Storm Warnings

Dear Friend and Reader:

My original plan for this week was to write an interpretation of the chart for the assassination of John F. Kennedy, prior to the Mercury retrograde election on Tuesday, but then the storm intervened. I will get to Sandy and the election in a moment. First, let's make contact with this event, which influences everything where the concept 'presidential' comes into our awareness.

Jack and Jackie by Richard Avedon.

About five or six weeks ago, I got curious and took another look at the JFK murder chart (something that all serious astrology students encounter, sooner or later), and I finally figured out what's going on. I've probably cast this chart five times before; this time I used a set of traditional rules, and a lot of experience covering crime scene charts, and the scenario came into focus like the kangaroos jumping out of the seemingly random pattern in the Magic Eye books.

Reading the chart this way has changed my view of the world, tying together much that I've encountered before in the study of history and the conduct of the U.S. government, particularly when it comes to making wars. I have not been able to get the thing off my mind, and I can practically see it when I close my eyes. [Here it is, in two formats.]

The assassination chart describes the structure of our government, and why (as a result) we need to adjust our expectations of what a presidential election is about. Instead of doing a full reading, I'll summarize and, if time permits (and my readers are interested), I will come back to the issue in a few weeks around the time of the 49th anniversary of JFK's death. Here are the basics.

The chart is organized in two main layers, depending on how you ask about what happened (this is a significant point if you're studying astrology or any other form of divination -- the form of the question determines how the question is answered). This organization of the chart fits the multiple scenarios we always hear about, including the possibility of parallel murder plots and a wide diversity of potential motives, many of which serve as diversions.

If you ask the question, "What is the nature and cause of death?" (a question of the 8th house) you arrive at what I'll call the political layer of the chart, which describes the outer drama of the assassination, set in the context of the glamour of the Camelot era. You see a vision of Jack and Jackie (Venus and Mars in Sagittarius, high up in the chart). There is the image of the dead president, looming over the chart as the Sun (a universal symbol of the king) in the last degree of Scorpio -- a dead man walking.

Lee Harvey Oswald makes his cameo appearance as the 'official assassin', who was -- incredibly -- murdered while in police custody within 48 hours of being arrested. We never got to hear from him, there was no trial, and he was never convicted.

He shows up as Mercury conjunct Vesta in the 10th house (of government) as a government agent of some kind. Mercury here also points to the official explanation, the highly implausible one about a lone gunman operating outside of any conspiracy. This is the theory that gets all the attention.

In this section of the JFK assassination chart, you can see the obvious level, on top -- the dead president indicated by the Sun in the last degree of Scorpio, as well as several planets in Sagittarius. This is the political level of the chart. And we see the less obvious level, to the left of the chart. Note that Saturn, which rules the 12th house of secret enemies and the 1st house (ascendant or rising sign) is concealed in the 12th. Even the question has a veil thrown over it. For the full chart, check this link.

The whole scenario, cast this way, promptly points to a big pot of money; a lot of money was at stake. (In particular, this is government money; it's represented by Jupiter, which rules the 10th and 11th houses of the government and its tax revenue.) Under this scenario, the killer was a government agent and the motive was money.

The political level of the story seems to go cold there. It's like a huge, flashy distraction, centered on the fire signs. Mercury so prominent in the chart suggests, "This event was designed as a message." The intent of the murder was to explain the way things are, to anyone who might be interested.

If you ask the question, "Who is the secret enemy?" you get a different scenario. That's a question of the 12th house, the house of what is concealed. The 12th is similar to the 8th in some ways, though while the 8th is subject to taboo (the eschewing of a topic everyone knows is there), matters of the 12th are often subject to total denial. The 12th can work like a world apart, or a parallel universe. In this chart, that is especially true; all of the affairs of the 12th in the JFK murder chart are contained within the 12th house itself -- there's no leak. (However, through the aspect pattern, there are connections between the two seemingly different levels or scenarios.)

Let's focus on just the 12th; see if you can follow this. You can find the 12th house as the slanted line just above the dark, horizontal line in the diagram above. You can see the squiggly orange Capricorn symbol near that line, on the outside of the circle, with the '19' and '46' next to it.

This tells us that the chart has Capricorn on the cusp of the 12th, so for more information, we look to the ruler of Capricorn (notice, there is logic to reading a chart). That is Saturn (who would represent the 'secret enemy' and the associated conspiracy), which is concealed in the 12th, out of sight and out of mind. It's as if most people have no idea that whatever is represented by this house or its ruler even exists. [Note to astrology students: among charts with a strong 12th house, I divide them into two categories -- ones with the 12th ruler in the 12th (more difficult to spot the real issue), and ones with the 12th ruler somewhere else in the chart (easier to spot the real issue). This chart falls into the first category.]

The chart has Aquarius rising. The ruler of the ascendant, critical to any chart, is also Saturn (the traditional ruler of Aquarius). It too is in the 12th, hidden away. The planet ruling the rising sign can represent the question itself, and even the correct question is concealed from view or normal consciousness. Saturn, Capricorn and Aquarius are involved in the 12th house; this looks like an elite secret government, associated with corporate power. That's what the signs and the planet involved describe, based on the established rules of astrology.

One last thing. The 6th house is the one associated with the military (that's partly how it becomes the house of 'service' in modern terms). In this chart, the 6th house has Cancer on the cusp, so the Moon is the representative of the military and we find it in the 12th as well. The military is in bed with the secret enemy, a covert government organization.

