By Judith Gayle | Political Waves (the Planet Waves politics blog)

So what happens when our High Court gives us a ruling so heinous to the democratic process and protection of the individual that the President takes opportunity during his State of the Union to chide the Supremes and directs his Congress to investigate and close the loopholes?

First we employ a little humor, to inform of the actual damage done and reflect its implications, as found over at Scholars and Rogues:

Following the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to allow unlimited corporate funding of federal campaigns, Murray Hill Inc. today announced it is filing to run for U.S. Congress. “Until now,” Murray Hill Inc. said in a statement, “corporate interests had to rely on campaign contributions and influence-peddling to achieve their goals in Washington. But thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, now we can eliminate the middle-man and run for office ourselves.” Murray Hill Inc. is believed to be the first “corporate person” to exercise its constitutional right to run for office.

“The strength of America,” Murray Hill Inc. said, “is in the boardrooms, country clubs and Lear jets of America’s great corporations. We’re saying to Wal-Mart, AIG and Pfizer, if not you, who? If not now, when?” Murray Hill Inc. added: “It’s our democracy. We bought it, we paid for it, and we’re going to keep it.” Murray Hill Inc., a diversifying corporation in the Washington, D.C. area, has long held an interest in politics and sees corporate candidacy as an “emerging new market.”

The announcement represents a landmark moment in American politics, as former President George W. Bush’s dream of an “ownership society” is finally realized.

Then we begin to organize around the actions necessary to limit the fallout. There must be potent campaign finance reform in the near future if we’re to stop corporations from a full court press. Companies must be forced to get shareholder approval for political activities and should be prohibited from making any contributions if they receive government funding or contracts.

Continue Reading »

Today’s Oracle takes us back to the Leo monthly of October 1, 2006

If I were you, I would be dreaming of extra rooms, floors or extensions to my home every night. Your soul seems to be pushing outward, reaching for new territory, wishing for space with which you can start afresh. You can surely make some adjustments to your home or apartment that fulfill your yearning and that don’t require the assistance of a general contractor. And you can always dream of what you want. But then, if you have some money to work with, now is a good time to get out the graph paper and start sketching.

(The Daily Oracle is a random selection from one of 10,000 Eric Francis horoscopes. The Oracle is a divination tool like tarot cards, and also can be used to research any horoscope for the past 10 years. It is available to subscribers of Planet Waves Astrology News in all its working glory. This is a brilliant piece of programming combined with a full decade of Eric’s writing — when you have a question, it really works (as long as you’re sincere), and we know that you’ll love it. Sign up to discover how and why. Or enjoy one selection free here every day.)

I am sitting here at this meeting and someone suggested that I look at the school’s archive page, and there I found the certificate of occupancy for the new school building, for Monday, Sept. 8, 1969. Classes began at 8:05 am when Module 1 (first mod) or A-band started. And what do you get for that? You get an astrology chart — and once again, I am astonished.

Natal chart for John Dewey High School

Remembering that I haven’t seen the chart till one minute ago: I have described Dewey as a radical experiment in freedom and personal responsibility. It was an educational innovation, full of the spirit of the 1960s. Dewey opened just weeks after the Woodstock festival and two months after the Moon landing: one of many unusual events of 1969, with the signature of a social experiment. Like both of these events, Dewey was and is a group phenomenon, and also an invention.

Straight away, this chart is a knockout: Uranus occupying the ascendant, to the degree. That degree would be 4 Libra, with Uranus followed by Jupiter and Mercury. The long aspect is the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction: suggesting something about groups, a worldly feeling and the promise of a surge forward (in the Promethean style of Uranus, and with Jupiter referencing education and knowledge).

The ascendant is the sense of identity; and the self we are growing into. So we get all the creative flare of the Uranus-Jupiter conjunction, the expressive quality of Mercury, the sense of fairness of Libra and the impact of the Aries Point — 4 Libra rising is right in the zone. The Uranus-Jupiter conjunction is described by Cosmos and Psyche author Richard Tarnas as an aspect of great meetings.

Continue Reading »

Among the many articles I haven’t got around to writing yet is one about the high school I attended — John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, NY. Dewey was a radical place, and in many ways was responsible for bringing out who I am. It was a noncompetitive learning environment, with an open campus. That is to say, no grades, no gates. It was one of the first schools with a modular scheduling system: flexibility of scheduling, students choosing their entire academic schedule, with the day including enough free time to leave at the end of the day with no homework.

Statue at John Dewey High School, for which students allegedly gave up a swimming pool.

We had no sports teams (only intramural sports), and the money we saved went into academic resource centers where there were always teachers on call to help with homework. There was no reason to fail. Dewey had 11 publications at the time I went there; I was editor in chief of one, Gadfly (the official social science journal). This was a high school with a graduating class of 800 located in south Brooklyn.

I’m sitting in Staten Island, NY at a table right now with a bunch of Dewey grads, mostly from the 1970s, and one from my class: Ed Unneland, who was senior editor of Gadfly. I’ve got myself mixed up with this crew, helping create the 41-year all class reunion.

