new article on Starlight News, American Militarism

[Nancy Waterman]

http://starlightnews.com

With the advent of the Bush 2 Regime, and especially since 9/11/01, the cloak of militarism has settled ever more firmly on America’s shoulders, wrapping itself tightly around the national psyche. The painful emotions born on that fateful September day were the initial fuel for this rampant mood of aggression, igniting a legitimate urge to strike back and defeat those who had attacked us. Skillfully manipulating the fear and outrage of that dark hour, however, the Bush administration quickly inflated the War on Terror to embrace preemptive strikes on nations that one day might pose a threat or might give weapons to terrorists. The besieged and occupied Iraq is, of course, the primary example of this recipe for never-ending war, but murmured threats now include Syria, Iran, and anyone else who might get in our way.

On the news shows and from the punditry, we hear constantly about “the enemy” and what this omnipresent force might do to us if given half a chance. We are kept in a state of continual vigilance by the administration’s spokespeople, always reminded of our need to destroy those who are “evil” and attack them “there” rather than “here”. The increasingly lucrative, mega-billion dollar defense industry, using some of its war-profiteering loot, saturates our media with slick ads about how it is helping us “defeat the enemy” with its cutting-edge technology. And meanwhile, a larger and larger share of our hard-earned tax dollars is going to the bloated defense department budget for building increasingly lethal weaponry, for creating the exorbitant and non-functional anti-missile system, for maintaining over 700 military and intelligence bases worldwide, for developing a new, improved form of bunker-busting nuclear weapon that can be used in combat situations, and for meticulously planning the military and technological mastery of space. Summing up this grim martial reality in one succinct image, Doonesbury’s Garry Trudeau has depicted George W. Bush, since early in his first term, as the garish helmet of a conquering Roman emperor-general.

[robertarctor]

1. Nicely put, Nancy

So Mars and Uranus are the wild cards here? I'd really love to see Bush and the PNACzis brought to justice, but it looks like we're stuck with them and the consequences of their ill-considered actions.

[FreedomAngel82]

3. Me too

It would be nice. Do you get anything with Bush past late summer/early fall with Bush? Whenever I sit to meditate on him and his presdiency (heh) I don't get anything past that time frame. Do you? Maybe I'm just blocking it. I love your website!

[Me.]

2. Terrific Nancy!

Now if I've got this right, Shrubco has a bumpy summer and then really begins to go downhill in Sept.? Also, those 11th house problems in 2007, could they signal impeachment? And what about DMS, any kick/traction? To me, your article was saying it's not going to be easy, but the worst is nearly over for us regarding the evil doer and his cronies.

Sorry for so many questions but this article got the brain cells whirring.

[FreedomAngel82]

4. Interesting

I was thinking about this another day or so and I figured that we might see Bush impeached in 2007. We have to win back 2006 and hold investigation's of everything. I think once that happens everything will go down hill. Things are slowly beginning to now but not fast enough. I think once it really starts happening and we do win seats in 2006 and we're the majority again it will all go really fast and they'll try to stop it but they won't be the majority again. I hope the worst is over. I think Bush and his gang still want to go to Iran for that pipeline but I read last month an article someone posted from Bilderberg and a meeting and a lot of them were against it and nobody was agreeing fully, so I don't think we'll be going to Iran because I got the sense those who were against Iran aren't going to change their mind.

[Nancy Waterman]

5. I am not at all sure about impeachment

But anything is possible.

It looks difficult through July, then he may get feisty and nasty in August, with consequences for it in September. Difficulties pretty much through June of 2007 after that, but then he may have some release at that point. Saturn will be done with his Leo points after June 2007.

What I am not sure about is the Chiron energy. Does it wound him and leave him crippled? This could be a failed Iraq and/or DSM issues. If he is completely tarred with the failed policy and lying to us to create it, even if the GOP don't impeach, which I doubt they would, he could really be crippled (Chiron). There are a lot of Chiron progressions through 2007 and 2008. I have also wondered if he will attempt another war in 2008 to help the GOP's election.

[Me.]

