Arty Farty Friday ~ JOHFRA, Zodiac Signs, Magic Realism

Johfra - full name: Franciscus Johannes Gijsbertus Van Den Berg - known as Johfra Bosschart (Bosschart being his mother's maiden name), but often referred to simply as "Johfra". He was born in Rotterdam, Holland on 15 December 1919, lived in France from the 1960s until his death in 1998. Left: his self-portrait, as a faun.

His style, described in his autobiograpy, was "surrealism based on studies of psychology, religion, the Bible, astrology, antiquity, magic, witchcraft, mythology and occultism," is also categorised as meta-realism. Next to Dalí, Fuchs and Giger, Johfra was one of the founders of magic- or fantastic-realism in the 20th century

Best-known are his set of 12 paintings depicting signs of the zodiac. All 12 can be seen HERE, or HERE. I'll copy only Sagittarius, Johfra's Sun sign, and Aquarius, his rising sign. ( Astrodatabank gives an reliable AA rating to a birth time of 10.40 AM )










Sagittarius Sun & Mercury with Aquarius rising is really all the astrology we need in order to recognise the source of his subject matter - not forgetting Venus (planet of the arts) in out-of-sign harmonious trine to both Uranus in Aquarius (it's sign of rulership) and nightmare-ish Pluto in intuitive Cancer.

A blend of Sagittarius (philosophy, religion) with Aquarius (the weird and wonderfully eccentric) would almost certainly bring forth something along the lines we see in the examples of Johfra's work below. (See more via Google Image.)

Natal Moon, conjunct dynamic Mars in Libra, sign ruled by Venus planet of the arts, point to Johfra's innate artistic talent. I'd expect to see Neptune prominent too - and here the planet of creativity and dreams is conjunct Jupiter (expansion, exaggeration) and in mildly helpful semi-sextile to Saturn (tradition and discipline): here is the link to his throw-back to a traditional art style mixed with imaginative dream-like, occasionally nightmare-like subject matter.


From biography HERE

According to his second wife, Ellen Lrien, He was a dreamer as a child, very contemplative, who had difficulty concentrating in school. As opposed to his algebra lessons, he prefered to observe the minute patterns manifest in stones, roots, and the bark of trees. Clouds fascinated him especially, as he'd search them for faces and the play of light and shadow.
A talent for drawing manifest itself very early, and was recognized by the Royal Acadamy of Arts in the Hague when they accepted him, as an exceptional case, at the age of fourteen.
In fact, he gained little from the lectures and spent most of his time studying copies of antiquity from the collection in the cellars of the academy. Particularly the works of Da Vinci and Michelangelo appealed to him, and these masters remained a source of inspiration throughout his life.

In a Nazi propaganda pamphlet denouncing Ontaarde Kunst (Improper Art), Johfra came across the Surrealist works of Dali, Ernst, Tanguy, and Magritte. Particularly Dali's works struck a chord with him, and this modern master was added to his more classical pantheon. He began painting surrealist works with a classical technique in 1941.

Hermes Trismegistus




Witches' Sabbath


Woman and Face


Nostalgia for Lemuria

Pearl Guardian




Uniomystica

LIBRARY OF HALEXANDRIA , website of Dr. Daniel Sewell Ward

The website of Dr. Daniel Sewell Ward, Library of Halexandria contains pages and pages of fascinating information and ideas about the mystical, mysterious, hidden elements of life, history, religion, and other stuff, including astrology. There are sections on more down to earth subjects such as Discrimination, Common Sense, Education, etc. All is written in plain language spiced with humour. The Site Map is the best place to start and gives an indication of the scope of this amazing resource. Dr. Ward provides thousands of click-through links which can set you off on a long magical mystery tour, often causing you to forget what it was you were looking for in the first place!

I cannot recommend a visit to the Library of Halenxandria highly enough. Best first stop is the Site Map from which you'll see the vast variety of topics, mystical, scientific and mundane covered by Dr. Ward.

For the purposes of this post I'll concentrate on Dr. Ward's Astrology section:



Dr Daniel Sewell Ward is a scientist who does not try to discredit astrology, and therefore added to my shortish list of Good-Guy Scientists. He takes the same stance as Sir Isaac Newton did when he was asked how in the world he could believe in astrology: "I have studied the subject, Sir. You haven't."