One other last thing. Pholus, a centaur planet, is conjunct Saturn and the Moon. Pholus represents the runaway reaction. Whatever killed Kennedy is about to go out of control. In essence, the assassination of Pres. Kennedy was a military coup d'etat. To understand this, it helps to have some historic background.

Ike's Farewell Address

This starts to sound less 'tin-foil hat' if we go back to the farewell address of the president who preceded Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower. Three days before he left office, Eisenhower, a Republican who was suspicious of the infinite expansion of government, gave a farewell address, one that to this day is considered historic (though it's rarely referenced when it matters the most).

Dwight Eisenhower, as a five-star general. He had his issues but he deserves our respect for warning us about the military-industrial complex.

Eisenhower described the nature of the government as it had emerged in the years after the end of World War II, and as it was likely to develop in the future. He had grave concerns about this, which, incredibly, he articulated to us.

In this speech, he openly cautioned the American public about the existence of what he called the military-industrial complex, an emerging massive, permanent 'peacetime' corporate arms industry wedded with government and the military.

He warned that this juggernaut was different from anything that we had ever seen or dealt with in the U.S. before, such as during World War II or the Korean War. He explained that "three-and-a-half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations."

Eisenhower, a five-star general (a lifetime appointment, and a rank no longer used), described the military-industrial complex as the "conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry" that was "new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications."

He warned, "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

Photo of a draft of Dwight Eisenhower's farewell speech, given on Jan. 17, 1961, in which he warns about the military-industrial complex. He wrote the speech with his brother Milton. It took a year to write and went through 21 drafts.

Meditate on that for a moment. "The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." These are not the words of a groovy beatnik handing out leaflets in Washington Square Park; it's Ike, one of our most respected presidents and masters of the American military; the only general to hold the presidency in the 20th century.

He continues: "We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

This "conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry" is exactly what we're looking at when we peer into the 12th house of the JFK assassination chart. This is the "secret enemy." There were many people who wanted to see JFK dead, for a diversity of reasons. For example, there was a radical right wing of American politics in the 1960s, and they did not like his socially liberal policies. Yet in my reading of the chart, the military-industrial complex is the center of the conspiracy to kill him. Who the specific killer was does not matter; the motive does.

The Motive: Operation Northwoods

The Kennedy brothers, Jack and Bobby, were as suspicious of communism and as hateful of Fidel Castro as anyone else in their time. When they took office, however, they presided over a military leadership that was quietly slipping over the edge in its anti-Communist paranoia, much of it focused on Castro. This was a kind of hysteria that doesn't even come close to our meager fears of terrorism today.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the president's top military advisory council with all branches of the military represented, was determined to conquer Cuba and get rid of Castro. According to the book Body of Secrets, a well-respected history of the National Security Agency (NSA), they proposed an increasingly insane series of plans to start a war with Cuba, which included bombing the Guantanamo Bay Navy base (a kind of adverse possession on the Cuban island, now infamous) and blaming Castro. This whole series of plans was known as Operation Northwoods. (I first covered this topic on Planet Waves in 2002, which you can read here.)

Fidel Castro was a huge problem during the Kennedy administration, but ultimately the plans of military leaders to start a war with Cuba were so insane -- and outright treasonous -- the Kennedy brothers refused to even consider them.

According to declassified documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request (as well as classified documents the author was given by mistake) the Joint Chiefs proposed bombing Miami, with the inevitable deaths of U.S. citizens, and then blaming Castro, so they could "sell" the war to the American public. These are known as false-flag events -- military actions done by one country and blamed on another, commonly used to start a war (or as Jesse Ventura has suggested, every war).

The chiefs proposed setting up a drone aircraft, disguised as a student exchange charter flight, and having the plane fly over Cuba and then self-destruct, right after issuing a false mayday call, claiming to have seen a Cuban MiG fighter jet right before it was "shot down." Note, they had drone technology half a century ago. The plan called for having a passenger list of fake American citizens who would have been killed in the non-incident, who would be used to evoke grief and outrage and justify the war. This was planned as a 100% fraudulent, fake, phony, trumped-up excuse to get into a war with a neighboring country, staged at taxpayer expense by the nation's top military leaders.

And in the most insane, treasonous and absurd plan of all, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America proposed to sabotage the historic flight of John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, killing the astronaut and blaming this on the Cubans -- all so we could go to war.

The Kennedy brothers, who I remind you hated Castro and lamented "the Cuba problem" as much as anyone else, finally told their military chiefs to bugger off. They recognized these plans as being unconscionable acts of treason, and probable signs of mental illness. (This was parodied by the mentally unhinged General Jack Ripper in Dr. Strangelove, who starts a nuclear war on his own.) The Kennedys told the Joint Chiefs they would be doing nothing of the sort. The next year JFK's head was blown off. The night his brother won the California primary, he too was shot.

What happened after JFK was killed? Months later, the Vietnam War was started -- on the excuse of an Operation Northwoods-like event called the Tonkin Gulf Incident, a staged, minor incident that was used to get permission from Congress to deploy unlimited military resources to Vietnam. A war thus began, and continued clear through the next half century, under a diversity of names: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Nicaragua, El Salvador, East Timor, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iraq again, the seemingly endless War on Drugs, and numerous covert wars and actions that don't have names that we know.

