Jul 10, 2009
The story of Joe Cassano and AIG
AIG FP, Joe Cassano, credit default swaps, subprime fiascoes - all are illuminated in The Man Who Crashed the World though perhaps you've read the tale in Vanity Fair already.
Jul 8, 2009
Blue Moon over Iran and Progress 33
Space Weather News for July 8, 2009
WHAT'S FOLLOWING THE ISS? Sky watchers are reporting a "mysterious satellite" following the International Space Station (ISS). It trails the ISS by about one minute, relatively faint, but definitely there.
Mystery solved: The follower is Progress 33, a Russian supply ship. On July 12, it will come within meters of the space station to test a new automated docking system. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for flyby times and get two spaceships for the price of one.
BLUE MOON OVER IRAN: Blue moons are not a myth. This week, sky watchers in Iran have seen them appear in the night sky. The full Moon is turning blue because of a major dust storm blowing across the Middle East. Today's edition of SpaceWeather News features space-based images of the behemoth storm, the blue moons it is causing, and an explanation of the phenomenon.
SUNSPOT UPDATE: The first big sunspot of new Solar Cycle 24 is growing again. So far, sunspot 1024 poses no threat for major eruptions, but it is a big, photogenic target for backyard solar telescopes. Readers who would like instant notification of solar flares and geomagnetic storms can get them by signing up for SpaceWeather PHONE.
WHAT'S FOLLOWING THE ISS? Sky watchers are reporting a "mysterious satellite" following the International Space Station (ISS). It trails the ISS by about one minute, relatively faint, but definitely there.
Mystery solved: The follower is Progress 33, a Russian supply ship. On July 12, it will come within meters of the space station to test a new automated docking system. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for flyby times and get two spaceships for the price of one.
BLUE MOON OVER IRAN: Blue moons are not a myth. This week, sky watchers in Iran have seen them appear in the night sky. The full Moon is turning blue because of a major dust storm blowing across the Middle East. Today's edition of SpaceWeather News features space-based images of the behemoth storm, the blue moons it is causing, and an explanation of the phenomenon.
SUNSPOT UPDATE: The first big sunspot of new Solar Cycle 24 is growing again. So far, sunspot 1024 poses no threat for major eruptions, but it is a big, photogenic target for backyard solar telescopes. Readers who would like instant notification of solar flares and geomagnetic storms can get them by signing up for SpaceWeather PHONE.
Jul 7, 2009
G8 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy 7.7.09
There are many things we common folk might say about the current G8 Summit which began today in L'Aquila, Italy, such as: stop engineering a world economic crash, delete your one-world-government plans, get over your big selves, ixnay on the audfray, and much more.
L'Aquila means 'the eagle' as you know, and the city's history of earthquakes has caused an airlift emergency plan for world leaders' safety to be put in place. We wouldn't want to risk a scratch upon such precious and secretive chinny chin chins, now would we?
The constellation Aquila is interesting because of its Alpha star, Altair, which soars and spies high above the rest of us mortals. And of course, the Eagle is America's totem as well as L'Aquila's symbol on her flag - click Wiki link above to view its beakiness.
Altair's keywords are: boldness, action, and determination. (Brady's Book of Fixed Stars.)
Ptolemy said the stars of Aquila are of the nature of Mars and Jupiter; Robson gives keywords: ability to rise in life, boldness, and courage, but with possible guilt from bloodshed. Mmm.
Ms. Brady adds that Altair indicates actions taken for the collective, and that the ability to achieve is linked with risk-taking and a dogged determination. (America's mercurial president flew (Mercury) abroad this week in tandem with the zodical position of Fixed Star, Sirius, the Dog Star, the announcer.) When I see "risk-taking" I tend to think of gambling and power elites certainly do that on a regular basis with everyone elses' lives and fortunes.
As both readers of this blog know, a major thread here has been that the ends do not justify the means, not even for Machiavellians, so the majority of these G8 fellas and gals are not my cuppa tea in the least believing as I do that they will do anything it takes to grasp and keep their power. Yet these heads of state represent only the public faces of a deeply veiled cabal calling the shots - all kinds of shots.
Now you may disagree - or you may be tres naive. Wouldn't I love to be wrong about these power-mad jokers? But you feel their interference in your life, don't you? Do you feel them manufacturing a world economic collapse so they can rebuild systems to their own specifications?
Well, look! Here's Pope John Paul II, in his New Year's Day mass of 2004, calling for a New World Order!
Guess he was preparing the way a little more clearly since it's been a very long process, you know, and power elites don't know how to give up.
So this particular G8 2009 is marked by today's Lunar Eclipse 15Cap24 which impacts Pluto 17Can05 in natal 11th house of Groups/Associations in the Vatican City's 1929 chart. Nearby is 19Can33, Pluto's Heliocentric North Node which is one reason why I think '19Can' turns up often in charts that map assassinations, murders, and other violent events or people - it's a sensitized degree for plutonian mayhems including nuclear events or projects.
(Vatican City June 7, 1929, Rome, Italy 11:00 am; from historical record and found in Celeste Teal's book, Eclipses...see sidebar; chart marks VC's independence as granted by Mussolini. There's another Lunar Eclipse on August 5, 2009 which emphasizes VC's natal Mars 14Leo10 in 12th house. Will there be more unveilings (12th house) of bad actions (Mars) by priests?)
