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Welcome to Saturn in Leo Paris, July 18, 2005 Dear Friends and Readers Around the World: Welcome to Planet Waves! As you may know, Saturn has entered Leo as of Saturday. I've been writing about this extensively (as well as incorporating the material into my weekly and horoscope columns). Most of that writing is on Jonathan Cainer's web page. There have been three main articles, with additional links and resources? Introduction http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/jun17.html Saturn in Leo Part One (follows story about London) http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/july8.html Saturn in Leo Part Two (link will be in the 'old issues' archive as of Thursday) http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/eric.html This will be more than enough to get you started on this subject -- covering nearly every angle. And there will be more discussions in the Planet Waves Weekly essay as the subject develops. New readers are invited to explore our cavernous in-house archives, which begin at this link: http://planetwaves.net/WhatsNew/ And our premium service -- with the weekly horoscope and birthday report -- can be found here. It's a modestly priced service that supports our entire web page and brings you the very best in astrological news each Monday and Friday. Please have a look! Planet Waves Weekly http://planetwavesweekly.com/ Readers may call our office at (877) 453-8265 with any questions about what we do, or about subscribing...and if you would like to email me directly, you can do so at francis@planetwaves.net. Yours and truly, -- Eric Francis Paris, France PS, don't forget to visit our photo gallery, which is linked from the Planet Waves homepage above. There are some interesting articles linked from there as well. e Paris, July 16, 2'5, late afternoon Hot afternoon in Paris today. I was visiting the squat at 59 rivoli on photo business, and stopped to say hello to an artist who became my heroine the first time I saw one of her paintings -- Aurelie. Her specialty is portraying women depicted in advertising recreated as comic-book styled cow or pig-headed humanoids, carrying designer purses and shopping bags from the finest shops in Paris. She has an atelier, or studio, on the top floor of this ancient, rather large industrial building that was taken over by a collective of artists five years ago, which they occupy without paying rent; hence a squat. Everyone there spoke English. A guy named Sandy who gave the feeling of being Sri Lankan or Indian spoke perfect English, and Sara and Aurelie are pretty good as well, so for my sake we talked in English. This was one of my first opportunities to speak with peers in France about things that interest me. The soft, indirect light filled up the studio, which was cool and fresh high above rue Rivoli. For a while I talked to Sandy about Saturn in Leo and he had no specific background in astrology but a good working grasp of the subject. That's where I happened to be at the time Saturn began its new era, surrounded by people I appreciated deeply and feeling free and welcome and I could actually stay with the conversation in France. This turned to politics. We were joined by Anita, who served everyone a strong, alive-smelling herbal infusion. The discussion followed a track from HIV fraud committed by the United States against France (as I understand the story, a famous US scientist stole the discovery from the Pasteur Institute back in the mid 1980s, and he happens to get a royalty every single time the most common HIV test is used), various related scandals, and eventually to politics, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the issue of depleted uranium. The subject of the London bombings came up, and they were well-versed in the numerous issues that that event has raised. There I was in paradise, with some of the most intelligent young people I've met in Paris, all of them accomplished artists and social activists -- and we were talking about politics. I'm used to the subject enough that I could keep it from being a total downer, and I don't get so emotionally involved as I did, say, in the days when I was directly involved in covering PCB and dioxin scandals. But I could feel the weight of the subject. And how serious the problem is. I felt, suddenly, that I didn't want to be dealing with it. It was just too much. And I got grasped suddenly why the subject, this whole issue of the world condition, is not so often spoken of. I could see suddenly where it was less about apathy and more about a range of responses from distaste to the whole thing just being emotionally too much to confront. And when you dwell on this stuff, I've noticed that a feeling of paranoia can creep up. Eventually, I broke the spell and roamed around the squat, photographing details, the floors, and different artists I encountered -- without planning to do something like that, I've got an informal documentary project of the space going. I came back and the discussion shifted to art, painting techniques and who our hero artists are. I mentioned Lichtenstein as one of mine and Aurelie came out with a catalog from a retrospective of Roy's work, and she showed me a book of one of her pillars of art, who I'll tell you about soon. We ended on that note, and I walked down the the stairs, the Sun finally having passed the peak of heat, photographing drops of light, the installations put into every corner of the space, every last thing painted, and burst into the light on rue Rivoli, photographing Paris as I wandered the half hour home listening to old Talking Heads songs on my iPod. Paris, July 15, 2005 Here's a good one. Scientists have discovered a "planet with three suns." http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/07/14/planet.suns.reut/index.html And while we're at it, here's another good one: Karl Rove says the reporters told him about Joe Wilson's wife being a CIA agent. I used to have an old friend named Rafael Alvarez, who was president of the City College of New York student government. He had lots of political enemies, and he kept them on the run. But his favorite insult for whichever one of them was acting up was, "He thinks he's slick." This is what I have to say about Karl Rove. The reporters told him. Jesus Christmas. Here is that story: http://edition.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/07/15/cia.leak.rove.ap/index.html Well, I'm going to go to bed. It's midnight and it's been a long day. However, I feel like posting today's Planet Waves Weekly, with the horoscope. It's been a damned long two years of Saturn in Cancer. I'm glad it's over, and I'm sure there's plenty of adventure ahead. Have a good weekend. Unless the molasses goes pouring through the streets of Boston, I'm laying low. e PlanetWaves By ERIC FRANCIS Paris, Friday, July 15, 2005 Daily at http://PlanetWaves.net/ Subscribe! (206) 567-4455 When the Molasses Levee Breaks Paris, July 14, 2005 Looking at Io Sprite, my chart animation program, it appears that Saturn is just 16 arc minutes (a little over 1/4 of a degree) from the threshold of Leo. In the approximately 47 hours between this writing (9:18 am Thursday morning, Eastern time) and the ingress on Saturday, I suggest taking things very slowly. As the Moon moves through Scorpio beginning tomorrow, Saturn will be the void of course planet: nothing applying to it, making no solid aspect. This is to say that we're essentially functioning without the guardrail that Saturn provides; that assured, stable structure. While this comment does not apply to everyone, there are certain people whose psychic constitutions may be finding this extremely challenging; and others will respond in other ways, perhaps introspectively, perhaps recklessly. Take it easy. Be aware and take care. Consider yourself walking at the edge of a cliff; you just don't rush. We're in the very last moments of an extremely difficult cycle of history. Saturn in Cancer has been truly challenging for many people I've been hearing from. It's demanded changes, maturity, internal cleansing and learning to feel -- and to feel safe. For some, it's been oppressive. And it's taken its toll on a collective scale. Many thousands of people have been killed and many tens of thousands wounded by selfish, closed-minded oil greed, facilitated by constant deception and manipulation, and we've spent this entire phase of Saturn in Cancer watching, hearing about, thinking about, and dealing with the results of this, even if only on television every night. Some families have been harder hit than others, experiencing direct losses. But the short way to summarize Saturn in Cancer is: the bombing of Iraq, which has culminated in some kind of result in the UK; whoever was responsible, a series of bombings that are striking us on the way to work here in the 'free world'. We can pretend to ignore the causes of this all we like, and we can watch the polls squirm around and wonder what's going to happen to Mr B or Mr B, and let the media tell us what we're supposed to believe and watch the television to find out what we're supposed to think. But I know how I feel and I suspect you know how you feel. The worst of it is that I large measure, instead of dealing with our own problems -- domestic problems, in our homes, schools and communities -- our energy and our resources go to create pain. I am not trying to lay a downer on anyone, just to acknowledge what we've been through. And when the rest of the truth comes out, we're going to need ways to cope and deal with it and to direct our anger constructively. Today there is not a rush, but I suggest we really look back over these two years since June 2003 and think of what we have created, and ask ourselves if we feel safer, and ask ourselves what we're willing to do. It's quiet today in France, because it's Bastille Day, the day the French Revolution is celebrated. This morning, the government put on a little air show, and the fighter jets flew down the Seine River near my apartment. I looked at the military might of the Western world, considered the message of the French government flexing its muscles, and was grateful those planes were not here to drop bombs on me and my neighbors. Saturn in Leo is a very different time than Saturn in Cancer. I've got a new article on this being posted tonight to Cainer.com, under the Q/A section. The article looks at Saturn in Leo's impact on history. Writing it has changed my view on life. Here is part one, from last week (this same link will take you to part two in a few hours): http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/eric.html Thanks for reading. e July 13, 2005 The world sure is an interesting place as Saturn squeezes the last few drops out of Cancer. But this is also personal astrology; where any person has Cancer, the sign of emotions and security, in their chart is going to be a sensitive area. And this change of signs is likely to be coming with a sense of some personal crisis, and perhaps a feeling of disconnect or a loss of direction, for many people. For some, I could see Saturn in late Cancer also coming with more than a touch of depression or the sense that nothing is really safe. Even sign changes of smaller, faster planets can have that 'critical moment' feeling; Saturn, because it's so slow and large, is one of the planets that regulates our entire perception of reality. It is the most tangible planet, most of the time; it has that sense of things manifesting and, despite all the intensity of Pluto, is still the most basic planet of change. And a sign-change represents an adjustment of some kind, perhaps a total change of scenery, and a rededication of one's mission. But what if someone is dedicated to NOT changing, or sees no way to change? There are really two possibilities; Saturn begins to set up a series of enforced changes, or nothing seems to happen but then the resistance and pressure build until an outer planet (such as Pluto) comes along and bursts the whole system. What's interesting with the Saturn sign change is that in the process, Chiron is also changing signs, 180 degrees away. So Chiron is involved in whatever Saturn is doing, and whatever aspects Saturn is making in your chart, Chiron is doing some kind of parallel work. While Saturn generally restructures things, Chiron makes us aware of things. So, to do the Saturn work of the equation, think in terms of structure, organization, purpose and your use of time. Also, consider Saturn in terms of the application of energy: where do you feel you're holding back? Saturn in Leo tends to bring a swift release of energy, at some point, and once that energy builds it builds steadily. Chiron works a little differently. To apply Chiron, look at what your current life is making you aware of, or trying to get you to be aware of. What is it? What do you notice about yourself every day? Specific things, general feelings, needs, patterns...that kind of thing. What are you doing, or not doing? What are you feeling, or not feeling? What's the balance you're striking between responsibility (Capricorn) and freedom (Aquarius), the line that Chiron is now working? That's a line we'll all be on for a while. If you know astrology, look at the house placement where the Chiron transit is taking place and see what you notice about the correspondence. Meanwhile, Saturn will be stirring up the opposite house. The transit from Cancer to Leo is somewhat monumental, and I'll have more to say about that this week in my Q & A column. Today, it's Wednesday and it's time to put my writing nose to the grindstone for a couple of days and get you your articles for the week. Take it easy. Don't try to push the planets, just guide your own life gently. e Tuesday, July 12, 2005 Perhaps this may clarify things a bit -- from today's t r u t h o u t reprinted from the Washington Post. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071205J.shtml For some quick background, here is what Rove has said directly about Plame: As ABC News's The Note reported on Sept. 29, 2003, ABC News producer Andrea Owen and a cameraman approached Rove that morning as he walked toward his car. Owen: "Did you have any knowledge or did you leak the name of the CIA agent to the press?" Rove: "No." At which point, Rove shut his car door. Then on August 31, 2004, Rove spoke to CNN's John King . King: "Did someone in the White House leak the name of the CIA operative? What is your assessment of the status of the investigation, and can you tell us that you had nothing to do with. . . . Rove: "Well, I'll repeat what I said to ABC News when this whole thing broke some number of months ago. I didn't know her name. I didn't leak her name." Here is McClellan in a Sept. 16, 2003 briefing : "Q Now, this is apparently a federal offense, to burn the cover a CIA operative. . . . Did Karl Rove do it? "MR. McCLELLAN: I said, it's totally ridiculous." On Sept. 30, 2003 , Bush himself was asked if Rove had a role in the CIA leak. "Listen, I know of nobody -- I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information," he said. "If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action. And this investigation is a good thing." July 12, 2005 In honor of Karl Rove (subject of the White House Press Briefing, above) we've updated the front page cover with an image of Varuna. Last week's New Moon was in a close conjunction to this relatively new planet. For the curious, there are two articles linked from the caption above, and this bit from a Sept. 2003 article called "Worlds Beyond Neptune." Full article is here: http://ericfrancis.com/issues/0309/chiron.html Salient portion is here; more on the "Cubewanos" at the link above: "Varuna was discovered in 2000 and has an orbital period of 283 years. A Cubewano [type of minor planet], it was the first planet beyond Pluto ever named (bearing Minor Planet Catalogue Number 20,000). Once a vastly important god of the ancient Vedic world, he was demoted by invading Aryan conquerors to a god of rivers and waters, sometimes depicted carrying a noose. In earlier times, mortals who did not keep their word would meet his wrath. He could bestow immortality as well. Astrological associations include the impersonal laws of nature (as opposed to human nature) and the incomprehensible cosmic order (as opposed to the order of society). Questions of the gain and loss of reputation, and the issue of immortality through fame, seem inevitable with this planet." e Dear Readers: This was today's lead story on Yahoo News. http://snipurl.com/g6t7 Here's the Plame Leak case in one sentence. Take a breath and... It is now known that: After George Bush lied about Saddam Hussein's pursuit of nuclear weapons in the 2003 State of the Union address in an effort to get America to go to war with Iraq, a diplomat named Joe Wilson who had personal knowledge of the situation exposed the lie, and in retaliation, presidential advisor Karl Rove exposed Wilson's wife as a deep cover CIA agent whose job was to protect us all from real weapons and terrorists. This sounds like a reasonable example of treason. Among other things. e Watch: this is the beginning, cousins. There is blood in the water. See above for the full transcript of yesterday's White House press briefing. Why was the Moon in Cancer? (from Eric) | Paris, July 11, 2005 I think we really need to watch the mind-control machine in action and we have the perfect opportunity right now.I don't want to get caught up in the emotions of the London bombing; it doesn't tickle my patriotism or my desire for revenge. But it's disgusting to hear Tony Blair say that it's the likely work of fundamentalist Islamist extremists, and yeah, we're investigating. Watch the spin evolve. Watch the lies mutate every half hour like the HIV infection. Politicians are by nature incredibly two-faced. That's the actual meaning, from Greek, of the word "diplomatic" -- the "di" means two; two faces. Our friendly leaders have to order bombing runs and assassinations and cover up the conduct of their military at the same time they have to look like apple pie the rest of the time. It's really amazing we believe one word any of them say. Tony -- why was the Moon in Cancer for the bombings? Why don't you ask one of Britain's many fine astrologers (the best Western astrologers in the world, hands down, live in England, so it's a domestic call) about why the ruler of the 12th house of secret enemies is the Moon in Cancer in the 11th house? Why don't you ask why this points to a seemingly benign figure whose face we see on television every day? A kind of friendly-seeming, domestic household character? Not some shady underworld figure or fugitive, or somebody with a weird ideology, unless of course he or she carries a domestic passport and is hiding in the kitchen of Buckingham Palace? We don't even know that the mastermind or the one who organized the attack was male; the Moon in Cancer is a pretty feminine identity. Speaking of which: have another look at the chart, and notice that Juno, the most queenly figure of Greek mythology, is lurking on the 9th house side of the MC, you might say, the hidden influence behind the government. She is the highest planet in the chart, powerfully placed, and hidden, in Taurus on the rather private 9th house side of the MC. Here is the chart; Juno is in blue, at the top of the chart. http://planetwaves.net/charts/london_explosions.html How convenient this all becomes is something we need to watch carefully. What happens in the wake of the bombings will tell us a lot about their purpose. Two news snips from the cover of CNN.com: QUANTICO, Virginia (AP) -- President Bush expressed solidarity with Britain on Monday over the deadly bombings in London and said terrorists are trying to break the will of the world's democracies by killing innocent people. "They are mistaken," Bush said of the terrorists. "America will not retreat in the face of terrorists and murderers." LONDON, England (CNN) -- Addressing the House of Commons for the first time since Thursday's string of terrorist bombings ripped through the capital, Prime Minister Tony Blair vowed his nation "will not rest" until those behind the attacks are brought to justice. The investigation, he said "is among the most vigorous and intense that this country has ever seen." "We will pursue those responsible -- not just perpetrators, but the planners of this outrage, wherever they are. And we will not rest until they are identified and, as far as humanly possible, brought to justice," he said. (I am sure they will, no matter what the cost.) Updates to Gallery On the offhand chance you're inside on a summer Sunday, I'd just like to let you know that Tracy and I have made a number of updates to the gallery in the past few hours. About 20 new images have been added, mostly from Paris on Saturday but also a few from New York City on the day I spent there during the layover between Montreal and Paris last weekend. The gallery is doing strange things to my perception of time -- what is recent, and what is the distant past. It's all starting to seem like so long ago, but all of the photos in the gallery are work from 2005. I had only taken a few digital photos before getting my first "camera numeric" in January. For anyone curious, I'm also using a Cannon Rebel XT, with two zoom lenses that range from 18 mm to 300 mm (add 25% for converstion to digital, so it's more like 26mm to 375mm). However, for those looking to make an investment in a modestly priced digital camera, the Fujifilm 5500 (about $300, 4 megapixels) absolutely rocks. I'm not sure it's made anynore, but it's probably still available if you look online (it goes to 10x optical zoom -- very helpful). There is a new one in the series that goes to a 6x optical zoom and shoots at 6 megapixels, also pretty good. One last thing. Of the couple of hundred photos now in the gallery, not one was taken with a flash, and none were taken with studio lighting. They are all "available light" photographs. This may seem challenging but it gets the most creative results. To do this, check your camera's settings for the ISO setting and when you're inside or in low light, set it to 400 or 800 and when you're outside or in bright light, set it as low as it can go, usually 64 or 100. Anyway, enough technicalities. Let the music play. The first shots are from the artist's squat at 59 rue Rivoli, which I first discovered when taken there by a friend in November or so. Since then, it's been a dependable source of adventure and fun. The squat has been closed to the public since April, but Le Suisse, one of the founders of the project, says it's been really nice to be away from people for a while. The squat was open to the public every Saturday and Sunday for five years. A lot of artists were on vacation and there were a number of vacant studio areas when I visited Saturday. The whole photo gallery now take about 20 minutes to watch, and covers Paris, Greece, New York City, upstate New York, Toronto, Montreal and Amsterdam in somewhat random order. e http://planetwaves.info/gallery.php From Jude, posted by Eric...is this cynical? Somehow it's refreshing, I think. e -------------- Jude Writes: I try not to fill up your in-box on the weekend, but ... this is spot on -- and a good one to push out the walls of the box and give us the larger perspective. The test of power is the one most humans fail -- the test of superpower is the SAT of spiritual aptitude. We can't fix it til we know it's broke -- and by the time Dub finishes breaking it, we might even have to start from scratch. Worse things have happened. Jude A Man for Our Times The Inevitability of George W. Bush By BEN TRIPP July 9 / 10, 2005 http://www.counterpunch.org/tripp07092005.html With regrets for all the chaos and death and destruction, it was necessary that George W. Bush should ascend to power and retain it for two terms of office. He is a singularly giftless man, but he brings one gift to everyone: disaster. Placed at the pinnacle of the greatest military empire in human history, its wealth and reach unimaginable in Caesar's day, equipped with every conceivable advantage that the very most powerful, influential cabals of rulership and commerce and warmaking can bestow, all of their collective beneficence concentrated behind his every purpose, yet he will fail. Say what you will about the accomplices secretly running the show: Bush himself is the president. He is no dupe. A slobbering cretin nearly incapable of forming a coherent thought, or of operating a bicycle on a hill without running over a policeman; a feckless, soulless meta-bureaucrat with the attention span of a hydroencephalitic flea preoccupied with revenge, machismo, booze, and proving to his father he's not a latent homosexual: these things he indubitably is. But he's not a puppet merely. It is his magical ability to wrest defeat from the jaws of victory that will end America's unsuitable world domination. Then we can get on with averting the next ice age. Far too late to save what's left of the world as we know it, but that's the cosmic joke our species seems never to get, no matter how often the punch line is repeated. Bush is only the latest of many such necessary evildoers. There's always somebody. Hitler, an even more egregious schmekel than G.W. Bush, was the inevitable instrument of the destruction of Europe as it had been known for a thousand years. Things simply could not remain as they were, and he saw to it that they didn't. The Great War wasn't enough of a hint for those old countries whose pastime it had long been to annex each other and swap royal bloodlines, feeding their various empires on the flesh of distant lands. So along came Hitler with WWII. Unfortunately America, which came late to both World Wars, got to feeling superior and decided an empire could be done properly: it just needed to be run by folks that were elected, not handed the job through fortunate birth. We set about the task, our elected leaders passing the torch from one grasping claw to the next, and built up a pretty good portfolio of client states and resource-rich territories outside our borders. That showed those old-Europe types! Here's the problem. Empire is the sole purpose and certain downfall of political power. We got our post-European empire sure enough, paddling around in various bits of Asia before settling on oil-rich climes at the buckle between Eurasian shirt and African trousers. We got fat and complacent and began to believe our own press about the goodness and greatness and rightness of America, her jiggle & kill blow-dried Surfer Jesus playtime commercial culture, anaesthetic low-calorie pilsner beers, and infinite opportunity for the right blend of complexion and connection. We began to imagine we were shaping the world to fit our image. This is the first symptom of a dying empire. Check out this kickin' toga, bro. Pretty soon everybody will be wearing them instead of pants. Hey, are those Visigoths? The second symptom is when the leaders start electing themselves by divine right or noble blood. The final symptom is that the popular weal ceases to be a factor in governance. One might argue that most empires were founded and maintained without the popular weal being considered at all, but this is simplistic. Empires rely on a mutual parasitism between leaders and people: you send us to war, we get cheap resources (or Poland). That sort of thing. Eventually, the rulers start running the show entirely for their own benefit, putting increasing downward pressure on the populace until society breaks down like my Fiat Cinquecento. Bingo! The spoils of a sprawling, resource-grabbing common enterprise have been diverted to a self-selecting few. The ticks are exsanguinating the hyena. What's next? A leader must emerge from the top ranks to ruin everything, pronto. That leader is George W. Bush. He brings his gift of failure to our nation and the world. That is the real similarity between him and Adolf Hitler. And various Caesars. And Richard of the Crusades. They come along at a time when empires need collapsing, after which the common business of mankind can proceed. That said, I'm hoping he gets it over with soon– - I'd look awful in a toga. ++ Ben Tripp is an independent filmmaker and all-around swine. His book, Square In The Nuts, may be purchased here, with other outlets to follow: http://www.lulu.com/Squareinthenuts It is not enough to be compassionate; you must act. -- The Dalai Lama (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.) YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
