It’s really interesting watching Anderson Cooper figure out that he’s being lied to about the flow rate of the spill — that we’re all being lied to. And he was told by National Guardsmen that be could not videotape birds being carried to the cleaning area; they would not let the CNN cameraman or Cooper within 30 feet of the area. They told him they wouldn’t upset the birds, and so they wouldn’t get in the way of workers.
Another correspondent went to a place where cleanup workers were coming off duty and none would speak to him; managers said they could not; but would not say who told them so, or who they worked for. The guy said he’d seen nothing like this in 30 years of being a newsman. And I’m thinking right now well, he never covered SUNY New Paltz; this is precisely how, with the support of state and country health officials, they handled the PCB and dioxin cleanup in the dorms.
It’s amazing to see this kind of story blow up onto such a huge scale, with all the same dynamics; and equally terrifying to see the Coast Guard somehow doing BP’s bidding — I have seen a number of video segments involving this revelation.
One Louisiana pol said on CNN tonight that we need to think of this as a foreign invasion coming upon our shores; as a defense issue and not an ‘oil spill’, because it literally is an alien invasion. Meanwhile I heard tonight that Obama had not even spoken to the new British prime minister yet; they would be chatting (finally) over the weekend. They haven’t talked yet? That’s fuckn’ weird. And: as of today, BP’s stock is down 50% from what it was before the blowout. It’s amazing to me that BP is not pouring all its effort into stopping this thing and containing the damage, just to save its own ass.
This raises a few possibilities.
They have thrown in the towel, knowing it’s a lost cause, and with the execs knowing that bankruptcy is an option and that they all get their golden parachutes no matter what. We don’t know what bailing wire and bubblegum is holding that company together now, though we do know that CEOs work for money.
Or, they are so incompetent they really don’t know what to do. They can’t even have a tanker present in time to collect the oil off of their top hat, which they are currently burning off.
Or, they have been put up to this whole thing, this environmental 911.
Could it be that with an oil spill we are seeing the pretense of the Constitution unravel before our eyes?
Patricia, this discussion is very helpful, and I’m glad it’s feeling good on your end as well.
I think I’m understanding you better, where you’re coming from. And I think I’m in agreement with you. As my communication abilities are gradually returning, and my reactivity gradually decreasing, it seems like we’re sharing common ground. That’s nice, because I have a sense we’d get along very well in person. My given name is Jaimie; Memory Echoes is a writing pseudonym I use and a name both given and chosen by [the] God(s). It does make it more personal for you to know that, I imagine, although I’m good with being addressed either way.
Thanks for sharing your insider info about NASA, UFOs, and ETs. Very interesting, and I’m gonna trust you and your source. I’ll of course be staying tuned, and what you wrote makes a world of sense to me.
Oh, and before I forget, I didn’t feel personally attacked or disparaged by you. I thought, oh yeah, 12th house stuff, what do I have going on there? And the INFORMATION I found in my subsequent search was what smacked me upside the head and then hugged me, not you.
I’m gonna process what you’ve written some more.
MemoryEchoes, thanks for the links. The first two were very good, and very pointed about the information presented, which is helpful and valuable.
Maybe I should clarify something better. I do believe that corruption exists on large scales, and that conspiracy is often, almost must be, a part of that. The conspiracy is often to hide the truth, or shape it, so something can be gotten away with.
What I do not agree with is that every situation has those elements, and it’s bothersome when people make generalized comments without stating facts, which is often a first reaction that has become habit. Or, when people demonize everything about an industry or organization, and more importantly, everyone within it. It’s the cynicism that is tough to swallow, when someone becomes so jaded by their point of view, or experience(s), that they lump everything into the same basket and the truth for them has no chance of emerging. For that person, it’s all too relative. And then, they want to get everyone on board with their opinion or perspective and those that aren’t are somehow blinded or in denial. It often comes from an emotional place, not a rational one, and without a sound argument: It’s all of it; It’s everyone.
Hope that helps.
Patricia MoonRose
MemoryEchoes, I’d like to address you by name but I don’t know what that is.
Thank you for your sensitivity. Conversation, not conversion, is always a good rule of thumb.
I don’t have any problem at all believing that you and your friend saw a UFO. UFO’s is another anti-govt conspiracy theory in itself until you hear from a very good friend who works at NASA who would know tell you that there is a planned releasing of information to the public, that to release everything that is known all at once might put the public into a state of panic or fear about ET’s. Sure, you can guffaw that explanation, but why not? Why can’t it be true?
I doubt I offended any PW reader that does think for him- or herself. I don’t have your faith in the entirety, though, since I was at one time not one who did (even while an avid reader and visitor of PW). Since I relied on others to do that for me and since I don’t believe I’m an island with unique experiences(!), I’m left to believe there are others out there as well. It’s simply a realistic opinion, not a judgment or criticism.
