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Can Gray Davis Trip the "Running Man"?
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A wise person---probably an astrologer ;) once observed that lawyers and politicians are nothing more than frustrated actors in search of their next role. If they're unable to use the stage as a showcase for their burgeoning egos, then the courtroom and the public arena will have to substitute. The unprecedented recall of a standing California governor brought out the Big Top atmosphere with a staggering number of individuals proclaiming only THEY can redirect the ship of State and put California back on track.
Over this last weekend, with the August 9th deadline, 247 hopefuls, and that number seems to be ever changing, filed the necessary papers proclaiming their intention to unseat the hapless Gray Davis, as the interim governor, serving out the remaining 3 years plus of his second term. Can't remember who first made the pithy observation---Bill Maher maybe?--but it was said that, to be fair, the replacement governor should be given only eight months to untangle the perplexing maze of problems that are plaguing the Golden State. If this Pied Piper can't pull a miracle out of his ass, then out he goes. After all, that's all the time the GOP gave Davis before they manipulated disenchanted voters into a "throw the bum out" mentality.
There are two reasons why the recall has gotten this far, and both have little to do with Gray Davis, his personality or his politics. First, the dot com industry, and stock market explosion, that was so promising a few years ago has all but evaporated, turning the largess of that gravy train to dust. A once thriving business expansion has quickly gone sour, and along with it a sizable source of revenue that formerly swelled the state coffers.
Washington, read: George W. Bush, has slashed funds that previously went to the states saying the bulk of financing various projects, like education and health care, should be done at the state level. Thus the giant sucking sound of California's surplus turning into a whopping deficit. Less revenue from within and diminishing funds from without does not make for a very secure financial picture. Kind of like losing your income from your job, AND your allotment from your rich Aunt Harriet, while your expenses are rising.
Along comes car alarm entrepreneur, and joy ride fugitive, conservative Darrell Issa, who bankrolled the recall drive mostly out of his own pocket, to the tune of about 3 million dollars. Issa actually PAID signature gatherers to pester shoppers outside malls and grocery stores into signing petitions by provoking voter's frustrations over high energy bills (thanks to the shenigans of Enron, covered in the April 2001 and May 2002 issues of the OP, available in archives), tax increases, and a shrinking job market. Before Issa provided disillusioned job seekers--some who had exhausted their unemployment benefits--with a, albeit temporary, paid position, getting signatures on recall petitions, the whole process was nearly dead in the water.
The other situation is more insidious, and has to do with the unfortunate timing of the vehicle license fees, dubed a "tax increase" by the GOP, with their typical disingenuous talent for weasel word double-talk. In actuality this is no increase, but merely a proviso put into the original vehicle tax reduction bill of 1998. This measure included a trigger that would return the fee to the original level if there is insufficient revenue in the state treasury due to the loss of proceeds from the reduction.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that would be the case with several industries key to California's economy on the skids, along with a sharp diminishing of funds available from Washington. The governor reinstated the vehicle license fee at its pre-1998 level, which generated nearly 5 billion dollars in the state treasury, but not nearly enough to cover the raging hole of over 38 billion.
And Gray Davis hasn't helped himself any by being such an easy target for his detractors. It seems that what was once said of political foes Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan could apply to Gray as well. The quip was that if Carter and Reagan both went through a car wash, only Carter would get wet---Reagan being the "Teflon President" and all.
Davis, it seems, despite much of his innocence, is the unlucky scape goat for all kinds of plagues tormenting the state. Like the damage done by deregulating the energy companies, which was the ill-conceived darling of his Republican predecessor, Pete Wilson, and the state GOP consituency. The Enron debacle that raped the states budget surplus, the vehicle license fees being reinstated back to the higher 1998 levels, and a public perception that Davis is boring and lackluster all conspire together to undermine the one man, among all 247 candidates, who is the best qualified, and experienced, to hang on to the position he now holds.
I'm sure you'll agree that the ONLY fair way we can determine, astrologically, just who has the best chance to be the next governor, is to examine ALL 247 charts. So, with that in mind, put on a pot of coffee, or pop a couple of Bennies and let's get down to business, this is going to be a looooong night!
I can hear you all saying, "What?? Huh? Omigod, NO one can examine 247 astrological charts in one sitting! Has she gone insane??"
Nooo, silly. I'm pulling your leg. Although I do personally know a couple of clinical psychologists who would gladly affirm that "insane" description. (ahem) But, even I'm not neurotic enough to attempt to analyze all 247 potential gubernatorial candidates!
Solar Chart for California Governor Gray Davis
Before you get your knickers in a knot, I'll be narrowing, considerably, the charts for examination down to a more reasonable four. Those would be Gray Davis' natals, the Ingress for California encompassing the October 7th recall election, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger's natal chart, as well as the same for Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante. Those three candidates appear to be the front runners. Although I'm curiously perplexed as to how the media can declare that Bustamante is the "ONLY" viable Democrat in the running, when over 60 candidates, in that party alone, have declared and filed papers to run.
Or do they wish to convey the false image that the Democrats only have Cruz or Gray to choose from, thus implying our lack of imagination and diversity? Funny, because that limitation is nothing compared to the one-note wonders coming out of the Republican Camp. Has anyone else figured out that Schwarzenegger is little more than the John Wayne of his time? Think about it. John Wayne was an icon, yes, but with very little real acting ability. As long as he was playing roles that depicted extentions of his own personality, like military heroes, Indian fighter, or crusty misanthrope, he did ok. Otherwise he was way out of his league.
Same with Arnold, who can't convincingly act in anything calling for a range of believable emotions, unless he's portraying the action hero or wind-up demolitionist. Both Wayne and Schwarzenegger were/are physically big men, with larger-than-life screen personas, and both have speech quirks that make them easy targets for parody. And both are also brain-dead Republicans. Color me surprised!
As for Gray Davis, and his potential to retain his governership in the October recall election, the planetary line-up is not promising. Interesting that among the three top contenders, with name recognition, experience, and financial backing to pull it off, Davis and Bustamante are both Capricorns, and Schwarzenegger is a Leo. All of them are experiencing challenging aspects from transiting Saturn, the planet most associated with the harsh thud of reality.
Unfortunately, I'm limited in the predictions I can safely make concerning Davis, and Bustamante's chances, since birth times for both gentleman are unavailable. This means exact Moon position, and subsequent aspects, as well as the signs and ruling planets for the Ascendant and Mid-heaven remain unknown. Davis' time of birth is now at the top of the list of astrological information I covet. Anyone who has it, cares to share, and can show reliable proof of their source, please e-mail me.
What I am able to analyze shows little joy for Davis. I am totally opposed to this recall drive, feeling it is nothing more than a way for a bunch of sore losers (the same epithet fired at the Dems when the Presidency was stolen from Al Gore in 2000), who want to use the recall method to remove a duly elected public servant from his rightful position. However, even I, loyal Liberal Democrat that I am, cannot overlook Davis' dismal 21% approval rating, and a cluster of potentially ominous planetary aspects that could signal his removal from office.
Davis' scraper, street-fighter (Mars), down and dirty campaign reputation (Saturn) is depicted by the tight opposition between his natal Mars and Saturn. A typical manifestation of this Mars/Saturn opposition can be seen in Davis' classic bad timing in the case of the restortation of the vehicle registration fee, as well as his overly deliberate slow action when it came to standing up to the state regulatory board.
Meanwhile, on October 7, along comes transiting Jupiter and turns that opposition into a nearly exact T-Square. The square to Mars exaggerates (Jupiter) an impatient tendency to be overly aggressive (Mars) and headstrong. A "win at all cost" objective may come off as being cocky and domineering. Davis may be heading for a fall due to this aspect's over confidence and arrogance. Jupiter in square to natal Saturn indicates an inability to face unpleasant, hard facts, and to overstate the optimistic side. Ambition (Saturn) and advancements (Jupiter) are thwarted with frustrating loss (Saturn) and setbacks.