7. One More Question

please. With the Cheney comments, I'm hoping, they backfire and he is on the beginning of his way to hell in a hand basket along with his dummy.

Also, are you going to submit the first part of this article for the front page? The points you make re: male/female, are very important.

[Nancy Waterman]

10. I did submit it, but have heard (as usual) nothing.

I submitted it on Friday late, before I had finished the astrological part. So maybe there is still some hope.

Thanks for the encouragement.

[stellanoir]

6. great analysis again Nance

Yet as far as the Ying/Yang analogy goes, I think we all have to be ever mindful that at the center of the dark is lightness and at the center of the light is darkness. It's always seemed to me as though we are catapulted from one polarity to the other until we find the squiggle in the middle. That is the center of all form. The duality model is just a ruse.

Beyond that, I've never thought a two party system could ever produce anything but an intractable polarity. Like Coke and Pepsi, Burger King and McDonald's, there isn't a whole lot of difference. It's a faux competition that creates an illusion of competition when it's all the same corporate interests who are pulling the strings.

I'm an astrologer. I wish we were more like Canada and had an infinite number of parties (at least 12) to reflect our innate and wonderous diversities. It would be far more reflective of our culture.

Drives me nuts. But thanks again for your insigtht.

[Nancy Waterman]

8. Terrific David Podvin article on Dean and the Dems

http://makethemaccountable.com/podvin/more/050612_DeanCuckoosNest.htm

The collective unconcious is working:

The Republicans treat the Democrats with undisguised contempt, and the Democrats just take it. Worse, the Democrats explode in rage at anyone who notices. This pathology has been compared to Battered Spouse Syndrome, but battered spouses exhibit infinitely more self-respect than Democratic pols.

[NJCher]

9. some add'l info

Remember the astrologer who wrote about bush at educate-yourself? I corresponded with her a few times and I excerpt this from one of our e-mails:

If we survive the time of Saturn's retreat until about the end of May without yet another war, we may be safer. Then perhaps the only task for well-meaning people will be a further uncovering of lies, the deposing of the false monarch and dealing with the consequences of the existing (botched) Crusade. But then, Jupiter and Ketu will be together in the heavens for a while. That is good, although it is a tense situation. I will study it some more and send you an update if you wish.

Here's something else she has to say, this from an e-mail in May:

It is perhaps unfortunate that many readers are unaware of the fact that Vedic astrology excels at timing and forecasting events. Western astrology is a Sun-based system, which excels at giving character delineations and inclinations. We both learn from each other in this age. I thought based on Bush's reading that his downfall will be money and economics, and lies would come second. I have not yet seen the chart of the United States, though. It would be interesting to do it with an exact hour and minute. Do you know when the US Constitution was ratified? I only know the day, and that it was probably around 11 a.m. or noon, but I may be wrong on that. One could certainly find out many things from a mundane chart cast for the exact moment.


If anyone has the info re the Constitution ratification, I'll write her back and we'll see what she says.


Cher

[Nancy Waterman]

11. I have it buried somewhere

I will try and find it. I use the 7/4/76 chart.


One thing I didn't mention in the article (there was actually a lot, I couldn't fit it all in) was the progressed Inaugural Ascendant that is now in square to the Inauguarl Neptune. It started in May and signfies how much more obvious all of the deceptions are now. It is a pretty tight natal square, so it colors the whole 4 years, but this aspect makes it especially strong from 5/05 through 1/06. The solar arc Asc square Neptune is from 8/05 to 8/06. I think the first progression might be stronger, but in any event, note that the issue of the DSM which is primarily deception, is now coming up. This issue of deception and the distrust people will have for the administration will grow over the next year. I continue to wonder if this is the chironian wound the adminstration will suffer that will cripple it but may not impeach (due to rRepublican cowardice and corruption).

[Mandate My Ass]

12. Wow, good stuff, Nancy

And when the Democrats find their true voice and let it ring out loud and clear, unintimidated by the local bullies, one of the questions they might ask the American people is this: do you want your country to be an autocratic planetary thug that pours all its resources into military prowess while its much-vaunted democracy withers under the strain of imperialism, or do you want to reclaim the intent of the founding fathers and harness your creative might and your bold enterprising spirit to make a more fruitful, healthy, freedom-loving nation in a peaceful world?


