turn orange!)
It took 13 months to accomplish finding a buyer for that house ( avoided foreclosure), going to settlement, and buying this house ( still waiting for me). It is a less satisfactory house, & it has been harder to earn income here, but it is MINE & still surrounded by untouched nature unlike my old community, gone over to the dark side!
[* I believe I benefited indirectly from the Oct 29 1929 eclipse, in that my Grandfather; poor boy of alcoholic Father, up by the bootstraps, did quite well with a small business in the 20’s & 30’s & all his grandchildren received energy stocks at birth.]
July 21 2009, solar eclipse 29o27′ cancer again on my pluto, escalated me into a dizzying, transcendental, evolution through relationship ( personal & community), spirituality, & destiny! It had 3 endings.. lunar eclipse of Jan. 15, 25o01′ capricorn on my 22o22′ mars in capricorn 8th house, June 26th 4o50 capricorn conjunct T pluto & the cardinal cross, opposed my N chiron 6o 13′ cancer 1st house,( USA venus 3o cancer, jupiter 5o cancer ) & is fine tuning now through the July 11 eclipse Sunday, @ 19o24′ cancer, trine my N moon 23o59′ scorpio, 6th house ( T chiron is conjunct my MC, also the USA people’s moon 27o aquarius. (NOTE: it is the same degree of cancer as the 1929 eclipse)
The 1990 eclipse dealt with 2,4,6th house issues, because of it I have been on my soapbox screaming “the sky is falling”….nobody was listening! NOW, this year, I have been through, lessons in 1,5,7,10,11th houses, people are listening to me, & I have been prepared to be a leader, though these dark difficult times………….
Boy, you can’t make this stuff up!
SO, Be in the present, believe, breath, learn from the past, and prepare for the future as best you can, without trying to control it. Listen to what you need to hear.

OH! thanks Pat! “Listen to what you need to hear.” Resonates loudly for me this morning!

This eclipse is in my 6th house; slams my Uranus, trines Scorpio Sun and opposes Chiron. Maybe the current flare up of tendonitis & arthritis will cool down with new meds, but I know I also need to increase tai chi & yoga practice. I surely need more discipline and guess I should look to my Capricorn Chiron for support; the only earth in my chart. I’m reminded that prayer is talking and meditation is listening. …and I really need to step away from the computer and get moving!

Good Connie, I hope it helps all of you because I used up a lot of bandwidth,
sorry Nancy, I didn’t realize until I had posted.

Very nice Pat!

Connie, you are a phoenix.

Hi,

The eclipse is in my 7th house and sextiles my natal Sun in the 4th in Taurus. I’m buying a new house. Have a contract on it already, too perfect and at a great price, couldn’t pass it up. I’m hoping with the eclipse, we sell our current home.

–Teresa

Iran Backs Away From Stoning Case

Now, the Iranian government has announced Astiani will not be killed by stone, though they were unclear if she would be killed by other machinations.

While this case shows positive movement for the Iranian regime and its treatment of women, sex, and rocks, 12 women and three men still face death-by-stoning in the country. —JCL

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/iran_backs_away_from_stoning_case_20100709/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Truthdig%2FEarToTheGround+Truthdig+%7C+Ear+to+the+Ground

Uh oh……….correction! The eclipse 19 cancer, July 11, 2010, is SOLAR not a lunar. ( a beginning after 2 endings!) ( That’s a plus!)
My source was DELL horoscope year book for 2010.
They erroneously listed it as a lunar on page 5!
Levine & Jawer, E Francis all call it solar!

Eclipse is in my 7th, 2 degrees from my Mars, tightly sextile my 5th house Taurus Sun.

Well the eclipse is one degree from my IC since we are discussing the eclipse.

will you kindly abstain from whining about traffic, or else I might see myself forced to smite you with an eruption of tales about the barbaric hordes of troglodyte cars and drivers populating the giant LA freeway system 24/7.

Jackson, your words in Zeus’ ears! How California will be able to survive with a Whitman and a Fiorina is beyond me.

Eclipse is in my 10th house, conjunct 19 Cancer natal Jupiter and trine natal 20 Scorpio Saturn. Hmmm. Dunno what any of that means, but I’ve had plenty of good things lately after a long winter of scarcity.

As grist for the mill in the eclipse discussion, here’s what Bernadette Brady says about the Saros series to which this eclipse belongs:

Saros Series 12 South: “This Saros Series will bring successful outcomes to long-term worries or illness. An issue which has worried or drained the individual for some time will at first seem worse and then clear, with successful outcomes.”

I’m hoping that she’s right! This eclipse is exact within 3 minutes of arc on my husband’s progressed sun, so I’ll report back if anything happens over the next couple of weeks!