The dynamics of this T-Square are bad enough for Davis, but his progressed Sun has moved to nearly 6 Pisces, which is just starting to aspect the natal Mars/Saturn opposition, and signals the start of his troubles as a political liability, which should continue with a loss of public support and removal from office, unfortunately. The inclusion of progressed Sun at the mid-point of the opposition between Mars and Saturn points to the perception of Davis' weakened public vitality and political impotence. And again, here comes trans Jupiter to exaggerate and magnify this very condition. Now what was a T-Square with an open area for release has become a locked-in Mutable Cross with no potential for resolve.
Note also that Davis has little water in his chart, meaning he can come across as impersonal and lacking empathy, seemingly out of touch with the needs of the people. Although he may be approaching the problems of the state in a organized and systematic fashion, working hard and taking his obligations seriously, as we'd expect from a Capricorn, he lacks the common touch that people crave from public leaders. This stiffness and lack of warmth will be overstated by the opposition of transiting Saturn to Davis' Capricorn Venus, further exaggerating a depressed and burdensome condition.
Chart for California State Ingress September 23, 2003
Moving on to the Ingress chart for the time period of the recall election, first we take a look at the planets in and ruling the tenth house, which represents the leader of the state, in this case the governor. 14 Taurus appears on the cusp of this sector, with ruler Venus strong in home sign Libra. Venus is involved in two major aspects, one being the square to Saturn, another indication of loss in a political forum. Public opinion, right or wrong, emphasizes Davis' stand-offish and cold image. He just doesn't seem to have the empathy of kindred spirits that resonates with voters.
Venus is in trine to Neptune, affirming Davis' idealistic and principled feeling that his exemplary public service record will speak for itself and that he doesn't need to lose his dignity (VERY important for a Capricorn with a Leo Moon!) by playing into the rampant circus atmosphere that has become part and parcel of this recall election. He's not being impervious, but he may be simply naive or gullible not realizing, until too late, that he is not holding all the cards.
Sun in any Ingress chart also represents the conditions of the head of state. Interesting to note that Sun is in the second house indicating that the finances (Second) of the state are not in a secure condition. This is further supported by the inconjunct to Mars, showing a need to adjust, and with Mars in Pisces, a sacrifice will be made. Sad to see the indications point to Davis being the scape-goat who must be sacrificed in order to keep the ship afloat, even though the problems that are afflicting the state will not magically disappear with the new governor.
Pay attention here, residents of the grand and glorious State of California. You decided to recall Gray Davis because of his seemingly insensitive decision to impose a stiff "tax" that many feel is unfair? Although the increase in the vehicle registration fee is only a temporay measure. Well hang on to your hats because I'm telling you with Sun in the second house of finances, inconjunct Mars, and Venus in a trine to sneaky Neptune, which rules the Eighth House, of mutual resources, the next governor, whomever that may be, will have no choice but to raise taxes. With Mars co-ruling the 4th, I'd put my money (no pun intended) on property taxes. Look out, you may be going from the frying pan into the fire!
But, hey.....we can always recall THAT clown. Naturally I know MY readers are too smart and informed to fall for that.
What about the aspects for the other side? Eh (shrug)....screw 'um, they're all a bunch of assholes anyway. Ok, I'll go through the motions. The party out of power, in this case the California Republicans, are represented by the Fourth House, being the opposite from the Tenth. You all know this. Scorpio is on that cusp with Pluto posited in the fourth. Mars, also ruling Scorpio, is weakened by being in Pisces, not a happy spot for a fiery planet like Mars, and is also retrograde.
And since you all know this, then you know what a retrograde ruling planet symbolizes in an Ingress. Retrograde means "going back" or returning to a previous condition. Meaning the party out of power, the Republicans, could be returning to occupy the governor's seat in Sacramento. Fat lot of good it will do them with the legislature and the administration consisting overwhelmingly of Democrats.
Of course Pluto also rules the fourth and that planet is not retrograde, is also angular, and is not in an incompatible sign. Notice the square between Mercury, ruling the monetary Second, to Pluto ruling the Fourth, representing the opposing party? What does Pluto rule in the natural Zodiac? Yep, the Eighth....of taxes. No matter which way we look it seems that there is no escaping the obvious. Regardless of party, whoever captures the governor's office in California will be forced to raise taxes. And if I hear ONE word about "Tax and Spent Democrats", I'll dance on your graves!
Notice the rising planet, for this Ingress, is the Moon, the bastion of the people and barometer of public emotions. Moon is opposing Mars, showing the voters anger and dissatisfaction. That's pretty much a given, under the circumstances. But notice that Moon also opposes Uranus, indicating an unusual and even unexpected change at the capricious whim of the people. So anxious for change and a fresh face, they're willing to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Fitting that the Moon is ruling the Ingress Twelfth; the House of tragic circumstances and self-undoing.
Another way to gauge which party is in a favorable position is to examine their respective ruling planets; Jupiter for the Republicans and Saturn for the Democrats. Jupiter is angular, giving it strength, but is also in Virgo, the sign of its detriment. Jupiter is also Void, meaning it makes no significant aspects. This could mean, as we well know, one of three things: Nothing to worry about (this is from THEIR perspective, not mine!), nothing can be done about the situation, or nothing will come of it. Other than being angular, there doesn't seem to be much to shout about with Jupiter in this chart.
Saturn, on the other hand, is not angular, is in Cancer, also the sign of its detriment, but is making one applying aspect to Venus. Looks like the mutual strength of the two ruling planets, Jupiter and Saturn, are in a dead heat. Saturn is not Void, so does gain more power than simply being angular. I'd give the nod to Saturn as being the more strongly aspected planet. But remember this signifies the strength of the Democrats, which may not, necessarily, carry over to Gray Davis.
But this may bode well for a surprise dark-horse candidate, as shown by the Moon/Uranus opposition, to win in a surprise move; like maybe, Cruz Bustamante. Personally, I think the media and the pundits are totally overlooking the powerful and loyal Latino constituency of California who will support one of their own....Bustamante.
Natal Chart for Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Think how much different all this would be, for the already confused and misguided people of California, IF Republican Arnold, and his Democratic wife, Maria Shriver, had bothered to compose and sign a pre-nuptial agreement before they married. One vital proviso would read something like, "Mr. Schwarzenegger will NOT run for public office. If he does he must change his party affliation to Democrat." It's one thing for Maria to agree that her husband can run for political office, but look.....you can't serve two masters.
How can she, as a member of the American Liberal family dynasty, The Kennedys, work to support Democratic themes and causes, and, at the same time, appear with her Republican husband while he campaigns to become governor? Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall the first time Maria, as the state's First Lady, hosts a Republican Women's tea?! (evil, maniacal laughter) "More poison.....er, I mean tea, ladies?"
I have to assume those two have long ago agreed to disagree over their political differences, ala James Carville and Mary Matalin. But I have to say, to me, it's like sleeping with the enemy. I don't care how big his dic.....well, nevermind, that's just me! I think this can be easier explained by noting that transiting Neptune (sacrifice) is directly opposing Saturn in Arnold's natal chart. Notice Saturn rules his Seventh House of marriage partners, with Capricorn on the cusp. Maria is certainly making the sacrifice for Arnold's ambition.
So, just what chance does the Big Dick have to be worm his way into the governor's office? History shows a substantial number of voters in California have always been easily seduced by celebrity, and the novelty of having someone like "Ahnuld" as governor would be irresistable to most of the star-struck. I'm just hoping that those are the same people who don't bother to vote anyway, they can just stay home and let us intelligent people make an informed choice.
Remember what happened the last time a "movie star" became governor in California? Running a state government is not like it is in the movies, kids. Ronald Reagan is not going to ride through the middle of town on his horse, guns a-blazing, blowing away the bad guys. Ahnuld is not going to be able to use his bazooka to balance the state budget.
Take a lesson from the grevious mistakes made by the good people of Minnesota when they went against common sense and better judgment, and elected tough guy wrestler Jesse Ventura as governor of their state. About 6 months after Ventura was in office it was painfully clear that he was out of his depth and had no business in politics. But the state and the people had to suffer for the remainder of his term.
