Sally,
Thanks for the spiritual inspiration.
I'm spending a quiet holiday by myself, trying to play catch-up from last year. After next week I will be finished at the library and home "alone" to fulfill my creative right-brain side!
It is nice to have such thought provoking input at my fingertips.
PQ

Sally, what wonderful words of wisdom, as usual.
Just popping in quickly from the other side of the world to say hello to you and all the wonderful aw's. I'm off on a boat trip and will miss reading everyone's comments for the next couple of weeks.
Happy Holidays - may love and peace shine on you all.

Also, thought I would share with you that NZ went into a bit of a consumer meltdown yesterday - with all the xmas shoppers on the day before xmas eve.
Electronic payment transfer grid stopped working nationwide for a few hours at the height of the buying frenzy. Lots of very unhappy people, both sellers and buyers - everywhere from grocery stores, to gas stations, to restaurants, to gift shopping, cash only was king.

Now that's funny Kiwijeanie, I was at the store the day before yesterday and thought I wonder what would happen if the electrical grid went down about now. So this is what would happen. I cannot imagine the mass confusion and irritation. Did you get everything done?

Speaking of New Zeland and techonology, this is a flash back to Echelon and NZ piece of that. The beginning of the article is a quote by Senator Frank Church.

--------------------------------------------------

"At the same time, that capability at any time could be turned around on the American people and no American would have any privacy left, such the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn't matter. There would be no place to hide. If this government ever became a tyranny, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back, because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government, no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know. Such is the capability of this technology...

"I don't want to see this country ever go across the bridge. I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return."

Senator Frank Church

http://www.hermetic.ch/crypto/echelon/echelon.htm

I think George once said "it would all be easier if this was a dictatorship and I was the dictator." From the first time I heard him say that I believed he was telling us something, a secret that he believed only he possessed.

The odd thing about the NYT article regarding the WH spying on its citizens is the fact that if it had been a true "national security" issue, by law the WH could have stopped them from publishing it forever, and they didn't. Little by little, first 9/11, Iraq, torture, Katrina, and now this spying, they are testing to see how much the American people will stand, how much can they get away with? so far, quite a lot.

I was reading this last night, and thought it so right on and so important, someone telling the truth, that I wanted to share it with all - in case you haven't seen it. Long- but definitely worth it:

On Dec 8, Harold Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize and gave the following speech:

The Nobel Lecture: Art, Truth and Politics
By Harold Pinter
The Guardian UK
Wednesday 07 December 2005
This is the text of the lecture given by Harold Pinter when he received the 2005 Nobel prize for literature .. Forbidden by doctors from going to Stockholm to receive the £720,000 prize, the ailing playwright and poet delivered his speech by video
"In 1958 I wrote the following:
'There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false.'
I believe that these assertions still make sense and do still apply to the exploration of reality through art. So as a writer I stand by them but as a citizen I cannot. As a citizen I must ask: What is true? What is false?