Profiling 5 Key Right-Wing Mouthpieces Who Spread Paranoia and Hatred to Extremists on the Fringe
From Glenn Beck and Andrew Napolitano at Fox News to the conspiracy radio network established by Alex Jones.

http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/147429/profiling_5_key_right-wing_mouthpieces_who_spread_paranoia_and_hatred_to_extremists_on_the_fringe/?page=entire

Thanks Pat. I’ll be paying attention to this eclipse. I think it will impact the stock market.

DPH, very hopeful!!

I’ve been in lurker mode for a long time listening to all you wise ones, but am venturing out to say hi on the occasion of the eclipse.

It’s in my 10th, exactly opposite my 19 degree Mars in Capricorn in the 4th. The Lunar Eclipse in Cap two weeks ago was exactly squaring my Libra ascendant. I’m an Aries, so my ruling planets/signs are getting hit hard by all this cardinal stuff. What to expect, I do not know! Wishing you all health, happiness and eclipse blessings!

Connie,
re arthritis and tendonitis, may i suggest an author, Dr. Batmanghelidj, M.D. (happy, recovered Pts. call him simply Dr. ‘Batman’) who has written extensively on the amazing curative effects of increased water intake and unrefined sea salt.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dus-stripbooks-tree&field-keywords=How+to+Deal+with+Back+Pain+and+Rheumatoid+Joint+Pain&x=17&y=14
The customer reviews are breathtaking. It works!!

Good luck with the eclipse everyone and learn and grow a lot. Since the pronosis of a Saros series is successful outcome after a long siege of worry or illness, I sure hope it helps the Gulf oil spill and, since it’s in 19 cancer, who knows? It might point to Kevin Cosner’s solution since he is a Cancer.

My 8 deg Aries sun husband (born in 1948, mars, pluto, saturn in Leo like Bush and Gore, mostly rising, mercury in pisces, moon in scorpio, venus in Taurus, Taurus 10th house, I believe (I have his stats) DECLARED today at 12:55 CT for the Louisiana race for congress to run against Steve Scalese…

Not to win, mind you, but to air his views and run on a Green, pro-biofuel, pro alternative energy, anti-energy subsidies for oil and power companies platform. He really doesn’t know what he is doing other than his passion and experience in understanding energy science, and economics but neither did Mr. Smith who went to DC or Peter Sellers in Being There. He has no money raised. This was not planned. I think what will happen is he’ll talk to a number of people he knows, lawyers, politicians, local green organizations, find out how to get his message heard, then eventually withdraw. Such a passionate dreamer - I’m proud of his courage.

Pat C & Lizzie - thank you both

as each generation says, we live in interesting times …

Gypsi- Thx for sharing. I am going as an observer - researcher - so will not make a public comment. However, the meeting in southwest PA is a location where some have experienced local water being ruined like the woman you mentioned, and on a larger scale the contaminated waters from Marcellus shale drilling are impacting the waters of the Monongahela and Ohio River watersheds with high levels of total dissolved solids. The state does not have the capacity to process the wastes. Quite the issue. Another hot spot in PA is north/northeast along the border of NY. NY state has placed a moratorium on shale drilling. This is the second EPA study. The first was tainted as claimed a former EPA employee and whistle blower who sought federal protection. Also, Cheney intercepted and secured exclusion from disclosing what chemicals are put into the ground for hydro-fracing companies - the notorious “Halliburton Loophole.”

Clymela,
I read your comment on the “raided” SS funds that you left at the end of the “Summer Haze” thread, and left you a response.

Jackson,

La Famiglia (Cancer) in your 10th house speaks to it wrapping itself around you in a very protective way with Saturn augmenting your ability to work and give shape and form and discipline to your work.

Just a hit.

Family and business? Lovely.

………..

Why did Gov. Bobby Jindal seal Louisiana state records on the BP blowout? Well, here’s one possible explanation:

Attorney General Eric Holder signaled here that the Justice Department may be conducting a sweeping criminal investigation into the Gulf Coast oil spill, saying that its suspected targets may cover more than just BP.

“There are a variety of entities and a variety of people who are the subjects of that investigation,” Holder told CBS’ Bob Schieffer at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “For people to conclude that BP is the focus of this investigation might not be correct.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39515.html#ixzz0tCQWlym2

…………

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/09/obama-to-open-up-18-milli_n_641559.html

Obama To Open Up 1.8 Million Alaskan Acres To Oil Drilling

The Interior Department is offering oil and gas leases on 1.8 million acres of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve while promising to protect critical migratory bird and caribou habitat.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the Bureau of Land Management will offer 190 tracts with bids to be opened Aug. 11 in Anchorage. The sale is one of dozens, mostly in Western states, that Salazar announced in November.

The petroleum reserve covers 23 million acres on Alaska’s North Slope. That’s an area slightly smaller than the state of Indiana.

