Impeachment Astrology – in real time

I’m posting all the charts that I have deemed helpful in understanding what is going on in this impeachment on an energetic level. There are a number of very interesting aspects in not just the transit charts but also in the solar arc charts and the progressed day for a year charts. I am going to focus only on the solar arc progressions with the transits, for sake of simplicity. They also are more dramatic in their movement and add a different kind of layer.  I’m posting all of the charts with interpretation below them. I will go over them on an upcoming Youtube video.

I posted both the natal and solar chart of Rudy Giuliani because it is unlikely that his time of birth is correct. So we are looking more at the transits and how they interact with the natal planets. The solar chart will be more reliable in looking at the area of life where this collision occurs. As we can see RG’s progressed Neptune is being lit up by Venus today 11/13/2019, the first day of the impeachment. In his natal chart it’s happening in the 3rd house and in his solar it’s happening in his 7th house. It is also being squared by transiting Neptune in Pisces, which is going through his solar

10th house and in the 6th house of his natal.  Focusing here on the solar chart rather than the natal chart which we don’t know the accuracy of, we see Neptune in the 10th square the progressed Neptune in the 7th triggered by the transiting Venus. Here we see the issues very clearly laid out. Neptune being confusion, delusion, trickery, deceit, lying, illusion, dissolution and the 10th house of reputation and the 7th house of law. Neptune (strengthened in Pisces and reiterated in that energy) is the natural ruler of the 12th house of hidden enemies, hospitals, mental institutions and prisons. Neptune is the ruler of con-men, tricksters, liars, manipulators, criminals, robbers – on the flip side it is the ruler of religious fanatics, spirituality, visions, psychic ability, confusion, the imagination, oil, music, the other side. It’s interesting that the Evangelical Christians, particularly those steeped in the Pentecostal tradition, are the base of supporters for all things Trump.

We know that Trump got a large chunk of the religious right on board with him through bribery. But why do the Evangelic church goers fall in line behind their religious leaders? There are a number of answers to that, but for the purpose of understanding the larger context of Neptune in Pisces, suffice it to say they have very entrenched beliefs that are Piscean in nature, hearkening back to the Piscean age. They have felt the shift of ages as the period when the world is to end and the Messiah is to return and save the true believers, damning the rest of humanity to eternal hell. For them, the feeling of Neptune in Pisces, is that of the world around them dissolving – which on many levels it is. They read that through the lens of their religious belief system. Of course, so does everyone else which is the very crux of the problem we are currently finding ourselves in. While everyone is busy doubling down on their belief systems, others are confused and all of this leaves a giant hole in the collective consciousness to be filled with someone adept at exploiting all of that energy.

Currently  Jupiter is in Sagittarius creating a square by sign (not degree) to Neptune in Pisces. Trump is a Gemini again another square (by sign, not currently by degree). So lets look now at Trump’s chart. The other major factor to Neptune in Pisces is Pluto in Capricorn. The outer planets in general describe broader periods of time and define generations and collective consciousness. Capricorn rules time, karma, enforcement of law, structure, the law, ambition, corporations, management, heads of state, heads of corporations, CEOs, business people. In the tarot it is represented by the Devil card. Capricorn/Saturn and Pluto/Scorpio are associated with the shadow side of humanity. This is not to say people who have those signs and of course (we all have the planets) in their chart are any more negative or even dark than anyone else, although they can be. Human beings have free will and can use that energy to transcend. However in the collective consciousness (this is an unconscious energy) will bring out issues that we could consider dark.

So back to talking about how all these things effect what we are currently undergoing on the impeachment front. Pluto in Capricorn is asking us – what are the boundaries? This is why there is a rise in nationalism around the globe. The flip side of this was when Pluto was in its opposite of Cancer during WWII. It was another form of nationalism. When Neptune was in Capricorn we saw a rise in issues with skinheads surface around the world. Capricorn asks us what are the rules, and whose going to be at the top of the pyramid? It is a very hierarchical and controlling sign which is why it is considered competitive, ambitious and is represented by the Devil. Capricorn wants to be the best, the head honcho, the boss, the guy in charge. If the energy is positively directed this can create order, strict adherence to the rules, control (in a positive way) and is pro-business and getting ahead. When it was in Neptune we had a dissolving of corporations – all the layoffs of the 1990s and the shipping of jobs overseas. As soon as Neptune hit Capricorn we had the S & L scandals of the late 1980s, and a slow down in the economy. Neptune=loss + Capricorn=Career. Now that Pluto is in Capricorn we have a digging up and exposure of those in power, those who have been in control. We also have those in power trying to gain greater control – the rich getting richer, kleptocracic Russians trying take over other countries for their own gain.  Pluto is also transformation. It’s important to note that this is the key word for this planet. It exposes and with its power, it transforms.  While many may feel confused and even hopeless – Neptune in Pisces, the underlying energy of Pluto in Capricorn is about transformation of the rules, of law, of the way we go about our business which is exactly what this impeachment is about. In the case of Donald Trump’s chart we can see that Pluto in Capricorn is exactly inconjunct the mid-point of his North Node in Gemini and his natal Sun in Gemini right now, from the 5th to the 10th.  At the same time transiting Saturn in Capricorn is starting to inconjunct his natal Uranus in Gemini in the 10th. So what does that mean? Saturn in Capricorn is a doubling down of tradition, the rule of law, it is conjoining Pluto which tells us that this transformation of power we have seen occurring is being pushed to conform to societal norms, traditions and the rule of law. This inconjunction is almost exact as his natal Uranus is almost at 17 degrees and transiting Saturn is at early 17 degrees in Capricorn.  Uranus is television, electricity, rebellion, change, the sudden and unexpected. The fact that it is conjunct Trump’s natal Sun indicates that he has an unstable sense of self.  The energy of an inconjunction is best described by the metaphor of putting two magnets wrong sides toward each other. The two magnets repel each other, this is what an inconjunction does, it is a pushing apart a separating aspect. It is the most common and consistent aspect seen when people transition – they literally separate from their bodies. IN the case of Trump’s chart we see the rule of law – Saturn in Capricorn – pushing against his natal Uranus in Gemini in the 10th – a televised start of holding him accountable, attempting to change his career (10th) and reputation.

