Saturday night – just got home from Mikey’s and eating shrimp po’boys. That was fun; we watched two DVDs and hung out.
Came home, talked to a few guys on the computer here, fiddled with Quicken some more; this is going to require a call to technical support, clearly.
After an unexpected text message
Well, now we are well and truly fucked. William Renquist just died. As my friend CP just said, Justice O’Connor’s retirement was the hurricane, and Renquist’s death is the levee breaking.
CP just did my astrological chart – he’s going over it and saying that I have a difficult chart. I don’t yet know just what that means. Pluto is in my house of career.
DJHJD
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Friday, September 02, 2005
Astrology of Disaster
PlanetWavesBy ERIC FRANCISParis, Friday, Sept. 2, 2005
Katrina, the Awakener
ONE IMAGE keeps haunting me from this week's journalism, spun by William Rivers Pitt at truthout.org -- that of presidential advisor Karl Rove standing on the roof of the White House in a magician's hat and cape, with a big staff, conjuring Hurricane Katrina. Given the witch-hunt against climate change scientists reported in The Guardian earlier this week, that may not be far from the truth (links below, in blue). On its face, this storm happened at a brilliantly convenient time for world managers who thrive on chaos and distraction, right in the midst of the first meaningful protests against the catastrophic Iraq war gaining momentum -- and with George Bush's approval ratings lower than any president since Nixon at the height of Watergate.
If you recall, moments before Katrina arrived, we were in a reflective, concerned moment as the situation in Iraq descended into worse condition than even staunch pessimists predicted.The US military death toll is near 2,000, and the number of journalists killed in the 30-month conflict has exceeded that of two decades in Vietnam. New, uncontrolled violence takes more Iraqi lives by the day, and sometimes by the hour.
Public attention has now been swayed to a domestic emergency the like of which we have not seen since Sept. 11, 2001. But New Orleans makes what happened four years ago in New York City seem rather dim by comparison, in terms of the number of lives devastated, loss of life, and the destruction of homes. An entire major city has been taken out, not 16 acres of one and the surrounding buildings. The difference now is, there's no one to blame, no emotions of hatred and enmity of some alien outsider to whip up and use to dial in the team spirit -- and the disaster happened to a poor, predominantly black city instead of at the heart of the world's financial and banking operations. Deprived of our prerogative to get revenge, we may actually have to pay attention.
News channels are reporting a state of urban warfare, and troops have consent to shoot and kill American citizens. Police officers are turning in their badges. Scanning the news reports reveals that people are still trapped in the city, on rooftops and in high-rises, and thousands are starving. The condition is deteriorating to the point where vigilante sniper fire at recovery personnel has been reported. Is this even vaguely possible? Who, stranded in their own city, would shoot at rescue workers just for the hell of it? There is no drinking water. Bodies are everywhere. Widespread disease will be inevitable. Tens of thousands of refugees are still left behind at the Superdome and the Convention Center as people die before the eyes of onlookers. The city remains completely flooded because breached levees and overwhelmed pumping stations have made it impossible to remove the water. Due to a breached levee, water from Lake Pontchartrain is still flowing into the city. The stories of cuts to budgets for maintaining these structures only makes one feel sick, in hindsight.It's starting to make the tsunami look good. CNN reported Thursday that a police officer working in downtown New Orleans said police were siphoning gas from abandoned vehicles in an effort to keep their squad cars running, like a detail straight from the mind of Stephen King. Incredibly, no organized relief program appears visible. Indeed, police have received federal orders to privilege stopping looters against delivering aid and searching for survivors. In other words: the priority (as we have so often come to expect) is to protect property, though it would seem there is little property left to even bother with. The effect: poor blacks can die. What we are witnessing is beyond incompetence at this stage, and is approaching the level of genocide.It is important to remember that cities are highly toxic environments, and floods release everything that is usually contained, or held at the bottom or rivers and lakes, into the general environment. Containers and pipes burst. Fires cannot be controlled. In addition, the Mississippi Delta, thanks to generations of contamination by Monsanto, is one of the most dioxin-tainted areas in the world. Though it may not be acknowledged, there is likely to be a serious dioxin problem in New Orleans and nearby areas right now, and for generations to come.
In my mind's eye, I am seeing this unfold along another strand of time. A fully financed, well prepared Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would be on the job years before the hurricane made landfall, as this was a predictable event, contrary to recent assertions. (Indeed, FEMA is being absorbed into Homeland Security and damaged by budget cuts.) Hundreds of Coast Guard helicopters from coastal states and many others would be bringing supplies, and getting those most in need to medical help. Old Army bases, so recently closed by budget cuts, would be used as massive relief centers, complete with airstrips, bathrooms and mess halls. Sports facilities, with all their problems, would not have to be used as refugee camps. America's standing Army and National Guard units, themselves not trapped in the disasters of Iraq and Afghanistan, would be widely available to assist, with all their equipment, rations, supplies and other resources. There would be enough manpower. There would be plenty of money for the operation; America is the richest country in the world. Which may be the problem. But this is not happening in a different time, under different national leadership: it is happening now. And due to the damaged oil-refining infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, the effects of this storm will be rippling, or ripping, into the world economy. The price of gasoline has suddenly risen well beyond $3.00 per gallon many places in the U.S., and has exceeded $6.00 per gallon at some retail outlets in the south. Apparently, many places in the southeast have no gas at all. We are hearing the first calls for fuel conservation since the mid-1970s.
Generally, this is the one thing that can key people into the fact that something is wrong; America's real religion is practiced at the filling station, and nearly all of its transportation energy comes from petroleum.
