Introspection

Planet Waves essay from Friday, Feb. 4, 2005
by ERIC FRANCIS

Beyond the many disturbing, obvious comparisons between the United States today and Germany of the 1930s is one contrast that I have not heard mentioned yet. True, I was not there when the first torture camp was installed into an urban neighborhood called Ilvers Gehoffen in the liberal city of Erfurt in early 1933. I can't really tell you what the people in the hundreds of apartments that surrounded the camp were thinking as they buried their heads in pillows those hot summer nights to mute the sound of screams. But a few years ago I stood in the vacant lot where the thing once was, looked up at those windows, and wondered. And from those same windows, so many decades later, many people looked down on me with worried faces.

The torture camp, by the way, was located next to a movie theatre. So, right there in the neighborhood, people would be going out and having a good time on Saturday night, while everybody knew what was happening in the old warehouse and yard right next door, since after all they could see and hear it from their windows.

In that time and place we look at through the wrong end of binoculars, people got the idea that the 'affairs of the state' were distracting them from what you might call an inner life. A kind of internal vacuum sucked them out of reality. The way Wilhelm Reich tells it, the government and its doings, people begin to feel, were best left to the experts. One was, after all, primarily responsible for oneself. Qualified people were paid to take care of society. I guess it's always a comfort to let mommy and daddy handle the complicated problems.

America comes at life from another perspective: we gratify ourselves first, and deal with everyone else second. I once worked aboard a ship, as the cook. "The captain eats first and best," the third mate explained to me, in my basic orientation. That's America, only we don't say the words. We just assume it's the way of things, and expect everyone else to get it.

This self-centered frame of reference extends from the supermarkets to the yoga studios. On the supermarket side of the spectrum, we have the people who can respond to a crisis only when something hits home. My favorite moments in Fahrenheit-911 were the interviews with the people in that little town who thought Arab terrorists might blow up their local tire joint or Super K-Mart. "You can't really trust anyone," the tire-fixer guy said. Remember?

On the other end is a massive (for lack of a better word) constituency who has made being self-conscious an ongoing avocation over many decades. This constituency makes a nice spectrum starting with the Beatniks and the Hippies, who were followed by the Back To the Earth people of the 1970s to the Human Potential Movement's students and teachers to the New Age, and onward to the many offshoots and crossovers that today exist. There are communities for everything from tantric sex to co-processing to therapy training. Ammachi, an Indian saint/guru, has a huge following in the States. And so on.

I lump all of this in together because it's all based on the idea of finding oneself, or rather, of oneself.

These movements or groups or ideas have a presence in every town I've ever lived in (admittedly, mostly on America's East or West coasts). Among these groups are a vast number of individuals who strive for, and often succeed at attaining, some kind of actual spiritual awareness, self-awareness, inner awareness, self-actualization, or whatever you want to call it. Many work diligently. It is difficult to focus on your personal growth over a period of years or decades and not get some tangible results. And a lot of people have been at it a long time.

So now, with deeply immoral conduct, war crimes and torture being reported in the news every night, one would think we might be hearing more from the vast numbers of people who are so self-aware. One would think that the self-awareness would have some kind of ethics barometer attached to it, and that the barometer would be sending up a warning.

I'm noticing that those opposing torture and war crimes fall into two basic categories, which must overlap quite a bit, but let's see if the analysis works. There is the traditional political moderate-to-left -- people who were formerly known as liberals, but whose positions now oddly enough sound rather conservative (oppose oceans of government red ink, oppose foreign intervention, favor small government, support individual rights, believe in strict reading of Constitution, etc.). And then there are a lot of people whose motivations are supported by their conscience. Not, in other words, by a political theory or viewpoint. Among the 'conscience people' are some people who have come through spiritual movements, where the main object of the game really is a level of self-understanding; that is, to change the world by changing yourself. But still, given the amount of time and resources that have gone into self-development, the numbers and voices seem somewhat thin.

When I look at the mainstream left, I notice that something is missing. There is, basically, next to no inclusion of what I can only call the 'spiritual piece' of the discussion. I notice this on my favorite news pages; from some of my favorite commentators. In the tradition of the Enlightenment, religion is purged from the whole discussion of government and politics, as it should be. With that discussion is purged out the entire cosmic viewpoint, and the idea that opposing war really is about changing something within ourselves. It's as if to say anything about the bigger picture, or taking inner responsibility, negates all the rational grounds for wanting an orderly, peaceful society.

Then when I look at most spiritual movements, I see for the most part both individuals and groups who are not in their political power. To the contrary, I see a lot of willful looking away. I see and hear from a lot of people who are so repulsed they cannot stand five minutes of political discourse. I meet many people who mean well but have absolutely no historical bearings. I hear arguments such as we must not focus on politics, lest we run the risk of 'increasing' it. I hear that 'it's all an illusion'. (A Course in Miracles teaches specifically this; any student will recognize, 'God did not create that war [or stolen election], so it is not real'.)

So, one side of the discussion sees everything requiring change as being out there; the other sees everything meaningful as being internal.

I think there are valid arguments for not immersing one's life entirely in politics -- and usually, when the time comes, those arguments go out the window and one just gets busy. But there are not such good arguments for refusing to be aware, or for refusing to consider that any of this has something to do with you. And right now, awareness, being informed and taking personal responsibility are the most urgently needed forms of activism.

Gradually, I do see progress; the supposedly political and the supposedly spiritual are beginning to merge in some places. More people understand that war is a result of projecting unprocessed shadow material onto the world. There are some churches and spiritual organizations that are encouraging people to take personal responsibility, and that as communities are openly renouncing murder. I heard a while back that some congregations in Atlanta were going from church services to the streets every Sunday. There is the utterly amazing work of Starhawk, a Pagan leader who, along with her affinity group, is openly willing to defy authority -- she is truly passionate.

But I have to say, from where I sit, reading the Internet all day, talking to who I can, and even living in the capital of an anti-war country, for the most part this voice seems rather subdued -- and also like it would really have a place in the world. I get the feeling people are choosing not to speak up, or act up, in order to keep their hands clean; to remain theoretically pure. In reality, if you ask me, it's more about laziness and the desire not to burden one's mind. People ignore the problem because they can. And they ignore the problem because to not do so means stirring the pot. Taking a position or even becoming informed can be rather disturbing within a group of friends which have on some level defined themselves by having a good time and tuning out the worries of the planet.

It is still okay to take yoga class. That is self-improvement. It is still okay to be spiritual. That's in line with non-threatening activity. Yet I would suggest that, having become content with looking into ourselves and letting our lives be about ourselves for so long, we need to look back out at the world, and do something about what we see that is based on who we are.

Now that we've searched for our spirits and our true beliefs for so long, we need to find our bodies, deal with our feelings, address our problems, and realize that we exist outside the neat pecking order of our social groups. More to the point, we need to find our passion, our spark, our sense of raging spirit. I know: it can feel strange to make that switch, and under so many layers, it's a lot easier said than done. There is the necessity to endure some inner conflict, and some outer conflict. Vitality often threatens people who don't embrace it. But it's not so hard to muster, actually. You just need to stay awake. Doing what is right is not about doing the right thing, it's about doing what is real, and you can only do what is real when you come from your center and be real.

Otherwise, how different are we than the people of Ilvers Gehoffen, going to the movies on Saturday night?

I leave you with a few words from Granny D., from her most recent public appearance.
 
