google.com, pub-4599738212880558, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 google.com, pub-4599738212880558, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

Apr 27, 2009

In defense of the ultra-rich

Given the enormous income gap in America these days between worker and CEO, is it possible to defend the ultra-rich?

Update 11:09 am edt: this link I nabbed from a (Twitter) tweet by Ashton Kutcher detailing the UK's rich class who are suffering as well with few exceptions. Wonder what Mr. al Fayed knew and when did he know it?

Astrology of Apr 27 - May 2, 2009 and Pres Obama's chart

Astrologer Julie Demboski has amazed me again with her astrological overview of the upcoming week, so practical yet full of insight.

Julie is calling Apr 27 - May 2 a 'connector week' as we tidy up loose ends and ready for more excitement to come. May 1 is the day she pinpoints for lots happening and notes that a Water Grand Trine forms between Pallas, Earth, and Juno.

This Grand Trine will linger until May 8 so get ready for that. Ecology, environmentalism (Earth) and women's issues may be in the news if not in our hearts with Juno, the wife, and Pallas, the daughter, in the mix.

So What If a Grand Trine is Watery?

A Grand Trine in Water indicates great creativity as the collective unconscious is 'tapped' for inspiration and insight. Pallas' patterning ability and talent for strategizing and planning should give us time and the talent to ready ourselves for what's next on the drafting table - or perhaps for putting what's on the table into action or form, whichever applies.

Water Grand Trines tend to be passive, receptive, and contain the protective power of a trine aspect (120 degr.) Grand Trines are closed circuits of energies and with a Watery quality they have a soothing and tranquil flavor to them that a world in need of respite can appreciate. Either positively or negatively - depending on motives - subtle undercurrents (Water) are intuited (more Water - possibly psychic, are we?) and understood on useful levels of awareness.

The urge to action may be saved for a later agenda, however, and it's difficult to implement plans that haven't been made.

Julie also notes Mercury on the verge of stationing Rx in early Gemini (1Gem44) within 2 degrees of conjunction with Pres. Obama's natal Moon (3Gem21 in n 4th house.) Mercury-to-Moon transits indicate a time of unexpected or sudden contacts from others or of quickly deciding to take a trip. Information (Mercury) received concerns domestic issues (Moon) including real estate matters.

Yes, the real estate market is an obvious theme for the president now since it may not be going as well as the 'green shoots' theory would have us believe (see link to Mike Whitney's article in previous post.) And Mercury does rule reporters.

So if Mercury's Rx station doesn't place these domestic issues on the president's plate for consumption, he'll be snacking on and discussing them at length very soon - the Mercury Rx and Direct stations cross and re-cross Mr. Obama's natal IC which is the cusp of the 4th house of Home and Domestic Scene (using Aug 4, 1961 7:24 pm AHST Honolulu, Hawaii, for Pres. Obama....natal IC 28Tau54, with Inaugural Moon 2009 at his Midheaven.) The president will give a major address mid-week to mark his first 100 days - with address, review or overview all Mercury-related endeavors.

4th house also concerns mining and resources that come from the earth.

Plus, Pres. Obama's place of birth may be up for yet another review (Rx = re-view; birth certificate = Mercury; IC/4th house = family background), so don't be surprised if the subject turns up again in the news within the next few weeks.

Transiting Mercury turns Direct at the very end of May, then leaves its shadow period in mid-June when Mercurial things - agreements, contracts, meetings, agendas, communications, speeches, news, reports, and commerce/trade issues - can move forward again after May's Rx bog-downs and slo-mos.

More Mercurial influence on BHO's natal IC could result in home communications equipment needing replacement or upgrading, perhaps in the White House since that is now Mr. Obama's home.

Secondary Progressions = Evolutionary Progress:

Taking a quick look at the president's Secondary Progressions, I'll venture to say that he's in protect-own-position mode at the moment and that others are not cooperating as they should.

He may tend to over-extend himself for people who don't really deserve it (Sec Venus inconj Sec Jupiter) and the word 'patsy' comes to mind as others try to take credit for his ideas - or simply discount or undermine them. Seems to me the Oval Office has been overrun by corporate types since Inauguration 2009 but maybe that's only my opinion.

All in all, the upcoming week of Apr 27 - May 2, 2009 is a time to prepare for future busy-ness, craziness, and excitement, so let's make our bases as secure as possible yet relax a wee bit when we can snag ourselves a break!

Apr 26, 2009

Nader, Whitney, and Michael Hudson: financial truths

A bitter cud to chew? Perhaps they're pessimistic or perhaps they're realistic, but here's a financial article and video round-up for you:

No Light In The Tunnel A Housing Crash Update

By Mike Whitney

Why is the press misleading the public about housing? The housing market is crashing. There are no "green shoots" or "glimmers of hope"; the market is worn to a stump, it's kaput.


