"That's how it goes......"

Senator Bernie Sanders has done what had to be done, in current circumstances, to try to ensure that he and others representing his views will be at the table when important policy decisions are being made. If, by some circumstance that turns out not to be the case, the fact that Sanders ran in this primary, did well, kept his word - hard as that must have been for him, says far more about Senator Sanders than it does about the legion of his sell-out former supporters. They have been cruelly denigrating him, after his endorsement of Hillary Clinton, during past days. So...they now say they are determined to vote for the Green Party's Jill Stein. She can't win, the Party isn't on every state's ballot. Even if, through some amazing circumstance, she had the possibility of a win - would she be allowed to? Really? The same thing, or something far worse, would in all likelihood, happen to Ms Stein as has happened to Bernie : "not allowed".

If only more voters had supported Bernie Sanders, made the primary into an uncontrollable landslide, that could have changed things - made the "not allowed" into "try and stop it now!" The voters didn't do that though...too many remained too blind, or misguided by others, to recognise a good thing when it was right under their noses!

The fault is not in Bernie, the fault is in the USA's culture of fearing anything resembling socialism, and in being duped by neo-liberalism under the label "Democratic". Bernie Sanders' policies hardly resemble socialism anyway, as any expert would confirm. There's paranoia in the USA, paranoia so deep, handed down from McCarthyism and still, in 2016, too many remain unable to see past it.

There has been no proper left-wing politics in the USA for too long. The powers that be prefer it to remain that way, and will make it their business to see that it does. It'll take several more elections, some catastrophic out-turns and drastic events before the truth finally dawns.

The best, fairest and sanest piece, about Senator Sanders, I read at the weekend is by William Rivers Pitt at Smirking Chimp:
The Long Victory of Bernie Sanders


Not forgetting that it's Music Monday:

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows.......

(From Everybody Knows by Leonard Cohen)

Sung by Don Henley

Music Monday ~ Leonard Cohen & "Everybody Knows"

I've once or twice approached the natal chart of Leonard Cohen but was wary of featuring it in a blog post. I enjoy many of his songs, though preferably sung by others: Bird On a Wire, Hallelujah, Suzanne, Dance Me To the End of Love to name a few. The man himself, though, strikes me as being a wee bit "out there", farther out than I care to go!

When I first saw Cohen's chart I was surprised to note that he has no planets in Scorpio. The "feel" of nearly all his songs is most definitely Scorpio, for me. Death features often, as does gloomy self-obsessed melancholia.


So....where's the gloom ? Could it be that through emphais on perfection-loving Virgo in his chart (data from Astrodatabank): Sun, Venus (the arts) and Neptune (creativity), he seeks a perfection that simply doesn't exist in this insane world, and his unsuccessful search tips him into gloom and despondency? Pluto, planet of death and darkness, in Cancer, lies in sextile to his Sun - perhaps that's an additional source of the dark feeling in his works. Moon in Pisces (ruled by Neptune) contributes that rather otherworldly flavour found often in Cohen's songs.

An old CD featuring songs of Leonard Cohen, performed by others, was on offer for a dollar on a recent junk store visit. It came home with us and has been on my media player constantly ever since. I was especially taken by the first track: Everybody Knows, sung on this CD by Don Henley, of The Eages. I'd never heard this one before, but notice how relevant it is to issues of today:

Snips from the lyrics ~

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows.............

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

First: The man himself singing, or rather narrating, Everybody Knows, in London, 2008. I do prefer the second version - Don Henley's - it's catchy, more tuneful and very easily sticks in the mind!