A link to WikiLeaks' "Afghan War Logs"

With a spirit of full disclosure concerning what the US government purports to be doing in my name, I'm posting the WikiLeaks Afghan War Diary 2004 - 2010 link which I had to switch to Firefox as my browser to obtain.

By the time you click to read what the Pentagon has been up to in this privatized-for-profit war in distant Holy Lands - the link may be broken, or links within the page may not be Live. The site may be taken down or otherwise sabotaged.

Therefore, you may wish to try The Guardian.

This will be primarily because the White House and the Pentagon are understandably upset that this massive information dump has occurred and as one of the Vietnam-era Flower Power Generation, perhaps I may be forgiven for remembering fondly Dr. Daniel Ellsberg and his leaking of The Pentagon Papers which helped mightily to change the debate on the Vietnam War, eventually ending US aggression.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has compared the leaking of The Pentagon Papers with the documents he has recently released on his site and - weeks ago - made available to 3 newspapers including The Guardian and Der Spiel.

Yet it seems that so far, the White House isn't 'challenging the veracity' of some of the reports such as the info on Pakistan's ISI spy service working and planning with the Taliban while the Pakistani government facetiously takes billions of dollars of 'aid' from American coffers to allegedly 'fight' the Taliban.

It is said that the newspapers' publishing of the 'Afghan War Logs' have been coordinated with WikiLeaks. This may be considered an 'attack' on the White House and Pentagon - on the nation, actually. The 'national security' card is already being played and will win out, I suppose.

Well! It seems that Sunday evening's Full Moon @ 3AQ00 has brought to light many transgressions which are unavoidable in war. These Bush-Cheney wars were, however, completely avoidable in both cases as they were neocon warhawk wars of choice.

President Obama has so far stuck with the set course toward imperialism and plunder.

My previous post mentions that the Full Moon of July 25, 2010 is/was a Buck Moon, and I wondered where the 'buck stops'...turns out, the buck stops with America and is driven by our government's unquenchable thirst for more power, more resources, more territory, and more wealth.

Even if these things belong to someone else.

Shame.

It's win-at-any-cost and might-makes-right as the tattered, threadbare cap knit together by strands of 'spreading democracy and freedom' is rent now in two and the freedom bells ring hollow in the United States of America this morning.

Surely there can be no going back. Is this An Awakening, perhaps? Out of the slumber of war?

For me there is no patriotic flag large enough to cover the hypocrisy and the out and out criminality of what the American government has perpetrated in Afghanistan and Iraq - in my name.

And my horror includes the idea that it may be my own government whose finger-on-The-Button is most worrisome in this dangerous world where Niobe's Plea too often goes ignored by cynical idealogues who plot against little children while remaining so very far above the fray.



Niobe's Plea is imported from Cosmic Persona Designs (for 17+ only, for Chiffonery Art is involved.)

The Niobe archetype in Myth and Astrology: the grieving mother; this includes Ecology and Eco-Awareness of our living, breathing Mother Earth.

Aquarius Full Moon of the Buck: July 25, 2010

The Full Moon 3AQ00 on July 25, 2010 @ 9:37 pm edt is an annual Buck Moon and my friend C.J. Wright, author of the wonderful Auntie Moon blog, has published an excellent article telling us how to read a Full Moon in relation to our personal horoscopes.

Check out C.J.'s Full Moon in Aquarius: Feel Like Bucking the System? for details. For where better to go for lunation information than from Auntie Moon herself? ;p

In Washington, they like to say The Buck Stops Here whether they mean it or not. (And yes, it's usually just a political slogan trotted out when expedient.)

But where will the buck stop in your chart for July-August 2010? If you know where '3AQ' falls, there you'll find you inner lunar Bambi! (Mine's in 5th house and I'm still feeling traumatized by a childhood viewing of Disney's film Bambi.)

Now in the Inauguration 2009 horoscope for President Obama, '3AQ' was inhabited by a 10th house Jupiter, planet of big bucks, bankers, The General, professors, gurus and yogis, priests, and Republicans.

If we look to the Sabian Symbols for clues to 2010's Buck Moon we find that:

'3AQ" = "A Deserter from the Navy"...'Keynote: The individual's self-realization through a crucial repudiation of a collective status which has become unbearable. (Rudhyar, An Astrological Mandala.)

(My italics in memory of that great Shakespearian bard, Sarah Palin.)

Dane Rudhyar goes on to explain this degree as: 'Something with collective social value is being potentially destroyed, but nature is not the destroyer. Man, the individual, steps out of his bondage to collective patterns and ideals. He may "find himself" by means of a sharp renunciation of his social birthright, i.e. by a crucial process of DESOCIALIZATION.'