Muslims are the new Communists. 'Al Queda' is everywhere. Everyone is a potential terrorist. Now, many forces in the U.S. political establishment are pushing for a full-on war with Iran. Grave consequences indeed.

Pres. Obama signs the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), something that should concern all of us. By my analysis, any president would have signed it, knowing they could wind up dead if they did not. However, the president, post-JFK, knows that it's his job to do what the military leaders want.

A lot of money has been made on these wars by banks, arms traders, provisions suppliers, technology firms and various contractors -- at least as much money as global misery has been created. It was one thing to ask who killed JFK in 1963, or why. It's another thing at this late stage of the never-ending war, pushed by the military-industrial complex, with the Operation Northwoods papers being used as the apparent playbook.

On Dec. 31, 2011 at 10:03 am in Honolulu -- on a Saturday, a holiday and far from Washington -- Pres. Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which expands the battlefield of the War on Terror into the domestic United States, allows American citizens to be considered enemy combatants, and permits the military to arrest and imprison citizens, incarcerating them offshore with no judicial process -- things that are both unconstitutional and that violate American political tradition. Yet though this has been widely reported, there has been nearly no protest by the American people against this law, which read realistically, establishes a military dictatorship.

Obama, recognizing the controversy, promised not to use these provisions of the law while he is president. But if it sounds insane, implausible and entirely unnecessary, just remember -- Obama has a boss. And it's not a nice boss. And the American people are not exactly putting up a fuss.

As Chris Hedges -- who has in fact resisted NDAA by filing a lawsuit against Obama -- wrote, "The uniformity of opinion is reinforced by the skillfully orchestrated mass emotions of nationalism and patriotism, which paints all dissidents as 'soft' or 'unpatriotic'. The 'patriotic' citizen, plagued by fear of job losses and possible terrorist attacks, unfailingly supports widespread surveillance and the militarized state. This means no questioning of the $1 trillion in defense-related spending. It means that the military and intelligence agencies are held above government, as if somehow they are not part of government." (There's another description of the 12th house in the JFK murder chart -- a government above the government.)

Why did Obama sign this? It doesn't sound very "yes we can" to me. It seems to be all about honoring the wishes of this covert military level of government. One of my readers recently said she has long wondered if they take every new president, sit him down, show them the film of the JFK assassination and ask, "Any questions?"

Remember that when you vote. Remember that when you ever decide to have high expectations of any politician, particularly on the federal level. And if you're wondering why Democratic presidents have so much in common with Republican presidents, part of the answer can be found in the understanding that they both answer to the same boss.

From One Storm to Another

Speaking of voting, we're about to have the first-ever presidential election in American history on the day when Mercury stations retrograde. We at Planet Waves have been researching this for a year; here is a fairly comprehensive article on the topic.

The Casino Pier roller coaster in Seaside Heights, N.J., sits in the ocean after the pier was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Photo by: Michael Reynolds.

Mercury stationing retrograde on Election Day looked like the election was going to be disrupted, and it has been. Much of the Northeastern United States is a mess; at presstime, about 72 hours before the main day of voting, millions of people -- and many polling places -- remain without power. New York City is crippled; many parts of New Jersey are destroyed. There is significant damage and flooding as far west as Ohio.

All of this, and the retrograde hasn't even begun yet. There is an especially turbulent phase surrounding the station retrograde from Nov. 2 through Nov. 6, when Mercury is moving at its slowest daily motion. This is called the Mercury storm, when Mercury is moving the slowest during the whole retrograde cycle. These are psychologically the most challenging days of the retrograde.

At the center of the storm is Election Day -- the final day of voting, and the day that the majority of Americans go to the polls. It's also the day we're supposed to learn the winner. This happens under the influence of the retrograde; so too will all of the tallying, legal challenges and recounts.

The only other time Mercury has stationed on the day of a presidential election was when it famously stationed direct Nov. 7, 2000, in the last degree of Libra. That's when Al Gore got more votes and Cheney and Bush took office, commonly understood to be a stolen election.

What happened in the past does not necessarily predict the future, though this scenario is indeed nerve-wracking. By now every astrology fan or scholar is familiar with the debacles that can happen when Mercury is retrograde -- especially right around the station.

Sea water from New York Harbor floods the Ground Zero construction site, Monday, Oct. 29, in Lower Manhattan. Many subway tunnels were flooded with salt water for the first time as well. Photo by John Minchillo / AP.

In light of this, a storm warning is in order. I cautioned last week about Ohio, the state on which the whole election seems to hinge. There is the potential for wide-scale voter fraud based on the fact of who manufactured and maintains the voting machines in Ohio -- all people associated with the Republican party, its candidates or companies held by the Romney family. There are other critical states, but Ohio has this special issue -- and by nearly all analyses, Romney needs Ohio to get the most electoral votes.

There are likely to be a diversity of other debacles or SNAFUs associated with the station retrograde; at the least, it will be a cliffhanger of a day, and it's also possible that the election process may extend for a while. Yet most people will have no idea that the sensation of stress, weirdness and uncertainty is associated with Mercury retrograde.

As I've mentioned, Mercury makes a series of squares to Neptune, a caution that the truth will take some focus, effort, time and patience to discern. The effects of this event may blindside many people. There are likely to be issues with vote tallying, news reporting and the certainty of the outcome. The whole election may end up in court, and we may see some strange turns of events, including a few reversals and false endings. Due to Mercury retrograde, any attempt to steal the election may itself fall flat. Due to the Neptune squares, we may never know what actually happened.