------ End of Forwarded Message Dear Readers: I've been informed by our ISP that PlanetWaves.net will be down for about an hour on Saturday. Assuming you see this prior to the interruption, I suggest you go to our mirror site at http://PlanetWaves.info/ , where much of our content exists as well. This outage will probably affect PlanetWavesWeekly.com as well, which is on the same server as dot-net. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks! -- Eric Francis Friday, July 8, 2005 Dear Readers: The Friday newsletter, with horoscope, has just gone out to all subscribers. This week we've also posted the essay, pertaining to the London terrorist bombings, to the front page. I must quote Jonathan Cainer's thought of the day today. He writes, in the Daily Mail and on his homepage: "Anger begets anger. When Jesus said, 'Love thine enemy', that's precisely what he meant. If we want to stop a cycle of violence and evil, we have to step outside it, no matter how shocked we may feel or how much harm it has done to us. We have to be guided by hope and inspiration, not fear or fury. We don't have to forget. We don't even have to forgive. But we do have to keep walking away from the darkness of hatred and towards the light of love." Have a great weekend. Catch you Monday. I'll post some of Jude's new writing over the weekend, so check in if you're interested. e Dear Readers: Here is the chart for today's bombings in London. http://planetwaves.net/charts/london_explosions.html More follows in the blog below, as well in tomorrow's edition of Planet Waves. e Regarding the Terrorist Attacks in London Dear Readers: Thursday morning's bombings in London have sent the UK into shock. For readers outside the country, it's important to recognize that England is a densely populated island community, and as such, it has a much closer-knit emotional and psychological feeling than most other places. Events tend to have a powerful impact on the whole nation, which in a deep and meaningful way responds like a family to national tragedies. On behalf of everyone at Planet Waves, I offer condolences to those who have lost loved ones, and to those who have had their lives shaken by these unwelcome developments. Most of us are experiencing some level of grief, fear and uncertainty in the wake of the news. This is natural; staying in touch with friends and loved ones will help. If there was a warning about these events, it came in the form of the Capricorn Full Moon two weeks ago, exactly on the summer solstice -- an extraordinarily large event on a deeply sensitive part of the zodiac. This was the first of two Cap Full Moons; the second is July 21, in about two weeks, as this past Wednesday July 6 was the Cancer New Moon. To have an exact lunation on the solstice means that the Sun and the Moon simultaneously aligned exactly on what was, in the Northern Hemisphere, a high-energy point for the Sun -- the longest day. This involves the Aries point because the four days where the Sun begins new seasons are all connected in a kind of energy circuit. In my article on the Cap Full Moons two weeks ago, I wrote, "These early degrees of the cardinal signs (those on a cross beginning with the first degree of Aries, which is the first degree of the tropical zodiac) are hot, hot degrees lately, they have wide impact, and this grand cross makes aspects to the charts for many recent news events going back even unto the autumn of 2000." That article, with a number of predictions, is here. << http://snipurl.com/g3a3 >> Among the "many news items," I was referring specifically to the Sept. 11 attacks, and numerous subsequent events, which were preceded by a solar eclipse on the summer solstice on June 21, 2001. The bottom line with an exact lunation on the solstice is an event that will affect many people in a far-reaching way. These old eclipses can have impact for years. Wednesday July 6 came the New Moon in the sign Cancer exactly between the Capricorn Full Moons. It was a big day -- the day London was granted the Olympics for 2012, as well as during the G8 summit in Scotland. And this is in the midst of vastly important news in the US, including the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor this past weekend, and many developments in the situation involving the Karl Rove / Valarie Plame spy situation that relates to how the US and the UK wound up at war with Iraq (please see truthout.org for background). So this series of lunations, aspecting one of the most important Sept. 11 charts (the June 21, 2001 eclipse), are quite literally setting the world into motion. As part of the background, we also are right on the cusp of Saturn moving into Leo and opposing Chiron -- a portent of big change (see main article below, on Saturn in Leo). Here is the chart for Thursday's bombings. I will give it a basic look today, and continue this discussion on the Planet Waves homepage, available to everyone, on Friday. << London Explosions Chart - to be linked! >> The late Leo ascendant (see left side of chart, horizontal line) shows a well-developed situation; this event is not the result of something new. It would appear, based on that ascendant (which is just about to exceed when the chart is really useful, at about 27+ degrees) that we're at the beginning of the end of something. The Sun, located at 15+ Cancer, is square Mars at 17+ Aries, as well as square the lunar node. Mars, notably is exactly occupying the degree of the April 8, 2005 solar eclipse, and the Sun is about to square that degree. We have the feeling of something "going off" and because it involves two eclipses, the recent April 8 eclipse and the more distant, pre-9/11 June 21, 2001 eclipse; thus we have the image of an event with a widespread impact. And the Sun is square the nodes. The Sun square the nodes says "turning point." Note also that the Sun always represents the king or the president, so it's a turning point for our leaders. And the Sun is applying to Mars; the Sun is doing the pushing, but it's also the thing at the point of change. This could be very damaging for people now in power. Mars, on the North Node, is right in the 9th house cusp, suggesting a foreign enemy combatant. But -- because Scorpio rules the 4th house of home and security (Scorpio) -- we have an image of a domestic enemy as well, but cloaked in secrecy because it's associated with Scorpio. The late degree Cancer Moon also speaks of a well-developed situation. However, because the Moon is at new phase, there is the sense of something just begun. It's as if one cycle is completing and another is beginning at the same time. But they are two different cycles. What does the Moon represent? In this chart, it has a double or even triple meaning. First, it's the ruler of the 12th house (because Cancer is on the 12th house cusp, so the Moon rules that house). As such, it represents the "secret enemy" who is depicted by the 12th, and all the secrets of the 12th. But the Moon always represents the people themselves, that is, the general public; and it always has a lot to do with the question at hand. Saturn's position exactly on the cusp of the house of secrets is very strange. It's as if Saturn is standing there guarding a lot of secrets. We've seen enough of those secrets leak in recent weeks (think: Downing Street Memo) to know what else might be in there. And that Saturn is about to come under the spotlight. The Moon is about to make a conjunction to Saturn, sitting on the 12th house cusp. Note what is in the 12th proper: Mercury conjunct Venus in Leo. That looks like a lot of money, or like money is a hidden issue. Or that the hidden issue is "worth a lot," whether financially or spiritually. Note that the Venus and Mercury, representing the secrets or the money, are in Leo; note that the Sun, which rules Leo, squares Mars, the foreign combatant. We get a picture of whose money or wealth is at stake, and what is being fought over. There is much else in this chart. It is rather shockingly apropos of the event itself and of the connection to history; the question is, how will the public respond? How will we experience that Moon conjunction to Saturn? Moon-Saturn-Cancer looks like heavy emotional fear, which would be by far the worst way to respond, in the long run because fear makes us susceptible to believing what is not true. This chart, with its confusion between domestic and foreign, between friend and enemy, fear and security, and with its strange sense of secrecy, is very reminiscent of the Sept. 11, 2001 chart. But the difference is that the 7/7 chart has the sense of an imminent confrontation, and we, the people are a lot more involved. I'll have more to say on Planet Waves Friday. Please stay tuned. Yours truly, Eric Francis Paris, France Ms. Miller herself told the court that she would not reveal her source no matter how long they jailed her. "If journalists cannot be trusted to guarantee confidentiality, then journalists cannot function and there cannot be a free press," she read from a statement as she stood before Judge Hogan. "The right of civil disobedience is based on personal conscience, it is fundamental to our system and it is honored throughout our history," she said before court officers led her away, looking shaken. -- The New York Times, Thursday editions http://snipurl.com/g2wq From Eric, July 6 (Paris) I thought this was interesting. I've been hearing rumors about it, though thank you Jeff Jawer of StarIQ.com for sending a link in an email this morning, under the subject header, "Breakthrough in Idiocy." I think we may have found the identity of the Bush administration's court astrologer. And speaking of (everyone all together now), Happy Solar Return, George! http://snipurl.com/g248 I'll be back soon with a bit more on Rove, probably the most important of many important stories developing at the moment. However, as I am now in the great curve pulling about four Gs getting my writing done for the week, you may not be hearing from me for a day or so. But I am sitting here wondering what Jude is thinking about it. Here is a link from truthout.org to a recent Newsweek story. Really, I think you should know all about this one. It involves how Bush lied about Iraq developing nuclear weapons in the 2003 State of the Union Address. Then, when a senior diplomat experienced on the issue called him on it, someone in the Bush administration "outed" the diplomat's wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA agent. That was true -- she was involved in the (actual) prevention (actual) of weapons of mass destruction getting into the hands of (actual) terrorists. But that someone taking revenge blew her cover and the cover of her entire spy network, threatening the program and the lives of United States and foreign agents who had worked for years to keep the world just a little safer. And that someone appears to have been a guy Karl Rove, Bush's top political strategist and a man you might call the engineer of the modern world. Here is some background. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/070305A.shtml Happy Cancer New Moon. e Blog by Jude (posted by Eric, from Political Waves; mine follows) Politics is to "progress" like bee's are to a picnic ... spoils the whole party. Long before we got the Dub and his kick-ass-kill-em-all notions, common wisdom pointed to lack of opportunity, class struggle and repressive politics as the touch-stone for discontent in the middle-east. That the United States smugly ignored these issues in search of profit added fuel to the fire. The "why do they hate us?" question, answered. Prosperity and opportunity, on the other hand, changes everything -- offering the "carrot" of a decent life and future always trumps aggression. A favorite Arafat story comes to mind when I consider this problem -- years ago, he was at one of those [many] junctures when it was expedient for him to call off his assassins. He was having a hard time controlling them -- so he appealed to Palestinian women to give up their daughters for the cause. The bully-boys were invited to attend a mixer with several young women ... and within a few months the assassins had become husbands and expectant fathers and wanted no more killing. It seems to me that the world is finally standing ready to "fix" poverty -- and politics is in the way. More impressive yet, even though the economic picture is squirrly and worrisome, rather than run, clutching what it has to it's breast, the world has focused on those with very little and held out it's hands. I'm sensing something quite unique, and I'm ready to put a name to it ... a "soul rebellion," already underway. In the coming months, if the politicians aren't willing to give the people what they have committed their hearts to, I believe they will begin to "move around them." Many state's are ignoring the Dub and his policies ... some are calling for accountability -- some are passing state or local laws to counteract Federal junk -- some are calling for a new vision -- others are beginning to implement saner choices without government "help" ... much of the world is joining to demand changes that aren't being addressed. I see it more and more in what I read. Perhaps the 100th Monkey has already washed it's dinner in the sea. Perhaps we're finally ready to be the people we know we Can Be. -- Jude Much Has Been Done, But... Much more is needed. G-8 leaders must follow up on debt relief with a smart plan to aid Africa By Desmond Tutu Tuesday, July 5, 2005 by the Philadelphia Inquirer http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0705-27.htm Paris, July 5, 2005 (from Eric) The Moon is now in Cancer and as of this writing we're about a day away from the Cancer New Moon, conjunct Varuna (see Planet Waves Weekly last week). The intense watery activity of a Sun-Moon conjunction, plus Saturn in the last degrees of Cancer, mean that many will be feeling the REALITY of the transitions they've been in for a long time, and feeling it on an emotional level. The story of astrology is the story of change. That includes progress; progress implies something different happening. And every person goes through changes differently. The more challenging situations occur when we consciously strive to resist movement, and do so over a long time. Most of that resisting comes in the form of denying what we KNOW. This always leads to crisis because we know what we know for a good reason: to avoid crisis and make decisions. Saturn and all the other water activity are saying we know what we know because we feel it. In fact, we're likely to have been feeling it for a while because Saturn has been doing its thing in Cancer going back two years, which was the commencement of a get-clear process that's had many developments and revelations. Saturn in Cancer is going to raise all kinds of subject matter around the question, "Do I feel safe?" and "What do I need to feel secure?" but also on a deeper level, "What am I feeling insecure about?" The territory involves parents and children. It involves, as a result, childhood material that most people, indeed the great majority of people, don't connect to their present experience. The usual excuse is "that was then, this is now," to borrow the title of an old movie. But I think the more pervasive excuse is that it's a) simply uncomfortable to go there or b) people don't know how to handle childhood material once it arises in adult situations. There is still time; that's what time is for, if you need it. In the sequence of the signs, Cancer (security and nourishment) comes before Leo (risk taking and fun). So unless we address the first, we're going to have a hard time getting to the second. Always, the question, "What do I do?" comes up once there's the small willingness to grow or to heal. The first thing is to be aware. New Worlds In Woodstock, I sat on the front stoop of one Joseph Trusso of Witch Tree Road drinking water and listened to stories from the diary of Marco Polo on the Silk Road, Iraq and Iran and so long since showing up there one twisted winter afternoon 13 years before, perhaps my first free gesture in this lifetime. In the colonial city of Kingston, down the block from where the New York State legislature met for the first time, wrote horoscopes in the newsroom of my friend Jason's magazines and for two weeks of working days sat amongst the beautiful young ones who publish Chronogram and House...visited with friends from the dawn of time on the Grandmother Land...in New York City, an hour after being introduced to the cosmic literary agent at Book Expo, met my mother in an enormous West Side coffee shop and sat there, looking at her face, and had the missing experience of her overjoyed to see me, tears in her eyes as I left her at the crosstown bus stop and headed up to my hotel...a couple of weeks before, sat in my favorite Italian restaurant and told my father of my adventures and exploits in seven countries the past year, we have the same sense of humor...renewed my passport...bought Carhardts and a Maglite and invested heavily in Grateful Dead CDs at Jack's Rhythms in New Paltz, home of Steve Bergstein...discovered the electrical room door to Gage Hall unlocked yet again...to the north, many long discussions of Chiron in Canada, astrology books writing themselves in mid-air metalogues...new friends and mysteries, a tapestry of understanding and many photographs of faces, mirrors, and eyes of the world...sat at the bar of the eternal sushi chef Fai Mai and continued my education...and was never for a moment far from the light network called Planet Waves... A long trip, but not so strange... Greetings from Paris e July 2, 2005 (from Eric) I want to know why I keep going places and seeing ... the Poker Channel. e nyc Planet Waves | July 02, 2005 - from Jude I live in the Heartland -- in the Ozarks, SW Missouri, USA. This is the land of lakes and trailer homes and city-shy hillbillys and tourists and poverty and craftsmen ... in the state of KC barbeque and blues, grazing cattle and soy-bean fields, and the belligerent Show Me attitude [and state motto] typical of it's most famous citizen, Harry S. Truman. There are pockets [hollers] here where you completely, and with a shock, leave the 20th century ... notice I didn't say 21st, we haven't aspired to that yet. I have to laugh when articles refer to the near-nonexistent "hinterlands" of America ... that's where I plunk my bones. I call it the Pea Patch. Here in the Pea Patch there are fireworks set off on the tiny island in the middle of the lake every year. There is traditionally a craft fair in the town square of the nearby county seat ... pop. under 400. It's remarkable what crafters are willing to sell their skill and time for, here -- for bargain hunters, it doesn't get better. This is about "handmade/homemade" -- quilts, jams and jellies, garden produce, doll-making, woodworking -- lots of American flag themes ... lots of patriotism-inspired lawn ornaments, red/white/blue pot holders, and, of course, eagles galore. This is also the weekend when the "city folk" are down in droves, so the square was abuzz when I got there today. Hidden among the laberynth of booths and tables were two places of interest -- one was the Democratic table, with people I know ... they're well-meaning and lethargic, but I don't fault them -- it's a small pond and they tread carefully least they get drummed out of the tribe. Another was a small booth raising funds for our Dem. Congressman, Ike Skelton. It had bumper stickers for sale, and I browsed. A handsome older woman with long flowing gray hair told me prices. I admired the "A villiage is missing it's idiot" sticker ... she said it was $3. As I reached for my purse, I noticed another. "That one's only $2 -- different suppliers," she said. I said, "I think I'll have to go with this one -- they won't hear the first, but perhaps they'll hear this." When she handed me change, she said, softly, "I have that one on my car. I don't know what this country is coming to." I bought the one that said, "Hate is NEVER a family value." The same way that hearing the Star Spangled Banner or America the Beautiful chokes me up now, for different reasons than it always has before, Independence Day is painful to me. While fireworks have always delighted me, now it's difficult to look up into the night sky filled with colorful "bombs bursting" and not think "Iraq" ... or gaze farther up into the heavens without thinking "Star Wars." But last night I watched the third part of the PBS special on the American Revolution and it cheered me some. So many in's and out's -- so many different opinions -- so many different classes ... but all united for freedom. The concept of the "citizen soldier." One British report said that, "They seemed a new people, a new breed of human." When the Mother Country finally gave up [due to public opinion and lack of treasure at home, I might add] one soldier commented on how sad it was to leave his fellows after eight long years ... "and no one can know our suffering." Our citizen soldiers, no less than our Founding Fathers, were committed, were faithful to the struggle despite the sacrifice required of them. We owe -- we pay back, now. One of the "truism's" I tell people who are interested in Course in Miracles as opposed to religion is that "God has no grandchildren." Our relationship to the Divine is one-on-one ... it's not inherited, it's not "low maintenance" -- it's very personal, about as personal as it gets. That's true of freedom and democracy, too -- it's not low maintenance and today this generation, We the People, have to prove it yet again. I'm posting an article below from another spot in the Heartland -- it's from the Ravenna/Kent [Ohio] Record Courier, and -- trust me, I've been there -- it's a dinky little rural spot too. The middle of America is not all red, not all asleep, not all unaware. We all love our country and on this weekend we are reminded how She came to be, and the sacrifice that authored Her -- reminded that we are still engaged in a struggle for Her Soul -- reminded that Red v. Blue is a myth, that in the Heartland there are those who work for Her deliverance on a small scale much as others work on a [louder and] broader one. We're all in this together. So to all you American's out there, I wish you a Happy Fourth of July from the Pea Patch -- and may God bless America with remembrance of Her integrity, Her responsibilities and the highest aspirations of democracy. Peace ~ Jude Independence, Freedom, Democracy & the Presidency Caroline Arnold Friday, July 1, 2005 by CommonDreams.org http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0701-22.htm Without democracy, you have no understanding of what is happening down below; ... you will be unable to collect sufficient opinions from all sides; there can be no communication between top and bottom; top-level leadership will depend on one-sided and incorrect material to decide issues ... it will be impossible to achieve unity of understanding and unity of action, and impossible to achieve true centrality of purpose. * This weekend we celebrate our nation's independence from imperial rule, freedom, and democracy. This year we look back on 229 solid years of independence, and, despite some ominous symptoms, still exercise our basic freedom in vigorous arguments about freedom - what it is comprised of, which freedoms may be abridged , by whom and for what reasons. Because we generally agree that freedom is a necessary condition for democracy, we take freedom seriously. But what about democracy? We take for granted that we have the best democracy in the world, and hardly ever examine how we actually do it. Consider these examples: A few years ago the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposed permitting oil and gas drilling under a large drinking-water reservoir in NE Ohio. At the public hearing a citizen asked why the BLM would even consider the risk of contaminating the drinking water for 100,000 people. The BLM representative replied: "We take that risk because Congress says it our job". The citizen was outraged: "You aren't taking the risk," he said angrily, "We are." Around the same time Tim Hagan, then a Cuyahoga County Commissioner, made an eloquent plea at the Cleveland City Club for government help for the poor, the sick, and especially children. But a question about government mismanagement made him mad: "I can't understand," he said, "how people can talk about the government as if it were something totally outside themselves, for which they had no responsibility or obligation. If our government isn't doing the right things, we have to make it so that it does; we are the government, and we make it what it is. ..." More recently, President Bush, asked to describe his presidency, replied: "... it is a decision-making job; I make a lot of decisions ...." He also said "I'm a war president. I make decisions ... in foreign-policy matters with war on my mind. ... And the American people need to know they got a president who sees the world the way it is." This week, in anticipation of Independence Day, our President gave a speech about Iraq (referring five times to 9/11 and liberally sprinkled with the words "terror" and "terrorists") in which he asserted "There is only one course of action against them: to defeat them abroad before they attack us at home. ... Amid all this violence, I know Americans ask the question: Is the sacrifice worth it?" He then considerately relieved us of the need to think for ourselves and answered for us: "It is worth it, and it is vital to the future security of our country." He called on us to 'stay the course' of armed suppression that not only hasn't worked to end terrorism it has terrorized and slaughtered Iraqis and made their nation the world center of terrorism. How did we get in this fix, in a supposedly democratic nation, with our President making decisions for us, setting our priorities, spending our money, making choices for our children and elderly, risking our kids' lives in a war against a fiction, and spending our nation's wealth on a mission we didn't agree to? We are belatedly asking ourselves: what about freedom? what about democracy? We didn't fight the War for Independence for security. We sought independence so we could be free, so we could make choices and decisions for ourselves and govern ourselves in democracy. We are also asking "Would I risk going - or sending a son or daughter - to war in Iraq for an armed but ephemeral 'security' from terrorists?" And if we are not willing to take that risk, what choices do we now have? Author Robert Parry says we have only two: " ... continue to send [our] young soldiers into the Iraqi death trap and hope for the best, or build a movement for impeaching George W. Bush - and then try to make the best of a bad situation in Iraq." (http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0629-27.htm) Neither choice looks good. And hell, someone once remarked, is a place with no good choices. Bush has brought us to this place, using "one-sided and incorrect material" in his decisions; we have had no "unity of understanding" and no "true centrality of purpose." Our freedoms have been curtailed and our democracy has withered; even our independence has been degraded into security, as we engaged in the barbarity of a needless, endless war. Probably the 'least worst' choice open to us now is impeachment. As long as we have a President who makes decisions for us and risks not only our soldier's lives but democracy itself, we won't be able to fix Iraq. We must first set our own house in order. Democracy gives us the tools to do it, if we are willing to use them. Impeachment will be hard. Making the best of the bad situations in our own country and what's left of Iraq will be truly difficult, and creating new, good choices will require enormous work - work that can only be done by We, the People. * Chairman Mao. This column will appear in the Kent-Ravenna Record Courier on Sunday July 3, 2005 ++ Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is sharing the blog with Eric. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ July 1, 2005 (by Eric in Montreal) I must admit that every time I go to a computer and check in with CNN.com, I hold my breath for a moment half expecting to be met by something really strange. But the world is strange enough, though what's truly odd is how so many people perceive things, which is essentially as unrelated to them. But there are exceptions, and there is a spirit of ferment brewing gradually -- though I'm not sure how long it will take to pop the cork. Today, I clicked on the http://Live8Live.com web site and read some excellent spin on how to keep the pressure on the G8 leaders to do something about poverty and African debt relief. They were accepting donations -- of photos, for a kind of massive petition of human faces. I submitted one of those neat new headshots that a guy named Cristos took of me when I was in Greece. Check out the "submit photo" link at the Live8 site. It's a fun idea for political activism. Sir Bob Geldof has put together another excellent, well, I'm reluctant to call it a protest. It's not really a protest at all, it's more of a pro-existence or pro-reality celebration, not a test of anything. I'm curious to hear your impressions of the Live 8 event even if you're just watching on television. Speaking of faces, thanks to Aimee for modeling in the photo above at today's Canada Day parade. I'll catch you Sunday or Monday. Be well & be free -- you deserve it, and you can. On the move, e Correction - from Eric Readers of this week's Planet Waves essay on Varuna, please note that there is an error involving the sign changes of this planet. I incorrectly state that Varuna leaves Cancer in December 2012. It the last ingress to Leo is really in 2017. The correct ephemeris, below, is calcuated at http://ephemeral.info. I suggest that readers disregard the sign change table linked from the bottom of the article, which I regret that I did not check against another source. I will post a new, more accurate one next week. Meanwhile, here is the ephemeris for the sign change from Cancer to Leo, from a source I trust (using the Swiss Ephemeris): 2016 Sep 06 -- 29 Can 49'38 2016 Oct 06 -- 0 Leo 15'50 2016 Nov 05 -- 0 Leo 22'51 2016 Dec 05 -- 0 Leo 09'20 2017 Jan 04 -- 29 Can 39'47 2017 Feb 03 -- 29 Can 04' 1 2017 Mar 05 -- 28 Can 33'59 2017 Apr 04 -- 28 Can 19'27 2017 May 04 -- 28 Can 25' 3 2017 Jun 03 -- 28 Can 49'40 2017 Jul 03 -- 29 Can 28'21 2017 Aug 02 -- 0 Leo 12'49 2017 Sep 01 -- 0 Leo 54'10 Sorry for the inconvenience. e Dear Friends & Readers, I've received quite a few comments on the video, linked below, about the alleged crash (or lack thereof) of a 757-200 at the Pentagon. I am happy to see that at least the subject can be discussed today, whereas before, it was like trying to have a discussion about, well, I'll skip the example. But in response to a reader question, I was googling around and came up with this very satisfying read, the most thorough I've ever seen on the subject. I post it for your perusal. http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?id=1152 Some time soon, I'll tell the story of the most liberated moment of my life: the moment I personally knew that there was no 757 crash at the Pentagon Sept. 11. Poke around on this issue. There's quite a lot on there, but remember, it's really simple. If the Pentagon is an impenetrable fortress, that presumes that most of a bug hunk of metal hitting the building at a 45 degree angle is going to stay outside. And one would imagine that the impact to the structure would flow inward, not be a kind of exit wound, with the debris spilled in the direction the airplane was coming FROM. Anyway, a little at a time on this one. Human kind, as T.S. Eliot said, cannot bear very much reality. e Space Weapons Are Really a Terrible Idea By Karl Grossman [Note to readers: I was just on th ephone with Dr. Grossman, a professor at the State University of New York at Westbury, interviewing him about Sunday night's blow-up-the-comet project. Grossman is a well respected author and commentator on the issue of space-based weapons. Book references are below. This is his newest column.] THE WHITE HOUSE is expected in coming weeks to declare space a new arena of war. It is anticipated that the Bush administration will give the go-ahead to long-developing strategy to -- as U.S. military plans explicitly state -- "control" the "ultimate high ground" of space and from it "dominate" the planet below. Indeed, after expending billions of dollars in preparation, especially for the Star Wars program of the Reagan era -- the United States has the technology to move into space with weapons. But that the United States will end up as the only nation up there is a huge miscalculation. A tragic mistake is in the making that will lead to an arms race in space and no nation having any advantage. The United States can be first to deploy weapons in space, but then, in response, China and Russia - and who knows what other nation next -- will be up there, too. Vast amounts of financial resources will have to be expended by the citizens of all these countries, money desperately needed for medical care, education, the environment and all the other great wants on Earth. And, it will divert resources from the war on terrorism. Just a few decades ago, the United States joined with the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union to prevent the weaponization of space. The three nations put together a visionary document: the Outer Space Treaty, enacted in 1967 and now ratified by most of the nations on Earth. "Inspired by the great prospects opening up before mankind" as a result of the "entry into outer space, recognizing the common interest of all mankind in the progress of the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes," it prohibits the placement of "nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction" in space. In recent years, our neighbor, Canada, has led -- along with Russia and China -- Efforts to broaden the treaty and ban all weapons in space. The United States has opposed this and would now break the Outer Space Treaty by deploying weapons of mass destruction. One U.S. program, nicknamed "Rods From God," would hurl cylinders of tungsten, titanium or uranium at targets on Earth each striking with the force of a "small" nuclear weapon. That's a weapon of mass destruction. And to other nations responding and meeting us in kind in space, a high U.S. diplomat told me as he prepared to vote at the United Nations against a resolution barring all space weapons, U.S. military analyses have determined China is "30 years behind" in competing with the U.S. militarily in space, and Russia "doesn't have the money." I recounted travels in China, observing its technological strength, noted its space prowess, and pointed to the enormous space capabilities of Russia. A big error is being made, I said. He disagreed. In recent weeks, there have been declarations that China and Russia would counter with force if the United States moves to weaponize space. If "we find ourselves in a situation where we need to react, of course we will do it," said a Russian official. Moreover, consider if space is armed and there is a shooting war with laser weapons and hypervelocity guns and particle beams (a preferred energy source: on-board nuclear power) and other weapons exchanging fire. There would be so much debris left orbiting at high speed above the planet that humanity would be precluded for millennia from again getting up and out and exploring space. As Edgar Mitchell, a former astronaut who walked on the moon, has said: "Getting out to deep space would be like swimming in a piranha-full river or running through a hail of bullets." Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, says the proposed new Bush National Space Policy Directive must be "met with a resounding chorus that says we will not allow this plan for space warfare to go forward." People must demand warfare not be allowed to extend to the heavens. -- Karl Grossman, professor of journalism at the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury, is author of "Weapons In Space" (Seven Stories Press) and host of the television documentary "Star Wars Returns" (EnviroVideo). June 29, 2005 (by Eric) Sooooooooooo. I watched the "president's" speech last night, the one that was supposed to pull the federal government out of the tailspin that is the Iraq war and make us all feel really good. What a concept: we're in Iraq promoting peace. I really wonder, does he think that people are such idiots that he can say such a thing? (Don't worry, I know that lots of other people write these speeches.) Or, a more horrifying question: are people such idiots that they do believe such a thing? Imagine, you set off a bomb in your neighbor's house. "I was promoting peace between my neighbors, officer." Right. "Well, he looked at me funny. I thought he was gonna do it to me first!" Then we learned that American servicemen in Iraq are fighting for OUR freedom. Mine and yours. He rang that freedom bell as if we didn't "stay the course" that the Iraqis would me wading over the Rio Grande tomrrow. And he told us, we are "laying the foundation for peace for our children and grandchildren." What he means is, our grandchildren and their grandchildren will be paying for his private Halliburton and Carlyle Group war their entire lives. So this was the answer to the Downing Street Memo, which you've been reading about here, in which British officials were freaking about how the war would be illegal and get nowhere, but that it had to be justified somehow because the US was going to use British bases anyway. The fraud marches on: Bush made SIX separate references to the Sept. 11 attacks in his speech about the Iraq war, once again attempting to connect Saddam Hussein to something everyone who can read above an 8th grade level knows he had nothing to do with. I guess he couldn't mention the weapons of mass destruction, could he? But they still have it posted on the White House web page. I really suggest you read this. It's short and obscenely false. http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/decade/sect3.html ------- As for astrology, the Moon is in feisty Aries, having just finished a conjunction to Mars overnight, and now applying in a sextile to Neptune. The Venus-Mercury conjunction continues through Leo. We're on a little fire roll, before the week mellows out and wraps up with the Taurus Moon. Still working on the details...and checking out the charts for both Comet Tempel 1 and this weekend's Live 8 concerts. Catch you soon. e Dear Friends and Readers: Here is my official response to "President" Bush's speech tonight. http://www.freedomunderground.org/memoryhole/pentagon.php#Main Catch you tomorrow e Tuesday, June 28, 2005 (by Eric) Venus and Mercury are now close together in Leo, making an opposition to the Chiron-Nessus conjunction. This is a rare, precise opposition of two tight conjunctions; it represents a moment to study and in particular a moment to make progress. If you click on the link below, you'll get a mini ephemeris with the current positions so you can see the what it looks like, in degrees. Remember that Leo and Aquarius are opposite signs, so planets in similar degrees of those signs will be in close oppositions. Have a look: http://snipurl.com/fvx7 Reading my email these days, I am noticing the fear level going up, much of which seems to be assigned to the sign change of Saturn. There is something else brewing. It's like a subtle panic is in the air, and some are working it out personally and others are looking at the political situation for information. I have no doubt that Saturn is involved, because sweeping out the last degrees of Cancer can bring up quite a bit of insecurity and emotional complexity. I am also not thrilled that NASA is going to blow up a comet on Monday. That is stupid to the point of being inconceivable. But we have a good specimen of astrology with the Venus/Mercury opposite Chirion/Nessus. Because Chiron and Nessus are slow-moving outer planets, they are bodies which will have an era-defining theme for the times we're living in -- as well as for those born now. This is always true of outer planet conjunctions. A Google search can probably pull up some of what I've been writing about this conjunction over the past six or eight months, but to sum up, it sets a theme of being aware of the ways in which we live in a society that subjects us to constant psychological abuse. When you add two rich, sensitive personal planets to the mix, the issues (which may formerly have been abstract, like book knowledge, or something on TV) can descend in to the human realm and take up a life of their own. With centaurs Chiron and Nessus in Aquarius, we have the image of something large, and which affects millions of people; with Venus and Mercury in Leo, we have the image of something personal and individual. Venus and Mercury in Leo are strong together, and they can help with healthy self-consciousness. The placement of the two centaur planets in Aquarius describes how the natural tribal tendencies of humans, our need to have the protection of one another, to fit into the world we inhabit, and to live with a sense of purpose, are entirely exploited by politics, news and advertising. The opposition is a stand-off. The basic role of Chiron is to raise awareness so that healing may happen. In Aquarius it's working on both the tribal level and the level where the individual meets the tribe. There is some piece of "what we all carry, but which I personally also carry" coming up for evaluation. The sense of "my part in the big picture" is right here for us to see. There's no telling what will come up, except a person's, tribe's or society's past history is a good place to get a feeling. Nessus works much like Chiron, though addressing more specifically situations that involve psychological abuse (the kind we know about, and the kind we don't notice), potentially inappropriate sex, sexual abuse, or the use of sex as a weapon. It covers revenge and the circular nature of karma. Melanie Reinhart gives the keywords, "The buck stops here." With personal planets in position, in a sense picking up and reflecting the centaur conjunction on a personal level, we have a great moment to take our inner temperature, and to study our lives to see what is up. And the moment is equally rich to do something about it. There are, no doubt, some people who are really, really struggling under this astrology. Others are using it as a lever to much greater awareness. If you can see your problems, and you are willing, you can solve them. Most people don't watch the news in a particularly conscious way; it functions primarily as mind control because it infuses so much negativity and negative expectations into our minds, and presents an entirely biased picture of the human experience. To make matters worse, "none of it matters" because "we can't do anything about it anyway." Thus, it could be viewed as an addiction to pure negativity. Here, we reach the bottom line. Something has to give, to use the current expression. At a certain point, something has to make a difference; something has to matter; something must be important enough to respond to. With centaurs involved, the first and easiest step is to pay attention; to listen to yourself. Planet Waves | June 27, 2005 (by Eric) Hey there. So: planets now begin moving in to Leo. Mercury and Venus are heralds of the first Leo era in many moons, and the drumroll begins on Saturn entering the sign of the Kittycat or the Lion, as you prefer. None of the transpersonal or outer planets have been in Leo since Jupiter was in that sign for one year from late summer 2002 to late summer 2003. Jupiter graces the signs swiftly, and gives as much the feeling as a personal planet (like Venus) as it does a transpersonal one (like Saturn or Uranus). But it rarely has the feeling of defining an era -- not by itself, anyway. And his transits are (unfortnuately) often quickly forgotten. But still, that was three years ago. Prior to Jupiter in Leo, we had Chiron briefly in Leo in the early 1990s. The last time we had a true-to-form Leo era was during the solar eclipses of 1998, 1999 and 2000. And the unusual thing about those eclipses was that they were the first solar [repeat, solar] eclipses in Leo in some 18 years, which is unusual. Typically solar eclipses come to a sign every nine years. It was during this era that we had the impeachment of Bill Cliniton, which was part one of the three-punch knockout of the American people that amounted to a coup d'etat, but that's another blog -- maybe tomorrow. From my perspective, the impeachment was a fraud designed to weaken the psychic integrity of the world, its governmental structure and its fragile political network. A few people, but not enough (far more in Europe than in America), comment on the war crimes and vicious lies of the current administration and recall that the prior president was impeached for...denying having had an affair with another adult? And now Bush & Co lied their way into Iraq and we hear from Donald Rumsfeld yesterday that we need to stay there 12 more years to 'defeat' the insurgency?!? Clip and freaking save: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8366705/ But: Saturn in Leo is going to make conjunctions to every one of those eclipse points that were taken advantage of to facilitate all the impeachment shenanigans -- including the vitally important total solar eclipse and grand square of Aug. 11, 1999. In the slow, gradual process or reckoning that is the era in which we live, Saturn in Leo will be a milestone. We need to remember that a great many people in positions of power on the Earth (presidents, congressmen, doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs) at the moment are drawing the power and focus from Leo planets, principally Uranus and Pluto. These are the baby boomers, born fro the mid-1940s through the very early 1960s. For those people in positions of power, Saturn's transit through Leo is going to be a test of leadership. For some, it will be a test of a whole lot more. 'President' Bush has a chart powered by Leo, principally Mercury and Pluto in his Leo ascendant. He is a death salesman. Many have come and gone before him; many have been better at it. Bush is still an impressive liar by any standards. For those wondering when Bush's moment of truth is going to be, I will now join the chorus of many astrologers who have [incorrectly] predicted it many times before: the slide beings just after the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, around Sept. 13 or 14, when Saturn crosses his ascendant. And it will be undeniable that something is happening just after the anniversary of the first term, in late January 2006. But for now, two personal planets cross over and warm up the territory, Mercury first, then Venus, midweek. The two hold a long conjunction that will, I trust, help focus some positive energy in a time when we really need it. Mid-month comes Satury, on July 16, followed by the Sun a few days later, on the 23rd. It's at this point that Saturn is 'activated' in its first major configuration just a week after reaching Leo: it takes a simultaneous conjunction from the Sun and an opposition from Chiron, in the midst of which is a Capricorn Full Moon not quite two degrees away, just as the Sun leaves Cancer for the year. This is quite a moment. I don't want to put too much onto it in the way of specific prediction. But at the least, it's fair to say that we enter very different personal, social and poltical territory than we've been in for a while. And it's all the more unfamiliar owing to the absence of major Leo energies in many years. I would love to hear your thoughts. e Dear Readers, The blog below is by Jude. I've been in transit returning from Toro to Montreal -- and I'll be back with a bit of astrology late tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in. e Planet Waves | June 25, 2005 With the political rhetoric heating up in the last days, I've been pondering the deep differences that divide this country -- they haven't changed since September 11, 2001. We all took a sharp in-breath ... and became the prototype of our understanding of the Universe. Some of us have grown into larger understandings since then ... others of us have retreated back behind the supposed safety of the walls that bind us to our oldest belief systems and tribalism. We could speculate that whichever way our opinion fell was "learned behavior" -- attitudes that were taught to us in our families and socialization patterns. Aren't we the product of our environments? Certainly the current Red State v. Blue State mythology points to some kind of essential socialization producing political thought [although even the simple act of defining states as either/or is divisive, and pits us against one another. The states are all various shades of purple.] But you and I know that "nature/nurture" thing is still up for grabs, don't we? How many of us have family, perhaps even in our own home, that are directly opposed to us, politically -- and we didn't even know to what degree we disagreed until the Towers came down. That was the day we each found out who we were. Bush may not have pulled the trigger on his war until months later, but in essence we all went to war that day ... the war of world view, the war of heart's call -- perhaps even a very personal war within ourselves about what it all means, and where we stand. While I see it as a required evolutionary process, making our way through the intensity of it, the power of it, the pain of it is difficult, exhausting work. Mankind does indeed have the seeds of war within him, but to live within its energetic signal 24/7, month after month, year after year is hellish -- so if you're overwhelmed, depressed, given to fits of anger and/or tears, that's because this war isn't just a couple thousand miles away, on foreign shores ... it's also at the dinner table, in the office, at the grocery store, and on the freeway [reading the bumper stickers as they whiz by.] This unending "war on terror" is happening around and within us -- either we believe the world is a dangerous, frightening place or we believe its a wonderful, collaborate one ... and if you believe the latter, you're gonna have trouble convincing those that believe the former, who are scared witless and snarling. That's what happens when you're perpetually "terrified." Some of us are see-sawing back and forth between the two, and that's where we find hope for the future -- if we're even the slightest bit open to the possibilities, they will rush in to meet us. None of this is simple, of course -- if it were simple, we could talk to each other; we can't. We are experiencing what a friend and I call "missing arrows" ... we are not "hearing" one another. Take the "support our troops" rant. How lame is that! No one in this country wants our warriors compromised or put in harms way, but some of us want them home, Now. Our brothers on the Right can't hear that argument because it doesn't fit their definition of support, the lens of their understanding is evidently not wide enough to encompass such a notion. I posted a "blowing off steam" rant on Political Waves the other day by comic Will Durst, who made the case beautifully: "Okay, get this and get this straight. Criticizing our Government is not the same as criticizing our armed forces. Okay? The same way that criticizing our Government is not the same as criticizing our postal workers." As well, I read that the President is troubled by the news reports he see's on tv -- they will "give encouragment to the enemy," he says, suggesting of course that they shouldn't be shown. Harmfully unpatriotic ... perhaps even treasonous, as is the Democrat's criticism of Republican leadership. Would he mind those reports being shown if we were "winning," I wonder? I can pretty much guarantee you that the Republican faithful won't question Bush's motives in making such a statement, nor will they see how dysfunctional it is not to consider the possibility that it's misleading. They don't hear, they don't see, because their own agenda is served by Bush's remarks. They don't think outside the box because they ARE the box. For instance, today the Huffington blog reports that Dick Cheney has gone to see a heart specialist under an assumed name. The blog response from the Right is plain hateful, along the lines of "I know you rat-bastards just want him to die!" I don't think many of us on the Left want Cheney to die ... most of us would just like to see him prosecuted for Halliburton frauds. On the other hand, when Bill Clinton had his heart surgery, there was a LOT of viscous "pray for his demise" going on in the Righty blogs -- you know, like when Pat Robertson asked his faithful to pray for the Lefty Supreme judges to keel quickly. Some of these folks seem awfully quick to kill or want someone killed -- and they project their own thought process out on us, assume the Left thinks just like they do. But we don't -- and that's why we can't hear each other. Yesterday's Flap of the Moment was revealing in how the human psyche gets stuck in the "attack/defend" loop -- it's the same kind of tit/tat that lost the Democrats momentum in the 2004 election. Karl Rove told the world that liberals are wimps and only interested in coddling terrorists. That fed the Pubs a little red meat and solicited their howling agreement ... the Dems are outraged, of course, since that is both divisive and untrue, a transparent smoke-screen to cover the current wobbly numbers and lame-duck'ness of the president. While this sort of thing is entertaining and engages our passion, look at how that works -- when the energy of attack spikes on one side, it is met with a spike on the other. This is natural law. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction -- Newton's Third Law of Motion. This is also metaphysical truth -- what we resist, persists. No matter what state we live in, or what family we're born into, we either "see it" or we don't -- it's who we are, it's in the understanding we bring to the table. Course in Miracles says it this way: "You can be right or you can be happy." Half the country is like a big miserable dysfunctional family, and it keeps pulling the other half along into a miserable game of knee-jerk reaction by pretending that their "right way" is the ONLY way to save the world from unspeakable dangers. There is no discussion that will bring these folks around -- people this "right" will not tolerate being told they're wrong. And this very-human game could go on forever, my dears -- we have to find another solution. When people can't hear what you have to say because they're so threatened by their fears or their sleepy patterns of response to authority, there's nothing to do but appeal to their better angels ... again and again and again. We have to face the discouraging truth that nose-to-nose, in-face insistance doesn't work to change minds ... which is why trying to bring democracy to Iraq without it's permission isn't going to work, either. What is perceived as an attack will inspire no cooperation. The only bit of rhetoric that ever came out of the Bush administration that made any sense was the phrase "war for hearts and minds" ... you know, the "war" he hasn't waged [and of which he is evidently incapable.] That's the "war" that can be won by acts of understanding, not aggression -- respect, not antagonism -- diplomacy, not belligerance -- extended opportunity, not plunder -- taking responsibility, not side-stepping or finger-pointing. And it's a war We The People had better invest in now, not later. I found a powerful article [posted below] about a man who's mind has begun to change because of a "better angel" ... because of the response of someone he respected ... because the mirror that was offered to him has begun to crack under the weight of doubt and the inevitability of experience. That's how we're making progress, that's the work we have ahead of us ... one by one, to win hearts, change minds, offer options. That's a better strategy, a better angel, than the sword's point interactions we're involved in today -- it will take more courage, more intellect, more compromise ... but in meeting the Right with the same energy with which it assaults, we lose ourselves, and progress stalls. This "other way" is harder and less provocative ... and not nearly so exciting and addictive. We can promote core progressive values of respect, cooperation and tolerance, tell the truth in as non-threatening a way as we can, propose creative alternatives and put ourselves on the line to live the vision we embrace ... day by day, interaction by interaction. The simple truth that nothing is working as it was proposed will ultimately win the day, in this country -- it's already happening. There's a link to an article below that suggests that because the anti-war movement has been so tepid in the last year, the administration has had no one to demonize and been unable to rally it's faithful around the "liberal assault" issue -- completely silencing the Left has not worked as planned. There is some metaphysical truth to that. A "void" has been created that must be filled. The one-party takeover has forced the Left into the Kwai Chang Caine school of humble resistance -- less loud than present, less rhetorical than pragmatic, less hysterical than determined. As national policy continues to fail, there will be no one to turn to BUT the Left ... and that process is already begun. So we'd better, each and individually, be prepared to step up with our "core values." Politics is only "leadership," and leadership works on the same principals as daily life -- no more complex than that, ultimately, especially when the real "war" that is going on is within ourselves, projected outward. Day by day cooperation and dialogue is the only way to make something work Ask any [functional] family. Peace ~ Jude The Other Guy's Sacrifice -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301709.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns No One to Demonize -- Opposition to the Iraq War has been pretty quiet. That's why it's so widespread -- http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=9900 Scoundrel city: Reckless Republicans use troops as human shields -- http://www.buzzflash.com/durst/05/06/dur05007.html Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is sharing the blog with Eric. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ A really good one... Courtesy of Political Waves. http://snipurl.com/ft8x e Dear Dan: Hi, it's Eric Francis, your old neighbor from Vashon Island. Remember me from the ferry, and your Skipping Towards Gomorrah signing at Books By The Way? Of course you do. How could you forget? ;-) There are times when I've liked your column, there are times when I've hated your column, but there has never been a time when I wanted to frame your column -- until this week. I happened to pick it up in Now, the big Toronto free weekly, and dug it off the Web a moment ago. Anyway, I'm going to reprint your Pride Week piece in my blog. Please don't crucify me. Yours truly, ERIC FRANCIS P.S., If you're still editor of The Stranger, I'll cut you a great deal on the Planet Waves horoscope and also include a case of some good Bordeaux. P.P.S. If you get to Minglement, please tell Gail I said hi, and Fed Ex some of that goat yogurt to my Paris address. Thanks! ------------ Savage Love by Dan Savage Dear Readers: Just in time for Gay Pride, advice for 15-year-old fags and dykes from grown-up gays and lesbians . . . Three words: High school ends. No matter how much life sucks right now, it will get better. It'll never be all rainbows but someday you'll know, your family will know, your friends will know. The people who really care about you will stay with you, and you won't think twice about putting your name at the end of an e-mail like this. —JAMIE MYSLIK When I was a baby dyke, I would hang around the Gay/Lesbian and Women's Studies section of the local Barnes & Noble. If you're afraid of people staring at you (like I was), you can always just turn around and look at whatever shelf is behind it. —KARYN Don't be ashamed of being sexually inexperienced. It's way hotter than being prematurely slutty. —K. Join a local theater group. If you have no thespian tendencies, paint sets or take tickets. The cast party is what matters anyway. Most actors and actresses are at the very least bisexual by closing night of any play. The downside: Actresses cry a lot, which can be exhausting. —SMALL-TOWN DIVA I wish someone had told me at 15 that I could go for anything in life. In my loneliness I assumed that all kinds of things were off-limits to me: sports, fraternities, genuine friendships, the possibility of raising kids. I shied away from potential friends and mentors and wrote off professions and cities where I thought I wouldn't be wanted. I missed so many opportunities. Don't assume that doors are closed to you just because you're queer. And when you come across the occasional one that really is locked, kick the fucker down. It's your world. —INTERNALIZED IT If you live in a little town: Get the fuck out. Move to a big city where there're lots of people who are gay. You'll have more dating options, and people will treat you with more respect. —MARK F. I wish I'd known that I could someday grow up, fall in love, get married (civilly united, whatever!) with my family in attendance, and have kids with the woman of my dreams. —DYKE IN THE DESERT When I was 15 I regularly got my dick sucked by men in the bathroom of our mall in Christian suburbia. I was like a kid in a candy shop, shocked at my good fortune. I can only imagine today, with the advent of the Internet and even easier anonymous sex, that horny teenage boys have a virtual smorgasbord of sex with strangers awaiting them at any time. But I implore them not to do it. The resulting sexual compulsions, secretiveness, double life, shame, inappropriate sexual boundaries, etc. that were created in my teens haunt me today at 36. —R.P. I'm a 45-year-old black gay man, and I hope not to come off preachy: Please don't imitate thugs and hardheads. They're not real. (I was lost like that and spent years incarcerated. Talk about some bad-hair days.) Learn to enjoy reading at night, because there will be many nights when you will be alone. Being alone and being lonely are two totally different things. Neither one requires that you go out and have sex with the first man who says, "What up." —G.R.X. I was a very closeted and very kinky 15-year-old gay boy. I came out at 18, but not as kinky. I wasted years having sex I didn't enjoy because I was afraid of what my friends would think. Three years ago, at age 26, I discovered that one of the hottest guys I knew was just as kinky. If we had been more open we would've started dating—and tying each other up!—a lot sooner. Now everyone knows we're kinky, no one cares, and some of our hottest friends have come over to get tied up and see what the fuss is about. —OUR SECOND BEDROOM IS A DUNGEON Tell your friends you're gay. I never lost a friend because I was gay, but I did hurt a few of my closest friends by keeping it a secret from them. Not only do you need their support, they need to feel that you trust them. —BRIAN Stay away from older guys. No matter how lonely you feel, how horny you get, or how hot they make you feel. It's not hot; it's not a compliment. You're not mature and sophisticated. If you're 15 and they're over 20, they are just fucked-up. —FORMER JAILBAIT Boys: Make friends with gay men of all ages. You can learn a lot from guys who've lived a bit, whether it's about sex, relationships, cooking, motorcycles, or decorating your apartment. —SEASONED AND GENEROUSLY EXPERIENCED If you're questioning, save yourself some angst and don't rule out "bi" and "none of the above." I drove myself crazy going back and forth between "I can't be gay because I think girls are totally hot" and "But if I'm straight, why do I want to make out with that guy?" —LOVING THE VIEW FROM THE FENCE Stay away from "questioning" guys. Their only question is: How can I get a blowjob without having to reciprocate? These boys show up 15 years later with the same question. —BI MEANS BYE-BYE Don't date straight girls who claim to be bi! My first two relationships were with straight girls, and I gave them orgasm after orgasm but never once received one in return. By the time I dated another real lesbian, I had serious problems allowing myself to be pleasured. Be warned: That straight girl is never going to want to eat pussy, so don't waste your time. —SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER Young bi girls: Don't bother with lesbians. Find other bi girls. It is no fun to be accused of screwing some guy because you're 15 minutes late. Find a nice bi girl who can comprehend that just because you are capable of being attracted to either sex doesn't mean you're incapable of monogamy. —LISA D. Best strategy for a teenage lesbian: Study hard and apply to a good liberal-arts college. Good grades can open doors to a world of smart, fun, open-minded women (action like you can't imagine). Four years at Wellesley were worth the debt. —SMART, SEXY & SOLVENT If you think a boy might be gay, there is a very good chance that your gaydar has kicked in, and you should consider the possibility of making a move if you're sure the guy isn't going to go apeshit and beat you up. And condoms, condoms, condoms! —CONTENTEDLY QUEER AT 25 mail@savagelove.net (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.) Planet Waves | June 22, 2005 Apparently, we've "turned a corner" ... no, not the effusively optomistic kind that GWB turns every so often to keep us in the patriotism-corral ... a real one, where the war has become too heavy a burden, the economy is not working, the cronyism is too rampant and the lies are too thick. It's a populist corner ... the court of public opinion is not happy with its leadership, the majority has finally noticed we're in trouble. The Lefty's are "cautiously optomistic" (verging on thrilled, they've waited so very long to see this happen) ... and the Righty's are "standing firm" (verging on hysterical and jumping ship, their own elections are coming up fast.) Many of us have been anticipating this "corner" coming ... although I'll admit I'm surprised what a week can do! Like somebody slamming the gears into reverse and stepping on the gas -- kinda pins you to the seat for a couple of surprised seconds. Because I've felt it coming on [and trusted the astrology to do it's work,] I've been fretting whether the minority party could get it's act together or not, stop the "push back" [that was clearly required, catch-22] long enough to gather a Vision and get the Idea's rumbling ... good idea's always trump bad ones. I'm not sure anybody's there, yet -- they're still wondering if Dubya will manufacture a war with Iran to keep the nationalism juices stirred, or if there will be more homeland alerts to divert his current lame duck status and failures in congress. The window could be very small, the opportunity fleeting. We need something to wedge into the doorway of the nation's discontent. I don't blame the Democrats for their lack of input, they're in a fix -- they've been pushing a big boulder up a steep hill for several years ... it's pretty tough to come up with new ideas and creative solutions when you're spending most of your time trying to salvage something of our "old democracy" from this current ugly version, and side-step attack from the GOP. Not much print seems to be where I am on this, a little ahead of the curve, so it's been frustrating to waft around the web, looking for the Vision, searching for something to inspire and dazzle and pull us back into Kennedy-esque service to our nation, pride in our country, hope in our possibilities -- and finding so little. We desperately need that vision, my dears ... we are in a dreadful mess and the "fixing" will take more than we know. I've been nervous as a cat for a couple of days, looking for it. And then ... be still my heart ... I found something stunning from Barack Obama, boy wonder of the Democratic National Convention and one of our newest Senators. There is something downright "non-political" about Obama ... a genuineness that hasn't been beaten out of him yet, a Mr.-Smith-Goes-To-Washington intention to side-step politics, even in the midst of 'em, and reach for the dream of a restored America. When he speaks, you know his words are innate, not manufactured. Below, you will find part of a commencement speech he made recently and a Vision that, I trust, will inspire and dazzle you, too. A vision of America healing herself. He had me at Hello. After you read this snip, read the entire speech -- you'll love it. I'd suggest to the Democratic Leadership that they start with this, as their talking points. It's been a long time since you've heard something like this -- too damned long. Peace ~ Jude Barack Obama's commencement address at Knox College http://www.knox.edu/x9803.xml ...Like so much of the American story, once again, we face a choice. Once again, there are those who believe that there isn't much we can do about this as a nation. That the best idea is to give everyone one big refund on their government - divvy it up by individual portions, in the form of tax breaks, hand it out, and encourage everyone to use their share to go buy their own health care, their own retirement plan, their own child care, their own education, and so on. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society. But in our past there has been another term for it - Social Darwinism - every man or woman for him or herself. It's a tempting idea, because it doesn't require much thought or ingenuity. It allows us to say that those whose health care or tuition may rise faster than they can afford - tough luck. It allows us to say to the Maytag workers who have lost their job - life isn't fair. It let's us say to the child who was born into poverty - pull yourself up by your bootstraps. And it is especially tempting because each of us believes we will always be the winner in life's lottery, that we're the one who will be the next Donald Trump, or at least we won't be the chump who Donald Trump says: "You're fired!" But there is a problem. It won't work. It ignores our history. It ignores the fact that it's been government research and investment that made the railways possible and the internet possible. It's been the creation of a massive middle class, through decent wages and benefits and public schools that allowed us all to prosper. Our economic dependence depended on individual initiative. It depended on a belief in the free market; but it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, the idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we're all in it together and everybody's got a shot at opportunity. That's what's produced our unrivaled political stability. And so if we do nothing in the face of globalization, more people will continue to lose their health care. Fewer kids will be able to afford the diploma you're about to receive. More companies like United Airlines won't be able to provide pensions for their employees. And those Maytag workers will be joined in the unemployment line by any worker whose skills can be bought and sold on the global market. So today I'm here to tell you what most of you already know. This is not us - the option that I just mentioned. Doing nothing. It's not how our story ends - not in this country. America is a land of big dreamers and big hopes. It is this hope that has sustained us through revolution and civil war, depression and world war, a struggle for civil and social rights and the brink of nuclear crisis. And it is because our dreamers dreamed that we have emerged from each challenge more united, more prosperous, and more admired than before. So let's dream. Instead of doing nothing or simply defending 20th century solutions, let's imagine together what we could do to give every American a fighting chance in the 21st Century. What if we prepared every child in America with the education and skills they need to compete in the new economy? If we made sure that college was affordable for everyone who wanted to go? If we walked up to those Maytag workers and we said "Your old job is not coming back, but a new job will be there because we're going to seriously retrain you and there's life-long education that's waiting for you - the sorts of opportunities that Knox has created with the Strong Futures scholarship program. What if no matter where you worked or how many times you switched jobs, you had health care and a pension that stayed with you always, so you all had the flexibility to move to a better job or start a new business? What if instead of cutting budgets for research and development and science, we fueled the genius and the innovation that will lead to the new jobs and new industries of the future? Right now, all across America, there are amazing discoveries being made. If we supported these discoveries on a national level, if we committed ourselves to investing in these possibilities, just imagine what it could do for a town like Galesburg. Ten or twenty years down the road, that old Maytag plant could re-open its doors as an Ethanol refinery that turned corn into fuel. Down the street, a biotechnology research lab could open up on the cusp of discovering a cure for cancer. And across the way, a new auto company could be busy churning out electric cars. The new jobs created would be filled by American workers trained with new skills and a world-class education. All of that is possible but none of it will come easy. Every one of us is going to have to work more, read more, train more, think more. We will have to slough off some bad habits - like driving gas guzzlers that weaken our economy and feed our enemies abroad. Our children will have to turn off the TV set once in a while and put away the video games and start hitting the books. We'll have to reform institutions, like our public schools, that were designed for an earlier time. Republicans will have to recognize our collective responsibilities, even as Democrats recognize that we have to do more than just defend old programs. It won't be easy, but it can be done. It can be our future. We have the talent and the resources and brainpower. But now we need the political will. We need a national commitment. And we need each of you... Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is sharing the blog with Eric. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ Note to readers -- Jude and I are going to be
switching with the front page blog. I will leave most of the hairy politics to
her (except for Watergate, etc., etc.). I'll mostly stick to astrology and how
to explain to your doctor that you're not a cracker because you also see an
herbalist. Jude -- thank you. I'm loving your commentaries (though readers might
want to know that her posts on Political Waves have a certain...added zing to
