With bells on...

I'm at a loss how to comment, with any good sense, about US politics (or even about British politics, especially Brexit) these days. "Sometimes the only thing you can do is stare blankly."* For now, I'll rely on anyone remaining more clear-headed than I'm feeling:
(*A line from "The Long Earth" by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter - my current read.)

Jim Haygood, a regular in the comments section at naked capitalism, on 17 October wrote, in the afternoon "Water Cooler" segment:

Truthdig has posted an awesome interview of Chris Hedges by WSWS.

Excerpt:

Cris Hedges: Politicians like the Clintons, Pelosi and Schumer are creations of Wall Street. That is why they are so virulent about pushing back against the Sanders wing of the Democratic Party. Without Wall Street money, they would not hold political power.

The Democratic Party doesn’t actually function as a political party. It’s about perpetual mass mobilization and a hyperventilating public relations arm, all paid for by corporate donors. The base of the party has no real say in the leadership or the policies of the party, as Bernie Sanders and his followers found out. They are props in the sterile political theater.

These party elites, consumed by greed, myopia and a deep cynicism, have a death grip on the political process. They’re not going to let it go, even if it all implodes.

Bring it, Lord!

INDEEDY! (With bells on!)

I'll add a little more from the Chris Hedges interview, this on identity politics:

Chris Hedges: Well, identity politics defines the immaturity of the left. The corporate state embraced identity politics. We saw where identity politics got us with Barack Obama, which is worse than nowhere. He was, as Cornel West said, a black mascot for Wall Street, and now he is going around to collect his fees for selling us out.

My favorite kind of anecdotal story about identity politics:
Cornel West and I, along with others, led a march of homeless people on the Democratic National Convention session in Philadelphia. There was an event that night. It was packed with hundreds of people, mostly angry Bernie Sanders supporters. I had been asked to come speak. And in the back room, there was a group of younger activists, one who said, “We’re not letting the white guy go first.” Then he got up and gave a speech about how everybody now had to vote for Hillary Clinton. That’s kind of where identity politics gets you. There is a big difference between shills for corporate capitalism and imperialism, like Corey Booker and Van Jones, and true radicals like Glen Ford and Ajamu Baraka. The corporate state carefully selects and promotes women, or people of color, to be masks for its cruelty and exploitation.....The new form of feminism is an example of the poison of neoliberalism. It is about having a woman CEO or woman president, who will, like Hillary Clinton, serve the systems of oppression....

Conventionally Speaking

As this is my first opportunity to watch a political party's Convention in the USA, I dutifully sat in front of the TV for hours last evening taking in the sights and sounds of The Democrats. I tried to avoid the irritating meanderings of MSNBC's and CNN's commentators and watched most of the proceedings on PBS, or as it's known in Oklahoma, KETA. The commentators and presenters there are less excitable, more down to earth.

Astrologically, how to approach this? It's early in the morning, with only a half a cup of coffee downed, but I'll look at the astrology of three speech-makers I remember best from last night: Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, and Michelle Obama, to see how they shaped up against their charts, particularly against natal Mercury, as this Convention is purely an exercise in communication.

Nancy Pelosi spoke first. She was a disappointment, as she has been throughout the past two years in Congress. She has Sun and Jupiter in Aries, Moon in Scorpio, and 4 planeets in Taurus - that's a pretty powerful combination. To be sure, the lady must have "the smarts" and the drive to have become first female Speaker of the House. That didn't come over, to me, last night. Her speech was uninspiring, pedantic and poorly delivered. She has Mercury in Pisces, perhaps not the most dynamic of Mercury placements. That soft-pedalling Mercury might have served her speech-making to the masses better from Aries or Taurus.

Ted Kennedy was impressive. To be able to stand in front of the Convention and millions watching on TV all over the world, deliver an inspiring speech, after what he has been through recently, can only be described as heroic. I agreed with every word he said, but wondered why he hadn't endorsed Hillary Clinton, so keen is he on reforming health care in the USA. Ted Kennedy has Sun in Pisces, Mercury and Mars in Aquarius, Venus and Uranus in Aries, Moon in Virgo, and Capricorn rising with Saturn in Capricorn, first house. His Aquarius came over strongly, via Mercury and Mars, and spoke to me clearly!

