Letterman's Last Stand

Tonight will be David Letterman's last live appearance on The Late Show on CBS, the show hosted by him for the past 33 years. A string of his favourite guests have graced his show for the past week or two. Of Letterman’s final show, tonight, CBS hints that it will be an hour "filled with surprises and memorable highlights".

We've watched The Late Show intermittently during my years in the USA. Though Johnny Carson was husband's true favourite late show host, Letterman seems to have been, for him, the next best thing.

As Letterman's show tonight will be filled with "memorable highlights", might as well link to three posts of mine featuring David Letterman which will have to stand in for Letterman's "highlights" on this humble blog.

Letterman and Guess Who (2007)
Letterman's Unfunny Palin Jokes (2009)
Letterman etc. (2009)

It appears Letterman's successor, Stephen Colbert, will not be taking over the show until September, until then I don't know what's to happen; guest presenters perhaps, and/or lots and lots of repeats.

LETTERMAN etc.

We didn't see David Letterman's unexpected confession last week, in his late night show, but the internet was full of reports of it later, so we caught up rapidly.

I wasn't too surprised by the news. Letterman's a show-biz celebrity, "the casting couch" is, after all, part of show biz legend. Why would we be surprised? As far as I can tell, celebrities, including some politicians, march to a very different drummer from many of us who live outside of those privileged circles.

It did surprise me when the identity of the perpetrator of the proposed extortion was revealed. A man like Robert J. Halderman, with all his experience of journalistic life and show-biz would surely not be naive enough to think he'd get away with his plot - at least, not on the evidence we've seen so far. Unless, perhaps Mr. Halderman is suffering some kind of breakdown following what seems to have been a succession of personally traumatic times, family-wise and finance-wise. If so, his actions could be something akin to, but on a very much more damaging scale than, the celebrities arrested for shoplifting, reports of which surface with some regularity.

I've looked for Mr. Halderman's birth data without success, for I think his chart might be useful in fathoming why on earth he though he could get away with what almost seems like the plot of a bad episode of a TV drama.

Proper astrologers have discussed Letterman's chart at the weekend - Lynn Hayes at Beliefnet, and Shelley Ackerman at Karmic Relief. Shelley does mention Mr. Halderman's date of birth, but I can't find the source or his place of birth, so felt it wise to wait. I'm sure details will surface soon.

My own last assessment of David Letterman and his chart, some months ago during the Sarah Palin debacle, is HERE. I downgraded my previously warm opinion of him then. Looking again at the chart in my old post, I see that Black Moon Lilith conjoins his natal Moon - and I did try to interpret that at the time. I'm beginning to get the hang of BML - there's a little more evidence here to add to my collection!

Letterman obviously did the right thing by making public what would otherwise have been rooted out by media and made even worse. I feel sorry for his wife and son, and of course, for his mother who occasionally appears on his show. Those ladies probably were well aware of his shenanigans. Even so, current publicity will be embarrassing and hurtful.

I have a funny feeling that there's more to this story - another chapter to open. I decided to ask the Tarot, and the 3 cards I drew after shuffling were:
Queen of Swords/3 of Swords/6 of Coins. I'm always amazed at the aptness of the cards! There's a woman, a heartbreak and money (though 6 of Coins is usually linked to philanthropic matters). I won't interpret further, but others will probably see what story might be contained in those cards. Actually, this wasn't exactly what I was expecting. We'll see.

Letterman's Unfunny Palin Jokes

Last week brought me a couple of "I thought he was better than that" moments. One from Adam Lambert in his Rolling Stone interview, about which I've already commented. The second from David Letterman and his unfunny "jokes" about Sarah Palin and her daughter, while they were visiting New York. I won't dignify his words by repeating them, but if any passing reader remains unaware of what was said, a glance at this article at Huffington Post will clarify - though the author of that article concentrates on a political angle, and appears impervious to the kinds of objections I'm outlining here.

I'm no fan of Sarah Palin or her politics, but I do sympathise with her on this occasion. I'm no feminist either, I've always tried to look on people as people, not as men and women, gay and straight, black and white......just all human beings getting along as best we can in this mad, mad world.

Just why is it thought funny and acceptable for male comedians to be offensive to females? Poke fun at their political mis-steps and guffs by all means. Criticise their lack of knowledge and political stances if they don't match yours, but why try to denigrate their appearance or sling around smutty innuendo about their family members? Cheap laughs? Lack of creativity on the part of writers?

I shouldn't have been surprised at Letterman's words really. I've shouted at the TV on several past occasions when he has smirked about Hillary Clinton, her trouser suits, her appearance, her marriage.

On good days, I'd had Letterman down as a basically kindly character who likes to appear unpredictable. I'm beginning to think that he's an unpredictably unpleasant character who likes to appear kindly. He has a son of around 5 years old. I wonder if he'd censor his writers' jokes more closely if he'd had a daughter?

Let's have a look at Letterman's chart. Born on 12 April 1947 in Indianapolis, IN, at 6am (Astrodatabank).



I'm looking mainly for any indication of his apparent attraction to reciting "jokes" which denigrate some members of the female sex. Oh,I know he loves some of his female guests, and is very respectful of his mother, who ocasionally appears on the show. I'm not implying that he's a woman hater. He's inconsistent. If he wants to retain the respect of his audience, more consistency is needed.