"Let our neighbors, who have voted another way or not at all, see what we are made of and what we are willing to do for love, for life, for justice. Only a few more of them need step forward to our side for love and life and justice to win. They will not step forward if we are not full of courage and grace and beauty and most of all love. We will inspire them with awe. For, from this time forward, our courage must rise to end the war and the coming wars, to end the destruction of our land and its people, and of our planet and its life. With love in our hearts, with a vision before us of a better America made visible in our own lives, we will do what history demands of us now. And so say us all."

Paris, Friday, February 4, 2005

Here from my little perch in the Cyber Spiral, I see, am in touch with, and participate in what I can only describe as an underground, honest-to-goodness spiritual movement. Most of the people I hear from, write to or work with are not involved in any kind of formal church, but their minds are tuned into a cosmic wavelength, and an earthly one; I know more healers than I can count, and they are all helping people. Of the thousands who read Planet Waves, the one thing that seems to be the common denominator is a spiritual orientation.

To some extent, this is an above-ground phenomenon as well. I remember Conversations with God and Celestine Prophesy being big hits. I know there were more than a million copies of A Course in Miracles in circulation many years ago. There is an enormous neo-Pagan movement; Burning Man and numerous other festivals draw many people whose orientation is on some aspect of where community meets ritual meets cosmic connection.

Yet the spiritual movements stand in the shadows of the much more rambunctious modern religious movements, particularly the two fundamentalist ones that are convinced the world is ending, and that each is the other's eternal mortal enemy. This is a hard act to compete with. And given the outrageous views of many who call themselves Christians, I am deeply reluctant to say out loud that I have any association with Jesus. I fear people will assume I'm someone who wants to bomb Satan in Falluja.

When I state out loud that I am Quaker, I do so in a combined act of spiritual commitment, conscience and defiance. While Quaker is one of the few Christian faiths that opposes war as a matter of community standard, I am aware that across America there are many, many people, churchgoing or not, who take their religion to heart, and who are clear about the part of the Bible that says "Thou shalt not kill." There are many who understand the simple message of the Gospels. There are many who see the hypocrisy of what is unfolding in the world today, and I am sure I am not alone when I take offense at religion being used to sell warfare. That, of course, has been going on forever. But I like to think I live in the modern world, not during the Crusades.

Here is a message from the American Friends Service Committee, the branch of the Quakers that deals with issues of war and the military.

http://www.afsc.org/iraq//movie.htm

From a 1998 essay by Eric Francis...

In Germany it's hard to get anybody to talk honestly about the Holocaust. One of my missions in coming here was to find out how it happened, how so many tens of millions of people were arrested, imprisoned, shot, tortured, gassed and cremated, just like that; how it went on and on for years, ending with a massive, morbid free-for-all in the final months when the SS knew it was over. I did not expect to interview some retired old Gestapo guys for the "inside story," but rather, I thought it might be possible to discover something in the culture that would help explain it. When I raised the subject, people would often look at me sheepishly and tell me how ashamed they are of their country's conduct, but fortunately that's the past. And yes, we learned all about it in school. But that's about it. Not a shred of the cynicism you'd expect to see. No anger. Just, you know, sorry about that, it was terrible, let's have lunch. But Bernhard, who says he's one of 40 Jews still living in Erfurt -- his mother was a Jewish concentration camp survivor -- has a little more to say.

 A writer, artist and political activist born here in Erfurt and raised entirely under the DDR [old East Germany], he began documenting Nazi crimes at the age of 18 in 1968, the same year Russian tanks rolled across nearby Prague and blew everyone's mind, and the year he sat in jail for six weeks under "protective custody" for playing music at an anti-Soviet demonstration one afternoon. His speaking voice rings deep and thick like those 11-ton bells up the hill wish they could. He starts right in with something that is quite unbelievable.

 The Holocaust, he says, began right here in Erfurt, where the first concentration camp, or konzentrationslager, was put into a dense city neighborhood quite early on. "Some people were killed there," he explains, but mostly they were interrogated and tortured; one of the favorite Nazi torture methods of the early days was hanging people from poles by their arms, which were tied behind their backs. "People said they heard cries and screaming. They needed one pillow more for the night because people were shouting down there. It was an old factory in the middle of these houses where this happened, and everyone that lived on the first floor could directly look into this concentration camp." The infamous Buchenwald, which he says is about 20 kilometers away, came a few years later.

 I have seen a lot of images from the Nazi regime, because as a student I taught at the Holocaust Education Center in John Dewey High School, in Brooklyn. But a concentration camp in a city neighborhood? I asked the journalistic Dumb Question of the night: Why didn't people do anything?

 "Because they thought it was right. Because everything that the law says is right. And people still think that way. This is proven, because how can a totally communist country [East Germany] become a totally capitalist country in one day? If the country were to become communist again, everybody would become communist. If it were to be fascist, everybody would be fascist."

 Yet Erfurt, in particular, has a reputation for dissent; if you're fishing for dissidents, look where there are a lot of reactionary arch-conservatives. A major city, I learn that it was where Martin Luther, the white one, attended seminary, and where he launched his tirade against the Roman Catholic Church, writing, in a 1517 letter, "These unhappy souls believe that if they buy a letter of pardon they are sure of their salvation; also that souls fly out of purgatory as soon as money is cast into the chest." Ooooch. One of Luther's position papers, on which he demanded public debates, inquired of Church authorities, "Why does not the Pope, if he has the power, out of Christian charity, empty purgatory of the suffering souls all at once?" Ouch.

 Now a Martin Luther doesn't come strolling along every day, but Erfurt maintained its reputation, its kind of freaky-and-free-despite-it-all vibe, and some say that's why Hitler -- in addition to his National Socialist (Nazi) party being strong in Thüringen, the "green heart of Germany," where we are -- chose Erfurt to begin the rounding up of political dissidents, anti-Fascists, priests, artsy-fartsies, what were called "work-shy" people, and anyone else who potentially threatened him. He was obviously insecure. It's clear that once Adolf and his boys had their foot-holds in place, kicked with steel-toed boots into the absolute destitution of the German economy, and the grave desperation of its people in the early 1930s, the idea of "public support" for Hitler became rather negated by public terror. In other words, say or insinuate anything against the Nazis and you're off to Buchenwald, blond hair and blue eyes notwithstanding. And many millions of people were arrested and murdered for far less; indeed for nothing. So dissent was not what you'd call a major factor in the early years, and effective organized resistance finally came much later.

Paris, Feb. 3, 2005

Here is one last comment on the Inauguration photo posted a week or so ago. Please send your comments on the State of the Union Address to francis@planetwaves.net. I'll publish them selectively in this space, identifying the writer by first name only. Thank you.

Mona writes:

"Here's what I thought of the Inauguration photo: I saw chaos within the perfect order, a need for absolute control that is so large it has gotten out of hand. I saw a superficial desire, the achievement of a dream that is related only to $$, that makes and revolves around $$$, that is cold and detached form the real issues of the world, the real needs and emotions of real life. I saw costumes and things made out of stone and materials unnecessary for basic life. I saw separation and borders, things that cause loss of responsibility for what is actually happening in other parts of the world. it made me feel sadness, so much importance is tagged to this mad superficiality. I'm happy with the image you put up today by Carol H. It's beautiful. It reminds me that I can't wait to get back home to Montreal and plunge back into my art."

big hug
-- mm
Tehran, Iran

Paris, Feb. 1, 2005

I was trolling my inbox and came up with this interview: Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! interviewing Will Pitt of  t r u t h o u t. The subject is the importance of the alternative media. Alternative media is not a household word where the household media is Time magazine, but that's precisely the point. It used to be that you had to go into the city and scour down a copy of In These Times, or subscribe to Earth Island Journal, to have access to alternative media. Today, you merely need to subscribe to AOL and you can read any web page in the world. This is a revolutionary change that few people (barring present company) appreciate. There is something called the 'blogosphere', a funny word for the web pages, like this, that post daily commentaries, many of which become quite influential -- particularly in keeping stories alive long enough for the mainstream media to pick up on them. Here's a snip of that interview.

AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to some of the events that took place this weekend after the inauguration. Hundreds of people gathered at the University of the District of Columbia, Progressive Democrats of America, to hear various people speak through the day to strategize and organize over the next four years. Among those who spoke was William Rivers Pitt, editor of truthout.org <http://www.truthout.org/>.

WILLIAM RIVERS PITT: We're here to talk about how progressive media, the alternative media, can get its message out to the people who really need to hear it. I have a couple of quick examples of why this needs to happen. I had a kind of an amusing moment during the inauguration. I was taking a break on a bench with a couple of people who were protesting, one of whom had a sign that read, "Bush lied, thousands died." Guy comes by and says, well, what did he lie about?

So, I -- you know, I sit there and you say -- you remember the 2003 State of the Union address? Well, what about it? Well, in the State of the Union address in 2003, Mr. Bush said that there were -- what was it? -- 26,000 liters of anthrax; 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin; 500 tons, which is one million pounds, of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent; 30,000 munitions capable of delivering the stuff; mobile biological weapons labs; and uranium from Niger for use in nuclear bombs. By the way, the page describing all of this is still up on the White House website today. It's called "Disarm Saddam Hussein." <http://www.whitehouse.gov/response/disarm.html>.  You can go find it yourself. I said that's a pretty big lie. His response: That was the democrats lied about that. Miracles of nature, some of these people.

The second moment happened as I was sitting around in my friend's house the day after the inauguration watching, you know, a moment of total masochism. I turned on CNN. To keep an eye on the -- I'm apparently engaged with a footrace with the blizzard trying to get home -- trying to figure out where this was, and they were doing a segment on the guys who prepare George W. Bush's food so he doesn't get poisoned. So I'm sitting there watching this and they talk to some guy, didn't really give a title, no big deal. He's talking about the process by which they do this, over his right shoulder, very visible in the camera shot was a Heinz ketchup bottle that said "Kerry flip-flop." No comment on it. No nothing. It was just out there. This was perfect propaganda. Perfect. The alternative media, all of the people who are involved in this, need to engage the mainstream media on its own ground.

And we have to do it in a number of different ways. First way, I think, the alternative media would do well to help promote in any way, shape or form, Internet connections and easy access to Internet and easy access to machines in poor and rural communities. One of the best things I saw out on the inauguration route, besides the tens of thousands of protesters, were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of alternative journalists out there with their cameras and their little PDA things, this thing right here, you know? Instantaneous reporting on what's actually happening. We engage these people on their own ground and we make them irrelevant. It can happen. It is happening.

I'll tell you something. The best example of that that I saw was in the run-up to the January 6 challenge of the electors. On the morning -- on the morning of that challenge, every means of communication with Capitol Hill, email, fax, telephone, was locked, because so many people were calling in to get somebody to stand up, and it worked. It was one of the most impressive displays of grassroots organizing that I had seen in a long time. And it was the alternative media that pushed that. We do have the power to do this. I -- when Stephanie Tubs Jones stood up and said, "I do have a senator," that was proof positive to me that we have the power to do this. We will overwhelm them with data with thousands of our own people out there, actually reporting on what is happening immediately delivering it to the internet, meanwhile, push as hard as we can, to move internet access into the communities that desperately need it, desperately need this information. It's going to be a bit of a fight, especially considering the Congress that we have, but I don't see a good rhetorical argument against it. I don't imagine how anybody could stand up in the House of Representatives and stand against it. So, if you are interested in seeing this happen, if you are interested in taking down this farce of a mainstream media, that's how we get started. Thanks.

AMY GOODMAN: William Rivers Pitt of http://truthout.org

O Superman | Paris, Jan. 31, 2005 .

I was playing the song 'O Superman' today and thought I would share this with you. It's by a performance artist named Laurie Anderson, who you may have seen mentioned on Planet Waves before. This was written and first performed in the 1970s. It appeared on her first album, United States Live I-IV, a four CD set recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, then on her first studio CD, Big Science. She then did something unusual for her and brought the song out -- along with much other earlier material -- in a concert done on Sept 19-20, 2001 at Town Hall in Manhattan (released as a two CD set, which she described as the most intense concert of her life).

This is the song that many have people have said contains a prophesy about Sept. 11. As I listen, I see that it contains quite a bit more.

If you want to get into Laurie's work, I suggest that Big Science or Strange Angels are the places to begin. Like Brian Eno (musician, composer, collaborator, early producer of U2 and Talking Heads at the point where both bands made pivotal transitions in their sound), she has been more influential behind the scenes than out front, but her influence has been profound, reaching deep into the lives of many people who are already quite creatively tuned in.

I consider her to be one of the most influential streams coming into my own life, both for her approach to life and politics, as well as for her way of turning anything to art. For someone whose recordings have absolutely no value in the pop world -- they stand more as classical art (technically, performance art) -- she has done quite well for herself. I've had the pleasure of meeting her twice, and doing her chart as well. She is a Gemini with a Capricorn Moon. Listen for five minutes and you'll see.

Here is Laurie's homepage. http://www.laurieanderson.com/

I got the idea to post these lyrics after taking a look at this article on CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/01/28/auschwitz.cheney.reut/index.html

You'll have to fill in the haunting, minimalist music, and the soft background sound of ha - ha - ha - ha - ha - ha repeated on a tape loop.

O Superman by Laurie Anderson


 O Superman. O judge. O Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad. 
 O Superman. O judge. O Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad.

Hi. I'm not home right now. But if you want to leave a
 message, just start talking at the sound of the tone.

Hello? This is your Mother. Are you there? Are you
 coming home?

Hello? Is anybody home? Well, you don't know me,
 but I know you.

And I've got a message to give to you.
 Here come the planes.

So you better get ready. Ready to go. You can come
 as you are, but pay as you go. Pay as you go.

And I said: OK. Who is this really? And the voice said:
This is the hand, the hand that takes. This is the
 hand, the hand that takes.

This is the hand, the hand that takes.
 Here come the planes.

They're American planes. Made in America.

Smoking or non-smoking?

And the voice said: Neither snow nor rain nor gloom
 of night shall stay these couriers from the swift
 completion of their appointed rounds.

'Cause when love is gone, there's always justice.
 And when justice is gone, there's always force.
 And when force is gone, there's always Mom. Hi Mom!

So hold me, Mom, in your long arms. So hold me,
 Mom, in your long arms.

In your automatic arms. Your electronic arms.
 In your arms.

So hold me, Mom, in your long arms.
Your petrochemical arms. Your military arms.
In your electronic arms.

Paris, Jan. 29, 2005

Tracy writes:

"My opinion is that we will all one day be asked exactly what we did about this when it was going on under our noses, just as people living near Auschwitz were, and one lame answer a lot of people will have to give will be, well we didn't like to mention the obvious parallels to Hitler, it seemed so impolite."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/012905K.shtml

From the above link, emphasis added:

"In late October, a study was published in The Lancet, a prestigious British medical journal, concluding that about 100,000 civilians had been killed in Iraq since it was invaded by a United States-led coalition in March 2003. On the eve of a contentious presidential election -- fought in part over U.S. policy on Iraq -- many American newspapers and television news programs ignored the study or buried reports about it far from the top headlines."