Sharon…you husband sounds like me! My Taurus Sun/Aries Moon-8-degs. Your husband and I share a similar chart with Israel…being 1948.
I have so much passion myself. Tell him I’ll be sending him some of my passion as well!
BTW, My Grandfather was a very successful Democratic Mayor and to hear tell…my Grandmother was his greatest asset, she chose his clothing and charmed all his colleagues and constituents. So, you could help him a great deal.

The Next 10 Women to Watch in Politics

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/08/the-next-women-to-watch-in-politics/

Mama Grizzlies to Working Moms: Drop Dead

“Fresh new faces aside, the Republican Party’s stance on the issues that matter to working mothers is as regressive as it has ever been……. it’s maddening that a party that has resisted every advance of feminism and undermined women’s economic strength at every turn now claims to embody “the overall triumph of the women’s movement…..”

http://www.thenation.com/article/mama-grizzlies-working-moms-drop-dead

What great news, Sharon! Please post details should you set up a campaign fund for your husband’s run. . .I’ll send what I can your way!

Sharon-light and good will and recognition for your husband-he has the words and desire that are needed now. We can’t go “back” must move forward and may people “hear” him as he moves through his campaign.
The Green message may be just what is needed now. Wonder if the local media will listen? God knows they haven’t been interested before this point but life has really gone in the direction that makes the Green ideas sound pretty reasonable.

Good thing Mel Gibson doesn’t live under Iranian rule….boiling….or Sandra Bullock’s husband…..stoning and boiling, news everyday of Washington and Hollywood infidelities and more…so we could use all that oil for boiling? Wow the California economy would shrink with each star’s infidelity…no one left to make movies….and in Washington the congress would rotate politicians so frequently we wouldn’t have to worry about term limits anymore.

This lady in Iran, authorities making her confess to infidelity by threatening boiling her and then the sentence….burying her up to her head and stoning her head to death.

Want to sign the petition to help, don’t know how effective it will be for her but maybe the future..

Iran imposes media blackout over stoning sentence woman @
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/09/iran-blackout-over-stoning-sentence-woman

Sharon’s husband–much success!

CALIFORNIA-WHO WILL WIN CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP?

MEG WHITMAN BORN 8-4-1956 OSTER BAY NY

OR

JERRY BROWN BORN 4-7-1938 SAN FRANCISCO

This is a link to Jerry Brown chart:
http://famous-relationships.topsynergy.com/Jerry_Brown/AstroData.asp

can’t find birthtimes? Obama born 8-4 too but different year.

Hopeing for a Jerry Brown win, he’s about the people; Meg is about her own bottom line!

You are most welcome Connie.

Sharon, that is just beautiful!

Sharon - Your husband is a lightning rod - bringing attention to the cause that needs much attention. Best wishes all the way. We need clean energy!

Thank you SO MUCH for all the good wishes, everyone!

If anyone feels inclined to comment, here is the chart for Myron’s declaration (sorry to say the time is a close approximation not necessarily exact.)

http://www.astro.com/cgi/chart.cgi?rs=3&btyp=w2gw&&cid=s51fileup6BSD-u1136158563&nhor=26act):

And here is Myron’s chart

http://www.astro.com/cgi/chart.cgi?clang=e&rs=3&btyp=w2gw&cid=s51fileup6BSD-u1136158563&nhor=7&go.x=26&go.y=12

I didn’t look at it too thoroughly yet, but the event chart seems good, with the event chart’s Sun conj. the MC and in the 10th, its Moon conj. Myron natal uranus and in the 9th (teaching), its Mercury also in the 10th, its Venus in the 11th (support from people & groups) and its Mars in the 12th at 17 Vir trine natal north node, widely trine natal venus, opp. natal Mercury (12th = limitations but also the social issues he will concentrate on). Myron speaks very well but is certainly NOT a public speaker AND his mind does not always move quickly. He does not multi-task well but he is an honest Aries with lots of Leo-rising pride and integrity.

Sharon

Sharon
best of luck to your husband! Energy and climate are the most important issues facing this country and the planet in the coming century. We need people with fresh ideas if we are to turn the corner… and soon.

Don’t know if the birth time for Jerry Brown is correct but if it was the eclipse we are so interested in falls very close to his Cancer Moon at 20 Cancer 19. This should be a good astrological lesson in watching the effects of the equinox.
Bette-thanks for the birth info. Meg Whitman has that interesting T-square made up of nodes (5+Sag/5Gemini) squaring Jupiter at 5+Virgo-would love to know the houses. Jupiter in Virgo is in its fall or detriment-excess of critical intelligence-very, very bright but harsh.

Some global perspective…

http://www.environment-solutions.com/index.asp?page=articles&id=332

http://firedoglake.com/2010/07/10/the-fdic-and-the-fed-jockeying-with-congress/

The FDIC And The Fed Jockeying With Congress

I have a general astrology question for Nancy and the other astrologers on this site. Do you always use the place of birth for progressed charts, or do you also look at progressions for the current location, if different? Is there a rule of thumb for this? Thanks in advance.