I’ve very much appreciated this conversation. And I wish you the very best on your path of learning to trust yourself first. A noble cause.
xo
Patricia MoonRose
Some things to chew on:
1. http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com
2. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5459048/bp_conspiracy_theory.html?cat=9
3. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2166827/whats_the_value_in_conspiracy_theory.html?cat=75
***
For Mulder’s sake!
Patricia, thanks for clarifying all of that. Assumptions are unavoidable; clarification is always welcome.
I have to think for a while before I respond so I’m not just reacting defensively. Proof, facts, yes, and yes. Necessary.
In answer to who “they” are, my answer might surprise you. I don’t believe it’s individuals. Multinational corporations, who, yes, are run by individuals; that’s who I personally tag as “it” right now. I’m a little hesitant to argue my position because I’m coming at it from a desire to not bang my drum over yours and try to convert you to my line of thinking like your father has attempted to do.
While I’m mulling things over, doing some more research, I’d like to share one problem with supplying proof based on a personal experience years ago. While my friend and I were driving home from our afterschool jobs, due West, as the Sun was setting, we both saw a UFO. It was unidentified, it was flying, and it was an object. It hovered there for at least 20 seconds before vanishing. I could go into more detail, but you’re either gonna believe me or not. We both stared at it, she in the driver’s seat, and me gaping next to her, asking each other if she was seeing the same thing. I didn’t photograph it. I have no proof, only my memory of an experience I had with my friend. I don’t “know” its origins, just that I saw it. It requires trusting myself and being willing to debunk myself. And you? You have no idea if I’m a nutter or not. I’ve historically been more comfortable trusting others instead of myself. That is slowly changing. I’m learning to trust my intuitive gifts as well. And I’m an incredibly trusting soul when it comes to others, so I know I can apply that trust to meself. 🙂
I also think you should give the readers of Planet Waves more credit. We all know how to think on our feet, for ourselves, I believe.
I like you playing the Scully to my Mulder, as I’m used to taking on Scully’s skeptical role. Being Mulder is … uncomfortable, yet also kind of fun.
Guess I wrote more than I thought I was gonna. Oh yeah, and my last work gig? Journalism. Heh.
****
awordedgewise: I hear you. You are not alone; none of us is alone. Bravo to you for your strength.
MemoryEchoes, I apologize if my post made you feel as though I was, to use your word, disparaging yours. I respect your point of view, your personal path, and in no way meant to make you feel as though don’t. There is no anger in me for you. I appreciate that you brought it up.
My point of concern is with Eric’s writing and none of the commentary made about it. He is, after all, the one who often sets the topic and the tone. He has an underlying theme of conspiracies that comes up here and there, sometimes more frequently than others, and that’s what I was speaking to. I have an intimate understanding of paranoia and conspiracies from personal experience and I had to challenge that within myself, so when it comes up in Eric’s writing I want to challenge it there too. The material doesn’t make me uncomfortable, it’s someone putting it out there without the facts to back it up that’s uncomfortable. Isn’t that what the media often does in modern times – just plops things in our laps that is more opinion than anything? I want to support Eric and his work and that to me, in part, means raising questions about it.
I need to tell you that I read at least one assumption about me in your post. Do you see it too?
I get that a lot, even earlier tonight from a friend, the assumption that in the military we just have rules and orders to follow and that’s that. That is certainly true when one first enters the service, but as the years go by it becomes very much about questioning status quo, if it needs to be, and standing up for and doing what’s right, to be a part of the culture of the Army and yet be individual enough to take a stand when necessary. One person will be rewarded while another is ostracized, this is often the case. It depends on the climate of the organization you are assigned to. It also depends on the strength and character of each individual. We are certainly given the right education of how to conduct oneself ethically and morally, but when it comes down to implementing what we’ve learned, well, that’s an individual thing. It takes courage to stand behind one’s values and beliefs, and not everyone can dig deep enough and emerge victorious. The same individual personal strengths and weaknesses abound in and out of the military. Don’t forget the Army is just a collection, a large sampling, of the overall population. You will find everything within it.
I retired from the Army in 2007 because my 12th house stuff erupted onto my screen of reality. I projected onto my supervisors and coworkers and then it ballooned into my unit, the entire Army organization, the military as a whole, the government, all government, and on and on it went. It had no basis in anything factual but it was how my mind wanted to connect the dots. I ran frantically from those who were trying to help me, who had been only fair and kind to me, and had treated me with respect and as a valued member of our office family. Now that is 12th house material, wouldn’t you say? The hidden enemy was myself, my belief set, my lack of foundation and security, lack of trust… but moreso the hidden enemy was that I wasn’t even aware of all these inner workings that existed. It was all so buried beneath layers of lies (stories) and deception, smoke and mirrors. I wore a facade well and was functional and effective from an outside perspective. But, I had no idea who I was at my core, nor could I minutely see myself objectively. These things underneath the surface bubbled up and made themselves known and I had to take a good long hard look. Evolve or Die: That was the message. I assure you I do not disparage the 12th house; I have the utmost respect for it. It’s rather relevant in my chart.