Well, many things of collective social value have been and are in process of being destroyed with the collusion of many entities and forces as big industry titans like BP Oil execs seem to have forgotten their own social birthrights as part of the human race. This makes the exploitation of the natural world and of their fellow man more palatable and must in part account for their ability to sleep at night and face themselves in mirrors next morning, imho. (Vampirism notwithstanding.)

Then, if you prefer the rounding-up method for the symbols, there's '4AQ" which may relate more to Inugural 2009 Jupiter 3AQ32 - and this is also Jupiter's position in the natal chart of Bavarian Iluminati founder, *Adam Weishaupt:

'4AQ" = "A Hindu Yogi Demonstrates His Healing Powers"...'Keynote: The disciplined use of spiritual energies in restoring the natural harmony disturbed by man's inharmonic attempts to transcend nature through mind.

It is the spiritual duty of individuals who have been able to tap the vast reservoir of spiritual forces pervading our planet to use these energies for healing their less-fortunate comrades. (...)

Self-discipline, purity of motive, compassion, faith in the divine order are required--and the FOCUSING OF SPIRITUAL ENERGY.'

(My bold in honor of Inaugural Jupiter 2009.)

May people of good faith take the lead in focusing of spiritual energy and thereby put the dark forces behind us, forces which intend only ill for all mankind...even the power elite who imagine themselves above such mundane considerations.

~:~

*Read more on the Astrology of Adam Weishaupt's Illuminati here.

A Blog Note: this Buck Moon weekend will be sparse in the blogging department as I work to complete an article for a certain online magazine. For those with an interest in using the lens of Astrology to look at US history and its effects on the future of America, I hope you'll be open to checking it out. But for now, the article is To Be Announced.

Now here's one of my favorite Full Moon drawings to wish you a Happy Buck Moon!



Full Moon Shining Across the Lake, copyright 2010.

~:~

Brief Update 7.24.10: NPR's book review feature this morning with Scott Simon made a rare mention of author, Pearl S. Buck. The mention seemed of interest to me for Sunday's Buck Moon though one occasionally hears of a long-ago lady author who lived in China until 1934 and used her experience to write her classic novel The Good Earth with a rousingly affectionate and loving description of Chinese peasants and a perfectly rhythmed writing cadence. The novel was a best-seller in 1931 and 1932; it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932.

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck was a prolific literary genius yet her work has been overlooked by cultural gatekeeprs as this article points out and thus is seldom recommended.

Yet Buck was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1938) and her multiple works of fiction and non-fiction are worth a look from later generations. It's been later than her heyday and in our own times that feminism has successfully been diluted and given a black eye.

Those with short attention spans might better enjoy reading her short stories!

Is Obama a threat to Social Security benefits?

Can't resist posting this link so I'll know where to find it myself - it's an interview between Amy Goodman and Dean Baker concerning what's going on with current threats to Social Security by the Obama administration.

And no, I've never considered SS an 'entitlement' program especially since those of us who are self-employed have paid 100% of these taxes through the years and stupidly trusted the US gov to keep their dirty paws off it. Lockbox, schmockbox.

If SS benefits are cut and the retirement age is raised to 70 (who wants a 70-year old worker?! who???) then it will be yet another case of robbery perpetrated upon the under fire American people by their own government, or by tamping down on the government's years of wastefulness by the strong-arming from foreign entities and global fraudsters.

Now who can miss it?

Financial Collapse 2008 was engineered to make the rich richer while starving state, local, and national budgets so that an end to FDR's New Deal programs of what the rich among us call 'entitlements' (not always the correct term to describe what they want to steal) will be accepted by the general population as being 'necessary'.

Riling us up now, aren't they?

Financial Reform Bill signed

President Obama signed into law today his Financial Reform Bill @ 11:48 am edt White House, DC; Hour of Mars; chart-ruler Venus 12Vir25 is in 12th house and makes one major applying aspect (how things will proceed): a square with the Moon (the people); US natal Saturn 14Lib48 is our first natal planet to rise.

Here you see the Horoscope of the Financial Reform Bill signing, aka 'Wall Street Reform' (and thus this horoscope is the natal chart of the bill itself) but we'll have to keep the Wall Street potential for ethics improvement in mind as things go forward:



With separative South Node of the Moon at Mc (The Goal Point), Fixed Star Alhena (to have a mission) at Mc, and the above-mentioned Moon/Venus square, I don't expect the bill to garner much support from the American people especially with the constant and tiresome undermining from the opposing political party whose determination to cause Obama's failure as President affects America the Nation's failing or succeeding as well.