DPH - I do a progressed chart based on the natal chart, with natal location. The progressed Midheaven is the same wherever. My understanding is that the progressed Ascendant should be adjusted to the new latitude (look in Table of Houses). I suppose that doing the whole progressed chart for the new location might amount to the same thing. You could compare the two results.

Also interesting are the MC and Ascendant in the location birth chart. Transits to those points are interesting.

Clymela,

I found the birth time for Jerry Brown on this link. What is your opinion of his success? I love the man!

April 7, 1938
12:34 pm
San Francisco

Oops here’s the link

http://www.myastrologyhoroscope.com/celebrity-horoscopes/jerry-brown-birthchart

Robert Hand’s short report on Astrodienst (www.astro.com) points to aspects for Myron that will really try his energies (saturn opposite his sun from 9-25 to 10-12-10), moodiness,self-confidence, as well as possibly lead to ‘delusions of grandeur.’ This experience will cause him to grow but I’m afraid he rushed in, not really planning this and needs to talk to strategists asap. In his own way he will rise to the occasion. I so hope he doesn’t get too hurt. In some ways, he will rise to the occasion - but I hope he knows how to handle this and when to drop out.

On another note, thank you, Will for mentioning “Promises” to us. It got my attention and I mentioned it to someone I know whose company did the sound editing so he sent me a copy. Watched it today –

Myron & I cried through much of it, especially the 2nd half. It’s very wonderful and made me a lot more sensitive to what Palestinians are feeling. This is needed on both sides, Jewish and Palestinian, and I hope it has been widely viewed by both peoples.

I do have a problem with a few things that were said. I have a problem with any presentation that isn’t as even handed as possible (although, if you know this ahead of time, you can still learn a lot). I know the1948 war happened 62 years ago and is old news to some. Israel was immediately attacked upon declaration of statehood and there was fighting on both sides. Certain Arab residents (now Palestinians) left voluntarily because those fighting for them told them they would defeat the Jews and they could easily come back to their homes. Others, as the film showed, ran, after seeing the men of their village massacred. The massacres, of course, went both ways. A little known fact (that I have repeated here) is that 600 to 850,000 Jews were displaced from Arab countries and their long-time homes and wealth taken. Some still have keys to their homes, too. Of course, they were lucky to be absorbed into a country while many of the current Palestinians were treated as refuges and sent to “camps” (in the film, they don’t exactly look like what we think of camps but there’s no question that it’s a very oppressive way to live). When the ‘67 war is mentioned, it is in the context (in the film) that Israel conquered the opponent and took over the land. Why is it never said that the Arab tanks lined up on Israel’s border - ready to go to war. Israel makes many, many mistakes but they did not invade anyone or start anything. Yes, they could have given the land back but wanted it for many reasons, not least of which were the more defensible borders.

Now a situation of hate has been allowed to grow for many years. There is no question about the fact that the Israelis have a much better life than the Palestinians do although Friedman says the West Bank if building and growing and even in Gaza, Israel and others have been sending food and medicine regularly — as Israel doesn’t want weapons smuggled in to send more missiles. For me, for the first time (and this was echoed by an Israeli boy in the film) the violence of Hamas became more deeply understandable. There were those in the film on both sides who realize compromise is necessary — everyone will not get what they want. What made it particularly poignant is that there were very concerned, very intelligent “children” (perhaps ages 10 to 12?) expressing this viewpoint. Then there were those on both sides who have been brainwashed by religous and political reasons to believe that the land only belongs to them - end of story. “Home” is a very emotional issue and it is totally understandable that Palestinians want theirs back, want a greater home - a “homeland” and want to live without check-points and fences. It is also understandable to me that Jews want a safe haven. I won’t comment any more other to say that “Promises” is brilliant and heart-wrenching and shows hope and “promise” for the future.

Everyone should see both this and “Fuel” because they address the 2 most important themes of our time - 2 issues that are very connected.

Just re-read my post and apologize for my lack of proof-reading, but I think I made myself understandable. To explain a little more (those that know me know this is a very personal issue to me)Israel didn’t have to keep the land, even though most keep land won in war. Israel has given some land back in the last 10 years, though, and it’s been used by some to attack Israel from a closer vantage point. The reason I wrote all that I did above is that, although israel makes many mistakes to which they should be held accountable — many people, especiallly those to young to know — leave out crucial parts of the story and if they were included (even one line, i.e. Israel was about to be attacked in 1967 so they went to war and won” - something that shows that they didn’t go in first to conquer the people living there) just maybe Israel would look a little less like a callous, uncaring, self-centered ogre of a country. Even the Mari Mamara events were widely reported, by Jewish reporters in the NY Times, as Israeli commandos making a deadly attack. The video shows otherwise but many totally disregard the fact that the soldiers were defending themselves. Hopefully, an investigation will show what happened. Some soldiers are better people than others and some may indeed have, out of fear or just malice, shot people cold bloodedly. I am very glad to see that Israel is now prosecuting one soldier and investigating many others involved in the Gaza offensive. The best thing Israel (and any other country including the US)can do is to prosecute and convict people guilty of war crimes - but it must be proven that they are.