Now lets look at what’s going on in the 2 political parties. There are several charts for both the Republicans and the Democrats but for the sake of ease and simplicity I’m just using these. Astrology is a fractal art and in this case divination system so I went with the first charts that came up. The thing that jumped out at me immediately was the transiting Uranus in the 7th house conjunct the natal Pluto. As you can see there is a theme of Uranus and Pluto emerging among all the different players. The 7th house is of course legal issues, the law, court and Pluto is power. Uranus conjuncting this is a change in the power structure which causes a sudden change of power. This does not bode well for the case they are making nor does it bode well for the future of their party. If is part of the aspect I saw happening when I predicted it could be the end of their party. The other major issue is the Republican party is in the process of a Neptune return. This is not a return possible for a human to experience as it happens every 130+ years. So it isn’t something we as astrologers can speak to from experience – we can only use astro-logic to determine what this means. I read this as an opportunity to deepen the belief systems of the party. As you will see though the progressed Mars is also in the mix, adding aggression, arguing and a splitting effect. The Republican party started as a very spiritual and Christian orientated party. The nature of what that meant back in the mid 19th century was quite different. It was Christianity born out of the enlightenment and the belief in a Christian doctrine opposed to slavery and oppression. The early Republican party believed in the mission of our forefathers for each individual person to the entitlements of freedom, free will and personal responsibility. The return of Neptune to its place in Pisces in the chart comes with the morality of a different kind of Christianity, a Christianity in decline and in fear of obliteration. A shift from priests and abbots who held degrees in theosophy and embraced the reason of their age in balance with what they saw as the poetry of the message of Christ. Currently, Christianity has been remade in a new image, co-opted by the south and its historical marriage to slavery and pushed forward by televangelists, evangelic Christians and Pentecostals, all who emerged in the last century and all with a tradition of lay priests and an emphasis on hell, fire, brimstone, fear and dogma. Here we see the re-imagining of the Republican party through the lens of the far, far Christian right as they have emerged as the most steadfast of Republicans. In a world shifting out of the Piscean age with a weakening of Christianity around the globe, the extreme arm of Christianity that relies on fear and complete immersion in its self-made culture is at the heart of what is currently happening in the Republican party.

For the Democratic party, Neptune has been transiting the 10th house and conjunct the native Sun and Uranus in recent years and is now starting to conjunct the progressed Mars, giving them a bit more fight. The public perception (10th house) has been that of weakness, and instability. Transiting Pluto and Saturn in Capricorn are in the 7th house of open enemies and legal proceedings. Saturn is exactly square the natal Pluto in Aries in the 11th house and tightly square natal Jupiter in Libra in the 5th. This creates a Grand Cross which is both difficult and a manifesting aspect. This tells us they can prove their case if they lay it out soberly and deliberately. It will not be easy and it is precarious but Pluto and Saturn are calling them to confront the laws and norms despite their desire not to.

Many blessings to all of you!

Denise

 

Hey Everyone an Update…

I am liberal in my personal beliefs, because I do believe in helping other people whenever I can, and I do believe all people are not given the same opportunities in life.  In order for everyone to fulfill their true potential we need to help one another not tear each other down or deride those who make less or are less fortunate. So for those of you who claim me to be a liberal you are right – any person of faith in God (in my opinion) has to be. Every religious book, every spiritual practice teaches us to help the needy, love our brother as ourselves – you know all those things the bible teaches that so many Christians seem to have exchanged for a love of money which BTW goes directly against all teachings in both books of the bible.

Ironically I would not consider myself to be part of any organized religion – they are all too politically motivated and (in my opinion) often separate us from our own connection to the divine. But they do provide a great jumping off point and for the vast majority of people they work very well – just not people like me who are more shamanistic in our approach to the Great Spirit.

For those who think my predictions are what I wish where true, nothing could be further from the truth. Obama is actually far more conservative than I would like him to be. I wish he did do the things that FOX accuses him of, like helping the needy more. I do like him and admire him for turning this economy around and for trying to stay very much in the middle because that’s where the majority of Americans are – in the middle.

As liberal as I am about helping those in need I am very conservative about my views on violent criminals. I don’t believe that people who commit violent crimes should be given a chances which amounts to an experiment on the innocent masses of all of us who are non-violent. I do think people who hurt themselves like drug addicts and the insane should be given treatment rather than prison.

It’s true I have predicted many events I did not wish to happen. I knew Ronald Reagan would win – although I was too young to have a real opinion about this. I knew he would win a second term, I knew George Bush would win and that Clinton would get two terms that George W would win the electoral college making him our president and Al Gore would win the popular vote. I would have preferred Al Gore as the winner. In fact I was very upset about this revelation but I still made that prediction.

I actually voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary so I am not an operative for Obama although I think he’s done an amazing job despite how things have gone. The truth is I am compassionate and due to my empathy which is the very thing I use to read events and people through, it’s impossible for me to root for people whose policies I know would mean the death, destruction and contribute to poverty for millions more people.

I want everyone to be happy, healthy, and secure. I want everyone to find love and peace and a connection to God however they can or if they choose to not find God but just peace. I hold no grudges even for those who have betrayed me at the deepest levels and I pray for those who have hatred in their heart that they may find peace and happiness. It is from this perspective that I am proud to say that I am a liberal. I want freedom – this is the root of the word liberal – freedom. Just as the word libertarian comes from that same root.

I have traveled around the world and seen 3rd world countries and European democracies. I know that when people are encouraged to do well in school and given free education, when they are given real vacation time and healthcare they not only have a better quality of life they are happier more productive people with tighter family units. It is actually our government that set up many of these governments after WWII and we not only gave them freedom – we gave them a better deal than we have been able to give ourselves.

I understand that there has been a media machine brainwashing people who don’t benefit from a plutocracy – toward believing they somehow they will benefit from it. I have also had the special privilege of growing up among the wealthy 1 percent in fact my father’s family was in that group before the market crash of 1929. My grandfather was a CEO of a kosher meat-packing company and was very wealthy. His children were all conservative Republicans. My father and my mother as well were Republicans. We moved into a Republican enclave shortly before my father died when I was ten and I saw the man behind the curtain that so many Americans have not until now.

I was raised Catholic after my father died because that was my mother’s religion and it was the Rabbi who performed my father’s funeral service who introduced us to a wonderful church. I studied the bible intensively and many other religious traditions (later on). My father had wanted to be a Rabbi and in fact my family is Levite which is in the Jewish faith is from the tribe of Levi – or a sort of priest caste.

