Well, there is not really a mystery here; the pilot’s apparent suicide note tells the story. Joe Stack, pilot of the Piper aircraft that he flew into an Austin federal building housing the IRS, the CIA and the FBI, explains why he did it: total frustration being shafted by tax authorities, after a decades-long battle; compounded by his rage over the bank bailout. You can read, or skim, the lengthy suicide note here on the NPR website. (Note, I am hearing reports that his missive is being pulled from different websites; we have archived a copy of the code from NPR in case this happens).

Chart for Austin airplane crash.

In his exit manifesto, after talking about much history and tax code lore that I will run past our CPA for her opinion, Mr. Stack wrote: “I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

“The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

“The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.”

I would say that Mr. Stack was expressing a sentiment that many Americans feel. And indeed, he did something about it. The chart confirms this so well that at first glance, before even reading a news article, I wrote to Fe: “this is domestic terrorism; it’s suicide.” When one’s method of suicide involves flying into a government building, well, that’s a special kind of activism.

Now, how could I tell from the chart? We have to do some footwork, but trust me this is like doing the hop, compared to the tango.

The whole chart comes back to Mars retrograde. It’s almost that easy.

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Hello Eric,

For what it is worth to you, you do not have to convince me to re-up with Planet Waves. For what it is also worth, although you are an astrologer, I do not think of you that way. You are so plugged into all of the issues about which we should be conscious that somehow the word “astrologer” just does not fit. Maybe that very word needs to be redefined. Your output is extraordinary. Thank you for your continuous and tremendous outpouring of energy and your non-stop willingness to communicate.

I will be calling Chelsea soon.

Giselle

By Len Wallick | More astrology by Eric at Cosmic Confidential Diary

Today, in most locations, the Sun slip-slides into Pisces. This last Tuesday we touched on the complex nature of Pisces in relation to the Venus-Jupiter conjunction. Sun in Pisces is, to quote The Wizard of Oz, a horse of a different color. In Pisces, the sun is not the ruler nor is it exalted. Neither is it in detriment, opposite sign from ruling sign, or fall, opposite the exalted sign. In other words, Sol just does not know what to make of Pisces. Rumor is the Sun has some company in that respect. Ambivalence rules.

When in Rome therefore, the Sun does as Pisces does, surrendering its dominant fire for a toga one minute, a tunic the next and a stola for festive occasions. The key to a Sun’s transit of Pisces seems to be the context of the aspects it makes between its ingress and the Vernal Equinox. This year’s journey therefore, will most likely be very different from last year’s or next.

Today finds supportive and sympathetic Venus and Jupiter already well ensconced in the final sign. This augurs well for a graceful beginning of the solar journey. At the beginning of March, however, the entrance of Mercury and the exit of Venus could make for some awkward moments before Spring. The main thing to remember is that Pisces may sometimes get old but it never gets boring. Especially the last seven years with Uranus behind the curtain.

The Moon is speeding up as it blazes ahead in Aries, heading for an “oh my goodness, so soon?” first quarter this coming Monday. Today it forms its monthly conjunction with Eris. This is always provocative, previously referred to here as “the fertile point of identity chaos”. This time around it forms a trine with another conjunction in Sagittarius, the big asteroid Ceres and Quaoar, a somewhat smaller object that crosses the orbit of Neptune.

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Today’s Oracle takes us back to the Aries weekly of February 18, 2000

The operative cycle is two years. Consider your life in early March 1998. What was happening in your inner realities and the world of your relationships? Changes you embarked on then are likely to be coming to some kind of crux point now, or, at least, all the loose ends from those far-off, nearby days are right where you can see them and snip them nicely. What’s available to you now is something much wider, a point of contact with the world that promises many opportunities for you to spread your wings, to speak to a larger audience and to relate your ideas in ways that are less practical and more poetic. Poetic would work well, conveying your message in much more subtle tones and colors.

(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.)

The first time I had my professional headshot done, by the Salmieris in Manhattan, I went to their walk-up studio in Chinatown. On the door of the apartment below theirs was a red image of a crawling baby, which I recognized immediately as the work of Keith Haring. I asked how it got there, and Michele replied: Keith lived here. He was our neighbor. That was in 1995, five years after he had died. The apartment, which I didn’t get to see, was covered, from floor to ceiling, with his work: the stove, the fridge, the doors, the floor — all of it.

