STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND ?

Lately, with the likes of Rick Santorum collecting the majority of Oklahomans' votes in the Republican presidential primary, Senator James Inhofe publishing his book on "the hoax" that is global warming; the half-assed Affordable Health Care Act, which even as flawed as it is could not gain enough approval to stay out of the cluches of the Supreme Court - I feel more than ever a stranger in a strange land.

Some days, when feeling mellow, I tell myself that, had I emigrated to a country in, for instance, the Far East or Africa, I'd have found there a vastly different culture from that I'd experienced for most of my life. I wouldn't have found it surprising, I wouldn't have felt the urge to complain about what I might have considered the peculiar, illogical, unfair or unjust aspects of it. I'd have simply told myself, "this is what it is, put on your big girl panties and deal with it!" But coming to the USA, where they use the same language (well - almost), and roughly similar customs, it's difficult to accept the different cultural mindset I find here in Oklahoma, and in neighbour state Texas.

Maybe it's not the USA or even Oklahoma at fault - maybe it's me. Maybe it's my Aquarius Sun, or my Aries Moon in conflict with Oklahoma's Scorpio statehood sign, or the USA's strong Cancerian links. I do have Cancer rising though.....

Don't know....

Stranger in a Strange Land? Someone wrote the book.

Stranger in a Strange Land, a science fiction novel by a master of that genre, Robert Heinlein. Overview of plot from Spark Notes

Humankind sends its first human expedition to Mars. The spaceship's crew arrives on the planet and are never heard from again. Twenty-five years later, another mission is sent, and the child of two of the first ship's crew-members, who has been born on Mars and raised by the peculiar Martian race, is discovered and brought back to Earth. Because of various legal precedents, Valentine Michael Smith, the Man from Mars, is the inheritor to a vast fortune, and because of another precedent Mike has a claim to legal ownership of the planet Mars. Therefore he has the potential to be massively influential in matters of Earth politics... Mike slowly teaches his body to adapt to the Earth's atmosphere and he begins learning Earth culture and language, which differ enormously from Martian ways of thought.

Some quotes from Stranger in a Strange Land - from a list at Goodreads.com

"The country and culture commonly known as "America" had had a badly split personality all through its history. Its overt laws were almost always puritanical for a people whose covert behavior tended to be Rabelaisian; its major religions were all Apollonian in varying degrees---its religious revivals were often hysterical in a fashion almost Dionysian."

"Come Judgment Day, we may find that Mumbo Jumbo the God of the Congo was the Big Boss all along."

"I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much . . . because it's the only thing that'll make it stop hurting."

"God made alcohol and he made feet - and he made 'em so you could put 'em together and be happy!"

So....I'll laugh, drink up and ......erm put my feet together?

RICK SANTORUM 2016?

Rick Santorum, "dark horse". I had been hoping that honour would go to Jon Huntsman. Santorum really did come from behind (no pun intended re the definition of his surname in the slang or urban dictionaries).

The Republicans' campaign for nomination of presidential candidate has developed in increasingly bizarre directions. Santorum makes Rick Perry seem like a benign, if rather scatty, uncle.....And there I was, a few weeks/months ago, thinking that it was Perry who'd try to lead the USA into Dominionism.

Curiouser and curiouser!

I've avoided looking at Santorum's chart 'til now. What prompted me to do so was remark - almost a throw-away remark, part of a comment on a political website....it went something like this:

...even if Romney cannot steal the White House from Obama in 2012, Santorum will be the Republican frontrunner in 2016 and it will be their turn.....

Bearing in mind the pendulum-swing effect which is commonly a part of electoral patterns, and because Santorum, barring any bad slip-ups in the future, will have a feather in his cap for doing so well in this campaign......need I go on?

Here's Santorum's natal chart, set for 12 noon, in the absence of a birth time. I'm not going to interpret it fully - astrologers have done that already, and their views on it are easily accessible via Google search. I'm looking only for anything indicating some big change in the guy's life, due to happen around 2016.



Most significant indication of change is this: by November 2017 transiting Saturn will reach the exact degree it held at the time Santorum was born - this is known as a "Saturn Return". For Santorum, it'll be the second such event in his life cycle thus far.

In layman's language from Wiki:

In astrology, the Saturn return is an alleged phenomenon which is described as influencing a person's life development at 27 to 29 or 30-year intervals. These intervals or "returns" coincide with the approximate time it takes the planet Saturn to make one orbit around the sun, i.e. 29.4 years. It is believed by astrologers that, as Saturn "returns" to the degree in its orbit occupied at the time of birth, a person crosses over a major threshold and enters the next stage of life. With the first Saturn return, a person leaves youth behind and enters adulthood. With the second return, maturity. And with the third and usually final return, a person enters wise old age. These periods are estimated to occur at roughly the ages of 28-30, 56-60 and 84-90

Although November 2017 is a year after the 2016 General Election, I still see his Saturn Return as significant in this context. I recall reading that Saturn Returns can be "felt" a year or so before and after Saturn hits one's exact birth degree. The indication of lifestyle change could manifest in a number of ways, connected or unconnected with his political aspirations. It'll be interesting to watch what happens.

Of course, should Mitt Romney (or any other Republican) beat President Obama in November - all bets are off. In 2016 we'd then be waiting for a left-winger (a real one this time) to save the day.