Right before that happened, I had been reading Eric’s work passionately for a couple of years and, clearly, he spoke to my 12th house material. At the time, I wasn’t able to effectively challenge what I was reading: it “sounded” true to me, and so it was. I regurgitated it, believed it. As Eric recently said, when you read something, question it. That includes what he writes, doesn’t it? I didn’t do that at the time and the onus was, and still is, on me.
That’s another reason I challenge him on these things now, because I feel pretty sure there are those out there reading his words and just taking them in at face value and I feel for them. So maybe, just maybe, they might stop and think for themselves if I present something more to consider, if they happen to read my point of view.
If we all think the same way Eric thinks and agree with everything he says, well, we’re just another ‘them’, aren’t we? A group is strengthened by the diversity of its population and views as long as that population seeks to understand one another with respect and sincerity.
I appreciate the space to dissent. And I’ll keep considering the topic and remain open to other ideas. It wasn’t so long ago I would have been turned off and just stopped visiting PlanetWaves altogether; much improvement on my part. I expect more.
with respect,
Patricia MoonRose
Thank you, Eric. I appreciate your response.
I had somewhat come to an answer or two on my own, in part after listening to your latest audio Saturday night (well done, maybe the best I’ve heard, as you came across very centered and grounded, dispassionate about what you were discussing which allowed for fuller receptivity on my part). It was very helpful to me.
I’ll paraphrase LindaGM. “Whatever provokes contemplation on the unravelling of the constitution and its place in current times is a good thing, whether or not the theory is right.” So I see this as a possible “doing good” you mention.
My difficulty lies greatly in that the information presented is theoretical, not factual.
A good example: “Or, they have been put up to this whole thing, this environmental 911.”
What is this suggesting? To me, it’s suggesting some big pie in the sky overarching group that is running the world, or governments, behind the scenes. The “real government” per se, or whatever. The real rulers of the world. Or, whatever.
Or, what is it suggesting? Who would have put “them” up to it? What is this larger agenda referred to? Can it be proven?
This is what I don’t like. There is no hard proof of this sort of theory. It’s as I said, dots can be connected in any which way, a conspiracy is just one particular way that they can be made to go together. But, unless there is proof, what real service is this providing? Isn’t it speculation? Is speculation good reporting?
One thing I feel strongly about is that when someone is in a position of leadership, that person should conduct him/herself in a manner that’s above reproach. As a writer with a broad audience, you have a huge responsibility to your readers – to me – to take utmost care in what you present and how you present it. This conspiracy stuff often has a root that’s personal to someone, and part of it is the pushing back against that which feels oppressing, whether it is real or imagined.
If it’s true, please give the facts, otherwise it’s in the category of personal opinion and perspective. And that’s what gives me pause to wonder what good does it do – coming from you the editor and main contributor on Planet Waves. I should interject that I don’t disagree that wrongdoing happens on large scales, but I do believe that it will boil down to a collection of powertripping, greedy, self-interested, self-absorbed individuals that have a lot of influence, and, power which they abuse. They will have no awareness of the larger ramifications of their actions, and certainly very little if any empathy for their fellow humans who they often hurt in the process.
I appreciate you’re getting me to think about these things and helping me to learn how to challenge what I believe needs to be challenged.
One more possible “doing good”: It might help erupt someone’s 12th house shadow material onto their screen of reality, and maybe in that way it can be doing good. Maybe.
Thanks again.
xo
Patricia MoonRose
Memory and all,
I continue to personally live (for some shadow?reason I wish I could find so I could be done with it) with the big lie that is the former spouse. Nothing but lies from day one and they are still being exposed. One would think that ten years after divorce and one child now an adult, that the lies and intent to inflict pain would have FINALLY gone away. But that which is evil does not seem to go away that quickly – ESPECIALLY WHEN there is always a new sucker, a new poorly informed ear to bend with the same old lies and occasionally a new one.
I suspect all I just said is too general and out of context – here is a quick glimpse; my daughter came home from college for the summer Friday and on the same day I was served (same time/same thing every year) with legal papers – he’s trying to get child support again. OH – one child is an adult (duh), the other lives with me full time (duh). Social services officially took the younger away from dad (who is homeless when he wants to be and lives at a swanky address in Malibu when that serves him) etc. I barely pay the rent every month and would not so be struggling just to “survive” if I were not constantly being knocked down by misuse of a legal system I cannot myself afford to utilize.