Here are a few brief lines from the extensive section on astrology:

Astrology has been around for a very long time -- literally thousands of years before what currently passes for science. But in the spirit of the angry (and or spoiled) child, science has vilified astrology, to the point where one might be tempted to doubt astrology’s reality. The fundamental flaw, of course, is that so much of science does not recognize anything outside of its very narrow basis, including such things as Consciousness -- the basis of intelligent life -- and the influence by geometry on experiential aspects of life. Science, in fact, does not accept anything for which it does not have a consensus theoretical basis (everything else is anomalous behavior, which is routinely ignored until a consensus theory is promulgated). Science has applied reductionism to such an extent that science can truly not see the forest for the trees -- truly the mote in science’s eye.

About the author (photo and more HERE) ~~

Daniel holds (there's not much else to do with it) a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a Bachelor of Engineering Science from the same university. He is the author of over one hundred and fifty technical and semi-technical articles in a variety of scientific journals, magazines and conference proceedings, and has been doing research in a wide diversity of scientific disciplines and esoteric subjects for over three decades. (Actually longer, but he's trying to think young.) These subjects include nuclear and elementary particle physics, solar energy (including building the world's first solar heated and cooled house), the economics and politics of alternative energy systems, Zero-Point Energy, Cold Fusion, Sacred Geometry, ancient history, goddess-related topics, Hyperdimensional Physics, the enigma of Crop Circles, and the list goes on and on. As a true synergistic generalist, Dr. Ward is also a teacher, prolific writer, theoretical and experimental researcher, futurist, and unrepentant humorist (specializing in puns).

This postscript is probably quite unnecessary, I'm certain most passing readers will be aware of the source of the name of the website reviewed above: The Library of Alexandria.... if not, for full information see: Library of Alexandria Discovered by Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor ~~

"Alexandria was a major seat of learning in ancient times and regarded by some as the birthplace of western science.....".

FAIR USE ?

I received my first ever "cease and desist" letter from Blogger this week. Blogger, of course, is responsible for the content published in blogs it hosts, so any official complaints are received first by them. The letter told me that Blogger has "taken down" (i.e. reduced to a draft that remains unpublished) a post of mine from August this year.

The notification advised me that something in my post allegedly infringed on the copyright of others.
The letter didn't give me any detail of the complaint but linked to a site called Chilling Effects where cease and desist notices are filed for perusal. I was advised to see detail there. Unfortunately that site hasn't been updated since 4 December and Blogger's notice to me was dated 5 December. So I am not sure what part of my content was the source of a complaint, nor was I told the name of the complainant (which would be a clue, at least). I immediately informed Blogger Support of this, asked for further detail of the complaint, but 48 hours later am still in the dark.

I try to be very careful about the "Fair Use" guidelines in respect of copyright. In the relevant post I had used a paragraph from an astrologer's website to illustrate a point made with regard to a musical composition. I was careful to use a minumum of copyrighted content and added a long link to the astrologer's website with a very clear recommendation that readers go see the whole article there.

Maybe (if he be the complainant) that astrologer is especially sensitive about having a small amount of his content copied, even when intended as "fair use". But I'm not absolutely certain that the astrological quote was the problem.

I had also copied some extracts of song lyrics, which, again were used to help "prove" a point, as well as a couple of lines from another website about musical composition - also very clearly linked back to the original site.

All the linked content was, to my mind, being used fairly, and in accordance with Fair Use guidelines, in the interests of "education" or clarifying information - about astrology and how it "works". My blog's title: "Learning Curve on the Ecliptic" should give a clue as to what I try to achieve in many of my posts. I try to illustrate astrology "working" in real life, in such a way that those skeptical about the subject might pause to think about their objections, and wonder for a moment or two whether there could be another side to it after all.

As my profile declares, I'm not a professional astrologer. I offer nothing for sale, ask for no donations, carry no commercial adverts. I refer often to books or websites of "the pros", simply to illustrate a point or to add substance to my own, less-experienced, less astrologically-educated views.