L'Aquila Or Bust
As you'll read if you click the Wiki link above, the city of L'Aquila was constructed by Frederick II as a 'bulwark against the power of the papacy.'
Yet in Politics, allegiances often change in the bat of an eyelash or the breaking of a treaty, don't they? What will 2009's G8 in L'Aquila turn out to be a bulwark against, if anything?
And here's my wondering about yesterday's speeches by Presidents Obama and Medvedev in a gold-encrusted hall that I assume is located in the Kremlin: did you notice the Illuminati/Apollo sun-god theme over their heads - the huge sunburst symbol? Just wondering if you noted it. I did.
L'Aquila means 'the eagle' as you know, and the city's history of earthquakes has caused an airlift emergency plan for world leaders' safety to be put in place. We wouldn't want to risk a scratch upon such precious and secretive chinny chin chins, now would we?
The constellation Aquila is interesting because of its Alpha star, Altair, which soars and spies high above the rest of us mortals. And of course, the Eagle is America's totem as well as L'Aquila's symbol on her flag - click Wiki link above to view its beakiness.
Altair's keywords are: boldness, action, and determination. (Brady's Book of Fixed Stars.)
Ptolemy said the stars of Aquila are of the nature of Mars and Jupiter; Robson gives keywords: ability to rise in life, boldness, and courage, but with possible guilt from bloodshed. Mmm.
Ms. Brady adds that Altair indicates actions taken for the collective, and that the ability to achieve is linked with risk-taking and a dogged determination. (America's mercurial president flew (Mercury) abroad this week in tandem with the zodical position of Fixed Star, Sirius, the Dog Star, the announcer.) When I see "risk-taking" I tend to think of gambling and power elites certainly do that on a regular basis with everyone elses' lives and fortunes.
As both readers of this blog know, a major thread here has been that the ends do not justify the means, not even for Machiavellians, so the majority of these G8 fellas and gals are not my cuppa tea in the least believing as I do that they will do anything it takes to grasp and keep their power. Yet these heads of state represent only the public faces of a deeply veiled cabal calling the shots - all kinds of shots.
Now you may disagree - or you may be tres naive. Wouldn't I love to be wrong about these power-mad jokers? But you feel their interference in your life, don't you? Do you feel them manufacturing a world economic collapse so they can rebuild systems to their own specifications?
Well, look! Here's Pope John Paul II, in his New Year's Day mass of 2004, calling for a New World Order!
Guess he was preparing the way a little more clearly since it's been a very long process, you know, and power elites don't know how to give up.
So this particular G8 2009 is marked by today's Lunar Eclipse 15Cap24 which impacts Pluto 17Can05 in natal 11th house of Groups/Associations in the Vatican City's 1929 chart. Nearby is 19Can33, Pluto's Heliocentric North Node which is one reason why I think '19Can' turns up often in charts that map assassinations, murders, and other violent events or people - it's a sensitized degree for plutonian mayhems including nuclear events or projects.
(Vatican City June 7, 1929, Rome, Italy 11:00 am; from historical record and found in Celeste Teal's book, Eclipses...see sidebar; chart marks VC's independence as granted by Mussolini. There's another Lunar Eclipse on August 5, 2009 which emphasizes VC's natal Mars 14Leo10 in 12th house. Will there be more unveilings (12th house) of bad actions (Mars) by priests?)
L'Aquila Or Bust
As you'll read if you click the Wiki link above, the city of L'Aquila was constructed by Frederick II as a 'bulwark against the power of the papacy.'
Yet in Politics, allegiances often change in the bat of an eyelash or the breaking of a treaty, don't they? What will 2009's G8 in L'Aquila turn out to be a bulwark against, if anything?
And here's my wondering about yesterday's speeches by Presidents Obama and Medvedev in a gold-encrusted hall that I assume is located in the Kremlin: did you notice the Illuminati/Apollo sun-god theme over their heads - the huge sunburst symbol? Just wondering if you noted it. I did.
Jul 6, 2009
Astrology follows Obama and the Moon July 6 - 10, 2009
Today in Moscow, US President Barack Obama arrived to meet with Russian leaders President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vlaimir Putin.
When a Mundane Astrology chart shows planets (which for our purposes includes 'the lights', Sun and Moon, for ease of expression) meeting together, something of the archetypal flavor of that planet (actor) is evoked and a journey may be described.
In Pres. Obama's case for this trip abroad, we have a few conjunctions as he travels, landing at the Vatican on Friday, July 10, the day of the Great Conjunction (so we know it's a world event/s) between Jupiter 26AQ01 (Mr. Obama was born with Jupiter Rx at '00AQ+' so I nominate him for Jupiter's role - basically, Jupiter is the faster mover of the two so Jupiter 'comes to' Neptune, in this case, Obama to the Pope of a worldwide religion based on Neptunian veils of religious fervor...and clouds of incense.
This is the second of three Jupiter/Neptune conjunctions as speculation and grandiose plans hold sway over the globe, for 2009 is the year of Jupiter/Neptune's inflationary tactics and high-flying dreams. Still there's something to be said in favor of a hopeful attitude that perhaps the power elite chaos-creators will get hold of themselves, their egos, and think twice about plans for world domination.