What this is going to do is make the election personal. It already is -- we have a candidate who wants to dismantle FEMA and make sure that our daughters have no choice but to get abortions in the back of a van, or face potential prosecution for a miscarriage. We have another candidate who, among other things, has signed NDAA into law (though of course, Congress had to pass the law first).

The effects of this election are personal, and so too is the necessity for action. What unfolds may seem like a "mishap" or "strange development" and it may seem plausible as such. Heck, a hurricane seems plausible -- though I've been warning that this seems like a manipulated weather event. No matter how nefarious things actually are, there will be people who refuse to acknowledge the possibility of intent. Remember that there is no effect without a cause. To see the truth you will need to look deeper than the surface.

Katrina on the Jersey Shore -- Aerial view of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy to the New Jersey coast, taken during a search-and-rescue mission by the New Jersey Army National Guard. Photo by: Master Sgt. Mark Olsen / US Air Force.

If there is an attempt to steal the presidential election, we will all need to speak up, just like we didn't in 2000 -- and look what happened. The next year was 9/11, followed by two vicious, pointless wars that lasted nearly a decade.

I was appalled at how little spine was shown by both Al Gore and the American public (though Gore may have been given an offer he couldn't refuse). Quoting George Bush, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, won't get fooled again." If we are 'fooled' again, this one is on our karmic tab. If we give up our freedoms, and our right to participate in the political process, we now do so freely, with full knowledge, and to our own peril.

What exactly can you do? The first thing is vote, though that's just one small gesture of sincerity, and one that will give you an emotional investment in the process. Second, we need you to pay attention to what you see and hear, in physical reality as well as in the media.

Here are a few suggestions, if you're willing to help out. First, listen to a diversity of news sources -- your old standbys, and some different ones. Listen to how the story morphs and evolves. Listen for details, and conflicts in the facts -- then document them.

Former punk rocker and free speech advocate Jello Biafra.

Learn how to make screen grabs and actually make a visual copy of anything that seems interesting, as well as copying the text and recording the URL. Keep these things together. Pick an issue or two and focus on that, tracking the story day by day.

Listen for conflicts, note the things that seem odd or unusual, or situations that seem explained away, and anything else that your intuition says is potentially significant or strange. Observe how you feel through the whole process of doing this -- which you may need to do for days or weeks. Then use your blog, your social networking tools, your email and in-person conversations to express to others what you're noticing, in real time. You're invited to send your information to me -- we will make good use of it in our coverage.

I hope I am wrong, and that this election goes smoothly. Then we can invest our energy in actually taking care of society and influencing politicians to do the right thing -- which they will rarely do, unless held to their commitment and their solemn oath. If you don't want them answering to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the only alternative is that they answer to us. This may sound idealistic, but really -- is it so far fetched? And do we really have an alternative?

If the election turns out to be a huge mess, it's not all a 'bad thing' -- we will have a positively awesome opportunity to learn, to get involved and to take ownership of the process, even if in small ways. As Jello Biafra has suggested many times, we must become the media. We now have the means to do so.

Dwight Eisenhower once said: "Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage."

He knew what he was talking about.

Lovingly,


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Sensitive Moon, and Mercury Stations Retrograde

The Moon is currently in Gemini, and ingresses Cancer Saturday at 3:43 am EDT. Through the day Saturday the sensitive Cancer Moon will take a ride through the Uranus-Pluto square, the 2012 aspect, first making a square to Uranus and then an opposition to Pluto.

This is actually a first quarter Moon, however, the last quarter is Tuesday, Nov. 6, at 8:35 pm EDT -- the same day that Mercury stations retrograde. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

Venus is also on the cardinal cross, in Libra, making an opposition to Uranus and a square to Pluto. So this hints at a deep and emotional weekend, with two planets associated with sensitivity, receptivity and feeling in aspect to the outer planets. There are a few ways to look at this, one of which is that we need to bring our emotional bodies out of the past and into the present.

Yet the aspects to Pluto suggest that this will involve addressing deep feelings of isolation. There is a moment Saturday evening when the Moon, Venus and Pluto align in aspect that looks like it's craving nurturing, compassion and companionship -- and could represent an emotional breakthrough about why these things often seem so difficult to attain. Many, many forces of our culture serve to push people into isolation, even when we're surrounded by others.

In the same aspect pattern, the Moon's conjunction to Ceres in Cancer, as well as its trines to Neptune and Chiron in Pisces (all on Saturday), describe how it's possible to open up emotionally rather than feeling like it's necessary to shut down. While Moon square Venus can describe a feeling of craving contact, or resisting contact when it's offered, the trines to the Pisces planets open up the flow of feelings.

Moon-Ceres offers an image of offering, sharing and inclusion, and the trines to Neptune and Chiron say that this is possible. Remember that we live in a society that is based on division, exclusion and supposed individuality, and many in places we are forgetting how to share, express empathy or draw others into our space.

The Moon ingresses Leo Monday at 3:39 pm EDT, and soon after makes a square to Saturn in Scorpio -- an aspect that looks like a push against any remaining stuck emotional energy, and suggests being serious and focused in business.

Then on Tuesday, Mercury stations retrograde in Sagittarius at 7:03 pm EDT, just as the polls close in many Eastern states. The Mercury storm is from Friday through Nov. 6, when Mercury is moving at its slowest daily motion. We've covered the influence on the election a few times.