Whichever brief quote I used in the "taken-down" post was the subject of complaint, I do not feel unjustified in using any of them. However, since I do not know to exactly what the compainant referred, I must leave the post in draft or delete it. I'm unable to modify it by removing the offending portion, without further information.

PS ~~ These lines are a means of "letting off steam"! If I have sinned, then I am entitled to know details of my sin, and the name of the person or body I have offended, it is unfair to simply have my post removed with no further detail offered. Still no response from Blogger.

Infidelity & Integrity, Personal & Political.

During the 2008 election-go-round Democrat and presidential candidate John Edwards' infidelity had news media and blogosphere all agog. The 2012 campaign cycle started early. Long before the primaries we have been reading of the misadventures of (now former) Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain.

As history appears to be rhyming yet again, I decided to bring forward part of a post from 2008 on the topic of fidelity and integrity.

I've been pondering just two matters from what is a multi-multi-faceted subject with many grey areas:

#1 Does infidelity to a spouse automatically mean lack of integrity in other areas - in one's career/professional life, for example ?

#2 Is there an astrological signature which would be likely to produce a marital infidel ?

Re: 1 My own opinion is that it's impossible to generalise. Individual circumstances have to be taken into account, but if asked for a blanket answer I'd have to say: yes.

Disloyalty in one area of life shows character weakness, which could spill into other areas. This doesn't, though, have any bearing on skills, talent or competence in the professional sphere. A person can be a cheating spouse but still be a brilliant architect, teacher, politician, plumber, builder, farmer........the crunch might come if an issue of loyalty were to arise in the workplace - to an employer or client, or to a constituent or constituency - then his/her weakness could well come to the fore.

Re: #2 I'm no expert, as I often point out, but I do have books. One I turn to first in matters such as this is Encyclopedia of Astrological Psychology by C.E.O. Carter. It's and oldie but goodie. There's no section on marital infidelity as such, but under "Loyalty" the astrologer says, among other things, that "the very mental horoscope is probably the least loyal by nature, and where the synthesis also shows much mutability.....we get something of a time-server and turncoat". The "mental horoscope" must refer to the Air signs, Gemini, Aquarius and Libra. Mutability = the mutable signs: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces. The sign found under both headings is our communicative, flexible, Mercurial friend ~ Gemini.
John Edwards has Sun, Moon, Jupiter and Mars all in Gemini. Chart can be seen here. Now that's a really simple, clear example. The planetary configuration of an unfathful partner could easily be far more complex.

Herman Cain has Sun, Mercury and Venus all in mutable Sagittarius, with Uranus in Gemini opposing the Sagittarius cluster. Moon's Nodal axis = Sagittarius/Gemini too - which all adds up to a goodly dose of mutability.

In some of the most famous instances of politicians being caught with their proverbial pants down, Bill Clinton and JFK for example, or, for a British counterpart, John Profumo, chart indications are certainly more complex than a simple mutable majority.

Two other personality traits feed in and support any potentiality to unfaithfulness: narcissism: love of oneself to the detriment of others; and a hankering for power. Astrological signatures for these have to be factored in.

Another important ingredient shouldn't be overlooked: opportunity. Why do we hear of so many pop stars, movie stars and famous politicians being unfaithful to their spouses? Opportunity! Adoring throngs are drawn to these people, it's seemingly an inbuilt trait of human nature.

I ought to add that not every person, male or female, with a surfeit of Gemini or any other mutable sign, in their natal chart is going to be a bad bet on the marriage front. As lawyers say, "all the circumstances of the case" must be taken into consideration.

The compounding of infidelity by lying about it, once found out, means the infidel's general integrity is also in doubt. Not all who stray lie about it when discovered, which doesn't excuse them, but it does hint at a tad more strength of character.

"We are all in the same boat in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty."
( G. K. Chesterton )

From my 2008 post I'm copying a few comments from my then, and happily still, blog-buddies: Wisewebwoman and R.J. Adams, which I think add a certain something to the post's content, I've copied my responses also. There are a few more comments at the original post.