Lucky for us, astrologically, I have a complete chart for Schwarzenegger, including a birth time, which gives us a lot more options to examine. By progression Arnold's Sun, ruler of his progressed Asc, has moved to zero Libra, Sun's entrance into a new sign signifies a new chapter in life. Sun in this position may help to make him less stubborn and dogmatic. He can certainly use the well known Libran traits of balance and tact, to his advantage, if he has to negotiate with a covey of Democrats in the state legislature. He's already pouring on the charm and warmth to persuade voters to take a chance on him. The press certainly seems to be totally enchanted with him.
Arnold is now in a North Node Dasa/South Node Bhutki period until September 9, which is well ahead of the October 7 election day. On September 9th he enters a North Node Dasa and Venus Bhutki period. With that in mind the focus would be on NN and Venus for the period before the election. Arnold's progressed Libra Sun is in a tight trine to his natal North Node, indicating career advances and honors, in his Eleventh of achievements and goals.
Continuing the North Node theme, progressed NN opposes progressed Jupiter, both falling across the MC/IC axis, putting a positive and fortune outcome on career and public acclaim. But the real eye-opener is progressed Jupiter in a nearly exact trine to Arnold's natal Mid-heaven. That factor alone, I'd say, greatly increases his chances to pull this off. Mind you, I'm not happy about that myself....I'm just saying what the aspects indicate.
Arnold's progressed Mars has also moved to an exact conjunction with his natal Venus, his all-important Bhutki planet for this cycle. Mars is the ruler of Schwarzenegger's intercepted Mid-heaven, and Venus rules the same progressed sector, thus synthesizing the two rulers of the profession and status section of the chart, indicating a culmination of work (Mars), praise and approval (Venus) in a public arena (Mid-heaven).
Of course there's also a strongly narcisstic factor involved in this. What else would you expect from someone, like Arnold, who has been preening himself before the camera, first as a bodybuilder (Mars) and as an actor, for over a quarter of a century. Except I think Arnold is substituting the usual self-gratification that goes with this type of transit in seeking out companionship and attention from the opposite sex, and, instead, is seeking that reinforcement from the voters.
The inevitable question someone like Arnold will be pressed to answer, and one that he seems to be dodging, effectively so far, is just what is his plan. I mean beyond one-liners from his past hit movies? Mercury, the planet of speech and communication, is very prominently placed in Arnold's natal chart. Coming from the hidden Twelfth House, it is just slightly over a one degree exact conjunction with his natal Ascendant, meaning Arnold would always be able to talk his way out of anything, no matter how outrageous his statements.
But this time the situation may not go as smoothly for him. His progressed Mercury, ruler of his natal Third of ideas and mentality; the mecca of communication, is squaring his natal Ascendant. Arnold could come up embarrassingly short when it comes to conveying some solid, workable, sensible ways he is going to deal with the perplexing myriad of problems facing California. The square to the Ascendant shows that he may give the voters an unfortunate image of a shallow person adept at promoting himself (ASC), but with little real substance. When this aspect is triggered, it could bring out the inevitable piece of juicy information, or revelation, that begins to tarnish Arnold's Action Hero image in the minds of voters.
Eclipses in natal charts signify a peculiar brand of fate and destiny come to fruition. Notice the last total eclipse prior to the October 7 election was on June 16, at 24 Scorpio. Rings a bell doesn't it? Remember Arnold's progressed Jupiter, ruler of his natal Sixth of service, including politics, is now at 24 Scorpio. This planet, bolstered by the energy from the eclipse, is in a fortunate trine to Arnold's Pisces Mid-Heaven, which is also co-ruled by Jupiter. It's been said that this election is Arnold's to win. This celestial promotion appears to be typical of the gifts of a close Jupiter trine to the angles.
A brief look at Arnold's 2003 Solar Return, just starting with his July 30th birthday, shows Saturn as the rising planet. Indicating that he could be handling more responsibilies, and taking his duties seriously, particularly with Saturn ruling government work. Or it could signal crushing loss and defeat.
Arnold's natal Capricorn Moon is close to conjuncting his SR Seventh, indicating more public (Moon) contact. Arnold has let it be known that he does not intend to relocate to Sacramento, saying he'll fly home to Brentwood just like other people commute. Sounds feasible on the surface, but he probably won't be able to pull that off successfully because running a government is not a 9 to 5 job. The presence of SR Mars in the 9th, of long-distance trips, indicates a lot of energy put into travel this year.
Mars, just like in Arnold's natal chart, rules the intercepted Mid-heaven. So, more travel related to his profession? Well, he kind of does that now in movie promotions. But let's not over look his SR Moon and Jupiter in a conjunction, indicating public (Moon) popularity (Jupiter) and approval. Jupiter itself is in the SR Third, also a travel and journey house, showing that condition could be expanding as well, and Jupiter co-rules both his natal and SR Mid-heavens.
Solar Chart for Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante
Before we crown Arnold Emperor of the Kingdom, let's examine the last chart, and frankly, our last chance to keep California out of the greedy hands of the GOP and notch up another victory by putting that coveted treasure over in the red column. Lost in all the glitz and media frenzy over The Terminator is the calm, steady, experienced guidance of Cruz Bustamante, the man with the qualifications and the vision to set this wayward train back on the track.
Like Davis, Bustamante is a Democrat, and also shares the same birth sign, Capricorn, with Gray. The similarities probably end there. Their relationship, despite being Governor and Lt. Governor, is not close or personal. But unlike Gray, Bustamante is undergoing some fortunate aspects that could work in his favor. For one thing, he'll be experiencing his Mars return at the time of the October election, a transit always known for initiating new starts and projects. A typical manifestation of a Mars return is to examine where life is taking us and venture off in a new, and exciting, direction.
Bustamante also sports a nice Venus/Saturn trine. Saturn rules government work, and Venus indicates honors and distinction. Bustmanate was the first Latino elected to high government office in California history. Along comes transiting Uranus, which conjuncts his natal Venus, and trines his natal Saturn, indicating a unusual (Uranus) outcome or circumstance that could easily (trine)compel him in a respectful (Saturn) position of prestige. This dynamic is also heightened by the conjunction of transiting Venus to Bustamante's natal Saturn, affirming his desires (Venus) and ambitions (Saturn).
As I've already lamented over Gray Davis, not having a birth time for Cruz Bustamante can be very limiting. It prevents us from knowing if Venus, Saturn or Uranus is close to, or ruling, his Mid-heaven, for example, which would be even more indicative of a change in his career direction. Transiting Saturn is, however, opposing his natal Sun. Since both those planets are well aspected in his chart, omitting the unknown factor of activity to the angles, the close opposition between transiting Saturn to his natal Sun indicates less a loss or fall from grace, as it enforces a point of relating well with the public, and gladly accepting a new position (Saturn) with increased duties and responsibility.
Probably one of the best indicators pointing to a rise in status and esteem for Bustamante would be transiting Jupiter in a close trine to his natal Jupiter. Both are in Earth signs, intensifying his practicality and persistance, both fine attributes in a public servant. Trines, particularly to Jupiter, can bring a time of optimism and rewards for being in the right place at the right time. Additionally, depending on the time of birth, transiting Jupiter could also be in a conjunction to Bustamante's natal Moon. If so this enhances his public (Moon) image and brings him a favorable (Jupiter) reaction among voters, especially women.
Another factor that could benefit the public perception and image of Bustamante is transiting Neptune conjunct his natal North Node. The NN is a point of fate or destiny, so this aspect could see him reaching another zenith in career achievement. It also indicates being helped through a hidden or confidential (Neptune) alliance.
Our examination for this article has shown that Gray Davis faces some formitable challenges. Arnold Schwarzenegger is riding a wave of public adolation, and Cruz Bustamante has the experience and popularity to carry the party banner and retain the governership for the Democrats. But I'd like to remind you--in regards to Gray Davis--what are Capricorn's know for? Reinventing themselves and redefining their goals and ambitions.
A thought provoking, if not unpleasant, reminder of this comes from Richard Nixon, also a Capricorn, who was thought to be finished in politics after being defeated as governor of California. He even showed up drunk at the press conference after that election, and picked a verbal altercation with reporters. But Nixon was shrewd and cunning and he knew how to call in favors, which he did to rise above all that and go on to become President. Of course Nixon totally screwed that up, and the nation along with it. But he DID have the opportunity and he took full advantage of it, so don't count Gray Davis as out just yet, he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve.