I am absolutely pro religious freedom because I believe all religions are right and all religions are flawed due to our inability to understand the nature of God and human beings desire for power over their fellow human beings. I really resent the idea that I am an “operative of Obama” as I truly am not. If there were a Republican who reflected my values I would vote Republican, but not since before Nixon has their been one that I would consider (and of course I was a baby then so…). I certainly would have voted for Lincoln. I would have voted for Eisenhower. Never have the Republicans been so in the pocket of the plutocrats. I know the Democrats are not perfect – but I do believe they are at least following in the footsteps of our Forefathers spirit. Yes, they too have been bought and if it were up to me I would say give all people running for the presidency 100,000 of public money and no more and disallow them from any contributions from the public or the private sector. I think if they actually had to convince us based on their ideas (as they used to before TV) and had to listen to our collective voices we would restore this democratic-republic to its true state of balance. Until then we are in trouble.

And there are Republicans I admire like John McCain. I just don’t think he would have made the best president at that time. He however is someone who is true to his ideals and I believe a stand up person. I’m sure if I met George W at a party, I would love the guy but that’s not who I vote for. I vote for people who will help the less fortunate because I don’t want to live in a world where hundreds of children run up to me trying to sell pencils (like in Bali) just so they can eat when they should be in school. I don’t want to live in a world where there are old blind beggars because we (despite our immense wealth) won’t give them social security or medicare. I don’t want to walk down a street where my heart aches for the hordes of homeless people we saw during the 80s when I worked 80 hours a week and gave every desperate person I could whatever money I had on me.

I believe that money is not the holy grail. I believe our connection to God and the divine, love and kindness are the holy grail that life has to offer. And that goes beyond just helping out our own family, it means helping all of humanity, all the earth and all the creatures that God has made.

Call me what you will, but this is who I am and it can not be separated from my spirituality. I see what I see and often it isn’t what I want. But just because it doesn’t match up with what others want to believe doesn’t make it wrong. In fact there have been so many things I saw coming that I didn’t want to happen like the inevitability of the Iraq war and the lies that were at the core of  selling it to us. The fact that George W was going to win because (his astrology was a tad better than Gore’s at the time for winning) and it actually upset me because I could see the dark road we were about to head down and indeed that happened. But that didn’t stop me from telling people what was going to be.

I don’t control anything. I’m just a messenger. And yes the old expression, “don’t kill the messenger” applies here. Don’t mistake me for having any power over events – I don’t. And just because I say it, doesn’t make it happen. For whatever reason I just know and am told by spirit what will happen. I am as powerless and as powerful as every other human being on this planet.

Sure if I had my way I would wave a magic wand and give everyone peace, happiness and prosperity but I can’t do that. We have to do that together by being rational and looking at the truth even when it goes against what we are led to believe.

Many blessings,

Denise

In response to all the people who have been writing me for readings. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to do this either through a podcast or something so that I can do it for free. I don’t like charging people for what I feel is something sacred. And I do feel money can pervert the ability in some cases. I originally set my rates based on what the going prices were and the fact that I was on the fence about doing readings because I do have a tendency to really empathize with my clients and it can really disturb me if they are having troubles. So I had to stop for my own health and I have been making my living writing (not for this blog by the way) and I feel that is where I am heading. I am however training a woman with an exceptional gift to take on people who need help. She will be charging less. I may on occasion do readings when I’m not so bogged down and I’m still looking for an outlet. If I could do it for people who need it but not have to charge them that would be ideal but find a way to be sponsored. So I am also looking into doing spots on radio and podcasts and when I’m not so bogged down doing my own podcast where I can read people.

For those of you who are in a bad place and want people to pray for you post on the prayer page. The more we pray for one another the better the world will be. As I said in my Noory interview the next 30 years will see climatic and environmental changes taking out more people than anything else – and all that is related to that like the spread of diseases, quakes, all things of natural origin.

Yes, the middle east will be in turmoil for a long time. But I guess it wasn’t clear that I was saying I didn’t see us getting involved in any more wars over there for the time being. Perhaps 8-12 years away but for now their conflicts will stay regional except the wars we are already involved in. Eventually I feel we will be pulled back into war and that war which we will teeter on for the next decade will the one no one would ever wish for WWIII.

In fact the future is a stew of our collective decisions and there is still a chance to change this if we want to. I am conservative on my views of Islam – the moderates are fine but the zealots remind me of the ancient middle-aged views that created the death of millions of Europeans. But I’m also concerned about people who claim to be of any religion who think murdering others or controlling others is the key to the problems of the world. God’s ways our beyond our understanding and we have to remain humble to that and follow the moral compass given us by our Creator. We know hurting, killing, violating, stealing, cheating, betraying are all hurtful – morality is really simple – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And if you can’t relate to others or lack compassion for their circumstances take a moment to reflect on something in your own life – a time when you may have done or been in a similar situation and first forgive yourself for your failings and then do what you can to help the other person be the best person they can be in whatever small way you can.

So for those who think I’m just a “liberal” which I am. Think about this I don’t just believe in God I KNOW there is a GOD and I KNOW without a doubt that GOD is so far beyond our puny human minds that we have no business judging those who have been less fortunate than ourselves.

Blessings to all beings, may peace, happiness, love and prosperity be a reality for all who choose the path of kindness.

Debt Ceiling and the Final Nail…

I would say that if the plan passes as is, its the nail in the coffin for many a Washington career including Obama’s. And we will see the very dark side of the garbage we’ve been hiding behind the dumpster. I have a post ready, a prediction that I wrote last week, on Monday about what would happen. So far it’s been right on. I didn’t post it because I didn’t want to effect any possible outcome and as weird it sounds I had a feeling if I posted, it might. So I kept it hidden in the private files to be revealed later.

Someone asked me (after the 2008 crash) if I felt the Dow would go below 6,000 in the next slide. I kept seeing their being 2 major falls. Yet the second one was kept at bay. I kept being told 2 years. And I believe it was supposed to happen within the two years after the first but didn’t. However, if this package goes through you can expect to see the second fall and the crash to below 6000. Reality will hit us hard and the dance of BS will finally be over. Many people will lose everything and we will hit a serious Depression. There is only one option for the president, and if he had balls he would take it. Sadly, his are much smaller than Hillary Clinton’s the woman I voted for in the primary because I felt she would have been able to stand her ground where I feared Obama could not.

Obama however is very brilliant, likeable and he appealed to the idealist in all of us. I have wanted nothing more than for him to surprise me by being strong and like so many others we felt he was an idealist too, willing to stand up for what he believed.  I think Obama is in a debate but when it comes to following through he is sorely lacking. However I won’t count him out just yet. ( And let’s face it Obama was the only answer though we had. If McCain would have won we would have hit this Depression times 10 back in 2009.) If Obama pulls this one out of the hat at the last second as I hope to the Great Spirit he will, then I will once again have renewed faith not just in his ability to lead, win another election and bring us out of a looming Depression but also I will have renewed faith in our government itself.