-snip-

Political language, as used by politicians, does not venture into any of this territory since the majority of politicians, on the evidence available to us, are interested not in truth but in power and in the maintenance of that power. To maintain that power it is essential that people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the truth of their own lives. What surrounds us therefore is a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed.
As every single person here knows, the justification for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam Hussein possessed a highly dangerous body of weapons of mass destruction, some of which could be fired in 45 minutes, bringing about appalling devastation. We were assured that was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq had a relationship with Al Quaeda and shared responsibility for the atrocity in New York of September 11th 2001. We were assured that this was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq threatened the security of the world. We were assured it was true. It was not true.
The truth is something entirely different. The truth is to do with how the United States understands its role in the world and how it chooses to embody it.
But before I come back to the present I would like to look at the recent past, by which I mean United States foreign policy since the end of the Second World War. I believe it is obligatory upon us to subject this period to at least some kind of even limited scrutiny, which is all that time will allow here.
Everyone knows what happened in the Soviet Union and throughout Eastern Europe during the post-war period: the systematic brutality, the widespread atrocities, the ruthless suppression of independent thought. All this has been fully documented and verified.
But my contention here is that the US crimes in the same period have only been superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged, let alone recognised as crimes at all. I believe this must be addressed and that the truth has considerable bearing on where the world stands now. Although constrained, to a certain extent, by the existence of the Soviet Union, the United States' actions throughout the world made it clear that it had concluded it had carte blanche to do what it liked.
Direct invasion of a sovereign state has never in fact been America's favoured method. In the main, it has preferred what it has described as 'low intensity conflict'. Low intensity conflict means that thousands of people die but slower than if you dropped a bomb on them in one fell swoop. It means that you infect the heart of the country, that you establish a malignant growth and watch the gangrene bloom. When the populace has been subdued - or beaten to death - the same thing - and your own friends, the military and the great corporations, sit comfortably in power, you go before the camera and say that democracy has prevailed. This was a commonplace in US foreign policy in the years to which I refer.
The tragedy of Nicaragua was a highly significant case. I choose to offer it here as a potent example of America's view of its role in the world, both then and now.
I was present at a meeting at the US embassy in London in the late 1980s.
The United States Congress was about to decide whether to give more money to the Contras in their campaign against the state of Nicaragua. I was a member of a delegation speaking on behalf of Nicaragua but the most important member of this delegation was a Father John Metcalf. The leader of the US body was Raymond Seitz (then number two to the ambassador, later ambassador himself). Father Metcalf said: 'Sir, I am in charge of a parish in the north of Nicaragua. My parishioners built a school, a health centre, a cultural centre. We have lived in peace. A few months ago a Contra force attacked the parish. They destroyed everything: the school, the health centre, the cultural centre. They raped nurses and teachers, slaughtered doctors, in the most brutal manner. They behaved like savages. Please demand that the US government withdraw its support from this shocking terrorist activity.'
Raymond Seitz had a very good reputation as a rational, responsible and highly sophisticated man. He was greatly respected in diplomatic circles. He listened, paused and then spoke with some gravity. 'Father,' he said, 'let me tell you something. In war, innocent people always suffer.' There was a frozen silence. We stared at him. He did not flinch.
Innocent people, indeed, always suffer.
Finally somebody said: 'But in this case "innocent people" were the victims of a gruesome atrocity subsidised by your government, one among many. If Congress allows the Contras more money further atrocities of this kind will take place. Is this not the case? Is your government not therefore guilty of supporting acts of murder and destruction upon the citizens of a sovereign state?'
Seitz was imperturbable. 'I don't agree that the facts as presented support your assertions,' he said.
As we were leaving the Embassy a US aide told me that he enjoyed my plays. I did not reply.
I should remind you that at the time President Reagan made the following statement: 'The Contras are the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers.'
The United States supported the brutal Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua for over 40 years. The Nicaraguan people, led by the Sandinistas, overthrew this regime in 1979, a breathtaking popular revolution.
The Sandinistas weren't perfect. They possessed their fair share of arrogance and their political philosophy contained a number of contradictory elements. But they were intelligent, rational and civilised. They set out to establish a stable, decent, pluralistic society. The death penalty was abolished. Hundreds of thousands of poverty-stricken peasants were brought back from the dead. Over 100,000 families were given title to land. Two thousand schools were built. A quite remarkable literacy campaign reduced illiteracy in the country to less than one seventh. Free education was established and a free health service. Infant mortality was reduced by a third. Polio was eradicated.
The United States denounced these achievements as Marxist/Leninist subversion. In the view of the US government, a dangerous example was being set. If Nicaragua was allowed to establish basic norms of social and economic justice, if it was allowed to raise the standards of health care and education and achieve social unity and national self respect, neighbouring countries would ask the same questions and do the same things. There was of course at the time fierce resistance to the status quo in El Salvador.
I spoke earlier about 'a tapestry of lies' which surrounds us. President Reagan commonly described Nicaragua as a 'totalitarian dungeon'. This was taken generally by the media, and certainly by the British government, as accurate and fair comment. But there was in fact no record of death squads under the Sandinista government. There was no record of torture. There was no record of systematic or official military brutality. No priests were ever murdered in Nicaragua. There were in fact three priests in the government, two Jesuits and a Maryknoll missionary. The totalitarian dungeons were actually next door, in El Salvador and Guatemala. The United States had brought down the democratically elected government of Guatemala in 1954 and it is estimated that over 200,000 people had been victims of successive military dictatorships.
Six of the most distinguished Jesuits in the world were viciously murdered at the Central American University in San Salvador in 1989 by a battalion of the Alcatl regiment trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA. That extremely brave man Archbishop Romero was assassinated while saying mass. It is estimated that 75,000 people died. Why were they killed? They were killed because they believed a better life was possible and should be achieved. That belief immediately qualified them as communists. They died because they dared to question the status quo, the endless plateau of poverty, disease, degradation and oppression, which had been their birthright.
The United States finally brought down the Sandinista government. It took some years and considerable resistance but relentless economic persecution and 30,000 dead finally undermined the spirit of the Nicaraguan people. They were exhausted and poverty stricken once again. The casinos moved back into the country. Free health and free education were over. Big business returned with a vengeance. 'Democracy' had prevailed.
But this 'policy' was by no means restricted to Central America. It was conducted throughout the world. It was never-ending. And it is as if it never happened.
The United States supported and in many cases engendered every right wing military dictatorship in the world after the end of the Second World War. I refer to Indonesia, Greece, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Haiti, Turkey, the Philippines, Guatemala, El Salvador, and, of course, Chile. The horror the United States inflicted upon Chile in 1973 can never be purged and can never be forgiven.
Hundreds of thousands of deaths took place throughout these countries. Did they take place? And are they in all cases attributable to US foreign policy? The answer is yes they did take place and they are attributable to American foreign policy. But you wouldn't know it.
It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn't happening. It didn't matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.
I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road. Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self love. It's a winner. Listen to all American presidents on television say the words, 'the American people', as in the sentence, 'I say to the American people it is time to pray and to defend the rights of the American people and I ask the American people to trust their president in the action he is about to take on behalf of the American people.'
It's a scintillating stratagem. Language is actually employed to keep thought at bay. The words 'the American people' provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance. You don't need to think. Just lie back on the cushion. The cushion may be suffocating your intelligence and your critical faculties but it's very comfortable. This does not apply of course to the 40 million people living below the poverty line and the 2 million men and women imprisoned in the vast gulag of prisons, which extends across the US.