Geneva, thanks so much for your article. I was in dire need of an analyis of Arnold's chance of winning. Alas, like you, I am dismayed that this man could actually win, but that's how it goes.
Yet, like you, I have not lost hope that Davis may have some tricks up his sleeve or Cruz wins.
Thanks again Geneva, well done and (for me) a well needed article.
Thank you for your insights and for sharing your knowledge. Perhaps before the election someone will do a major look at Arianna Huffington's chart, transits, progressions, etc. My gut tells me she could be the one to watch. At the very least, she'll be unafraid to bellow into her big-as-Hell bullhorn about Bush, Arnold and the connections between them. Could be good for Democrats (or, as I like to call them nowadays, the "anybody-but-Bush" party).
Jonathan
From what I'm reading, it looks as though Wilson is coming back as Pete the Puppeteer. Pete presided over and encouraged that stupid energy deregulation law that has ended us up in this mess. So, they get rid of Davis and we're back with Pete. And, boy, I just can't wait to see what he'll do to CA in the next three+ years.
thanks geneva for your article, as a cal resident, i appreciate it..
but don't forget arnold also played a great bimbo as jane mansfields boyfriend in that bio film about her years ago..he played it well, as he does the robot..
someone who says all the wrong things, yet still gets the job..sounds familiar -- is this a republican epidemic or what?
i think that saturn on arnold can mean deep regret if he does get in..but then what's a pisces midheaven for?
Thank you Geneva once again for the wonderfully complete article. You do such great work and leave very little to question. It's a shame we don't have the birth times for Davis or Bustamante.
The film clip of Arnold that sticks in my memory is an old interview he gave talking about a conversation he had with his mother. His father had died and his mother had called and asked him to come back to Austria for his father's funeral. Arnold said, "no, I have a contest in two months and there is nothing I can do anyway, he is dead". What a guy. Now that's cold.
Has your son given you his predictions for the election?
Thanks Pat, and everyone for your positive comments. Kevin hasn't commented on the election directly, except to say that Ahnuld doesn't have a politician's chart. So maybe that means he either won't be elected (Please!), OR, he's a one-shot kinda guy and that will end his political aspirations.
Kevin lives in Texas (boo! hiss!) and sarcastically remarks that he's glad to live a state where a man of integrity like Rick Perry is governor. (Ha ha ha!)
Speaking of "one-shot" my favorite clip of Arnold, I think in the documentary, "Pumping Iron", where he goes on and on, talking about, I believe, his work-outs, or something that really gets him excited saying, and I'm paraphrasing, "It's like I'm coming all day long." Whatta classy guy, hmmmm? The "Family Values" crowd and the sexually uptight Christians must be soooo proud!
But that's ok, because it didn't take place behind Clinton's zipper. (snort) Did anyone hear the mention that Maria won't register as a Republican, but will vote for her husband. Jeez, what a sellout! Time for the Kennedy Mafia to bitch-slap that girl.
LOL!! "It's like I'm coming all day long." Cool. Well....ya know......those are just youthful indiscretions. If Bush had the fortitude to be self made he would be a cold fish like Arnold. Instead he is a rich brat.
I think Maria is a typical self-sacrificing Kennedy woman. No indiscretion is too difficult for them to overlook. It's kind of puzzling.
By the way, as much as I love Arianna Huffington, she has just made a terrible mistake IMHO. She has officially joined forces with the Green Party. She lost me and I'm sure lots of other people as well.
I signed. See what you think.
*We’re working so quickly to get this out the door - we haven’t even had a chance to format this e-mail in Progressive Majority’s regular e-mail template. I wanted you to know about this new campaign as soon as possible.
Just like they did in Florida in 2000, right-wing interest groups are pushing to overturn the results of a free and fair election. This time they're using an arcane recall petition to go after a governor who was re-elected less than a year ago. Progressive Majority isn't getting into the candidate fray, but we are launching an online petition asking people like you to speak out in opposition to this power grab. Take one minute right now to sign the petition by clicking on the link below or keep reading for more information. ... (con't)
http://involve.progressivemajority.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=11167
Great article Geneva, this has been such a depressing situation that I've had trouble even addressing the problems because it all goes to the larger issue the Republicans are running all over the country trying to break down any opposition to their agenda's. While I do fear Arnold will win, I don't see how it's going to be a good experience for him in the long run that would be a kick if he were recalled in a few months.
If I were a betting woman, I would have to put my money on Arnold, but like Geneva says, not because I want him to win, but that's how I see it shaping up thus far, if Davis doesn't survive the recall; and I don't think he will, since most of the people who voted for him 9 months ago, are the very ones who signed that petition to have him recalled. I never thought Arianna stood a chance, and I haven't changed my opinion about her. She will just serve to take votes away from the Democratic Party. Bustamante stands a good chance of garnering the majority of the Latino votes, but a lot of them are illegal immigrants, and don't have the right to vote anyway. I am sure Arnold is hoping that his wife will swing some of the Democratic votes his way, and that just might happen.
Anybody else care to enter their wagers? It doesn't cost any money.
Joanna, I signed that petition. Sounds like a good idea.
Interesting article Pat. Hmmmmmm......lots of complex behind the scenes moves there by the Repubs.
I'm putting my money on Bustamante if there is a recall. He really has a chance.
Remember if Arnold is elected, those Cheney energy cases will disappear IMO.
Crystal there is more. I have articles in my file that would break your heart. Sometimes it is too overwhelming to read too much.
Perhaps Arianna will expose the secrets the press would not otherwise cover, and that would be wonderful.
Huge power outage in NY/NJ and Connecticut. This includes the stock exchanges. It ocurred a few minutes after 4pm est. There are also outages in Detroit , and Albany and some parts of Canada. That's all I know so far.
..........
Con Ed plant is on fire. No trains are running. Airports are without power.
Now Clevland Ohio, Ottawa.......
I’m a very straightforward, meat and potatoes astrologer. I don’t go for all the fancy asteroids and verdic points, etc. It’s too complicated. So I can’t help but focus on Saturn in Arnold’s 12th (loss and self-undoing) moving across Arnold’s ascendant soon and Saturn rising in his solar return. Wouldn’t those aspects indicate a fall in his popularity? It seems to me that these aspects would far out weigh a progressed trine from Jupiter. I have always found that conjunctions to the angles and personal planets by transit, especially by Saturn, are far more defining of what lies ahead than trines and sextiles by benefics. I just experienced Saturn cross my ascendant and it brought the death of my sister and significant challenges to my career. While I haven’t suffered permanent damage, (Saturn trined my MH while in my first house), it certainly didn’t bring me much popularity. In fact, the times when things really go my way and opportunity knocks only seem to occur when Jupiter or Venus make conjunctions to one of my personal planets and angles, especially in the first house. Trines and sextiles just make me eat and drink too much.
Wolfstar of Star IQ Newscope has some interesting analyses of Arnold and Howard Dean. For all of you Dean fans (I am one of them), Wolfstar predicts that Dean has the best chance of winning against Bush of all the Democratic hopefuls because his sun exactly squares the US moon. While he does predict Bush winning, that prediction was based on his erroneous assumption that Bush’s progressed Venus/Jupiter were conjunct the US moon when in fact it is a waning trine. In addition, he puts a lot of stock in Bush’s Jupiter Return falling on Inaugural Day 2005. I’ve never experienced much luck during any of my past 4 Jupiter returns.
I don't know if it is because I don't want Arnold to win or whether it is my gut, but I'm not putting any stock in his winning either.
This is what worries me.
Scientists Say Unreliable Software Exposes California Recall to Fraud
By Rachel Konrad
The Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - As if California officials don't have enough to worry about ahead of the bewildering gubernatorial recall vote Oct. 7, computer scientists say shoddy balloting software could bungle the results and expose the election to fraud.
Their worst-case scenario is the accidental deletion or malicious falsification of ballots from the 1.42 million Californians who could vote on electronic touch-screen machines. These voters comprise 9.3 percent of the state's 15.3 million registered voters.
The software experts also warn that, if any candidate contests the election, a meaningful recount would prove impossible because four counties - including two of the largest - don't provide paper backups to the electronic machines. The other counties still use punch-card machines, optical scanners or other systems that provide physical evidence of votes.
