By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
The week had its ups and downs. With the Dow taking fits, Starbucks issued a memo to its baristas to be particularly gentle with their twitching customers. Farther down the consumer food chain, McDonalds’ customers barely noticed. The panic has largely subsided, although China seems to have lost its hard edge as the nation most likely to swallow us whole.
A third-grader in Georgia brought a gun to school and accidentally killed a classmate, a shooting at Savannah State resulted in one death, and murder was televised in Moneta, Virginia when a reporter and cameraman were killed by a disgruntled ex-employee during a live broadcast. The latter incident prompted Obama to call on the public to rally for gun law changes, saying the shooting “broke his heart.”
That was the statement that prompted teen-killer George Zimmerman to call President Obama an ignorant baboon. Frankly, I find it fascinating that a person so obviously non-white feels competent to use skinhead rhetoric, or that people who should know better indulge in name calling. Cases in point: John Boehner called Ted Cruz a jackass, and The Donald renewed his feud with FOX by calling Megyn Kelly a bimbo.
Joe Biden may be running in 2016, or maybe not, although it would be damned strange if he didn’t. He’s been running one way or another since the 1980s. His late son, Beau, urged him to run, but that very wound, still so fresh, may be the stopper card in the deck. Meanwhile, Joe is going through the motions, meeting with Elizabeth Warren and potential donors.
Bernie Sanders got the endorsement of respected black activist Dr. Cornel West as well as faux-candidate Deez Nuts, who was revealed to be a 15-year-old Iowa high school student named Brady Olson. Brady decided he’d run after hearing that a cat from Kentucky, Limberbutt McCubbins, was making a presidential bid. Although unsure how the feline is faring, Deez Nuts is polling at 9% nationally.
This was the week that Donald Trump put a fork in the miniscule possibility that he might capture the White House by tossing Univision’s Jorge Ramos out of his presser. He needs 45% of the Hispanic vote in order to succeed, but remains seemingly oblivious to their disenchantment with his xenophobia. He says he’s (under)paid tens of thousands of them in his day and they all love him dearly. Uh-huh.
Ramos, who left Mexico because he felt stifled as a journalist, prides himself on tough questions, none of which Trump can, or will, entertain. Watching the two go at one another should remind us that riches do not assure integrity, nor can they put a dent in the dignity of honest men. Seems to me the vain man made a strategic error in insulting the proud man, highly respected by the Latino, Cuban and Hispanic communities.
Donald’s illogical ‘plan’ to deport some 11 to 12 million souls has earned him a new endorsement, that of the white supremacist publication The Daily Stormer, which is urging its Neo-Nazi readership to support Trump as the only viable candidate. Which brings me to an early Trump supporter, Rush Limbaugh.
As a broken clock is right twice a day, Rush occasionally makes sense, although you have to dig for it. In the first days of Trump’s ascension to Pub favorite, Limbaugh loudly bemoaned the media’s disapproval of Donald’s candid speech as “uncivil discourse.” In part, he was also taking a hit at Establishment Republicans — this was, of course, before the truly cynical candidates hastened to shift right to try to capture their share of Bagger outrage.
This was all about the dreaded political correctness that is infecting the nation, Rush insisted, the sheeple-pleasing determination about what is acceptable for public discussion. The combination of liberal media [sic] and establishment politics kills off the GOP’s brightest and best. Said Rush, “This is how they get rid of Republicans. Should I throw a name out there? Sharon Angle. Todd Aiken … Sarah Palin. Any number of them. I mean the list is long.”
While the blusterfuck shock jock from Missouri surely seems delusional about which folks are representative of the nation’s brightest, he’s buried an important point. The media and establishment can push worthy candidates to the edge of the herd by simply insisting that they are unelectable, but this time it isn’t working as usual.
The Pubs are desperate to get Trump off center stage, while the last person corporate America wants to deal with is still-surging Bernie Sanders. Both are exceeding expectation, and neither is ready to fold, nor should they. It’s long past time we had this painful, revealing and informative national conversation.
Despite proclamations from the talking heads, these outlier candidates do not speak to the fringe. They speak to those who have watched the federal system fail. Each side wants a different result. The left wants to fix the system while the right wants to kill it off, and both Trump and Sanders are well positioned to take the nation down his respective path.