On the personal level, Mercury is stationing retrograde in Sagittarius while Mars is there. This looks like Mercury changing directions is questioning the extreme beliefs of Mars. There's quite a bit of re-evaluation, and consideration of what is true, in this retrograde cycle, as it includes a series of three squares to Neptune. Mercury is suggesting that you figure out what you really think in layers, and to assemble the pieces. If something comes comes in one nifty package, it's probably not the truth you're seeking.


In Storm's Wake, Prominent Conservatives Praise Obama

Many have been questioning the effect of Hurricane Sandy on the presidential race. As the storm took over the news, Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan disappeared from view, and Obama emerged visibly, merely due to his job responsibilities.

Obama with New Jersey's governor Chris Christie on Wednesday.

New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie, who was the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention this summer, had nothing but praise for Obama this week, when the president came to New Jersey to tour the devastation. Christie, obviously exhausted, gave the impression that Obama was a sight for sore eyes.

"I cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and his compassion," said Christie, after the two men completed their helicopter tour of the New Jersey coastline. Christie said the affected areas needed clean drinking water, restored power, and children back in school. "I discussed all of those issues today with the president and I'm pleased to report that he has sprung into action immediately to help get us those things while we were in the car riding together."

Christie's comments are a slap in the face to Romney; in addition, the New Jersey governor, who has been one of Romney's most important surrogates in this election, said he was "not interested" in touring the destroyed parts of his state with the Republican candidate. This is a significant political move on Christie's part because he's either assuming that Romney will not take office, or he's willing to take the punishment if Romney does become president.

Thursday, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, offered his endorsement of Obama, after saying earlier in the year that he would not endorse for the presidential race. Bloomberg, a former Democrat and Republican and now an independent, mainly praised Obama for dealing with climate change as a real issue. He made his comments after significant damage was caused by the storm to Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island.

Colin Powell endorses Obama on CBS This Morning. Well, not this morning -- one morning last week.

"The devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the Northeast -- in lost lives, lost homes and lost business -- brought the stakes of next Tuesday's presidential election into sharp relief," Mr. Bloomberg wrote in an editorial for Bloomberg View.

"Our climate is changing," he wrote. "And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it may be -- given the devastation it is wreaking -- should be enough to compel all elected leaders to take immediate action."

And last week, one of the country's most respected Republicans, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, endorsed Obama on CBS News, speaking with Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell:

"When took over, the country was in very, very difficult straits. We were in one of the worst recessions we had seen in recent times, close to a depression. The fiscal system was collapsing. Wall Street was in chaos, we had 800,000 jobs lost in that first month of the Obama administration and unemployment peaked a few months later at 10 percent. So we were in real trouble. The auto industry was collapsing, the housing market was start[ing] to collapse and we were in very difficult straits. And I saw over the next several years, stabilization come back in the financial community, housing is now starting to pick up after four years, it's starting to pick up. Consumer confidence is rising."


Only a Few More Days... If Things Go Well

Abigael Evans making her plea. Video still from Politico.com.

Burned out on election campaign coverage? Four-year-old Abigael Evans is so emotionally done with the whole circus that a recent NPR report on "Bronco Bama" and Romney had her in tears in a video posted by her mom.

In an apology to Abigael, NPR's Mark Memmott wrote, "We must confess, the campaign's gone on long enough for us, too. Let's just keep telling ourselves: 'Only a few more days, only a few more days, only a few more days'."

Good thing no one told her about Mercury's station retrograde on Nov. 6, or even Sesame Street's Elmo might have a hard time tickling her into a good mood, since coverage of whatever transpires on Tuesday will likely be in the news a while longer.


Global Warming, Nuclear Power and Sandy

The connection between Hurricane Sandy and global warming has been conspicuously absent on most mainstream cable news programs for most of this week, though alt-media outlets such as Democracy Now! (which has been broadcasting from other parts of the country while its stations are without power in Manhattan) were calling the tune before the storm even made landfall in the U.S.

You can see a larger version of this cover here.

But the brashest, most in-your-face coverage has come from Bloomberg Businessweek (owned by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg). The magazine's red cover features a flooded New York street and the headline, "IT'S GLOBAL WARMING, STUPID," in bold, underlined all-caps.

"Our cover story this week may generate controversy, but only among the stupid," tweeted Bloomberg Businessweek editor Josh Tyrangiel.

Similarly ignored has been the potential threat from compromised nuclear reactors. Though several news outlets have reported on the shut-downs of several nuclear plants in Sandy's path, there has been virtually no media conversation about what happens when a 'superstorm' (or earthquake, or what-have-you) compromises the ability to keep reactors and stored nuclear waste cool and contained. Have we all forgotten Fukushima already?

"The storm also forced three nuclear reactors offline: Nine Mile Point unit 1 near Syracuse, New York; Indian Point unit 3 just north of New York City; and the Salem plant's unit 1 on the Delaware River in New Jersey. Meanwhile, officials declared an alert at Oyster Creek in New Jersey," reported Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! Wednesday. Just as the inability of New York City's infrastructure to handle a storm surge was just a matter of time -- and was no secret -- so too may be our inability to handle damage to nuclear reactors in the U.S.


Looking for a (Friend/Lover/LTR/Playmate) for the End of the World

Image: Buzzfeed via Ok Cupid.