The United States no longer bothers about low intensity conflict. It no longer sees any point in being reticent or even devious. It puts its cards on the table without fear or favour. It quite simply doesn't give a damn about the United Nations, international law or critical dissent, which it regards as impotent and irrelevant. It also has its own bleating little lamb tagging behind it on a lead, the pathetic and supine Great Britain.
What has happened to our moral sensibility? Did we ever have any? What do these words mean? Do they refer to a term very rarely employed these days - conscience? A conscience to do not only with our own acts but to do with our shared responsibility in the acts of others? Is all this dead? Look at Guantanamo Bay. Hundreds of people detained without charge for over three years, with no legal representation or due process, technically detained forever. This totally illegitimate structure is maintained in defiance of the Geneva Convention. It is not only tolerated but hardly thought about by what's called the 'international community'. This criminal outrage is being committed by a country, which declares itself to be 'the leader of the free world'. Do we think about the inhabitants of Guantanamo Bay? What does the media say about them? They pop up occasionally - a small item on page six. They have been consigned to a no man's land from which indeed they may never return. At present many are on hunger strike, being force-fed, including British residents. No niceties in these force-feeding procedures. No sedative or anaesthetic. Just a tube stuck up your nose and into your throat. You vomit blood. This is torture. What has the British Foreign Secretary said about this? Nothing. What has the British Prime Minister said about this? Nothing. Why not? Because the United States has said: to criticise our conduct in Guantanamo Bay constitutes an unfriendly act. You're either with us or against us. So Blair shuts up.
The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law. The invasion was an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public; an act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading - as a last resort - all other justifications having failed to justify themselves - as liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands and thousands of innocent people.
We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery, degradation and death to the Iraqi people and call it 'bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East'.
How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal? One hundred thousand? More than enough, I would have thought. Therefore it is just that Bush and Blair be arraigned before the International Criminal Court of Justice. But Bush has been clever. He has not ratified the International Criminal Court of Justice. Therefore if any American soldier or for that matter politician finds himself in the dock Bush has warned that he will send in the marines. But Tony Blair has ratified the Court and is therefore available for prosecution. We can let the Court have his address if they're interested. It is Number 10, Downing Street, London.
Death in this context is irrelevant. Both Bush and Blair place death well away on the back burner. At least 100,000 Iraqis were killed by American bombs and missiles before the Iraq insurgency began. These people are of no moment. Their deaths don't exist. They are blank. They are not even recorded as being dead. 'We don't do body counts,' said the American general Tommy Franks.
Early in the invasion there was a photograph published on the front page of British newspapers of Tony Blair kissing the cheek of a little Iraqi boy. 'A grateful child,' said the caption. A few days later there was a story and photograph, on an inside page, of another four-year-old boy with no arms. His family had been blown up by a missile. He was the only survivor. 'When do I get my arms back?' he asked. The story was dropped. Well, Tony Blair wasn't holding him in his arms, nor the body of any other mutilated child, nor the body of any bloody corpse. Blood is dirty. It dirties your shirt and tie when you're making a sincere speech on television.
The 2,000 American dead are an embarrassment. They are transported to their graves in the dark. Funerals are unobtrusive, out of harm's way. The mutilated rot in their beds, some for the rest of their lives. So the dead and the mutilated both rot, in different kinds of graves.
Here is an extract from a poem by Pablo Neruda, 'I'm Explaining a Few Things':
And one morning all that was burning,
one morning the bonfires
leapt out of the earth
devouring human beings
and from then on fire,
gunpowder from then on,
and from then on blood.
Bandits with planes and Moors,
bandits with finger-rings and duchesses,
bandits with black friars spattering blessings
came through the sky to kill children
and the blood of children ran through the streets
without fuss, like children's blood.
Jackals that the jackals would despise
stones that the dry thistle would bite on and spit out,
vipers that the vipers would abominate.
Face to face with you I have seen the blood
of Spain tower like a tide
to drown you in one wave
of pride and knives.
Treacherous
generals:
see my dead house,
look at broken Spain:
from every house burning metal flows
instead of flowers
from every socket of Spain
Spain emerges
and from every dead child a rifle with eyes
and from every crime bullets are born
which will one day find
the bull's eye of your hearts.
And you will ask: why doesn't his poetry
speak of dreams and leaves
and the great volcanoes of his native land.
Come and see the blood in the streets.
Come and see
the blood in the streets.
Come and see the blood
in the streets! *
Let me make it quite clear that in quoting from Neruda's poem I am in no way comparing Republican Spain to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. I quote Neruda because nowhere in contemporary poetry have I read such a powerful visceral description of the bombing of civilians.
I have said earlier that the United States is now totally frank about putting its cards on the table. That is the case. Its official declared policy is now defined as 'full spectrum dominance'. That is not my term, it is theirs. 'Full spectrum dominance' means control of land, sea, air and space and all attendant resources.
The United States now occupies 702 military installations throughout the world in 132 countries, with the honourable exception of Sweden, of course. We don't quite know how they got there but they are there all right.
The United States possesses 8,000 active and operational nuclear warheads. Two thousand are on hair trigger alert, ready to be launched with 15 minutes warning. It is developing new systems of nuclear force, known as bunker busters. The British, ever cooperative, are intending to replace their own nuclear missile, Trident. Who, I wonder, are they aiming at? Osama bin Laden? You? Me? Joe Dokes? China? Paris? Who knows? What we do know is that this infantile insanity - the possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons - is at the heart of present American political philosophy. We must remind ourselves that the United States is on a permanent military footing and shows no sign of relaxing it.
Many thousands, if not millions, of people in the United States itself are demonstrably sickened, shamed and angered by their government's actions, but as things stand they are not a coherent political force - yet. But the anxiety, uncertainty and fear which we can see growing daily in the United States is unlikely to diminish.
I know that President Bush has many extremely competent speech writers but I would like to volunteer for the job myself. I propose the following short address which he can make on television to the nation. I see him grave, hair carefully combed, serious, winning, sincere, often beguiling, sometimes employing a wry smile, curiously attractive, a man's man.
'God is good. God is great. God is good. My God is good. Bin Laden's God is bad. His is a bad God. Saddam's God was bad, except he didn't have one. He was a barbarian. We are not barbarians. We don't chop people's heads off. We believe in freedom. So does God. I am not a barbarian. I am the democratically elected leader of a freedom-loving democracy. We are a compassionate society. We give compassionate electrocution and compassionate lethal injection. We are a great nation. I am not a dictator. He is. I am not a barbarian. He is. And he is. They all are. I possess moral authority. You see this fist? This is my moral authority. And don't you forget it.'
A writer's life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity. We don't have to weep about that. The writer makes his choice and is stuck with it. But it is true to say that you are open to all the winds, some of them icy indeed. You are out on your own, out on a limb. You find no shelter, no protection - unless you lie - in which case of course you have constructed your own protection and, it could be argued, become a politician.
I have referred to death quite a few times this evening. I shall now quote a poem of my own called 'Death'.
Where was the dead body found?
Who found the dead body?
Was the dead body dead when found?
How was the dead body found?
Who was the dead body?
Who was the father or daughter or brother
Or uncle or sister or mother or son
Of the dead and abandoned body?
Was the body dead when abandoned?
Was the body abandoned?
By whom had it been abandoned?
Was the dead body naked or dressed for a journey?
What made you declare the dead body dead?
Did you declare the dead body dead?
How well did you know the dead body?
How did you know the dead body was dead?
Did you wash the dead body
Did you close both its eyes
Did you bury the body
Did you leave it abandoned
Did you kiss the dead body
When we look into a mirror we think the image that confronts us is accurate. But move a millimetre and the image changes. We are actually looking at a never-ending range of reflections. But sometimes a writer has to smash the mirror - for it is on the other side of that mirror that the truth stares at us.
I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory.
If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us - the dignity of man."