Sharon,

Best wishes on Myron’s campaign. He was born three days before Al Gore who is having a rough time at the moment.

Gypsy -

Sounds like a fascinating meeting re: gas/oil fracing. Surely the EPA is aware of the chemicals being used in the process.
How can the companies legally withhold that information from the public?

I googled that meeting in Tx. and found this story and another very informative one about PA.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/07/08/2323407/fort-worth-meeting-on-gas-drilling.html

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/impact-of-natural-gas-drilling-environmental-woes-could-linger-1.855750

Yes, gulp, Thrasybulus. I’m a bit worried for him. But you never know. Mars, Pluto, Saturn rising in Leo (I think Saturn is in the 12th but close enough to conjunct the rising degree)! I’ve seen him rise to the occasion many times. Thanks for your good wishes.

Pat C

I loved the article on tunnel growing, I just saw such an operation in Middleburg, VA in June. Beautiful…espaliered tomatoes and cucumbers, no sun scald, little insect damage, organic, clean and productive.

I am adding a growing tunnel to my life plan for the near future!

I am to0 exhausted and heat stressed to comment on anything astrological, or political at the moment.

I have worked so hard during these last months….but, I do have some money in the bank in case of a double dip. Starlight, you predicted my 0 degree Sag would eventually hit a wall after so much energy and exertion during this transit. I am there.

Like Gypsi, am feeling prepared for what ever…

Hopefully the solar eclipse in my 8th house will be a new beginning….intending it, after a weekend of being a total slug and rejuvenating and hydrating my overworked physical body. I am trying to be realistic and accept that this trend may not lighten up until Saturn leaves Virgo…..

Luna ,I thought Saturn going into Libra could be worse but then I read this:

Saturn Does It Better In Libra
Saturn is “exalted” in Libra, which means it expresses itself way better in the sign of Libra than it did in Virgo. It has actually already gotten into Libra – from late October 2009 until early April 2010. And from July 22, it’s there again. Saturn in Virgo can be a bit wiggy with the details. Saturn in Libra challenges us all to have tres civilised relationships. Even though Saturn in Libra is still going to do such choice things as square Pluto (more on that next week) it is still a better place for Saturn than Virgo. Aquarians, Aquarius Rising, Virgos and Pisceans will especially relish the shift of Saturn into Libra on July 22.

http://mysticmedusa.com/2010/07/09/saturn-does-it-better-in-libra/#comments

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1007/S00179.htm

UN To Recognize Fundamental Human Right To Water

(((Lunagardener)))

Has anyone done a chart on Carly Fiorina?

From Wiki: September 6, 1954; Austin, TX No BT.

I have a question regarding tomorrow’s eclipse if anyone knows the answer: I just remembered that there was also an eclipse on July 11 - in 1991 - total, over Hawaii (we watched from our house - it was absolutely awesome!)
Since it would have been the same degree of Cancer. My question is, would there be any correlations or similarities of effects from that one to this one? Or would the placement of the other planets make it not so relevant?

Large part of the problem & the solution!
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html

This day in history, July 11, 1991

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=this+day+in+history,+July+11,+1991&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Why I Never Miss a Solar Eclipse
By JAY M. PASACHOFF
In anticipation of his Sunday’s solar eclipse, an astronomer recalls the 50 he’s already seen and how he became an “umbraphile.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/opinion/11pasachoff.html?th&emc=th

Pat
I read that article yesterday and just shook my head in disbelief. How could this country move away from an educational system that was the envy of all? While the whole world is moving toward the system we developed and nurtured, we now blindly obliterate what was the most essential element…creativity!!!! A colossal blunder.

I will say this eclipse feels powerful and good. To me it seems a demarcation line. Moving away from the things that have been destroyed and decayed in my life in the past few years. No more time to look back now. Time to look forward and move toward my destiny. A beautiful unfolding…

I feel that way too.didn’t yesterday but now I am feeling it.
Interesting on my facebook, in Australia Lynda Hill & Kim Falconer both report a pre-eclipse, cleansing rain. It is raining here in Maine too “le pluie” ( soft rain) washing away the horrible heat and humidity of the past 2 weeks.
And there was a photo album on my facebook of “Beautiful Day 2010″ held at the CCLC by the administrator of the alternative High School that is being born there, which places creativity and initiative above all else. It is a wonderful force of women & girls having a wonderful time together.
I wish I knew how to post it.