Speaking of which...with Pluto now at 1Cap40 Rx, Luna must pass the 30th degree of Sagittarius (the seeker, but what doth he seek?) to reach Cap; '30Sag': "The Pope Blessing the Faithful" so a ring-smooching seems to be on Mr. Obama's menu. This should culminate on Friday, Day of Venus, with this week's position of Venus 5Gem46 conjunct transiting Pan, a Capricornian trickster; I associate Venus/Neptune with the Vatican...idealizing (Nep) a woman (Mary, Mother of Jesus.)
For Obama, natal Venus 1Can47 is snugged between Pope Benedict XVI's natal Mars 29Gem28 and North Node 00Can09, a World Point for his NN, a point of destined encounters and meetings, and contact with the wider public.
A midpoint picture is formed between the two natal charts of Mr. Obama and Pope Benedict (birth data I use for each of them at end of this article):
Mars/NN = Venus: getting together affectionately, passionately.
Yep! A major ring smooching is coming up. But that's not all...
Whenever Pluto has been at 00Cap+ of late, His Dragonhood has conjoined Pope Benedict's natal South Node, a point of separation. Generally this can mean separation from power, but also violence and war. Is there some fomenting going on in secret antiquated halls?
So Moon meets with Pluto today, then she goes on to meet with first Chiron 25AQ24 Rx, Jupiter 26AQ01 Rx, and Neptune 26AQ01 Rx at their Great Conjunction (July 10, 2009; Moscow, Russia, 9:18 am CDT +5:00.) This is the minute given by this software as the first minute they click into the same '01' minute so I use it in case an audience with the Pope may occur during the morning hours of Friday. Of course the entire day is flavored with this major conjunction between two 'religious' planets: one codified (Jupiter), and one urge-to-merge infused (Neptune.)
So as the Moon approaches the Jup/Nep pair, three midpoint pictures form. As usual the pics may operate in an 'any, all, or none' manner...
1. Moon/Neptune = Jupiter: grand imaginings and plans.
2. Jupiter/Neptune = Moon: dreaminess; an emotional swoon; going with the wind; becoming involved in speculations and gambling.
3. Moon/Jupiter = Neptune: success feels like it's leaving one's grasp; losing focus of objectives.
As President Obama carries financial and political pollen from one world leader to another on his trip, Mercury, planet of travel especially air travel, is dancing upon Fixed Star Sirius, a star strongly associated with America's natal chart.
Sirius, the Dog Star (Alpha Canis Major), once worhipped in Egypt as the guardian, and indicating the announcer in the form of a barking dog; keywords: the fire of immortality which I for one relate on one level to the Illuminati's 'eternal flame.'
There's an element of faithfulness linked with Sirius; Ebertin and Robson agree that a person influenced by Sirius (in this case, Mr.Obama as the young-ish man (Mercury) traveling (Mercury) to meet (conj) with the Sun 19Can27 (leader) on Friday for the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction) so this is a ceremonial and public level on which the two - or should I say, three? - leaders will gather. plus a private level, too. Perhaps there they'll say what the really think and what we are not privy to know.
If uprightly directed, the energy of Sirius may bring more gain than is expected in one's endeavors as the mundane becomes sacred. (Brady's Book of Fixed Stars.) Therefore, a small action becomes a symbol for the collective yet this is a demanding star that brings either huge success - or a scorching, maybe even a scalded dog yelping!
Mercury is oriental, too, which decribes the last-to-rise-before-the-Sun phenomenon in Astrology this is the dot the Is, cross the Ts mindset. Reporters?Speechwriters? Negotiators or trade representatives? Or all the possibilities on different levels?
For compexity's sake, there are also two bodies riding along with Mercury - Hygeia (health; perhaps a doctor and/or nurse?), and one of the two Isises (Isis #2, I call this one) now at 12Cap34. Is a daughter under the weather? Perhaps it only describes the usual arrangements for a president taking a long distance trip with his family and acts as a medical precaution for the one they once called, The Leader of the Free World.
Proserpina (transition) rises in Friday's Jupiter/Neptune conjunction chart as transiting asteroid Hopi (ambush; prejudice) sips Napoleon brandy with Pope Benedict's natal Pluto/SN conjunction. This is an old prejudice for the Pope but it also represents a chance to let go some of the poisons from his past.
So our 'Sirius' travels to announce and perhaps to warn, Jupiter's idealism and money issues meet the spiritual guru in his own neighborhood, and event-timing Luna shifts across the faces of the planets while pollinating from one to the next. Moon to Jupiter is generally a happy time (although both planets are often prominent in charts of poisonings and other offings.) Moon/Jupiter is a chance to travel, for certain, with emotional changes involving joy in the process.
Moon to Jupiter (or vice versa which is usually better since Jupiter 'stays longer' than the Moon) indicates publicity - which of course is a given here = reward, success, and optimism. In the political arena,
the religiousness of the judiciary becomes important which implies SCOTUS concerns on one side or the other - or on both.
Might Sonia Sotomayor's nomination for SCOTUS be a topic of discussion or negotiation?
Moon/Chiron contacts indicate that perceptual shields are open - so please be careful which frequency you tune in to.