them). That contact info should be below. Now for Jude... e Planet Waves | June 20, 2005 What is truth? Where to begin? I got a very nice e-note from a European reader who advised me [to paraphrase] to take politics a little less seriously and smile more. That should amuse those of you who thought my early smiling suggestion ideocyncratic. See -- I'm not the only "smiler!" I am inclined to see the whole of politics as I see the whole of life -- a moment to moment integration of incoming info that I bounce off my instinct and my Heart -- if it hurts, it ain't right and needs further investigation; I will need to inform myself and make adjustments. Life was not meant to be painful. Let Me Repeat: LIFE WAS NOT MEANT TO BE PAINFUL. It is only painful when we try to control it, a crazy-making proposition ... if we're trying to control it, we will get pounded repeatedly, feel overwhelmed and exhausted and probably develop an ulcer. The tighter we grip it, the whiter the knuckles, the higher the stress. Because something is not going "our way," does not mean it isn't going somewhere we might need to go ... a bit of faith is required, in trying times, but a little goes a long way. Information is key. The problem with politics here in the US of A is that we're floundering around in a press white-out ... informing ourselves was never harder. Whatever is happening, is happening behind our backs, in secret -- or in front of our disbelieving eyes, while we're told Black is White and Up is Down. The Wonks use a word that is appropriate -- "spin" -- we're being spun -- but in the hands of the politico's it's a sugar-coat of a word for "lies." We are living through a time when we not only can't GET the facts, we instead get an amalgam of un-realities laced together with intention to keep us calmed and subdued. If we are to come back to some kind of political [i.e., national] balance, we have to keep raising our voices when we discover we're lied to, and protesting when we're buffaloed into doing things that a good many of us see as harmful to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness -- and which are the antithesis of peace. Take BushWarII, for instance. It's not just the progressives who are upset by the current spin machine, anymore. Consider this stinging comment from a top Republican, Senator Chuck Hagel: "Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality," Hagel tells U.S. News. "It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq." The heartening, in fact downright encouraging, news of the moment appears to be [besides dismal poll numbers for Bush and a revolt by the Congress] a real grassroots movement to pull the reigns on Bush's runaway mustang of a war, and set some limits. CEO that Bush is, it's been announced that he will begin a PR campaign to bring the American public back into the corral. Here's a headline from one of his initial offerings: Bush Says US is in Iraq Because of 9/11 Attacks on US http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0619-04.htm Oh, dreary dreary -- boring, even. No, Mr. President, that is NOT why we're in Iraq. Iraqi's didn't fly anything into the WTC, that was your friends, the Saudi's. Saddam Hussein was to Osama bin Laden as Micky Mouse is to Stuart Little, both mice, but little else in common. How many times do we have to wave our hand to get your attention? See? The spin is redundant and relentless. What is truth, here in America? Where to begin? Maybe we could start with the Bush Doctrine of unilateralism and pre-emptive attack; maybe we could just ask ourselves if it WORKS? By following the NeoCon roadmap, we have given terrorism a training ground it could only have dreamed of, huddled in it's cold dark cave ... and we have no one to thank but ourselves, and our "bring it on" wild west mentality. The wild west, it should be noted, died a painful death as RULE OF LAW established itself. Chest-beating and gun-toting gave way to courthouses, churches and civilization. There are those who have given us good advice about war, over the years -- lets see if we're taking it. The first casualty when war comes is truth. ~ Senator Hiram Johnson, 1917 UK FOREIGN OFFICE: US, BRITISH BOMBING RAIDS WERE ILLEGAL -- http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0619-01.htm US Lied to Britain over Use of Napalm in Iraq War -- http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/061705E.shtml The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions. ~ Robert Lynd (1879-1949), Anglo-Irish essayist, journalist U.S. General: Iraq Insurgency Strong, Could Last A Decade -- http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/magazine/19ADVISER.html Building Iraq's Army: Mission Improbable -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/09/AR2005060902245.html In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. And if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh US War with Iran has Already Begun http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0620-31.htm Behind the War Curve -- http://www.antiwar.com/orig/solomon.php?articleid=6353 "I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent." ~ Mohandas K. Gandhi Bush Runs "Roughshod over the Constitution" -- http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/061605X.shtml 1,718 U.S. Military Fatalities in Iraq (thru 6/17) -- 12,855 U.S. Military Maimed in Iraq (Last DoD Update: 10-Jun-05) -- 25,341 Iraqis Reported Killed (thru 6/17) Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. ~ Friedrich Nietzche Bush Plays Politics with Guantanamo "Gulag" -- http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/061605B.shtml US Trained and Aided Uzbek Forces -- http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/061805A.shtml The evils of government are directly proportional to the tolerance of the people. ~ Frank Kent How Long Can Bush Spin Big Lies into Truth on Iraq War? -- http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/050605N.shtml Did Bush mislead nation to war? In live Net poll, MSNBC readers say yes by 94% -- http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44831 A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own. ~ H.G. Wells The National Campaign to Impeach President George W. Bush -- http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Boyle0614.htm They Died So Republicans Could Take the Senate http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0620-22.htm Before we can fix it, we've got to know it's broke. In our current administration, where stories are planted by government agencies and the mainstream media is intimidated and ham-strung by it's corporate owners, we are challenged to know what's real ... and what's spin. I believe the majority of Americans are fair-minded, reasonable people who are capable of good judgment -- they just need to know the truth. It's not easy to get to, but we'll keep working at it ... and yes, keep smiling, too. As long as we're all in it together, we need to reach out and take hands, keep the dialogue moving along ... and that always starts with a smile. Peace ~ Jude Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is sharing the blog with Eric.You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ Sun Void of Course: Slippery when Airy Today, Monday, the Sun is in the last degree of Gemini. As I write, it's about 18 arc minutes, meaning it has approximately 19 hours before reaching an exact square (90 degree angle) to the Tropic of Cancer and thus entering the astrological sign Cancer. This is why we call our horoscope the "tropical horoscope -- it's based on the position of the Sun as it makes aspects to the tropics and the equater. When the Sun is the latest planet out and the the next to change signs, it's called "void of course." Many have heard of the void of course Moon; this is the same basic idea. I find these are mysterious days, when anything can happen, or when anything can happen and it doesn't quite matter. This happens 12 times a year, usually for a day or so, I suggest taking slow moves today, and whenever possible waiting for the Sun to arrive in Cancer before initating anything new. It is an appropriate time to resolve matters, particularly those that are in some kind of deadlock, as the combination of the Sun changing signs and the Full Moon the next day should do well to break up the congestion. I won't say too much more, only ask for your experiences today and note if they are a bit unusual, or in particular, the ways they're unusual. Sun void of course has often felt to me like a mysterious cosmic door opens up, and we get a view of what is possible, a taste of the impossible, or a chance to be really different. Give it a feel. Till tomorrow, Eric F. in Toronto, Ontario bookofblue@gmail.com Hi there. I received a request for info on the book on botanical medicine referenced in the blog below. The book is: Clinical Botanical Medicine by Eric Yarnell, Kathy Abascal, Carol G. Hooper. Its a textbook for doctors -- not a consumer book (as you'll see from the price). And I have not read it -- but I'm familiar with the work of Eric Yarnell and the writing of Kathy Abascal, who is one intense herbalist, man. She actually has a line of herbal tinctures and preparations that she makes herself, personally, available at Miglement Marketplace on Vashon Island. Ask for her personally when you call. Here is a snipped URL that will take you to a site selling the book. The other names may of course be Googled; they have info online. The link: http://snipurl.com/fov3 Good evening, unless you're in Austraila, in which case, good morning. xefc Toronto, Saturday, June 18 (from Eric...) It was a truly fun and productive day teaching and learning Chiron in Toronto. The astrologers who atteneded, about 35 of them, were a clear-headed bunch, dedidated to the work, curious and excellent students. I now see it took a friendly little conspiracy make it all come off, and I want to thank everyone who helped. In the morning session, we covered Chiron's astronomical history, its mythology and its astronomy. In this process, we had a good, basic discussion of the discovery of the modern planets, and noted how long it took for Uranus, Neptune and Pluto to be accepted at all. In this context, we began looking at Chiron, the discovery and the unprecedented speed of its acceptance, and the highly unusual cooperation between the scientific and astrological community that made that happen. In the afternoon session, we broke into small groups and began working with a Chiron intake process that helps astrologers understand their client's charts through the eyes and experiences of person whose chart it actually is. I was actually surprised how well it went, and how well received the work and the process were. I didn't really have any expectations, I just did my best to convey the basic message I've been writing about quite a lot in the past five years or so. Here are two articles from early 2001 along these lines: When Astrology Listens http://www.planetwaves.net/Chiron2001.listening.html Overview of Chiron http://www.planetwaves.net/chiron2001.intro.html + + + Regarding some of my more recent writing, I have a few clarifications. One is a ***JUST KIDDING*** alert on my statement about "everyone knowing" about sunlight taking 10 years to reach the Earth, in Friday's newsletter. (Chelsea's boyfriend TJ, also a Fishboy like myelf, is always saying outrageous things, and then adding, "Just Kidding!" Now I see why.) I am aware it takes just over eight minutes for sunlight to reach the Earth. I received a good number of corrections on that. Ten years? I was being a wiseass, though thank you kindly to all those who wrote in earnest, including my old friend Lane (also the Planet Waves earthquake and volcano consultant from New Mexico). What was nice about the test question is that you didn't have to know the answer to get it right (please see the article, "Twice: The Capricorn Full Moon", above). Logic would have done the trick. I was not, however, kidding about thinking that Alpha Centauri was just a light year from our Sun -- assuming the test question was correct (I have not fact checked it), it takes light five years to reach Earth from the nearest star. I had a really good discussion with some of the Toronto conference organizers tonight about the need for helping others develop their fact-checking and media literacy skills so they don't swallow their media whole, without chewing first. Very little in the way of media literacy is put out into the world, though I do truly appreciate the work of both http://adbusters.org/ and http://fair.org/ along these lines. Great stuff -- check it out. http://truthout.org ain't bad in this respect either. Regarding what the allged ice cream depicted in advertisements is made of, I received an itneresting letter from a photographer who in fact did work for McDonald's, and who said that in his experience, they use the real stuff in their photos. It's just one of their corporate things -- what integrity! He blamed the mashed potatoes look in the billboad I saw on bad printing or bad photography. He added a few things about formulas for other kinds of faux ice cream. Last, regarding my traveling pharmacy. I was alarmed to receive an email from a client who asked, "So what DON'T you take pills for?" Yikes!, or is it Yipes! I never meant to imply that I do. What I meant to imply was that I usually travel prepared to deal with what I'll call first aid emergencies, including keeping basic, traditional household over-the-counter stuff like Ibuprofin and Benadryl on hand. But I didn't say I take it -- it's been a few years since I took anything like Tylenol, and that was during recovery from surgery in 2002. Personally, I prefer to avoid pharmaceuticals, if remotely possible. I know enough about homeopathic remedies (not pharmaceuticals in any conventional sense -- if you analyzed the remedy, you would find nothing but pure lactose in all of them, much to the chagrin of "debunkers") to deal with the kinds of things they are good for. The reference I gave was for pyrogrnium, a kind of rare remedy, developed in the UK, that can be used in the event of infection (See a book called The Spirit of Homeopathic Medicine, by a French doctor named Grandgeorge -- very good book). It's on the level of cleaning a cut with alcohol. When I am having any kind of health problem, the first person I talk to is my friend Gail, a licensed midwife, who helps me figure out how to deal with it with herbs -- and who has some excellent herbalist friends we can work with. If I consult an MD, it's to get that point of view and to discuss what they know, medically and from the standpoint of conventional science. I consider doctors scientists; in theory, they are (they drill a lot of science into their poor heads). I am good at asking scientists questions, and moreover, I'm not afraid to do it. Most doctors I've talked to in my life have had to endure lengthy interviews. I'm blessed to know MDs who take me seriously enough to have a real discussion, and I collect what they say and make my own decisions. There is a real challenge in integrating the wisdom of alternative practices and mainstream ones. More and more, I see that MDs live in different universes than homeopaths and naturopaths. They intepret facts differently, they can come to very different conclusions, and they see the world rather different ways. Bridging these two worlds is a subject that I am sure many readers of this web site have had to deal with, at differnt times in their lives, as has everyone who has stuggled with an issue that doctors could simply not help them with. But then, entering the world of alternative medicine can be daunting, because often it's not possible to know what to do or where to start. Yet I realize from talking to my friends and clients that it can really take some guts to "challenge" a doctor with an inquiry, or even to seek a second opinion. And it takes guts to go over with your doctor what your herbalist told you. Yet the world is making progress. Two people in Washington State who I know through Vashon Island connections have recently published an extensive textbook on botanicals (herbs) designed specifically for the mainstream medical world. It's meticulously researched, scientifically substantiated, thick, and serious (if you're interested, I'll post the reference). This IS progress. REAL progress. But in any event, if I'm at home (wherever I am) and somebody says, "Hey have you got some Ibuprofin," I would really prefer to say yes, whatever my personal values, though if I know the right homeopathic remedy... I'll add this -- and I've never read it anywhere else, or heard it anywhere else, frankly speaking. Does everyone know not to take Tylenol after you've been drinking alcohol? I learned from a medical doctor I know well, who is on a liver transplant team, that the damage can be so serious from mixing the two as to require a new liver. But you won't read that on the package. And a lot of times people will take this for headaches related to drinking too much. Medicine and doctors are both subjects that require a high level of awareness, good information and caution. Doctors are people, and I encourage you to reach them on that level -- and to spend some time researching what they tell you. Google -- very good for this... I'll catch you again soon. It's nice, the wireless service that's only supposed to be in the lobby reaches up to my room. So I can type you little missives as I please. Have a great Sunday. Chironically, Chirotically, Chronologically and generally happy, Eric F. in North Toronto, Ontario (for the moment, bookofblue@gmail.com) WEEKEND UPDATE | June 16, 2005, by Eric F., Montreal Speaking of the Moon, whenever I go someplace, I feel like I'm on a Moon mission. The technical aspect of packing takes about three hours. Then it takes me about six minutes to make sure I have enough socks and bandanas, two pressed shirts and a sports jacket (nice thing about being a guy -- clothes can be very simple). At the moment I'm getting ready to go Toronto for a teaching gig, clients and a mission or two. I like teaching a lot. A Toronto-based astrology group figured out I would be in Canada and lured me to their town this weekend. But back to packing. Let's see, there are the many battery chargers/power supplies and their respective devices. First things first in the modern world: energy. Batteries and power devices used to be a department; now they are an entire division. Days in advance, my battery of AA batteries is systematically run through the charger, then organized and stowed properly in a special case. There are many devices for many purposes: tape recorder, Maglite(s), iPod, and so on. Power adapters, incuding Europe into US plugs. The US cell phone? Lost...again. Is there a message in that? This process goes on and on. Casette tapes. Camera details: picture cards, lenses, special batteries and special charger. Monopod. Then there are the essential computer cables, in a white nylon bag: Firewire, USB, Ethernet. Computer batteries. OSX repair and startup disks. Essentially, a small, portable office, lacking only a printer and Internet connection. Then there is the medicine bag: homeopathic remedies, basic herbal preparations, colloidal silver, basic allopatahic and first aid stuff: Band Aids, Ventolin (which, fortunately, I need only rarely, and around cats), headache stuff (which I won't take), Benadryl (real emergency stuff -- good for many problems). Pendulum and D-40 gaming dice stashed in homeopathic bag for quick and dirty divination. Then there's the essential astrology and tarot gear: I can never avoid needing ephemerides (those thick planetary tables) in book form; 20th and 21st century, heavy but repeatedly proven necessary. Raphael's Ephemeris for 2005 (very small, used for writing horoscopes). Enough tarot decks to give clients a choice (on this trip, four: Voyager, Crowley, Haindl and Marsailles), and to use in teaching. Worn paperback copy of Esoteric Astrology by Alice A. Bailey. The very basic tools of the trade. A small variety of personal effects. Excellent Jerry Garcia biography by Blair Jackson. Journal. Reporting notebook. Press identification. Travel documents, agenda, cash, business cards, and a few Grateful Dead CDs for good measure. At the end of every trip, I evaluate what I packed that I did not really need. usually, I use just about everything in some form. At times the medicine bag seemed excessive, until I actually, at the moment I needed it, had an obscure homeopathic remedy and antifungal-antibacterial creme from Nelson's Pharmacy in London for a hotel employee in a remote part of Greece who had a festering infection in her finger that was not being attended to. Try finding pyrogenium in a drug store. I limit myself to three bags; two of them are small, including a laptop backpack; the third is fairly small. They are packed densely. But I can see from this that I have an idea that I need to be self-reliant, or that I am the one who's going to be relied upon. This is good therapy material, and it tells a story of my family and maybe of my experience in the Boy Scouts ("Be Prepared"), but it's also a fairly utilitarian approach to life in the surface of a planet where you can never be sure you're going to find a set of tweezers at 3:30 am when you really need it most. Or, my approach is about making sure that in the material sense, I am really at home anywyere, and these days anywhere is everywhere. There is, however, always Gideon's Bible laying around wherever you go. The last hotel I stayed in had a copy of The Teachings of the Buddha (and a huge, as in 5,000 gallon, fish tank in the lobby). Anyway, I'll be in Toronto for about a week -- and I'm well prepared. As for the astrology: the story is simple and complex: the Sun in the last degrees of Gemini while the Moon waxes through Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius and then to the early edge of Capricorn to the full phase on the Cancer solstice. The current days are the gathering, spiraling-up approach to the first of two Capricorn Full Moons, covered in this article here: http://planetwaves.net/astrology/capricornfullmoon.html There is still strong energy in the water signs: Uranus in Pisces and Saturn in Cancer, of course, plus Varuna, Mercury and Venus in Cancer and Ceres in Scorpio, along with Pholus and Hylonome. Over the weekend, the Moon sets off a series of grand trine aspects in the water signs -- intense, emotional, really exciting (particularly for us watery types). Then arrives the Sun, making more watery grand trines in the coming weeks. Mars is still close on the Aries Point, approaching an opposition to Jupiter in Libra. The Full Moon is actually a grand cross involving some of the most intense degrees of the horoscope. It comes on fast, it leaves fast, and it takes just about everything to a new level or a new level of awareness. Right now, we are spiraling upward in that direction; the Moon gets brighter by the hour; Chiron and Aquarius are rising as I write. I'll be in touch from Toronto, Ontario. love, e "Blue, blue windows behind the stars Yellow moon on the rise" -- Neil Young Planet Waves | June 15, 2005 Money is not the root of all evil, according to the Christian good book ... the LOVE of money is. Uh oh! We DO love money, don't we? Our nation has grown, thrived, prospered over the years -- we thought we'd never bottom out, there would always be opportunity and money money money! There must still be plenty -- our President is spending it like a drunken sailor [er ... oh dear ... well, scratch that -- to be fair, he was never a sailor.] "Greed is Good" was the mantra of the 90's. Good capitalists, we don't find that too morally reprehensible a statement. In the back of every American mind, they say, is the hope to win the lotto, write the Great American Novel, invent the killer gadget that Ronco will promote, or discover gold in the backyard ... it's a somewhat naive but endearing quality of the American psyche. The American Dream -- security, comfort, opportunity, wealth. A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage. The most recent iteration of the American Dream was the product of our post-WWII years -- the education provided by the GI bill, the advance of technology, labor laws, civil rights legislation, housing underwritten by government loans. And all of this was done without credit cards, my dears [and their abhorrant interest traps -- a system which might make us think twice about Henry David Thoreau's potent statement a hundred years earlier, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." ] Those happy days of prosperity and opportunity are on the wane -- no, let me say that differently. We're in serious trouble in this nation, we hear voices crying in the wilderness about big spending, big borrowing, astronomical deficit, tax cuts for the rich, entitlement cuts for the poor, corporate culpability and cronyism. And what of the middle class, upon who's backs the nation is funded? It's shrinking ... too much of the bill is being passed to them, too many policies are being written to limit them. Make no mistake, the American public is in a Class War with the government of the good old U.S. of A. and it is leading us to disaster. Maybe we got too much, too soon in the "good years" -- maybe we got side-tracked by all the shiny consumerism out there -- but as long as we "get ours," it's been convenient to forget about the class struggles that have defined this nation over the years. If we're struggling ourselves, now ... if we're in that state of "quiet desperation" ... we're inclined to think that it's luck or the times or ... whatever -- we seldom connect the dots to see that this might be part of a national pattern. John Edwards gave us a potent heads-up in his run for the presidency -- his "two America's" speech got redundant at the end, but he got it right on. There ARE two America's -- and the void between them is growing by the minute. Surely you've noticed that the corporations favored by our government always win, always profit and, even with their hands caught in the cookie jar, escape unscathed? The lower and middle-class is "accountable" in every way, dearhearts -- the rest are above the fray. And there are a lot of people getting downright paranoid about it ... rightfully. Odd isn't it? Pappy Bush lost his bid for re-election because he flubbed an estimate on a gallon of milk in front of the camera's, thereby convincing the electorate that he had no idea what their lives were about. His son has the same blind spot -- and nobody compains. "I don't understand how poor people think," George confided to the Rev. Jim Wallis. [New York Times, 08-26-03] I think it's safe to say that "poor" in George's lexicon means anyone not in the top 1 or 2%. I only say that because he's done nothing meaningful for anyone else in the last five years. The nation is beginning to complain that "the president isn't paying attention to their needs." Now, there's an understatment -- don't know what took them so long to notice. Times are harder than they used to be, but still vibrant on the coasts, so it's hard to tell how they will be impacted by the financial issues of our day. I live in the heartland -- so let me make my observations brief and to the point: it's going down hill quickly. The placid and unassuming grace of middle-America, never too fat in the wallet to begin with, has become shopworn, disadvantaged and increasingly desperate. Many of my neighbors voted on the "values" issues instead of their own economic wellbeing -- now we reap the whirwind. From the Vanden Huevel piece, linked below: "As Vermont Senate candidate Bernie Sanders says, the corporate-owned media tend to ignore the economic problems that face millions of people on a daily basis. The press doesn't cover, he argues, things like the fact that Americans are "working longer hours for lower wages," living standards have declined, and "we have the most unequal distribution of wealth of any major country on earth.