Season's Greetings,

Love this timely Peace On Earth post. I've been spending alot of time at the progressive/liberal blogs but they lack the further insight of what is happening with astrological aspects, or worse pooh pooh them if we mention them at all. Doing a search for Fitz' birth chart yesterday I saw the link to this blog right away, YES! At last I have found a place that discusses the 'whats' and 'whos', but more importantly the influences of the "whys" of what is happening politically in our country, the globe, and our holographic universe. I stayed up all night reading the threads on your main page then checked out your blog roll of links, came back here and now keep it minimized and bookmarked.

I'm leaving early in the morning for the holiday weekend but I would like to highlight two quotes we found to help counter the current meme's this administration is spouting on the FISA/NSA scandal with Bush thinking he has unfettered executive power to bypass the Constitution and Congress to make us a police state, to point out to anyone who doesn't the see the danger of his policies, and what two past presidents had to say:

"Now I am going to tell you how we are not going to fight communism. We are not going to transform our fine FBI into a Gestapo secret police. That is what some people would like to do. We are not going to try to control what our people read and say and think. We are not going to turn the United States into a right-wing totalitarian country in order to deal with a left-wing totalitarian threat." - Harry Truman, April 24, 1950

"I made a speech by that title in 1964. I said, 'We've been told increasingly that we must choose between left or right.' But we're still using those terms -- left or right. And I'll repeat what I said then in '64. 'There is no left or right. There's only an up or down.' Up to the ultimate in individual freedom, man's age old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with an orderly society -- or down to the totalitarianism of the ant heap. And those today who, however good their intentions, tell us that we should trade freedom for security are on that downward path." -- Ronald Reagan, March 20, 1981

We've cut to the chase and come up with the number one question everyone should be asking:

"The Constitution: Are you FOR it or against it?"

More Fiore..

http://www.sfgate.com/comics/fiore/

George W. Bush has stated he'd prefer to be a dictator at least three times, according to BuzzFlash.com:

"You don't get everything you want. A dictatorship would be a lot easier."

Bush said describing what it's like to be governor of Texas.
(-- Paul Begala's "Is Our Children Learning?", Governing Magazine July,1998)

"I told all four that there are going to be some times where we don't agree with each other, but that's OK. If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator," Bush joked.
(-- CNN.com, December 18,2000)

"A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it, " [Bush] said.
(-- Business Week, July 30,2001)

Beautiful article, Sally. I like the idea of your putting up these new essays every few days...it is fresh and interesting. You've been expressing this message for a while now...that it's just us (chickens) here, not us and them, but people for some reason that's very primevil (primevil? I'm too lazy to look up the spelling but the double ententre never occured to me before), like to make these separations and set up these superiority and domination dynamics. Also, when you say:

"One of the great gifts of the left-brain masculine side of us is their spatial ability, the ability to say "don't knock down this wall, it's a support wall and the whole house will come down." One of the great flaws of that quality is not seeing the 'cultural support walls' and if you knock one of those down the whole society will collapse, including the people who knocked them down,"

I think we have to remember that those of us who uphold diversity and human rights also have to acknowledge and honor, when it's appropriate, those who understand support walls.