If not I fear we are headed down a road too dark to even look at right now.

Pray for us – we need it!

Many blessings to the good people of this world,

Denise

Answering Readers & More…

From Al Brooks:

AS far as Palin, there is such a double standard. Obama lies at every turn, its not reported, and she is denegrated every other day. She quit becasue of frivlous ethics charges.

Hi Al Brooks,

All I can say to Al Brooks is I hope he’s not Albert Brooks whom I am a huge fan of. What a bummer that would be. As for Palin I’ve looked at her chart. It’s clear from it that she’s not a very bright bulb and she’s also a narcissist who expects other people to live by rules which she openly disobeys. I don’t have trouble with people being human, imperfect or anyone who makes a mistake. I do have a problem with hypocrites and Palin is a huge one. Pushing her daughter to teach abstinence only to kids when she got knocked up in high school boarders on mentally ill. She’s a sheep in wolf’s clothing. She can’t think for herself let alone lead. And I guarantee you if she stayed in power (as I had predicted back in September or October of last year) a cornucopia of misdeeds, borderline sociopathic behavior and a plethora of scandals would have eventually made there way into the tabloids. And when reporters did their jobs, they would find all of it was true. This woman is a mess, a dumb one at that. If this is the best the Republican party can trot out then they should give up.

And from Eya:

How about this connection? I’m from Alaska and when I got wind of a “hastily called press statement” from our govenor I immediately thought of North Korea. It was a logical thought; the last “missile test” was suppose to be headed our way. What a shock instead….She quits!!! She didn’t quit as mayor of Wassilla; she was nearly recalled from office. But, there is a pattern here for sure. She plays by her own rules and gets away with it in the sense that she constantly rises higher and higher. There is no doubt she is coming your way, but the media and bloggers will keep the public informed; she has a disconnect with her reality and the “facts.”
Anyways, thanks for your thoughts as always and found it interesting that you used the term “psycho.” Many here have been feeling like something mental is going on with her.

Hi Eya,

Kind of the way George W. handled 9/11 by reading to kids and then flying around the US all day until the crisis was over. I think he would have quit too if he didn’t have good old Dick to run things for him anyway. Sarah and George are both cowards. People who want attention but have nothing to give. They both should have tried to get reality shows instead and saved us the headache. It would have been better for everyone.

From Hope and a Plan:

Are you familiar with all of the information on HAARP, which happens to be located in Alaska.
I wonder if the lines are fault lines, since some believe (big conspiracy, hang in there with me) that it was used to cause the large recent Chinese earthquake. If you remember China wouldnt allow aids workers in the area, and there are now claims that there was a large underground nuclear plant that was destroyed. I think there are many ways of warring, there is the Kissinger way and the high tech way. “Lines” also make me think of the earth’s electromagnetic grid. And then there’s the less literal chaos in California… Just my two non cents.

Hi Hope and a Plan:

I haven’t heard of HAARP but will do some research on it. I did do a little research on the ultrasound or sonic weaponry and found some interesting things, it did seem to dovetail with the dream. I had thought of earthquakes as well but interestingly in the dream I distinctly thought that it didn’t seem like California (where I live). I had no idea that Alaska was the target but the dreamscape certainly would fit the pictures I’ve seen of towns there. Here’s a few excerpts from wikipedia on sonic weapons: “At higher energy levels, a subsonic shock wave is theoretically powerful enough to do damage (see Earthquake).[citation needed] The possible effects have been the subject of much speculation.” And under the section, “Lethal Sonic Weapons From the Air” was this entry: “A powerful low frequency sound designed to get buildings or structures to resonate and cause them to collapse.” Here’s the link to that entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_weapon

And From Wei:

The other conspiracy theory is that there is a plan to send an electromagnetic pulse to interrupt the entire electrical grid so the world goes into darkness, and that will be the beginning of the end to bring down gov’ts and cause democracy to fall. I heard of HAARP technology, which has been one of the increasingly weaponized forms of nature. There are conspiracy stories that china during the olympics was boasting that there would be no rain and many thought they had some sort of weather control technology.

The other thing about the dream is that your brother was interpreting what he saw, it could be solar flares that caused the electrical grid to short and catch fire. Scary nevertheless. My dreams have been mildly unpleasant of late also.

Hi Wei:

I just read up a little about HAARP it sounds pretty freaky, the dark side of terrabuilding technology. It is very possible my dream was about that, like I said, I had no idea what was causing the effects in the dream, only when I was awake did I try to figure it out.

It seems we’ve entered a dark period and there’s a lot to do to dig us out from the hole we’re in. I have been feeling for awhile that we are coming to the end of our chance to save ourselves and the earth. I only hope we have more time and we grow up fast. I do still believe it’s possible.

It’s interesting to note that there are about 6 billion people incarnate on the planet right now. This is about the same amount of people estimated to have lived in all of human history up to this time. I often wonder if we’ve all come back here to grab the wheel and get humanity back on course. It’s been my feeling that for the past 50 years a great percentage of us were not required (for our own personal growth) to come back here but rather choose to come back and like pure drops of rain in a polluted pond, help to purify the collective consciousness in order to elevate humanity in both an evolutionary leap and also to steer the ship toward peace, knowledge, understanding and compassion. But being here sure is frustrating! And sometimes I wonder if the best of us don’t get sucked into our lower natures here. It’s a struggle to stay positive sometimes.

Best wishes and many blessings to all you kind and wonderful souls,

Denise

One Of Those Weeks…

It’s been one of those nutty weeks trying to catch up and of course my baby got sick which means late nights and interrupted sleep.

I was glad to see that Arlene Specter moved away from the party of nut jobbers (now at just 20% of the country calling themselves Republican since they have successfully collapsed the big tent) and with the obvious yet pathetic (on the part of his Republican adversary) attempt at keeping Al Franken from his rightful place in the Senate, but he’ll be vindicated soon, this puts the Dems at the exact 60 seats I predicted and as I said in the prediction last October it would be a squeaker. And boy was it. I was kind of shocked at the accuracy of that prediction when Specter announced his change of party. 