The Moon is the most feminine factor in a natal chart. In Letterman's nativity Moon was in Capricorn (serious, a bit old fashioned, business oriented) not likely to enjoy the kinds of jokes to which I'm objecting. But look - look at the glyph one degree from the Moon - that's Black Moon Lilith. I wrote about BML (here). Perhaps it can have a kind of anti-feminine effect, especially when close to natal Moon, meaning that, as in Letterman's case, Moon was almost as far away from Earth as it could ever be; Black Moon Lilith marks the Moon's apogee. The Moon in astrology represents one's inner life and the subconscious, the female, maternal instincts. At Moon's farthest point away from Earth what happens? Lack of appreciation for Moonly matters? I don't know - but I do think it's more than a coincidence that Letterman's Moon is at its apogee.

His natal Mars, (Mars is probably the most masculine factor in a natal chart) is at 00 Aries, the Aries Point a very strong point in the chart, Mars rules Aries - in other words Mars here, the masculine, is just about as strong as it gets. Now,
Letterman doesn't strike me as being overtly masculine, physically, but inwardly, I'd bet he is.

Saturn in Leo trines his Aries Mars, adding a harder and more showy edge to the Aries need to be a bit belligerent on occasion. Sun is in harmonious sextile to shock-worthy Uranus which brings in Letterman's occasional unpredictability. Mercury in gentle Pisces trines Jupiter which lies in darker, more intense Scorpio, thus blending his kindlier side with that rather darker element we occasionly see from him.

To be fair to David Letterman, he did make a kind of apology, after Sarah Palin's objections. He also tried to justify himself. I'd have had more respect if he'd been totally apologetic on all counts. That, apparently, is just not in his nature.

Letterman, and guess who!

It's his 60th birthday today. When looking at his chart a couple of things rang a bell. He has some placements which are very similar to Al Gore's. They were born a year and 12 days apart, so it's not too surprising, with regard to the slow moving planets. Moon and Mercury aren't slow-movers though, and they are in the same signs for both men.

Both have Sun Aries, Mercury Pisces, Moon Capricorn, Pluto and Saturn in Leo. But Al Gore's Pluto, Saturn and Mars in Leo are close together in first house, whereas Letterman's Mars at 00 Aries and Saturn at 02 Leo are in trine, 6 and 10th houses(if birth time is accurate). Al Gore's Sun is not as closely sextile Uranus as is Letterman's. Al Gore was born into a political family. His father was a Senator mother qualified in law. David Letterman's father was a florist, mother a church secretary. Letterman has made humour and communication with the public his path to fame, Al Gore's path was public service and leadership - but I think he has a closet yearning to be funny - as evidenced by his little turn on Saturday Night Live. Needless to say, both men are rich and famous!

David Letterman was born 12 April 1947 in Indianapolis, Indiana, one source (e-tarocci.com) has what appears to be a computer produced horoscope for him, giving 6pm as a birth time. I don't feel too confident that this is reliable, but it fits. I haven't read the rest of the horoscope interpretation, I prefer to sort out my own take on it.

If Letterman's ascendant is 19.19 Libra, then his natal Sun at 22.14 Aries would be close to the descendant angle and his natal Moon at 15.42 Capricorn would be within 7 degrees of the IC angle (nadir) - both strong positions in any chart. Mars at 00.49 Aries is powerful too, in its own sign in a strong degree. Mercury and Venus are both in Pisces. In a nutshell, those placements describe the Letterman I see. A strong but sensitive character, a blend of Aries and Pisces.

His humour is an odd mix of absurdity, intended lameness, and wit. He seems to enjoy that childish kind of humour which often comes with Aries, I've found (I have an example here at home) - though is capable of more sophisticated and subtle stuff if circumstances demand. Natal Uranus is sextile Sun in Aries - I'm told (by HeWhoKnows) that Letterman is rather less unpredictable than he used to be. I guess this comes with maturity.

Early in his career he was a news anchor and weatherman. His bosses were often nervous about what he'd do next. It's said in Wikipedia "He received recognition for his unpredictable on-air behavior, which included erasing state borders from the weather map and predicting hail stones "the size of canned hams." One night he reportedly upset his bosses when he congratulated a tropical storm on being upgraded to a hurricane. He had a nervous habit of clapping his hands together."

He's kind, I'm pretty sure of that. There's a softness about him that isn't Aries, it'll come from his Pisces bits. I've read that he is co-owner of an auto-racing team - that's a bit of Aries! His Capricorn Moon indicates innate business sense to me. He has his own production company "Worldwide Pants" and is probably a multi-millionnaire - you don't get that rich by just being funny, you need business sense too.

Letterman doesn't make his politcal leanings terribly clear, I suspect this is a tactical decision, although I don't think Bill O'Reilly is one of his heroes - a clue? He's no Bill Maher, (or Al Gore) that's not his thing. It would be unwise to alienate half his audience and scare away some potential guests from the world of politics - that would be bad business.

I like finding coincidences like this one between Al Gore and David Letterman. We can't know how alike, or otherwise, they are in real life, but it's interesting to compare what we do know of them.