A good point is that the housing market may receive a boost from having NN at IC, the cusp of Home, Domestic Scene, and Real Estate. Yet there is lurking Pluto 3Cap28 Rx in the neighborhood (3rd house) focal planet in a midpoint picture:

Uranus/ASC = Pluto: use of force; a desire to attain success even under the most difficult circumstances; commanding success. There's a midpoint of energies opposing Mercury 20Leo55, planet of contracts and such...the combo = radical reforms; reformist policital groups.

Uranus/NN = Mercury: studying deeply before effecting change; a quick comprehension of things; excited thoughts shared with others; fast-traveling news; criticizing others. (Tyl; Ebertin; Munkasey; any, all, or none may apply.)

Another picture of interest: Mercury/Mc = Sun: further change.

If you count the ASC and MC, there's a Cardinal Grand Cross with the big bankster duo, Jupiter and Pluto which are squared to the degree (3Ari/Cap.)

A YOD between Sun/Saturn (sextiling one another still but just barely since Saturn changed signs) was pointing to an apex Neptune but now points to a crisis-ridden 29th degree: Chiron 29AQ57 Rx in 5th house of Gambling and Speculation.

And as you see, the ongoing opposition of wealthy, secretive Pluto to US natal Venus is on the Mc/Ic axis, the security/career axis - not a good portent for the signing, imho, yet it is one of the many reasons that reform is necessary.

SN at Mc has this Sabian Symbol: '12Can' = "A Chinese Woman Nursing a Baby with a Message" - and you know, this isn't the first time in recent weeks that a reference to China turned up in a US mundane chart, for obvious reasons: China is our #1 creditor, and Pluto the Dragon echoes China's national and traditional archetype of The Dragon. So, the Dragon it is, opposing our evaluating Venus, one of the money planets. Our n Jupiter is within orb of Pluto's opposition, too. Double dip recession?

(Also, Venus is a significator of our Statue of Liberty made of her favorite metal, copper, which today was evacuated for supposedly an incorrect smoke detector reading. None were hurt, I believe, except for the long stair hike down. Hmm...)

Sun (the leader) 28Can47 in 10th house, a bright and shiny place, yet Sun opposes US natal Pluto (in the 4th house of this chart' US natal planets are scribbled outside the chart in red) which indicates that others will firmly stand in one's way when trying to get to the bottom of things. If this bill is a power play, it won't work as far as secret hand Pluto is concerned. As a power move against the American people, it will be blocked or resisted but is now on track to be ruthlessly forced upon us, unintended consequences, or no.

Additionally with Sun opposing our national Pluto, others may be jealous or intimidated by the events of the day, by the power wielded by the President.

Be that as it may or may not be, today Mr. Obama got to play boss and sign another large piece of legislation - and the DOW closed down this afternoon 109 points.

Perhaps Wall Street is pouting. Someone is trying to take away their red truck and they only have 1,000-gazillion-bazillion blue ones, boo hoo.

Plus, there are interesting items tucked into the new reform bill (one concerns Jim McDermott's 'conflict mineral' provision) and many specifics are not yet written - guess they're still in the 'vision' stage - but not to fret. For hordes of lobbyists are already on Capitol Hill and working to sway how the specifics are written in favor of the financial, real estate, and insurance industries.

Meanwhile, the careless-with-oversight ratings agencies (S&P, Moody's, and Fitch) are up to shenanigans, too, concerning the bond markets. Seems they're afraid they could get themselves sued. Oh really? Integrity in one's business doesn't often lead to getting sued, my financial friends! Oh ye Ponzi-enablers!

Oh, and transiting Saturn 00Lib00 conjoins US natal Mc 00:53 in the Sibly chart, and opposes more closely tr Uranus 00Ari29 Rx, both planets now in Cardinal (active, outgoing energy.) Jupiter 3Ari24 Rx travels in tandem with Hermes, one of trickster archetypes...aka, the magician or alchemist.

Speaking of alchemy, I wonder if anyone has spotted in the bill provisions that concern gold or the gold market? Plus, tr Midas 8Gem53 (conjunct US n Uranus 8:55) and Pan, another trickster element with a 'panic' vibe @ 7Gem43 - both opposing the people's Moon in Sagittarius.

So please click to enlarge the image for more details, consider this horoscope and the situation as you will, and get back to me with a comment, if you may, because LINK TV is rebroadcasting Orwell Rolls in His Grave right now, a documentary about media being part of the problem rather than being the public watchdogs that Thomas Jefferson thought they'd always be on behalf of the American people.

But instead, the mainstream media obfuscates issues, focuses on trivial stories, and blurs the line between news and entertainment. Is the future of this nation and our children's futures only 'entertainment'?!? (See link below for news of real value with no fluff; check local listings for regional times. In edt, Amy Goodman broadcasts at 11:00 am weekdays.)

All these class warfare 'players' are part of a global crime syndicate, and have weakened our democracy over decades. And I fear that we haven't held on to our republic very well either.