RJ Adams~Ah, the reasoning of a woman! It tickles me how the focus of condemnation is aimed squarely on Edwards. No-one points accusingly at the woman who (maybe) enticed him to her bed.

The truth is these liaisons occur constantly, particularly when men and women are away from their home environment for prolonged periods and thrown together in unusual intimacy. In France it would scarcely raise a whisper. In the great moralistic hypocrite that is America, the media blossoms into yet another cracked and tuneless aria.

This is a sad matter to be worked out between Mr and Mrs. None of the rest of us should be involved. I believe it has more to do with hormones than character defects.

Twilight~"The reasoning of a woman", you say, condemnation aimed squarely on Edwards? Not here.

No, no, RJ. I was trying to approach this from a wider angle with a broad brush - the issue of loyalty, rather than speaking about an individual case, which as it happens is currently in the news, and happens to be a good example, astrologically.

You say these liaisons occur constantly. Maybe so, but not among those with loyalty etched deep into their psyche I'd wager!

France does not impress me much, whatever they whisper about.

The Edwards affair is indeed a sad matter, but he is a public figure, discussion is inevitable.

Hormones schmormones! If everyone is led by hormones alone the rest of our grey matter turns out to be superfluous then?


Wisewebwoman ~I think it all boils down to respect, T. Did he respect his wife? Not to judge anyone else (for Maude knows I've succumbed to temptation myself)but it appears not. I bring this up because of her cancer.
Would he respect the electorate? Hard to say.
It takes 2 to tango for sure. And wily, wilful paramours capitalize on their sexual prowess.
He succumbed to his primeval desires.
What drives me consistently MAD in all of this hypocritcal posturing is the fact that most of these affairs never come to light. I am reminded of Bush-the-Brighter and his long term mistress. Winston Churchill too, etc


Twilight ~ This is such a complex subject. I deleted a paragraph in my post where I'd said I felt as though I was skating rather badly over thin ice beneath which lay fathoms of stinky murky stuff.

It's hard not to be judgmental of those in public life when things like the Edwards affair arise. We ought not to be, but on the other hand, if they rise to great power, they have potential to be subject to blackmail, as well as further scandals, which do the country's reputation no good at all.

Politicians (of either sex) know that they skate on thin ice if they engage in affairs - one would expect them to be aware of it 24/7, but many seem to ignore the fact. I suspect that their vision of their own powerfulness blinds them to the dangers.


Wisewebwoman ~ Maybe I wasn't clear on what I was trying to say, T.
Men in power of all stripes have always had affairs, it appears to be part of the perks.
Very few have been exposed. And when they are,(Ken Starr & Clinton) the ravening frenzy of media hypocrisy takes over while they turn a blind eye to the peccadilloes of the others in power, Eisenhower, John Major, the Kennedys, Roosevelt, etc. to add a few more. I have always been puzzled by this and wonder about the back scratching between politicians and the press.

PS And I've seen some rather nasty pics of Edwards which show a completely different kind of hee-haw side to the man than what his previous persona appeared to be.


Twilight ~ Your first comment was clear, but I managed to waffle in response...lol!

Yes, in a way infidelities can be seen as a perk of the job, as you say. It's a similar situation to when The Lord of the Manor, in centuries past had his pick of the serving wenches whenever the urge took him - often by all accounts!
UGH!!!! That thought pains my socialist soul no end.

There are so many examples of the baddies in this respect, some surprising ones such as John Major. There surely have been some good boys too. I'm not well enough informed to know who they are/were.

If someone tells me that Dennis Kucinich cheated on his wife, I think I'll lose all faith! And my all-time hero in Britain, Tony Benn - never, never, never! :-)

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!

WINTER

Can't kid myself it's Fall any longer - it's December and Winter is upon us! No snow yet in this part of Oklahoma, but some very cold days and freezing nights. I decided to trawl once more through my husband's collection of "found photographs" at Lost Gallery to find some pics of winters long past. People were not quite as keen to be amateur photographers when it was cold outside, snow on the ground, but I found a few examples.


Snow for the young, or young at heart, has always meant - snowballs. Throw 'em, eat e'm, or just stand in the cold for a class photograph waiting for a chance to do either.

I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.
~ Dylan Thomas. From a Child's Christmas in Wales.