Thanks for expressing these lovely ideas so well and so peacefully...peace on earth is coming, even if it's only for a few moments at a time right now. Let's string all of those moments onto a necklace like precious jewels.

By the way, good to hear from you Pallas 18... Thanks for the wonderful post. Same to ShezSpiritEye...I love your name, it's very intriguing.

One last thing...I knew that Hanukah began on the night of the 26th this year, Christmas night, and lasted until Jan. 1, but I just found out that Kwanza is also from Dec. 26 through Jan 1 this year, so all 3 holidays coincide...that's kind of nice.

Merry whatever tickles your fancy fellow aw's! (been mostly lurking this year). Welcome ShezSpiritEye!
Thanks for another year of insightful articles Capt Sally. And the links and opinions, everyone.
Stay in light.
bhakti

A fine article Sally.
i agree, it feels like the feminine within is urging us to notice that the masculine within is out of balance...i have hope that the movement of the grand square or cross will focus our awareness on oppositional forces which allows us to see them as complements. For although i am not an astrologer, i notice a magic rectangle present in the solstice chart. My hope grows that this shifting moment is about realigning the balabnce of the two whole parts of our own completion. On that note i'd point out that Venus will be within a degree of Hel in aquarius before she turns retrograde. It seems so fine on this long winter eve to have our Lady of the skies brush the symbol of Healilng, Wholeness, and Completion, the masculine / feminine and dark / light entwined before moving into a period of reflection.

Sally...I'm always amazed at the synchronicity in what you are thinking about and what is going thru my mind....always seems to co-incide. You wrote:

I think George once said "it would all be easier if this was a dictatorship and I was the dictator." From the first time I heard him say that I believed he was telling us something, a secret that he believed only he possessed.

It has been going thru my head the last week... I thought when I first read that he had made that comment that he actually meant it...nothing has changed my mind. He isn't that funny....he's telling the truth of George.

Hey...it is nice to see new posters here...welcome shezspiriteye...

Thanks Bhakti.

SheWhoSpitz :)

I like that. A lot.

I think we should all send the dictator a post card - an open faced post card that every letter carrier across the country can see and gossip about - and pass the message.

" The Constitution. Are you for it or agin it? "

I think we should pass that on to every site you all go to. Send him a postcard. "The Constitution. Are you for it or agin it?"

And maybe the same postcard to our so called representatives and senators.

SheWhoSpitz - I think you have started a movement.

Watch what people say in jest or with a big smile on their face. They usually mean it.

Yes Sally, another great article.

As a Christmas gift to everyone
I would like to share part of a
song that has stayed in my head
through the years and I think of
and sing to myself often. The
words really do reflect my my own
thoughts for man - all year round.

"I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow-white turtle doves

Chorus:
I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I'd like to hold it in my arms
And keep it company
(That's the song I hear)
I'd like to see the world for once
(Let the world sing today)
All standing hand in hand
And hear them echo through the hills
For peace throughout the land
That's the song I hear
(That's the song I hear)
Let the world sing today
(Let the whole wide world keep singing)
A song of peace that echoes on
And never goes away"

...

(R. Cook/R. Greenway/B. Backer/B. Davis)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

bob

Welcome ShezSpiritEye and thank you for your insightful post. The world is walking a tightrope now, in all corners. There was a song written in the middle of the Civil War when despair was at its deepest and no end in sight. The song became a familiar Christmas Carol today. "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" The last two stanzas are particularly comforting to me.

"And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

The scope of fear, control, repression, hatred may seem to be greater than ever before, but I don't think so and I don't think that hammer coming down on the people all over the world is about terrorism. I think it's about enslavement of the people at the bidding of the bankers first, and the corporations second. 14/15/16,17,18 degrees of the fixed signs are called critical and dangerous. When Neptune passes all those degrees for good and Pluto passes the Galactic Center at 26 Sagittarius is when we can begin looking for big shifts in consciousness. My hope is when Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune finally finish with those middle fixed degrees by this time next year, we can begin re-structuring. It will be slow and with fits and starts but it will begin. I think there will be huge changes in 2006 that force us into a different perspective.

Thanks for the warm Welcome! No wonder I resonated with the synchronicity of finding this blog and commentators when I found you yesterday on my first try.

Pallas, I love the idea of putting "The Constitution: Are you for it or against it?" on postcards, I'll be adding THAT idea to the regular type blog I hang out at, FireDogLake, lots of progressive journalists show up, and lawyers to quote actual case law, (which comes in real handy to shoot down false talking points and meme's). We've been sharing how to get bumper sticker kits to print it out at home to pass out. Haven't seen anyone mention writing it on visible postcards, brilliant idea.

It will be We the People and our grassroots campaigns to speak up and out clearly to get things moving towards sanity, like we did during the Vietnam war. Except this time we are also up against a complicit, corrupt, corporate media machine we need to get to tell the Truth to America and stop being paid shills of blantant propaganda. Where's the ethics and decency? We want truth, peace, harmony, and joy for All That Is. Peace On Earth indeed.