Today, Bernie challenged the Dems to give up on establishment politics and establishment economics. He challenged them to create a no-nonsense movement or prepare to fail as a party. The old and the young seem to agree. It’s a positive sign that many more Republicans have become Bernie admirers than vice-versa, and no wonder. Bernie’s politics are no more radical than were Eisenhower’s, nor are many of the policies he champions, and those values he represents define the most stable period of the twentieth century.
My comments are just tip of the iceberg, of course, but it’s taken two days to tippy-tap this far on my tablet. With something like 400 days before this election — and powerful transits to influence them — we’re just beginning to talk it through. If Biden jumps in, the whole mix changes.
The choice of a productive future remains ours to make. As Bernie says, “If we stand together, there is nothing we can’t accomplish,” and that’s the goal: to put aside petty differences, come together over common cause, and transform our nation into a government worthy of 21st century challenges.
(By the way, I want to thank Geoff for his kind contribution to my Fix The Computer project, which would put me back on the road to being technologically functional. If any of you would like to throw something in the hat, please visit PayPal and contribute to judeshere@yahoo.com or send a note to that addy for a snail-mail option, with my gratitude.)
We’ve experienced some awful Venus retrogrades, but this one, maximized by it’s multiple Jupiter conjunctions is a real ass-kicker. Not that it’s all Venus of course. She’s good but she’s not that good. When Venus turns inward (or retrograde or reverses direction) she finds very little that pleases her, and when Venus ain’t pleased, nobody’s pleased.
Then there is our least favorite expression of Virgo, nit-picking. With transiting Jupiter there for a while, nit-picking will become an art form for many. Nobody is perfect, but my goddess, the flaws we are having to deal with, fellow Americans, boggles the mind. If we ALL are boggle-minded because of the lack of perfection (order) that we see around us, there’s nobody but US to fix it. The alternative is to sit back and laugh at the absurdity, commonly referred to as chaos.
Has anyone ever mentioned here that the U.S. natal (Sibly version) Chaos at 23+ Virgo is conjunct the U.S. Neptune at 22+ Virgo? Well, it is. And right now transiting Chaos at (almost) 21 Gemini is conjunct the U.S. Mars at 21+ Gemini which squares the U.S. natal Neptune and Chaos. This is certainly not something we can solve overnight.
Nor can we do it by ourselves, so thank you so much for the quote from Bernie Sanders Jude. This practical, nit-picking Virgo Independent, Socialist from Vermont has a natal North Node at 22+ Virgo which is conjunct the U.S. natal Neptune-Chaos. If anyone can sort out, Virgo style, the insanity of this failed government system, it is Bernie. He also has a natal Pluto that conjuncts the U.S North Node in Leo, so transformation is his logical solution.
I suggest we ALL send a check to Bernie as well as Ms. Judith because without them we could all crash and bern, and I don’t just mean our computers. Bernie’s birthday is September 8th, 2 days after Venus stations direct. He would sure appreciate hearing from you by then and I promise you will feel better too.
be
Wow, Judith, it was such a small donation that I feel almost embarrassed. I do hope others who enjoy reading your weekly report on the state of the nation will be motivated to contribute. It’s essential that you continue to have the means of production.
As always, your column this week was a timely analysis of the state of politics in the US, but for the first time I realised why I like it so much, why it has such an echo with me. A long time ago, when I was a lad growing up in Britain, there was this fascinating weekly programme on BBC radio called Alistair Cooke’s Letter from America. In those days, before television ate its way through our evening entertainment allocation, I would sit fascinated by these tales of America from a gentleman who knew how to be amazed and over-awed by that vast and energetic continent and the different ways of doing things they had over there. I can’t tell you what an effect it had on my imagination. It was more blissful than cocoa.
I think you can guess that your weekly column fills the void left since those days and the sad death of Mr Cooke. He was cool, he was controlled, and his perspicacity made me want to be American but also glad that I had been born a Brit, so that I could enjoy his presentations as they were intended, from the outside looking in.