DemocracyNow!


President Obama's remarks at signing ceremony July 21, 2010:

Over the past two years, we have faced the worst recession since the Great Depression. Eight million people lost their jobs. Tens of millions saw the value of their homes and retirement savings plummet. Countless businesses have been unable to get the loans they need and many have been forced to shut their doors. And although the economy is growing again, too many people are still feeling the pain of the downturn.

Now, while a number of factors led to such a severe recession, the primary cause was a breakdown in our financial system. It was a crisis born of a failure of responsibility from certain corners of Wall Street to the halls of power in Washington. For years, our financial sector was governed by antiquated and poorly enforced rules that allowed some to game the system and take risks that endangered the entire economy.


Unscrupulous lenders locked consumers into complex loans with hidden costs. Firms like AIG placed massive, risky bets with borrowed money. And while the rules left abuse and excess unchecked, they also left taxpayers on the hook if a big bank or financial institution ever failed.

Now, even before the crisis hit, I went to Wall Street and I called for common-sense reforms to protect consumers and our economy as a whole. And soon after taking office, I proposed a set of reforms to empower consumers and investors, to bring the shadowy deals that caused this crisis into the light of day, and to put a stop to taxpayer bailouts once and for all. (Applause.) Today, thanks to a lot of people in this room, those reforms will become the law of the land.


Passing this bill was no easy task. To get there, we had to overcome the furious lobbying of an array of powerful interest groups and a partisan minority determined to block change. So the members who are here today, both on the stage and in the audience, they have done a great service in devoting so much time and expertise to this effort, to looking out for the public interests and not the special interests. (Applause.) And I also want to thank the three Republican senators who put partisanship aside -- (applause) -- judged this bill on the merits, and voted for reform. We’re grateful to them. (Applause.) And the Republican House members. (Applause.) Good to see you, Joe. (Applause.)

Now, let’s put this in perspective. The fact is, the financial industry is central to our nation’s ability to grow, to prosper, to compete and to innovate. There are a lot of banks that understand and fulfill this vital role, and there are a whole lot of bankers who want to do right -- and do right -- by their customers. This reform will help foster innovation, not hamper it. It is designed to make sure that everybody follows the same set of rules, so that firms compete on price and quality, not on tricks and not on traps.

With this law, we’ll crack down on abusive practices in the mortgage industry. We’ll make sure that contracts are simpler -– putting an end to many hidden penalties and fees in complex mortgages -– so folks know what they’re signing.

With this law, students who take out college loans will be provided clear and concise information about their obligations.

And with this law, ordinary investors -– like seniors and folks saving for retirement –- will be able to receive more information about the costs and risks of mutual funds and other investment products, so that they can make better financial decisions as to what will work for them.

So, all told, these reforms represent the strongest consumer financial protections in history. (Applause.) In history. And these protections will be enforced by a new consumer watchdog with just one job: looking out for people -– not big banks, not lenders, not investment houses -– looking out for people as they interact with the financial system.

In the end, our financial system only works –- our market is only free –- when there are clear rules and basic safeguards that prevent abuse, that check excess, that ensure that it is more profitable to play by the rules than to game the system. And that’s what these reforms are designed to achieve -- no more, no less. Because that’s how we will ensure that our economy works for consumers, that it works for investors, that it works for financial institutions -– that it works for all of us.

This is the central lesson not only of this crisis but of our history. Ultimately, there’s no dividing line between Main Street and Wall Street. We rise or fall together as one nation. So these reforms will help lift our economy and lead all of us to a stronger, more prosperous future.

PASS unemployment benefits extension so that...

...people can pay for their internet service so they can apply online and fill their gas tanks to drive to interviews if they should be so fortunate as to find an interview to show up for.

Is this rocket science?

Every member of Congress who votes against the extension this afternoon is welcome to forfeit their paychecks (compliments of the American people) for the next three years to 'pay for' the benefits. Sunset tax cuts for the rich for now, for tax cuts will surely come again when they can be afforded. If tax cuts for the wealthy really did 'trickle down' to the piggybanks of the masses we'd have experienced it before now.

Cut military spending and bring America home and don't just talk about it.

Making the President 'look bad' is making the GOP look like the tightfisted, overpaid lackeys of industry that they are. How to look worse than a Democrat in Congress is to look just like an Oilcan Harry Republican twirling his moustaches with glee at the thought of cutting the American people's social net out of the financial picture entirely.

Without extension of unemployment benefits for the chronically unemployed? Can forcing unemployed workers onto welfare rolls (as if there's room in most states) be an improvement over putting benefits money into the economy where people will spend it in their local economies? Why, it's almost as if Republicans, along with mouthpiece Rush Limbaugh, want the American people to fail! As if we-the-people haven't been punished enough for Financial Collapse 2008 which rich banksters and others engineered and grossly profited from!