There's just something about natural disasters that seems to bring out people's neighborly urges -- especially if one's neighbor is hot and single. Or maybe it's our post-modern apocalyptic obsession getting the better of our biology, spurring our desire to save the species from annihilation with some good, old-fashioned procreation? Of course, some girls (and guys) just wanna have fun -- in which case any excuse is a good excuse. Buzzfeed has compiled a list of 18 last-minute personal ads posted in search of love (or just a little sexy fun) in the New York area as Hurricane Sandy set to raging. Most of them are written by men, but don't be fooled; people of both genders get bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in these situations (though apparently less-severe storms lead to more babies). Anyone care to start a betting pool on how big the mini-baby boom will be in about 9 months -- and how many of the babies will be named "Sandy?"



Hindsight and Tunnel Vision(s)

Is disaster hindsight most frustrating when it points to something that could have been done, or rather to a perfect preventative measure that was impossible to implement? In January, the Department of Homeland Security successfully tested a huge inflatable plug designed to hold back pressurized water in transit tunnels, still in development for use in protection from terrorist attacks.

Tunnel plug fully inflated. You can watch a video of its inflation in a test tunnel with water here. Photo: West Virginia University.

Project managers say the plug has another reliability test scheduled for next week, but is still two years from full manufacturing and marketing to highway and transit authorities. The DHS development team told CNN the plugs -- which must be custom-fit to individual tunnels -- could have prevented flooding in many of the tunnels under the East River, but not in porous subway tunnels and other infrastructure.

"There are lots of solutions that become obvious following a disaster of some type," said terrorism expert Brian Jenkins, director of the National Transportation Security Center at the Mineta Transportation Institute in San Jose, California, in response to being asked whether DHS should have moved faster on this project.

"To a certain extent, security is almost always reactive, because it's hard to justify the costs of deploying technology for things that have not occurred. And once they do occur, it's almost impossible to resist spending the money on the technology to prevent a reoccurrence." He added, "That's the axiom. It's a sad one, but that's the reality."

Well, it's reality as he's claiming it to be -- but we don't know what's in his files. We don't know what these guys are sending to one another in their encrypted memos. That would be the reality.

Sandy Rains Cyber Tricks, Not Treats

As if the astrology for Hurricane Sandy were not enough to raise questions about reality, intent and cause and effect, some people are using the wonders of technology and the Internet to mess with our understanding of just what happened this week. If you play on Facebook, there's a good chance you've been duped by one of the fake photos of the storm and its aftermath that popped up almost instantly (including one just before the storm hit).

Some fake Sandy photo creators can't be bothered with trying to fool anyone.

Websites including The Atlantic and others are sorting the real from the fake. And note, there are different kinds of fake: real photos actually taken elsewhere at another date; actual photos taken of New York or New Jersey at a previous date; completely fictional images or Photoshopped montages (such as a still from a feature film); and images that combine two or more of the above.

Even more insidious were the actions of Shashank Tripathi, a hedge fund analyst and campaign manager for a Republican candidate for Congress. Tripathi, under the username "ComfortablySmug," began tweeting flat-out lies about the storm's impact and officials' responses while Sandy was still raging.

Amidst the chaos and fear, many of these rumors were unwittingly spread by Twitter and Facebook users (two more than 500 times). Some even got picked up by major news outlets and reported, including by CNN. Among the lies: that the New York Stock Exchange was flooded; Con Edison shutting down all the power in Manhattan; and that Governor Cuomo was trapped in Manhattan. Tripathi has since posted an apology and says he takes responsibility for his actions. He has resigned from his position as campaign manager for Republican Christopher Wight.

"The Manhattan DA is taking this very seriously," said New York City Councilman Peter Vallone, a Democrat, who suggests that Tripathi's tweets were akin to shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater. "I hope the fact that I'm asking for criminal charges to be seriously considered will make him much less comfortable and much less smug."

Disaster Rescue -- for Profit We were wondering what it would be like if Mitt Romney's plan to privatize FEMA were put into action. FEMA is the federal agency that paddles out to get you if you're stranded on your roof. There are never any specifics in Romney 'plans', so we decided to speculate. How would you turn FEMA into a private, for-profit institution? Everyone would be required to purchase rescue vouchers prior to a disaster. When private rescuers arrive, you would need to present your voucher, or you would be left behind. Rescue voucher by Sarah Bissonette-Adler.

Hurricane Sandy: What Exactly Happened?

In a series of three Planet Waves FM webcasts this week, I covered the impact of Hurricane Sandy, looked at the chart and inquired whether this was an event manipulated by scientific means. The first was a special Taurus Full Moon edition of Planet Waves FM, broadcast Monday during Hurricane Sandy.

The second was the regularly scheduled edition, posted Tuesday night. Later that evening I participated in a Nightlight Astrology teleconference. In my segment of the discussion, which you can listen to here, I covered the astrology of Sandy making landfall, as well as some gender issues associated with the election.

Below is the chart for Hurricane Sandy making landfall, and if you’re one of those minor planet freaks, here is the list, courtesy of Tracy@Serennu.

Hurricane Sandy makes landfall. I cover this chart in the edition of PW FM.