The plot thickens.

Apparently the dictator knew the New York Times was going to expose his "secret surveillance" at
about the same time the opportunity to re-name a
Supreme came about, and they dug up Aleto.

Now why would Judge Aleto be so important to the attempted dictator?

Feast your eyes and intellect, and enjoy opening
this Xmas present a day early :)

"Alito Defended Officials From Wiretap Suits"

By DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito defended the right of government officials to order domestic wiretaps when he worked for the Reagan Justice Department, documents released Friday show.

[b]That case ultimately led to a 1985 ruling by the Supreme Court that the attorney general and other high level executive officials could be sued for violating people's rights, in the name of national security, with such actions as domestic wiretaps.[/b]

"The danger that high federal officials will disregard constitutional rights in their zeal to protect the national security is sufficiently real to counsel against affording such officials an absolute immunity," the court found.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/200...

****

As Venus Stations Retrograde right now and into February, and with this news, it's unlikely that the populace will look upon the little dictator's (would be) transgressions in a kindly forgiving way. Or that Congress will look upon the nomination of Aleto to the Supreme Court (to save the lil dictator from thousands of lawsuits as soon as those who have been violated or the press file Freedom of Information forms to find out exactly whom he has been spying on inside the country) as a beneficial addition.

And do I detect pappy's fine hand in all of this?
Who but Reagan's Vice President and the former director of the CIA would have remembered who represented the governments prior attempts to spy on citizens in the Reagan era? and would have suggested that person be nominated to the Supreme Court and ditch the hapless Marie?

And wow. The United States press has finally woken up to the imperative that they have a job to do in safeguarding this country from the likes of would be Hitler-Mussolinis.

Boy, this Venus retro is working better than a Mercury retro. Schadenfreude.

Ho Ho Ho. Merrrry Xmas - and to all a Good Night !

Someone asked about my name, please allow me to introduce myself to your wonderfully interesting group here. I live in the Great Lake State of Michigan, belong to the Chippewa Tribe of Indians, and became a first time grandma 5 weeks ago when my only child Holly gave birth a couple of weeks before her 21st birthday. I'm into all metaphysics and healing modalities.

Spirit Eye comes from an experience I had on the receiving end of a Reiki treatment over 3 years ago, which turns out was prophesied to me almost 5 years to the day before that, I was told it would be related to the Hall of Records under the Sphinx.

I became aware of 3 tiny 'lights' being shined around my brain, suddenly a total eclipse of the sun with a corona formed in my third eye then simultaneously formed about a foot outside of my head, a dimensional shift happened. As I gazed at it in awe (my eyes were closed) a tiny awl like 'tool' popped into the vision touching the edge of the black sun. It had a short black tip with the most dazzling, brilliant, faceted, fuschia colored, jeweled handle. It started moving rapidly around the eclipse, when it got back to it's starting point everything instantly vanished. I went wow, I've just been cosmically trepanned.

Alot of faces started flashing in, some not of this earth, or astral realm. When we were done I sat up and got my next shock, the lady treating me was glowing a copper color: her face, skin, hair and eyes. When we discussed it she said she had been told before she is of the ancient race of Copper Healers, my 'seeing' it validated it to her. For weeks after I could read peoples soul's through their eyes instantly, now not so much, but I do receive an occassional vision in holographic detail or am flashed pictures of inside the body. I'm patiently waiting to find out about the hidden technology under the Sphinx, it's not quite time yet for it to be revealed.

Meanwhile I pay attention to the synchronicities and natural cycles of the Great Mystery and Universal Law, I'm glad finding this blog is my latest as I've learned much already. I honor Mother Earth/Father Sky, and talk about the Great Spirit Goddess frequently, I say I was made in Her image.;)

Kuan Yin the Goddess of Compassion, "The One Who Hears The Cries of The World", is especially dear to my heart. For us to even think, talk, or type about alleviating pain, suffering, and injustice, to raise awareness of improving the world for present and future generations, to evoke Her spiritual compassion in thought and/or deed is to become, and be, ourselves the soul and breath of the true essence of Kuan Yin.

I'm Capricorn, Libra moon, with Pisces rising, turning 50 next month. I have alot of Matrix astrology software, just bought their Day Watch calendar which I haven't installed yet. I'm hoping to get certified in astrology eventually someday. I'm slowly working on building a website called Third Eye Eclipse dealing with reality and illusion, but got sidetracked late this summer by the very troubling politics coming to a head getting worse by the day. Yet it has to be getting better in the sense that it is all surfacing and coming to light to be positively transmuted and dealt with, for the Highest Good of All.