:applause:

If Saturn is as harsh to him as it's been to me during the past two years, I could almost feel sorry for him. On second thought, Nah!

[Dover]

13. Nice article Nancy. I think any change in our militarism will have to

come from within the Pentagon, and from pressures from other countries. We are talking about HUGE sums of money and contractual agreements tied up in the Military Industrial Complex. And I think they, in collaboration with certain corporate interests, are the ones 'in charge' and driving foreign policy as much as the Bushies. In fact some of these corporate leaders have boasted that THEY wrote the policies.
Suggested reading:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=128286

But as Iraq policy continues to fail and those who have invested in it find they are throwing good money after bad, and other countries become united against our policies using trade and economic leverage, and as our country sours on 'WAR' and more and more parents turn their children away from participation in this military charade, MAYBE internal forces will begin to make the necessary shift in paradigms.

Just saw this article posted in LBN (was moved to the 9/11 forum).
I'm not yet sure what to make of it.....

Former Bush Team Member Says WTC Collapse Likely A Controlled Demolition And 'Inside Job'

Highly recognized former chief economist in Labor Department now doubts official 9/11 story, claiming suspicious facts and evidence cover-up indicate government foul play and possible criminal implications.
June 12, 2005
By Greg Szymanski

A former chief economist in the Labor Department during President Bush's first term now believes the official story about the collapse of the WTC is 'bogus,' saying it is more likely that a controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent Building No. 7.

"If demolition destroyed three steel skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an 'inside job' and a government attack on America would be compelling," said Morgan Reynolds, Ph.D, a former member of the Bush team who also served as director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis headquartered in Dallas, TX.

Reynolds, now a professor emeritus at Texas A&M University, also believes it's 'next to impossible' that 19 Arab Terrorists alone outfoxed the mighty U.S. military, adding the scientific conclusions about the WTC collapse may hold the key to the entire mysterious plot behind 9/11.

"It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause(s) of the collapse of the twin towers and building 7," said Reynolds this week from his offices at Texas A&M. "If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The government's collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings.

"More importantly, momentous political and social consequences would follow if impartial observers concluded that professionals imploded the WTC. Meanwhile, the job of scientists, engineers and impartial researchers everywhere is to get the scientific and engineering analysis of 9/11 right." ...cont'd

http://www.arcticbeacon.com/articles/article/1518131/27302.htm

[Nancy Waterman]

14. Dover - I think the lack of military sign ups will be a big factor

and as our country sours on 'WAR' and more and more parents turn their children away from participation in this military charade, MAYBE internal forces will begin to make the necessary shift in paradigms.

As you stated here, internal forces will indeed move us away from this militarism. People are getting fed up with it.

[Dover]

15. Yes, more evidence of that in LBN

Is this their plan...to phase out the volunteer army?
I know Rummy has dreams of a privatized military, but then who will protect US, the people? These private mercenaries are only working for corporate interests. And the inequities of this arrangement...the comparitively low fees and benefits of the regular military... are going to cause deep resentment and trouble.
Rummy can't hire enough mercenaries to conduct a significant campaign and I don't think the design or character of War has changed signficantly enough for Rummy's dream of a high tech, small mobile private force military to work.



U.S. military academies attract fewer applicants
13 Jun 2005 20:46:13 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - Applications from high school students to each of the three prestigious U.S. military academies dropped this year, officials said on Monday, at the same time the Army is struggling to sign up new recruits.

This drop in applications represented the latest sign that the all-volunteer military is having difficulty attracting people during an Iraq war that is producing a steady flow of U.S. casualties, defense analysts said.

Applications to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, which produces junior officers for the Army, declined 9.3 percent this year compared to last year, the academy said. The Army provides most of the ground troops in Iraq, and has born the brunt of the military's recruiting problems.