Then Moon reaches Neptune, a refined, bewildered, sensitive, and/or spiritual time when subconscious forces are at play and one may be emotionally (Moon) deceived (Neptune) if one isn't careful, or perhaps 'deceived through the emotions' is closer to it. This is an idealizing (Neptune) a woman (Mary) descriptor.
And as you know, Tuesday, July 7, 2009 brings a Lunar Eclipse in mid-Capricorn, sign of politics, law, business, and management. Seems to me that that old time religion is good enough for traditionalist Capricorn, yet the US president of the moment doesn't seem overly encumbered with that particular Rock of Ages.
However, Mr. Obama, as all US presidents, will be kissing the Pope's ring this week.
Wonder if PM Putin ever puckered up for the same ceremony of adulation? Got photos?
~:~
Pope Benedict XVI: April 16m 1929 9NS); 4:15 am MET, Marktt, Germany; from BC.
Pres. Barack Obama: August 4, 1961; 7:24 pm AHST, Honolulu, Hawaii; from BC but disputed.
When a Mundane Astrology chart shows planets (which for our purposes includes 'the lights', Sun and Moon, for ease of expression) meeting together, something of the archetypal flavor of that planet (actor) is evoked and a journey may be described.
In Pres. Obama's case for this trip abroad, we have a few conjunctions as he travels, landing at the Vatican on Friday, July 10, the day of the Great Conjunction (so we know it's a world event/s) between Jupiter 26AQ01 (Mr. Obama was born with Jupiter Rx at '00AQ+' so I nominate him for Jupiter's role - basically, Jupiter is the faster mover of the two so Jupiter 'comes to' Neptune, in this case, Obama to the Pope of a worldwide religion based on Neptunian veils of religious fervor...and clouds of incense.
This is the second of three Jupiter/Neptune conjunctions as speculation and grandiose plans hold sway over the globe, for 2009 is the year of Jupiter/Neptune's inflationary tactics and high-flying dreams. Still there's something to be said in favor of a hopeful attitude that perhaps the power elite chaos-creators will get hold of themselves, their egos, and think twice about plans for world domination.
Speaking of which...with Pluto now at 1Cap40 Rx, Luna must pass the 30th degree of Sagittarius (the seeker, but what doth he seek?) to reach Cap; '30Sag': "The Pope Blessing the Faithful" so a ring-smooching seems to be on Mr. Obama's menu. This should culminate on Friday, Day of Venus, with this week's position of Venus 5Gem46 conjunct transiting Pan, a Capricornian trickster; I associate Venus/Neptune with the Vatican...idealizing (Nep) a woman (Mary, Mother of Jesus.)
For Obama, natal Venus 1Can47 is snugged between Pope Benedict XVI's natal Mars 29Gem28 and North Node 00Can09, a World Point for his NN, a point of destined encounters and meetings, and contact with the wider public.
A midpoint picture is formed between the two natal charts of Mr. Obama and Pope Benedict (birth data I use for each of them at end of this article):
Mars/NN = Venus: getting together affectionately, passionately.
Yep! A major ring smooching is coming up. But that's not all...
Whenever Pluto has been at 00Cap+ of late, His Dragonhood has conjoined Pope Benedict's natal South Node, a point of separation. Generally this can mean separation from power, but also violence and war. Is there some fomenting going on in secret antiquated halls?
So Moon meets with Pluto today, then she goes on to meet with first Chiron 25AQ24 Rx, Jupiter 26AQ01 Rx, and Neptune 26AQ01 Rx at their Great Conjunction (July 10, 2009; Moscow, Russia, 9:18 am CDT +5:00.) This is the minute given by this software as the first minute they click into the same '01' minute so I use it in case an audience with the Pope may occur during the morning hours of Friday. Of course the entire day is flavored with this major conjunction between two 'religious' planets: one codified (Jupiter), and one urge-to-merge infused (Neptune.)
So as the Moon approaches the Jup/Nep pair, three midpoint pictures form. As usual the pics may operate in an 'any, all, or none' manner...
1. Moon/Neptune = Jupiter: grand imaginings and plans.
2. Jupiter/Neptune = Moon: dreaminess; an emotional swoon; going with the wind; becoming involved in speculations and gambling.
3. Moon/Jupiter = Neptune: success feels like it's leaving one's grasp; losing focus of objectives.
As President Obama carries financial and political pollen from one world leader to another on his trip, Mercury, planet of travel especially air travel, is dancing upon Fixed Star Sirius, a star strongly associated with America's natal chart.
Sirius, the Dog Star (Alpha Canis Major), once worhipped in Egypt as the guardian, and indicating the announcer in the form of a barking dog; keywords: the fire of immortality which I for one relate on one level to the Illuminati's 'eternal flame.'
There's an element of faithfulness linked with Sirius; Ebertin and Robson agree that a person influenced by Sirius (in this case, Mr.Obama as the young-ish man (Mercury) traveling (Mercury) to meet (conj) with the Sun 19Can27 (leader) on Friday for the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction) so this is a ceremonial and public level on which the two - or should I say, three? - leaders will gather. plus a private level, too. Perhaps there they'll say what the really think and what we are not privy to know.
