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Showing posts with label The Sorrows of Empire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Sorrows of Empire. Show all posts

Mar 20, 2019

Richard Wolff Reveals How Empires End - clip

From March 14, 2019: Thom Hartmann engages Professor Richard Wolff on the topic of empires and their ends with a focus on the American Empire:




Both Thom and Dr. Wolff are authors of excellent books yet every time I think of how our nation has been exploited, lied into war, and its resources frittered away for the benefit of the few, I must also think of a book long nestled upon my book shelf: Chalmers Johnson's The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic.

Apr 28, 2018

DC Horoscope: a Starry Autumn Equinox 2018

Image: Autumn Equinox 2018 (aka, Libra Ingress with Sun @00Lib00:00); Saturday September 22 9:54:16 pm edt White House Washington DC; Gibbous +156:46; Hour of Saturn (8th house), Mars out-of-bounds (OOBs) in 9th house and part of a disturbing midpoint picture: Mars-Saturn = Pluto (18Cap46 Rx) - brutality, violence, and murder. To these possibilities Noel Tyl adds potentials for 'the need to take control; forcing an issue'; and/or, 'strong anger'. This difficult midpoint picture is a natal echo for it appears in the birth chart of Donald J. Trump whose natal Pluto @10Leo02 sits at the Foundation Point (IC) of this chart, aka, The Drain.

Rain in the Forecast

Asteroids Eros (piercing) and Panacea (a soothing bromide) rise at Ascendant 3Gem17 just after starry Alcyone (something to cry about) of the Pleiades, then Mirfak (to have one's say), plus Menkar the Whale (victim of the unconscious; an imperative to say what must be said--or else). The rain stars of the Hyades (Prima Hyadum @6Gemini) soon rise bringing along their difficult implications such as scandal, disgrace, resentment, evil, imprisonment, violence, mental imbalance, extremism, shipwrecks, and/or murder (A. Louis). Yes, the world is in a sorry state (thanks compromised politicians!) and given that forceful Mars and Pluto are in the 9th house of Foreign Lands and karmic Saturn is in the 8th, this horoscope may be a foreboding picture of terrorism or an attempt at it--and of course false flag ops cannot be ruled out as we know from past experience of such pretexts being used to scam and emotionally manipulate the American people into yet another war. The Sorrows of Empire!

Sun-Mercury Conjunct US natal MC: public recognition, speeches, concerns about reputation

Chart-ruler Mercury applies twice (listed lower left): 1. square Saturn = info restricted, books/papers/emails lost; perfectionism; lack of time; sobering talk; and 2. trine Mars = too much talk not enough action; favorable for travel.

Applying aspects of the Sun (leader) are noteworthy and there are two (marked in pink, top of the chart): 1. square Saturn = a leader or leaders called to measure up and be accountable for past actions; somber times; and 2. trine Mars = vitality available but must avoid indolence and passivity.

Then there's the impressive Sun-Chiron opposition on the Cardinal World Axis--conjunct US natal MC-IC--and this is an aspect Richard Nolle has termed the psychopomp. Previously I have typed aloud whether Mr. Trump could be America's psychopomp, and of course the mundane Sun signifies the leader or the ruler of a nation. Well, some have called him psycho anyway.

Now transit Pluto @18Cap46 is also apex of the 1993 Uranus-Neptune conjunction degree (yet again) suggesting that 'the big picture must be followed, very little option to do otherwise' (Tyl) which relates, of course, to the collapsing of the old order of 1776 and the rebuilding of the new which is also shown in the Prenatal Solar Eclipse (PE) (here, in 4th house @18Leo42) with its themes of The Tower collapsing and the rebuilding that begins once the dust has settled. (Brady).

And this PE is the August 11, 2018 Solar Eclipse in the 2 New North Saros Series that no one is waiting for.


Nov 22, 2010

Rockefeller Study on 2010 - 2020 = "Decade of Doom"?

First let me say that I'm very sad to hear this moment on Amy Goodman's program Democracy Now! that scholar and author Chalmers Johnson has passed away.

His book The Sorrows of Empire is in my library and is an excellent resource for topics concerning the end of our republic. The economic collapse under which we now struggle is what Mr. Johnson termed the Last Sorrow.

And on a similarly difficult topic:

Since my work/blogging week is shortened by holiday considerations, I'm in a hurry and picking up a quick thread in the form of an article by Steve Watson published to Prison Planet on July 16, 2010 (article link provided below.)