"We should put in the safeguards as soon as possible - especially in an election that's going to be so complicated and difficult," said David Dill, a computer science professor at Stanford University.
The campaign to get printers and paper receipts included with electronic voting machines gained momentum in July, when a team from Johns Hopkins and Rice universities issued a report criticizing the 33,000 electronic machines already in use nationally that are made by Diebold Election Systems.
Diebold, based in North Canton, Ohio, produced a 27-page rebuttal, accusing researchers of a "multitude of false conclusions." Dozens of elections officials have vouched for the security of Diebold systems since the July 23 report.
Given the prevalence of computerized systems, the criticism is irresponsible, said Mischelle Townsend, registrar of voters in Riverside County, which has 4,250 touch-screens for 650,000 voters.
"The scientists are undermining people's confidence in democracy," Townsend said. "None of the critics is giving any credence to the extensive system of checks and balances that we employ internally."
But even some advocates of electronic voting, including the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, are backing off their praise in the study's wake. And in Maryland, which has plans to buy $55.6 million worth of Diebold machines, the governor commissioned a private consultant to investigate possible security flaws.
A team led by Avi Rubin, technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins, examined the machines' source code, which a Diebold worker anonymously published on the Internet earlier this year. His conclusion: Any clever 15-year-old could rig Diebold's system, which is based on Microsoft Windows, and vote multiple times.
Rubin also found that "1111" was Diebold's default password identification number for microchip-embedded "smartcards" that voting administrators used - a simple PIN that any hacker might try before moving onto more sophisticated attacks. Rubin added that the lack of a paper trail would make a legitimate re-count impossible.
Silicon Valley scientists say California's convoluted recall election, with 135 candidates on the ballot, could bolster their argument.
Peter G. Neumann, principal scientist at SRI International in Menlo Park, said touchscreens require voters to scroll through more than a dozen screens to look at all candidates. He questioned why such systems lack a search command and said it was "ridiculous" that voting machines in Riverside, Alameda, Plumas and Shasta counties - principally made by Diebold and Sequoia Voting Systems - would leave no paper trail.
Vendors and elections officials in California say no system is perfect.
A survey by CalTech and MIT found 6 percent of votes cast nationwide in the 2000 presidential election may not have been counted because of problems with antiquated systems. Punch-card machines - which will be used by 44 percent of California voters on Oct. 7 - are the subject of a federal challenge to the election by the American Civil Liberties Union, which says they have twice the error rate of other systems.
Brian O'Connor, vice president of sales for Oakland-based Sequoia, said computerized systems, which allow ballots to be updated until just before polls open, are more flexible and cost-efficient than mechanical systems.
"What do you do when a candidate dies or pulls out of race couple days before the election?" O'Connor asked. "In a computerized system, you can make that change on the fly."
From the UK Guardian on California Recall:
Gray matters
Behind the glitzy facade of California's recall saga lie issues deeply significant for US democracy and the 2004 presidential election, writes Julian Borger
Friday August 15, 2003
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in a voting booth, it's back, it's nasty and it's in California.
I'm not talking about the Terminator. It's worse. I'm talking about the chad - that tiny piece of cardboard on the back of punch-card ballots that triggered a constitutional meltdown in Florida in 2000.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1019594,00.html
This is completely off topic but can the astrologers look at the East Coast and this power outage I call 411, that's the time our power went off. They said it was a lightning strike but there was only fair weather in that area. The reason(s) why is shifting. Also, listening to the radio I'm hearing that people in Brooklyn still have no power or *water*. I am in Brooklyn too, but running power.I was ok with my Y2K supplies ready to go and a land line phone, a gas stove I could light with a match and transistor radio. I did miss reading your posts last night.
Bhakti, forget the lightning story. As it stands now fingers are point to an Ohio electrical plant--a series of mishaps---as the culprit.
Unlike you, I was totally unprepared. No light in the apartment, with the exception of one candle, and no water. I got power at 2:15PM, Friday.
Like you, I missed checking in to Astro.
Yeah! I'm back too, after getting power back around 2 PM Friday. Fortunately my experience was a lot easier that many others, as I was a block away from my home when it happened (walking the dog in Washington Square Park) and had a battery operated fan to keep me cool at night. Interesting how the stories keep changing as to how it happened, though. Hmmmmmm ...
Jonathan
Just realized how energy conscious Californians are, I have a generator PGE is flakey with the energy games Enron played on California we're used to electricity going down. I bought the generator after El Nino 98 when we were without power for ten days. I telecommute can't not have power so we bought the generator best investment I ever made.
Spot on Geneva:
Schwarzenegger Adviser Buffett Hints Property Tax Is Too Low -- Warren Buffett, the billionaire financial adviser to Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign for California governor, strongly suggested in an interview that the state's property taxes need to be higher. Mr. Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., took on California's famous Proposition 13, which has limited property taxes there since 1978. As an example, he pointed out the difference between his own property-tax bills for homes he owns in California and Nebraska. Joseph Hallinan in the Wall Street Journal -- 8/15/03
We lost power here, on the Upper Westside of Manhattan at 4:12 p.m. yesterday. It returned at 6:10 a.m. today in my area.
A few nights ago I was sitting at my computer, and a floor lamp that stands close by, blinked. At the same time I heard a noise like a circuit breaker, or a small explosion, so I went and checked in my other rooms, but found nothing. I think it may have come from an electric box on my floor, located in the corridor behind the fire door.
A couple days ago, a manhole exploded in Tribeca, Manhattan, sending the cover flying, injuring a passer-by. It was supposedly caused by an underground cable fire. I think these were clues that all was not well with the electrical power system.
Now, for my weird experiences. In August 2001 late at night(don't remember exact date), I happened to be looking west out my window, across the Hudson river to New Jersey when I saw a bright electric blue flash in the sky. There was no lightning in the area. In fact, it was a clear night. The next day when I went in to work, I was telling my co-workers about it, but nobody else had seen it. Then I heard on the radio that a man in Connecticut had also seen it. Maybe others saw it too, but didn't report it. Nobody seemed to know what it was, so at the time I thought it was probably a meteor, but weeks later, when 9/11 happened, I felt that it was somehow connected to it.
Wednesday night, late at night I was lying in bed with my eyes closed, not yet asleep, and I saw that same blue flash of light, so I opened my eyes, looked around, because I don't know if it was in my room, or again in the western sky through my window, or what. Anyway, I didn't see anything, so I closed my eyes, and started thinking about something, and drifting off, when a voice in my head intruded. It was full of alarm and said one short sentence, so I backtracked and repeated the sentence to myself, because it had nothing to do with what I was thinking about. I don't know if it was that small inner voice, like a flash of intuition, which I hear once in a while, but since I was too lazy to get up and write it down, I can't remember what the message was, but I think the word "burning" was in the sentence. I am now going to keep a little notepad and a pen near my bed, and if I have another experience like this, I'll get up and write it down, because I'm mad now that I didn't. It could have been nothing, just something coming from my subconscious, but I'll never know now.
Well I'm looking at my paycheck stub from today, and the feds are taking three times the amount of taxes the state of California is taking. Get the Feds out of our pockets and I might pay more on my property taxes which are already rediculously high.
bhakti, you are right. The power did go off at 411. I was checking reports on the internet, and on NBC news tonight, they showed a clock that stopped somewhere in the midwest, at exactly 4:11. Now that's eerie. I don't know how they could rule out terrorism, when they still don't know exactly what caused the power outage. Right now they're playing the blame game. The US is blaming Canada, and vice versa. I just heard the mayor of Toronto say "Have you ever known America to accept responsibility for anything?" Ouch! Now they are saying that it might have been caused by a sudden power surge near Lake Erie.
Well, whatever it is, we are just getting a taste of what the Iraqis have to live with on a daily basis.
Here it is folks - the 411 terrorist attack(just my opinion). The reason why Bush will not admit it was a terrorist attack, is because he will also have to admit that his Homeland Security program is a miserable failure.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/297115.asp?0cv=CA01#BODY
Exactly, Crystal... we get a nip of what the USian regime is forcing upon the Iraqi & Afghani (et al) peoples.