Precisely. Exactly.

We all wonder how it happened in Germany. Well, it just happened, and everybody knew about it. The first concentration-torture camp was in an urban neighborhood in Erfurt, a big city.

I have barely been able to deal with the Auschwitz memorial stories mixed in and out of bit-by-bit (but not actually honest) reports how many people are dying in Iraq. The hypocrisy is too shrill, and too disgusting. Nobody on television, or that I have seen, in print, is making the connection between one holocaust and another.

The whole theme of acknowledging the Holocaust is 'never again'. But we don't ask: never again what? Never again shall we let a German despot rise to power in Europe and purge everyone not German? Or never again shall we allow, support, take part in, or perpetrate war atrocities, mass murder of a population and all the lies that go with it?

While we're looking at Auschwitz, which happened in a western industrial nation within the lifetimes of not-so-old people alive today, we had better look at Iraq. Otherwise, we're going to be getting some embarrassing questions from our grandchildren.

"But why didn't you do anything?"

    e

Eric,
 
I think Bob Dylan says it well:

Adele

--
 
Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

Today, I'm passing the blog to my senior colleague, Mr. Philip Sedgwick.  -efc

Pointing Proper

The Galactic Times for January 26, 2005

By PHILIP SEDGWICK
 
Mars now mercifully inches over the conjunction to Pluto and starts pointing at the Galactic Center (26 Sag 55). Once the log jam of concerns over whose in charge of what, and can they infringe upon one's interests, the way clears for pure, cosmically-inspired insight to pour down the spout for those willing to receive it.
 
Since Mars has to do with enacting the cosmic inspirations, there are two ways to consider this passage, which culminates on February 1st. First, check back in your idea files from about six to nine months ago. These ideas should now please the taste of a society that would have rejected such ideas last year. It seems that it takes humans a while to catch up with good ideas. It's a form of psycho-technological adjustment, which is a form of me making up words. The idea is: it takes awhile to get used to the ideas of progress. The Galactic Center dominated the horoscope of the Wright Brothers' first flight. Decades later, the public began flying.
 
So, now, if a person takes previous ideas, polishes them, pursues development and puts them out there, a responsive greeting is more likely.
 
What? You don't keep idea files? In that case, start now. Over the next week or so, write down every good, out there, "somebody should do" kind of thought entering your conscious attention. You can even afford to put it away for a while, say three months or so. Then, the idea should commence haunting your consciousness for more attention. Given three months of thought after that, the ideas should be clear enough to present to the world.
 
The call for progressive action implied in this Mars passage shows up again in two years. Those who cultivate now, will be well on their way by then. Those who only pondered in this interval watch from the sidelines. Next time around, Pluto will be very close to the Galactic Center as well. While that time should be unprecedented in development of ideas, understanding Universal Mystery and social healing, consider this next week to be the first, huge step.
 
For every issue that concerns you, bring a new idea down the pike. Take a couple of intervals a day (and if you're an astrologer, preferably when the GC rises and culminates for your location) to sit and muse. Play "what if" in your mind. Think freely. Let your mind conjure up progressive insights and unlock previously undisclosed insights.
 
Some often ask when they hear about the Galactic Center, "What gives a person a right to make up new idea?"  Perhaps a more to the point question is: "What gives one the right to ignore the insight and inspiration of the Cosmos?"
 
Here's for pointing proper. Tweak your satellite dish, sit in your favorite meditation corner, crush some more aluminum foil on your forehead. Whatever your method, may the points of progress come your way. It's out there and coming to a theater in your head soon!
 
To schedule an astrological counseling session or order The Galactic Trilogy CD, please send an e-mail to galastro@aol.com for the latest information and services.

Copyright ©2005, Philip Sedgwick, all rights reserved.

Philip Sedgwick
Astrologer/Writer
9451 E Becker Ln #B1058
Scottsdale AZ 85260
480.451.3070
galastro@aol.com

~ Bringing Heaven to Earth

About Our Artist: Carol Houghton

Paris, Jan. 26, 2005

Dear Readers,

Perhaps you've noticed that we've been changing the cover art daily, to show off our new discovery -- Carol Houghton of Marin County, California. We'll have two additional works, Thursday and Friday, and then we'll pick our favorite and leave it up for the weekend.

"For me, life is a constant creation, begging to be appreciated and adored to the fullest extent," Carol writes. "I celebrate life as often as possible -- there are so many beautiful things to be thankful for. I have always been a totally creative person, exploring art in all it's forms - visual arts, music and dance - but art extends far beyond traditional concepts of classical artistic expression, it is the very energy of how we choose to live our lives.

"In my art, I strive to express the energy of life around me. This isn't a conscious decision -- it is my greatest artistic pleasure. It is rare that I would consider 'WHAT' to draw or paint. It chooses me. And most likely, it will be "something" that isn't a consciously known 'thing' at all. Occasionally I will choose a subject and express it in my own way, but the most meaningful artistic experiences to me are when I allow the images to flow, uninterrupted, onto the page or canvas. When I am in tune, there is no conscious decision as I draw -- no choice of color or line, no design decisions made -- it is a totally spontaneous expression of energy.

"I have always loved the curvaceous, undulating lines, variety of textures and contrasts found in nature. Working large gives me the freedom to move with my work, and a freedom to express the energy that flows through me. Art is a spiritual experience for me and gives a deeper meaning to my life."

Please drop in on her webpage, http://www.carolhoughton.com/ and see what she has to offer.

Thank you Carol!

    e

Paris, Jan. 25, 2005

Dear Readers,

As you can imagine, it's been a busy but exciting week standing in for Jonathan over at http://cainer.com and in the Daily Mail, Sydney Daily Telegraph and the Melbourne Herald-Sun. It's a lot of fun writing daily horoscopes and it's a lot easier than I ever imagined. Of course (at this point) I only do spells of a week or two -- I really have to hand it to writers who go throughout the year, over the decades. Jonathan writes more horoscopes in a year and an half than I've written in a decade of doing my column.

Blogging will be light for a few days, but when I've succeeded at reorganizing my schedule once again, I'll have a few more ideas about what's happening in the world.

Thanks to everyone who sent in your truly excellent interpretations of the inauguration photo.

    e

Hi everyone, I'll be standing in for Jonathan Cainer this week, so if you'd like to read a daily horoscope by yours truly, please check in at http://cainer.com. All through this week, our cover art will be provided by Carol Houghton, a Marin County artist, and we'll be changing pieces daily. I'll be writing more about Carol in this space through the week. Please visit her homepage at http://www.carolhoughton.com and check out some of the excellent work she has available there.

Thank you! And see you over on Cainer.com.

Eric Francis
Jan. 23, Paris

Sunday, Jan. 23, 2005

I received an email from a reader earlier, among many other truly interesting and thoughtful responses, which said that the portrait of the Capitol Building was essentially the same for the Clinton inauguration. That fits; the traditions of the U.S. government tend to be fairly stable over the decades, and many things of a ceremonial and procedural nature are done by the book. Which book, I don't know, but it must all be written somewhere, maybe a collection of old diner placemats.

Yet symbols need to be interpreted in context. A Tarot card means one thing when surrounded by certain cards and something else when surrounded by others. The symbolism presented in this particular portrait is something that we interpret in the moment that the symbol appears.

Let's presume that the image and the ceremony are a symbol of the might and power of the United States of America. The context is what that might and power are being used for; in whose hands they are being placed; and the agenda about which we don't know -- or aren't looking at.