If uprightly directed, the energy of Sirius may bring more gain than is expected in one's endeavors as the mundane becomes sacred. (Brady's Book of Fixed Stars.) Therefore, a small action becomes a symbol for the collective yet this is a demanding star that brings either huge success - or a scorching, maybe even a scalded dog yelping!
Mercury is oriental, too, which decribes the last-to-rise-before-the-Sun phenomenon in Astrology this is the dot the Is, cross the Ts mindset. Reporters?Speechwriters? Negotiators or trade representatives? Or all the possibilities on different levels?
For compexity's sake, there are also two bodies riding along with Mercury - Hygeia (health; perhaps a doctor and/or nurse?), and one of the two Isises (Isis #2, I call this one) now at 12Cap34. Is a daughter under the weather? Perhaps it only describes the usual arrangements for a president taking a long distance trip with his family and acts as a medical precaution for the one they once called, The Leader of the Free World.
Proserpina (transition) rises in Friday's Jupiter/Neptune conjunction chart as transiting asteroid Hopi (ambush; prejudice) sips Napoleon brandy with Pope Benedict's natal Pluto/SN conjunction. This is an old prejudice for the Pope but it also represents a chance to let go some of the poisons from his past.
So our 'Sirius' travels to announce and perhaps to warn, Jupiter's idealism and money issues meet the spiritual guru in his own neighborhood, and event-timing Luna shifts across the faces of the planets while pollinating from one to the next. Moon to Jupiter is generally a happy time (although both planets are often prominent in charts of poisonings and other offings.) Moon/Jupiter is a chance to travel, for certain, with emotional changes involving joy in the process.
Moon to Jupiter (or vice versa which is usually better since Jupiter 'stays longer' than the Moon) indicates publicity - which of course is a given here = reward, success, and optimism. In the political arena,
the religiousness of the judiciary becomes important which implies SCOTUS concerns on one side or the other - or on both.
Might Sonia Sotomayor's nomination for SCOTUS be a topic of discussion or negotiation?
Moon/Chiron contacts indicate that perceptual shields are open - so please be careful which frequency you tune in to.
Then Moon reaches Neptune, a refined, bewildered, sensitive, and/or spiritual time when subconscious forces are at play and one may be emotionally (Moon) deceived (Neptune) if one isn't careful, or perhaps 'deceived through the emotions' is closer to it. This is an idealizing (Neptune) a woman (Mary) descriptor.
And as you know, Tuesday, July 7, 2009 brings a Lunar Eclipse in mid-Capricorn, sign of politics, law, business, and management. Seems to me that that old time religion is good enough for traditionalist Capricorn, yet the US president of the moment doesn't seem overly encumbered with that particular Rock of Ages.
However, Mr. Obama, as all US presidents, will be kissing the Pope's ring this week.
Wonder if PM Putin ever puckered up for the same ceremony of adulation? Got photos?
~:~
Pope Benedict XVI: April 16m 1929 9NS); 4:15 am MET, Marktt, Germany; from BC.
Pres. Barack Obama: August 4, 1961; 7:24 pm AHST, Honolulu, Hawaii; from BC but disputed.
Jul 5, 2009
The Saga of Alaska Cat
Sarah Palin was discussed this morning on TV by Karl Rove and others yet the Bad Poetry muse alit and The Saga of Alaska Cat was written in spite of all their fine punditry.
Can rhyming sagas be brief like thwarted political careers? I think so, especially if they're self-thwarted...meanwhile, back on Earth, pundit Mo Rocca cautions, "Your opinion on the Palin-Letterman feud won't land you a job at McDonald's."
Maybe the following political saga can become part of my Bad Poetry resume if I should need one!
Alaska Cat is out the door
we don't know what she's leaving for
a federal probe? perhaps a scandal
might be just too hot to handle
GOPers if asked why
may voice support when others pry
their real opinions coyly veiled
Alaska Cat has now been nailed.
jc 7.5.09 10:am edt
photo: Zasha unpleased, by Maya at Spring Tree Road
Can rhyming sagas be brief like thwarted political careers? I think so, especially if they're self-thwarted...meanwhile, back on Earth, pundit Mo Rocca cautions, "Your opinion on the Palin-Letterman feud won't land you a job at McDonald's."
Maybe the following political saga can become part of my Bad Poetry resume if I should need one!
Alaska Cat is out the door
we don't know what she's leaving for
a federal probe? perhaps a scandal
might be just too hot to handle
GOPers if asked why
may voice support when others pry
their real opinions coyly veiled
Alaska Cat has now been nailed.
jc 7.5.09 10:am edt
photo: Zasha unpleased, by Maya at Spring Tree Road
Jul 4, 2009
Is a coming Fed indictment why Palin resigned?
It's Independence Day and I'm headed out the door but want to post this link sent me by my friend Alex D'Atria at Modern Astrology (see Astrology links in sidebar) on the story as we know it so far concerning possible federal indictment charges for Palin's squirrely use of Alaska's funds.
Deceptive, fraud-inducing Neptune to her natal Sun and Mars: boundaries have (apparently) been crossed and the feds may be whisking off her Aquarian mask!
If true, it sounds a bit like an alternate reality of what's been going on in the UK government actually - but without the moat.
And do check out interesting readers' comments under the Palin announcement video just below - one has a particularly angry Martian flavor - describing Palin!