All things considered, astrology aside, I'm leaning towards 4 years of Romney being the better outcome. That would almost certainly ensure Santorum would never get anywhere near The White House in 2016. With a President Romney there'd likely be no discernible difference from the last 4 years with President Obama, but the Democrats might start opposing stuff that Obama would have managed to get away with free and clear - that alone could make a President Romney worthwhile! Then, come 2016, with The People more awake than ever after continued efforts by The Occupy movement, the road would begin to turn sharply towards that real time of revolution and reform(hopefully bloodless) that I reckon will be due in or around 2025.

SUPER TUESDAY ~ Romney, Santorum, Kucinich, Oklahoma

Soo...it's Super Tuesday today in the USA.

For a gal who spent most of her life using the comparatively simple electoral system of the UK, what goes on in electoral USA is a constant source of confusion. For any passing reader who's not familiar with the complex US system, Super Tuesday is the day when a large number of states hold their primary elections. Our state, Oklahoma along with 9 others will vote today.

Voters nominate their chosen presidential/or other candidate. Results for the presidential nominee will determine the number of delegates who will attend the party's national convention at which a presidential candidate is officially nominated.

This delegate thing confuses me no end. As I understand it, a delegate attends the relevant party's national convention as the personification of a block of many thousands of voters who voted for a particular candidate. The delegates at the conventions vote for the parties' official nominees, so the more delegates, the better chance of winning. There's a variety of ways of counting and allocating delegates, but I'm not going into that.....even less the electoral college! I truly am still confused by the seemingly unnecessary complexity of it all!

This time around it's basically a Republican primary because the incumbent President is not being nationally challenged by any Democrat....though oddly there will four other names on Oklahoma voting papers under the Democrat presidential heading: obscure "wannabes",I guess! If one of these happens to stand marginally to the left of Obama (not a difficult stance), disaffected Democrat voters might favour that candidate in order just to make a statement.

None of this need worry yours truly though. I'm democratic socialist, registered Independent, and now so very glad I opted to be so, rather than registering as a Democrat. That party has lost any vestige of support I might have otherwise dredged up. Unless there's an Independent candidate on the sheet (there isn't), I'm not allowed to vote.

My husband, being a registered Democrat was treated to one of those dreadful robo-calls yesterday morning, from one of the 4 Democrats appearing on the ballot sheet, one Randall Terry, noted as being a "pro-lifer". Husband said the call began with "You know, of course that Obama is directly responsible for killing babies". My husband put the phone down.

If we're being deadly accurate, yes Obama is directly responsible for killing babies - brown-skinned babies - in several Middle East locations. I'm pretty darn certain that Randall Terry was not, and would not ever refer to those babies! The babies he's concerned about are not babies at all, and they are the sole concern of the woman who bears them in her womb - certainly none of his business. Grrrrr!

10 states will vote today: Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virgina. A total of 437 delegates are at stake. Alaska (27), Georgia (76), Idaho (32), Massachusetts (41), North Dakota (28), Ohio (66), Oklahoma (43), Tennessee (58), Vermont (17), and Virginia (49).

Here's the astrological chart for today, 12 noon in Washington DC.



Compare today's planetary positions in the above chart to those in natal charts of Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum (data borrowed from Astrodatabank). Romney and Santorum are said to be the main contenders; so far Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul have trailed in other recent primary results.

For Romney I don't see much indication either way, win/lose. He has Sun/Mercury/Mars in Pisces natally and Sun's in Pisces today. He ought to be in harmony with the day's flavour I guess - can't be bad!

Santorum has transiting Saturn (restriction) conjoining his natal Jupiter (expansion, luck) and opposing his natal Mercury (communication)- not good in these circumstances!


Romney:




Santorum:









There are congressional seats up for grabs too, and primary voting for these will proceed today in relevant states. One of these in particular interests me. Democratic Representative Dennis Kucinich's district in Cleveland, Ohio has been subject to re-districting (aka gerrymandering) by the Republican state legislature. Consequence is that Kucinich must fight another incumbent Democrat, Marcy Kaptur, for the seat.

Kucinich has been an anti-war voice and a supporter of what we have come to term "the 99%" for many years, and is probably a thorn in President Obama's side. The Prez took Kucinich on a flight in Airforce One last year, during which Kucinich's mind was miraculously changed about voting against the healthcare reform bill which did not include a "public option". Afterwards Kucinich said

"This wasn't about the kind of deal-making that is essentially self-defeating. That's not what my support is all about here. I come at it from a different level, taking a more historic, long-term view, [with the aim to] empower our president and the Congress to start to move the country forward, notwithstanding the differences we have."

I then lost confidence in Dennis Kucinich, who had up until then been one of only two in congress for whom I could summon enthusiasm. I'd hate to see Kucinich lose his seat though. He remains one of two people in the whole of congress to whose ideals I can relate....I just wish he'd stick to his guns!

His chart:


Transiting Saturn in very late Libra is close to Kucinich's natal Mercury and Jupiter in the first degrees of Scorpio. Not helpful, I'm not optimistic about his chances today, but hope I'm wrong. If he loses to Ms Kaptur today, perhaps he'll seek to run for a vacant seat in some other state....but I wonder how much support he'd get from the DNC, he hasn't had much in the past.


UPDATE ~ It was "in the stars" - Dennis Kucinich lost his seat in the House of Representatives. As long as his voice continues to be heard, all is not lost.