Thanks for filling his shoes, Judith. If I owned a radio station, your Letter from America would go out every Friday evening just as his did. It made truth and wisdom seem synonymous for me and I salute him and you for continuing that tradition. God bless.
And thanks to you too, be, for your continued support and widespread knowledge of the many aspects of astrology which I have discovered here. I support Bernie Sanders and will send him a little something on his birthday, all being well. I try to explain to my English friends that in America they have a Progressive party while we seem to be stuck with the same old categories, although I will say that I like the ideas of Jeremy Corbyn, a contender for the Labour party leadership, who has suggested a national MAXIMUM wage. I can just see all those top executives waving placards outside McDonald’s.
Feel the Bern!
(The Pubs are desperate to get Trump off center stage, while the last person corporate America wants to deal with is still-surging Bernie Sanders. Both are exceeding expectation, and neither is ready to fold, nor should they. It’s long past time we had this painful, revealing and informative national conversation.)
I agree. Trouble is we seem unable to gage where middle ground could possibly be. 50/50 is the worst possible choice in a democracy and we have been doing this for a while now. Its time we decide who we really are. We don’t really have any other choice it seems. Still I find myself in the middle. Where are the rest of me?
Jude-
Here in Germany there IS a Maximum minimum wage. However, companies have now found a loop-hole. Instead of working 40 hours as full time they will only allow 20 hours. More people to employ, but no taxes need to be paid by the employer. Forcing the service sector to find 2 20 hour jobs.
I’m sorry, marilyn, I think you misunderstood my remark. Jeremy Corbyn is proposing that there should be a limit to the amount of money that anyone can earn – a maximum salary. The idea is to curb the growing disparity in remuneration between executives and workers, although I can’t quite see how it would be enforced. Would they ban the manufacture of brown envelopes? I don’t think so.
Corbyn is leading the race to be leader of a traditionalist Labour party here in Britain at the moment and, among other proposals, he is advocating the re-nationalisation of the railways and power supply industries. There seems to be a similar situation developing to that described by Judith in the States between Sanders and Trump. In Britain it would be Corbyn v. Farage, the so-far unelectable figurehead of the right-wing anti-immigration party UKIP. As in the States, the electorate in Britain seems to be rapidly falling out of love with the traditional Labour, Liberal and Conservative parties, and who can blame them?
Oh my GOSH I’m frustrated, my fingers are just itching to fly across the keys this morning. SO much to comment on! And in that regard, my thanks to Robin, Medora and be for chipping in to make that happen. I’m so encouraged and grateful for your donations, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel!
Ramos has been on several channels today, talking about threat to democracy (in terms of how Trump is handling press) and he’s right — Trump censors, bullies and strong-arms whoever displeases him. Sarah Palin told Donald that he “schooled that radical activist,” while Ramos calls that tyranny. Since Donald is not a public servant nor politician, but a for-profit corporatist, let’s call it what it is: fascism. And I hope we’re cognizant that what he does to Ramos, he’ll do to anyone in his way, given the chance.
Geoff, you’ve really flattered me with comparison to the late Mr. Cooke, I was an admirer. You really know how to turn a girls head! Also wanted to report that last week — working at the Missouri State Fair Dem Booth — a couple stopped by who were visiting from UK. He was in government somehow, she was in Parliament, Labour Party. We visited, mutual lefty’s, but unfortunately, I wasn’t aware of Jeremy Corbin until early this week; I would’ve liked to have that discussion. He seems to be riding that anti-establishment zeitgeist we’re seeing here in Bernie and Trump. Please DO keep us updated on his progress!
Despite all the hype about how Germany is the European success story, Marilyn, your comment puts me in mind of Walmart, here in the Pea Patch, that makes its workers split shifts, inconveniently, while making sure they never get enough hours to actually make a living or earn perks. Predatory capitalism, it’s everywhere, I guess.
Me, I’m an avid believer that the servant is worthy of their hire. And who do they think will be able to buy their crap if they don’t pay their employees enough to shop there? Giving/receiving is all part of one motion, an unending circle of action. Cut-throat capitalism always ends up skeletonizing the host, consumed in the name of perpetual growth.