Arizona immigration law is based on lies by politicians (Brewer and McCain):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070902342.html

Brewer’s mindlessness about headlessness is just one of the immigration falsehoods being spread by Arizona politicians. Border violence on the rise? Phoenix becoming the world’s No. 2 kidnapping capital? Illegal immigrants responsible for most police killings? The majority of those crossing the border are drug mules? All wrong.

lots more…

Thanks, Starlight, for posting that excellent article. Unfortunately so many Arizonans are filled with hate and fear that facts are banished to the sidelines. Can’t help but think of ‘38 Germany.

Wow, What a difference a day off and an eclipse make…After a pre eclipse rain, badly needed btw, and no energy afterwards yesterday, I woke up this morning with a much lighter and fun energy. I was out the door to hike and take the dog for a swim before 8:30 and have been very productive all day. I like this new energy a lot!

How interesting is that info from the 1991 eclipse Pat C? Good one!

Sitting down now with a cup of tea to read the other links everyone has posted. Thanks!

Starlight,

The link to the Wash. Post article is not working. I have been hearing much on NPR about the facts being so skewed on this issue…

Wow - Viva Espagna! What a game!

Lunagardener, it was in their Friday morning edition if you want to go back and research for it.

I am beyond exhausted and I have no idea why. I’ve been doing a bit more but it’s not much more than usual but today, after visiting with a friend, it was all I could do to make it to the couch and collapse.

Is it the eclipse? I’m a week out from a cold so it might be that but man, whatever this energy was, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It took a nap, dinner and a shower and I am just now feeling normal.

Anyone else feeling it the same way?

(Waves to everyone!)

Mystical Chick, If it’s not lack of sleep or Saturn (and I guess you would know that), and/or your cold and possible lack of activity while resting it out — then, what I usually trace it to when I’m very low energy is……my biorhythms!

Go to http://www.facade.com and click on the biorhythm link. If the physical is down at or near the bottom, that explains lower energy, but sometimes, when you’re really out of it, it’s because 2 or all 3 are at the bottom, in which case, I take it a little slower if possible. Feel strong!

Lunagardner - I just fixed the link in my post and here it is again. Thanks for pointing it out.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070902342.html

I’ve been sleeping all day and it shows my physical peaking.

Resources

http://www.socialsecuritymatters.org/Resources.html

Social Security Matters

Mystical Chick,

Hardly scientific, but a bit of anecdotal testimonial here: I’ve been sleeping on-and-off for the past 36 hours. I had ever intention of popping in on a couple of World Cup gatherings today, only to collapse on my couch and watch it with my African Gray, Dori. I’ve take two naps after having slept a solid 10 hours last night. The solar eclipses are supposed to be somewhat energizing as opposed to the lunar; maybe it was the balsamic moon Friday and Saturday that zapped us. Just a guess.

I’ve been sleeping a ridiculous number of hours for several days now. I can’t recall anything quite like this happening.

In addition to the astrology, this blog is one of the best darned places to get the news!

I really appreciate all the article links to the stories you don’t see without effort.

(and now I get to shove them in the faces of all my consensus reality-based FB friends…)

Blessings, Thanks & Love!

Be sure to show them this one.

Republicans help the unemployed.

http://edsteinink.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Stei100706.gif

They are coming for more money from the poor and infirm.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/11/AR2010071101956.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Obama’s debt commission warns of fiscal ‘cancer’

BOSTON — The co-chairmen of President Obama’s debt and deficit commission offered an ominous assessment of the nation’s fiscal future here Sunday, calling current budgetary trends a cancer “that will destroy the country from within” unless checked by tough action in Washington.

The two leaders — former Republican senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Erskine Bowles, White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton — sought to build support for the work of the commission, whose recommendations due later this year are likely to spark a fierce debate in Congress.

“There are many who hope we fail,” Simpson said at the closing session of the National Governors Association annual meeting. He called the 18-member commission “good people with deep, deep differences” who know the odds of success “are rather harrowing.”

Bowles said that unlike the current economic crisis, which was largely unforeseen before it hit in fall 2008, the coming fiscal calamity is staring the country in the face. “This one is as clear as a bell,” he said. “This debt is like a cancer.”

The commission leaders said that, at present, federal revenue is fully consumed by three programs: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. “The rest of the federal government, including fighting two wars, homeland security, education, art, culture, you name it, veterans — the whole rest of the discretionary budget is being financed by China and other countries,” Simpson said.

“We can’t grow our way out of this,” Bowles said. “We could have decades of double-digit growth and not grow our way out of this enormous debt problem. We can’t tax our way out. . . . The reality is we’ve got to do exactly what you all do every day as governors. We’ve got to cut spending or increase revenues or do some combination of that.”

More at the link….

Just read about this, Pat C. The machismo aspect of our culture is addicted to war. High on testosterone, we then rape the Earth. Like psycho killers, we’ve upped the ante and accelerated our crimes.