Besides making me nervous, the photo drew from me a moment of patriotism. I was a patriotic little kid. I was into politics at a rather tender age. July 4th was my favorite holiday because of its religious expression of patriotism. Around these years, my father and uncle would drag the family down to Winchester, Virginia to take part in the annual reenactment of the Civil War; we were on the side of the South, apparently -- the rebels. And the picture touched that little flame of nationalism that I carried with me long before John Lennon ever made his point in the song Imagine, which was the first time I had considered the idea that the notion of 'country' might be a little weird.

I take this photo in the context of what I've been reading the past four or five days. The Capitol Building is supposed to be a symbol of freedom and democracy, and yet as far as I can tell, the United States has become a dictatorship. I am aware that it may be offensive to some to say this, but I can't offer any apologies. Stolen elections. Patriot Acts. Illegal wars. Wartime atrocities.

One of the more poignant pieces of writing I have read recently (the link to which I cannot find at the moment) was an essay on truthout by Marjorie Cohn, an attorney and essayist. She took the basic facts of the torture scandal in Iraq, particularly the legal memoranda of Atty. Gen.-designate Alberto R. Gonzales, and spelled them out in a legal indictment for war crimes.

It is always clarifying to see illegal conduct put into legal terms; to see an alleged perpetrator named as such. I remember after a year or so of covering chemical scandals seeing the first paperwork referring to "Defendants Monsanto, General Electric and Westinghouse." It puts things in perspective. Apparently, the alleged crimes of Alberto Gonzales are, under current law, potentially punishable by penalty of death. I do not support the death penalty under any circumstances, but we need to be aware that this is the remedy prescribed by the laws which the attorney general is sworn to uphold.

Torture is a clear-cut case; the Geneva Convention, which describes the proper treatment of prisoners of war, and the associated enabling federal legislation, explicitly state what is and is not allowed. It is only the "color of law" -- that is, "if the government did it, it's okay" -- that makes these actions somehow acceptable in the current context -- plus a hell of a lot of Madison Avenue spin, a desensitized public, endless lies, and being told we're doing it all for God.

Soon after Marjorie's indictment was published, an article by Jonathan Schell appeared on truthout, called "What is Wrong with Torture." Schell is author of The Fate of the Earth, a book about ending nuclear proliferation. When I was in high school, reading The Fate of the Earth was one of the most deeply moving experiences I had ever had, in some way compelling me to a life of social activism and consciousness. It put the nuclear problem in absolutely vivid terms, beginning with the chapter, "A Republic of Insects and Grass" -- describing the hypothetical post-nuclear war world.

Just the title did me in. We now need one of our nation's brightest political scholars to explain that torture is wrong. Do you know what I mean?

The pictures aren't enough. They barely seem to provoke anger, much less outrage. What if the torture center were down the block from your house?

Schell writes:

Under the President served by Gonzales, torture has become endemic, and the lines of connection between the nominee's advice and those acts were clear and undeniable. In a memo to the President, Gonzales advised that the Geneva Conventions did not apply either to Al Qaeda or Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan. He opined that if the conventions were set aside by the President, any soldiers accused under the US War Crimes Act might defend themselves against the charges of having committed war crimes under US Code Section 2441 of American law. He wrote the President, "Your determination [that the Conventions didn't apply] would create a reasonable basis in law that Section 2441 does not apply, which would provide a solid defense to any future prosecution."

In other words, his advice was to throw out international law so that torturers could escape the consequences of U.S. law. He solicited and participated in the preparation of a memo in the Justice Department that redefined torture only as the kind that might destroy bodily organs or kill the victim. That same memo stated that the President alone has the power to make rules for the treatment of prisoners, although the Constitution declares that "Congress shall have power to make rules concerning captures on land and water." He oversaw an interdepartmental discussion in which waterboarding and other forms of torture were condoned.

Read more here. http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/012105E.shtml

So, brothers and sisters, friends and countrymen, citizens of the galaxy: What the fuck are we going to do about this? That's what was bugging me about the photo of the Capitol Building.

Among many of my closest friends, there has been much discussion about how to frame these issues; how to raise the level of the discussion; how to keep the light around it all; how to avoid invoking darkness on the way to dealing with darkness; how, when you focus on politics, you get more politics. These are not easy problems to solve, and anyone who is willing to take these issues on has a lot to process, a lot to consider.

No matter what, though, these are issues of which people -- you and me -- need to be aware, and about which we need to have an opinion.

Letter from Kitty | Jan. 22, 2005

Hi, Eric Francis,
 
Thanks for posting this picture. (I think.) I'm one of those people who have been feeling and experiencing the energy shifts since August, 2001, and even so, it's been a very intense experience to actually see it presented in such a clear visual form. This is absolutely breathtaking.
 
1.)  My first reaction: OMFG, I'm looking at 1939 Berlin.
 
2.) I live in a small red-state town (just down the road--Interstate, that is--from Chelsea), where people truly see George W. Bush as a "man of God". I know people who put pictures of him in their family Bibles. Today, around 4 PM, I went out to run a few errands. I don't think I've ever seen so many cars and people rushing around on the streets, even at what passes for "rush hour" here. They didn't seem angry or malicious, just moving and busy, focused on where they were going but not really paying attention to where they were while they were getting there.
 
My impression was it was as if someone had stirred up an ant hill, and all the ants came rushing out. (I have seen this phenomenon before, usually when personal planets station or otherwise shift energy.)
 
So this afternoon I got home and decided to check out the PlanetWaves blog, and I saw the dark mass on the steps of U. S. Capitol, and there were the ants again. Remember the symbolic meaning (eg. Native American medicine) of ant consciousness: a group of beings, having no individual consciousness or will, acting together in a coordinated effort, each playing its part in a methodical way to accomplish something for the whole, as determined by the overriding consciousness.
 
3.)  Having been reminded of pre-war Germany, I decided to do a little Internet research. For about 20 minutes this evening, I was immersed in the energy of the Third Reich in a way that I have never been before. Then my Internet Explorer crashed. (Girlfriend, you "got it", now get out of there. Guess I can thank Bill Gates for something.) To change the energy, I took a shower and made another cup of coffee.
 
The image that was most impressive to me was a photograph of ordinary German citizens cheering Hitler--housewives, office workers, gazing upwards with mouths open and rapturous expressions on their faces. The accompanying text says that the scariest part of the writer's research was seeing the way that regular people came to view Hitler as a god, in an almost hypnotic state, giving up their thinking ability and common sense. (Sense of humanity?)
 
Coincidentally ; ), as I was reading about pre-war Germany, I got an e-mail from a relative in Oklahoma. She was forwarding to me an e-mail about ungrateful immigrants who complain about the U.S., and about the people who won't let true patriotic Americans say Merry Christmas. To quote from the e-mail, "What about MY RIGHTS? The idea of America being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity."  Either adapt to the true American way, shut up, or leave. God bless America.
 
I call this kind of message "feel-good" e-mails. My experience is that the people passing them on don't know what they are doing and don't want to be bothered thinking about it. They cursorily read the message, it makes them feels good, or at least less "bad", and they hit the forward button.
 
4.) The symbolism in the lower, stage-managed part of the inauguration scene is so obvious, it's stunning. The area where the officials stood being above and away from the masses. The secret, dark, mysterious "inner sanctum", obscured by the flag (dare I say it, the national symbol of worship? If we bow down in awe and idolatry, we won't ask "what's behind the curtain"?)
 
5.) Whatever part of consciousness is directing the ants on the west front Capitol steps, it has given itself away by the part of the scene that was not stage-managed. Raise your eyes upward to the dome of the Capitol building. The Statue of Freedom at the very top, facing away from the inauguration scene. And just below the dome, the real-time U.S. flag, flying at half-mast.
 