But his agenda is not ultimitely about money – that is part of the ruse (even to himself) – it is about greed beyond the value of money – it is about constantly making opportunity to create misery and to garner what feels to him like personal power by making victim/s of other/s.
The “ex”s profile is no different than the Mucky-mucky’s at BP or anyone else who thinks they are larger than life itself. That they are exempt. If I were to ‘get down in the mud with them’, I would pray that they all die from cancers caused by Dioxin and their own Fears.
But this is not the attitude or direction I choose to take (I will not join their ranks)
NOR IS self-flogging or passivity a positive direction.
One step forward for every two back…..eventually it must become two foward for every one back……I have no reasonable alternative but to believe this. And too, to believe that we live in a time when we are beginning to join together to stop this insidious hellmaking……911, 420, Afganistan, etc etc. Let’s call a spade a spade.
Done venting. Thanks.
It certainly wasn’t my intention to be the poster girl for conspiracy theories or conspiracy theorists. I understand your objections better than I can state, for I have struggled with this topic personally ever since 9-11. I feel much more comfortable in my cozy cocoon of denial, believe me. It has taken my mom committing suicide to jolt me into a willing grappling with the more sinister layers of my shadow, and as I do this work, I am more able to confront the larger picture and see what there is to be seen.
Patricia, your comment disparaging the 12th house (at least I took it that way) caused me to look into my own. I did not know the significance of having a 12th house Moon, in late degree, in Capricorn. It was like being smacked upside the head and then hugged. So I thank you for your honesty. It has assisted me in my journey toward acceptance of the unacceptable.
I am not a proselytizer. It is not my intention to convince anyone that I am right and you are wrong. I am a fellow traveler, trying to figure it out like everyone else. I knew I was sticking my neck out there with my comment, and yet I was moved to speak and am glad I did so.
Eric’s response to you struck me as wise and again, spot on. I do not advocate paranoia. I do advocate questioning authority, and if you serve in the military, that is no doubt an uncomfortable stance to take. I do not disparage the military or your service. Both of my parents were officers in the Air Force and I have respect for anyone who chooses the path of the warrior. I am choosing the path of the warrior in a different way, and sometimes that means stating things I know are gonna piss you off, and righteously. If you need to be angry with me and the messengers of things that disturb you, I accept that anger. May my acceptance of you and your outrage be an aid to you on your journey.
Hi Patricia,
I think there is value in questioning assumptions, and keeping shadow material out in the open. Since I’m familiar with both certified conspiracies and healing 12th house material, I can speak to this as one theme: it’s what we don’t reveal, question or look at that tends to haunt us.
I would put the category “doing good” onto the table for examination, along with all the rest: as in, what good does this do?
We can also ask: what good does ignorance do? What good does denial do? What good does concealing authentic concerns do?
Based on what I know, what I have said above is understated and, I think, verging on mainstream. We have not – and we could – discuss the larger agenda that is at work here, or how critical this issue is on an environmental, economic and geopolitical level. But as for what we fear discussing?
I don’t want fear to be my editor in chief. I will keep that job.
Thanks Brendan. Of all the people we’ve heard on the news, the Coast Guard commander was the one I most appreciated and felt somehow comforted by. He was very matter of fact. I appreciate your explanation too.
This might be of interest, directly, but the website in general:
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/541571
There is even a “suggestions” area where anyone can submit an idea to help solve the problem. And I don’t want to hear it, either! Unless you’ve tried, please bite your tongue here if you feel the impulse to shoot it down.
xo
Patricia MoonRose
Truly. I need help. I sincerely ask what good there was in this post, but also reporting in the manner of such a massive scale corruption that occurs?
To me, this feeds 12th house stuff and hidden enemies. The hidden enemy being the way the information is presented. What conspiracy is there? The one common denominator that holds true is: the love of money, the root of all evil. Not money, but the love of it. There’s your conspiracy: it comes down to individuals, not big pie in the sky out to get everyone global muck. That’s why these things happen.
I would love to see the problem presented in a way that breaks it down to its lowest levels so that perhaps we, surely I, can feel as though there really is something we, or I, can do besides recycling my plastics, or not using them altogether (nearly impossible).
Otherwise, isn’t it just feeding into the overall feeling of collective helplessness?
My dad (who doesn’t trust anyone, neither did his dad, not sure about greatgrandad but we can imagine & I had to learn to choose to trust, to break that pattern, but I sure did have it) used to send me all sorts of conspiracy-theorist, big brother, everyone’s out to get you, the elusive “they”, propaganda until I blocked his email address (because he wouldn’t comply with my numerous requests). I would ask him what the point was, what could he do about it? He would shrug his shoulders, and I’d say, exactly, if you can’t do anything about it, or aren’t willing to try, then why go down that road? How can you fight “big brother”? It has to be taken to its lowest level or else it’s just some pie-in-the-sky abstract creation that really can’t be fought.