Where's My Change?

By Ralph Nader

The corporate chieftains have easy access to the White House and the new President, whether these bosses come on missions demanding power or missions of beggary for bailouts. When will he meet with the leading heads of consumer protection groups with millions of dues-paying members who could give him the base to hold accountable and regulate the democracy-denying, economy-wrecking corporate supremacists?



This Is A Must Listen:

The Financial Barbarians at the Gate: Guns & Butter Interviews financial economist and historian, Dr. Michael Hudson

The history of banking and the criminalization of the banking system; tax policy; real estate asset inflation; US imperialism via the monetary system; similarities with the Roman Republic; what measures labor should take.

A difference between Zionism and racism? video

What is the Difference Between Zionism and Racism? Video

BBC reporter for Newsnight, Jeremy Paxman grills the UK ambassador.

~:~

Astrologically, if we ask the Pluto-Chiron duo, very little difference since both are oppressive -isms...please see previous post of April 26 on the IMF protesters' arrests in Washington.

IMF protesters arrested in DC Apr 26, 2009: Pleiades implicated?

Police and protesters clashed at the IMF's Washington headquarters yesterday, Apr 25, 2009, with seven protesters arrested.

Hmm...is today's Sunset spectacle (see previous post below) - involving some difficult stars of the Pleiades cluster of seven stars - affecting the collective a day early? The IMF and World Bank were meeting to discuss a $55 billion infrastructure project for the 'developing world' as they're fond of saying, and using the current financial collapse (in which they are implicated) as cover and justification.

Sounds like more resource plundering on the way.

Saturday's protesters carried placards saying 'Capitalism in Crisis' and I'm not sure if anyone, financial experts included, could disagree with that. But vandalism at protests is never greeted happily so arrests were predictable. 'Plants' in the ranks of protesters are also possible, as I always remind myself in these cases.

One of the more famous 'cases' remains the 'Battle in Seattle' against the WTO (World Trade Organisation) in November-December of 1999. Lots of vandalism there by what looked to be planted operatives. Stuart Townsend did a great job directing the film, Battle in Seattle, worth a DVD viewing if you haven't. It contains actual footage as well.

Then there's a previous post from Feb 16, 2009, IMF plans proceed for martial law in the US, which may be even more specific to the protests against the IMF yesterday in our nation's capital.

And you know that the transiting midpoint of Pluto-Chiron is now conjunct US natal Pluto - or US Secondary Progressed Pluto, if you like - now progressed to a crisis-ridden 29th degree (of Capricorn.) Interestingly, the Sabian Symbol for America's natal Pluto degree is 'An Aviary' so I can't help it if I've been half-expecting a bird flu outbreak in the US. Looks like the pigs arrived first.

Yes, Pluto-Chiron is the '-isms' pair: fascism, statism, corporatism, racism, etc, plus disenfranchisement, primal violence, suffrage, etc, and, I suspect, the current outbreak of swine flu is somehow involved with Pluto-Chiron with Chiron relating to health as the Wound and the Wounded Healer, and Pluto playing his usual transformative games and secretly in control.

'Quarantine authority' is held at state and local levels, so stay aware, m'peops.

And since Pres. Obama left Mexico about 10 days ago, his health isn't expected to be in question relating to the current outbreak of swine flu.

That's good, because a US president spreading contagion of this kind would be even freakier than the usual swill coming out of Washington.

Apr 25, 2009

Finding birth data for Astrology charts

Frustratingly, I've just published a request from a reader asking if I have birth data for two people but without the name of the post the request was posted to, I'm not finding it to reply. So I will reply here along with some other blog-reading details for Stars Over Washington and for my other Blogger-hosted blogs.

When an 'actor' appears or gets busy on the world stage - or activates my conscious attention for some reason - my only source for birth data is to Google his/her name.

This usually results in a Wikipedia page concerning the person. If it is an especially famous person, I usually go with a Sun-to-Midheaven chart, but I also look at the Sunrise chart for the date of birth. No, I am not privy to birth records at hospitals since authorization would need to be given in writing in order to get the info - authorization by said person.

Or at least that's the way the law is in my region of the world.

Ex: to discover my own time of birth, I had to have my mother sign for her hospital records to be released to me since my own records - and birth certificate - neglected to list my birth time. Different states probably have different rules to make matters more complicated, but it does keep out the merely curious (supposedly.)