But it's becoming obvious many more ways that something else is wrong. Imagine if this were a multiple city emergency -- that is, if the damage were to more than one city. Imagine if the casualty toll were higher. Are we now to understand that the federal government is incapable of responding to an emergency? It would seem so. The AstrologyAs I've reported elsewhere [please see cainer.com], a dominant image of Saturn in Leo (which began six weeks ago, on July 16) is that of dams bursting. For some reason, when Saturn changes from water sign Cancer to fire sign Leo, structures that hold back bodies of water (and in one famous instance, hundreds of tons of molasses) tend to give way, often with catastrophic effects. While we are seeing the results of a huge cyclone, we're also seeing those of failed levees -- many of them. You might call this a watershed event. In looking for Saturn imagery, we find plenty working in the chart of the City of New Orleans, but it's difficult to miss the fact that Saturn is now crossing the so-called president's ascendant. As I've also said elsewhere, this would be the big turning point for the non-president's career, with a wave of awareness really coalescing about nine months to the day after the inauguration. In addition, I proposed a couple of months ago that "something is up with the price of gold" -- in this case, black gold, petroleum, the blood of our society. But let's come back to that later. Libra is the astonishing connection that three key charts, the City of New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, and Mr. Bush, have in common. Also looking at a fourth chart, the progressed horoscope for the city, we find the same effect -- Libra is the dominant energy, with its quest for justice, balance, rebalancing and sensitivity. Between these four charts, there are 17 major planets and points in Libra. And a solar eclipse in Libra is coming in just one month, nestled nicely into the action. This is followed by a lunar eclipse in Aries two weeks later, precisely aligned with many critical factors in Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn. We are in a situation that's going to develop rapidly, in large, significant ways and, as all eclipses do, come with events that do their work on a global scale. Most of the effects of this will be in October -- when the chart for the presidential inauguration comes thundering to life and the media begins to put the many pieces of this rather large, surreal puzzle together.
Cosmic Trigger One: Venus conjunct JupiterBetween this past Monday, when Katrina made landfall, and today, Venus in Libra crossed the Moon's South Node and formed a conjunction to Jupiter. This was one important cosmic trigger of what happened in New Orleans, a kind of collective ignition point that released the considerable energy of Venus, Libra and what you might call the Goddess. This conjunction actually affects everything both in Libra and on the entire cardinal cross (Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn), which is heavily loaded in these charts. Venus is now on course for a conjunction to Pallas Athene early next week, the planet of protection, politics and strategy. We may see a shift in the political climate with this activity, which occurs over the weekend -- a rising expectation that something reasonable or strategic has to happen. Neptune has been involved in this setup: the Venus-Jupiter conjunction is trine the most watery planet, in the sign Aquarius. Chiron in Capricorn is a prominent factor in this configuration. The city's chart has this placement, showing up in many square aspects to the Libra planets all of the charts. Chiron in Capricorn is the "post 9/11 factor," a consistent element between late 2001 and today (though the transition to Aquarius began earlier this year, Chiron is now back in Capricorn). Chiron in Capricorn has shaped up to be an extremely painful lesson in government, its conduct and its power. Chiron has a way of shining the light in the dark places, exposing what is in the shadows -- and in Capricorn on the collective scale, there is plenty. What we have here is a lot of action in the cardinal signs, including two of the most important global factors, lunar nodes (in cardinal signs) and eclipses. The cardinal signs are the initiation points, and they are the points of public contact. The nodes, as do eclipses and cardinal signs, tend to bring in large numbers of people and events that act like "attractors" or points of contact.
And Two: Uranus and Pluto -- and PrometheusOne of the most remarkable events of these charts occurs in the sign Pisces, and it is outstanding both for its symbolism and precision. In the City of New Orleans chart, Pluto is located at 8 degrees Pisces and 53 arc minutes. In the chart for landfall, transiting Uranus is located exactly in this degree and arc minute. An arc minute is 1/60th of a degree. This is an exact, to the minute, transit involving two outer planets that, together, are associated with upheavals, revolutions, breakthroughs and social movements. Indeed, many of the great revolutionary movements of the past few centuries have happened under Uranus-Pluto aspects, and the word "revolution" itself was invented under this astrology. When you think Uranus and Pluto, think uranium and plutonium. To convey the feeling of this on the social level, there was recently a long conjunction of transiting Uranus to transiting Pluto that we think of in its entirety as "the Sixties." The revolutionary quality of this conjunction is related beautifully, using many cycles of history, in the book Prometheus the Awakener by Richard Tarnas, which title is the subject of an accidental discovery made by Lise LePage, who has been handing research on this article. In his book, Tarnas argues that the planet Uranus should really have been named Prometheus, after one of the Greek gods of creation. The energy of Prometheus, who gave the fire of the gods to mankind, is precisely the kind of sudden awakening energy that is associated with Uranus. Under the influence of this idea, many astrologers who have gone over the author's historical research and mythological theory are content to think of Uranus as Promethean energy (most say uranian, meaning the same thing -- high voltage and rebellious). And this, I suggested in an email to Lise, referencing the title of the book. Lise misunderstood, and thinking I was referencing the asteroid Prometheus, promptly put that into the city's natal chart -- and discovered that it's in the same degree as Pluto in the natal chart for New Orleans. So, in its basic, inherent makeup, New Orleans has the asteroid Prometheus conjunct evolutionary mover Pluto in Pisces, to the degree. And the city was destroyed, setting off a chain of events that will seem quite nuclear in hindsight, as Uranus made a to-the-minute conjunction to Pluto (something that happens with this precision for a total of three times for just 12 hours every 84 years). Checking the Sabian symbol for this degree (9 Pisces), Dane Rudhyar gives the keywords "self-quickening," a rather energetic image considering the astrology that degree contains in these charts. In all, we're looking at an enormous release of energy. Saturn in LeoNow we come to Saturn in Leo, a critical era-defining astrological factor for the next three years, and probably well into the future. What happens under Saturn in Leo tends to be extraordinarily stable and have lasting effects, often for many decades or longer. The city's chart has numerous placements in early Leo and Aquarius, including the Part of Fortune (calculated for noon), a rather precise opposition of Mars in Leo and Mercury in Aquarius, and Venus in Aquarius. This is a grand opposition, which (thank the gods) is trined by Jupiter in Sagittarius. That trine from Jupiter is what I'll call the "it could be worse" aspect. Jupiter in Sagittarius, trine the personal planets and trine transiting Saturn, is acting as a protective influence. Note also that the Chiron-Nessus conjunction in early Aquarius that has been in effect for much of this year. Another era-defining event, this conjunction But Saturn in Leo is rather personal event for Mr. Bush, as it is for anyone whose ascendant it crosses. Under this combination of factors, when it's angular (that is, in the ascendant), Saturn can act exactly like Uranus, propelling sudden and unexpected movement, change, progress or something like that. Saturn has not quite made it to the Bush ascendant, which is 7 degrees and 7 arc minutes of Leo, but it does so the morning of Sept. 12, 2005 (Washington, DC time). New Orleans is very much his responsibility -- and the world is watching. One thing that's clear is that Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent devastation will not be a path of escape for those who have hijacked the government and are holding it hostage. To the contrary, we all may be looking at the one event that finally gets our attention, and tips the scales.