It concerns a study funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Global Business Network which lays out what they and their elite buddies envision for what they term the "Doom Decade" of 2010 to 2020, with the distinction between "developed" and "developing" nations no longer "particularly descriptive or relevant" by 2030.

Now I know you realize that beast worshipers play for keeps yet there will be many many people who won't realize how serious the power elite are about instituting authoritarian social control until the trap is sprung - even though many astrologers have been writing and warning about the period 2010 - 2020 for years now.

After all, timing is what Astrology brings to any table which no other system can provide...As Above So Below, and the planets proceed in their courses within the Great Cosmic Clock of our solar system.

Rockefeller Study Outlines "Doom Decade": Life For All But the Super Wealthy Will Be Hell On Earth

~:~

On a lighter note (I think!) is my just-created blog Woolly Mammoth Chronicles with news, info, and ode-ish poems concerning the proposed cloning of the prehistoric woolly mammoth. Because we don't have enough big things stomping about the planet to run from, right? Plus, you'll find an aptly named music video from 1985 embedded there. Guess which one? ;p

Oct 1, 2009

America's 'Fall of Rome' in the news again

US debt will lead to a "Fall of Rome" scenario, as reported in Bloomberg News. This concept is also covered ably in Chalmers Johnson's revelatory book, The Sorrows of Empire, which I've mentioned here before. Mr. Chalmers states that "the final sorrow of empire (is) financial ruin" - and I say that this is what our 'leaders' have done for us in the last decades - through fraud, Ponzi schemes, greed for wealth and world domination, and the 'military industrial complex' that is now squeezing President Obama for more troops, more billions, and endless war. And we-the-people's intuitions, desires, and needs fall unheeded by US imperialism's wayside. So thanks, Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and Wall Street. America wasn't knocked down from without but from within. Our founders would call that treason.

Jul 30, 2009

Time to liquidate the American Empire?

As an appreciative reader of Chalmers Johnson's encompassing book on America's global militarism, The Sorrows of Empire, it is always instructive to find Mr. Johnson writing on similar subjects out of what I believe to be a true patriotism - a patriotism of dissent born from a deep wish for America the Experiment to succeed along the lines of the principles our nation was founded upon, and the glowing and honorable mythologies we once proudly espoused but now have trouble hiding behind.

Obama's Empire: An Unprecedented Network of Military Bases That is Still Expanding

By Catherine Lutz

Asked why the US has a vast network of military bases around the world, Pentagon officials give both utilitarian and humanitarian arguments. Utilitarian arguments include the claim that bases provide security for the US by deterring attack from hostile countries and preventing or remedying unrest or military challenges; that bases serve the national economic interests of the US, ensuring access to markets and commodities needed to maintain US standards of living.

(It isn't working. Cash-strapped Americans pay for war while doing without timely dental care. Is this a fair trade when your jaw swells?)


Good Reasons To Liquidate Our Empire And Ten Steps to Take to Do So

By Chalmers Johnson

According to the 2008 official Pentagon inventory of our military bases around the world, our empire consists of 865 facilities in more than 40 countries and overseas US territories. We deploy over 190,000 troops in 46 countries and territories.

~:~

Undermining America has been a goal of the select few all along.

And as an astrologer (however reluctant with a tyrant 10th-house Uranus in Gemini), it was quite predictable in 1999, 2000, and beyond that I and yo mama would be called everything under the sun when I posted in Slate's The Fray concerning the neocon tendencies to rob our Treasury by fraudulent nation-building and other public-till raids, stiff US taxpayers with private costs made public, and undermine our nation's sovereignty until the ship slowly sinks into an ocean of oblivion.

Now swearing in type is not my specialty, but the Fraysters in Slate's forum at that time were great at it, so brashly puffed up almost as big as Bush the Eagle-Faced and Cheney the Balded-Pate ever were as they strutted about the coup'd White House - the pretzel-lovin' prez sharing cigars with Prince Bandar on the White House balcony as the Pentagon's embers sizzled and smoke arose in the distance, circa 9/11/01.

"To bankrupt America" was my answer for the oft-heard, 'Whys'? and the 'Why Do they Hate Us'? mantras, and for the rest of the soul-searching zeitgeist of the times.

But What Did We Do to Harm Anyone? We're fabulous! they'd assure themselves...'twas the arrogant America Can Do No Wrong attitude.