But the decline was even steeper at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, where applications were down 20 percent from a year ago, and at the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colorado, where they were off 22.7 percent...cont'd

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13495228.htm

___________________________________________________________________

And then there is THIS very important article:

Pentagon Analyst Indicted in Info Leak (Gave classified info to AIPAC)

WASHINGTON - A Pentagon analyst has been indicted on charges he leaked classified military information to employees of a pro-Israel group, according to court papers made public Monday.

The six-count indictment charges that Lawrence A. Franklin conspired to disclose national defense and classified information to people not entitled to receive it, including information about potential attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq. One count accuses him of conspiring to communicate the information to an agent and representative of a foreign government.

<Snip>

The indictment identifies two unindicted coconspirators who were employees of a Washington lobbying organization. The men previously have been identified as executives of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying organization influential on U.S.-Israeli relations.

FBI agents twice last year searched AIPAC offices. It was once thought AIPAC might be a target of the long-running federal investigation, but that's not the case, people familiar with the probe have said...cont'd

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050613/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/pentagon_spy_probe_1

[Nancy Waterman]

16. Hijacking catastrophe

Great new video out:

http://hijackingcatastrophe.org/downingstreet/

[NEOBuckeye]

17. Anyone see Cheney's latest photos? He's looking rather ill.

That's the absolute worst I've ever seen him looking. Think maybe "reality" is finally catching up with him?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050613/us_nm/bush_budget_dc_1

[TankLV]

18. One could only hope.

[Dover]

19. Thought these paragraphs from Nolle's 2005 report were relevant

to this discussion:


...Jupiter's shift into Scorpio on October 26 is good for defense contractors, police and medical (including emergency) equipment manufacturers, and banks and investment firms. This time period suggests a shift from slow but regular small increments in interest rates, to more dramatic increases.

Speaking of Jupiter and Saturn, they combine to comprise what may be the year's foremost astrological signature; certainly one of the very most important, at any rate. It's the first quadrature (square aspect, a 90 degree arc between these two planets as seen from Earth) of Jupiter and Saturn since the epochal conjunction in the year 2000, and it happens on December 17. Jupiter and Saturn will be within a few degrees of their exact square aspect (10° 45' Scorpio to Leo respectively) throughout December and into early January. And the aspect will be reoeated, due to retrogrades, in June and October of 2006. This will be the first "three-peat" Jupiter-Saturn waxing square since the 1945-1946 triplet (the third instance of which was also in the Scorpio-Leo sign pairing).

Any Jupiter-Saturn square represents a critical moment of social, cultural and political change. It's a time when ideology and reality are so out of balance that a readjustment is not only inevitable, but almost easy - even if the medicine tastes awful going down. Certainly this will be played out in American politics, and in international relations as well: tensions and conflicts won't disappear, but adjustments will be made so that the stalemates of 2004 will grudgingly turn into progress in 2005. Iraq will still be a bloody mess and a huge problem for the US. History plainly records that the only way industrial, nationalistic civilizations have ever pacified tribal societies like Iraq is genocide, and that's not going to happen now the way it did with the aboriginal inhabitants of the New World and Australia in centuries past - mainly because in a totally connected world, there are too many witnesses. (I'm not saying it will never happen - just not now. And the thing is, the genocide can go either direction now, instead of only one way.)

The kind of social, cultural and political change signified by the 2005-2006 Jupiter-Saturn square is not the kind that one side forces on the other, but one that each side settles for because it can't force the issue its own way. Think of the 1945-1946 stalemate between the US and Russia. In the aftermath of the 1945-1946 triple Jupiter-Saturn waxing square, two ideological foes who had become allies of convenience, found themselves face to face and armed to the teeth once their common enemies had been defeated. Neither had the strength or resolve to defeat the other in outright conflict, so they settled into what came to be called the Cold War. There's another Cold War brewing again, now that the triple waxing Jupiter-Saturn square has returned: an uneasy, probing confrontation. In domestic politics, in international relations, in the clash of civilizations, it's a Cold War brewing.