Anyway, as Alice in the Looking Glass said: "...getting curiouser & curiouser..."
From Crystal's article: "Head of probe
says grid section near Lake Erie experienced strange surge." Reminds me of how the Challenger exploded... some photos showed a huge blue bolt of energy that went into the vehicle, a few minutes later, boom! Cld be ETs mebbe... cld be Earth's greatly charged up energy field as befits the increase level of "mind stuff"... cld be "enemies"... Then there's Crystal's dream that might give more hints.
hey crystal..sounds like psychic phenomena to me..thanks for sharing.
and all the rest: jonathan, bhakti, etc...good luck in nyc! i'm a native of there, and left in spring 2001..now all i have to deal with is palm trees, the blue sky, and
the terminator?
still...i wouldn't go back to new york to live if they paid me to live there..of course theres things i miss about it, but even when i left i realized that it just seemed 'over'..and speaking of psychism and 9/11..i just couldn't run out quick enough that spring..the airplane announced we were over nebraska, and i said to my husband, "God, i'm just starting to feel far enough away.."
plus, last week i bought the video of godspell from the early 70s..never saw it, it was on sale for 1.99, and y'know..day by day..so i couldn't believe that they actually performed a number on one of the towers ..and it still had scaffolding around the top floors...it was one of the most incredible feelings i had watching it last week that i ever had in my life..i can't even describe it, except that it knocked the wind out of me, and i couldn't speak. as a christian it was just so heavy to see these hippies singing about their jesus who's wearing the superman shirt and the afro, and to think the buildings were brought down by religious fundamentalist arabs and all the innocent dead & burned.. i still can't find the words to describe how i felt -- just freaked out will have to do!
I think the power blackout was just a test run for what they are planning next.
411= info please! It's getting me to refine my 'survival' kit. A generator is now on my list. Thanks Morgana. My friend's cats were acting weird about a half hour before the blackout. Hey Crystal, Janet and Jonathan, we are neighbors! Thanks Roxanne for the good wishes. It could be a rehearsal for martial law.
Folks,
Go to Workingforchange and read Greg Palast's article from 8/15. Topical.
First, Geneva, I love your article! So much great info. Thank you so much! Here's an interesting little tidbit:
A Hollywood Twist: Schwarzenegger Lags in Gov. Poll
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Even with a blitz of media coverage, Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger trails his main Democratic opponent in the California recall vote to replace Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites), a poll released on Saturday found.
A Field Poll showed Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who broke ranks with fellow Democrat Davis to put his name on the ballot, attracted 25 percent support of 629 registered voters surveyed, compared to 22 percent for the star of the "Terminator" films.
more . . .
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=584&ncid=584&e=1&u=/nm/20030816/pl_nm/politics_california_dc
On the article I posted earlier about how Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante was polling ahead of Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger has been changed now to they're "close in poll." Somebody from the White House must have put in a phone call.
This is off the topic, but this is an excellent must-read article from the Washington Post about the Bush Administration.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39500-2003Aug9.html
Meanwhile, down at the ranch, this is what "he who must be obeyed" is up to, during his working vacation:
Washington, DC, August 14 – The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today joined with other civil rights, peace and justice, Arab-American, Muslim, Christian, Jewish and inter-faith groups to urge President George W. Bush not to make a recess appointment of Daniel Pipes to the Board of Directors of the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) and withdraw his nomination. Press reports indicate a recess appointment of Pipes may be imminent.
On July 23, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee declined to approve the nomination and postponed its vote after numerous senators raised serious concerns about Pipes' long record of racism, Arab and Muslim bashing, and promoting fear and hatred. A summer recess appointment would temporarily install Pipes at the USIP Board without congressional approval, and would circumvent the normal democratic processes. ADC, along with the broad coalition of other groups opposing the Pipes nomination, made yesterday, August 13, a national call-in day to the White House generating thousands of calls, emails and faxes opposing the nomination and any recess appointment.
ADC President Mary Rose Oakar said, “we strongly urge President Bush to withdraw the nomination of Daniel Pipes to the Board of the USIP, and not to consider a recess appointment. Such an appointment, which would bypass the legitimate role of the Senate on such nominations, would be an inappropriate manner to install an inappropriate nominee. Daniel Pipes has a long track record of bigotry against numerous communities, and of advocating war and violence, especially in the Middle East. He has no business serving the United States Institute for Peace in any capacity. The President should recognize that the Senate Committee’s refusal to approve Mr. Pipes’ nomination last month sent a clear message that his bigoted views are completely at odds with core American values of tolerance and equality.”
Probably a moot point by now, but someone, Bhakti I believe, requested a look at the aspects triggering the recent East Coast Blackout. CNN online now says that the problem can be traced to Ohio, but gives no specific area in the state, although Cleveland residents are still being warned to continue boiling their water to remove sediment.
The chart for 4:11 PM, 14 August, 2003 in Cleveland, Ohio, shows a very revealing opposition between Jupiter and Uranus, the planet ruling electricity. Jupiter, the chart ruler, is in the 9th, indicating that this wide-spread blackout would involve another country (Canada) besides the US. Expansive Jupiter in the equation promises that this short-term "disaster" would typically extend far beyond a closely confined parameter. The multi-state blackout has affected a huge number of people and businesses.
Benevolent cooperation between states and cities, as well as between the US and Canada was promised by the lovely Sun/Venus conjunction in sunny Leo, in the foreign 9th. Publicity and broadcasting of the events, also ruled by the 9th, portrayed almost a festive atmosphere. That no one was in life-threatening danger was enhanced by rising Pluto, in trine to the Sun/Venus conjunction.
Uranus, Mars and Moon are in the 3rd house, indicating traffic snarls and mass tie-ups. Occurring at "rush-hour" this couldn't have come at a more frenetic time. Moon opposes Mercury, in the 9th, leaving most commuters to their own clever (Mercury) devices improvising their own mode of transportation. Most simply took the most obvious action (Mars) and walked.
Further, Mars is also involved in a tight trine with Saturn, of government. For the most part mayors and governors of respective cities and states were quick to get emergency help going and to reassure their citizens to hang in there. Even blase' New Yorkers took the situation in stride thanks to the "nothin' to it" ease of the trine.
But what really gets our attention occurs when this blackout chart is compared to the incorporation chart for the City of Cleveland. There we have natal Uranus, associated with electricity, in a nearly precise conjunction with trans Uranus; both at 1 Pisces. A Uranus return for Cleveland, in other words, and along comes Jupiter to trigger this rare conjunction.
As if that wasn't dramatic enough, Cleveland's Mars is also being opposed by trans Jupiter, but closer to exact than the dissociate opposition between Jupiter and Uranus. Easy to see how all the machinery (Mars) suffered massive (Jupiter) mal-functions and break downs. Don't be surprised to learn that natal Mars is in Aquarius, Uranus' home sign---electricity again.
I am disturbed by one aspect, however. In the 4:11 chart Saturn, being the authority and the government, is inconjunct deceitful and deceptive Neptune, which also rules oil. It seems that Bush wasted little time in using this as a "golden" opportunity to promote his energy policy. Experts have long warned that the antiquated grid system needs to be replaced and have fought to be taken seriously. Saturn, hugging the cusp of the 8th, of shared resources, shows this system has many flaws and needs to be modernized quickly.
But I suspect, with Neptune in the mix, this will mean giving more billion dollar contracts to Bush's fat cat oil company buddies. Which would, in turn, make us even more dependant on foreign oil as our primary energy source. Any sacrifice, ala Neptune and the inconjunct, to be made, will surely be on the part of the unfortunate consumer and not organizations like Haliburton, et al. Remember the 9th rules corporations too. With Jupiter involved that means BIG corporations!
Might be interesting to watch as Jupiter gets closer to an exact opposition to Uranus. Maybe this is just the beginning.
Thanks Geneva for hearing us.
Much love to you.
Good work Geneva! This summer is full of suprises,
yeah, it's getting obvious (again) that the blackout was all about the agenda of deregulating the nations energy..
they probably did it to bring the people to their knees when they try to deregulate the energy to make the prices soar..
just like they probably set the fires so that a year later they would have an excuse to chop down the trees..it's all so sick.