And I’m going to toot my own horn here again and say that Obama has been doing an amazing job with the economy. As it turns out the stats are in that since he’s taken office the economy is in the process of doing a 180 and there are some economists who feel the recession maybe over as early as this summer. Pretty amazing. I would be cautiously optomistic about that one, but I do feel we will really truly be recovered in the next couple of years. The unemployment rate is preey outrageous here in California but then again we have a Republican robot Governator so what did we expect? My mother used to say that Republicans were known for their excellent foreign policy and Democrats for their domestic work. As it turns out Republican leadership isn’t good at either! Not this brand of crazy, neo-con nut-jobbers.

And has anyone noticed that the press (I noticed on my local Fox affiliate and have heard it a few other places as well) that President Obama is often referred to as Mr. Obama? I can’t think of any other sitting president who was referred to as Mr. Is this some weird kind of racism, just like the FOX news freak out about Obama showing respect for a foreign Saudi leader instead of holding hands and skipping toward photographers for a photo op. Sometimes I really think George W. had some kind of serious intellectual deficit. I think he may turn out to be our first and only mentally handicapped president. Actually, that’s an insult the mentally handicapped who are often amazingly kind and gifted people in other ways. George was certainly not that. Thank God he’s gone!!!!

Oye Vey! 

I will write longer posts soon when the little one is doing better.

Best wishes and many blessings to all you fine people,

Denise

In Memory of Duane Jarvis & Our Broken Health Care System

On April 1^st we learned a 51 year old friend, Duane Jarvis, died of colon cancer. I knew him for years before his girlfriend told me he had a terrible, painful case of scoliosis and had spent much of his life in bad health and in pain. Yet, he was a gentle and sweet spirit who relished life and took every opportunity to be and do what his heart dictated. About eighteen months ago he was diagnosed with colon cancer. We found this out because his ex-wife in an effort to help him sent out e-mails to all his friends to help him with his mounting medical bills.

Now this man was no slouch. He worked all his life as a professional musician. But of course being a musician is not like working at Starbucks, there are no 401k plans with health and dental added. Yet, he contributed to the lineage of art so many of us love. He was Lucinda Williams guitar player and co-wrote some songs with her, played with Frank Black, Dwight Yoakam, Dave Alvin, John Prine, Michelle Shocked and many more. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/03/duane-jarvis-in.html  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/04/duane-jarvis-dies-at-51-la-roots-music-singersongwriter-and-guitarist.html  One could say he made his mark in the music world and on all who knew him. Yet because the life of an artist is feast or famine, up, down and a hustle, he did not have adequate health care. And I’m sure with his medical history even if he wanted to purchase it, it would have been out of his ability to pay for it.

His friends pitched in to help save his life. But he lost his battle at 1:30 in the morning at a hospice with an ocean view, with a smile on his face. He never complained about his pain, his disease or his troubles.

Not only was this poor man fighting a horrible, painful, aggressive form of cancer, he had to worry about the financial cost to him and the loved ones he knew he would leave behind. It has been proven that cancer is made worse by stress and chances are good that if he had good medical care to begin with his colon cancer never would have gotten so out of control, claiming his life at the early age of 51.

For all out there who still believe each one of us should think only of ourselves, and not come together as a nation and take care of each other through a universal healthcare system, I ask do you listen to music? Do you read books, enjoy art, read magazines, watch movies or enjoy any form of art as a release, a way to wind down to reflect on your life in a different way? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then I’d like to burst your illusion that those in the arts, even the people you on the outside would deem successful, have the financial stability to pay for their healthcare. Yet we all enjoy the fruits of their work. Art attunes us with our soul, the universe, God, our spirit and each other. It aides compassion, encourages self-reflection and produces self-discovery. It is actually one of the only things we as Americans still make and export. Yet for more than 90% of professional artists of all kinds there is no safety net in this country (unlike other democratic, civilized places.)

Republicans will belly ache about personal responsibility, yet it costs more for us to foot the bill for radical treatment that could have been avoided due to prevention then footing the bill for radical treatment when someone cannot afford their care. And is it fair that after years of giving to the world these individuals and their families should be punished with outrageous bills because they don’t work for a corporation that gives them health insurance?

Our health care system is absurd. There is no reason corporations should pay for our health care and there is no reason people who are self-employed, whether in the arts or otherwise, should be punished with outrageous costs they often opt to avoid.

More than half of all Americans walk this tight rope every day, hoping and praying they don’t get sick because they can’t afford a trip to the doctor’s office let alone several hundred dollars a month to an insurance company who will then, often fight to make sure they pay as little as possible.

Our country has the highest infant mortality rate of any industrialized nations. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html

And our life expectancy is at #50 of all countries in the world, ranking well below all western European countries, Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea and Bosnia for God’s sake.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html

How could it possibly be that we are the wealthiest country in the world and yet we let ten percent of our population control about 70 percent of the wealth? How can anyone who is not in that top echelon actually abide this? Why is it that any rational human being who works and pays taxes is not absolutely outraged by this? And how is it that the Republicans have managed to sell us on the idea that our system is fine?

Oh, yeah, the amplified fear of communism (aka more aptly dictatorship) which is actually just faked for the benefit of those who don’t understand why there would literally have to be a civil war in our country for a dictatorship to occur although we did get just about as close as we could with the Bush administration with their tactic of not counting the votes. According to the Limbaugh’s of the world it appears going back to the tax code of 1993 which was a 36 percent tax for the wealthy 10 percent to a 3 percent increase at 39 percent is a communist plot and of course so is universal health care. Hmm, I wonder who benefits most from that position. Oh, yeah the rich like Limbaugh. So he’s basically arguing from an entirely selfish point of view but trying to sell it as some sort of great American ideal when it’s nothing but more money for his private planes, which by the way he has, I know someone who was picked up and taken to his mansion in Florida by one of them. (Yes, I do have all kinds of friends.)

As I pointed out in an earlier post, communism is not the same as democratic socialism. In communist countries where they took Marx & Lennon’s ideas and ran with them they all ultimately turned into dictatorships because there was no accountability written into their ideology. The notion that a group of people would take everyone’s stuff and then divide it up among all the people evenly is insane and of course was an open invitation for graft, power hungry dictators, and greedy buerocrats. This was beyond psychologically naive, it was ideologically irrational, unsound and irresponsible. No checks and balances, no elections, hell, with all of Marx’s good intentions of lifting up the poor, he may as well have slapped a “rape the people of this country here” sticker on whatever flag adopted those ideas.