So what am I missing? I really want to know. After 20+ years self-involved with an addiction, I admit I don’t always see the bigger picture and my toolbox is often limited.
Help me out here.
xo
Patricia MoonRose
Brendan, thank so much for that personal account.
As someone with many years of military service I often wonder how those on the outside feel as though they can lambast the entire organization as a whole. It’s this “big picture” stuff that doesn’t really help any situation. The military isn’t just about war and corruption, thank you very much: It’s just one focus that can be found.
Be, thank you for that description! It’s funny to me that on May 27 I had submitted a packet of info showing evidence of falsification of documents (that same crew leader I mentioned before who was causing such chaos and bringing up feelings of paranoia for me) and resubmitted them just yesterday, directly to the top person, because the original packet cannot be located. Funny!
And that opposing feeling you mention, I’ve felt that too yesterday. On one hand I feel strongly about pursuing the issue and on the other hand I feel like “what’s the use?”. The management has not been very impressive overall, from my own observations and from what I’ve heard from others, but both middle layers of managment have been removed (one escorted out by federal officers and the other, sadly, in the hospital). Maybe things will improve and maybe my “what’s the use?” feeling will be for naught.
Patricia MoonRose
Good morning all,
EFC – the relationship between BP and the Coast Guard is a tricky one. Having worn a CG uniform a long time ago, and later working in the oil industry, I have been on both sides. While working on the marketing side of a no longer extant company, I was also a volunteer on their regional oil spill response team (primarily because of my CG experience), and managed to learn a few things about corporate spill response.
This entire gov’t/corporate relationship is the result of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 dictating how oil spill response works (enacted after Exxon Valdez). Under that law, all future response activities were organized under what is called the “Incident Command System,” which was adopted and adapted from fire departments. In that system, all concerned parties act in coordination and have equivalent members in all positions, including overall command. Under the law, however, the CG Incident Commander is in charge above his/her civil counterparts, as they represent the federal gov’t.
It is not an easy system, and requires a fair bit of training on the part of everyone involved, gov’t and civilian, to have it work well. My corporate team had just over 100 members on 24/7/365 call, so that would mean the CG needed just as many people to cover our jobs, the states needed to provide nearly as many people, the cleanup contractors needed to have reps, the local agencies/authorities needed to have reps too; the list just goes on and on. This is the staff for only the command/administrative level, never mind the actual workers. At one exercise in California I attended we had well over 400 people from the company and agencies involved, and that scenario was for a much, much smaller spill off of the north Santa Barbara coastline.
The ICS more or less requires the polluter to be in charge of “safety and health” issues, as the CG does not have either the assets or money to do so itself. There is supervision by the CG and OSHA, but those agencies are just there to monitor the spiller, really. Therefore, the ‘experts’ hired by the spiller have overall authority to restrict who goes where under the guise of safety and health concern. Yes, they get to tell the CG where to go and who to keep out, particularly if the ‘intruders’ do not have the proper safety equipment – that’s OSHA’s requirements. In some ways, the CG’s hands are tied by the law. Perhaps a little ‘change’ is needed in that legislation.
One other practical aspect is that I’ve heard people (of all sorts) complain about how there hasn’t been enough equipment (booms, skimmers, et al) brought in to pickup the oil. My rhetorical response is this: where is all this stuff supposed to come from? This disaster is not the only event on the planet: what if there are spills here in Washington, or California, or Alaska, let alone the Gulf or the East Coast? There isn’t enough spill equipment to cover it all, and Goddess forbid we should have more than one spill at a time, She’s pissed at us enough. No spill response entity on the planet is willing to send everything they’ve got to the coast, what if they have to respond?
I’m not trying to belittle the event, the deaths, or anyone’s feelings about this shipwreck. We will be paying a price far beyond any monetary value for decades to come over this, so we need to seek ways to better handle such crises. The corporations have gotten away with far too much for far too long.
Personally, I’m all for BP paying for it all, even perhaps its own extinction as a result. We really do need a new energy paradigm, this event is just playing into the cosmic sense of change-to-come.
Just heard via the BBC (10:00AM PDT) that BP is indeed willing to propose putting off it’s next dividend to pay for the spill costs. Maybe they got the message?
Sorry for the long, long post, it’s all rather hard to fully explain in a shorter form.
Blessings to all for the days to come!