Of Bernie’s Virgo energy, be, I’m reminded that Virgo rules that bottom-line functionality we’re all jones’ing for, and I really like the way he’s dealt with the race/policing thing, but I wish he’d lighten up just a tad, give us a sense of his humor, etc. We admire his focus and approve his policy, but now that he’s well begun, charm could win him some support. This is the emotional portion of the nomination process, I’d like to see him take advantage of that. We don’t want him to end up like McCain, accused of telling everyone to get off his lawn.
Cowboy, I really do need my keyboard to respond to your comment, but suffice to say I think we’re farther along in this process than do you. I can’t get to polls and graphs that prove this nation is more left than center at this point, but it’s the broken congressional system, rural gerrymander and religious highjack of state government that has convinced us it isn’t so. To boot, the evangelical movement would have it that there is only One Way but even the Pope is standing on the other side of that divide.The times truly are changing. Perhaps soon we can have a broader conversation. Thanks for visiting today.
And thanks to all who have read, posted and, again, those who helped with my computer project this weekend. You’re the reason I continue to do this. Be well, be blessed, all.
Bernie Sanders is fearless! This week a new cholesterol med was announced along with a price tag of over $14,000 a year, and you can bet that’s just part of an expensive cocktail of prescriptions, especially for seniors. Anybody see something wrong with this picture? No wonder we worry about the future. Now Bernie has done what no other politician in memory has been willing to do — call out Big Pharma! Read about it here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernie-sanders/high-drug-prices-are-kill_b_8059526.html
Another important read today is one by Harvard’s Lawrence Lessig (whose impressive bio is worth a peek.) Lessig talks about the big money problem, the one Elizabeth Warren tells us has rigged the system, the one Bernie is fighting against but Lessig makes it clear that until we can get a grip on that, EVERYTHING else is mere nitpick. It will take a movement, a return to ethical behavior and start, I think, with a Constitutional amendment against money as speech.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-lessig/on-being-serious-about-re_b_8064428.html
As awesome and intimidating as are these challenges, dearhearts, it feels really freeing to hear them articulated so clearly. Pass these around and have a great day.
Instead of Obamacare (too black) or Medicare (too socialist), how about calling it Americare? That seems to me a reasonable brand name for a country that likes to think it leads the world. After all, what’s so socialist about the National Health system we have in Britain? It’s an insurance policy – admittedly bank-rolled by the government – but the premiums are taken, just like income tax, from every pay check. You can’t expect to look after the rest of the word, Uncle Sam, if you can’t look after your own.
I have already indicated my support for Mr Sanders and my admiration for the ultra-working class champion Jeremy Corbyn in Britain. To be truthful, I don’t see either of them as winners of national elections. What they are, however, is their respective countries’ candidates for the disgruntled. When it comes to the real push and shove, I daresay Bernie Sanders will be out-dollared by Hillary Clinton. If you want the input of an Aquarian, I think you should press Michelle Obama to stand for the black/woman vote. She sure has the personality and chutzpah to maim the opposition. But who would wish such a fate upon her, having supported her husband’s valiant efforts in that office for the last two terms?
Jeremy Corbyn in Britain is also saying what a lot of Brits want to hear. He’s not going to win an election to be prime minister but he is appealing to those who feel that the traditional three-party system in the UK has melded into one banker-friendly, middle-of-the-road, boring, traditionalist clique that basically favours those who profit from the efforts of the working class. Right now, the establishment is encouraging the Corbyn caucus in order to galvanise the only right-wing opposition (Nigel Farage’s UKIP party). It won’t happen, of course. If Labour have any sense they will elect David Miliband as leader, an opportunity they passed over at the last leadership election thanks to the power of the Trade Unions’ voting rights.
In America, the vote is closer. As Michelle Obama ain’t standing, the best bet – for a woman candidate – is Hillary Clinton. The problem with Hillary is that, like all women politicians elected anywhere in the world, she will need to be more butch than her male rivals. I’m sorry, but who needs a male female prime minster? What men really want is a female prime minister or president with genuine nurturing qualities. As a Brit, after Margaret Thatcher, I can say with certainty that’s the one thing you won’t be getting.