Happy Holy Days to All Our Relations
Blessings and Peace,
Shez

I have been lurking again, hesitating to post because I have known for some time that all of my e-mails are read by many everywhere even by some greedy members of my own family, who hacked my accout while my mother was ill to see if they could increse their inheritance at my expense.
Several governments are probably ammused by my light reading habits and my search for a good job.
I hope they all enjoy the same cartoons and comics that I do.
My opinion is that it only takes one international call to put all of your data history in the files. For instance while teaching in LinHai I often encountered students who said the same thing to me as I had written in my e-mail to someone outside of the country the night before. It happened to often to be chance.
Another thing happened, a fellow teacher from the Phillipines had left my number with her husband who was also traveling from Britian to Singapore while she was out with her class; he called from who knows where. A friend here had to use my phone to call Canada because she dropped hers and broke it. And that is just a few of the many possible uses of this line.
Secondly, people are always surprised by some of the unexplained votes of certain congresspersons. Quite simply, they are either blackmailed or fear that they are being listened to and watched. Joe Liberman pops into my mind as a possible. But, the really scared ones must be Republicans who always vote as told to vote and then presented with a little carrot like a few thousand and a trip to great golf courses. Within the Bush party it is a carrot and stick thing and all of it is on record somewhere probably several places. So I suggest that party control has been the first order and opposition party control the second order. Clearly press control has been the third objective. The reason Rove's talking points are always so timely is he knows what is about to be printed ahead of time. The fourth objective is to hide the bodies of previous crimes including those prior to the Reagan years. A fifth objective is to make a buck. It is clear that investment information and money management will be benefited by knowing who is buying and selling where and when and why and being aware of what is going to happen before it does. These people love money too much. A sixth objective is to keep the rich class respectful and continusous disciplined donors as too many of them were educated and some had noble intentions. A seventh objective is to enlarge the group of rich donors a few hundred at a time while maintaining control over the rest of the middle class and make plans to prevent them from getting ahead without going through the check list of the controllers. The eighth objective is to maintain watch over third parties and peace and other activists who can be used by the powers and will provide interesting soundbites if there is not news. This group is the only one which will sue and make waves but it is the least important one objectively speaking.
Politics is Who Gets What When and How., a good book from the late 60's or early 70's. I do not remember the author.
I think the major problem is not what power does but that this kind of activity has now become acceptable to many of the common folk. There was a time when many people were better than this.
There may always have been a few boss hogs in every county of the country but the majority of the people did not knowingly subscribe to corruption as a way of life. When I was last there, I saw several of the moralistic church goers in a red state who were seeming not aware of the relationshio of moral behavior to their spiritual well= being and I am not talking politics but small amounts of money in their personal lives. Years earlier they would never have considered some of the acts and opinions that they entertain and preform today. The concept of basic right and wrong actions and thoughts appears to have been replaced by faith in ability to become wealthy and group membership in a country club of the holier=than=thous. There is no call for good works or right action. There is no talk of avoiding sin or wrong action. The gain of political power destroyed the mission of the churches both Catholic and Protestant in the states of Oklahoma and Texas. There is an acceptance and a manipulation of authority that shocked me.
Prehaps, I have said too much as Pluto approaches my ascendant at 29 Sag. bjt

I forgot wish everyone a happy holiday!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY HOLIDAYS YOU ALL! 1

Speaking of the feminine and cultural supports - I've been somewhat facetiously saying for a couple months, we owe much of this agonizingly slow takedown of BushCo to three gals: Terry Schiavo, Cindy Sheehan and Katrina.

Seeing (and reading) your new post, Sally AND seeing and reading Pallas (where have you been!)
and an articulate and gifted Shez! Wow! Powerful this morning, on the eve of the spirit of Peace.

The gift of now,
present treasures of life --
challenges, love, joy --
snow tickling your tongue,
cardinals bartering at the feeder,
storms forcing humbleness,
wars begging resolution.

This treasured Christmas
we can share the power of transformation
in one single gesture – a hug.
It is what I share with you,
from a distance, along with my
wishes for a New Year
filled with possibilities.

karen

Betsy, I am so happy you've joined us, it takes courage to post on websites these days, but I kind of feel we have to use a voice while we still can and as long as we can. If I may quote you Betsy, you said " A sixth objective is to keep the rich class respectful and continusous disciplined donors as too many of them were educated and some had noble intentions" that is profound and I had not thought about that. Good job Betsy.

Shez, I am just plain ole' Scot/Irish so I am awed by your Indian Heritage. Cong. on your new grandchild, my first comes in about a month. I hear it's great. I too am especially drawn to Kuan Yin and she is a good one to reflect on during this time.

Another idea I have had for a post card, in
bright red block letters...

HAVE YOU NO SHAME?

Pallas-so glad to see you posting again...made my day!

Hi Sally,

Thank you for your articles....always. Have moved and been computerless for a couple of months, but am now back to web civilisation. Re: Kuan Yin: a long time ago I purchased a beautiful Kuan Yin statue in Taos while visiting some Buddhist friends there and had a most beautiful experience. They knew a monk who had just spent a month or more meditating up in the mountains, and gave me an introduction. I took the statue to him for a blessing, expecting to see him for a few minutes. I ended up spending several hours of pure bliss. He opened the bottom of the statue and put in it rice blessed by the Dalai Lama, as well as a very valuable ring I was wearing, which he thought better in the statue than on my hand. He was a lovely, happy wonderful person, and I felt as if I walked "in the odor of sanctity" for weeks afterward. My Kuan Yin has been with me ever since.

Shezspiriteye-thank you for your dazzling, loving light- and reminding one of the larger Hologram- plus the Feminine aspect of Great Spirit - Great Spirit Goddess-plus Her aspect of Kuan Yin-reaching out to all suffering souls.... Am less worried about global catastrophe-and more aware of our God-Goddess Selves and the unlimited power we can immediately call upon-build upon....Thankyou, eternally....