As out of whack as the US has gotten with capitalism swallowing our Democracy through corporate lobbyists and special tax laws and loopholes for the wealthy who could pay their way into the halls of power, we still have the power to pull back the reigns on this out of control buggy. And as a people we obviously have started yelling, “whoa!” by ousting the Republicans who have for the past 30 years aligned themselves with corporations, big money and lobbyists in a much more extreme way than Democrats. 

But Democrats have to start really pulling the reigns back before we leap off the mountain here. And let’s get real; they aren’t all that much better than Republicans. They take money from special interests, lobbyists and play all the same games. There is just a bigger percentage of people who identify with the working/middle class in the Democratic party but that’s been drifting away over the past 20 years as well. Which is why Obama was and is such a breath of fresh air. He actually seems like he has, can you believe it, IDEALS! It’s been a long time since we’ve seen that in a politician.

In my humble opinion this form of out of control corporate capitalism is at odds with Democracy at this point in our history. There are laws that need to be put into place, such as, if you are an American company, your product should have to be made in America. As a private citizen if I wanted to go live in France I couldn’t because I’m not French. I’m American. So why is it that corporations started by Americans and incorporated here, can make their crap in China, and then put an office in Guam and avoid paying American taxes? If you ask me this behavior is anti-American and one of the big dark roots of the economic disaster America is finding itself in. All that talk about how unemployment wasn’t that bad during the Bush administration was B.S. Besides changing the rules on how unemployment statistics were reported to only reporting people on the unemployment rolls in the unemployed statistics and cutting unemployment benefits back to 6 months, I hardly think working part-time at Wal-Mart for the minimum wage while being taught how to get food stamps and welfare by the corporate douche bags at Wal-Mart qualifies as the kind of good manufacturing jobs we shipped overseas. You know, the ones where people actually got paid a living wage, one they could feed and clothe their families on.

Another point I’d like to make here is the big mistake of the 1970s when women entered the work force and ERA was not passed. What people didn’t get was paying women 70 cents to the dollar a man would make for the same job drove down wages to the point where now both parents have to work in order to support a family.

It’s the very same principle Lou Dobbs complains about with the Mexicans driving down wages and taking away jobs because they are willing to work for less. Well, guess who relaxed the boarder laws for this very reason? The Reagan administration. Yes, that’s right folks. Allowing illegal people to stream across the boarders was a way to modernize indentured servitude. Again the goal was to make the rich, richer without any consideration of the other 90% of Americans. I’m in no way blaming the Mexican people who have come here in search of a better life. Our country is a hodge-podge of people from all over the world who came here for the very same reason. As a matter of fact the way the Mexican people have been exploited and then demonized is very much akin to what happened to the Irish who came here as indentured servants. Their pay was a ticket on a ship to America and they spent years as slaves until working this off only to find there was tremendous animosity for them because they were poor, and often in desperate straights.

Enough of my blabbing. I just want to point out that history repeats itself. It mutates and grows new claws, but there are patterns. Unfortunately, these facts are not pointed out or even noted for people to consider. I hope to at least try to illuminate those who have been seeing things through the lens of FOX news. By the way I want to note here that numerologicaly FOX = 666 for those who are of the Christian faith.

Here’s how that works:

1    2  3  4   5  6   7  8  9

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I

J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R

S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

This is standard western numerology. As you can see FOX is spelled out under the number 6. Each letter has the value of 6.

I always wondered if Rupert Murdoch knew that and thought it was ironic or funny or if he saw himself as being in league with Mr. Satan. Or perhaps it’s all of the above. All I know is it’s dang ironic.

Best wishes and many blessings,

Denise

Answering Readers and other things…

I just wanted to address some of the points Jeff has made. I think he really clarifies the differences in the two viewpoints between conservatives and liberals very well. I understand the lack of faith in our government and the fact that there is corruption and stupidity on all sides of every issue in politics. I would never advocate a one party system.

My back was fractured when I was 12 and a disc herniated. I spent the entire year laying on my back, by myself in my bedroom. The only education I received was American history and the constitution as I had to pass (this was in Illinois) a constitution test in 7th grade in order to move onto 8th grade. Needless to say, I got one hour a week from the principle who would come to my home and tutor me. I spent a lot of time reading the constitution, the bill of rights and reading about American History. The ideals and people that founded our nation were profound and beautiful. Our forefathers did an amazing job of working out potential problems. They had incredible foresight. However they did not foresee all things that came up in the last century which have truly corrupted our government. And of course they had built in the 2nd amendment not so people could hunt animals, but so we could have a revolution if the government got out of control. Problem is of course (which of course they couldn’t foresee, perhaps if DiVinci had been one of the founders) the advent of nuclear weapons and military technology that no rag tag militia could fairly fight against. 

I really don’t have total faith in the Democrats. I just think they are less corrupt, more like normal politicians than the Republicans. And not all Republicans fall into that category. And especially regular American people who are not politicians but who identify with the party and vote Republican. They are not any better or worse than people who vote for Democrats. I’m talking only about the leadership of the Republican party; since the Nixon administration there has been a clarion call attracting many corrupt politicians with agendas to exploit the common working American people for their own personal gain on that side of the fence.

There are 2 types of politicians, those who get into politics to serve and lead. And those who get into politics to exploit, loot and are on power trips. I don’t think the Republican party has always been this way, and certainly the vast majority of people who vote Republican are not this way. In actuality I think the Republican party has manipulated many people’s deep love of this country, of tradition, stability, pride and our identity as self-reliant people against us.

But if we left morality up to the wealthy one percent to take care of the poor, the sick and whoever else, do you think they would do it? No. Certainly the feudal lords of Europe weren’t going around giving out loafs of bread to starving children, they were to busy denying them education and prosecuting them for stealing bread so they could put them to work in prison camps. With Democracy and laws, came taxation built on levels of ability to pay, the end of debtors prisons (when you could actually go to prison for life for not being able to pay someone you owed money to, can you imagine how many people would be in jail now if this law hadn’t been changed.) Government can’t solve all of our problems, but it can and should create a moral bone structure to hang our civilization’s body on.

As much as we like to pretend that we are all working on a level playing field with the same amount of talent, intelligence and acumen as everyone else. This is just blatantly untrue. Many of us our handicapped by our environments as children. We seem to be able to muster compassion for the abused child, but as soon as he turns 18 we seem to expect this person to magically be able to shake off the horrors of their childhood and compete in a game fixed by the wealthy.