[and] we are the only industrialized country in the world without a national health care system." One result of people not seeing their lives reflected in the media, Sanders argues, is that they think their problems are unique to them, and are not social or political problems that we as a nation can solve by working together." This is a difficult post to write because there's so much out there you should know -- google "class war" for a startling amount of information. I'll post some links for you to explore, below. Note: ALWAYS read Paul Krugman of the New York Times -- an economist who can write is a rarity, and he'll scare the pants off you. Best to know how serious this is. And a word to my neighbors who voted religious values to trump pragmatic ones -- THE ECONOMY IS A MORAL ISSUE. Gutting bankruptcy IS a moral issue -- seeking to privatize social security without fixing it's basic flaws IS a moral issue -- rubber-stamping judges who cooperate fully with corporations at the expense of the people of the United States IS a moral issue -- allowing pharamceutical companies to suck up half of a seniors tiny income or price a prescription for antibiotics over $100 for a growing family with little kids, IS a moral issue -- withholding money for education and school lunches and Head Start programs IS a moral issue -- refusing to invest in alternative-energy programs as the peak oil argument rages on IS a moral issue -- Bush's saying in 2000 that "there's not enough information on global warming" and repeating that lame argument in 2005 IS a moral issue -- continual borrowing to run up a deficit that will be passed to our children and THEIR children IS a moral issue. And finally, finding a way to side-step international law to attack another country IS A MORAL ISSUE. Please take a moment to read this connect-the-dots article from an academic -- it will reveal much about our current sense of "desperation." In the American Bunker -- David Michael Green -- http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0614-31.htm There are too many moral issues going unaddressed in this administration to list, while stem cells, gay marriage and reproductive choice take up all the "moral" oxygen. And WAAAY too much "happy talk" about how well it's all going from people who have plenty to eat, no problem buying their meds, and who don't send their kids to public school anyway. I expect many of them live in manicured neighborhoods and gated communities ... because they CAN. The big question is -- can YOU? Not so easily, these days, although the [shrinking] American Dream lives on -- we're always "movin on up ... to the East Side." In our dreams. Whoever runs in '08 will get my vote if s/he can stand in front of the camera's and say -- we're morally bankrupt in this country, and here's why. How so many of us have missed this point keeps me up nights, pondering the emotional workings of my nation and her people. Peace ~ Jude It's Class, Stupid! -- Katrina Vanden Huevel -- http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=3249 Edwards Builds New Platform, U.S. Poverty Called Great Moral Issue -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061401435.html Class and the American Dream http://www.proudliberal.thinkingpeace.com/class-and-the-american-dream/ The Return of Class War -- Bush and the new tyranny of the rich -- http://slate.msn.com/id/2084002/ America's Corporate Benedict Arnolds -- http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0614-25.htm Human Toll of a Pension Default -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/12/AR2005061201367.html Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ The Galactic Core Dear Readers: For the Sun's next trick, it makes an opposition to the Galactic Core. the GC is at about 27 degrees Sagittarius. The Sun is now in the sign Gemini, so in the Northern Hemisphere at night, the Earth's surface, looking more or less straight up, is pointed in the direction of Sagittarius and thus the Galactic Core. This is why in the Northern Hemisphere we can see the streak of stars of the Milky Way across the sky. We are looking inward toward the center of our spiral galaxy. Over the next few days, the Sun aligns exactly with the core. I would rather not make any predictions -- just suggest that we be aware of this fact while observing the news, our private lives and our inner world. At the moment, the Galactic Core is one thing they all have in common. Eric F. Montreal PS: We've been adding photos to the gallery every day; a bunch of new ones, mostly ocean views of St Malo in the north of France, were added this morning. Sun opposite Pluto Dear Friends: I mentioned last week -- but not quite lately, that I recall -- the Sun is now opposing Pluto. It happens to be now, as in right now; the aspect is exact at 11:11 pm EDT tonight (different time zones please count your chickens for the local time)...and within arc minutes as I write. If you look this aspect up in natal interp textbooks, you'll read about confrontation, intensity, drive for power, actual power, and a dash of obsession. There can be overtones of injured maleness or ego (echoes of Chiron-Sun aspects). Certainly, this aspect can represent situations where the energy of something or someone is pushed, or where an issue is not let go of. At its best, I think this aspect brings something out (please insert mental italics on the last three words!). Something is seen in its truth, or comes to a head. Gemini Sun meeting Sagittarius Pluto resounds with various words/belief dichotomies. There small truth versus large Truth. There is the local versus the global. This aspect is the place where those things meet. In the news today, there was resolution in the Michael Jackson trial: he was cleared of all charges. While this tremendously meaningful news is eclipsing the rest of reality, it's a little difficult to get a feel for the rests of what's going on -- but looking at the New York Times homepage right nnow, I see that the Supreme Court has issued its latest decision in favor of a death row inmate, and one of a series that is gradually curtailing the death sentence itself (thanks, Mr and Ms Justices, for your impressive extremely gradual awakening). The very big boss of a very big bank (Phil Purcell of Morgan Stanley) was forced to resign. That sounds kind of Sun Plutoish, even though something like it happens every day. Well, not exactly like it. What's interesting is that he shot back at "continuing personal attacks on me" (very Sun, that is, the personal part) and "the negative attention our firm has had to endure" (very Pluto). For a few days, the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, scene of much pain and injustice, has finally been a real issue, but of course Dick Cheney was saying it's a wonderful place. The problem with the news these days is that it's hard to tell a day when there are important stories from a day when there are ordinary stories. Everything blurs into one bit. When looking for associations between aspects and the news, the best thing we can sometimes do is choose the top story. And that's Michal Jackson, whose next album should be called, "Ain't Gonna Be the Same." We hope. Personally, this is a good time to focus, to not fight when you don't have to (you may lose, or you may hurt someone you don't mean to) and to let the energy do its work in our lives. Opposition energy is certainly the theme of the week, as we approach a rather impressive Full Moon in about seven days, just as the Sun changes signs to Cancer and the season turns. Meantime, we are in the longest days of the year in the northern hemisphere and the shortest days in the southern. The Sun is at solstice (sol as in Sun, stice as in still as in stasis). It is still, rising and setting at the same point on the horizon. It's a great moment to aim our lives in a way that we want; there is, amidst the madness, an odd kind of steadiness. Hey, it's good to be in touch. Eric F., en Montréal Monday, June 13 Good Morning America, Good Afternoon England, Good Evening Oz, Dear Friends, Soon, I'll be passing the blog back to Jude, to continue. My travels have taken me through quite a few lands and quite a few cities lately, and she's been doing us all a great service with her ideas and her perspectives. It's always fun to see writing that's not my own prominently featured on Planet Waves; this way I get to have as much fun as you do reading the site. We got a comment over the weekend that the blog has been a bit on the political side. That was my intention in selecting Jude to stand in. But she's not just political. She is someone coming from a rare perspective who can see through the politics; she can see through the religious rhetoric that has taken over our world, and she can see through human nature and speak right to our better angel. We live in political times. It is unfortunate, in one respect, and utterly necessary in another. There is nothing we can do about the fact of living in a political world, except of course for enjoy our lives. Yet when that becomes negligent, when our lives cost others everything, and when America, as "the world's greatest nation," refuses to take the greater share of the responsibility for integrity, we have big problems. And we're getting there. The very issue is how big, and that is precisely what we don't want to think about. Problems, however, portend solutions, and one cannot solve a problem we can't define. On Planet Waves, whether we're talking about astrology, self-help, sexuality, politics or culture, we aim the discussion inward, to the place we can make a difference. This is as true of my horoscopes as it is of Jude's commentaries on world affairs. We are sailing straight into some rather political astrology in the next week or so. Tomorrow is first quarter Moon (the Moon is now in early Virgo, heading for a sqare to the Sun in late Gemini) and when both of these planets arrive on the Cancer-Capricorn axis, we're likely to witness some interesting changes. But Cancer and Capricorn are such inward signs, oriented on family, the home, our sense of security and yes, our relationship to society. Astrology is ALL about understanding how vast, impersonal forces interact with us as individuals. And it's about (the same thing...) how we interact with the world in which we live. -- Lately I've taken to doing much of my interaction visually, through photography. Tracy and I have been on a creative rampge with the photo gallery; it's very nearly doubled in scope over the weekend, and a lot of new Montreal and Paris shots have been added. Many more are to come, from Amsterdam as well, and my next city, Toronto -- I just have to write the captions (and in the case of Toronto, get there). I know we have not posted much in the way of articles to the free side of Planet Waves (here). But pictures paint thousands and thousands of words -- have a look. Planet Waves Weekly, our premium pay site, also continues, twice weekly, with the Friday newsletter and the Monday bonus horoscope. In my essays, I've been focusing on Watergate the past two weeks, though I may interrupt that series for a Friday discussion of the above mentioned Full Moon with the asteroids, which is a rather amazing chart in any event, but particularly when you put it in Washington, DC. Astrology students might know what I mean when I say that Uranus is rising at the moment the Moon is full. So we have a lot of planets gathered around the cardinal points (early Aries, Cancer, Libra and Cap) and then Uranus is in the ascendant in the US capital. Keep your ears perked. Keep your eyes on the stars. And make sure you give http://truthout.org a look at least once a day. I'll be in touch again soon. Love from Montreal QC Eric F. Dear Friends and Readers: Eric here...with an astrology update for the weekend. We're currentl in the early phase of the lunar cycle; there was a New Moon in Gemini nearly a week ago, and appeared as a crescent in the evening sky a few nights ago. And we're toward the end phase of a solar cycle -- the Sun has just entered the last 'decanate' or third of Gemini. Mercury has just gone into the sign Cancer as of early Saturday. Three planets are in Cancer at the moment, Mercury, Venus (just through squaring Jupiter in Libra) and Saturn. Most of these are either fairly routine or long-standing situations; what is new, interesting, exciting and perhaps troublesome is Mars making its way toward the Aries Point -- the first degree of the zodiac. The ruling planet of Aries, of desire, of drive, of agressive and, at its worst, potentially violent energy, is in the last degree of Pisces as of this writing, which is a kind of squeeze. Pisces is the extreme end of the zodiac cycle, and it often feels that way. There may be echose of past situations from these couple of years arising at the moment, or unusually complex or overwhelming emotions. What's important with late Pisces factors is to keep visioning: without abandoning your feelings in the moment, to keep seeing your life the way you want it, or to keep the improvements in mind. Yet at the end of a major personal cycle such as this (and for a variety of reasons, the Mars cycle is a pretty important one for our desire-driven world), resolution is important: coming to some closure on that which arises at this time. It's not always possible to come to 100% closure, but it is possible to take steps in the right direction, to reach out to others and to insist on a level of clarity. There are going to be some people who are not dealing with this energy so well at all. Pisces is tricky territory and the last degrees are especially so. Nothing is quite certain; the rules change; answers may not be forthcoming. In such cases, time is the best thing we can offer. With Mars on the Aries Point and a Full Moon coming in about 10 days making squqres to that degree, we can expect some fairly large developments in the news. As I've said in my other essays recently, the Aries Point is the degree of the zodiac that carries the message, "The pesonal is political." Thanks for tuning in, and thanks to Jude for standing in for my daily blog at PlanetWaves.net. I'm really appreciating and enjoying her writing. I think she deserves to be one of the leading political commentators of our day, and I'm grateful to have her aboard. We'll post some new articles to the cover soon. Most of what I've had to say, I'm saying in pictures. Till soon -- Eric F. in Montreal, Quebec Planet Waves | June 10, 2005 Every morning I wake up, hopefully with a bit of sunshine streaming in the window, and my little dog, Widget, bounds across the bed -- overjoyed at open eyelids -- to get his first scratch of the day. I speak to Holy Spirit, evoke a blessing on the day, on the work. I invite in the Angels and thank them for their counsel. I glance at the pictures of my kids, my grandbabies, I offer gratitude and ask protection for their precious lives -- and then I make that bigger, for all the kids ... all us kids. I get my bones out of bed and head for a mega-cup of coffee. Then I crank up the computer to see what fresh Hell the world has accomplished while I slept. I expect you remember when it wasn't like that -- not so long ago, actually. What is five years? 1800-some days? Do you remember the bright promise and stunning expectations that came with the millenium turn? The hope for international collaborations and peaceful means? The intention for prosperity and mutual respect and a global community? Gosh -- time flies when you're having a crisis of consciousness. "Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people." ~ Jawaharlal Nehru A friend of mine, raised uber-religious but having come to spirituality, had an epiphany the other day, reading The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy for the first time. It happened as he read a conversation between Arthur, a space traveler from the now destroyed Earth and his alien companion, Ford, when they ponder eating fruit that they consider suspicious: "Garden of Edan. Tree. Apple. That bit, remember?" "Yes, of course I do." "Your God person puts an apple tree in the middle of a garden and says, "Do what you like, guys, oh -- but don't eat the apple. Surprise, surprise, they eat it and he leaps out from behind a bush, shouting, 'Gotcha.' It wouldn't have made any difference if they hadn't eaten it." "Why not?" "Because if you're dealing with somebody who has the sort of mentality which likes leaving hats on the pavement with bricks under them, you know perfectly well they won't give up. They'll get you in the end." It was an "A-HA!" moment for my friend. The God he'd been taught to worship was a practical joker, a guy who got off on confounding his children. It was the first time he'd seen through the essential Biblical rhetoric to get to the nature of that Old Testiment God that kicked ass, punished frequently and frowned constantly. It was a liberation for him. That's the problem with religion -- it's always based on some "book." Some story. We're left to interpret the meaning of cosmic wisdom with a brain that tops the evolutionary scale but, frankly, that ain't saying much. Spirituality, on the other hand, is experiental ... if we are instructed in some marvelous way that doesn't dovetail with anything in the "book," we still get to celebrate that we've been given to by the Universe. I had an ephiphany of my own a couple of years back. An ephiphany is not so much a new thought, but a nuanced thought ... like a kaleidoscope shifting to show us the same picture with brilliant new colors. What isn't loving, I saw clearly, is violent. What isn't done, said, thought in love, is hurtful, violent and life-defeating. "In the hearts of people today there is a deep longing for peace. When the true spirit of peace is thoroughly dominant, it becomes an inner experience with unlimited possibilities. Only when this really happens, when the spirit of peace awakens and takes possession of men's hearts, can humanity be saved from perishing." ~ Albert Schweitzer We are caught in the cross-hairs today between a group of people who think that God is a great, vengeful punisher who can be summoned to defeat their enemies -- and those who have had an experience of God as a loving, nurturing force who unfolds their understanding to encompass all the beauty and bounty that life offers ... or those who are seeking such a discovery. Each of us is outpicturing just Who we think God is. Course in Miracles tells us that guilt is the culprit, here -- we have a huge well of guilt within us, and we're looking for ways to avoid dealing with it. Mankind projects that guilt outside of himself to make someone else wrong ... to see that someone else gets punished in an attempt to hide his own "mote" from God and escape punishment himself. Strange, isn't it, that the New Testament, the "new deal" revealed by the Christ-consciousness, gave us a "get out of jail free" card on guilt ... but that isn't the option that half of our nation wants? Instead of accepting the forgiveness of the Christ message and actually heeding the content of the New Book, the religious have tagged belief in Jesus as the "only answer" to the Original Sin premiss of the Old one ... and left the brick under the hat, waiting for some unsuspecting pilgrim to kick it. As Richard Bach put it in 'Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah' -- "Argue for your limitations, and they're yours." If the religious want to argue for Original Sin, that's just where they are on the evolutionary scale, today -- but they aren't the majority, dearhearts. That may come as a surprise if you read the headlines, but it's true. How can the majority of us be "regular church go'ers" when in the 90's all we heard about was the failing numbers in congregations and synagogues? Oh, I expect 9/11 brought a bunch of them back, briefly ... but that isn't a true return to church, that's a return to fear -- and fear takes a LOT of energy to sustain, it's not our natural state. So, there's a disconnect in the information -- as with all the smoke that's being blown at us, we have a choice about what we buy for a buck. The "war for hearts and minds" that is going on today is just a kaleidoscope shift away. The spiritual are the majority, quietly living their lives in discovery of what is loving and gentle and kindly, discerning fears and struggling with them, informing themselves. It's that energy signal that will bring us back to good sense, at some point ... and God/dess make it soon! As the spiritual energy grows and becomes more potent, the Old energy of hate and vengeance will fade. Our assignment is to notice where we still believe in punishment, where we still hide our guilt and are afraid something terrible will happen to us, where we still assign blame to another. None of that is loving ... all of that is violence. That's not who we are ... or where we're going. All of that is the illusion of an old paradigm notion of Diety -- we must stop allowing such faulty mythology to drive us, our relationships and our politics. Just look what's happened in 1800 days of the Old Energy -- think what the 21st Century can look like with 1800 days of the New! Celebrate what it can look like when the Old is retired to its place in antiquity. The gift we receive on the inner journey is the insight that the Universe is working together for good. ~ Parker Palmer Links to some thoughtful pieces, below. Peace ~ Jude The Answer to Religion in Politics: Spirituality -- http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0606-32.htm Can I be God for a little while? -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/paul-feig/can-i-be-god-for-a-little_1909.html You Are Spartacus -- http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0604-23.htm Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ Planet Waves | June 08, 2005 This week we learn that, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, fully one half of Americans will be mentally ill at some point. [Oh my gawwd, there's a great political punch-line there ... but I will restrain myself; if you're thinking the same thing I am, I don't need to add it -- if you're not, you'd just be annoyed.] This is a sort of companion piece to the report issued by the National Center for Health Statistics, released in Dec. '04, stating that "Ten percent of women 18 and older and 4 percent of men now take antidepressants." And, according to the NIMH survey, "As expected, the researchers found that the most common problems were depression, affecting about 17 percent of the people at some point in their lives, and alcohol abuse, affecting 13 percent. Phobias were also common, including social phobia, a form of extreme anxiety that affected 12 percent. More than a quarter of those interviewed had had a mental disorder in the last year." Anyhow, if all this is offered to explain why we are now a Prozac Nation -- it doesn't. If we need to be medicated until we're no longer stressed -- because until stress-related problems go away, we need the Happy Pills to keep our heads on -- the logical conclusion, then, is that we need to just keep popping those babies until ... well, until whenever. [Insert another political punch-line here _____ ] It's not that simple, of course -- there's serotonin levels and there's nutrition issues and there's vitamin deficiencies and there's glandular activity and the bio-chemical wrinkles go on and on. One of my closest friends struggles with PTSS and panic attacks -- she is one who needs what the anti-depressants can offer; the pills [which she uses infrequently and with intention to cope] helps her to find the place WITHIN herself where she can deal with her causes of stress. That seems reasonable to me, for those who are suffering. It's not just the chemistry that's messing with us ... it's life, itself. It would be jim-dandy if we could find a majik bullet to cure all our ills, one swallow of water and down goes the relief for at least eight hours... but this much is clear -- Happy Pills do not a happy life, make. That's an Inside Job. Of interest in this debate, Tom Cruise is in the headlines now, having bashed Brooke Shields on Oprah, and her use of anti-depressants during her "baby blues" period. My initial instinct is to snap his neck -- you know ... something like, "Well, Tom ... how many babies have YOU popped out and then rode the "hormonal changes" skyrocket to hell and back? Post-partum can give us dead babies in a bath tub -- ask the Texans!" There are times when med's are important and necessary. On the other hand, I understand his viewpoint -- his belief in Scientology, and internal review and discovery, is the basis for his comments, I'd think. We are responsible for ourselves -- and no magic pill will change that. Too many of us are taking the Happy Pills simply because the doctor handed them to us -- several friends of mine have reported their physicians INSISTING they take them, although they declined to do so. So what part of all this is psychology, what part is sociology and what part is self-determinism? And ... oh, dear, it's dreadful to be so cynical ... what part is marketing and pharma-greed? I liked Arianna Huffington's remarks on her blog, today: "According to a new study by the National Institute of Mental Health, over half of Americans will, at some point in their lives, develop a mental illness. If you were ever wondering at what point these studies would become meaningless, this is probably that point (for me, that point actually arrived six years ago). "In fact, here are a few other breathtaking findings the NIMH might come up with next: One hundred percent of Americans will, at some point in their lives, die. Well over half of Americans will, at some point in their lives, think almost everyone around them -- particularly their spouse -- has gone off the deep end. Two-thirds of Americans will, at some point in their lives, watch a reality show and feel bad about enjoying it... Thank God for mental health studies -- especially those at least partially funded by the drug industry." Last year, pharmaceutical prices grew by over 16%, faster even than general medical care. An interesting website for this kind of information is http://www.newstarget.com -- today I found a nice little article [link below] about how half of a group of surveyed medical schools said they would let pharmaceutical companies and makers of medical devices draft articles that appear in medical journals, and a quarter would allow them to supply the actual results. A little corporate trade-off that bends the integrity rule, don't you think? Alas, my distrust of mainstream medicine is no better than my abhorance of pharamaceutical companies. They are my last choice, when making medical decisions. They are expert at treating effect ... like -- offering a prescription rather than asking questions to get at actual Cause. There are some good medical practitioners out there, I'm sure. If I break my leg, or something similar, I