Meanwhile, back on the balcony, it was as if Bush and Bandar were celebrating something worth savoring, remember? And you know there had to be a heady wisp of compassionate conservatism wafting through the air along with the smell of what Cheney was cooking in the cellar.

Well, now it's 2009 so I ask you: what is wrong with Americans that we can't direct our attention, much less our energies, into the focused endeavor for which this nation now wimpers?

Guess I'll just mosey and read more of today's newsworthy Beer Summit reports that have captured many of my fellow citizens' imaginations when they're not busy playing with their phone apps or texting their honeypies.

Because you see: a president, a cop, and a professor walk into a bar...

Mar 30, 2009

Bill Maher on the American Empire: video link

Here's a link to a video of Bill Maher concerning America as empire - yes, removing US troops from Iraq would only be the tip of the iceberg.

Is America "stuck" with an empire? Some elements of our government purposefully built it, but let Mr. Bill tell you his quirky yet truth-telling ideas.

The US has military bases in 150 countries. And Chalmers Johnson, in his NYT bestseller, The Sorrows of Empire (2005) provides a list of 'sorrows' the last one of which we seem to be in process of experiencing since 2008...bankruptcy. This a permanent war economy has wrought - with corporate greed and political corruption as the sauce ladled on top.

And so the current financial crisis is intricately linked with Pres. Obama's plans to escalate the war in Afghanistan (which I have previously stated is 'a very bad idea') and will only make matters worse as it ramps up jihad recruiting against the west and, if you care about personal and national finances, negates the possibility of ever knowing fiscal responsibility or prosperity again.

George Bush and Dick Cheney tossed our economy into the dustbin with their upping of hawkish imperialism and I hope and pray that Barack Obama is as smart as he's said to be. It simply cannot make sense to continue our nation's global dream of running the world while being the most hated nation on the globe - and retain a sovereign nation with any resemblance to a United States of America that any sane, free person would like to live in.

To quote Chalmers Johnson:

"The economic consequences of imperialism and militarism are also transforming our value system by degrading "free enterprise," which many Americans cherish and identify with liberty. Our military is by far the largest bureaucracy in our government. Militarism removes capital and resources from the free market and allocates them arbitrarily, in accordance with bureaucratic decisions uninfluenced by market forces but often quite responsive to insider influence and crony capitalism."

He then goes on to detail how on March 10, 2003, the US government invited 5 engineering companies to submit bids for post-war building in Iraq. You know the main offenders: KBR, Cheney's old company as a subsidiary of Halliburton, and Bechtel, which Mr. Johnson says has "half-century-old connections to the CIA and to high-ranking Republican politicians."

No wonder Congress and the Republicans in charge were so gung ho for invading Iraq. One may imagine that several Democrats in Congress held portfolios full of Bechtel and KBR shares as well. And I had thought the Bush-Cheney war was illegally perpetrated in part to interrupt Hussein's oil black market that France and Germany had been profiting by. Two birds, one stone, and topple Poppy's old nemesis, too?

As Chalmers Johnson continues, "Virtually all contracts coming from the military reflect insider trading."

He then quotes Robert Higgs, a senior fellow in political economy at the Independent Institute, summarizing the military-industrial complex as: "a vast cesspool of mismanagement, waste, and transgressions not only bordering on but often entering deeply into criminal conduct...The great arms firms have managed to slough off much of the normal risks of doing business in a genuine market, passing on many of their excessive costs to the taxpayers while realizing extraordinary rates of return on investment."

Well, there we go! And if the military-industrial complex (as wielded by the one-world-government acolytes who have coup'd our nation) isn't reformed, or better yet stopped in its hoof-tracks, any tactics, legislation, and bailouts attempting to 'repair' our broken economy will be but a drop in the militarily-siphoned bucket.

So I want to sign off with two quotes on the subject from past presidents who warned us best they could in 1796 and again in 1961. But as it turns out, the power-hungry ones with black-hearts can read, too:

"Overgrown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican liberty."

President George Washington, Farewell Address, Sept 17, 1796


And here's the ignored advice you've read many times over:

"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience...In the councils of government, we must guard against the unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic process. We should take nothing for granted."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address, Jan 17, 1961


Misplaced power was sought. Disaster has risen. And unless the madness is curtailed, bankruptcy is on America's menu.