This is the same link I posted on Friday, but I think the information has been updated because it is now dated Aug.17, and the plot thickens. I think this attack coincided with that computer worm virus that was detected last week. If it was indeed a terrorist attack, it was well planned, and executed. It still has the investigators scratching their heads.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/297115.asp?0cv=CA01
If they were terrorist-related, wouldn't somebody have let it be known by now?
The thing about terrorists is they're mindf__kers to the nth degree and couldn't let us think it was by accident, by chance. They feed on fear.
bbuster you'd think so wouldn't you? Makes ya wonder though, no one has told the American public that there is no debate on the house floor because the House is driven by the Repub's and the Dem's have been silenced. Course I'm of the mind that if the Dem's wanted the attention they would find a way to get it from the press, but wait isn't the press beholden to the Bush Regime and in cahoots with them? Who would tell us? Can you imagin the anarchy in the U.S. if it were terrorist instigated along with the pipe line fire in Arizona and the other massive wildfires burning across the country. Didn't someone post a link a while back to terrorists starting forest fires, wild fires and oil fires in our country? Could happen, it just could happen. More likely Bush fell down on the job again after being warned that the north eastern electricity grid was in need of repair and upgrading. Bush didn't have a cronie on hand to take on the project.
I was watching the NBC Nightly News tonight, and there was a snippet about Al Qaida claiming responsibility for the power blackout. It was carried in some Arab newspaper that I am not familiar with, and the anchorman said he wasn't sure if the claim was legitimate, so I am going to do a search on the web, and if I find anything, I'll post it here.
Morgana, I also saw that piece about the oil pipelines in AZ, but it seems like it happened a while ago, but was not widely reported. Towards the end of the newscast, they showed a big fire burning in Tulsa,OK, and was reported as a gas explosion at a natural gas depot. I saw a lot of cars nearby on fire, but I'm not sure if it was a gas station, or gas refinery, so I have lots of research to do on the internet tonight.
This is all I found on the gas explosion. It happened fairly late today, so there'll probably be a full account in the news tomorrow.
Explosions rock Oklahoma gas supplier
HOUSTON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - A series of explosions rocked a Tulsa, Oklahoma, gas products facility owned by Airgas Inc. on Monday, sending flaming shrapnel into neighboring buildings and forcing evacuations, authorities said.
No one was injured in the blast at Airgas Mid South, which caused a raging fire, Tulsa Fire Department spokesman Ken White said.
Authorities evacuated buildings in a one-mile radius around the plant and shut down an adjacent interstate highway. Several buildings near the plant were set ablaze when they were hit with flaming debris.
The repeated explosions from gas containers stymied firefighters' efforts to get close to the source of the blaze.
Airgas, based in Radnor, Pennsylvania, is a distributor of gases for industrial, medical and other special uses.
Company spokesman Jim Ely said gas cylinders are filled at the facility and then distributed from there. All of the employees at the site were unharmed and accounted for after an emergency evacuation.
Workers spotted the fire in a yard where filled gas cylinders are kept, Ely said. He had no information on the cause of the blast.
Shares of Airgas closed at $18.80 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, unchanged from Friday.
(Additional reporting by Bryson Hull)
08/18/03 20:01 ET
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
Schwarzenegger is German for "black plowman" (MSNBC.com).
First Energy, the company that is being blamed for the power blackout, reportedly has close ties to the Bush administration, especially Dick Cheney, and has a strong lobby in Congress. They ponied up to finance the Bush campaign. Their stock took a hit on the exchange today, as it was downgraded by ML and other brokerages. The gas co. in Tulsa where the explosion occurred is also listed on the NY stock exchange, so I expect their stock to be down tomorrow. Is there a pattern here?
I'm still searching for info on that obscure Arab newspaper that published Al Qaida's claim for the blackout. It was on the front page, but I don't remember the name of the paper, so now I'll just end up driving myself crazy.
Hey Crystal after you share your findings with us, ahem, you might enlighten those who are supposed to be watching our butts, Bush and his brain trust sure aren't.
Thanks for looking around Crystal.
Remember I told you that I had a feeling Chalabi, in concert with the US had a hand in the bombing of the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, because they thought that they might be sheltering Saddam? Well, I wonder if Saddam was really there and he was killed? Because we are not receiving any more of his communiques. Anyway, we will never learn the truth, because the F.B.I. is heading the investigation, and as strange as this may sound, I have a feeling that America is carrying out terrorist acts in Iraq against certain sectors of the Iraqi people. Just yesterday a journalist was killed because he was filming a mortar attack on an Iraqi prison, so maybe the US doesn't want anyone to know what they're up to.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=435156
And this is a little morsel on that crook, Chalabi.
http://english.daralhayat.com/arab_news/08-2003/Article-20030818-1514f3ec-c0a8-01ed-0079-6e1ceedce96e/story.html
Mighty fine work, Crystal. I've passed it on.
* The Phantasm Of Empire: (With A British Accent)
The ruling ideas of a time, wrote the great German sage, are the ideas of the ruling class. So it is with our time. The American ruling class indulges itself in the phantasm of Empire, in an American Raj that stretches across the globe, whose jewels are the military bases & whose emblems are the invisible hands of its global corpos. Every ruling class invites a jester to tell it what it wants to hear, to put its own ideas to paper & speak that which it wants said. ...
... Empire, however, was never about social progress or economic development: it was always about a white supremacist [boyz] drive to dominate the world & absorb its wealth into the voracious industry of north-western Europe & the US. ... http://www.peaceredding.org/Phantasm%20Of%20Empire.htm
Crystal,
Blue flashes of light are usually transformers exploding.
I lived in Nashville during the big ice storm and there were blue explosions all over the town. I realized then after one week of no electricity or gas and water and no wood stove that it was not wise for me to depend on the city for these resources.
Now from the UK Guardian, what Bush did on his summer vacation (after decapitating his paper dolls):
Bush's pollution charter
Republican supporting energy firms set to escape controls on emissions
Julian Borger in Washington
Saturday August 23, 2003
The Guardian
The Bush administration plans to open a huge loophole in America's air pollution laws, allowing an estimated 17,000 outdated power stations and factories to increase their carbon emissions with impunity.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1028090,00.html
I'm convnced that Bush is trying to kill off not just the Islamic, Asian and Hispanaic nations on Earth but all of Earth and it's inhabitants. He is not of the light. The deranged look on his face gets scarier all the time. Rummy has that deranged look too.
bhakti boy do I agree with you. I see pictures of them or catch them on tv and they are down right evil incarnate, these beings have no light. I cannot imagin this carnage being allowed to go on much longer, mankind as a collective must say no more.
I don't want to quibble with either Morgana or Bhakti ('cause I admire your astrology talents both so much), but I have to correct you and say that EVERYONE, no matter how shrouded in their own darkness they are, has Light somewhere. Without Light there can be no Dark. Bush and Rummy (and Cheney and Rove and Condi and Powell, etc and so on) are making choices that strengthen their Darkness, but, when karma comes a'callin' (after they're out of office), I trust they'll rediscover in their own ways their Light.
Jonathan
I agree Jonathan. The dark is part of the one light. Asleep is a much better image,or not recognizing their light, unaware. Many souls on Earth will rediscover their light through this administration's big mistakes. I get shudders to look at Bush and Rummy, they look more unbalanced all the time and hollow too.
Quibble away. You are more generous then I. 30,000 dead Iraqi's and that number is rising, taking aim at Syria, and the Palestinians, well that genocide should be completed shortly. Bush is fast approaching the numbers from the Holocaust with his blood bath. I don't find a light there, not in any of their lieing greedy spirits. Nope, hard as I try I see no light, they are sick individuals.
And echoing Ms. Tricia I miss the Clinton's, and freely admit I've gone from the center to a hard left.
yeah, there's no light with these people, they sold out to the corporations who keep them in power, and the fact that human life dies is just a side affect of their greed which they don't care to either admit, or think about.. quite gross. but every dog has it's day (god i hate to even mention them as 'dogs' who are much more humane..)i have written before on here that i'm a christian and it's so hard to just 'have faith' that they'll be dealt with; their daily activities make it so difficult to be philosophical about it, or christ-like. i get so angry at them because of the people that suffer on a daily basis, the many many, as bush plays golf? he's just as bad as any debauched roman emperor in the day, but worse of course because he can't even admit he's a (proud) pig, which atleast those guys did..