-- Additional research & reporting by Lise LePage in the US and Dan Miller in the UK.Please check the cover or subscriber blogs later in the weekend for information about the involvement of new outer planets, including Sedna, Varuna and Deucalion -- all of which bear poignant water and flood imagery.Witch Hunt Against Climate Change Scientistshttp://www.truthout.org/issues_05/083005EA.shtmlBrace for More Katrinas, Scientists Sayhttp://www.truthout.org/issues_05/083105EA.shtmlFEMA Phased Out as Disasters Keep Cominghttp://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090105J.shtml--------------------------Planet Waves by Eric FrancisSept. 2, 2005 - Weekly Horoscope 574Note to Virgos
Katrina, the Awakener
ONE IMAGE keeps haunting me from this week's journalism, spun by William Rivers Pitt at truthout.org -- that of presidential advisor Karl Rove standing on the roof of the White House in a magician's hat and cape, with a big staff, conjuring Hurricane Katrina. Given the witch-hunt against climate change scientists reported in The Guardian earlier this week, that may not be far from the truth (links below, in blue). On its face, this storm happened at a brilliantly convenient time for world managers who thrive on chaos and distraction, right in the midst of the first meaningful protests against the catastrophic Iraq war gaining momentum -- and with George Bush's approval ratings lower than any president since Nixon at the height of Watergate.
If you recall, moments before Katrina arrived, we were in a reflective, concerned moment as the situation in Iraq descended into worse condition than even staunch pessimists predicted.The US military death toll is near 2,000, and the number of journalists killed in the 30-month conflict has exceeded that of two decades in Vietnam. New, uncontrolled violence takes more Iraqi lives by the day, and sometimes by the hour.
Public attention has now been swayed to a domestic emergency the like of which we have not seen since Sept. 11, 2001. But New Orleans makes what happened four years ago in New York City seem rather dim by comparison, in terms of the number of lives devastated, loss of life, and the destruction of homes. An entire major city has been taken out, not 16 acres of one and the surrounding buildings. The difference now is, there's no one to blame, no emotions of hatred and enmity of some alien outsider to whip up and use to dial in the team spirit -- and the disaster happened to a poor, predominantly black city instead of at the heart of the world's financial and banking operations. Deprived of our prerogative to get revenge, we may actually have to pay attention.
News channels are reporting a state of urban warfare, and troops have consent to shoot and kill American citizens. Police officers are turning in their badges. Scanning the news reports reveals that people are still trapped in the city, on rooftops and in high-rises, and thousands are starving. The condition is deteriorating to the point where vigilante sniper fire at recovery personnel has been reported. Is this even vaguely possible? Who, stranded in their own city, would shoot at rescue workers just for the hell of it? There is no drinking water. Bodies are everywhere. Widespread disease will be inevitable. Tens of thousands of refugees are still left behind at the Superdome and the Convention Center as people die before the eyes of onlookers. The city remains completely flooded because breached levees and overwhelmed pumping stations have made it impossible to remove the water. Due to a breached levee, water from Lake Pontchartrain is still flowing into the city. The stories of cuts to budgets for maintaining these structures only makes one feel sick, in hindsight.It's starting to make the tsunami look good. CNN reported Thursday that a police officer working in downtown New Orleans said police were siphoning gas from abandoned vehicles in an effort to keep their squad cars running, like a detail straight from the mind of Stephen King. Incredibly, no organized relief program appears visible. Indeed, police have received federal orders to privilege stopping looters against delivering aid and searching for survivors. In other words: the priority (as we have so often come to expect) is to protect property, though it would seem there is little property left to even bother with. The effect: poor blacks can die. What we are witnessing is beyond incompetence at this stage, and is approaching the level of genocide.It is important to remember that cities are highly toxic environments, and floods release everything that is usually contained, or held at the bottom or rivers and lakes, into the general environment. Containers and pipes burst. Fires cannot be controlled. In addition, the Mississippi Delta, thanks to generations of contamination by Monsanto, is one of the most dioxin-tainted areas in the world. Though it may not be acknowledged, there is likely to be a serious dioxin problem in New Orleans and nearby areas right now, and for generations to come.
In my mind's eye, I am seeing this unfold along another strand of time. A fully financed, well prepared Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would be on the job years before the hurricane made landfall, as this was a predictable event, contrary to recent assertions. (Indeed, FEMA is being absorbed into Homeland Security and damaged by budget cuts.) Hundreds of Coast Guard helicopters from coastal states and many others would be bringing supplies, and getting those most in need to medical help. Old Army bases, so recently closed by budget cuts, would be used as massive relief centers, complete with airstrips, bathrooms and mess halls. Sports facilities, with all their problems, would not have to be used as refugee camps. America's standing Army and National Guard units, themselves not trapped in the disasters of Iraq and Afghanistan, would be widely available to assist, with all their equipment, rations, supplies and other resources. There would be enough manpower. There would be plenty of money for the operation; America is the richest country in the world. Which may be the problem. But this is not happening in a different time, under different national leadership: it is happening now. And due to the damaged oil-refining infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, the effects of this storm will be rippling, or ripping, into the world economy. The price of gasoline has suddenly risen well beyond $3.00 per gallon many places in the U.S., and has exceeded $6.00 per gallon at some retail outlets in the south. Apparently, many places in the southeast have no gas at all. We are hearing the first calls for fuel conservation since the mid-1970s.
Generally, this is the one thing that can key people into the fact that something is wrong; America's real religion is practiced at the filling station, and nearly all of its transportation energy comes from petroleum.
