"One of the reasons I left was my sense that they were using the intelligence from the CIA and other agencies only when it fit their agenda. They didn't like the intelligence they were getting, and so they brought in people to write the stuff. They were so crazed and so far out and so difficult to reason with--to the point of being bizarre. Dogmatic, as if they were on a mission from God. If it doesn't fit their theory, they don't want to accept it." An unnamed former intelligence official talking to journalist, Seymour Hersh,about the Bush administration.
You don't have to be a psychic to know that the Bush administration lied about Iraq. Anyone that has been paying attention knows that there aren't any weapons of mass destruction, that sociopathic Saddam wasn't a threat to the United States, and Bush didn't tell the truth about why he wanted to go to war. And now that we've "won" the war, our reconstruction efforts are being sabotaged by Baath Party members. Bechtel and others can't even get the power grids up because of the sabotage. I guess that's neither here nor there for the American people. After all, we won and got rid of the bad guy. The American people aren't paying attention to any of this or they just don't care. Or they are all still being influenced by Neptune, the planet of subterfuge and illusion. Look at how the media fawned all over Bush's bulging crotch in his Neptunian fly boy costume. Anyone that follows the news on the Internet has juxtaposed his desertion from the Air National Guard from 1973-74 with his fantasy landing on the Abraham Lincoln, yet few media outlets outside the Internet are even mentioning it. Instead a woman journalist from the dreaded Wall Street Journal goes on and on about what a hottie Georgie is, and David Broder, who generally isn't quite so stupid speaks of the president's "physical posture." He tells Tim Russert that "this president has learned how to move in a way that just conveys a great sense of authority and command." Maybe Broder, like Karl Rove is attracted to Bush. Meanwhile, Representative Henry Waxman tried to induce the GAO into investigating the cost of Bush's fly boy act to the American taxpayer but to no avail. We all know that Clinton wouldn't have gotten away with it. Isn't anyone ready to vomit yet?
I keep thinking that this country is going to wake up and change the tune it has been playing since Bush came into office. After reflecting on the degree symbol of the U.S. Sun sign, however, I'm not so sure: A robust man is approaching through some bushes on the left. He looks both savage and sad. Over his shoulders he has draped a recently slaughtered sheep, whose blood is still dripping. On his left, a big stone marks the spot where a severed human head is placed next to a dagger.
According to Helene and Willem Koppejan in their book, The Zodiac Image Handbook, the Cardinal Signs, this is a degree of tragedy. They call the image "sinister and lugubrious." The authors talk of blood feuds and the refusal to take responsibility for their own actions. With this degree prominent, people tend to blame others for their problems.. i.e. the French, Saddam Hussein, Al Qaeda. The United States is also guilty of this cowardly quality, particularly under a man that was born one day after America's birthdate. Further unpleasant correlations can be made with what the Koppejans say about this degree: "What can make these people so dangerous is the fact that not only are they are aggressive, but they are able to exert a great and fatal influence over others, especially those in close relation to them...If given political power they may even go so far as to chop off heads. This they justify by reference to the position of responsibility. On a more spiritual level they may find themselves victims of a terrorist action or the frenzy of an angry mob."
Under the Bush influence, this Cancerian degree of America's Sun Sign has become more unpleasant than any time in our history. Is there no hope for us with this miserable degree symbol as our birthright? There is another symbol associated with this degree which may offer us a chance to transform ourselves into something better once Bush is out of office: A hand with a prominent thumb is held out for study. According to Dane Rudhyar in his Astrological Mandala, this symbol means that an individual can only express itself through a strong character. A strong will is needed to face the issues. According to the Koppejans, individuals with this degree symbol can channel great strength of the spirit. But they must be aware of and transform the darkness of the first image, which pictures the "deepest and meanest instincts in the collective soul of humanity".
So, as a people, we Americans have to own up to our dark side, to our selfishness, greed and meanness if we are to show great strength of spirit. It's not just the Bush administration that is selfish, greedy, and mean. Bush is just a representative of our country. He wouldn't have his high ratings if the majority of Americans didn't identify with him in some way. And although Americans can be very generous when it comes to tragedies in foreign countries(famines, earthquakes, and the like), and tragedies here at home(the 9-11 terrorist attack ), we can also be dangerously egocentric, provincial, crude and nasty, particularly when we feel insecure.