In addition, in the photo as it appears on the PlanetWaves blog, the five flags hanging in the gallery are hanging backwards, reversed from their normal position, with the stars at the upper right instead of left. Hanging a flag in reverse, or upside down, is universally known as a signal of distress.
 
It is possible that the photo has been transposed, but having studied the orientation of the Statue of Fredom, the flag flying below, and the position of the flags in the military colorguard (over their right shoulders), I don't think this is the case. Also, the official Army inauguration photo gallery shows the flags in the backwards orientation:
 
http://www.afic.army.mil/Lightboxes/Gallery_Main.htm (click on "swearing-in ceremony" at the bottom of the page)
 
The more I look at the inauguration scene, the more I see.  I am alternately laughing and crying. I find it repulsive, in a very Plutonian way ... I am repelled by it but also drawn in to it.
 
Eric, this is so profound. Shocking, horrifying, yet beautiful in its utter clarity and starkness. This is our mirror. This is our mirror. This is our mirror. What shall we do with it?
 
To borrow from your work, could it be that this is a visual representation of the portal to the core? We may find it repulsive, heart-breaking, terrifying ... and it is sacred ground.
 
The Sagittarius and Pisces in me says, what a wonderful gift, to see this. We are almost there. Let's go.
 
(Do we have a choice?)
 
Kitty
Bay Saint Louis, MS
 
 
BTW, for comparison and information purposes:
 
The U. S. Capitol, west front, without the inauguration scaffolding:
 
http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/c_wf_1.cfm

The dome and statue:
 
http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/dome_1.cfm

http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/freedom.cfm

Don't Look Behind the Curtain

No, you don't want to know what's behind that curtain. Let's not talk about that. It's too scary.

So let's look right at it. I have some thoughts; I had to put on a jacket, make some tea and take my temperature after I saw it; but I'm wondering what you see.

Take a look. Take a glance. Stare for a while.

Then please open an email and send in your impressions. I'll check my email and post the ones that are rated G.

Thanks!

Please send to francis@planetwaves.net. I'll be the only one to see your email -- till your comments are posted, so be clear if you don't want them to appear in the blog.

    e

Paris, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005

A moment with Wilhelm Reich

"Thus, I arrived at the conclusion that human mendacity [dishonesty] and meanness are still a reflection of the deep biological nucleus. Only thus can we understand that the fact that the ideology of human moralism and integrity could survive and be defended by masses of people for so long, in spite of the actual ugliness of life. Since people cannot and dare not live their real lives, they hang on to that last glimmer of it which comes out in their hypocrisy.

"Such consideration led to the concept of the unity of the social structure and the character structure. Society molds the human character. The character, in turn, reproduces social ideology en masse, and thus reproduces its own suppression in the negation of life. This is the basic mechanism of so-called 'tradition'. I had no idea of the significance this was to have some five years later for the understanding of Fascist ideology. I was not speculating in the interest of political movements [...] every clinical problem led to these conclusions. Thus it was not surprising to find that the absolute contradictions in the moral ideology of society were photographically identical with the contradictions in the human structure.

"According to Freud, the very existence of culture is based on the 'cultural' repression of instinct. I had to agree with him -- conditionally: the culture of today is indeed based on sexual repression. But came the next question: Is cultural development as such based on sexual repression? And: Could it not be that this culture is based on only on the repression of unnatural, secondary [hateful, aggressive] impulses? Nobody had ever spoken of that which I had found down deep in the human being, and which I was now able to bring forth through my technique. Nobody had any opinion about it."

-- Wilhelm Reich, The Function of the Orgasm, 1942

This call for a world-wide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one's tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men. This often misunderstood and misinterpreted concept has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man. When I speak of love, I am speaking of that force which all the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the First Epistle of Saint John:

"Let us love one another: for love is of God: and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love... . If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us."

-- The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Paris, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2005.

Bridge to the Core is written, designed and posted. I am reluctant to say it's done, because there is more to say on the subjects that the web page raises -- which I will be developing in this space, and in Planet Waves Weekly. Bridge to the Core deals with two subjects, primarily -- individual sign forecasts for 2005; and the issue of getting to 2012 in good shape. The sign forecasts are the most in-depth I've written. We've posted nearly 40 astrological charts, with captions, and many excellent features -- such as inner planet retrograde finders for 2005, an astrological calendar, a second list of events for the year, and a bunch more.

Here is a sample from the lead article, "2012 Is Up for Grabs."

"Twenty-twelve is what we make it, one day at a time, one outer-planet sign change at a time, one breath at a time. Twenty-twelve is what we envision it to be. We, that is, you and me. Not those cool groovy people somewhere else. Not the really enlightened ones who know how to have a good time and manifest new cars with their minds. Not the ones who really know what they're talking about, or who have been meditating 15 years longer than you. You and me. You and your friends. You and your kids. You and your mom and dad. You and your boss. You, me, and your mom and dad. You and your co-workers. You and your best friend. You and your lover. You and your clients. You and your therapist. You and the people you go dancing with. You and the people you get drunk with or do X with or go hunting with. Whatever. What do all these have in common? You.

 "This is different than thinking you have to personally take the whole thing on your shoulders. To the contrary: it's only necessary to do your little part, to be aware, to cooperate, and to maintain some sense of awareness of an integrated process going on, within you and without you. This is not merely intellectual abstraction. It is a way of looking at the world, of perceiving evolutionary change, and of adjusting your beliefs to adapt to reality. Too often, we attempt to adapt reality to our beliefs, and it works, sort of, for a while, at a great cost -- mostly pain and boredom."

--

This is a big week coming up: the Bush inauguration.

As you will read in Bridge to the Core, centaur planets begin changing signs shortly after the "president" is sworn in; first comes Nessus (into Aquarius), then Chiron (into Aquarius) and Pholus (into Sagittarius). This is big astrological news, and while I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, I think we're going to be getting a blast of righteous energy, with a touch of Return of the Jedi to it. I'll be keeping you posted here, and in Planet Waves Weekly.

To sign up for Planet Waves Weekly, which includes free access to Bridge to the Core, go to this link:

http://planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

Note, this is a PAY service but if you can't afford it, it's FREE. There are also quite a few discount categories, such as for students and the under-employed. To take advantage of our special offers, just call (206) 567-4455 or toll free (877) 453-8265. Or email orders@planetwaves.net.

ANNUAL HOROSCOPE UPDATE !!!

Paris, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005, 7:41 am

Dear Readers:

Bridge to the Core, the Planet Waves 2005 annual horoscope site, is about done. We're about a day behind, but barring anything too interesting happening, we'll be able to go live with the site by mid-day in the eastern U.S.

There is a lot of astrology in this project: up to 1,400 words per sign in the annual forecast area; a number of articles addressing Chiron in Aquarius, Saturn in Leo, and sign changes by two other centaur planets (Pholus and Nessus); an astrological calendar for 2005; and a massive charts resource area for students of astrology or those who are just curious. I've done my most in-depth writing ever on 2012 and the astrology between now and then. There are dozens of magnificent bridge images sent in by our readers. There is writing by Jeanne Treadway and a Mayan astrology report through July by Carol Burkhart, of the Galactic Alchemy web site. Two more by me are pending: a more detailed look at the psychology of Chiron in Aquarius, and reader comments on 2012. These, I'm holding till next week.