But it's becoming obvious many more ways that something else is wrong. Imagine if this were a multiple city emergency -- that is, if the damage were to more than one city. Imagine if the casualty toll were higher. Are we now to understand that the federal government is incapable of responding to an emergency? It would seem so. The AstrologyAs I've reported elsewhere [please see cainer.com], a dominant image of Saturn in Leo (which began six weeks ago, on July 16) is that of dams bursting. For some reason, when Saturn changes from water sign Cancer to fire sign Leo, structures that hold back bodies of water (and in one famous instance, hundreds of tons of molasses) tend to give way, often with catastrophic effects. While we are seeing the results of a huge cyclone, we're also seeing those of failed levees -- many of them. You might call this a watershed event. In looking for Saturn imagery, we find plenty working in the chart of the City of New Orleans, but it's difficult to miss the fact that Saturn is now crossing the so-called president's ascendant. As I've also said elsewhere, this would be the big turning point for the non-president's career, with a wave of awareness really coalescing about nine months to the day after the inauguration. In addition, I proposed a couple of months ago that "something is up with the price of gold" -- in this case, black gold, petroleum, the blood of our society. But let's come back to that later. Libra is the astonishing connection that three key charts, the City of New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, and Mr. Bush, have in common. Also looking at a fourth chart, the progressed horoscope for the city, we find the same effect -- Libra is the dominant energy, with its quest for justice, balance, rebalancing and sensitivity. Between these four charts, there are 17 major planets and points in Libra. And a solar eclipse in Libra is coming in just one month, nestled nicely into the action. This is followed by a lunar eclipse in Aries two weeks later, precisely aligned with many critical factors in Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn. We are in a situation that's going to develop rapidly, in large, significant ways and, as all eclipses do, come with events that do their work on a global scale. Most of the effects of this will be in October -- when the chart for the presidential inauguration comes thundering to life and the media begins to put the many pieces of this rather large, surreal puzzle together.
Cosmic Trigger One: Venus conjunct JupiterBetween this past Monday, when Katrina made landfall, and today, Venus in Libra crossed the Moon's South Node and formed a conjunction to Jupiter. This was one important cosmic trigger of what happened in New Orleans, a kind of collective ignition point that released the considerable energy of Venus, Libra and what you might call the Goddess. This conjunction actually affects everything both in Libra and on the entire cardinal cross (Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn), which is heavily loaded in these charts. Venus is now on course for a conjunction to Pallas Athene early next week, the planet of protection, politics and strategy. We may see a shift in the political climate with this activity, which occurs over the weekend -- a rising expectation that something reasonable or strategic has to happen. Neptune has been involved in this setup: the Venus-Jupiter conjunction is trine the most watery planet, in the sign Aquarius. Chiron in Capricorn is a prominent factor in this configuration. The city's chart has this placement, showing up in many square aspects to the Libra planets all of the charts. Chiron in Capricorn is the "post 9/11 factor," a consistent element between late 2001 and today (though the transition to Aquarius began earlier this year, Chiron is now back in Capricorn). Chiron in Capricorn has shaped up to be an extremely painful lesson in government, its conduct and its power. Chiron has a way of shining the light in the dark places, exposing what is in the shadows -- and in Capricorn on the collective scale, there is plenty. What we have here is a lot of action in the cardinal signs, including two of the most important global factors, lunar nodes (in cardinal signs) and eclipses. The cardinal signs are the initiation points, and they are the points of public contact. The nodes, as do eclipses and cardinal signs, tend to bring in large numbers of people and events that act like "attractors" or points of contact.
And Two: Uranus and Pluto -- and PrometheusOne of the most remarkable events of these charts occurs in the sign Pisces, and it is outstanding both for its symbolism and precision. In the City of New Orleans chart, Pluto is located at 8 degrees Pisces and 53 arc minutes. In the chart for landfall, transiting Uranus is located exactly in this degree and arc minute. An arc minute is 1/60th of a degree. This is an exact, to the minute, transit involving two outer planets that, together, are associated with upheavals, revolutions, breakthroughs and social movements. Indeed, many of the great revolutionary movements of the past few centuries have happened under Uranus-Pluto aspects, and the word "revolution" itself was invented under this astrology. When you think Uranus and Pluto, think uranium and plutonium. To convey the feeling of this on the social level, there was recently a long conjunction of transiting Uranus to transiting Pluto that we think of in its entirety as "the Sixties." The revolutionary quality of this conjunction is related beautifully, using many cycles of history, in the book Prometheus the Awakener by Richard Tarnas, which title is the subject of an accidental discovery made by Lise LePage, who has been handing research on this article. In his book, Tarnas argues that the planet Uranus should really have been named Prometheus, after one of the Greek gods of creation. The energy of Prometheus, who gave the fire of the gods to mankind, is precisely the kind of sudden awakening energy that is associated with Uranus. Under the influence of this idea, many astrologers who have gone over the author's historical research and mythological theory are content to think of Uranus as Promethean energy (most say uranian, meaning the same thing -- high voltage and rebellious). And this, I suggested in an email to Lise, referencing the title of the book. Lise misunderstood, and thinking I was referencing the asteroid Prometheus, promptly put that into the city's natal chart -- and discovered that it's in the same degree as Pluto in the natal chart for New Orleans. So, in its basic, inherent makeup, New Orleans has the asteroid Prometheus conjunct evolutionary mover Pluto in Pisces, to the degree. And the city was destroyed, setting off a chain of events that will seem quite nuclear in hindsight, as Uranus made a to-the-minute conjunction to Pluto (something that happens with this precision for a total of three times for just 12 hours every 84 years). Checking the Sabian symbol for this degree (9 Pisces), Dane Rudhyar gives the keywords "self-quickening," a rather energetic image considering the astrology that degree contains in these charts. In all, we're looking at an enormous release of energy. Saturn in LeoNow we come to Saturn in Leo, a critical era-defining astrological factor for the next three years, and probably well into the future. What happens under Saturn in Leo tends to be extraordinarily stable and have lasting effects, often for many decades or longer. The city's chart has numerous placements in early Leo and Aquarius, including the Part of Fortune (calculated for noon), a rather precise opposition of Mars in Leo and Mercury in Aquarius, and Venus in Aquarius. This is a grand opposition, which (thank the gods) is trined by Jupiter in Sagittarius. That trine from Jupiter is what I'll call the "it could be worse" aspect. Jupiter in Sagittarius, trine the personal planets and trine transiting Saturn, is acting as a protective influence. Note also that the Chiron-Nessus conjunction in early Aquarius that has been in effect for much of this year. Another era-defining event, this conjunction But Saturn in Leo is rather personal event for Mr. Bush, as it is for anyone whose ascendant it crosses. Under this combination of factors, when it's angular (that is, in the ascendant), Saturn can act exactly like Uranus, propelling sudden and unexpected movement, change, progress or something like that. Saturn has not quite made it to the Bush ascendant, which is 7 degrees and 7 arc minutes of Leo, but it does so the morning of Sept. 12, 2005 (Washington, DC time). New Orleans is very much his responsibility -- and the world is watching. One thing that's clear is that Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent devastation will not be a path of escape for those who have hijacked the government and are holding it hostage. To the contrary, we all may be looking at the one event that finally gets our attention, and tips the scales.