Hey Roxanne! Those are Los Angeles polls, they haven't even touched on Northern California yet! I think most of the repub's left with the jobs in the Bay Area. I'm still waiting for an explanation of why we've been paying over $2.00 ++ a gallon for gas for a couple of years now up here, and that's the cheap stuff, how is it that the rest of the country is under $2.00 gallon, are Californian's so special that price gouging is standard practice?
I think it would be pretty tough to be a christian right now. Religions are getting an overhaul in the limelight.
Is it hot enough down there? We hit triple digits today and I'm not far from the coast.
The sort of final death count from the heat wave in France is 10,000. That blows my mind. Lot's going on. GAO blew back on Cheney today, that was sweet.
I heard on the news that gas here in NY was $2 a gallon.
I also think most of the religions that have formulated our minds and lives are getting an overhaul. Hopefully they will be 'over'. If we we truly 'christ-like' we'd have compassion for our enemies because they would not affect our inner state no matter what. Dali Lama says he is angry at but does hate his enemies. I am not foaming at the mouth for harm to all these creeps in office, just get them OUT. They live out their shadow side because they run from it so much and deny it's exixtance with that phony righteousness crap. Why they come across so hollow, they are but reflections from shallow ponds, nothing deep. They are thugs or well dressed savages who have the power right now, it's frightening.
yes the repubs hate california, because it's the progressive state..even though the trash culture comes out of this state (current films and music for the most part), i find that there are more forward thinking people in california as a whole than there are in new york where it's just cool on the manhattan island..long island has lots of 'idiots'..i know i spent my teenage years there/totally non-progressive, fearful, etc..i didn't realize that it was so hot up north!
well the only reason it's not easy to be a christian these days is because like in the days of the crusades, people re-write the law, which is simply love..love of god, and each other, pretty much in that order.
you can't really overhaul that, and bhakti why would you want that message to be 'over'...? just because people distort it..? it won't work, there's too much magical power in the past..all of it:
i really don't think the answer is self-worship, although a lot of modern thinkers have always thought that...i think the true AND distorted messages of islam, christ, judaism, hinduism, is not just an 'opium for the masses' or a way to find meaning in life, i really think ultimately it is very relevant to the mysteries of life and why we are here.
the 'men' who have destroyed this planet were/are not of God, they were in fact of 'themselves' big phallic self-love egos who denied god, even if they may have posed religious..do you understand why i'm saying?
basically it's that there's no way out..we're here to unravel it all, the mysteries of the mid east, the mysteries of the religions of the world, the mysteries of the people who founded them. for example christ was known to be humble and loving yet he was the only one (of all the founders) who claimed to in fact be God, no one else did, and if they can all see us now, it wouldn't surprise me if mohammed would be as surprised as abraham as to the goings on in their name..the hindus the chinese, they all have literature of great wisdoms/lessons, all completely true and valid, but none of them said they should become a religion, except jesus. and as a pisces he wasn't an egoist..but as a man of wisdom as well as some sort of mystical power for miracles, he seemed to be the only one fit for the 'job title' of god. where it's come to in 2003 is so far removed from 'the truth' of what was actually going on around him when he was a man on the planet.
jesus already warned us saying you will know a christian by what he gives to his fellow man.
when all the people in the world protested the coming iraq invasion and hated bush, who is 'known' as a christian, it was those hundreds of thousands in the streets of this planet that were exalting the spirit of christ, most probably didn't know it. when i saw them on tv it was the same as seeing jesus christ come back to earth..only real christians got to feel that exaltation..and it's an exaltation that was not to do with 'look at all of us, we are all right, we have to win, we have to prevent this war.' that was the obvious and irrelevant message, atleast to me, where the message was, 'we love life, we love people, we don't want blood for money, we love.' and it's a much more rewarding feeling to have seen it that way, because anger doesn't lead us anywhere.
Hi Roxanne,
I'm not into debating you over your personal views of your faith. I never said the message of Truth which lies behind all religions be over but all the superimposed opinions handed down for centuries laid over the message be over.
Distorting my words to fit your personal views is exactly what I'm talking about and your latest entry just proved my point.
I will be polite to say I totally disagree with you and let's leave this endless debate with an agreement to disagree.
Some humor on a hot Mars day:
GOD by Susan Bolton
Protestants pray for grace,
Scientists look for space.
Jews find truth in the Torah,
New Agers, in other's aura.
Catholics are blessed by the Pope,
Yaquis enlightened by dope.
Maoiris use ritual chants,
Navahos get up and dance.
Muslims bow daily to Allah,
Norsemen aspire to Valhalla.
Feminisits swear by a She,
Quakers swear not, silently.
Confucians kowtow to ancestors,
Hare Krishnas, to airport investors.
Hindus revere Lord Brahma,
Richard Gere, the Dalai Lama.
Baptists believe in the Ark,
Physicists, in the quark.
Moonies obey Rev.Sun,
Mormon's say Brigham's the one.
Daoists extol yang and yin,
Sufis transcend in a spin.
Shintos seek peace where it's grassy,
Rastas, in Haile Selassie.
When we meet in the Afterlife,
We can laugh at this sectarian strife.
But meanwhile, back to the wars,
'Cause my God is better thatn yours'.
no, b i didn't twist your words, and the poem just reiterated them:
like most people you believe it's religion that is the cause of wars, but ALL religion is humble, so that cannot be. it's those NOT of god that are the cause of the wars... of course they 'use' religion - but we cannot really blame worship cause then it sends our own spirituality into a confused spin.
with mercury going ret i am not going to write anymore on this subject - last merc r it got me into big trouble on this board!
Hey bhakti, I'm feeling reckless today ya'll forgot about all the wiccans, witchs, druids, and shamans, gotta add them to your poem. I'm running behind on my new moon commentary it keeps going and going and going.
Hee Hee Morgana! However, take it up with the poet ;-) I was just quoting.
Looking forward to your next essay. Stay calm everyone. Blessed Be.
I've met only 2 Christians (but they cld've been in any true spiritual system) in my entire life: both elderly gentlemen. One, a "white" man, who worked for a phone company all his life. The other a "black" man, president of a tiny black college located on the big-sky windy plains of western Oklahoma.
* Helping other people to have a religious experience is tricky. In the name of God, many have tried to impose their view of religion on others as a missionary or evangelical tactic. Imposing religion on another even when done for the best of motives strikes me as hostile. The Gospel of Jesus can never be communicated through hostility.
The only loving way to spread one's faith is to live it out with selflessness, love, grace and integrity. To talk about one's faith when not asked about it, is to be insensitive. To try to convert someone to your religious convictions is to assume your superiority and their inadequacy. It is certainly not to love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus is quoted as having said, "By this will people know that you are my disciples, that you love one another."
-- John Shelby Spong
Jesus is quoted as having said, "By this will people know that you are my disciples, that you love one another."
-- John Shelby Spong
That's it exactly. Christianity is so sompletely screwed up in this country, I think the angels weep. I must be out of my mind to dare post ANYTHING on this day, Big, Fat Mars HooHaa Day - but what the hell.
I think I know what Rox is saying, and I agree that the folks who were out protesting bloodshed WERE expressing "God" when the so-called "religious" folks were egging on the war mongers - how messed up is that? Peace, love, charity and compassion to ALL, even (gasp, puke) the Smirk - he needs it BAD. God, it's hard to feel compassion for people who seem to show none themselves, and do so much to hurt others, but - ugh - we have to try. I just want them OUT of power, and more of the true spirit of love, in whatever name (or no name at all), to be guiding the world.
bhakti, I enjoyed your poem.
Joanna, thanks for you enlightening post.
And as Wiccan, I would add...
* Goddess calls us to see...
Our Selves as divine;
Our bodies as sacred;
The changing phases of our Lives as Holy;
Our anger as purifying;
Our Power, to create, nuture, limit and destroy as the very Force that sustains all Life.
- Starhawk; The Spiral Dance
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