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? ~J.B. Priestley

Geting around in the snow ~ by plane, automobile or with help from a trusty four-legged friend ~~

These 'messengers' will not be hindered from accomplishing at their best speed the distance which they have to go, either by snow, or rain, or heat, or by the darkness of night. ~ Herodatus

A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together!
~Author Unknown

There's one good thing about snow, it makes your lawn look as nice as your neighbor's. ~ Clyde Moore

Winter fashion ~~~

There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.
~Alfred Wainwright

His fashion?

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.
~Carl Reiner

Time for the weather report. It's cold out folks. Bonecrushing cold. The kind of cold which will wrench the spirit out of a young man, or forge it into steel.
Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure, Lost and Found, 1992

Cat: "Snow? Not interested."

(There's an archived post along these lines with some summery photographs - see here .)

Arty Farty Friday ~ Rudolf Hausner's Fantastic Realism

Rudolf Hausner, painter, lithographer and etcher was born on 4 December 1914 in Vienna, Austria. He died in 1995.

Born as World War 1 began, he had reached young adulthood as World War2 erupted. He had studied art at The Academy in Vienna. In 1938 the ruling nazi party confiscated many of his paintings, branding them "degenerate". He was drafted into the German army and served until war's end in 1945. He returned to Vienna. The horrors of war were still fresh in the memories of citizens, the destruction visited upon their city ever evident, as were barricades, checkpoints, occupation zones, food stamps, shortages and the black market.

Hausner became engrossed in study of the unconscious and the art of Surrealists. Along with Wolfgang Hutter and Anton Lehmden, in 1947 he founded the Viennese School of Fantastic Realism. During the 1950's and 60's this art movement became one of Austria's most important, with Hausner its key influential artist. He concurrently held principal teaching posts at the academies of Vienna and Hamburg.

The complex subject matter in Hausner's paintings is based on potent symbolic imagery. There's a constantly recurring image of the first man, Adam. Adam in Hausner's paintings is part auto-biographical, part archetype. Another image he favoured was a man or boy in a sailor's cap. He claimed that this symbolized the myth of Odysseus and his epic voyages on the seas. It also is representative of the artist's own boyhood and integrated relationships of youth and age within the self.

Hausner's masterpiece, The Ark of Odysseus, was completed in 1956. He had worked on the painting for six years. It depicts the hero as a self-portrait and was a precursor to the series of Adam paintings in which Hausner painted his own features.







Very significant in Hausner's chart is Venus, planet of the arts in close harmonious trine aspect to Neptune, planet of creativity, dreams - and I guess, therefore the unconscious. Sun Mars and Venus in Sagittarius provide strong Sagittarian credentials: a philosophic and buoyant nature. From eccentric Uranus in its home sign Aquarius, along with Jupiter forming helpful sextile aspects to the Sagittarius planets comes his pull to portray the extraordinary and the fantastic. There's realism here too though, and clear technical painting skills comparable even to those of the Old Masters. I see this as relating to Saturn's position at 00 Cancer in scratchy quincunx (150*) aspect to Venus at 00 Sagittarius. His work portrays the extraordinary, the phantasmagorical and issues arising from the unconscious, but he uses traditional skills and disciplines to produce his paintings - fantastic realism!

Some examples:
















See also:

http://rogallery.com/Hausner_Rudolf/Hausner-bio.htm
http://surrealistisch.blogspot.com/2010/11/rudolf-hausner.html
http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/hausner1.html

Will There Be "Son of Occupy"? Will its Saturn side start to show?

As the Occupy Movement's visible presence begins to fade, as we suspected it would, either by force or due to winter weather, journalists and bloggers are taking sides for and gainst the view that either OWS has been either an abject failure, or alternatively has done a worthwhile job of raising awareness and will winter "underground", revitalising come springtime 2012. (Photograph from http://www.phibetaiota.net/)

It's obvious that, if OWS's main aim was to raise awareness, they succeeded. The movement's best known signature: 99% versus 1%, in spite of its over-generalisation has caught a mass attention that was absent this time last year.