-- Additional research & reporting by Lise LePage in the US and Dan Miller in the UK.Please check the cover or subscriber blogs later in the weekend for information about the involvement of new outer planets, including Sedna, Varuna and Deucalion -- all of which bear poignant water and flood imagery.Witch Hunt Against Climate Change Scientistshttp://www.truthout.org/issues_05/083005EA.shtmlBrace for More Katrinas, Scientists Sayhttp://www.truthout.org/issues_05/083105EA.shtmlFEMA Phased Out as Disasters Keep Cominghttp://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090105J.shtml--------------------------Planet Waves by Eric FrancisSept. 2, 2005 - Weekly Horoscope 574Note to Virgos
The password is gen
The password is …… “genocide.”
First, it’s clear to me that what is happening in New Orleans now is genocide. It may not be the organized effort as we’ve seen in the Sudan, in Rwanda, or in Bosnia, but it is clearly genocide. Those poor, uneducated people in New Orleans are being left to die with malice. The Federal government, operating consistent with the conservative/Republican dogma of “let them help themselves” or “give the government money to the faith based organizations and let them do it” is now examined for the bankrupt, murdering policy that it really is. The Federal government did not begin to engage the machines that for decades existed to protect and rescue the victims of events not of their own construction until Wednesday, more than two full days after the rising flood waters made for a human catastrophe, and more than five full days after the severity of the situation was evident. The national guard troops who would have been able to immediately mobilize into their cities and parishes are in Iraq, mobilized to fight a war against a people who never offended nor threatened our way of life, or safety or our persons.
The “liberal” organizations that come up for criticism by the right-wing media such as move-on.org have created websites that offer free housing to refugees. So, these unpatriotic, anti-American organizations that the right-wing media is all geared up about are doing far more than ANY right-wing, Christian organization has even thought up.
Could it be that is because most of the refugees are poor, black people?
Let’s notice, shall we, that these displaced persons from New Orleans are uniformly called “refugees.” And, let’s compare the definitions of “refugee” and “evacuee.”
ref·u·gee P Pronunciation Key (r(image placeholder)f(image placeholder)y(image placeholder)-j(image placeholder)(image placeholder))n.
One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.
(image placeholder)
[French réfugié, from past participle of réfugier, to take refuge, from Old French, from refuge, refuge.
e·vac·u·ee P Pronunciation Key ((image placeholder)-v(image placeholder)k(image placeholder)y(image placeholder)-(image placeholder)(image placeholder))n.
A person evacuated from a dangerous area.
So, why would the “liberal news media” (which for those who haven’t a clue, is merely a corporate shill for the right-wing movement in this country. The only “liberal” media are the blogs and independent newsletters. Even NPR has been so compromised that their news articles are replete with conservative pundits so that they appear “balanced.” Get a fucking clue) use the word “refugee?” What do they know?
It’s because the people who really run this country, the ones who are never elected, have decided that the “herd” in New Orleans should be culled a bit. Specifically, the uneducated, poor, black people who so irritated the tourists as they walked the French Quarter.
Actually, I think that the intention goes further than that. I think that they also intend to purge the French Quarter of its gay inhabitants, people who uniformly tend to be self-employed or small business owners; people who tend not to have enough insurance, and who couldn’t weather four to six months being without income.
I believe that, after this is all said and done, New Orleans will be a thoroughly sanitized town; suitable for tourists and their credit cards, without the unsightly drag queens and leather daddies, and without the upsetting panhandlers, homeless, drunks and poor people.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969) I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more topromote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it. -Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969)
First, it’s clear to me that what is happening in New Orleans now is genocide. It may not be the organized effort as we’ve seen in the Sudan, in Rwanda, or in Bosnia, but it is clearly genocide. Those poor, uneducated people in New Orleans are being left to die with malice. The Federal government, operating consistent with the conservative/Republican dogma of “let them help themselves” or “give the government money to the faith based organizations and let them do it” is now examined for the bankrupt, murdering policy that it really is. The Federal government did not begin to engage the machines that for decades existed to protect and rescue the victims of events not of their own construction until Wednesday, more than two full days after the rising flood waters made for a human catastrophe, and more than five full days after the severity of the situation was evident. The national guard troops who would have been able to immediately mobilize into their cities and parishes are in Iraq, mobilized to fight a war against a people who never offended nor threatened our way of life, or safety or our persons.
The “liberal” organizations that come up for criticism by the right-wing media such as move-on.org have created websites that offer free housing to refugees. So, these unpatriotic, anti-American organizations that the right-wing media is all geared up about are doing far more than ANY right-wing, Christian organization has even thought up.
Could it be that is because most of the refugees are poor, black people?
Let’s notice, shall we, that these displaced persons from New Orleans are uniformly called “refugees.” And, let’s compare the definitions of “refugee” and “evacuee.”
ref·u·gee P Pronunciation Key (r(image placeholder)f(image placeholder)y(image placeholder)-j(image placeholder)(image placeholder))n.
One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.
(image placeholder)
[French réfugié, from past participle of réfugier, to take refuge, from Old French, from refuge, refuge.
e·vac·u·ee P Pronunciation Key ((image placeholder)-v(image placeholder)k(image placeholder)y(image placeholder)-(image placeholder)(image placeholder))n.
A person evacuated from a dangerous area.
So, why would the “liberal news media” (which for those who haven’t a clue, is merely a corporate shill for the right-wing movement in this country. The only “liberal” media are the blogs and independent newsletters. Even NPR has been so compromised that their news articles are replete with conservative pundits so that they appear “balanced.” Get a fucking clue) use the word “refugee?” What do they know?
It’s because the people who really run this country, the ones who are never elected, have decided that the “herd” in New Orleans should be culled a bit. Specifically, the uneducated, poor, black people who so irritated the tourists as they walked the French Quarter.