Well, big business Scorpio rises this afternoon when the benefits extension vote is scheduled for around 2:30 pm edt (after Senator Robert Byrd's seat is spoken for by Mr. Goodwin @ 2:15 pm w/ Sco rising then, too) and chart-ruler Mars makes two applying aspects: Mr. Testosterone conjuncts Saturn in Virgo, then opposes Uranus in Aries (ruled by Mars) at a Mars Hour of energy, action, and quarrels.

Mars (one of the two primary timers in Astrology, the Moon being the other) sets off the ongoing stand-off (opposition) between progressive Uranus and status quo Saturn, and aspect of relationship and awareness which perfects on July 26, 2010 @ 1:07 pm edt.

Meanwhile, the Moon 28Sco (we-the-people) approaches her Return to our Inaugural Moon 2009 @ 29Sco45 and for the vote today, Luna sits atop the natal Midheaven of President Barack Obama and is in first house, a good portent.

Now we know one thing that was indicated on Jan 20, 2009 by our crisis-degreed and critical Inaugural Moon...today's critical vote for the people or against the people. Can Congress rise to the test?

Yes, this is proving to be an interesting, eventful week overhead and down below and if I didn't have an insurance adjuster pulling up in the driveway right now (to view storm damage from two nights ago), I'd fuss about it some more...later...

Update 7.20.10 3:36 pm edt: the vote in favor was a predictable 60 to 40.

Today's news mirrors US Sec Mars Rx: Troops to the Border July 19, 2010

This is off CNN's Political Ticker: Obama to Deploy National Guard Troops to Protect Border, and even to this dissenting American this news sounds like it could be a good thing. Right?

Since 2006, America's Mars from 1776 21Gem+ has been in retrograde condition for the first time in US history. It will continue to be Rx for about 76 years more and many astrologers including this particular novice have written all over the worldwide web on the meaning and implications of such an astrological event.

(Sec Mars Rx also occurred for Germany but never mind that now - let's not talk specifically about Nazis. And remember that US Sec Mars Rx occurred in 2006 during Bush's watch.)

Our national Mars turned inward

Such phrases as 'police state' 'martial law' 'terrorist activities in the homeland' 'weakened military forces' and others have escaped this keyboard prior to this moment, and of course, National Guard and police deployments and actions in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (and any other natural disasters before and since) come under the purview of our Sec Rx Station of 2006 since our Sec Mars was on or within orb of his stationing degree beginning about a year earlier.

When a Direct planet turns Rx by progression, inward turning and re-evaluation occur. With Mars, it's inward action, too...troops to the border, arrests of protesters, citizens imprisoned, wounded and deceased soldiers returning home, etc.

So now, President Obama is militarizing the US-Mexico border more than it already is. Expecting more attacks from that direction, are we? Or from inside the US? From both, I suspect.

Well, perhaps the President has recalled that today is the 83rd anniversary of the Zimmerman telegram, the leak of which helped to finagle a formerly peaceful America into joining in The Great War to End All Wars; aka, WWI. The communique promised help with taking back US territories on behalf of Mexico. And the BP-Gulf Oil fiasco chart has rebellious Hidalgo rising! Hello?

Asteroid Hidalgo is in the 'power' group of archetypes, as you know.

So the horrors of WWI denuded the US of its 'romance of war' illusion yet we've been fighting ever since. But now we act with our nation's inner-directed Sec Mars Rx while the melee is brought to our very doors. If Mars Rx results in further review of our Middle Eastern occupations/withdrawals, that would be a good outcome of its Rx state though I must say that the increase of agencies now making up a gargantuan Department of (the German-sounding) 'Homeland Security', and this could be considered an early manifestation of US Sec Mars Rx.

Now it comes out that HoSec is too big to adequately succeed and US Sec Rx Mars may be one of the culprits.

There's too much redundancy within the bowels of the behemoth, with lots of computers for hackers to trouble, and a right-hand-doesn't-know-what-the-left-hand=is-doing vibe, a ploy so handy when cover-ups are needed for a government founded with a deceitful and/or confused Mars/Neptune square.

Even the Washington Post is calling us Top Secret America, for HoSec is a wasteful boondoggle and bottomless pit in the money department, too. Never-ending war and HoSec? No wonder America is bankrupt.

So it seems to me that withdrawal of US troops will have to happen at some point soon (and best before they're stranded in foreign lands with UN "peacekeepers" morphing into the Army du Jour.)

No matter your Politics about war, you feel it, don't you?