Thirdly, the night's "keynote speaker", Barack Obama's wife, Michelle. Sun and Mercury in Capricorn, Moon in either Pisces or Aquarius (I suspect the latter), Mars and Saturn in Aquarius. I didn't expect to be as impressed as I was. My husband wishes me to add that he was greatly impressed by her too. She has had some bad press throughout the primary season. She was on her very best behaviour last night, of course, so I shall not get too excited! Her delivery was the best of the night, I thought, by far. She held my interest, said all the right things, was expressive, very fluent - a better speaker than her husband, all in all. I began to wish it was she who'd be running in the General Election! Probably I was relating to her Aquarian bits, and her Mercury in Capricorn(same as my own). I found it easy to appreciate her style.

The three speakers I featured have winter/spring zodiac signs prominent, interesting but probably inconsequential.

Overall impression: it's fun, razzamatazz, self congratulatory, back slapping stuff, not to be taken too seriously. What they do can be a very different matter from what they say.

Disappointment

Nancy Pelosi has turned out to be one of my biggest disappointments to date as an example of a woman in power. She is the first woman to serve as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. As the highest-ranking elected woman in American history, she is second in the line of presidential succession.

She has shown herself to be spineless, along with most of her Democratic colleagues, male and female. I expected so much more of a Sun Aries, whatever the gender - but I forgot about that stellium (4 planets) in Taurus. Stubborn? Ultra-stubborn! And supportive of the status quo.
(Chart for 12 noon - no time of birth available).



She has taken impeachment (of Dick Cheney and/or George W. Bush) "off the table" and remains determined, with John Conyers (chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and a Sun Taurean) to keep it there.

The courageous attempt by Dennis Kucinich last week to bring the matter to the attention of Congress again with his resolution HR 333 (regarding the impeachment of VP Dick Cheney) could have been more successfully received with her support and encouragement. Instead it has been returned to the Judiciary Committee where they report that they are "too busy" to deal with it.

"For Dennis Kucinich, nothing and no one will suppress his allegiance to his country and to his abiding principle of strength through peace.

So when Speaker Pelosi tells the cowards in her House that “impeachment is off the table” because the fight to impeach is too hard, Kucinich doesn’t believe her. No one ever told him being a Congressman would be easy. No one ever told him maintaining democracy was a cinch. When the President and Vice President commit acts as egregious as lying the nation into illegal war, illegally surveilling their own citizens, endorsing and allowing torture, and more, the strong don’t stay quiet. It’s the weak, like Pelosi, Hoyer, Emanuel, Clyburne, Boehner, Murtha, Blunt, and over 400 others in Pelosi’s House of Wacks - Democrats and Republicans alike - who do......"
(From an article HERE)

Ms Pelosi's Mercury in Pisces sextiles Uranus/Venus in Taurus - soft, wimpy but very stubborn. Even rebellious Uranus isn't getting a look in, it seems. Saturn at 00 Taurus squares Pluto at 00 Leo, which one would expect to indicate a pretty powerful square-off between the powers of structure, rules and laws (Saturn) and transformatory Pluto - it doesn't seem to be working well....or maybe it does, depending on how one sees things.

I watched Ms Pelosi on TV last week hosting the Jefferson Jackson Dinner, when six of the Democratic presidential candidates gave speeches. She came over to me as a slightly nervous person, unsure of what she was doing, rather jittery. I was surprised. So very different from Hillary Clinton. I'm not a fan of Ms Clinton, due to the strings the corporations must surely have upon her after she has accepted all those huge donations, but I do have to admire her confidence and showmanship.

Nancy Pelosi might well be a delightful companion and a capable adminstrator in normal times, but times are not normal, and she is not fulfilling her duty. Anyone who can take the time to read articles and comments around the internet will have gathered that there has been an outcry from US citizens for impeachment proceedings to take place. E-mails, telephone calls and letters have in their thousands been sent to members of Congress encouraging them to support Congressman Kucinich's efforts. Nancy Pelosi could have been instrumental in leading that support - she failed. I believe she has failed her party's supporters, failed her gender, and failed her country.