Actually, I think that the intention goes further than that. I think that they also intend to purge the French Quarter of its gay inhabitants, people who uniformly tend to be self-employed or small business owners; people who tend not to have enough insurance, and who couldn’t weather four to six months being without income.
I believe that, after this is all said and done, New Orleans will be a thoroughly sanitized town; suitable for tourists and their credit cards, without the unsightly drag queens and leather daddies, and without the upsetting panhandlers, homeless, drunks and poor people.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969) I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more topromote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it. -Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969)
Thursday all day
An interesting day, all around. I’m waiting on Joel to come over; he needs some help setting up a business, and he’s promised he was on his way. Of course, he may get distracted by nearly anything, especially something looking like a crack pipe, so who knows where he is.
I finally got some documents in today for a client that I’ve been waiting for a week; he’s stopped asking about them (hey, if the state can’t get them to me, what can I do about it?) Had a business development meeting today with a guy who has clients that are involved in this latest real estate scam – in which people “buy” a home from someone in distress, they put the deed in the name of a trust, in which the person getting the check takes a very minority interest as a beneficiary, and then the person getting the cash (seller) occupies the house as a tenant, paying rent with the understanding that, when the rent is paid on time for a year, they will be able to refinance (at a huge markup) and get the house back in their name.
Of course, the idea is to evict the person without value as soon as they make a late rent payment.
Ah, here’s Joel.
Later
Watched a movie that the minx insisted was terrific; he was, of course, correct. Upstairs, they’re working on driving me fucking crazy with the rumbling back and forth across the floor. The townhouse that I love so much appears to indeed be available yet, as it’s not got window blinds or other accoutrements that suggest occupancy. And, after listening to the bastard dogs upstairs for yet another night, I’M READY TO BE A HOMEOWNER AND GET THE F*%CK out of here.
My dad has an infection in his lungs. They had their first offer on their house today; 115M lower than the asking price. They rejected it. They’re leaving for the Yucatan tomorrow for two weeks; my sister and her partner are joining them there on Saturday.
Bully for them.
Later
I wonder what happened to that nice couple I met at Mardi Gras over on Canal Street during the Endymion parade. They were from Slidell. They were both cute; I had almost talked the wife into trading me her husband for my mardi gras beads. I hope they’re all right; they have my number. Hmmm.
Okay, it’s time for sleep now.
I finally got some documents in today for a client that I’ve been waiting for a week; he’s stopped asking about them (hey, if the state can’t get them to me, what can I do about it?) Had a business development meeting today with a guy who has clients that are involved in this latest real estate scam – in which people “buy” a home from someone in distress, they put the deed in the name of a trust, in which the person getting the check takes a very minority interest as a beneficiary, and then the person getting the cash (seller) occupies the house as a tenant, paying rent with the understanding that, when the rent is paid on time for a year, they will be able to refinance (at a huge markup) and get the house back in their name.
Of course, the idea is to evict the person without value as soon as they make a late rent payment.
Ah, here’s Joel.
Later
Watched a movie that the minx insisted was terrific; he was, of course, correct. Upstairs, they’re working on driving me fucking crazy with the rumbling back and forth across the floor. The townhouse that I love so much appears to indeed be available yet, as it’s not got window blinds or other accoutrements that suggest occupancy. And, after listening to the bastard dogs upstairs for yet another night, I’M READY TO BE A HOMEOWNER AND GET THE F*%CK out of here.
My dad has an infection in his lungs. They had their first offer on their house today; 115M lower than the asking price. They rejected it. They’re leaving for the Yucatan tomorrow for two weeks; my sister and her partner are joining them there on Saturday.
Bully for them.
Later
I wonder what happened to that nice couple I met at Mardi Gras over on Canal Street during the Endymion parade. They were from Slidell. They were both cute; I had almost talked the wife into trading me her husband for my mardi gras beads. I hope they’re all right; they have my number. Hmmm.
Okay, it’s time for sleep now.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Tuesday Tuesday
Tuesday Tuesday ..
Okay, so I’ve worked my tail off AGAIN today, and seem to have gotten somewhere. I have one loan submitted (by mail! How 1990s is that?) and mailed out eight books I sold on Amazon. I helped a client with some tax documentation, helped Nicole with her grandmother, etc., etc.
Worn out with the non-communications about Fabulair relating to this travel agency that we were talking to. I just got a LONG email synopsis of all of our communications, with all the emails attached. Like, what the fuck good does that do? I KNOW what the email correspondence was; I wrote the stupid things. I’m just ready to move on, because now I’ve wasted another two months. It’s been a full year since I’ve started this concept, and I’m not waiting around any more.
Got the church calendars printed and mailed out. I think I spent $40 in postage today.
I had promised my Aunt Donna that I’d go up and visit her this weekend; then, I procrastinated on buying the ticket to find that it would cost about a gajillion dollars to do that, and I’ve forgotten (no, really .. I think about it, then I forget) to call her and talk to her about it. Now, she’s just called me. Urk.
I hate that. I wish I had the money to just pop the airline ticket and not blow her off.
Now, under the heading of “what the fuck was I thinking?” – I today got another poster tube in the mail. Another with a lovely picture of the 1938 20th Century limited on it. One which will have to be stacked in the closet corner with the other 20 or so poster tubes, approximately half of which have similar images thereon.
If I were to buy the townhouse that I like so much, I’d still not have enough wall space to display all of this crap. That’s assuming that I spent the $3500 or so to have it all framed.
Anyway. There’s a boy who wants to come over for sex. His body chemistry makes me nauseous. There’s another one, but I don’t know about how I feel tonight. Michael (the new hustler man I’ve been talking to) wants to get together and eat mushrooms, but I want to work in the morning. Perhaps I’ll just watch a DVD or three.
I should get something for dinner, but I don’t know. Blah. David called; I’ll see if he wanted to go get something.
Mikey’s talking about moving to Tennessee. BLARG.
No, that’s not quite how I feel about that.
BLARG.
Okay, so I’ve worked my tail off AGAIN today, and seem to have gotten somewhere. I have one loan submitted (by mail! How 1990s is that?) and mailed out eight books I sold on Amazon. I helped a client with some tax documentation, helped Nicole with her grandmother, etc., etc.