Now you may wish to read more on US Sec Mars Rx in a post from 2007 (pre-financial-collapse; no edits) including the god of war's Secondary Progressed Sabian Symbols for his Rx Station/current positions @ '18Lib' and '19Lib' - both very enlightening word pictures for New Millennial Politics and for the 5-pointed Pentagram, the military arm of Washington DC (aka, the Pentagon) which, with other agencies both secretive and otherwise, enables America's imperialistic march toward global governance.

Billion-dollar 'aid package' to Pakistan but no unemployment extension for US workers?

Any US taxpayers feeling hoodwinked yet?

Clinton Unveils New Aid Projects in Pakistan Visit but meanwhile on Capitol Hill, it's dandy fine if Americans do without jobs, mortgage payments, food, and the basic stuff of life.

Doesn't the government of Pakistan have any billions of its own with which to build "hospitals"? Perhaps they tucked back a few coins out of the veiled billions we've generously sent them through the years from our now-empty piggy banks?

Well, you know what they say...troubles are often self-created. And the nuclear monster that at first must have seemed like quite a genie was let out of the bottle by none other than the US government with the enabling of German scientists and others.

So as usual, the American people and their resources are being held hostage to the fallacy of 'national security' which works when either money or liberty are extorted in an elusive exchange for our imagined safety when really, the only things we can count on anymore from our own government are lies, obfuscations, fraud, extortion, and false flag ops waged against we-the-people, often mounted in order to emotionally manipulate us into fighting imperialist wars.

Once central banks allowed foreign investors into the American hen house, I suppose our trajectory was set (downward.) The outcome has now become clear to those who read the signpost at the crossroads.

But I can still feel steamed over it all, can't I? Sir Francis Bacon, Adam Weishaupt, and their Illuminati ilk can take a hike if they like. I wish they would. And leave decent people alone.

For as British PM Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881) penned in his novel Coningsby, the New Generation (and notice it's a 'new generation' similar to what the power elite tout openly now as a 'new international world order' - whether average Joes and Jills want it or not, here 'it' comes.)

"For you see, the world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes."

Astrologically, that's a perfect reference to 12th house activities ans secret deals behind the door as discerning planets in 12th house, especially the Sun, ought to know. 12th house involvements in Mundane Astrology = Politics.

And now for a few more grumpily typed words on the November 2010 midterm elections:

Republicans? Really? You want to reward the GOP for 8 years of Bush-Cheney policies that led to Financial Collapse 2008? Really? Whose team are you batting for? No, I don't care much for Dems either but the ruling class has us by the nape of our necks and I'm still growling over the Bush-Cheney crime spree brought upon our nation in coup-like fashion by a complicit SCOTUS.

If you'll remember, it took the attacks of 9/11/01 for the general population to stop questioning the legitimacy of the Bush-Cheney regime which so soon turned into a nightmare of loss, death, and war. Not an accident, that. Bullhorns for democracy! Export freedom with each bomb! Appeal to the emotions of the American people and they'll fight any way, any one, any time. It's been proven effective, say the marketers!

So November 2, 2010 will arrive before we can wink twice. Don't forget to vote. Even though we know that the old truism he who counts the vote decides the winner was never more obvious or applicable than it is in the New Millennium, yet we must not stay home on election day! On any election day.

This morning Cokie Roberts said on NPR that the GOP hope to turn the Gulf Oil Disaster into a political disaster for the Democrats. (Never mind the cynicism of that stance!) One assumes that the fact that President Obama has taken a lot of BP's cash will help the GOP with the ploy. Republican leader Mitch McConnell says it took the administration '70 days' to order skimmers sent to the Gulf as if that were all the White House was up to in the interim.

Well, whoever advised the President himself not to rush to the Gulf Coast asap after the April 20 catastrophe gave him bad advice in the public relations department. But that's smoke and mirrors, too, for with Mr. Obama's walk-on-water status now sunk, was he expected to ankle his way out to the Deepwater Horizon rig and patch things up with a bunch of presidential duct tape?

For Hurricane Katrina, Bush was in Texas eating birthday cake with John McCain, blithely unaware of, or uncaring about, the suffering occurring in the Gulf Coast region. It always seemed to me that these operatives of the GOP were celebrating more than McCain's birthday but maybe that was only me.

Yet be all that as it may...reward 8 years of Bush-Cheney policies with a majority in the November 2010 midterms?

Really?

Well, if the Republican Party does take more seats than Dem candidates or incumbents in November 2010 it will result in more of the blind-leading-the-blind sort of governing with the R Party being past their Secondary Progressed Full Moon (12Gem08) of February 18, 2005 but not by much - they're now in the Disseminating phase as of March 19, 2009 and puttin' out the White House jibes and as much misinformation as they can get away with and will help them claw their way up, as they think. But their party's Sec Full Moon is past culminating stage so party bigwigs won't be shining as they'd like even if a rout occurs this November yet they can still do much damage to this country from whatever foxhole they shoot from.