I grew up in an area of Chicago that was very wealthy and I knew countless kids who were of average intelligence who went to ivy league schools because their parents were wealthy enough to give endowments to those institutions and it was family tradition to go to Harvard or Yale or Dartmouth. Is that fair? No. All the conservatives who claim B.S. on the whole affirmative action thing don’t complain about the wealthy legacy kids who get in with subpar SAT scores and average grades. Because it’s really not that they mind the game being rigged, they just want it rigged in their favor. And the people who are in power in the political arena (especially on the Republican side) are from extremely privelaged backgrounds. This hasn’t always been the case, but in the last 30 years the Republican party has drifted into the lane that promotes corporatism, gives a pass to the wealthiest one percent and turns a blind eye toward graft. The Democrats still have real people participating, like Bill Clinton (despite his personal sex addiction problems and foibles) he was a real guy who was raised by a single mother, in a poor family and through his brilliance and determination made something of himself. This is the America I believe in. This is the America I want to see win out. I don’t want our country to become a feudal one, where the wealthy one percent control us through their lobbyists and corporations. I want all Americans to be represented and to have a voice. I want to stay a democracy and not be bowled over by corporate interests masquerading as moral voices.

You know, the Democrats aren’t all that. They are really annoying and pretty lame. They don’t take the reigns, they blather around, seem to try to bend to too many voices and don’t have the passion it takes to convince others to get on board. This has been their problem now for over 30 years and I totally understand why they upset people who want things to be dealt with cleanly. Democrats don’t do this. For those (and this is the majority of Americans) who want decisive, clear leadership the Democrats don’t always know how to provide this. The Republicans have a huge advantage here, they have a common goal that binds them together which the Democrats don’t have. Democrats go into public service for all kinds of different reasons with all kinds of different agendas and are forced to compromise and work together in a quilt work fashion.

The Republicans have the binding passion of greed which they found a way to sell (ironically) to average Americans as Christian morality. However their policies and private lives show nothing of them living up to their supposed morality.  I’m going to refer you to an earlier post here about the shadow self as it applies to the split that Republicans utilize to sell their advocacy for the wealthiest taking not only the share they already have but more of yours too so that the money can “trickle down.” Or so they want you to believe.

So far I haven’t been to any developing nation or as Jeff aptly stated, communist country, where the money ever managed to trickle down. Once those on top have anything their heart could ever desire at their fingertips why would they randomly want to share it with strangers? This goes against human nature. We are naturally selfish creatures which is why we have laws, moral codes, and religions that teach us how to be more than just self-absorbed, self-satisfying, opportunistic, uncompassionate beasts.

Let me just say here as an example I’ve known many very famous people (through my work). They can have anything they want whenever they want it, no one ever says “no” to them. They often surround themselves with adoring admirers (not all but many do this) and see themselves as better than everyone else. They often get sucked into a weird cartoonish state of being where they are living entirely a life of the ego. They may have started out as good people and are not necessarily bad people, but they loose percpective and do horrible things to others because they  no longer see other people as human beings anymore. And how could they? They are not participating in real relationships anymore, just the ego heroine of fame feeding their insatiable insecurity and making them more and more pathologically narcissistic. 

My point is, we all need to be held accountable. And we live in a very narcissistic culture where value has been placed on being special, famous and wealthy to the exclusion of common sense and common decency. It seems anything goes if you can get rich or famous from it.  I don’t believe in that. I believe in personal integrity and spiritual growth both of those values are almost impossible to hold onto once a person becomes famous or insanely wealthy (I’m not talking comfortable or even rich but in that one percent club wealthy.)

Spiritual growth requires honest mirroring by loved ones and the world around you which the obscenely rich and famous don’t get from others anymore because that person becomes objectified and identified as a symbol, no longer allowing others to have real exchanges. While this is great for the ego, no one ever disagrees with you, you are always the greatest genius and everyone stops to listen to what you have to say, you actually, eventually become something of a persona, an empty shell, and often this can lead to great feelings of isolation, depression and obsessive behavior. Which is why so many celebrities have drug problems.

And of course in the case of the insanely wealthy, everyone wants a piece of their pie, and they can’t trust anyone around them. They never really know if people love or care about them for who they are or for the money they have. You think this problem sounds easy, but it’s actually very messy and dark and leads to behavior like Bernie Madoff who so desperately needed to stay in that special billionare club that he started ripping people off when the market started going down and he realized it was easier to con people than to actually invest their money. This is the sickness that can happen with outrageous overabundance as Christ said, “it’s easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.” Because the disassociation that happens with that sort of wealth leads to callousness, and  bad behavior.

Average people like my in-laws, who are Republicans, make the mistake of believing that heads of corporations and the super wealthy have the same values they do. Let me tell you, they don’t. Their values are so far a flung from ordinary Americans that they may as well be Martians. There are of course good people who are exceptions and do amazing humanitarian work with the money they have made, but really they are probably less than one percent of the ubber rich.

While we all fantasize that our problems would go away and life would be perfect if we were just rich and famous, the opposite is actually true. Being in the spotlight only magnifies problems and immense wealth creates an emotional telescoping phenomena where your ability to relate to people who are struggling financially disappears and instead of feeling compassion for those people the wealthy find a bizarre righteous anger toward the unfortunate so they can stave off their guilt at not doing anything to help.

So what I want to say is that I don’t believe we can leave people’s lives, health and education up to the potential good graces of the wealthy one percent. I’ll leave everyone with this weird random example. The first time I went to London, when I was in my early 20s I met a guy who was a monarchist. I actually didn’t even know they still existed. He believed that the best form of government was what he called a “benevolent monarchy.” He explained that in that system things got done quickly and the benevolent king to good care of all of his subjects, sort of like a good dad takes care of all of his kids. But then I said, “But what happens if the monarch is not benevolent, like King Henry or Caligula.” 

“Well, I’m talking about a benevolent monarchy,” he firmly stated again.

“Yes, but that’s the problem if its a monarchy the people can’t do anything to get rid of the next in line and what if they’re crazy or a horrible person. In a democracy you can vote a nut jobber out of office. There are checks and balances in place that help eliminate the possibility of someone terrible taking over.” 

 And again his answer was, “Well, I’m talking about a benevolent monarchy.”

What we do in our Democracy with checks and balances, laws and amendments had its counter part in the world of business as regulations and the notion that corporations being led by the best people would perform the best and therefore those leaders would continue to move skyward. But instead with deregulation came easy money through scams, the ability to lie about your company, to cheat your shareholders and to fail upwards based on lies and fudging numbers. 

