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March 9, 2003, 12:15pm PST -- Link

When it comes to global astrology predictions, I can pretty much set my watch by this guy. Not only are his predictions accurate, when they're off, he says so in his follow-up comments. It's a spirit of scientific inquiry and detachment, that I find refreshing.

Not surprisingly, this months prediction is largely focused on the United States and potential war in Iraq. While he feels the threat is low, this month, he also says it is most likely in the first two weeks. He describes this period as "anxiety-filled." Well, no kidding. Anyone who can't feel the tension in the air would have to be as heavily medicated as the President appeared to be in Thursday's "press conference." He also holds out hope that in the coming week a diplomatic alternative to war will emerge. Let's hope. I'm sure the diplomats are working overtime, right now. Also, as he has in recent months, he sheds some light on Mr. Bush's astrological challenges. In short, for Mr. Bush, it's all uphill, right now.

A particularly troubling note appears in the following text.

During March 2-15 period, the Pluto-Uranus ninefold square could bring a unique change in the way the current US administration deals with other nations with respect to its war against terrorism agenda, and also with its domestic matters. There will be a transformation of a political strategy that might become responsible of a change in the current political agenda, and foreign policy matters of the Bush administration as the planet Pluto with its tremendous energy has a power of irreversibly transforming the field of politics to a new level or setting with a new set of norms. Expect some serious issues that the Bush administration could get tangled with.

March 8, 2003, 12:57pm PST -- Link

I have been saying for some time that I think Bush is trying to "engineer Armageddon" with his push for war, in Iraq. To some, this may sound like dramatic hyperbole, but I'm not alone in this assessment. Most recently Business Week, of all magazines, has weighed in on the issue. In an article outlining the fears of European allies, he hits on some of the major pinions of modern fundamentalist thought: the vision for Israel, the influence of the "Left Behind" books, John Darby's predictions. Journalist Stan Crock concludes that it is a stretch to think this is driving the Bush Administration because this Christian fundamentalist view is not shared by other key administration players. I agree. Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, et al. appear to be driven by another grand vision, outlined in their Project for a New American Century. (For the most entertaining article on this bit of madness, read Terry Jones's editorial in The Observer.) What is disturbing is that their imperialist pretensions and Bush's Messiah complex mesh so seamlessly.

While Mr. Bush's religious conversion is well-known, the scope of his beliefs and major influences have not been given so much ink. There is some good background on his relationship with the think-tankers behind the "Left Behind" books in Salon. As of that writing, Mr. Bush was still refusing to release a tape of a speech he gave to the Council for National Policy in 1999. The most comprehensive article I've seen, to date, on the subject is in Counterpunch. It's full of information on the cosmology of Apocalyptic Christians and it's influence on current Republican thought. Nicholas D. Kristof also provides some troubling data, on the rise of American fundamentalism, in the paper of record. Just how many of the 46% of Americans who describe themselves as "born again," believe we need to invade Iraq to make Jesus come back is unclear. But, the President appears to believe it and he's been empowered by Congress to start the war.

March 7, 2003, 9:12pm PST -- Link

My husband and I have an ongoing debate about which dystopical novel best describes the current world situation. I think we're living in an Orwellian nightmare. "I swear," I said one morning, "One of these days I'm gonna open the paper and it'll say 'George W. Bush is Double Plus Good'." With most Americans getting the latest White House propoganda from corporate controlled telescreens, the down-but-not-out Pentagon/John Poindexter plan for "Total Information Awareness," the increasingly ubiquitous surveillance camera, and a White House promising endless war for endless peace, I say 1984 just came a little late. My husband thinks it's more of an Aldous Huxley, Brave New World kind of thing -- a people so caught up in material pleasures that they don't notice their total lack of freedom.

It all really boils down to the question of freedom, doesn't it? America's mayor, Rudy Giulianni, says that "Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do." In other words, "Freedom is Slavery." The Ministry of Truth has an answer for everything.

Long before our current political situation, long before George Orwell and Aldous Huxley gave voice to our worst fears, we have lived in a dystopia -- trapped by fear, seduced by illusion, worshipping idols, unaware of our own power. We are not free because The Matrix has us. True freedom will require of revolution of consciousness such as this world has never seen. It will require that we remember who and what we are. Until that time, I will be writing this weblog from dystopia.