Like Bush-Cheney invading Iraq under a retrograde Jupiter (the General) - starting a war from weakness, not strength - we may expect the obstruct-Dems-at-all-costs party of the GOP (or BOP, if you prefer to add Big Oil to their name - I forgive you if you do) we may expect that a Republican majority in House (or in Senate) will govern from a weakened position if they win which, as we've seen, effectively stalls legislation proposed on behalf of all but the rich and mighty whose handmaidens serve behind-the-scenes masters on Capitol Hill and whose true identities are other than they appear.

Quake hits DC but Obama doesn't 'feel it' (an astro-peek)

When asked, President Obama said he 'didn't feel' the quake Friday morning yet some in DC definitely did feel it.

The LAT published a feature on the 3.6-magnitude earthquake that shook parts of Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and Delaware on Friday July 16, 2010 @ 5:04 am edt according to a lady near Gaithersburg MD, the center of the action.

And this, coming a mere 4 days after CNN/Money Magazine again named the town a 'Best City' so I guess this shows that pride can indeed come before an earthquake wakes you up way early in the morning and leaves you wondering what just happened.

Well, if you're the type to look for synchronicities, you might be wondering if politically, those in the White House should have felt it especially with November midterms 2010 coming up. Or perhaps should I say, admitted to feeling it.

Mr. Obama's scheduled 'run for it' weekend vacation with the family unit is certainly not seen by this reluctant astrologer as in any way connected to what a quake-feeler in MD described as "really loud" and "like a plane flying really low."

If on another level Air Force One is flying really low these days it is to be expected. The Gibbs-on-Meet-the-Press brouhaha of this last week seemed on the vicious, if threadbare, side but the BOP (Big Oil Party) made the most of it. Yes, I like that nickname for them. It fits, yet we mustn't leave out Big Oil's Dem donation recipients including the President.

On MTP last Sunday, Mr. Gibbs said that there were enough seats in play for the GOP to gain control, not that they would, but that (in other words) it is mathematically possible. At least, that's what I heard him say as it was broadcasted. A red herring, perhaps, but there it is. Follow its fishy scent to the exclusion of more important matters and events, if you wish, yet it's all political theater, dahlink.

An Astro-Peek at the DC/MD Quake of July 16, 2010

With 11Can57 @ ASC (July 16, 2010 5:04 am edt White House) and South Node rising (a Saturnian point of separation which so recently conjoined US natal Sun and thus, caused problems for Mr. Obama as 'the leader') we may also expect that the July 11, 2010 Solar Eclipse @ 19Can24 (which is also rising in the quake chart) to have a connection to the experience of an earhtquake since quakes and other natural disasters are often heralded by eclipses (as noted through the cneturies; a tragic example for the people of China is the Solar Eclipse of August 1, 2008 occurring at the start of the Beijing Olympics, with George Bush in attendance.)

After all, the time of a quake 'marks' a specific moment in time for we may set up a horoscope when then acts as a transit chart if nothing else - a snapshot of a moment in time for a particular location.

It's an Hour of Venus yet the chart-ruler is the 4th house angular Moon 26Vir48 (Virgo, an earth sign) with Mars 21Vir50 angular from the 3rd house (the neighborhood); Saturn, ruler of soil and tectonic plates, is at a critical degree: 29Vir36 in 4th house. The trio of Mars, Moon, and Saturn are indicative of heat, movement, fluctuating conditions, and pressure in the earth.

Chart-ruler Moon makes six applying aspects in the Quake chart and all I can do at this moment is list them chronologically for you:

1. semisquare Mercury 12Leo15, 2nd house, 0A27, conjunct Mr. Obama's natal Sun);
2. incojunct Neptune 28AQ11 Rx, 9th house, 1A23; Neptune is still within orb of most positions for US natal Moon (we-the-people if you use July 4, 1776 with n Moon in the 18AQ - 28AQ range);
3. conjunct Saturn 2A48;
4. opposite Uranus 00Ari33 Rx, 3A45 (associated with sudden natural events and disruptions), 3A45;
5. opposite Jupiter 6A31;
6. square Pluto 3Cap36 Rx in 6th house with NN 11Cap54, 6A48.

There may be aftershocks for up to approximately two weeks which may well be described in the Quake chart by the Moon's applying aspects which give a sort of timeframe. Ex: '6A48' can show 6+ seconds, minutes, days, weeks, etc. Potentially, Luna's symbolic conjunction with Saturn @ 2:48 and almost simultaneous opposition to Uranus are the last of the aftershock considerations within the timeframe of this chart, we hope.