If you'd like to inquire about subscribing and thus getting access to this entire resource -- which you can do as little as $8.95, or free if you need a fee waiver and are willing to call our (877) number and request it -- check out this page:

http://planetwaves.net/2005horoscope.html

I have suspended my normal publishing schedule this week, though there will be a regular Planet Waves edition emailed Friday (most of that is written in advance). On Jonathan's page tonight, I'm taking the lead of The Onion and posting a best-of column for the 34th edition, featuring the 'How to Learn Astrology' series from October. Check it out -- it's a lot of fun, and the basis of the short introductory astrology book that I'm pulling together from that series.

For those inquiring about Planet Waves Parenting, we plan to go live by Saturday, and we'll have the first edition emailed out by late Friday. Parenting is an activist e-journal that combines astrology with essays and advice from parents, a resources guide, a bit of investigative reporting, and a horoscope for parents about their kids.

I'll catch you soon; I'm going to take a nap and get to the end of these projects.

Thinking of you,

Eric Francis

Hello all,

Just checking in with an annual horoscope update. The sign reports are done! The charts and annual calendar are nearly done! The website structure is up to page test. I am currently working with Carol Burkhart, our resident Mayan astrologer, on the Bridge to the Core materials. Progress is in progress.

Good morning from Paris.

Eric Francis

So anyway, if anyone is curious to know my favorite Planet Waves cover ever, you're looking at it, above. That face! I wouldn't want to be drinking salt, either! Have a good weekend. Thanks for your patience on the annual horoscope. Please send me warm vibes and ease the way!

e

A reader wrote into Jonathan Cainer's office with high praises for both of us, adding, "Great to read your yearly forecasts. Have a word with Eric and push him a little in that department will you...!"

Ah, but I don't need a push -- I am a taskmaster with myself. I'm working on it, amidst much else, but it looks like I'm clear for the next few days to wrap the project up. It's always challenging to integrate a big project into the regular schedule, which itself has picked up pace due to news events. I plan to post the annual horoscope shortly after the Capricorn New Moon next Wednesday -- New Moons being a good time to commence new ventures, particularly in Capricorn.

The horoscope is a complete web page, with articles and sign write-ups, that will be available to subscribers. So please take a moment to subscribe. Remember, there are a number of discount categories, including free for those who happen to have no funds at the moment. To subscribe, call (206) 567-4455 during Eastern business hours or (877) 453-8265 toll free, or go to this link:

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

See you soon.

BREAKING NEWS

  "We have found numerous, serious election irregularities in the Ohio presidential election, which resulted in a significant disenfranchisement of voters. Cumulatively, these irregularities, which affected hundreds of thousand of votes and voters in Ohio, raise grave doubts regarding whether it can be said the Ohio electors selected on December 13, 2004, were chosen in a manner that conforms to Ohio law, let alone federal requirements and constitutional standards.

  "This report, therefore, makes three recommendations: (1) consistent with the requirements of the United States Constitution concerning the counting of electoral votes by Congress and Federal law implementing these requirements, there are ample grounds for challenging the electors from the State of Ohio; (2) Congress should engage in further hearings into the widespread irregularities reported in Ohio; we believe the problems are serious enough to warrant the appointment of a joint select Committee of the House and Senate to investigate and report back to the Members; and (3) Congress needs to enact election reform to restore our people's trust in our democracy. These changes should include putting in place more specific federal protections for federal elections, particularly in the areas of audit capability for electronic voting machines and casting and counting of provisional ballots, as well as other needed changes to federal and state election laws.

  "With regards to our factual finding, in brief, we find that there were massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio. In many cases these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio."

-- from the Conyers Report.

Read more at http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/010605Y.shtml

Paris, January 4, 2005 | Annual horoscope details below this post

It's difficult to believe that we're watching the aftermath of the worst natural disaster in modern history. This, in a time when we've seen many such disasters and quite a few unnatural ones as well -- and though the pain of the tsunami is enormous, it's truly a relief to see military forces helping people instead of killing them. I just heard on BBC that the United States is running its "biggest operation in Asia since the Vietnam war."

It's difficult to believe that an overwhelming natural disaster can happen any time, anywhere. Europe's coast in the 18th century was overwhelmed by tsunamis; a few millenia earlier, an earthquake followed by volcanic eruption in Santorini, Greece wiped out much of the Mediterranean region, effectively ending Minoan civilization.

The web of life is no less fragile today; we just think it's not. We don't think that everything that happens in this world happens because everything is working right. Which is often a stretch.

In America, most food is shipped 2,000 miles from where it's produced before it gets to the kitchen table, which means that eating is highly dependent on the transportation network functioning properly. It does not take much to shake things up, and in reality, our emergency responses systems are largely untested. We have no experience dealing with a truly wide-scale problem in the states. Most people are unprepared for actual emergencies and have no experience doing so.

We do have experience with relatively small, occasional disasters, though. Some have been more impressive than others -- the fires in California and this year's hurricanes in Florida come to mind. So does Sept. 11. I lived through a flood that struck central and northern New Jersey in 1999, which was an extremely strange and life-altering experience. It came as a result of Hurricane Floyd, which by the time it arrived in the New York area was nothing more than a whole lot of rain.

But the rain, combined with overdevelopment, resulted in flash flooding in a heavily populated region of the northeastern United States, half an hour's drive from Manhattan. The storm followed a summer of drought during which I dreamed repeatedly of rising waters. Then came the Aug. 11, 1999 total solar eclipse in Leo.

The storm rolled up the coast and let loose millions of tons of water. People who did not even know they had tiny streams running through woods at the edge of their back yards suddenly found their houses under water.

I happened to be sharing a house that was built on a tiny island on the Saddle River. A dam upstream in Rockland County burst as a result of the heavy rains, and a surge came downstream. As the flood waters rose, firemen came gave us 15 minutes to get out, and we were evacuated across the front lawn on a lifeline. Our house was soon flooded with 30 inches of mud. We would have survived; our plan was to go to up the attic and wait.

Returning early the next morning offered a glimpse of the devastating power of water. Everything reeked; I can practically still smell it. It was if the entire contents of the house had been dumped and shaken in thick, dark mud. The kitchen trash pail was in the fireplace. Furniture had floated and had landed on my friend Neal's bed. Everything located under 30 inches was contaminated or destroyed by toxic river mud which had not been stirred up for a generation. Most of it was thrown out. Hundreds of homes in the region were affected.

The next day's New York Times had a picture of downtown South Bound Brook, N.J., with a volunteer fireman in full gear riding a jet-ski in front of a flaming building. It was utterly apocalyptic. Neal, with the help of friends, his father and insurance, gradually rebuilt his life. I threw out what was destroyed, packed up or stored what was left, and went down to Florida -- dropping right into the middle of hurricane season. But he chose to stay in that house. I asked him how many more floods like that it would take to get him out, and he said two.

aquasphere

For those eagerly awaiting the 2005 annual horoscope, and especially for those considering subscribing to get access to the annual, I suggest spending a little time with aquaphere, the 2004 annual horoscope package.

From there, you will also find links to five years of Planet Waves annual horoscopes.

Here's the link into aquasphere. Ether the keywords 'moon jump' just as written with no quotes.

http://planetwaves.net/aquasphere/

e

Site Update Info - Annual Horoscope - Earthquake Report

Dear Readers:

I'm checking in with a site update. A second major analysis of the Great Flood chart is in progress, and will be posted as my Q & A column to http://Cainer.com later this week. Regular reader questions will continue there on Jan. 14.