The Red Planet is going to be big again this year, for the first time since 2003. Prominent Mars years, when Earth and Mars are relatively near each other, come once every two years, give or take a month or so. They correspond to the Sun-Mars opposition, which occurred in 2001 (a few months before the 9/11 attack) and in 2003 (as the insurgency phase got underway in Gulf War II). The latter Mars alignment was historic, the closest pass between Earth and Mars since Neanderthal Man. It was chief among the factors that led to my 2003 World Forecast prediction that the Persian Gulf War II would break out that year, and then get really messy that summer: "Whoever thinks a swiftly concluded Persian Gulf War II settles the world into a Pax Americana early in 2003 is tragically mistaken. This late summer super Mars thing says peace and quiet remains far away, that danger and conflict are close at hand."

This year's Sun-Mars opposition, in short, suggests that 2005 will make 2004 look relatively calm and peaceful. Which is to say that warfare, terror attacks, military confrontation and the like will be even more abundant this year than last - if that can be believed. From collective violence like war to individual violence like murder and other criminality, and even including accidents and crashes and fires and explosions due to recklessness or evil intent and sometimes just plain bad luck (e.g. a lightning strike), this will not be a safe and peaceful year in many respects - especially within a week or so of the many strong Mars alignments of 2005. These include the Sun-Mars opposition and Mars-Neptune square on November 7 first and foremost - worldwide in scope, but especially prominent in the US Pacific coast states and along arcs through the Middle East and Russia as well as Ireland and Scotland, China and Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Other strong Mars periods come within a week or so of January 1, in the aftermath of the December 31, 2004 Mars-Uranus square; January 28 (Mars aligns with Pluto), April 13 (Mars-Neptune conjunction), May 15 (Mars-Uranus alignment), June 26 and December 5 (Mars opposing Jupiter), October 1 (the Red Planet's retrograde station), December 10 (Mars' direct station), December 28 (Mars squares Saturn). In fact the whole Mars retrograde period (October 1 to December 10) is just plain edgy, pretty much day in and day out. Other peak risk dates include July 10 (Mars reaches 19 Aries, the degree of the April 8 solar eclipse), July 27 (Mars at 0 Taurus, the degree of the April 19, 2004 solar eclipse), and August 6 (Mars at 5 Taurus, the degree of the October 28, 2004 lunar eclipse). Dangers aside, these Mars periods are not all bad. They're times when bravery and daring can do the seemingly impossible.

http://www.astropro.com/forecast/predict/2005-all.html

[Nancy Waterman]

21. Dover - Very interesting post from Noelle

Thanks!

I think that Mars station will be pretty close (23Taurus22) but not exactly conjunct Israel's Sun, 23Taurus41. Just what we don't need right now!.

[Dover]

20. Iran War Has Begun

Scott Ritter to Al-Jazeera: Iran war has begun

"The reality is that the US war with Iran has already begun. As we speak, American over flights of Iranian soil are taking place, using pilotless drones and other, more sophisticated, capabilities."

"The most visible of these is the CIA-backed actions recently undertaken by the Mujahadeen el-Khalq, or MEK, an Iranian opposition group, once run by Saddam Hussein's dreaded intelligence services, but now working exclusively for the CIA's Directorate of Operations."

"But the CIA-backed campaign of MEK terror bombings in Iran are not the only action ongoing against Iran. To the north, in neighbouring Azerbaijan, the US military is preparing a base of operations for a massive military presence that will foretell a major land-based campaign designed to capture Tehran.

Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld's interest in Azerbaijan may have escaped the blinkered Western media, but Russia and the Caucasus nations understand only too well that the die has been cast regarding Azerbaijan's role in the upcoming war with Iran."

..cont'd

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7896BBD4-28AB-48BA-A949-2096A02F864D.htm

[Nancy Waterman]

22. Prediction about Harry Reid re: Bolton

I predicted this in an article in early May:

Setbacks for (Reid) are possible the first week of June and at the end of June and the first week of July, during Saturn’s transits square his Saturn and subsequently square his Node. Given that the second Saturn transit is during the July 4th recess, the possibility emerges of Bush pushing through some recess appointments during this time, dealing a brief, unexpected blow to Democratic strategy.

It is looking like this may come to pass with Bush making a recess appointment of Bolton.