Occasionally a well-known historical figure will have biographical info online which mentions a time or approximate time of birth - 'shortly before sun up' and that sort of thing. And, of course, I often use Lois Rodden's excellent AstroDataBank resource which is now Open Source at Wikipedia but there is a limit on who is famous or important enough in the world to be included.

One other source for historical figures is the back of Marc Edmund Jones' The Sabian Symbols in Astrology (see book in the active Amazon Books ad in sidebar) and it sometimes surprises me who is listed - with a birth time!

But you, dear reader, asked me for data on contemporary individuals, and I suspect you'll find their dates and places of birth with but a click or two!

~:~

A 'mechanics of blogging' note: all my Blogger weblogs display better in my browser with IE (now using IE8.) And while I like Firefox, it seems to shove the sidebar content to the bottom of the page when I use it here - even if I publish using it; plus, Firefox overlaps ads, too. Not nice.

So it's up to you, of course, as to which browser you wish to use - and perhaps an upgrade may be in order - or a browser cache clean-out, if you have trouble viewing or reading these pages.

But if it's a matter of not understanding my blabs when I lapse into astrologese, or wondering what I'm up to with this grumpy political blog (crooked, greedy politicians make me very very grumpy), a fresh browser won't be of any help whatsoever, and I really don't know what to do with you.

Signed rather fitfully,

Jude, your reluctant astrologer

Update Apr 26 Sunday: Georgeann, I found your comment on a 2007 post and replied to it but with no more info than you see above. Thanks, Jude

Four other Blogger-hosted blogs:

Secret Moon Art;

Dreamyfish Art;

Cosmic Persona Designs (for age 17+ only);

Lim's Limericks (cat photos included along with Political Limericks of a groanworthy nature.)

And don't forget my Art~Astrology~Politics~Poetry 'tapestry blog' jude's threshold just because it's spun and woven together on WordPress!

Crescent Moon-Mercury-Pleiades stars conjoin at Sunset 4.26.09

Sunday, April 26, 2009 at Sunset, we will witness a conjunction of a silvery Crescent Moon, Mercury, and the stars of the Pleiades cluster.

For astrological details, and for SpaceWeather's information on this lovely celestial event, please click the above link where you'll also find a chance to sign the petition to release Roxanna Saberi from Iranian captivity, if you wish to but haven't signed as yet.

Perhaps the 'Images for Integration' for Sunday's Sun Taurus-Moon Gemini Earth-Air blend may be of interest since they possibly relate to current issues, events, and/or people...

'A wealthy publisher launches another new project...A scientist brilliantly discourses on the mysteries of nature (or the mysteries of swine flu and how it spreads? jc)...A sculptor carves the figure of a dancer (wonder if he's 'Dancing with the Stars'? jc)...A restaurateur earns a reputation for delicious souffles and meringues.'

Make mine chocolate!


('Sun Sign-Moon Sign' by Charles & Suzy Harvey.)

And here's a representation of a Crescent Moon for you...



Blue Trumpet Flower Under Crescent Moon drawing by Jude Cowell 2009+.

Apr 24, 2009

Mars squares Pluto April 27, 2009

From the first 2 to 3 degrees of Cardinal signs Aries (Mars) and Capricorn (Pluto) comes a transit that's hard for the collective to ignore: Mars square Pluto, an aspect that packs power and zeal into its suitcase of tricks, and even vengeful-when-scorned Venus is watching nearby.

My advice? Let the excellent Lynn Hayes explain all about it and follow the comments after her article for more info on this dynamic duo about to 'square off' with one another.

Reinhold Ebertin, in his book The Combination of Stellar Influences, gives Mars-Pluto when working together as: superhuman power; force; brutality.

Here are the correspondences as listed:

Psychological + - the ability to demonstrate extraordinary force and vigour; great self-confidence; great ambition; the obsession to work without any break. (That last may be meant for 'focused' bloggers of great intensity.)

negative expression: attainment of one's own objectives by means of ruthlessness to others; cruelty.

Biological - the replacement of natural organs and functions by artificial substitutes such as limbs, dentures; skull.

Sociological - piece-workers being paid for overtime work; great people in the sphere of sport; people disabled in war.

Probable manifestations + - attainment of success through excessive effort.

negative expression - the tendency to proceed in a brutal manner; the misfortune of having to suffer violent assaults, injuries.


Well, I don't like typing this info in, you know, but we may as well be aware of what Mars/Pluto's explosive energies are capable of effecting.

So let's create as many good things as we can and send out positive vibes into the environment ~ the universe ~ to offset the actions of those who are determined to be sociopathic chaos-creators toward society.

For my part this evening, I've been publishing new art images in one of my gallery collections, Cosmic Persona Designs for those of the 17+ persuasion. And you know something? It's only Art!