“One who does not compete does not meet competition.”
— Lao Tsu

If there is one trend that seems prevalent in the world at this time, you might say that it’s the prevalence of contests, competition and controversy. It’s not just in the U.S., either (where a testy Super Bowl has segued into a divisive presidential race as college basketball gears up for heated “March Madness” playoffs).

Neither is the trend entirely bad. It’s probably a good thing, for example, that what amounts to an awards season for the entertainment industry has been infused with intense discussions of prejudice and privilege.

For the most part, however, there seems to be a growing rash of destructive political, economic and sectarian clashes all over the world at every level of engagement. If there is one common thread in all of those conflicts, it’s that the idea of cooperation as a viable alternative seems to have been all forgotten.

This is where you come in. You can serve as an example to prove that one person can make a difference. In addition, you can also help others to remember how all of us are essentially in the same boat when it comes to the most vital necessities of life.

In order to make a difference and be instructive for others you need not accomplish great things. All you have to do is offer a little cooperation whenever it is possible to do so, without putting yourself or others in danger or undue distress. If the situation is not life-or-death, consider the advantages of going along. Unless your very existence is at stake, think about how simply applying yourself to live and let live might help you better get along. Instead of an us-or-them perspective, try looking for the best outcome for everybody involved.

If there is anything to the astrology, the ingress of Venus into Aquarius at about 11:17 pm EST this evening (04:16:55 UTC Wednesday) would appear to support a little cooperation. That’s because Aquarius is more concerned with groups than individuals, and Venus is (among other things) focused on values.

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At its best, then, the merger of collective concerns and estimable merits that Venus in Aquarius represents could very well result in the very possible (but often overlooked) result of everybody winning and coming out ahead together.

Of course, in a world where so many are caught up in a rat race on the ground, the sky can have no influence. By the same token, possible downsides of Aquarius (groups that define themselves by who they exclude) and Venus (“pointless accretion,” in the words of Robert Hand) can win the day if enough people choose to be uncooperative. But the upside is equally and just as easily possible without suffering or sacrifice.

Indeed, there are what appear to be overlooked advantages to contributing a little cooperation in the world. Imagine going through a whole day where nobody disagrees with you because you give them nothing to disagree with. Think about how wonderful it would feel to go through a whole week without unnecessary conflict because you offer none.

Once again, the tenure of Venus in Aquarius (until March 12) does not require that you be pushed around. It’s only an invitation for you to push others a little less, and pull along with others a little more. For if there is only one thing you can do to make the world a better place than it is right now, it would be a little cooperation where there was none before.

Offered In Service     

Well. What a 24 hours, a mini-tornado that will become — I have no doubt — a bona fide shit storm of an election process and political donnybrook. My short take on this is, frankly, fascination, since these kinds of moments come very rarely in history.

There are three legs of government — legislative, executive and judicial. The legislative is in lockdown, the executive is being forced to act extra-legally in order to move the nation forward on anything of consequence and now the judicial has come to a screeching halt. We are, from a process point of view, dead in the water. We are, it should be noted, closing in on constitutional emergency. Remember when Ben Franklin told an inquirer that we had established “a republic, if we can keep it?” THIS is how we could loose that grip on the democratic experiment.

Of all the Supremes, Nino Scalia was the superstar on the right. A strict constructionist, he never met a modern issue that could not be stamped into dust by returning to the anachronistic wishes of the founders in 1776. He is — and this is important — the man who turned the common sense reading of the 2nd Amendment as armament qualifications for militia into guns for all citizens. If the right had a hero, Nino was it, the heart and soul of conservative backpedal from all things progressive.

News of Scalia’s passing (of a heart attack) coming in the hours before the South Carolina Pub debate — where Donald Trump all but broke a chair over the melon-head of competitor Ted Cruz while calling most everyone a liar and accusing Jeb!’s big brother of knowing about the lack of WMD in advance of Shock ‘n’ Awe — found the candidates all agreed that no nomination can go forward without surrender to liberal mayhem. That’s because the right has depended on the high court to buoy their ideology — and support the plutocracy — for well over a decade. Even as the Republicans lost the confidence of the nation, they had the court. The thought of losing it is terrifying to them.

And — by the way — listening to Bob Woodward on CNN try to defend the ‘Publican vow to stonewall a liberal nominee in order to ensure a ‘neutral’ pick to replace ‘intellectual giant’ Antonin Scalia is another of those moments when you wonder what happened to the man’s brain cells. He spent WAAAAY too much time in the dark, kissing Dubya’s nether regions, getting that insider scoop that atrophied what was left of his journalistic sensibility (not to mention integrity.) A sad statement on a historical figure diminished by his choices.

The repercussions of an eight-person high court are obvious — lock. We have, essentially, come to check-mate, with four liberals and four conservatives unable to decide a case. Whatever work (it appears to be quite a bit) is left half-done on cases prior to this moment is now lost, never announced and therefore nullified. With fifty-some cases critical to the democratic process coming up, reaching an ideological standoff WITHOUT REPLACEMENT FOR MORE THAN ELEVEN MONTHS seems unthinkable.

But, although Nino’s body was barely cold when Mitch McConnell swore NOT to allow such a vote, senators crossing the line of such right-wing wisdom will pay a price. There are several up for election this time around who are imperiled. I think it’s clear that we can expect very little flex from this Senate determined to run out the clock, despite the best efforts of the Dems to prod them into following constitutional process.