Bridge to the Core, the annual horoscope package, is progressing. Today, 27 charts for 2005 were scanned in and will be available to all subscribers. These include detailed charts of the Aries equinox, as well as all four eclipses; and charts of all six Mercury stations, the Venus station, the Mars stations, Chiron charts and the Saturn ingress to Leo. Each chart will have a caption explaining the chart in a couple of sentences.

As with aquasphere, the 2004 annual, each sign will get its own page, and there will be a variety of articles to help round out our understanding of the astrology during the next four seasons. These will include "How to Build a Bridge" by Eric Francis and "How To Build a Wall" by Jeanne Treadway.

We'll have news about the astrology's viewpoint on a military draft, and many other ideas about what the next four seasons are likely to present.

Planet Waves subscribers have contributed the magnificent artwork.

This annual horoscope package, which has taken hundreds of hours of preparation, will be available to Planet Waves subscribers. We are delaying posting any additional free horoscopes to the site (though not to our lists) until Bridge to the Core is completed. Then, the shorter version of the 2005 annual will be posted to the free side of the site.

To subscribe, please see this link:

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

Aussie and Canadian dollars are accepted at par. Student discounts.

Thanks for checking in.

Stay tuned for more info.

Yours,

ERIC FRANCIS

Hi there, Eric Francis checking in with a 2005 annual horoscope update. The annual this year is called Bridge to the Core.

Due to a week's delay involving covering the terrible disaster in Asia, I've got the coming week scheduled for completing the first stage of the 2005 annual horoscope: the sign write ups and several of the articles. The theme will involve Chiron changing signs from Capricorn to Aquarius, as will centaur Nessus at the same time. In addition, Saturn moves from Cancer to Leo in July -- which I suspect will come as a great relief. These planetary shifts set the stage for what we will experience personally and collectively in 2005.

As I have mentioned, there will be no free version of the 2005 annual horoscope posted until our subscribers have received their extended version. This will be posted by direct email and in a keyword area on http://PlanetWavesWeekly.com. This should be in a little over one week, psychic weather, world news, creative discipline and my own energy level permitting. I am likely to time it to post right at the Capricorn New Moon -- a strong and meaningful point of manifestation.

While a free annual horoscope will be posted, it will be the considerably shorter 'magazine version'. In truth -- yes -- this is to encourage people to subscribe and support our devoted, tireless and excellent work, and to reward those who have already done so. Our company runs mostly on love, supported by many volunteer staff members and by substantial help from our subscribers: ideas, articles and so on.

But in actual fact, we pay the bills with money, and our service is priced quite reasonably at about a dollar a week. In fact, if you can't afford it, it's free. And if you can afford more, we have 'sustainer' and 'supporter' options you can click on as well, and a limited number of subscriptions available at the million dollar level as well. But for most people, it's a buck a week. And hey, a buck is cheaper every day that goes by.

So, all the choices are yours, and there's nothing stopping you from becoming a subscriber. You can get Planet Waves Weekly and the Bridge to the Core annual horoscope for the cost of whistling a tune on Main Street, for the price of a nice pair of shoes, or for anything in between.

Here's the link.

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

 While the sand slipped through the opening
 And their hands reached for the golden ring
 With their hearts they turned to each other's heart for refuge
 In the troubled years that came before the deluge.

                -- Jackson Browne

Paris, Dec. 31, 2004


Dear Readers:

My new article, "The Great Wave," has been posted to my Q & A page at cainer.com. The URL is:

http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/eric.html

As for the January horoscopes and the year-ahead predictions: here's the drill. The entire project has been delayed by coverage of the disaster in Asia this week. That's the way journalism goes. Obviously that comes first.

There will be a short version and a long version of the 2005 annual. The long version will be emailed directly to subscribers, and appear in a keyword area; the short one will be posted to the free site. However, the subscribers will get theirs first, which will delay the short edition being posted by about a week.

The articles in the keyword area will be sent first to subscribers over the next two or three weeks.

If you are a regular reader of Planet Waves, I suggest you subscribe. Our work is actually supported by about 2% of the total people who reach this site. Many of you come daily; the entire Planet Waves project is supported by a tiny fraction of its readers.

Imagine what we could do with 4% or 5% of you subscribing. Please consider doing so, and remember, we turn no one away for lack of funds. And we have lots of discount categories, and very economical monthly payments via Paypal as well.

Here is the subscription link.

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

Thank you for your continued readership. I wish you a safe and sane new year.

e

       

Dear Readers:

I have been busy preparing a more detailed analysis of the Great Wave chart, which will appear both in Planet Waves Weekly and on Cainer.com late tonight. With the help of the amazing team at Planet Waves, I've dug out a lot of new information about this chart, including the potential for corporate responsibility for the earthquake. Generally, completely different material runs on both of these sites, but this week I am keeping a focus on the tsunami. Subscribers, I plan to have the edition out early tomorrow, with the Capricorn birthday report and the weekly horoscope. Blogging will be slow over the next few days to a week, as I take care of other writing. Thanks for understanding. And hey, please subscribe to Planet Waves! Old readers, haven't you missed the horoscope for long enough? It's never been better.

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

GUST BLOG

Independent Media TV
Under Reported
December 28, 2004

Earthquake: Coincidence or a Corporate Oil Tragedy?
By: Andrew Limburg
Independent Media TV

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Now I don't claim to be an expert on seismic activity, but there has been a series of events which led up to the 9.0 earthquake of the coast of Indonesia which can not be ignored. This all could be an enormous coincidence, but one must look at the information and choose for themselves whether there is anything to it.
On November 28th, one month ago, Reuters reported that during a 3 day span 169 whales and dolphins beached themselves in Tasmania, an island of the southern coast of mainland Australia and in New Zealand. The cause for these beachings is not known, but Bob Brown, a senator in the Australian parliament, said "sound bombing" or seismic tests of ocean floors to test for oil and gas had been carried out near the sites of the Tasmanian beachings recently.

According to Jim Cummings of the Acoustic Ecology Institute, Seismic surveys utilizing airguns have been taking place in mineral-rich areas of the world's oceans since 1968. Among the areas that have experienced the most intense survey activity are the North Sea, the Beaufort Sea (off Alaska's North Slope), and the Gulf of Mexico; areas around Australia and South America are also current hot-spots of activity.

The impulses created by the release of air from arrays of up to 24 airguns create low frequency sound waves powerful enough to penetrate up to 40km below the seafloor. The "source level" of these sound waves is generally over 200dB (and often 230dB or more), roughly comparable to a sound of at least 140-170dB in air.

According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, these 200dB - 230dB shots from the airguns are fired every few seconds, from 10 meters below the surface, 24 hours a day, weather permitting.

These types of tests are known to affect whales and dolphins, whose acute hearing and use of sonar is very sensitive.

On December 24th there was a magnitude 8.1 earthquake more than 500 miles southeast of Tasmania near New Zealand, with a subsequent aftershock 6.1 a little later in the morning that same day.

On December 26th, the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck at the intersection of the Australian tectonic plate and the India tectonic plate. This is the devastating tragedy that we have all heard about. The death toll of this horrific event has reached 52,000 souls and continues to rise.

On December 27th, 20 whales beached themselves 110 miles west of Hobart on the southern island state of Tasmania.

What is interesting about this is that the same place where the whale beachings have been taking place over the last 30 days is the same general area where the 8.1 Australian earthquake took place, and this is the same area where they are doing these seismic tests. Then 2 days after the Australian tectonic plate shifted, the 9.0 earthquake shook the coast of Indonesia.

A great deal of interest and seismic testing has been taking place in this area, as the government of Australia has given great tax breaks to encourage the oil exploration.

We will be following up on this story as more information is gathered.