If I had to give a zodiac sign to the Occupy movement(s) it'd be Aquarius. Aquarius has 2 rulers: Uranus and Saturn. We've seen the Uranian, surprisingly unexpected side of Occupy, now I believe its Saturn side should come to the fore, at least for a while.

"The end of consciousness-raising leaves people with no place to go, and the lack of structure leaves them with no way of getting there...."

That quote comes from a feminist book Quiet Rumours: An Anarcha-Feminist Reader . The feminist movement aimed to be "structureless", using "horizontal" decision making rather than hierarchal. OWS has aimed to emulate this and to remain leaderless. With no figurehead(s) to act as targets, they feel individuals remain less vulnerable to attack. The feminist movement must have dealt with similar problems. There's a very good good piece on these very issues, written by Jo Freeman :

The Tyranny of Structurelessness

SNIPS:
(Highlighting is my own)

"Contrary to what we would like to believe, there is no such thing as a structureless group. Any group of people of whatever nature that comes together for any length of time for any purpose will inevitably structure itself in some fashion........

....... A "laissez faire" group is about as realistic as a "laissez faire" society; the idea becomes a smokescreen for the strong or the lucky to establish unquestioned hegemony over others. This hegemony can be so easily established because the idea of "structurelessness" does not prevent the formation of informal structures, only formal ones."

"The more unstructured a movement is, the less control it has over the directions in which it develops and the political actions in which it engages.... Given a certain amount of interest by the media and the appropriateness of social conditions, the ideas will still be diffused widely. But diffusion of ideas does not mean they are implemented; it only means they are talked about. Insofar as they can be applied individually they may be acted on; insofar as they require coordinated political power to be implemented, they will not be."

I've been on the side of OWS from the get-go, but lately have wondered about their insistence on remaining leaderless. Leaders are a part of our nature, human nature, and the nature of many of our fellow creatures on planet Earth. Think of a V-shaped flight of geese, a pack of wolves, the bees with their Queen - and so on.

OWS would argue that "hierarchies have been tried - look what happened. We must try something different", they'd say. Hierarchies, of one sort or another, have been part and parcel of human history and experience - forever. Like it or not, they are an embedded part of our nature. The 21st century trick will, in my opinion, be to allow for hierarchies of wealth, but to protect those at the base of the pyramid. Legislation should be put in place to ensure that the wealth of the top tier should not be allowed to subjugate those beneath. I'm using a bit of hyperbole there -subjugation was more Roman Empire style.....Hmmm - I don't know though, maybe I'm not using hyperbole after all.

One of the biggest problems (I believe it to be THE biggest) for the 99% in the USA is the now unlimited ability of the most wealthy 1%, both corporate and individual, to buy power via lobbying with "benefits" and HUGE contributions to political campaigns of those running for seats in Senate or House or as president. Not to mince words: bribery.

To make such a dent on the status quo would require a Constitutional amendment. That would involve an impossibly high level of politicical support. Politicans are bought and paid for by the very people who would lose out badly if such a dent in the status quo were to come to pass.

Catch 22!!!

If OWS would adopt, initially, a spokesperson to present a single defined aim (the one above for example), publicise it among supporters online and elsewhere, also offering a means of showing support - e.g. financial support for TV adverts or billboards. A strong, charismatic leader might eventually emerge. A figure from their own ranks, or a known public figure. (Importantly without links to the two-headed one-bodied Democrat/Republican monstrosity). Such a figure, wielding a certain amount of clout, with intention to influence other heavy-hitters, could herald the next stage of OWS or "Son of OWS".

I realise that this idea isn't in line with the ideology OWS has embraced, so far. But - when you're playing on a square-shaped sports field, it's not helpful to keep complaining that the game would be better played on a circular one. Use what skills are available to try to win the game on the field as it stands, then the ability go about shape-shifting would be yours.

For a more positive assessment of Occupy's current situation see Occupy: We Are the World, by Patrick Kingsley and Adam Gabbatt at Common Dreams.

And - one I've just seen, re our Oklahoma City contingent - good on 'em, and especially on Jay Vehige!

Arrested for Supporting Local Business: Occupying Black Friday at the Big Boxes in Oklahoma City, by Lori Spencer