It’s not too late. Not yet.

http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/07/interview-how-our-economy-is-killing-the-earth/59440/

and this

http://www.alternet.org/story/147501/joe_bageant%3A_our_plunder_of_nature_will_end_up_killing_capitalism_and_our_obscene_lifestyles/

Divining the Return on a Candidate’s Investment

By MICHAEL LUO
A Republican strategist got $1 million for his movie company from Meg Whitman and later joined her campaign.

More at stink, err, link.

http://www.nytimes.com/

U.S. Department of Transportation Draft Strategic Plan (6.01.10)

The Department of Transportation released its five-year draft strategic plan, “Transportation for a New Generation,” and is asking for public comments. Read the plan and voice your opinions to the USDOT today.

“Transportation for a New Generation”

con’t http://www.dot.gov/stratplan/dot_strategic_plan_10-15.pdf

to make a comment:
https://dotstrategicplan.ideascale.com/a/dtd/42937-8329

The eclipse fell on my granddaughter’s 10th birthday. She has a near-stellium in Cancer, and is headed for LA with her paternal grandparents at the moment. Interpretations? She had a wonderful party yesterday, but I don’t know if anything more meaningful comes of such an event in a child’s chart. (and I see that Pluto coming to visit her, but mercifully it’s years away.)

Pat C-thanks for the link above 7/12 at 5:20AM. The Masters will not be restful until they have us in the streets like Greece. Funny how there is never any discussion of cutting back on the military and our occupation of nations around the globe.
On to heaven-I loved the link guiding us to tunnel growing. I can imagine this and want to imagine it so that it becomes real in my daily life. AND..let the masters of war move on with all their hateful ways.

For those who find themselves napping and sleeping a lot, both the Spirit of Ma’at website and Matthews messages referred to this as part of the cellular change from carbon based to crystaline. And that it is important to allow yourself to rest when this sudden energy loss comes upon you. Hope that helps.

Noelle-thanks for that info. PatC. that means you!! Just let the body rest. This is the beauty of being in a certain part of life-we can rest if we need to.
I know that I went through a period a few weeks ago where I seemed to be sleeping all the time. Not so much now.

Is anyone else having a problem with feeling very over-emotional the last few days? I’ve had tears lurking just under the surface and overflowing at the darnedest moments. Ordinarily I’d ascribe it to the full moon and ignore it, but this feels different, like I’m picking up on the anguish of the earth herself. Having WEIRD dreams, too.

Virginia, yes, teary Sat. night and during day yesterday. I think seeing the people in Haiti who really are living in deplorable ocnditions and then the Gulf and the anguish of the earth, the people and wildlife…it all plays a part.

well for my 2 cents: Sundays pending eclipse energy was an opportunity for a trip into the Underworld guided by a deft hand…this tunneled, trance, trip brought me back to fears, guilt and shame that’s been brewing in my subconscious since i was 6..some of it i knew.. some it poured out of me (in sobs) and I’ve been left feeling a bit lighter since then…me and the inner child are talking again …its been years and I’m being reminded to PLAY and focus less attention on the illusory fear based world and more on my inner world of creativity, imagination and grace…Its time to nurture the children…thanks to my illumined astrologers and teachers (thanks Nancy, Anne O, M Lyons and Julia W.)I took advantage of a dark moon in Cancer with eclipse energy to come home, release a LOT and be the better for it…thanks to all of you as well.be back soon..(always lurking)..till next we speak, be well be loved and blessed be -Brian

No sleepiness, more energy-I spent Sunday pouring out my energies on building my new blog site. Maybe it’s not the time to become crystalline for me yet?

Energy fluctuations….slept a great deal today….nothing is consistent..

This is a long, but worth reading article…..

Kabuki Democracy: Why a Progressive Presidency Is Impossible, for Now

Eric Alterman | July 7, 2010

http://www.thenation.com/print/article/37165/kabuki-democracy

Faced with countless challenges merely to restore some sensible equilibrium to US policy regarding say, long-term deficits or financial regulation, Obama faces the conundrum of a system that, as currently constructed, gives the minority party no strategic stake in sensible governance. The two parties are demonstrably different in this respect. Democrats, even in the minority, participate in solutions designed to improve governance. They cannot help themselves. A commitment to the principle of good governance is the primary reason most Democrats tend toward politics in the first place. One might argue that this faith in government’s ability to improve people’s lives is misplaced or that it becomes easily corrupted over time by the temptations of power and privilege, but few serious political observers would deny its initial presence. This is rarely true of Republicans, who are suspicious of government on principle and opposed to successful programs in practice. (If government succeeds, Republican ideology fails…)

Last paragraph….