“They have thrown in the towel, knowing it’s a lost cause, and with the execs knowing that bankruptcy is an option and that they all get their golden parachutes no matter what. We don’t know what bailing wire and bubblegum is holding that company together now,…”
Actually, Eric, I believe this happened in May. BP never wanted to “kill” the well and never really tried to do so. Despite the fact that the Gulf is now essentially a huge haz. waste site, BP realized how bad it was even then and went for “capturing” as much oil as possible. As far as they were concerned, whatever excess went into the Gulf, well so be it. Get what you can, let the rest go.
I believe BP America is dead. From what I’ve heard, the parent company still has cash, looking more and more like a takeover candidate and their lawyers are planning ways to
block off the damage claims in any possible takeover situation leaving the purchasing company free from liability.
Only hours to go before we get to the New Moon in Gemini, the sign most known for duality. I thought some of the contributors and readers here might like to know a curious fact about the chart for the Sagittarius Full Moon (5/27) which we are in the final throes of.
That is, of the major planets, 9 of them are involved in an opposition, 10 if you count Chiron, and there are 4 oppositions. This leaves Mercury as the only planet free of a major confrontational opposition. This is also true for the Uranus ingress into Aries chart a couple of hours later.
Sun opposite Moon
Venus (conjunct south node) opposite Pluto
Mars opposite Neptune (and Chiron)
Saturn opposite Jupiter (and Uranus)
Most of the postings here will fit into at least one of these opposing aspects. The full moon, through the expression of words (Mercury) has fulfilled the efforts of this Moon in Sagittarius; of seeing the bigger picture. At least that’s what it did for me through reading them. She did this by reflecting the Gemini Sun which has provided the multiple viewpoints, and Mercury, although opposed by Pallas (who appreciates all the detail for strategic planning). Mercury is also sextile Venus in Cancer (who trines Pallas) and trine the north node in Capricorn.
The observations and opinions expressed here, based on values (Mercury in Taurus) and delivered in the manner of a family discussion (Venus in Cancer, conj south node) and when combined, provide a perspective that reflects (opposition) shared views (Pallas in Scorpio) upon which to create a strategy.
Of course, my north node is in Scorpio, so maybe it’s just me.
be
there’s so much energy expended on the most superfluous things … on the positive side I am gratified that there is truth spewing out all over the gulf and no one can deny the impact on our lives hereon. it is time to ditch our dependence on oil, time to rent “there will be blood” and go wind turbines! or indeed come up with a solution to the crimes that are perpetrated against our community by big business.
Thank you Eric, now it’s clear.
Regarding this issue that seems to be coming up, about Bp being a British company, Obama not talking to the British Prime Minister yet, etc. I have read a post this morning by a man who had shares of Bp years ago and followed all the company history: he said that nowadays a very very little part of Bp is still British, and “it could as well be called Ap, American Petroleum”, being in reality international.
I don’t know if it’s true, I’m just reporting what I read.
My first thought was, how does this post serve any good purpose?
And then I went to the link “What is Planet Waves?” because at that moment I really wondered.
“Eric’s writing has a sensitivity to the challenges that each of us faces daily. In a time when we are confronted by the prospect of rapid growth, evolution and cultural crisis, we must leave behind many of the ideas that seemed to work in the past, and embrace a new approach more suited to the moment.
Eric wrote recently, “Going in through a kind of spiritual side door, I use an astrological approach to current events that reveals their direct human relevance. Astrology reminds us that we are part of every story, explaining something about where you connect with the world. If you imagine what the media of the future would be like, it would not simply be good news; it would simply not be bad news; it would convey spiritually and psychologically relevant information that you can experience in the context of your own existence.””
It seems to me this is old stuff coming up new, and it’s all bad news. And as someone who has acutely experienced conspiracy and paranoia, I feel very safe is saying there’s more than one way to connect the dots. But, it requires getting in the weeds. Like the pixels in a photo, you have to zoom in to see how things really go together.
This distant and removed view is not serving anyone very well regarding what we really and truly do not know. And why does speculation always seems to be on the cynical side?
The SUNY New Palz incident was tragic, there is no doubt about that. But it doesn’t mean that every situation is THAT situation.
I appreciated Charles and Morgana’s posts. It was nice to read something less ‘group think’.
My mantra for today: Be Here Now. (thanks, Len).
As I continually bring my attention back to my breath, over and over and over again.
Desiderata: “It is still a beautiful world.”
Patricia MoonRose
still breathing deeply
“Could it be that with an oil spill we are seeing the pretense of the Constitution unravel before our eyes?”
Paola, we have a constitution, but many believe it’s a pretense; that it’s not really followed. When you have the Coast Guard taking orders from BP, a foreign corporation, that’s a clue.
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were based on a mercantile structure: We the People in and for the land of free enterprise–the expansiveness of personal horizon…as long as you had the idea and the labor (free, forced or otherwise) to make it happen. The idea of the personal horizon has always been about money.
