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Monday, August 14, 2006 | Become the Media

Dear Friend and Reader:

WELL, yes, this has been an interesting Mercury retrograde. The echo phase, or shadow phase, ended Sunday, concurrent with the Mars-Uranus opposition. Mercury is now in new territory; we are all in new territory. This has been one of the most interesting times I can ever remember for news watching -- and the most diverse. The bad news has been grim, the good news at least mildly encouraging, all of it in many ways astonishing. These next three weeks, as Saturn approaches exact opposition to Neptune, will be very telling.

We are wrapping up the Mercury Retrograde news timeline for this era -- our news staff, particularly Melanie Andrews in the UK and Paloma Todd in France (with input and assistance from others) -- have gathered headlines, leads and links on hundreds of the most important developments of the past six weeks -- the long count of Mercury retrograde including the echo phases before and after. This is linked from the PlanetWaves.net front page. It is a case study of a turning point, and some very impressive work; we have devoted our time and energy to this in order to keep a record of history and to make the same available to you, in case you want to understand what is happening now, or even show your kids someday.

We have indeed reached a bend in the river. It's going to last a couple of years. But it's worth remembering that Saturn-Neptune is not exactly a positive influence on presidents who play games. Nixon went down under the influence of the last Saturn-Neptune opposition; they tried to do the Watergate break-in under its influence. When Saturn and Neptune made a square in 1998-1999, Clinton was impeached. He survived (and he could have done a lot better for himself if he had told the country the truth), but that impeachment paved the way for Gore getting the election stolen from under his feet. True, the American people abdicated their right to vote by not demanding that the winner take office, and it's possible we will have learned something when the results of that shake out.

When the Cheney Bush years are over, everyone but the most dogmatic fools will look back in disgust. Those who were fat and happy and voted their wallets or their religion at the time will likely be somewhat leaner and more contemplative. We have yet to make a real decision about whether we want to base our whole society on fear. Politicians always ramble on about freedom. How can you be free when you're scared all the time? If you're scared to go out, how can you take a walk?

Bu$hCo came up on the heels of fire and air -- Saturn and Pluto in a fiery show, full of moral brimstone. They're going to go down and out on the graces of water, and Pluto conjunct the Galactic Core. The question is how much damage they will do on the way down, and how much we will let them do. The People could step in at any time right now. It would take very little to make a very big difference. Every modicum of awareness counts. Every tatter or fragment of the message of love and truth that we send along our communication networks.

We all need to be journalists now. We need to push the vigilance level through the roof. We need to learn how to organize information and get it to other people. We need to learn how to have informed opinions, and to let those opinions evolve as new information becomes available. We need to be able to distinguish self-interest from community interest.

It's not that hard -- you just need to keep a clear head, be methodical, and stick to what your senses and intuition tell you. To be a journalist, you need to know when you're basing your thoughts on somebody else's beliefs, and when you're rubbing your brain cells together for yourself. You need to know what influences you, and watch it. In other words you need to be versed in your own values, and watch how they influence you.

Most of all, you need to not be lazy. And that feels good. Laziness gets really boring. The reason that a bunch of scammers, in truth, the top guys from the College Republicans of the 1970s, have taken over the world, is 1. Because the professional media is scared and lazy; and 2. Because it's controlled by the companies that profit from war. Of the pair, the first is the worse.

I'll tell you something I believe from the depths of my heart: the Internet is the one thing that's standing between us and the complete loss of our freedoms. Many take it for granted; many go just shopping; Mapquest is cool; I've heard that only 1 percent of email addresses can be considered legitimate and Postini.com reports that in the past 24 hours, 185 million spam emails were sent.

It's true that only a minority of people are connected to the Internet, and most people have no idea where to get good information.

The core who are connected, versed, literate, and even agile on the Net are holding a torch. We are able to get a diversity of viewpoints, and most important, we know how to READ. So, I suggest you keep reading, keep getting familiar with how information is made available on the Internet, scope out sources you trust, learn to use Wikipedia, learn to find things in Google in less than two minutes, and teach your friends how to do the same thing.

To the extent that time allows this week, I'll blog on this subject -- the basic rules of the road for citizen journalism, and why it's so vital now. One suggestion I can make straight away is, pick the issue that's most important to you, and go digging.

Is it food? Is it politics? Is it kids? Is it the war? Is it sports? Find the one thing that is at the top of your list, heart and soul, set some Google news alerts, find a few pages in Wiki that relate to the subject, and get yourself going. Then, go into active mode and start writing about it. Don't worry about where to publish; that is pretty easy in the Net environment.

Meanwhile, carry a notebook and pen everywhere, and keep your camera in your bag. You never know when you're going to need it.

Become the media. And remember:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

If you don't know where that comes from -- I suggest you find out.

Yours & truly,

ERIC FRANCIS

PS, if you have something you think is vital that our news staff hear about, send it to news@planetwaves.net -- remember, we do follow all major worldwide sources, so the best stuff you can send is what is local, or which you personally witness. The date, place and exact time could be helpful for astrology research, and photographs of local events are always welcome. Thank you.