hope to find one. Otherwise ... you'll find me depending on natural medical alternatives and looking for Cause. Here's an excellent article to send around to your friends who have given their power away to traditional medicine: Ten Lies About Health Your Doctor Taught You -- http://www.newstarget.com/007348.html Yes, we're an unhappy nation, these days -- some of us may well benefit from occasional medication, but too many of us have years of Prozac and the like under our belts, with no improvement in sight. Hell, there's so much Prozac being taken, it's found its way into our drinking water. I have no answers for this dilemma -- but I have a LOT of questions, and very little faith in medical professionals to impact this problem for us. Consider the last line of the NIMH article: "Although people were more likely to find care than they were 10 years ago, only a third of the treatments met even minimal standards for effectiveness, said one co-author, Dr. Philip S.Wang, an assistant professor in the department of health care policy at Harvard." It's time to think about this whole thing differently. Peace ~ Jude Most Will Be Mentally Ill at Some Point, Study Says -- http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/health/07mental.html Survey: Many med schools let sponsors control research http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-05-25-medical-studies_x.htm Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ Planet Waves | June 06, 2005 Let's go back and talk hero's, again -- I have a short list in politics, sadly. One is Robert Byrd, that grand old Democrat and statesman of the United States Senate. Byrd is set to run for his 9th term -- you do the math. He's been around and seen a lot in his 87 years. Representing West Virginia, Byrd used to be a Klansman in his impetuous youth -- he filibustered the Civil Rights legislation in the 60's -- so, among other things, here is an example of a man who can learn from his mistakes and grow into his humanity. Now he guards the rights of his state, the democratic process of the Congress and like Cicero railing against the decline of the Roman Republic, he speaks out against the demise of democracy with old-fashioned, fire-breathing oratory. I love that old man. Another hero, as I've mentioned before, is Bill Moyers, who served as deputy director of the Peace Corps in the Kennedy Administration. He was Special Assistant to LBJ, and his Press Secretary for two years, way back when, and no matter what you think of the Big Texan personally, he furthered Kennedy's committment to social reforms and championed civil rights and poverty issues with historic legislation. Moyers spent the next 25 years as a journalist, most recently at PBS, fighting for the rights of the little guy -- read that, you and me. I love him too, and I'm delighted that instead of retiring from PBS to work on his memoirs, he's still speaking out for democracy, governmental transparency and the rights of the little guy. Both of these gentlemen inspire me. So today, I'm passing along some clips from a speech Bill made to a group at Take Back America: The Conference for America's Future, in Washington this weekend. Perhaps he will inspire you, as well. "It's an old story in America. We shouldn't be surprised by it any more. Hold up a mirror to this moment and you will see reflected back to you the first Gilded Age in the last part of the 19th century. Then, as now, the great captains of industry and finance could say, with Frederick Townsend Martin, "We are rich. We own America. We got it, God knows how, but we intend to keep it." "Back in the first Gilded Age it was the progressives who took them on, throwing themselves at the juggernaut to try and keep it from rolling over the last vestiges of democracy. They lost the first rounds and only because they kept fighting for many long years did in time America begin to balance the power of concentrated wealth with the claims and needs of ordinary people. Nowadays it's you who stand between that regenerated juggernaut and those families in Milwaukee, those folks in Tamaqua, and the millions like them around the country. You must be like the Irishman coming upon a street brawl who yells in a loud voice: "Is this a private fight, or can anyone get in it?" Not waiting, he wades in. "Wade in! Go home and tell the truth to your neighbors and fight the corruption of the system. But it's not enough just to say how bad the others are. You owe your opponents the compliment of a good argument. Come up with fresh ideas to make capitalism work for all. Ask entrepreneurs to join you - they know how to make things happen. Show us a new vision of globalization with a conscience. Stand up for working people and people in the middle and people who can't stand on their own. Be not cowed, intimidated, or frightened - you may be on the losing side of the moment, as the early progressives were, but you're on the winning side of history. And have some fun when you fight - Americans are more likely to join the party that enjoys a party . Come to think of it, go out and argue that working people should have more time off from the endless hours of tedious work that devours the soul and the long commutes that devastate families and communities. "Above all, know what you believe and why. So I have some homework for you. Here's your summer reading: Thomas Paine and the Promise of America, by Harvey Kaye, soon at your bookstores (along, I might add, with a revised and updated paperback version of Moyers on America.) Thomas Paine was the foremost journalist of the American Revolution who called forth the better angels of our nature, imbued us with our democratic impulse, and articulated our American Identity with its exceptional purpose and promise. It was Paine who argued that America would afford "an asylum for mankind," provide a model to the world, and support the global advance of republican democracy. In these pages is tonic for flagging spirits facing great odds - because it was Thomas Paine who insisted that "it is too soon to write the history of the Revolution." And writing the history of the Revolution is now up to you. That's what truly is at stake..." "Know what you believe and why." Damned good advice, citizen! Open the link to read the entire speech -- you'll learn a lot and be glad you took the time. Peace ~ Jude 'Writing the History of the Revolution is Now Up to You' -- Bill Moyers http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0606-21.htm Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ Planet Waves | June 04, 2005 Planet Waves is aptly named, I think -- Political Waves as well. The energies come, they influence, they go ... and then another wave of energy boots us along toward the next challenge and response. I've always liked the particle/wave analogy ... the tiny raindrop has it's perfect place and definition both as individual droplet and as part of the sea into which it falls. We're not Either, Or ... we're Both, And. We're each part of the whole fabric of humankind AND each an individuated expression of the whole. We each respond to the astrological kick and/or caress we receive in our own way -- but we ALL receive the same signal at the same time. That is yet another of our many, many commonalities with our brothers and sisters around the globe -- and why win/win is the appropriate response to every problem. "Do unto others..." ultimately comes home to us, becomes a part of our individuated experience because it has impacted the common experience -- which is why, I'd presume, it is considered The Christian Wisdom quote all of us must heed [or at least it was, pre-Bush.] My newest bumper sticker is an extension of that wisdom -- "I love my country, but I think we should start seeing other people" We're poised on some heavyweight astrological impulse in the next few months -- the energies will take us to the "next place." I'm hopeful that next place will look brighter for us all. It might be a little messy, of course. Do not be afraid of chaos, dearhearts, chaos takes us somewhere ... be wary of being afraid. That takes us nowhere. While we're waiting for the energy to amp, this is a fun post by writer and director Larry Gelbart, blogging for Huffington. Review this one to see how politically savvy you are -- or just to enjoy "clever" when it comes along. Peace ~ Jude A Grimmer Primer http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/featuredposts.html#a001868 A is for Abu-Graib. Admission accomplished. Happily, all of the women responsible for perpetrating the torture, degradation and unspeakable humiliation have been named and/or punished. B is for Bolton, hard-driving, hard-headed, abusive, butt-kicking diplomat. C is for Congress. A debatable society - formerly a separate branch of the US government. D stands for the Reverend Dobson, Man of God, who acts with the certainty that the term is meant to be read the other way around. E is for Enron, a firm which could publish a cooking-the-books cookbook, whose executives will answer for their crimes just as soon as the office cleaning women all fess up. F is for Senator Frist, who would obviously rather be righteous than president. G stands for Guantanamo Bay. And for gulag. And for Goebbels. And, sadly, for GWB. H is for Huffington, whose space has launched a thousand quips; whose post at times resembles a rich kids' high school newspaper. I is for Iraqmire - a situation created when you bring the Wild West into the Middle East. J stands for Jeb, a member of the dynasty that has caused all too many others to do just that. K is our man in Afghanistan, Karzai - as played by another K: Ben Kingsley. L is for Lynne Cheney, logical enough for the L word. M is for the Media, the means by which a handful of enlightened men make billions by keeping billions in the dark. N stands for Nixon, patron saint of the gates: first, Watergate, next Iran-Contragate, and hopefully the inevitable accounting by the present administration: Abrogate. O is for O'Reilly, fair and balanced moralist/phone sex enthusiast. P brings us to Richard Perle - smooth as silk, and the worms that make it. Q is for the Queer Guy who seems forever stuck in the straight eye. R stands for Mr. Rove, the hand inside our bully puppet. S is for Arlen Spector, whose words from the heart go unheard by those in the White House who have none. T is for Trent Lott. And whoever thought we'd ever miss him? U is for the United Nations - still the best hope to protect civilization from itself. V stands for Vladimir Putin, or "Vlady," as he is called by the same man who dubbed the above Mr. Rove "Turd Blossom." W Who else but Wolfowitz to lead the World Bank? Who else but a man who has trouble adding up body bags? X is for Tom DeLay, the ex-exterminator. (A bit of a cheat but, then, sweets for the sweet.) Y Young Man's Christian Association = Ralph Reed and Gary Bauer. Z is for Zell - loud, living proof that there is no fury like a Democrat scorned. ++ Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ Planet Waves | June 02, 2005 Mirror, mirror, on the wall ... Back in the day, we spiritual seekers were told that the "answer" to all questions was right under our nose. Why couldn't we see it, then? It was in "the mirror," we learned. The mirror was any situation in which we noticed OURSELF as we gazed disappovingly at another. For instance, the story of moment is undoubtedly the elder Mark Felt coming forward as Watergate informant, Deep Throat -- we are all fascinated at the revealing of a secret that has intruigued Washington, and the world, for thirty years. This has prompted the pundits to go into an endless round of speculation on why he did it -- a question I consider irrelevant. That he DID earns my profound respect and appreciation. Today, arch-conservative and Crossfire host, Bob Novak, painted Felt as a "disgruntled employee" [an allegation reserved for every whistleblower.] Today's Crossfire will include an impassioned, I'd think, discussion of the motives behind Felt's willingness to talk and what he'd hoped to gain by leaking that important lead, years ago. Oh, curiouser and couriouser, my dears -- Bob Novak, dubbed "The Prince of Darkness" by his own, is the very same reporter who "leaked" the news that Joe Clark's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA operative and arguably put her life in danger, a federal offense. Note that while others of his profession have been subpoenaed in this affair, and chastened by the courts for protecting their sources, Bob has not given up his informant ... leading us all to wonder if he's even been ASKED, or is being protected by the government insider that informed him. Mirror, mirror, Bob! What were YOUR motives? It is, of course, sooooo much easier to see the mote in the other guys eye than the one in our own. Funny how obvious their moments of hypocracy are ... and how obscure our own actions appear to us. That's why the mirror is so important ... that's why ATTENDING to that mirror is critical to our spiritual growth. When we see ourself AND our "shadow self," as well, we begin to come to maturity as a human and a soul ... and recognize that it IS right under our nose. It's what's within us that creates what's without. In the 50's, there was a cartoonist named Walt Kelly who wrote a political strip -- his cast of creatures inhabited a swamp [likely analogy for WA DC] and his little opossum hero, Pogo, said it best, shortly before Kelly retired both Pogo and himself: "We Have Met The Enemy and He Is Us" Below is a link to an article by Sister Joan Chittister, a potent writer and one I worry about, as the new ultra-conservative Pope cracks down on anything liberal. This particular piece, in which she discusses Bush's dismissal of Amnesty International's human rights concerns, says a good deal about "the mirror" of our nation and it's disturbing reflection -- but we have to get a good long look before we decide to change. Be brave, open and read her thoughtful piece. I'm also posting the link to todays Bob Woodward article on his relationship with Mark Felt, in case you haven't gotten to it. Peace ~ Jude The shock of being shocked -- Joan Chittister, OSB -- http://nationalcatholicreporter.org/fwis/fw060205.htm How Mark Felt Became 'Deep Throat' -- Bob Woodward -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/01/AR2005060102124.html Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ Planet Waves | May 31, 2005 "Nothing I see means anything." That's the first affirmation in the Course in Miracles workbook -- it speaks to the notion that at any given moment we have neither the full facts, nor the clarity of mind or even spiritual capacity to make a complete value judgment about anything. We're urged as spiritual beings to, as Ram Dass puts it, "...be here now." Be in the moment. Be present. Not in the past where nothing can be done to rewrite history, not projecting into a future which hasn't come to us yet. Just ... Be. Here. Now. And, wow! Is that hard to do! Why? The second ACIM affirmation is, "I have given everything I see all the meaning that it has for me." If you think about that for a moment, you'll realize how true it is. How do we do it, then? Stay in the present moment without assigning meaning to everything ... meanings that spring from our own expectations, socio-economic's, religious training [or it's rejection,] emotional self-esteem, personal baggage, fears, yadda ad infinitum? Our "human condition" ... or ... human conditioning? It's in the practice of this "nuetral world" that one gains a perspective about how MUCH meaning we assign -- not that we can get along in 3D without some kind of logical understanding of what we see around us, that's not at question. The more we practice being neutral, however, the more we notice our OWN bias ... and see how bias is epidemic among us all. The more we practice, the more gray we see. The more we grapple with the extreme ends of bias, the more anxious we become to collaborate toward some common ground. The more we practice, the more we come to notice our commonalities, instead of our differences ... and the fears and guilts that separate us. To begin to see a neutral world is a kind of backwards proposition, as Course says, designed to "remove the blocks to love" ... a way of "de-programming" all that we've been taught, to discover what ELSE might be there. Course begins with our perceptions because if we've assigned meaning, then we've CREATED OUR FUTURE ALREADY ... with every thought and projection. If this all sounds too Zen-like and odd, consider -- we spend much of our lives here on Planet Earth teaching ourselves and one another what love ISN'T and getting direct reflections of what we DON'T want. We're teaching ourselves about our human condition -- and it's highest form, Love -- every single moment. It ain't pretty. I mutter to myself, as I open the headlines every morning, "This is what Love looks like TODAY." Truth is subjective, that's the way it is here. I think if we're students of human nature, for instance, we can safely say that one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter ... no matter how misguided the context of violence. The Highest, Brightest Truth is the one that is inclusive, that leaves out no one. Many of us effort for the Highest, but we are handicapped by our programming -- and our traditions. To borrow a snip from an E.J. Dionne article: "Tradition is the living faith of the dead," wrote the great religious historian Jaroslav Pelikan. "Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living." Or, to paraphrase Einstein, we can't solve our current problems with the same mental process that produced it. We need to "see it differently." Below, Deepak Chopra jumped on Arianna's blog today to share some of his thoughts about "seeing differently" -- and what he calls "the official version of reality." I think you'll enjoy it -- it'll make you go "hmmmmmmm!" I've also included a link to a commencement speech that I thought particularly good regarding bias, perception. A speech by Mark Danner to a group of Berkeley grads, below. So, then -- THIS is what Love looks like TODAY! Peace ~ Jude Deepak Chopra -- The Greatest Crisis in the World -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com The following remarks were written for a conference of news people but were judged as too "harsh" or "unfair" to the media. I thought it would be interesting to see how readers -- and fellow bloggers on the Huffington Post -- respond to the same ideas. On a day-to-day basis those of us who don't work for a news organization imagine that a reporter's job must be fascinating because he (or she) is constantly running after the future. The evening news isn't just a string of random events. The future is a mystery, and by gathering bits and pieces of it reporters are on the front line of unfolding the mystery. A new reality is always on the horizon of our television screens. But what if the exact opposite is happening? I often feel that the evening news simply repeats an old reality. Headlines emerge as recycled versions of the same attention-grabbing crises: Natural disaster strikes Third World country. Panic and chaos ensure. New disease breaks out in Africa or Asia. Peace talks break down in the Middle East. Rebel forces approach the capital in heavy fighting. These stories, and dozens more like them, are the prototypes of what is considered news. It would be legitimate to ask in what way they could be called news at all. Nothing becomes real until we perceive it. What I perceive on cable news is that the real crisis that should be covered -- the greatest crisis in the world, in fact -- is the crisis of perception. The current perception I get from the evening news is that the world is dominated by human failure, crime, catastrophe, corruption, and tragedy. We are all tuning in to see how the human mind is evolving, but the media keeps hammering home the opposite, that the human mind is mired in darkness and folly. This schism gives rise to stark contrasts. In the old reality progress comes from technology. In the new reality progress comes from exploring the untapped potential of consciousness. In the old reality disease is a constant threat. In the new reality individuals are learning that they can become healers. In the old reality terrorism holds populations in fear. In the new reality a majority of people have given up the outworn tactics of war and violence. By constantly harping on the old reality as fact and the new as fanciful, eccentric or implausible, the media is using its massive power to fuel the crisis of perception. For example, which of the following stories seems more real to you, more deserving to be called news? A. Muslims riot around the world after allegations that the Koran was flushed down a toilet in Guantanamo. B. Spiritual groups hold a vigil at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem that leads to a sharp decline in Middle East violence. I'm almost certain that at any news organization the first is big news, the second is New Age whimsy. What about the following example? A. Vioxx is withdrawn from the market on fears that it promotes heart attacks in the elderly. B. A man with HIV goes into remission through prayer and meditation. Again, the first is hard news, the second is dubious, false, or a strange anomaly. On the basis of this prejudice against the new reality, the media endlessly trumpets the next new cancer drug, despite the fact that cancer rates have stubbornly remained unchanged for decades, while treating as quasi-hoaxes thousands of spontaneous remissions from cancer that are well documented in medical literature. Yet isn't the real issue something that Buddhists have known for centuries: it is an illusion to see mind and body as separate? Instead of encouraging expansion of awareness, the media treats as news stale medieval religious views that lock us in intolerance. Isn't the real issue another Buddhist insight: My enemy is as fully human as myself? It is in the field of unseen and even bizarre phenomena that quantum physics has totally altered the world, and I would offer that by extending the same discoveries to human awareness, you will find the real future, the real news. There are going to be Einsteins of consciousness, and they will force the status quo to change. Journalists need to keep abreast of human potential as a fresh, ever-evolving picture. Ask yourself, Why do more people in the U.S. turn to alternative medicine than established M.D.s? Why are global communities forming to meditate on a mass scale? Why do millions of people tell the Gallup poll that they have had paranormal experiences such as communicating with the dead? Not because they are foolish or superstitious. Rather, the official version of reality is fraying around the edges, and millions of people have chosen to opt out of the official version of truth. While the news continues to recycle the past, the future is gathering strength far away from the glare of publicity, which is where reality has always been born. ++ What Are You Going to Do with That? -- Mark Danner -- http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0531-21.htm Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ Planet Waves | Memorial Day, May 30, 2005 It's the day to honor our fallen -- and this year it's particularly poignant. No matter what your personal view of "war," the truth is that it always requires "blood sacrifice" -- count 1,658 Americans returned to us in body bags and 12,348 wounded and maimed [as of last week.] While that is difficult enough to comprehend, the larger grief is that there is no end in sight -- and no government plan to withdraw from what is quickly becoming a civil war in Iraq. And, lest we forget, there is still a war on the ground in Afghanistan. Memorial Days are often a time for pomp and pride, for speeches and flags waving, for the celebration of honor and bravery. In military circles, it's popular to say that "If you're enjoying your freedom, remember that it was a soldier that gave it to you." That's one way to see it ... and I give respect and honor to the soldiers that have given their lives in defense of this country. But I grieve the loss of the men and women who have given their lives for the political manuevering of sociopolitical ideologies -- and there is nothing about the war in Iraq that escapes that definition. The Minneapolis Star Tribune today, as the first mainstream paper to acknowledge the Downing Street memo, puts it this way: "Also comes word, from the May 19 New York Times, that senior U.S. military leaders are not encouraged about prospects in Iraq. Yes, they think the United States can prevail, but as one said, it may take "many years." "As this bloody month of car bombs and American deaths -- the most since January -- comes to a close, as we gather in groups small and large to honor our war dead, let us all sing of their bravery and sacrifice. But let us also ask their forgiveness for sending them to a war that should never have happened. In the 1960s it was Vietnam. Today it is Iraq. Let us resolve to never, ever make this mistake again. Our young people are simply too precious." Yes, on this Memorial Day the barbeques are lit and the beer is being passed and the flags are waving in the breeze, but there's a feeling of unease in the nation. It's not just the grief of ongoing war -- it's the question that the polls show so many of us asking ... do we still belong there? Did we EVER? There are links below to a few excellent op/eds -- take a moment. Note: some of you who tried to get on the Conyers website to sign the petition may have been bounced out by [one can hope] too much activity; it was running smoothly yesterday. Try again at: http://www.johnconyers.com Peace ~ Jude Praise Bravery, Seek Forgiveness -- http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5427823.html They Also Serve Who Stand for Peace -- http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0529-28.htm Paul Krugman: Too Few, Yet Too Many -- http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/053005Z.shtml Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ Hello...the weekly horoscopes went out yesterday (from the address tracy@, so please check your spam filters if you don't see it) and were also posted to the subscriber homepage. If the monthly horoscopes have not gone up, they will be up right after the hoilday weekend. efc, in high falls, ny... Planet Waves | May 28, 2005 First, Representative