The Constitution is still a great principle, but there have been laws and weakening of laws advancing the exploitation of resources (people and planet), so that the American march towards the edge would continue ever.
How far long can the White House continue to blame the Bush Administration? It actually can’t stop there. They can move further back in time to Bush and Reagan – with a majority of Democrats in Congress. We took the pursuit of happiness, in this case BP’s, to a toxic level, and now the party is over.
Obama has to balance how to re-boot a struggling economy based on a dying paradigm and a Congress and Supreme Court beholden to the corporate interests that “done brung us to this dance”. He can’t let BP go bankrupt because they have to stay alive financially to foot the bill. The jobs infrastructure in the Gulf states — the plants, refineries, and the businesses that grew up around them are local economies in peril while this industrial ship goes down. The government has to figure out how to keep the sinking ship semi-afloat while it needs to build another, entirely new ship to bail the passengers in a whole region of the country out of deep economic malaise. This isn’t about the steps to a transition. Its about facing the decision to change a two hundred year old Paradigm.
Yep, just in time for Pluto in Capricorn.
Although I didn’t completely understand the sentence, there is a ‘curious’ similitude:
two or three days ago our chief of the government, speaking to a meeting of the Italian Manufacturer’s Association, said that “governing with the Constitution is a hell”. Then he added: “I am not a politician, I am a manufacturer temporarily being a politician”. The words may not be exact, but this was the sense.
I said to someone yesterday, “we are all much more powerful than we know.”
And not because some piece of paper says so.
These structures we create for ourselves, they all involve outsourcing our personal authority/ sovereignty to others. They exist to concentrate power. Governments, corporations, churches, to me they’re all the same. They operate ostensibly “by the consent of the governed,” but only to a point. When they get big, accountability goes out the window. And we the people can do nothing about it – after all, we ceded our authority to that structure, and now we want to complain about it? Good luck with that, as we see.
How do we take back our individual authority from these structures? It’s been very much an inner process for me thus far. On the macro level–without bloodshed, I fervently hope.
I don’t think we’ll get rid of these structures entirely, but the *scale* of them is unmanageable and unsustainable as they are. Even churches have gone “mega.” What a disaster.
Conservatives are right to complain about “Big Government.” Liberals are equally right to complain about “Big Corporations.” They are the same. They both rob us of our authority. (I say “rob,” because giving them authority is easy–but getting it back from them is not.)
When you say the Constitution is a pretense, that it is unraveling, is to say it should be replaced with the only other possibility: the will of Corporations. Is that really what you want?
Is that the only possibility? Pluto in Cap notwithstanding, are there only two choices, a) or b)?
As I was deconverting from Christianity, the “you’re going to hell” thing came up a lot. I finally had to ask myself the question, “is that all there is? Christianity or hell?” “only two choices?” (I didn’t even know enough about anything at the time, to call it “dualism.”)
Of course there’s not only Christianity or hell. I’m a witch (now.) I chose option c). And d), e), f), and beyond. Whether or not I’m going to the “Christian hell” has ceased to be of consequence to me.
It took an existential crisis for me to consider that quite of bit of fact and experience lies outside what we *think* can happen. I’m going for the wildcard… I think a mildly collectivist anarchy would suit me just fine. 🙂
Is the constitution a pretense? Not on the surface, I think. But dig deeper. The men who wrote it clearly believed such a system would support their own goals and prosperity. They were all in the Americas for similar reasons, of course. But what happens when worldviews diverge, as they seem to have done at this point in time in the US? Yes, there seem to be two camps, “conservative vs. liberal,” but again I say, is that all there is?
What happens when you threaten the sovereignty of people who believe they are in charge? There is that urban legend (not sure it’s factual) where GWB is claimed to have said the constitution is “just a goddamn piece of paper.” People can and will rationalize away anything that seems to stand in the way of what they want.
Did the Constitution’s writers want to be free, sure. But they also accepted slavery as a fact of life. Not so interested in *everyone’s* freedom, were they.
The constitution is not a sacred cow. Though, assuming for discussion’s sake that the constitution is a good thing, this wouldn’t be the first time a good idea went down the proverbial toilet.
Driving home yesterday, thinking about things, the word that kept coming to mind was “unraveling.” The Great Unraveling, a preliminary stage in the Great Alignment.
Eric,
This is indeed threatening to become an international incident. There are a lot of British pensions dependent upon the success of BP – I believe upwards of 20%. Bankruptcy would be a disaster for these people.
Previously Obama has got a very good write up from the press here until now but that is changing fast … But given the behaviour that the White House displayed towards Gordon Brown (I detest the man but he was Prime Minister of a very closely allied country) when he visited Washington, I’m not surprised that he hasn’t found the time to talk to Cameron. I am kinda perplexed by this as I could expect this off Bush (yo Blair!) but not the man who wanted to bring change to the world.