Worn out with the non-communications about Fabulair relating to this travel agency that we were talking to. I just got a LONG email synopsis of all of our communications, with all the emails attached. Like, what the fuck good does that do? I KNOW what the email correspondence was; I wrote the stupid things. I’m just ready to move on, because now I’ve wasted another two months. It’s been a full year since I’ve started this concept, and I’m not waiting around any more.
Got the church calendars printed and mailed out. I think I spent $40 in postage today.
I had promised my Aunt Donna that I’d go up and visit her this weekend; then, I procrastinated on buying the ticket to find that it would cost about a gajillion dollars to do that, and I’ve forgotten (no, really .. I think about it, then I forget) to call her and talk to her about it. Now, she’s just called me. Urk.
I hate that. I wish I had the money to just pop the airline ticket and not blow her off.
Now, under the heading of “what the fuck was I thinking?” – I today got another poster tube in the mail. Another with a lovely picture of the 1938 20th Century limited on it. One which will have to be stacked in the closet corner with the other 20 or so poster tubes, approximately half of which have similar images thereon.
If I were to buy the townhouse that I like so much, I’d still not have enough wall space to display all of this crap. That’s assuming that I spent the $3500 or so to have it all framed.
Anyway. There’s a boy who wants to come over for sex. His body chemistry makes me nauseous. There’s another one, but I don’t know about how I feel tonight. Michael (the new hustler man I’ve been talking to) wants to get together and eat mushrooms, but I want to work in the morning. Perhaps I’ll just watch a DVD or three.
I should get something for dinner, but I don’t know. Blah. David called; I’ll see if he wanted to go get something.
Mikey’s talking about moving to Tennessee. BLARG.
No, that’s not quite how I feel about that.
BLARG.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Monday eve sans Adobe
Well, I’ve managed to spend about 13 hours in front of this computer today. I did clear through nearly everything on my task list, but still have several big documents to work on tomorrow. Plus, I have to train a new client on QuickBooks at their shop, which will cut down on my working time tomorrow.
Thinking about hijacking the Minx and heading off to Dallas first thing Saturday morning. It seems that the entire Dallas crew is trying to decide whether to stay in town, or whether to find somewhere to spend their tickets they had purchased for New Orleans. I’m sure that they’ll vote for staying in town. Two pool parties are forming for the weekend more quickly than a hurricane in the Gulf, and the Minx always has such lovely beach wear.
I am beginning to wonder if I’ll ever get Ruby’s stereo re-wired. I should start calling around professional shops and just get over it. My new Maquire’s wax products were shipped today; we’ll see if they show up before the prospective Dallas trip on Saturday. I think I’m still waiting for some stuff from eBay, as well. Hmmmm.
Okay, I’ve been spraying insect spray, as some form of flying little things got into the casita. Sort of like locusts, but without Jason’s cocaine habit. Hopefully, a little spritzing has run them off.
Tired, tired. Off to bed. More in the morning. No N8 today.
Thinking about hijacking the Minx and heading off to Dallas first thing Saturday morning. It seems that the entire Dallas crew is trying to decide whether to stay in town, or whether to find somewhere to spend their tickets they had purchased for New Orleans. I’m sure that they’ll vote for staying in town. Two pool parties are forming for the weekend more quickly than a hurricane in the Gulf, and the Minx always has such lovely beach wear.
I am beginning to wonder if I’ll ever get Ruby’s stereo re-wired. I should start calling around professional shops and just get over it. My new Maquire’s wax products were shipped today; we’ll see if they show up before the prospective Dallas trip on Saturday. I think I’m still waiting for some stuff from eBay, as well. Hmmmm.
Okay, I’ve been spraying insect spray, as some form of flying little things got into the casita. Sort of like locusts, but without Jason’s cocaine habit. Hopefully, a little spritzing has run them off.
Tired, tired. Off to bed. More in the morning. No N8 today.
Monday, Monday ver 639.01
Lunch time, and a bit of time available to blog. Have to get a loan worked up and submitted, then have some paperwork to finish, then .. there’s still a huge to-do list, but have I already been cruising through it? Seems odd that I may have already done.
Perhaps I should empty out my work basket and see what’s in it.
Thought I would have had some sales this morning, but nothing so far. Perhaps Donna is right, and I will need to pick up the phone and start calling everyone tomorrow to follow up.
Have six books sold on Amazon that I need to wrap up and ship. I think this will require a trip to OfficeMax to accomplish. Until then, I need to process paperwork anyway.
The universe says that N8 is not someone to play with. He’s on my mind, though.
Perhaps I should empty out my work basket and see what’s in it.
Thought I would have had some sales this morning, but nothing so far. Perhaps Donna is right, and I will need to pick up the phone and start calling everyone tomorrow to follow up.
Have six books sold on Amazon that I need to wrap up and ship. I think this will require a trip to OfficeMax to accomplish. Until then, I need to process paperwork anyway.
The universe says that N8 is not someone to play with. He’s on my mind, though.
The official warning
Non-Precipitation Watch/Warning/Advisory
000
WWUS74 KLIX 282139
NPWLIX
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE
MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA...
...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...
MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT
LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.
HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A
FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.
AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH
AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY
VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE
WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.
POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN
AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING
INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY
THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW
CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE
KILLED.
AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WATCH IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR
HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE
POSSIBLE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS.
LAZ038-040-050-056>070-MSZ080>082-290300-
ASSUMPTION-HANCOCK-HARRISON-JACKSON-LIVINGSTON-LOWER JEFFERSON-
LOWER LAFOURCHE-LOWER PLAQUEMINES-LOWER ST. BERNARD-LOWER TERREBONNE-
ORLEANS-ST. CHARLES-ST. JAMES-ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST-ST. TAMMANY-
TANGIPAHOA-UPPER JEFFERSON-UPPER LAFOURCHE-UPPER PLAQUEMINES-
UPPER ST. BERNARD-UPPER TERREBONNE-
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
...INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT...
HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE AREA. TROPICAL STORM
FORCE WINDS ARE CURRENTLY MOVING INTO THE COASTAL MARSHES AND WILL
PERSIST FOR THE NEXT 26 TO 28 HOURS. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS WILL
ONSET AROUND MIDNIGHT NEAR THE COAST AND BY 3 AM CLOSER TO THE NEW
ORLEANS METRO AREA AND PERSIST FOR 9 TO 15 HOURS. MAXIMUM WIND GUSTS
AROUND 175 MPH ARE LIKELY IN THE WARNED AREA BY DAYBREAK MONDAY.