John Conyers joined 87 of his fellows to write a letter to the President asking him to respond to the Downing Street memo -- he has received no reply. He's asking for 100,000 citizens to join him -- here's the link; add your name if you want an answer to why Bush and Blair had already made a decision to go to war in Iraq in the summer of '02 while telling us that war was a "last choice," and that all diplomatic options would be explored. http://www.johnconyers.campaignoffice.com/ Next, one of the things I mourn about this administration is the ability to watch a presidential speech or [rare] news conference and find something there for ME. You know ... some little "agreement" I can hang my hat on? I suppose there are plenty of folks who are gung-ho about Bush and thrill to his rhetoric ... I can barely watch. I've never felt so ignored as a citizen and disenfranchised as a political entity. So lets harken back to easier days -- despite the threat of cold war and mushroom clouds and the Bay of Pigs, John F. Kennedy had a "vision" of service to the nation I could get behind. I expect that had 9/11 happened on his watch, he would have expected more of me ... of us all ... than "going to the mall." His friend, and former special counsel, Ted Sorensen, tells us what he might have said today ... What JFK Might Tell our Leaders Theodore C. Sorensen Saturday, May 28, 2005 by the Boston Globe http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0528-20.htm Tomorrow would have been John F. Kennedy's 88th birthday. Were he still alive, I have no doubt that, with his customary idealism and commitment to country, he would still be offering advice to our current leaders in Washington. Based upon his words of more than 40 years ago, he might well offer the following: To President George W. Bush on Iraq, Iran, and North Korea: ''The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. This generation of Americans has had enough -- more than enough -- of war." (American University commencement, 1963) To President Bush on stem cell research: ''For those of us who are not expert ... we must turn, in the last resort, to objective, disinterested scientists who bring a strong sense of public responsibility and public obligation." (National Academy of Sciences, 1961) To Vice President Dick Cheney on international organizations, alliances, and consultations: ''The United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient. We are only 6 percent of the world's population . . . we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind." (University of Washington, 1961) To Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on terrorism: ''If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." (Inaugural address, 1961) To United Nations ambassador-designate John Bolton on diplomacy: ''Civility is not a sign of weakness. The United Nations [is] our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace." (Inaugural address, 1961) To Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on space: ''We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding. This new ocean must be a sea of peace, [not] a new terrifying theater of war." (Rice University, 1962) To House Majority Leader Tom Delay on fund-raising: We need ''men of integrity whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust." (Massachusetts farewell, 1961) To Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on judges: ''To maintain the constitutional principle, we should support Supreme Court decisions, even when we may not agree with them." (News conference, 1962) To White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on negative news media: ''It is never pleasant to be reading things that are not agreeable news, but it is an invaluable arm to the presidency as a check on what is going on . . . [e]ven though we never like it . . . and wish they didn't write it . . . we could not do the job at all in a free society without a very, very active press." (Television interview, 1962) To pastor-in-chief Pat Robertson on church-state separation: ''I believe in an America where no [clergyman] would tell his parishioners for whom to vote, where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the public acts of our officials, where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference. The presidency must not be the instrument of any one religious group." (Houston ministers, 1960) To Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes on propaganda: ''The United States is a peaceful nation where our strength and determination are clear, our words need merely to convey conviction not belligerence." (undelivered Dallas speech, 1963) How I miss his friendship. How our nation misses his wisdom. ++ I'll offer a big "ditto," Ted. Peace ~ Jude Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ Hi all, I was just informed that the weekly horoscope didn't make it out yesterday. I've spotted the problem and we're working to get the horoscope to subscribers and onto the subscriber homepage. Thanks for your patience! Happy holiday weekend... Eric Francis / New York City --- Planet Waves | May 27, 2005 When you testify in court, you put your hand on the Book [they still do that some places] and swear to tell "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." If that can be demanded of John Q. Public ... why is it not demanded from the people who lead this nation? The recent Newsweek situation has been a lot like watching a ping-pong game. Newsweek alleges that the Koran's been mistreated ... a bit later the White House alleges that they've been falsely accused by the Left Wing press ... today we hear validation that, yes, the Koran has been mistreated. Your serve, Mr. President. It might be entertaining if it wasn't so dangerous, and systemic of the culture of lies we live within. From the first article [link below,] a quote to prove that this has been coming on a long, long time in our nation -- but never to the degree we suffer today: I'm sick and tired of hearing things From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics All I want is the truth Just gimme some truth. ~ John Lennon John would have been thinking of the Vietnam war, likely -- but at least he had nightly news broadcasts showing thousands of caskets coming home, napalmed villages, and a rowdy and vocal anti-war protest movement. There's no realism on tv these days ... no caskets at all, the Pentagon has forbidden their photos; the napalm and air strikes are happening, of course, but not covered, even in print; the anti-war protests are ignored and under-reported as the offering of Lefty's and crazies ... and more, directed to "safe zones" where no "harm" can come to those who are being protested ... and where they don't have to see any protest at all. We live in an insulated America. John would still be gloomy about the politics -- and I think it's safe to say he'd be furiously protesting the culture of lies. Peace ~ Jude Gimme Some Truth http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0526-27.htm Assault On the Media http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/26/AR2005052601538.html Take Public Broadcasting Back Bill Moyers http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0516-34.htm Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ Planet Waves | May 26, 2005 I rarely have moments of political glee these days -- there are so few voices that tell the truth or offer something other than the Official Party Line that when I find one, I tip over in rapture [read NOTHING into that remark but immense pleasure!] There are the [very] occasional moments that tickle me, like George Galloway's response to Congress the other day, and I am encouraged by the mutiny in the GOP, some of the Senators quotes are refreshingly "thoughtful" for a change. Aside from those brief moments, rarely reported, tv news is drearily "careful and correct" -- not worth watching; I can get headlines on the web without insult to my intelligence, so that's what I do. Let me say that more strongly -- I'm just so tired of "careful talk," I could spit -- and now that Bill Moyers has left the airwaves, I have only one respite ... Bill Maher, HBO, Friday nights [although his season is now done, he'll be back in mid-summer.] Gratefully, I have past episodes on tape so I can review ... and relax with the notion that there are those out there, like me, that DON'T think the US of A has turned into "Happyville," with Skys Clear, Children not Left Behind, old-folks Secure, both Iraq and Afghanistan liberated and doing oh-so-well ... that DON'T believe the Supreme Delusion that there are no serious problems to discuss. Back in 2001, Bill was the first media casualty of the post-9/11 season -- he had the audacity to suggest that the terrorists weren't exactly the "cowards" that the Talking Heads had branded them. On his late-night tv offering, Politically Incorrect, he said, in conversation, "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building -- say what you want about it, it's not cowardly." There was a flap prompting the first of the "you better be careful what you say!" warnings from the government -- ABC lost several sponsers, and Bill was not renewed. Then HBO came to the rescue, resurrecting Maher and giving him an hour a week to discuss politics with representatives from the right and left, alike, on Real Time With Bill Maher. It's plain-spoken, irreverant, and goes for the laugh more often than not ... it's guests are politicians, actors, comedians, authors and intellectuals -- all of them prepared to deal with Bill's wicked and sardonic sense of humor. It's rated R in "fair warning" -- and HBO is a premium cable offering; you pay for it. Not long ago, Bill was talking via satellite to CBS correspondent Leslie Stahl about an example of our current erosion of free speech ... and mentioned that he was glad that the issue didn't include him, this time. Perhaps he should have knocked on wood. The other day an Alabama Republican Representative, Spencer Bachus, had a full-blown snit about Bill's recent comments on Army recruiting, delivered in his traditional pre-roundtable stand-up routine -- he noted that the Army missed its recruiting goal by 42 percent, saying, "We've done picked all the low-lying Lynndie England fruit, and now we need warm bodies." Bachus claims Maher's remark borders on the treasonous and demanded that HBO yank his show. HBO is ignoring him. PARDON ME! Treasonous???? Tacky, perhaps. Insensitive, maybe. Surely nothing that the High Command didn't mumble to itself when it saw the Abu Ghraib pic's of Lynndie with her leash and cigarette, I'd bet. But treasonous? I don't think there was a hidden message to subversives in his comments ... no state secrets were bartered. I think we have a failure to communicate, here! "Treason" is a word saved for extraordinary betrayal of the American nation. There are a LOT of people closer to treason than Bill Maher -- I can think of several dozen candidates without blinking an eye. This Republican better check the mote in his OWN parties eye, before he bandies the "T" word around. For instance, as we're discussing the military -- I think Pat Tillmans family would be willing to discuss the "nuance" of such words. It turns out that after leaving the Arizona Cardinals and giving up a slot in the NFL to join the Rangers, Pat was killed by "friendly fire" in Afghanistan -- covered up by the military, that fact was something his parents found out weeks later, after he had been memorialized by the nation as a hero. This, from his Father: "After it happened, all the people in positions of authority went out of their way to script this," Patrick Tillman said. "They purposely interfered with the investigation, they covered it up. I think they thought they could control it, and they realized that their recruiting efforts were going to go to hell in a handbasket if the truth about his death got out. They blew up their poster boy." Well -- it's not the first time the government has scripted a "movie of the week" from a soldiers story ... we all remember Jessica Lynch. In a nation where nationalism is epidemic, where it's "my country, right or wrong" it's warriors must NEVER look like anything but hero's. Whitewashing a soldiers story is just Good Business. Good PR. That kind of theatrics with people's lives isn't exactly treason, but it's certainly a betrayal of American trust. Rep. Bachus thinks Bill Maher's treasonous because he's taken a poke at the military -- and I consider him a patriot, giving us another way to look at our political landscape and hosting diverse voices in a national dialogue. Give Bill big applause for his courage, too -- he's twice, now, been called a traitor to his country for simply giving an opinion unpopular to the national leadership. Let's clear this up. Patrotism and nationalism are NOT the same thing. We can all be patriotic and still understand the psychology of war in an adult way. Pretending that our warriors are ALWAYS hero's ... don't ever make mistakes, kill the wrong people or have emotional breakdowns that leave mayhem in their wake ... is not patriotic, it's ridiculous. There has never BEEN a war that didn't have its share of atrocities and errors, friendly fire's and accidents. You can still be a patriot and acknowledge that we do NOT live in Happyville -- life is gritty -- death is ugly -- reality is harsh -- war is Hell ... ask the thousands of soldiers returning without limbs, and/or with emotional problems like PTSS. And it's not unpatriotic or treasonous to suggest that prior to launching BushWarII, we had drawn the majority of our troops from the lower-class and minority kids that were desperate for options and education -- we're still trying to do so, even though they're on to the pitch, now. I saw a recruitment commercial on tv the other night that showed a young black man telling his mother he'd found a way to "go to college" [and he didn't add, "by way of the middle-east" ... but he should have.] "My country, right or wrong," "our soldiers, right or wrong" -- is the worst kind of nationalistic jingoism. We are responsible for what we do in a civilized world. When I see the yellow metalic ribbons that say Support Our Troops fly by on cars I always wonder who the hell DOESN'T support the troops. The Left supports the troops ... they want to support them all the way HOME, away from the blurred ethical lines and dangers they face today. I read a suggestion that we ship all the metalic ribbons to Iraq so our soldiers could put them on their vehicles, to provide the armor the military can't get around to sending them. [ummm ... is pointing out the government's failing on our warriors behalf "treasonous?" By the Bachus standard, probably.] I'm inclined to give our soldiers a lot of latitude, they are highly skilled professionals with courage most of us couldn't muster -- but they are only as good as their leadership. When they snap a smart salute and say, "Yes, Sir!" that's exactly what they mean -- "Yes, whatever you tell me to do, sir." It is not speculation to suggest that the leadership of this military has failed to take the heat for their people, or the orders they were given -- it's a fact. Lynndie will be going to jail, but no generals are going ... Donald Rumsfeld won't be going, although a good many think he should. I expect Rep. Bachus would consider that suggestion treasonous too. I'm sure he'd rather focus on what the military told us, that those few "bad apples" that have outraged the world will be dealt with harshly. [Oh, wait ... that sounds a lot like "the low-lying Lynndie England fruit." Better not say that either.] There's just so damned many things you can't say, these days, aren't there? HBO is going to ignore Spencer Bachus -- Bill Maher will likely dismiss him, as well. I certainly will. His brand of mindless nationalism is what got us in this mess to start with, and now that you have an example of what it sounds like, listen for it ... you'll be amazed at how much of it you hear. Peace ~ Jude Congressman Slams Maher Over Army Remark http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050523/ap_en_tv/people_maher_2 Tillman's Parents Are Critical of Army http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/052305Z.shtml Galloway vs. the US Senate: Transcript of Statement http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/051805Z.shtml Note: Maher replied briefly to Mr. Bachus in a blog response, and then a veteran responded to Bill with a good suggestion -- below. Fruit Bill Maher http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/bill-maher/fruit_1561.html Bill Maher, You Are Wrong! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/featuredposts.html#a001595 Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/ Planet Waves | May 25, 2005 First, a note about the links in prior posts -- they don't appear to be active, and I apologize. Please cut and paste them to go to the articles -- and I will attempt a "fix" on my end. Yesterdays news was full of speculation and analysis of the "stand down" that the group of 14 moderate Pubs and Dems managed to establish on the filibuster -- frankly, in less radical times we wouldn't have paid much attention to them or noted the courage and risk attributed to their actions. Undoubtedly it was just that ... courage and risk ...that they displayed, in a Congress hijacked by the Sectarian-Christian Nationalists who have been strong-arming their fellows on a regular basis, a'la Karl Rovian principals. Breaking with the Party Line is considered treasonous -- it won't win them points from the Prez; it does win them points with the people, and they DO face re-election in 2006. It would appear that this might encourage other of the many true conservative Pubs to push back a little, as well ... we see hope of that in the stem cell vote [sadly a point or two short of eliminating Dub's veto.] This situation is so fluid, at this point, that being either optomistic or pessimistic is sheer projection. William Rivers Pitt puts it perfectly, I think, in his perspective piece, Take The Long Way Home -- So yeah, I'm tired. But maybe, just maybe, the clouds are parting a little bit here. It has been a long road to get to this admittedly desolate spot, and it is a longer road ahead. Just put one foot in front of the other, and see where it all winds up. I agree with Pitt -- the clouds ARE parting a little bit. The reasons are legion -- the economy, the constant lies, the state of the world, just to mention a few. I don't think the American public is paying any more attention to politics than usual but the ramifications have finally come home to roost ... reflected in their utility bills, at their gas pumps, in food prices and restrictive legislation like National ID. In a kind of visceral way, they're looking to Washington and the wing nuts who have led them down this path to see what's wrong -- WHO'S WRONG -- with the government they'd counted on to protect their standard of living. If the clouds are indeed parting, I think it's the collective awakening of the public pushing them aside ... not awakening to the moral issues, perhaps -- but certainly awakening to the realities they face with their current choice of governance. The great [and shrinking] middle-class of this nation was seduced by the "values" question in the last election ... they had morphed American values and Religious values into one hybrid notion about Mom and Apple Pie and Supporting Our Troops and God. Now they're worried about Mom's Social Security, the apples cost too damned much for a pie and the troops are being picked off at an alarming rate while recruiting new one's has become very difficult. And God? We've already had that discussion ... interpretation is everything. If the litmus paper for "which God that would be" is the popularity of rubber-stamping conservative judges with no discussion, apparently the majority of America is not in full agreement with the God of the Religious Right. Polls show that they overwhelmingly want their judges vetted and tested and they approve the congressional filibuster as a tool to do that. Please note that Bill Frist has not been pleased with the compromise -- it was his intention to go "nuclear." It served his party agenda -- to stop the Democrats from having any power at all to influence legislation. He did not participate in the agreement -- and has no loyalty to it. We've not heard the end of this, I think ... and that is where the clouds may part even more. No rational person on earth can't change his mind ... can't learn from his mistakes and make better choices. We are finally beginning to notice that the people who govern our nation are not rational. I read the other day that Bush was on his "72nd day of a 60 day speaking tour for Social Security reform." Two full months of rhetoric got him nowhere ... so he'll just keep talking talking talking? This has been Karl Rove's genius -- "if you say it often enough, it becomes true." But what happens if enough of us notice, along the way, that It's Not True, and there's no hope for it to BE True? That the president is on a Fool's Errand and using his "mandate" to try to push something down our throats that we have no taste for? That he is not willing to change his mind and listen to what the people of this nation want? If the clouds have parted and we ARE noticing this, then we're years late. Bush used the same strategy to get us into war, bend our civil liberties, remove the legislation that protected our environment and reward his corporate buddies. We've let so much go by the wayside, it will take years to figure out how we got in this position, let alone how to fix it. But -- every day is a new day, isn't it -- every day, rational people make new choices. I think Bill Frist will continue to wave his "nuclear option" around with impunity, ignore the will of the people and their hunger for bipartisanship, and prove himself the radical he truly is. For him, this is more a truce than a treaty. Make no mistake -- the Judicial Wars are still on, with a vengeance. The filibuster agreement was a small, and perhaps temporary, victory for democracy ... and that is still the battle we face in this nation. Will we have the kind of democracy that we've counted on for decades, or the "new reality" version that a handful of people in Washington DC want us to accept? Time will tell -- and We The People still have a choice. The "mandate" George Bush declared was given to him by the slimmest of margins -- and his All or Nothing tactics are beginning to rub all the but the power-mongers raw. They're full of ego-maniacal confidence, and not likely to let a little "truce" stand in their way ... but the public is still capable of pulling the e-brake. Let's not wait until Bush nominates [the unthinkable] Clarence Thomas to head the Supreme's before we pull it. Write, fax, e-mail your Senators and tell them how much you appreciate the tone of the bipartisan moderate's agreement; indicate that this is the kind of legislator you will support with your vote in '06. We have a little break in the clouds -- let's give Congress a "new reality" that puts them back into service to the American people. Peace ~ Jude Take the Long Way Home http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/052405B.shtml The right cries foul as Bush is foiled http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=19107 The No Nuke Deal: A Fast and Skeptical Take http://www.bushlies.ws/ Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Political_Waves/ Note from Eric | May 24, 2005 Dear Readers: Hello from New York. My travels have me moving far and wide these days, and I'm writing this on a cool, rainy afternoon in Kingston, New York, in the part of the country I feel is my true home. There are old friends everywhere, I've lived in nearly every town at some point, and I'm staying on land I love deeply, in High Falls, near Split Rock and the Trapps climbing area. The notes at the bottom of Jude's blogs have said I'm on holiday. That was actually true till two weeks ago (for eight short days), when I returned from Mykonos and Delos, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Planet Waves horoscope. Since then, I've looped back through Paris, finished a book proposal, come to New York and got back into full gear, including working with many clients. Jude is going to continue handling this blog for a while. I think she's doing an excellent job keeping a focus on the news from a point of view that does not leave us feeling helpless. Note the contrast between what you read in her posts, and what you read on the mainstream Internet. Notice how she demonstrates that the news actually has personal relevance. Meantime, all other Planet Waves projects are in gear, including the Friday journal, birthday report and horoscope, the almost daily subscriber blog (on the very nice new subscriber homepage), the free monthly horoscopes here, and the Q & A column on Jonathan's site, now completing its first year. Tracy has been helping me keep a nice stream of photos going past the front page, which has been a lot of fun for both of us. And our photo gallery (see above) is growing every day. Before I pass the microphone back to Jude, I'd like to take the moment and invite you to subscribe to Planet Waves Weekly, and support our projects directly. It's been a great blessing receiving subscription fees: I have more help, the web site's bills get paid by our generous readers, and I can spend more time doing the writing we both love. We keep our subscription fees affordable: as low as a dollar a week, nothing by today's standards of overpriced everything, but very helpful to us. I want to particularly speak to the long-time readers who have been deliberating or resisting subscribing (people write and tell me, "I held out for two years"! What do they expect me to say?), or who feel in principle that our work should be given free. We've done a very good job of being here for you every single day for the past seven years (as Planet Waves), and for several years before (as Mystic Gardens and The Worlds of Eric Francis). Put your money where your love is, baby. Thanks for staying in touch. Yours and truly, ERIC FRANCIS Here is the subscription link: http://planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html Archives 2005: Dec. 29 to Feb. 7 | Feb. 8 to March 15 | March 16 to April 25 | April 26 to May 25 Archives 2004: Oct. 25 to Nov. 9 | Nov. 10 to 23 | Nov. 24 to Dec. 28 |