Mucho Thanks go to Julie, Donna, Jilly, Clymela, Tango Daddy, and others for keeping an eye on the shenanigans perpetrated here on Stars Over Washington! Jude
Deceptive, fraud-inducing Neptune to her natal Sun and Mars: boundaries have (apparently) been crossed and the feds may be whisking off her Aquarian mask!
If true, it sounds a bit like an alternate reality of what's been going on in the UK government actually - but without the moat.
And do check out interesting readers' comments under the Palin announcement video just below - one has a particularly angry Martian flavor - describing Palin!
Mucho Thanks go to Julie, Donna, Jilly, Clymela, Tango Daddy, and others for keeping an eye on the shenanigans perpetrated here on Stars Over Washington! Jude
Jul 3, 2009
Chalmers Johnson: US military bases expand
The Secret Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson is one of my go-to books for inside info on the roots of US imperialism, and July 3, 2009 has brought a report from Mr. Johnson on the escalating costs of new US military bases the number of which is being increased, not decreased, by this Democratic president.
To settle up, state governments in the US are sending out IOUs, many July 4th fireworks displays are cancelled, and the nation is hurting in a thousand ways, but the eagle-soaring imperialists continue to march America on toward perpetual war while charging US taxpayers for war expenses while the power elites pocket the filthy profits.
"All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it."
Alexis de Tocqueville
Don't look now, Monsieur de Tocqueville, but a political faction in league with the international banking system figured this out decades ago. Or else they've been following your notes and intend to keep the masses enslaved by the chains of perpetual debt.
~:~
Paul Craig Roberts has something to say about Mr. Obama's continuance of Bush's wars, too.
To settle up, state governments in the US are sending out IOUs, many July 4th fireworks displays are cancelled, and the nation is hurting in a thousand ways, but the eagle-soaring imperialists continue to march America on toward perpetual war while charging US taxpayers for war expenses while the power elites pocket the filthy profits.
"All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it."
Alexis de Tocqueville
Don't look now, Monsieur de Tocqueville, but a political faction in league with the international banking system figured this out decades ago. Or else they've been following your notes and intend to keep the masses enslaved by the chains of perpetual debt.
~:~
Paul Craig Roberts has something to say about Mr. Obama's continuance of Bush's wars, too.
The surrealism of Sarah Palin: the video 7.3.09
Oh yes, today's rambling announcement by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin that she is resigning from her governor's post July 26 and won't run for a second term in 2010 had to be published here so I can be fascinated by it at will. And if my courage holds, I'll be getting all the way through watching it any time now - cringe cringe.
And no, I don't blame David Letterman jokes as some are speculating online!
But yes, a run for president in 2012 may be the ultimate reason, sure, but this is a wacky way to go about it. She does need shiploads of preparation, agreed.
We knew the Neptune transit to her natal Sun and Mars would be trouble, didn't we?
Neptunian confusion and surrealism come through loud and clear to me in her performance today, how about you...any signals from Neptune getting through?
What a toss up for the Political Cringe Awards 2009: Sarah Palin or Mark Sanford? And the year is only half over.
Independence Day 2009 in Washington DC
Here's another in the series of Tom Foreman's Letters to the President, a timely one with a Fourth of July flavor. It concerns independence in the District of Columbia and the Republican v Democrat paradox that makes independence elusive to obtain if not impossible.Of course, from way down here, it seems all about grasping and retaining power no matter the cost as this mindset on Capitol Hill makes a mockery of the 'independence' and 'freedom' we're supposedly enjoying in this nation. A larger agenda is being followed at the expense of the country's best interests, imho.
I've mentioned here before about a certain junior rep from Georgia who was told early on by party bosses that if he wanted to keep his job, he'd vote how they told him to vote. He did and he did.
But by doing so, he didn't stand up for the people who sent him to DC when he voted the opposite of what he knew the majority of us wanted. So much for representative government. And the trend continues.
It's no small thing that this kind of cynical control over other people's consciences makes Washington's political parties into mobs of thugs who prefer might over right, and as you may know, I have little respect for the majority of them.
So Happy Independence Day indeed. If you can get some.
Jul 2, 2009
Former Goldman-Sachs banker new US ambassador to Germany
Lest you think an important post in the Obama administration might have to do without a Goldman-Sachs alumni, former Goldman banker Phil Murphy is soon to be welcomed by Germany as the new US ambassador.
You can go back to your nap now, a Goldman-Sachs rep is in the house. Again.
In fact, if it's true what I've been reading that every financial bubble and collapse since the 1920s has been gamed if not orchestrated by Goldman-Sachs (and the Fed and the World Bank), I'd say that G-S is the house. These manipulators take win-win to the ultimate level.
And speaking of the 2008 presidential campaign, do you remember how Barack Obama's community organizing work was touted as an admirable thing because the brilliantly talented fellow (and he is) could have easily gone right to Wall Street after graduation to roll around and make mega-bucks there instead of working with and for the poorer elements in our society?
Well, apparently he did (or didn't), but he's just doing it from the White House. Yet didn't Goldman-Sachs install their man Barack in the Oval Office to do their bidding?
Ever since BHO appointed Clintonites like Larry Summers and that other guy to be on his 'Economic Team' - and then G-Sachs' Timothy Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury - it feels to me as if President Goldman-Sachs, with a current not former, Wall Street address to his credit, has coup'd the Oval Office and now plays the role of US commander-in-thief.