I’m not sure what to think of the incident myself, something doesn’t sit quite right with either what happened and all that is going on (or not) with the recovery. But saying that I have been distracted by goings on closer to home.
Mx
Alrighty……after making it through the first few pages of the Herald, interesting note that a man was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after throwing a beer at a woman at the game last night, assuming they were rival fans, well you know what assume did, but I am sure he had good intentions? I made it to page 13, second story on the page, speaking of swifter oil capture and damage payments. Wha? Okay, so this is BPs ocean? are you fucking shitting me? You would think that we would be having a global response to this act of terror. I am truly sick to my stomach. I continue on my quest for the truth and responsible reporting…….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc
“Could it be that with an oil spill we are seeing the pretense of the Constitution unravel before our eyes?”
Sorry, but I don’t understand. What is the meaning of this sentence exactly?
What’s that behind Door Number 3? It smells like the truth.
This stinks of 911; it even has an obvious numerical reference (420, for fuck’s sake).
Right the fuck on, Eric. Fomenting the appearance of The End of Days is clever, and no doubt many have piled on to that bandwagon. “Look! The Rapture is at hand! Let’s continue to use the Earth as a toilet because we don’t need it anyway. Look! Is that Jesus coming on the cloud?”
So many people would never suspect there is a government within the government, and who wants to believe that our fellow human beings are capable of inflicting this deliberately on the Earth and the rest of us. I don’t want to believe it myself, but I caught the whiff early on and it don’t smell like Teen Spirit.
Call me crazy. By the conventions of mainstream society, I suppose I am. But if sanity is accepting what I know in my gut is a lie, I don’t want it.
Blessings, Memory
Wow, Eric….I actually realized that I felt a similar unease prior to 9/11, my life took a serious turn for the worse and then the whole thing shifted. Right before the BP Oil Spill, I felt like I fell into some kind of existential crisis, like Alice in the hole and then the reality hit many weeks later of the ENORMITY of the situation. But I felt the POLITICAL, in my PERSONAL life before, during, and after.
Here we go again, but this time the story is indeed unraveling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKgPY1adc0A
Charles, thanks for your elegant commentary. I am seeing much of the same, only better done, on msnbc, and reading far more egregious stuff elsewhere. Are you suggesting that this isn’t happening? Don’t bitch me out, man, I’m just telling you what I’m seeing.
Concur with Len, good call. Recalling how very rough it was recovering Creative Spirit after 9/11 — but now I know the game. And whatever agenda this might be won’t get to me that way again. No matter how anything unfolds.
Oh FFS. The Constitution has survived a Civil War and world wars with hundreds of thousands of Americans dead, as well as other severe crises, this oil disaster isn’t even in the same league.
The Constitution is the only system we have to collectively implement the will of We The People, to promote the common good. When you say the Constitution is a pretense, that it is unraveling, is to say it should be replaced with the only other possibility: the will of Corporations. Is that really what you want?
Americans are slow to act, and will spend a long time debating all sides of an issue, but when a consensus about the common good becomes clear, there is no stopping the will of the people, they will solve the problems. So don’t be so cynical. And stop watching so much CNN, it is distorting your thinking.
what constitution? thats an old fucking story that we can only reminisce about … it was dead a long time ago…
as far as the lies, they go as deep as the cracks in the oil well that they are now saying go way deeper than just putting a hat on the fucker.
Sorry to be so dismally edgy but hey thats The Way of the World…
and now for something completely different …
take it away Earth, Wind & Fire…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R2RsP43rmg&feature=related
(btw : thanks EFC & PW )
yes.
certainly they have not thrown in the towel, unless as you suggest, they have already arranged their payoffs and that is that. And bankruptcy will save the company and everyone will go foward better than before if history is any tell-tale of how these things go.
I too am surprised that oil is being burned off – figured the hard time they were having to plug the hole were all about effort to set up to capture what is being “spilled” rather than risk losing it all to actually stopping up the hole.
But then, a certain amount of incompetence is expected since the boys at the top aren’t actually doing the dirty work and those that are are probably somewhat reluctant considering the lack of barely more than a paycheck and knowledge of the larger scope of what horror they are contributing to including the slow death of their own families.
Good call, Eric. As you said some years back – if they are this reckless when they have something to lose, how dangerous will they get when they have nothing to lose?
I listened today to Caroline Casey’s Visionary activist show which airs on every thursday at 2pm on KPFA Berkley-any one can go and listen in todays archives. Caroline interviewed Mike Rupert- The creator of the Documentary “Collapse” and he made a new site called collapse.net and it is going viral… I highly recomend a listen and check out the site. They are creating awsome models for the new…
Thank you Eric and all the contributers for your dedication to educating, sharing and blessing us all…
Victoria