In the decades since I graduated, I’ve grown to appreciate what a radical experiment Dewey was. Over the years the concept got watered down; grades were instated; the campus was closed and students can no longer wander out. Yet many thousands of students were influenced by the experience of being treated as adults starting at age 14. Though there were no grades, our grads went to the best universities in the country, and disproportionate number have emerged as movers and shakers in the world: people with initiative, unafraid of ideas, able to take leadership.

I’ve volunteered for a few different roles in this event, including co-coordinating publicity. If you’re a journalist and you’ve picked up this article in Google (which is my intention), or if you’re a Dewey grad, please drop me an email at use this mail link.

Today’s Oracle takes us back to the Taurus monthly of April 2, 2007

Venus in your sign is reminding you how much you have to give, but what good is that if you have nobody to give to? What shows up in your charts, though, is the willingness of others to share with you. To the extent this is true, it will require an adjustment on your part to be open to receive. Over a phase going back several long years, you’ve grown way too accustomed to the power trips of others, rather than the pleasure trips. This has only enhanced your reticence to exchange openly with others, because too often, it turned out to be a trap. What if that were no longer true?

(The Daily Oracle is a random selection from one of 10,000 Eric Francis horoscopes. The Oracle is a divination tool like tarot cards, and also can be used to research any horoscope for the past 10 years. It is available to subscribers of Planet Waves Astrology News in all its working glory. This is a brilliant piece of programming combined with a full decade of Eric’s writing — when you have a question, it really works (as long as you’re sincere), and we know that you’ll love it. Sign up to discover how and why. Or enjoy one selection free here every day.)

Photo by Beth Bagner.

Reader submission.

Last night I dreamed I was rewarded. I suppose it was for realizing I needed to rest and actually listening to my body! I was at a spa that was also a sex club. Weird, I know, but imagine if America wasn’t as uptight and puritanical as it is. A Spa, offering good food, spa services, a place to just sleep if you want, and oral sex or a hand job if you want. There were also showers where people would wash you, wash your hair, etc. It was great! There were people everywhere, even families, and no one was hung up on their nudity or the fact that they were having orgasms in front of ten or more people. I walked through this place and a man recognized me. I stopped briefly to say hello. I was a little shy about talking to him as he was getting a hand job. I then noticed the guy next to him try to cover his face. Was that G__? I wasn’t sure. (G__ is my ex, we were not sexually compatible). I walked on, past the showers and to a place where I laid down and fell asleep comfortably. Then I felt someone tug at my panties. “Do you have a silver Cadillac?” It was a woman, an employee, massaging my neighbor. “Yes” I said. She motioned to three men who wanted to speak to me. I went over. It was the man who recognized me earlier and his two friends. They covered my bill, they said. They wanted me to enjoy myself. I went back to my place and a table was there and a waiter setting it with a steak dinner. I asked for red wine. He gave me a menu. It was a menu of sexual services. They all had pretty names so you didn’t have to feel dirty asking for what you wanted. There were also pictures. I was slightly embarrassed and wondered if the men meant for me to order from this particular menu too, or had they just bought me lunch? I thought about it and decided I could do what I want because if it wasn’t on them I had the money to cover it. The waiter then said to me, “In order to experience joy you have to know what will give you joy.”

A Full Moon Watch has been posted to the Confidential Diary.

“Democracy in a nation of three hundred million people can be noisy and messy and complicated. And when you try to do big things and make big changes, it stirs passions and controversy. That’s just how it is.”
– Pres. Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, Jan. 27, 2010

There seems to be a lot of heat under America, particularly America’s virtual political nation — its progressive blogs, websites and online magazines. In the days of the long drawn out battle over health care reform, progressives feel Democrats are not doing enough, fast enough.

At sites like Daily Kos, Firedoglake, and Huffington Post, progressive bloggers ranging from Alec Baldwin to everyday Janes and Joes like you and I have been literally screaming disapproval at the President, Democrats in Congress and each other.

Never a political party to let unity ruin a good argument, diaries and threads on these sites were devoted to:  telling Obama what to do;  telling Obama to fire Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Treasury Secretary Tim Gethner (which I think he should anyway); telling Obama he’s a sellout and a traitor to the left; telling other progressive blogs that THEY are traitors to the left. Not only that, but accusations flew about special SWAT teams of bloggers from radical progressive (Neo-liberal) sites allegedly disrupting the blog discussions of other progressive sites with opposing views about current events.

In a 24 hour news cycle, a story that captivates mainstream media for more than a few days means it has ‘legs’. When bad news with ‘legs’ happens to Democrats it appears that in political blogs, Democrats panic quite openly. And when they panic, all the news watches.  After the Massachusetts election where Republicans were crowing the loss of Ted Kennedy’s seat to Republican Scott Brown for hours on end and into the week, one would think after visiting their political websites that progressives, moderate and neo, had literally lost their bleeping minds.

Continue Reading »