~:~
'Commander-in-thief' is a reference I first heard on a Radiohead album just after Bush first coup'd the White House, and since the (orchestrated) financial collapse of 2008, new levels of meaning accrue to the word, 'thief' in the USA - and it began under Bush.
You can go back to your nap now, a Goldman-Sachs rep is in the house. Again.
In fact, if it's true what I've been reading that every financial bubble and collapse since the 1920s has been gamed if not orchestrated by Goldman-Sachs (and the Fed and the World Bank), I'd say that G-S is the house. These manipulators take win-win to the ultimate level.
And speaking of the 2008 presidential campaign, do you remember how Barack Obama's community organizing work was touted as an admirable thing because the brilliantly talented fellow (and he is) could have easily gone right to Wall Street after graduation to roll around and make mega-bucks there instead of working with and for the poorer elements in our society?
Well, apparently he did (or didn't), but he's just doing it from the White House. Yet didn't Goldman-Sachs install their man Barack in the Oval Office to do their bidding?
Ever since BHO appointed Clintonites like Larry Summers and that other guy to be on his 'Economic Team' - and then G-Sachs' Timothy Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury - it feels to me as if President Goldman-Sachs, with a current not former, Wall Street address to his credit, has coup'd the Oval Office and now plays the role of US commander-in-thief.
~:~
'Commander-in-thief' is a reference I first heard on a Radiohead album just after Bush first coup'd the White House, and since the (orchestrated) financial collapse of 2008, new levels of meaning accrue to the word, 'thief' in the USA - and it began under Bush.
Jul 1, 2009
Washington's Mortgage Reform fizzles like dud sparklers on the 4th of July
And How the American People Can Save Big Money in Washington
When the mortgage and sub-prime fiascoes began to hit the country in 2007 and into 2008, everyone agreed that reform would be on the menu and the sooner the better. The financial collapse which the housing market crash led to with its resulting unemployment, retail slumps, and slowdowns in all sectors of the economy and the life of the nation, made mortgage reform seem a given. Who could argue?
Well, not so fast - it's the US Congress on the case which means there are no guarantees of improvements or of corrections of the fraudulent, America.
Unlike the upcoming Fourth of July fireworks, no-brainer mortgage reform is now said to be fizzling on Capitol Hill and Senator Dodd says they have other things to do. Or did he say 'better' things to do?
Either way, thanks for nuthin' oh elitist ones.
So I've made up a timely yet brief list of To-Dos in case anyone wants the economy to work out better than Congress has planned for us:
Want mortgage reform?
Call your reps and senators on Capitol Hill and tell them what time you and your family of 3/4/5/6+++ will be turning up at their swanky digs for a long stay....just till you "find a place." They don't need kicks in the pants on Capitol Hill, they need moocher roommates and lots of them. Besides, thanks to years of outsourcing US jobs bwo Congress, you're broke because you lost your job, and there are None To Be Had. Except marching in the military or on Capitol Hill, if my further ideas are followed...
Want health care reform from Capitol Hill?
Demand that all House members' insurance companies triple the deductibles on their state-of-the-art insurance policies, and limit the number of surgeries allowed for the next few years; totally exclude cosmetic surgeries and treatments, of course, and forget free meds and exotic cruises. And while you're at it, have the premiums auto-drafted from their paychecks from now on.
Want ethics and accountability to return to our nation's capital?
Then we'll have to kick out 98% of the bums on Capitol Hill, their staffers, aides, and favorite lobbyists - and sign up to serve ourselves, citizens of America!
But Senator Al Franken can stay (until he proves his metal) since he hasn't sat down at the trough just yet. And maybe Dennis Kucinich. I can't decide about him. Ron Paul, maybe. Not sure but probably. And keep a few junior ones who have yet to underwhelm us with their craven truckling to party bosses and poor judgments.
Thing is, since it was Capitol Hill denizens who dumped us into the crises in which we're now stewing (in collusion with their Wall Street buds), what makes them think the nation can afford them with their exalted lifestyles and their expensive ways? If we're looking for places to 'cut back' in the national budget, how about firing every one of the political culprits who helped cause it?
Washington Loves Ceremonies
I have yet to get a cost estimate on enough tar and feathers for the lot of them, but it couldn't be any higher than congressional paychecks, sell-outs, give-aways, and heistings, now could it?
Oh, and again I shall wish you a Happy 233rd birthday, America!
All the gold in Fort Knox may be pilfered away, but you don't look a day past 200. (Botox not covered, as above.)
When the mortgage and sub-prime fiascoes began to hit the country in 2007 and into 2008, everyone agreed that reform would be on the menu and the sooner the better. The financial collapse which the housing market crash led to with its resulting unemployment, retail slumps, and slowdowns in all sectors of the economy and the life of the nation, made mortgage reform seem a given. Who could argue?
Well, not so fast - it's the US Congress on the case which means there are no guarantees of improvements or of corrections of the fraudulent, America.
Unlike the upcoming Fourth of July fireworks, no-brainer mortgage reform is now said to be fizzling on Capitol Hill and Senator Dodd says they have other things to do. Or did he say 'better' things to do?