What’s more, one hypothesis—one I’m tempted to share—for the Obama administration’s willingness to compromise so extensively on the promises that candidate Obama made during the 2008 campaign would be that as president, he is playing for time. Obama is taking the best deal on the table today, but hopes and expects that once he is re-elected in 2012—a pretty strong bet, I’d say—he will build on the foundations laid during his first term to bring on the fundamental “change” that is not possible in today’s environment. This would be consistent with FDR’s strategy during his second term and makes a kind of sense when one considers the nature of the opposition he faces today and the likelihood that it will discredit itself following a takeover of one or both houses in 2010. For that strategy to make sense, however, 2013 will have to provide a more pregnant sense of progressive possibility than 2009 did, and that will take a great deal of work by the rest of us.

I have been unusually tired for a few days, but with bursts of energy. I’d better have a burst in getting some web-work and bids done this evening. May make a pot of coffee to facilitate it.

The eclipse was near my Mars. I did work until 1 am shifting furniture and stuff around, and doing some postponed housecleaning

Why did Obama pick Maine for his vacation, after saying he would not rest until the people of the gulf were back to work, and telling Americans to vacation in gulf states. A non-republican friend sent me a link to a right-wing newsletter today. Obama is losing his independents…

Remember when in spite of supporting bush on most issues, Roberts, Alita. Patriot act etc…………….
Snowe & Collins were slapped in the face when bush closed most of the naval bases in the state. right after the shoe factories went over seas,,,,& Hathaway shirts, W Buffet bought that, sent the shirt factory over seas kept the name for his financial operations………the paper companies
have been closing………….and the last sardine cannery!
WITH THE HIGH PRICE OF GASOLINE.THE TOURIST TRADE HAS BEEN SLIM ON THE GROUND
For 8, 10 years.
Snowe is backing the finance reform. It is her reward.

Last year he went to the pricey, elitist, Martha’s Vineyard!
And they’re Chicagoens used to cooler weather……..

Virginia - I’m glad you mentioned the emotions. On Thursday I met with a professor-adviser and the two of us ended up in tears, each were personal and about our own family members. I had not cried like that for months! Even years? It was crazy, unexpected, I just went to get feedback on a paper, not to have a counseling session. It was a good cry though, I thanked her. Then on Friday I just felt so sad about ’stuff’ and sought out friends to pass the time with. I was wondering to myself “are these unusually strong emotions an influence of the eclipses? I have been way high and happy and then quite down and uncertain since about June 15th. It is indeed unusual.

Pat C. - Do you see anything in your chart or does someone? Happy sleeping in the meantime - you apparently need it, take it.

The Terror in Congress:

GOP Economic Terrorism Destroys the Safety Net of 38 Americans Every Minute
The GOP’s shameless goal is clear: worsen the economic situation for millions in hopes of scoring more seats, so they can cause even more damage to people’s lives.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/147510/gop_economic_terrorism_destroys_the_safety_net_of_38_americans_every_minute/

The 2010 Election: the Role of Women

http://blogs.alternet.org/refugee/2010/07/12/the-2010-election-the-role-of-women/

America’s Deadliest Sweetener Betrays Millions, Then Hoodwinks You with Name Change!
Aspartame has been wreaking silent havoc with people’s health for the past 30 years.

“…..After all, aspartame was previously listed by the Pentagon as a biochemical warfare agent……”

http://www.alternet.org/food/147476/america%27s_deadliest_sweetener_betrays_millions%2C_then_hoodwinks_you_with_name_change

A conversation on Astroworld highlights another aspect of the military’s power. Getting the troops our of (fill in the blank with any country throughout the world in addition to Afghanistan or Iraq) and bringing them home to a jobless recovery would propel the economy into a deeper tailspin.

Those of us long-time anti-war advocates have known this, fought against the Clinton free-trade deals, and subsequent globalization pacts giving carte blanche to corporatization of the planet and its species.

And now this. http://www.alternet.org/world/147504/scary_anti-iran_talk_is_escalating_–_and_weapons_may_be_moving_into_position_for_attack/

It fits with what you have been seeing also, Nancy.

I’m hoping we innovate a new way of thinking before we cede ourselves, once again, to our preverse addiction to war as a way of boosting the economy.

keep hoping the Obamas spend a few days at Truman’s Little White House on Key West at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico….
http://www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.com/

oh … this was the link I wanted to share:

http://www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.com/key-west/presidential-museum-presidents.htm

Thank you all for your very kind thoughts. I am fortunate to be here with you.

This is an interesting piece on the eclipse.

http://www.astroblogick.com/

http://mountainastrologer.com/tma/eclipse-stories?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MountainAstrologer_TMA_ThisWeek+%28The+Mountain+Astrologer+»+TMA+This+Week%29

Eclipse Stories

As a small farmer and beekeeper, I continue to fight Monsanto’s abuses like many of you. Here’s another tool to do so. http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/monsanto_alfalfa_vilsack/index2.html?r=5770&id=10007-2377128-a8RwaSx

New thread up.