Our country is as much about capitalism as it is about democracy. And in order for capitalism to survive it needs to have enforceable rules to play by or no one on the world stage is going to want to play with us anymore. Those toxic loans we bought up that have been helping the stock market, are helping because by our government standing behind our corporations we are saying to the world, we screwed up and we won’t let everyone fall down, we stand behind our system and we want to continue playing ball with everyone. If we didn’t do this the entire world economy would fall apart due to lack of confidence in us the champions of capitalism.

Anyway, enough blabbing.

Best wishes to all and many blessings,

Denise

The Economic Stimulus Plan & Cori Desmond

First I want to say that I am so sorry for the loss of Cori. I feel very badly for all of her family and friends and want to let them know I have given the police all the information I received. I also talked to some of Cori’s friends which confirmed some of what I had told the police and had e-mail correspondence with her father whom I will be more than happy to help if he wants me to.  I’ve gotten a flood of e-mails from her friends. She was obviously a very powerful presence and touched many people’s lives. I’m sorry if you have e-mailed me and I haven’t gotten back to you. I haven’t had a lot of time recently. 

Now onto the Stimulus Package which upon further reflection and after seeing the Governor of Louisiana on Meet the Press tonight, brought to light one of the aspects in the Stimulus Package chart. That is the Uranus Saturn opposition which is the ideological tug between the conservative status quo way we have been dealing with the economy since Reagan’s “Trickle Down Economics” and “no new taxes,” mantra. Both of which were falacies even then as wealth never ended up trickling down and we went into a recession in the early 90s because of the overspending hole Reagan put us in, as it turned out Reagan did also raise taxes. He actually invented or re-applied new ones like the Capital Gains tax so when you sold your home that you had already paid taxes for every year, not to mention the income tax you had to pay before you bought the home, but you were then taxed on any profit you may have made on your home. The only way to avoid this was by buying a home of equal or greater value.

So all those people who were middle class wanting to scale down, use their equity to retire on, screw them! They had to pay this extra ridiculous double tax. Again, this was a slimy way to tax the middle class and allow the wealthy to weasel out of their fair share.

This broken ideology is the cornerstone of the Republican party. Yet until Bush “broke the world,” as Seth Meyers joked on Saturday Night Live a couple weeks back, they were getting away with the bait and switch, doing what they accused the Democrats of doing (which they actually weren’t) like creating huge deficit spending (remember that surplus at the end of the Clinton era, seems like a thousand years ago now), they were selling their party as fiscally conservative — read help the wealthy save their money so they can buy more yachts while the schizophrenic guy gets dumped onto the streets from a half-way house because, damn it, he should “pull himself up by his own bootstraps,” theory.

They went after unions under the guise of their outdated uselessness and once they were destroyed the jobs with health care benefits and 401Ks and all those extra perks began slipping away. Until they were finally shipped overseas. And interestingly the border from Mexico became very porous while Reagan was in office. One needs desperate people to work for nothing if your desire is to exploit them.

I always said they were trying to turn this country into a third world nation, a country of very rich and very poor, nothing in-between. But even I couldn’t entirely believe it. It seemed too disgusting, greedy, evil and vile to really be true. Surely, there was something I was missing, perhaps a different ideology about economics that I didn’t get. Not that old timey way of doing things like indentured servitude and slavery, and people working for nothing so that their bosses could live like kings. No. Who would want to walk down a street and see people starving, who could do that and feel nothing? Oh, yeah, I think we had that answer, the people who were in charge the last 8 years. And the people who supported them, often not knowing what they were really supporting, thinking they were for “family values” and gun rights and the right to life and even Christianity. When in reality these people were really for greed, selfishness, and whoever has the most stuff wins. Not very Christian, not very “family values,” to let your grand kids pay for your spending sprees and live in a contaminated world so you could make a few extra bucks off that oil well.

Now the new Republican face is supposedly Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana and he’s saying he won’t take the Stimulus Package money to help the people of his state, most of whom live in poverty, many still are not settled due to Katrina, because of “ideological” discrepancies with the plan. Meaning he wants more, “read my lips, NO NEW TAXES,” for the rich and is willing to commit political Harri Kari to carry the broken down smoldering torch of Reaganomics. Is he kidding? What are these idiotic Republicans thinking? Really? Really? I mean REALLY?

We are about to plunge headlong into a world wide depression because of their ideology. America voted them out of power in every branch of the government and they actually have the gall to criticize this bill. Really? Seriously, they actually tried to get in the way of it. And this Bobby Jindal is going to turn down relief for the starving people of Louisiana because it’s going to make the deficit worse? That’s his supposed excuse. Where was he when we invaded Iraq with now hundreds of thousands of dead innocent Iraqi people, thousands of our soldiers and a trillion, bazillion majillion dollar deficit from what was a bungled mess and total violation of the Geneva convention. 

So back to the astrology of this. This idiotic commitment to a failed economic ideology that the Republicans are still in love with will end up pushing this stimulus package into a more and more radical stance. As things worsen, the reaction will have to be more extreme, more radical and dare I say it, more about spreading the wealth. I know these guys hate that idea. I mean only they deserve to be wealthy. But lets face it, if they are the only ones with money, then its kind of hard to have an economy.

The best metaphor I heard about what has happened is this: Imagine you are playing a poker game and one guy keeps winning and winning until he’s taken all the money from all the players. Well, the game’s over. That’s a major ideological hole in Trickle Down economics.

And what happens when the rich just get richer? They literally clog the economic colon of the country. They can’t possibly move around enough money to sustain everyone. When the wealth is spread around, and there are a lot of middle class people spending money, we actually have more jobs, more productivity, more to go around. This was the basic theory behind Clinton’s economic ideology  and it worked very well. Actually, incredibly well.

So if anyone implies spreading the wealth around is a bad thing tell them to go back in their time machine to the 1950s when McCarthy and the Red scare was happening, and leave the rest of us alone — those of us who live in the 21st century and know that some of the most productive and wealthiest nations in the world are actually social democracies, like Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Countries where they have the highest standard of living and where the people are statistically proven to be the most content of anywhere in the world. Lands where no one starves on the street, the mentally ill are treated, and you not only have free health care, but if you apply yourself academically you can get a free higher education.

Now those don’t sound like such bad ideas to me.  

A land where both parents get something like six months paid maternity/paternity leave. Where the kids are brought to work, and put in company daycare where the parents work. You know all those family values we like to talk about, but don’t actually like to do anything about.

It actually sounds surprisingly evolved and civilized. Hope we can drop that weird anti-pinko, left over cold war brainwashing that makes it impossible for us to see things clearly.

Best wishes and many blessings,

Denise