Either way, thanks for nuthin' oh elitist ones.
So I've made up a timely yet brief list of To-Dos in case anyone wants the economy to work out better than Congress has planned for us:
Want mortgage reform?
Call your reps and senators on Capitol Hill and tell them what time you and your family of 3/4/5/6+++ will be turning up at their swanky digs for a long stay....just till you "find a place." They don't need kicks in the pants on Capitol Hill, they need moocher roommates and lots of them. Besides, thanks to years of outsourcing US jobs bwo Congress, you're broke because you lost your job, and there are None To Be Had. Except marching in the military or on Capitol Hill, if my further ideas are followed...
Want health care reform from Capitol Hill?
Demand that all House members' insurance companies triple the deductibles on their state-of-the-art insurance policies, and limit the number of surgeries allowed for the next few years; totally exclude cosmetic surgeries and treatments, of course, and forget free meds and exotic cruises. And while you're at it, have the premiums auto-drafted from their paychecks from now on.
Want ethics and accountability to return to our nation's capital?
Then we'll have to kick out 98% of the bums on Capitol Hill, their staffers, aides, and favorite lobbyists - and sign up to serve ourselves, citizens of America!
But Senator Al Franken can stay (until he proves his metal) since he hasn't sat down at the trough just yet. And maybe Dennis Kucinich. I can't decide about him. Ron Paul, maybe. Not sure but probably. And keep a few junior ones who have yet to underwhelm us with their craven truckling to party bosses and poor judgments.
Thing is, since it was Capitol Hill denizens who dumped us into the crises in which we're now stewing (in collusion with their Wall Street buds), what makes them think the nation can afford them with their exalted lifestyles and their expensive ways? If we're looking for places to 'cut back' in the national budget, how about firing every one of the political culprits who helped cause it?
Washington Loves Ceremonies
I have yet to get a cost estimate on enough tar and feathers for the lot of them, but it couldn't be any higher than congressional paychecks, sell-outs, give-aways, and heistings, now could it?
Oh, and again I shall wish you a Happy 233rd birthday, America!
All the gold in Fort Knox may be pilfered away, but you don't look a day past 200. (Botox not covered, as above.)
Creeping round the White House
Wednesday Aternoon Update: found this on Helen Thomas, the repected White House reporter, who voiced her opinion on the White House's set-up questions and 'call-aheads' to alert reporters they'll be asking a question at an Obama presser, or in today's case, at a 'townhall meeting.'
You'll remember Bush's fear of Ms. Thomas who was put in the back row during the Bush-Cheney administration's pressers which often seemed to me to be sneakily embedded with softball questions that were set-up, if not called-ahead.
Above link contains a video of Ms. Thomas' comments which made W-H press secretary Robert Gibbs squirm, along with Chip Reid's complaints. Good.
Original post begins here:
Today NPR is reporting that the Obama administration is making the same argument in court that the Bush-Cheney administration made to keep secret the logs on who visits the White House.
The argument didn't go over well for Bush & Co. so it's a head-scratcher that Team Obama can't come up with a new reason with which to frustrate the American people and their expectation of a much more open government including what's really going on at what's supposedly our White Lodge...er, House.
Putting it down to 'campaign promises are hard to keep' doesn't work for me, does it work for you?
Perhaps they could set up a VIP Back Door For Slick Operators (aka, advisers, consultants, and special interest lobbyists) who come and go freely on the sly with their missions unknown but which have results we-the-people so often end up suffering from and, because of such secrecy, have trouble finding out the true source of our problems (which makes them impossible to repair.)
But let's leave all US sovereignty and Constitution underminers to walk in the Front Door with cameras flashing in their treasonous snoots.
There. I've said it.
Well, I'm still disappointed in the way 'open government' has turned out to be only a campaign promise that sounded at the time too good to be true to my suspicious astrologer's nature - and it was. And it is.
You'll remember Bush's fear of Ms. Thomas who was put in the back row during the Bush-Cheney administration's pressers which often seemed to me to be sneakily embedded with softball questions that were set-up, if not called-ahead.
Above link contains a video of Ms. Thomas' comments which made W-H press secretary Robert Gibbs squirm, along with Chip Reid's complaints. Good.
Original post begins here:
Today NPR is reporting that the Obama administration is making the same argument in court that the Bush-Cheney administration made to keep secret the logs on who visits the White House.
The argument didn't go over well for Bush & Co. so it's a head-scratcher that Team Obama can't come up with a new reason with which to frustrate the American people and their expectation of a much more open government including what's really going on at what's supposedly our White Lodge...er, House.
Putting it down to 'campaign promises are hard to keep' doesn't work for me, does it work for you?
Perhaps they could set up a VIP Back Door For Slick Operators (aka, advisers, consultants, and special interest lobbyists) who come and go freely on the sly with their missions unknown but which have results we-the-people so often end up suffering from and, because of such secrecy, have trouble finding out the true source of our problems (which makes them impossible to repair.)
But let's leave all US sovereignty and Constitution underminers to walk in the Front Door with cameras flashing in their treasonous snoots.
There. I've said it.
Well, I'm still disappointed in the way 'open government' has turned out to be only a campaign promise that sounded at the time too good to be true to my suspicious astrologer's nature - and it was. And it is.
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