Speaking of the feminine: Are there indications astrologically of the future of womankind? In the west, we have made considerable progress. But in other areas--particularly in those areas where fundamentalist Muslims are in control--females continue to be subjugated or are being subjugated once again after a brief respite of relative freedom. Of course, the fundamentalist "Christians" here in the US would love to do something similar. I'm very concerned with this.

Hopes for the new year: Our country back, with the Constitution and Bill of Rights intact; Sanity among a majority of our politicians; Realignment of tax laws so that everyone pays their fair share (emphasis on "fair" and include the corporations in there, too) and no tax dodges allowed; Distribution of our tax monies so that crushing poverty and its attendant horrors are gone, health care is available for all, and education is oriented toward the whole person. And on and on. Back under the bed for more/better reflection. Peace to all you dear hearts from me and Ouida Mae.

On Christmas Eve I thought this might be a fitting time to include this piece from CNN. As I watched the news yesterday they were discussing how Jesus really lived, and not the stories we have been led to believe for so many years. I thought finally, I can see the cracks of enlightenment peeking through -- who would have thought on CNN!!!

We are all perched on the cliff, much like the Fool in the Tarot, ready to step off into the world in an unknown new level of spiritual awakening. Finally able to break free from the confines of men who purposely manipulated (and continue to manipulate) the masses for their own benefit. May we all have the courage to let our spiritual light shine as we evolve and raise others with us by our sheer effort.

Each contributing here have been a treasure of light and sanity over the past few years as we have wandered through the darkest of times. May you all find much love, comfort and many blessing on this Christmas.

Now, a portion of the transcript from CNN:

REV. THOMAS FITZPATRICK, DIRECTOR, PONTIFICAL BIBLICAL INSTITUTE, JERUSALEM: It is a historical place, revered for centuries by the faithful. It is the place where it is celebrated Jesus was born.

That's enough for me in my devotion. It's not enough for me as a scientist.

NEESON: And what of the other great tradition of the first Christmas, the star in the east? Was it a myth? Or did it really exist?

Astronomer Michael Molnar may have found the answer on a 2,000- year-old coin he bought a few years ago for $50. On one side Molnar noticed the astrological sign for Aries, which stood for Judea in ancient astrology. On the other side was the god Jupiter.

MICHAEL MOLNAR, ASTRONOMER & AUTHOR, "THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM": When I came across the coin that showed me that Aries the ram was the sign of the Jews, and I asked myself, well, what event would have happened in Aries the ram?

NEESON: So, armed with a computer and charts of the ancient heavens, Molnar started plotting the course of Jupiter in the constellation of Aries around the time of Jesus' birth. And he suddenly hit the mother of all celestial alignments.

MOLNAR: According to the beliefs of 2,000 years ago, if you have the sun, Jupiter and moon, accompanied by Saturn, in the sign of Aries the ram, this created the conditions for the birth of a divine and immortal person.

NEESON: If there was a star in the east, that would have been it. Just when, exactly, did this star appear? Molnar did some more calculations.

MOLNAR: The computer came back with only one answer. It said it happened only once in Aries the ram. That was April 17, 6 B.C.

NEESON: Christmas in April? Jesus born six years before we thought? It's likely true, since King Herod, who went on a murderous rampage when he heard of Jesus' birth, died in 4 B.C.

more.... http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0512/23/cp.01.html

P.S. Thank you Sally for all your guidance and wisdom. I was particularly touched today by your reminder of the words from "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"

"And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

It literally brought tears to my eyes...
Thanks for the reminder!

Well, I sent the article about CNN and the birthdate of Jesus to my friend who is an astrologer. He completely shot down the whole thing as being totally inaccurate astrologically; so I apologize for that. Astrology is not my area of expertise so I did not catch the inaccuracy.

http://blogs.cjb.net/DonJohn/
http://blogs.cjb.net/BJ/
http://blogs.cjb.net/KC/
http://blogs.cjb.net/Sentra/
http://blogs.cjb.net/Greta/
http://blogs.cjb.net/Anja/
http://blogs.cjb.net/domain/
http://blogs.cjb.net/ALINA/
http://blogs.cjb.net/pakngah/
http://blogs.cjb.net/mahdoum/
http://blogs.cjb.net/tedley/
http://blogs.cjb.net/kochen/
http://blogs.cjb.net/wellwisher/
http://blogs.cjb.net/batygool/
http://blogs.cjb.net/VN/
http://blogs.cjb.net/ramses78/
http://blogs.cjb.net/cozum/
http://blogs.cjb.net/okan17/
http://blogs.cjb.net/annaleabellavickanisa1/
http://blogs.cjb.net/abadir/
http://blogs.cjb.net/danielp/
http://blogs.cjb.net/ross
http://blogs.cjb.net/tagebuch/
http://blogs.cjb.net/telefonsex/
http://blogs.cjb.net/legolas/
http://blogs.cjb.net/kordistan/
http://blogs.cjb.net/6c/
http://blogs.cjb.net/foxygirl/
http://blogs.cjb.net/mladizec/
http://blogs.cjb.net/guusje/
http://blogs.cjb.net/matheusjas/

thank