As to the legislative issues, this is going to work out pretty well for many of the cases that had not come to closure on the left, including voting rights and unions, reproductive rights and immigration, etc. in which lower court rulings will hold. This is NOT good news for the case ruling on emissions we talked about, because the case was seeking release from an appeal stopping it from going forward.

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As to possible candidates, two judges sitting on the appellate court — bi-partisanly confirmed for that position 97 to 0 — are speculative prospects: Jane Kelly and Sri Srinivasan.

Either is non-controversial, BUT they are Obama picks, supposed ‘lame duck’ picks, and fly in the face of high hopes for a Jeb! or Kasich establishment president in 2017. I doubt that even a right-leaning judicial pick would pass the “black guy” boycott at this point.

Electability is suddenly the word of the hour. Making it plain that the next Prez gets the SCOTUS pick traditionally energizes the base on the right — and it BETTER energize the base on the left as well! We are going to see a lot of harsh rhetoric coming at us from the clown car on the right and, no matter how much like a WWE Wrestling event last night’s SC debate appeared, Trump is STILL twice as popular as the next Pub in the polls; pundits say that if he wins in Carolina, there’s no stopping him. Whatever the public decides to do next, it should be clear that a man who is all brand and no substance standing at the top of the American pyramid is the equivalent of putting a fork in us and calling us done!

Clearly, Bernie’s cause just became harder and Hillary’s hopes to avoid being perceived as shrill are over. She is going to double down on all the reasons he CAN’T be considered a realistic candidate, and it ain’t gonna be pretty. She IS — I will grant — victimized by her sex in that she will be forced to use the Mommy Voice (one I have argued many times deserves, at bare minimum, respect for saving the day for those left behind when the daddy’s lollygagged elsewhere) but we must all admit it grates. It’s like when someone uses your middle name, you snap to. It’s a subliminal discomfort that we’ve been “caught,” somehow; a voice from the shadow side, snapping our leash. Added to her legal challenges and trust issues, it’s a volatile mix of dog whistles calculated to piss a lot of people off.

Here’s where I see Bernie stumbling at the moment – he’s got the information and he’s got the chops, but he waits for the questions to come to him. He’s got to start selling himself as well as his platform. Hillary is good at self-promotion. Even if that’s not his style, he’s going to have to get pro-active or be seen as reactive. This doesn’t align with our ‘leadership’ meme — which we will be hearing a LOT MORE about, with so much at stake — frankly, I expect a good deal more hysteria on all levels before this plays itself out. Long view, though — we’ll be talking about this for a loooooooong time!

There are more firsts to note, of course — we’ll be tracking them for a while, it seems — but enough for now. Try NOT to let this level of angst impact your peace today, my dears. There is purpose under heaven!

That note-from-the-wife Viagra plan (h/t aWord) has been around a while. I like it as a washtub of freezing water over their heads (little or big, you pick). But those who deserve it seem not to understand the problem. Which IS the problem, of course.

Thank you, dearhearts, for the good (health) wishes, I take them to heart and appreciate them — and speaking of heart, Be My Valentines today? You are loved and lovable, all!

There is no doubt that Justice Antonin Scalia, who was reported dead yesterday evening at 79, cared a great deal about words. He chose his own with dogged deliberation; he also, clearly, possessed a wide vocabulary. In a 2013 interview, he suggested that a major problem with the Internet is its being “the cause of careless writing.”

“Now the Senate is looking for ‘moderate’ judges, ‘mainstream’ judges. What in the world is a moderate interpretation of a constitutional text? Halfway between what it says and what we’d like it to say?” — Antonin Scalia

The timing of Scalia’s death could be a huge game changer for the 2016 election and for U.S. politics. Eric will have more on this, and on Scalia’s record, in Tuesday’s episode of Planet Waves FM.

True to his natal Chiron in Gemini (and angular Moon conjunct Pallas, perhaps), Scalia’s term on the Supreme Court bench was most remarkable, I would argue, for his tenacious originalism. The terms of the U.S. Constitution — as he believed its authors intended — he undoubtedly held as sacred and untouchable as the dogma of his Catholic faith.

His right-wing political stance probably influenced, at least unconsciously, his understanding of the Constitution’s fundamental meaning and applications.

That understanding led him to defend capital punishment, to support the use of torture, and to object to marriage equality. Then again, he also dissented against the Maryland v. King ruling, which allowed arresting officers to collect cheek swabs, on the basis of its infringement of civil liberties: “But I doubt that the proud men who wrote the charter of our liberties would have been so eager to open their mouths for royal inspection.”

The problems with his traditionalist stance are serious and manifold, and have been satirized neatly by John Oliver and others. It is debatable whether the Founding Fathers themselves would have encouraged such rigorous adherence to the letter of their writing; never mind whether it’s wise or fair to limit a nation’s progress to the views of men so long dead, however enlightened they were.

Scalia’s natal chart attests both to an almost visceral resistance to change (the rising Moon is closely opposite Uranus) and the deliberate detachment with which he practiced (Mercury and Venus conjunct in Aquarius). The 5th house Sun and Libra rising may be a key to his personal charm, with Saturn conjunct the Sun illustrating his dry and often scathing sense of humor (especially paired with the Scorpio Moon).

Whatever we might feel about Scalia, it’s evident he was sincere in his work, and never reticent in expressing his opinions. It’s also clear (as Judith Gayle has already pointed out) that his death paves the way for real change in the legislative branch. Let us hope his successor has a somewhat more progressive vision.