And the Quake Moon actually joins in with the difficult Cardinal T-Square energies but not at precise degrees, for opposing Jupiter 3Ar19 and Uranus 00Ari33 Rx, both in 10th house and both relating to large events of a scientific, traveling, or lucky break nature (a brief respite in Maine for the Obamas?), testifies as to the 'mild' nature of the July 16 quake.

Both Jupiter and Uranus are ruled by an angular, incendiary Mars; Saturn may be considered angular as well so we have not one nor two, but three bodies which when angular can lead to big events and sudden manifestations. And when Mars and Saturn enter Cardinal Libra, the fur (political, social, physical, legal) may really begin to fly as their square to Pluto blocks - or perhaps blindsides - their energies; Pluto is in his ongoing transits of US natal Venus and natal Jupiter - personally, if I were involved closely in the stand-off Cardinal T-Square affecting world governments and populations, I'd flee far away, too, if I could.

Well, here we have a particular location - the White House - the construction of which must be braced up and lined extremely well not to have allowed its inhabitants to notice a 3.6-magnitude quake that reportedly jolted some folk from their beds. Maybe someone in the White House was advised not to mention it for its comedic implications abound.

President Obama's Mars Return July 17, 2010 w/ Quake Horoscope

An interesting factor for the President is that today, July 17, 2010, has brought him a newly arrived Mars Return (22Vir35; conjunct US natal Neptune), a new cycle of activity which gives a timed horoscope 'good for' Mars' two-year cycle (using BHO's natal chart set for 7:24 pm AHST on August 4, 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii.)

And with Quake Mercury 12Leo15 conjoined the President's natal Sun, it is rather difficult to believe that Mr. President didn't 'feel it' especially being such an aware, astute kind of guy and all. If still abed, it seems like someone would have awakened him from his slumbers. But perhaps he's grumpy in the morning.

So all this stuff causes the sass in me to wonder if an astro-someone advised Mr. Obama to travel elsewhere (leaving the White House yesterday) in order to re-locate his Mars Return 2010 which occurred today, Saturday, @ 11:11:54 am edt in Maine (and in DC)...does re-location result in a more positive chart?

When set for the White House, his Mars Return 2010 shows crisis-degreed Saturn 29Vir42 about to rise (ASC27Vir00); in Maine the ASC degree has entered early Libra so Saturn is just risen (and 'behind' him) leaving Moon 14Lib42 the only inhabitant in the 1st house, a much more fortunate portent; the July 11, 2010 Solar Eclipse in 1st house can be either positive, negative, or both but it's flavor is 'things at first seem worse, then clear with successful outcomes'. Could be worse!

However, Mars rises with Fixed Star Denebola, keywords: to go against society; to go against the mainstream, and in Maine ('maine-stream'?) puppetmaster Pluto is conjunct the Foundation of the Matter, the Ic, with US natal Venus and Jupiter at Midheaven.

Senator Nelson on the BP Oil fiasco (video); Hidalgo will return

Here Senator Bill Nelson speaks about reports of oil seeping from the Gulf of Mexico seabed and the possibility that BP's well casing may be pierced.

Today asteroid Eros (a piercing) is @ 13Vir18, Panacea (is the newly positioned 'tight-fitting ' cap but a panacea?) 29Vir17, a critical degree conjunct Saturn, planet of delay and restriction, and Hidalgo 23Sco09 is Rx indicating that this rebellious asteroid of power will be returning to its position in the April 20, 2010 blowout chart (ASC 1Sag23) where it arose a few minutes before 10:00 pm edt, the stated time that explosions and fire erupted.

The Mexican Independence horoscope is included in the post.

And yes, I do still think it is significant to this ongoing Gulf Coast environmental disaster that asteroid Hidalgo is named after the Priest Miguel Hidalgo who rang the church bell to signal the start of the Mexican Revolution on September 15, 1810.

Actually, the situation reminds me as well of the proposals made in the Zimmerman telegram, a coded communique in which Germany proposed the winning back of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona on behalf of Mexico. The telegram's perfectly timed exposure was one factor that led the US into WWI, so we see that the same ruses and propaganda tactics are still being used to emotionally rally and intrigue Americans into fighting wars that common sense and further reflection would advise us to stay out of.

Bullhorns of democracy-spreading, y'all!

BP Oil gusher Plume Cam

In case you've been under the sea somewhere the last 3 months and haven't viewed it, here's a link to NPR's plume cam showing the BP Oil gusher which looks mighty good in not-gushing mode this morning after yesterday's successful capping.

BP's plume cam link has been available on my Jude's Threshold blog all along, or at least since NPR published it in May, but I never got around to adding it here on SO'W until now.

The lack of oil and gas gushing out is only temporary ('this is only a test') so you may wish to check out the lovely view a mile down while things are still lookin' more better.