Your Monthly Horoscopes -- and our Publishing Schedule Notes

Planet Waves Monthly Horoscopes provide a broader perspective that surveys the themes of the coming month and often, weeks that follow. Inner Space for November was published Tuesday, Oct. 30. The November Monthly Horoscope was published Friday, Oct. 26. I recommend reviewing the monthly horoscope at the end of the month. The October Moonshine Horoscope was published Tuesday, Oct. 16. Please note that the longer monthly horoscope is being incorporated into the Friday issue after the Sun has entered a new sign; Inner Space still publishes on Tuesdays.




Weekly Horoscope for Friday, Nov. 2, 2012 #924 | By Eric Francis

Our new zodiac glyphs are by Neisha Hirsch.

Scorpio Birthdays This Week

If you were born with a birthday anywhere in the vicinity, or if you have Scorpio rising, this is the year that you learn the importance of integrity when it comes to money. You will need to sift through the subtle ways you deceive yourself about your finances, part of which includes the issue of making sure that you spend your money in ways that align with your values. Yet to do this, you will have to investigate what those values are. You may be mixed up in the affairs, ideas or theories of someone else -- including in the form of a relationship or partnership. This raises another issue: what is the role of money in your relationships? How does it influence the balance of power? Take some time, use your awareness and you will make some real discoveries, and maybe even some real decisions. Note to Scorpios -- your birthday reading is almost ready. I will have it by later this afternoon. We will send out an announcement, so check your email. You can also check our main blog and the Planet Waves Facebook pages.

Aries (March 20-April 19) -- What is someone close to you going through? More than you may imagine. And this may be more than you want to address if somehow your actions are being associated with any problems or instability that someone close to you is facing. Your actual level of responsibility remains an open question, so rather than coming to conclusions I suggest you check back over the past few days (or longer) and investigate the ways you might be accountable. Take responsibility for what you know is yours, which includes making different choices. That's both a gesture of integrity and of goodwill. However, this situation goes deeper; there are other influences, some of them involving pain from old psychological scars. It may take someone you care about some time to identify the cause of their pain; the best way you can support that process is by not seeking attention, not offering 'spiritual solutions', and generally keeping your suggestions to yourself. Instead, pay attention to what is going on for you. Investigate your own past -- there is likely to be a parallel situation in your own life, and you will benefit from taking care of it.


Taurus (April 19-May 20) -- You may feel like you're caught in something much larger than you are, dealing with forces more powerful than yourself -- and with no obvious way out. Take this as an opportunity to figure out just where your true strength is seated: that would be in your initial choice to respond, and specifically how you respond. If you have faith in your ability to make decisions, and if you remain open-minded enough to do so, you will feel stronger and learn a constructive life lesson. There is an idea you're being challenged to dismantle: that you are subject to life, rather than being a participant in it. I suggest that you proceed through this experience consciously, and slowly, not making snap judgments or saying anything that you cannot take back. You're not being asked to break a commitment, but rather to evaluate it carefully -- in particular, to see whether it supports your growth and is expressive of your true values. There is a denial factor you're working through; this may involve an exception to a rule that you now have a valuable opportunity to reconsider.


Gemini (May 20-June 21) -- There's no predicting the way a partnership matter will turn out in the end, though one thing is clear. It will take some focus to sort out the truth. As well, you will have to use scrupulous honesty to sort out your own involvement, and to assess the accuracy of your perceptions. Until you do that -- and it may take weeks, rather than hours or days -- I suggest that you refrain from saying or doing anything that might complicate the situation. Now is the time to pull back and observe, and most of all, observe yourself. You may believe that others are presenting you with an uneven playing field or a moving goal post. Yet it seems to be you who must focus your real objectives, desires and needs, and be realistic about whether your current circumstances can provide you with anything that might fulfill them. For a while, I suggest you consider anything you might say about someone else to be true for you. That will have the gradual effect of ensuring that you will say less, and that when you do, you will speak carefully, clearly and with a true measure of objectivity.


Cancer (June 21-July 22) -- Humans excel at keeping secrets from themselves; this is called denial. At the moment, all sorts of alarm bells may be going off, cautioning you to affirm your truth rather than ignore or minimize it. You will hear them if you are listening. They may manifest as fear, insecurity or even as panic episodes. You may also be speaking to yourself in physical symptoms (potentially relating to your lungs or thighs), or a sense of nervous restlessness. Any of this might be easy enough to push back under the surface of consciousness, though instead of doing that, I suggest you listen to what your mind and body may be saying to you. Stuffing the messages down will not help, while letting them out may be challenging or even painful at first -- and then come with a great sense of relief. There seems to be some emotional issue that you're struggling to face, but which is looming on the horizon as some destination you will inevitably reach. It's not as bad as you think -- and in truth, the actual confrontation is with yourself, not anyone else.


Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) -- You may be regretting a chance you took, particularly on an investment or some form of speculation, but I don't suggest you judge too quickly. The effect in the end may not be the one you were planning, though you don't yet know how it will work out. Just because you may be having regrets doesn't mean that you were wrong, or that the effect will be negative. Any doubts you may be having are not an indication of an actual problem, though they may be an investigation to go back over your thinking and check for errors in the paperwork, a little like a proofreader or auditor. Make sure you collect your documentation and have a clear sense of where you stand before you call attention to any potential concerns. The planetary setup looks as if a creative opportunity will come from this process, though you will need to give it time and patience and not be guided by an emotional reaction. The less fear you allow to influence you, the more your creative mind can have its way with your situation.


Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) -- You may be figuring out that you now have to focus on one goal, and hold yourself to it firmly. You may also be figuring out that any struggle to do that has been emotional rather than pragmatic. You have the knowledge, skills and experience you need; that's not an issue. Your crisis of confidence is clearly the thing to pay attention to, and this is an emotional situation. Actually, it's likely to be your psyche calling attention to a condition that has been responsible for bouts with instability over the years, and which it's now time to outgrow. If you make a list of all the times your emotions influenced your thought process, causing you to overreact, withdraw trust or even turn on someone you care about, you will see what I am talking about. You can look at this as an emotional habit that it's now time to work through. This won't happen overnight, though you can go a long way by coming to terms with an opinion or orientation on relationships that would not stand the test of truth. You may be facing in its direction right now, and you'll see it if you open your eyes.

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Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) -- If you're the master of yourself, you will be able to negotiate and navigate your way through an interesting maze over the next week or so. Indeed, the situation seems like the perfect setup for you to rise to the occasion and demonstrate your self-confidence and faith in yourself. I suggest you worry less about how you are perceived and instead focus on bringing your true self into your encounters with others: that is, no facade, no masks, no white lies -- and at the same time, be realistic about who others are. Guide yourself to treat others in kind, as they treat you, and appreciate these opportunities for a sincere exchange with unusual people. You have an opportunity to get to know yourself, and to be confident in the person who you normally keep a few layers in and who wants more than anything to be expressed in the world. Conducting yourself this way can come with moments of loneliness or isolation, though if you encounter them with an open heart, you will move through them into a space of clarity, strength and passion.


Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) -- You may feel like some big change is imminent, and very likely, you are correct. You can think of this as a test of your flexibility and resilience. By now you know the ways that you tend to get rigid, especially on the emotional level of your consciousness. However, your methods of trying to contain, control and suppress your feelings are getting old, and it's time to question your motive for trying to do so. The more you're able to flex, the better you will be able to make the transition you are by now facing. Meanwhile, you need to be extremely conscious with money -- and that means honest. Look at self-serving tendencies with a skeptical eye; it's not the virtue that it's sometimes made out to be, and I suggest you be especially mindful if you find yourself rationalizing anything or diving into spendthrift tendencies. Your money has to be a spokesman for who you are and what you value. Consider every transaction a vote in support of what you want to create for yourself.


Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) -- Events over the next week or two will give you the opportunity to experience the world from the viewpoint of someone else, which is rare indeed, particularly for you. Too often you assume you know what others are thinking or feeling, when your perspective could easily be motivated by convenience. What you observe will have the power to change your mind, which you're capable of doing, though at the same time you may be clinging to a certain position or opinion as if your life depended upon it. Actually, your happiness depends on seeing that there are alternatives. One thing you're good at doing is having a sense that you live in the wide world -- though this will either inspire you to feel extremely powerful or deeply insignificant. I won't even say that the truth is somewhere in between; neither of these are useful points of view. People close to you have feelings, and some have deep feelings -- a fact that can sometimes make you pretty nervous. Embrace this truth, and you will find yourself experiencing less alienation and more harmony.


Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) -- Beware of ambition -- or any tactics that might indicate you're driven by any motives that might lead you to suspend your ethics. We live in a time when it's popular and even accepted that people will throw their conscience to the four winds if that's what it takes to win the game. You are now walking a razor's edge where you must emphasize fairness and sincerity as your first responsibility, particularly if you're in a position of leadership. Neither is this the time to kiss the ass of anyone in authority. It's time to align your choices and your actions with what you really value. Any attempt to put image over substance could backfire. Therefore, devote yourself to quality, to sincerity and let your actions speak louder than your words. Pay attention and you will notice that your inner world is calling you more loudly than your desire for outer success, and if you attend to this seemingly subtle level of awareness, and stay clear and in alignment with yourself, you will not have to worry about succeeding in the world.


Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- You may be finding it difficult to shine when you're standing in someone's shadow, yet the shadow may represent a figure from the past. Who might that be? Is it an idea about, or a memory of, one of your parents? Is it the fear that some authority might be imposed on you if you step out into the light? That would indeed be a shadow fear -- and it may be the core of the matter. What would happen if you stepped into a position where you were actually visible, and fully responsible for your actions? This is what it's like to be in an actual position of authority, and it's why most people prefer to avoid that position. In exchange for this, they also get to have others in positions of authority or very strong influence over their lives, often feeling less powerful than nearly everyone. The time has arrived for you to confront all such feelings. You've reached a point of enforced growth where you must be your own most persuasive authority. Much of doing this involves addressing some longstanding issues within your own psychology -- and now you can.


Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) -- Take advantage of a challenge or tricky situation at work -- something that seems like a disadvantage, uncertainty or problem -- and use it to pivot the flow of events in a direction that works for you. To do this you may have to use some of your Pisces skill at walking through walls and penetrating various psychic barriers, though I suggest you persist. You can choose how visible or invisible you need to be for any circumstance; this is the time to bring any and all of your talents to bear, in a time when others may be struggling to have any sense of direction at all. Keep your sense of mission and your sense of humor and this will be easier and more fun. I also suggest you remember this. You may feel as if you have a message of some kind to deliver. But this is not anything separate from you; you are the message, and I suggest you embody this fact fully, with every cell in your being. This is not a time for abstractions; it's time to live in the moment, know your goal and get the job done brilliantly.