On the 20th Anniversary of the Death of Keith Haring, the best thing I can think of is something my friend David Taylor said once after we exited it: "Accidentally finding the Keith Haring memorial men's room at the LGBT Center in NYC back in '93 was like stumbling across a page from the Library of Alexandria. He was amazing. RIP Keith."--SGA

I heard that the landlord eventually painted it all over, destroying not just millions of dollars worth of art (owned by Keith’s estate), but also a perfect specimen of his existence; magnificent proof that Keith was here.

I just looked up his data on Astrodatabank, the most accurate public data source, and was very happy that it was there and has a good rating (technically a B rating, which means from biography / autobiography, though no birth certificate in hand). His bio describes him as an “American artist, a pop and graffiti artist who moved from a small section of Americana into the hip and hectic New York scene before burning himself out on the fast lane of the good life by age 31.”

He died of AIDS, back in the day when it was a guaranteed death sentence: no drug cocktails, less known about the syndrome, less evolved human immune response: it took many great men from every walk of life. AIDS is generally not just the reaction to a virus; it’s a lifestyle syndrome, and Haring was in the perfect position to fall prey.

“The fast lane” is basically immune suppressing; which leaves one vulnerable; and so on and on.

First a bit about the chart, then some more from his bio on Astrodatabank. A Taurus with Leo rising, born just before noon (in standard time), he has the perfect chart not only for stardom, but enduring fame. I say this because the fixed signs create an enduring legacy (he had his Moon in one, as well). Leo rising shines out, and the Taurus Sun at noon booms over the airwaves with integrity and a message rooted in values. Haring shifted how we see art; as any good artist does, he taught us to see a new way — among other gifts, to see “the writing on the wall” as the truly creative matter that it is.

Thanks to Keith we see graffiti as something beautiful, or at least potentially so. We hardly remember a time when it was merely viewed as an obnoxious annoyance.

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More astrology at Cosmic Confidential Diary.

I get about 20 emails a day from the Washington Post. One just came in that informed me thus: Democrats and Republicans agree on something besides the sky being blue on a sunny day.

Planets at sunrise, Kingston, NY.

“Americans of both parties overwhelmingly oppose a Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations and unions to spend as much as they want on political campaigns, and most favor new limits on such spending, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

“Eight in 10 poll respondents say they oppose the high court’s Jan. 21 decision to allow unfettered corporate political spending, with 65 percent ‘strongly’ opposed. Nearly as many backed congressional action to curb the ruling, with 72 percent in favor of reinstating limits.

“The poll reveals relatively little difference of opinion on the issue among Democrats (85 percent opposed to the ruling), Republicans (76 percent) and independents (81 percent).”

Does anyone remember this bit? I know it’s been a really, really long time since it happened. Here’s how I reported it in Planet Waves on Jan. 22, less than one month ago:

“Last week’s solar eclipse in Capricorn conjunct Venus is showing some ramifications in the corporate/government realm covered by that sign. Thursday the Supreme Court issued a decision in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The 150-page decision, we’re being told, grants the rights of individuals to corporations, originating in the matter of whether companies can pour money, unfettered, into propaganda designed to sway an election. Previously, this was subject to campaign laws that kept such electioneering a few feet back from the election itself.”

By a few feet, I mean that some company you’ve never heard of, or which is owned by some company you’ve never heard of, used to not be able to come into your town or city and pound the airwaves the night before an election trying to get rid of your local congressional representative because he or she is against, say, the toxic pollution created by that company, in your town. We’re not supposed to be able to buy elections in the United States, though it’s long been a kind of boxing match of cash; this ruling takes the gloves off, and allows the use of weapons in the ring.

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Today’s Oracle takes us back to the Taurus monthly of May 1, 2000

In your caution, reserve and well-cultivated sense of husbandry, do you not grossly underestimate your potential? It’s true that Taurans have been among our most important teachers of how to be safe in the cruel world (it was, indeed, my Taurus therapist who taught me to keep a coffee can full of money under the bed). Yet there are vast reaches of what I can only describe as immobile potential that gather inside of you like silent hurricanes. Now is not merely a convenient time for you to bring more of what you are into expression in the world; for you, it’s an aspect of survival that may involve what feels like tremendous risk. Yet what exactly are you risking? And what are you now preserving? Potential is a neutral state of existence, subject to decay. Expression is an active, living experiment; true, it’s subject to failure, but at this rare and astonishing moment, you stand only to gain, if only you will dare.

(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.)