DO NOT VENTURE OUTDOORS ONCE TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS ONSET!
000
WWUS74 KLIX 282139
NPWLIX
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE
MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA...
...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...
MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT
LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.
HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A
FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.
AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH
AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY
VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE
WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.
POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN
AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING
INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY
THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW
CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE
KILLED.
AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WATCH IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR
HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE
POSSIBLE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS.
LAZ038-040-050-056>070-MSZ080>082-290300-
ASSUMPTION-HANCOCK-HARRISON-JACKSON-LIVINGSTON-LOWER JEFFERSON-
LOWER LAFOURCHE-LOWER PLAQUEMINES-LOWER ST. BERNARD-LOWER TERREBONNE-
ORLEANS-ST. CHARLES-ST. JAMES-ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST-ST. TAMMANY-
TANGIPAHOA-UPPER JEFFERSON-UPPER LAFOURCHE-UPPER PLAQUEMINES-
UPPER ST. BERNARD-UPPER TERREBONNE-
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
...INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT...
HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE AREA. TROPICAL STORM
FORCE WINDS ARE CURRENTLY MOVING INTO THE COASTAL MARSHES AND WILL
PERSIST FOR THE NEXT 26 TO 28 HOURS. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS WILL
ONSET AROUND MIDNIGHT NEAR THE COAST AND BY 3 AM CLOSER TO THE NEW
ORLEANS METRO AREA AND PERSIST FOR 9 TO 15 HOURS. MAXIMUM WIND GUSTS
AROUND 175 MPH ARE LIKELY IN THE WARNED AREA BY DAYBREAK MONDAY.
DO NOT VENTURE OUTDOORS ONCE TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS ONSET!
Treatment for New Orleans
I know that there is one life, one consciousness, one intelligence. I am part, wholly part of that being, expressing myself here and now in my unique way, but fully part of and participating in the vast whole.
I know that this consciousness responds to my command, and my will as expressed through my thought, my action, my being, my intention and my expectation. As I speak my will into the vast conscious whole, it replies by manifesting with me what I intend.
Now, I speak my word and hold my truth for myself and for my fellow humans. I know the truth about each of them, and that they are perfect, experiencing an inflow of goodness and an outflow of things that they no longer require or need in their lives.
I know the truth about the people of New Orleans, and the surrounding areas. They are safe and secure. Their transitory goods are easily replaced, and they sleep soundly, knowing that their lives and their loved ones are safe, warm, dry, and cared for by friends, family and strangers. After this day, the people of New Orleans may return home to increased prosperity, to an increased sense of aliveness and wholeness, to an increased awareness of the power of Spirit in their lives, and to a sense of community and humanity that propels the world into a better place. Their experience brings economic abundance to their city, their state, the region and the nation. After this day, New Orleans is a better, stronger place, fully in tune with the nature that surrounds it, and leading this nation into a new life.
I feel in my heart the relief and the safety and the freedom that the people of New Orleans are now feeling. I see in my mind and know in my gut that everything is well. Appearances are transitory, and easily changed. Only triumph of the Phoenix follows this experience. It is done.
Knowing that this is so, I release my thought and my word. So it is.
I know that this consciousness responds to my command, and my will as expressed through my thought, my action, my being, my intention and my expectation. As I speak my will into the vast conscious whole, it replies by manifesting with me what I intend.
Now, I speak my word and hold my truth for myself and for my fellow humans. I know the truth about each of them, and that they are perfect, experiencing an inflow of goodness and an outflow of things that they no longer require or need in their lives.
I know the truth about the people of New Orleans, and the surrounding areas. They are safe and secure. Their transitory goods are easily replaced, and they sleep soundly, knowing that their lives and their loved ones are safe, warm, dry, and cared for by friends, family and strangers. After this day, the people of New Orleans may return home to increased prosperity, to an increased sense of aliveness and wholeness, to an increased awareness of the power of Spirit in their lives, and to a sense of community and humanity that propels the world into a better place. Their experience brings economic abundance to their city, their state, the region and the nation. After this day, New Orleans is a better, stronger place, fully in tune with the nature that surrounds it, and leading this nation into a new life.
I feel in my heart the relief and the safety and the freedom that the people of New Orleans are now feeling. I see in my mind and know in my gut that everything is well. Appearances are transitory, and easily changed. Only triumph of the Phoenix follows this experience. It is done.
Knowing that this is so, I release my thought and my word. So it is.
In Camilles Deadly 1
In Camille's Deadly 1969 Solo, A Grim Prologue To Katrina
By Ken Ringle
Special to the Washington PostMonday, August 29, 2005; Page C01
The problem with hurricane stories is that one uses up the adjectives on minor-league storms. Mail-order meteorologists and blow-dry weathermen have been inundating us for so long with evacuation hysteria for mere tropical disturbances -- complete with breathlessly narrated TV images of homeowners buying plywood and flashlight batteries -- that we think we've seen it all before.
We haven't. But we may well see it all before sundown. Because for years truly knowledgeable hurricane experts have been warning us that The Big One is what our coastal communities really need to worry about, and today The Big One is here.
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It may well be that New Orleans will dodge another meteorological bullet, as it has for more than 250 years, and once again escape the doomsday scenario that has long haunted the dreams of disaster officials and any Crescent City resident thoughtful enough to listen or read.
But it won't be because Hurricane Katrina is a patsy. Yesterday morning the National Hurricane Center cleared its throat and upgraded Katrina to a Category 5 hurricane -- the designation for storms capable of truly catastrophic damage and deadliness. That, however, wasn't the center's most significant statement. The real news was the center's chilling declaration that, at 902 millibars of internal barometric pressure -- the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico -- Katrina was "comparable in intensity to Hurricane Camille of 1969 . . . only larger."
Those of us who lived though Hurricane Camille will never forget it. Camille struck with the force of several hydrogen bombs, altering forever the topography of the Mississippi coast. Its nearly 200-mph winds and 25-foot storm surge exploded concrete buildings and erased entire communities -- then gouged open graveyards and hung corpses in the live oaks like so much Spanish moss. There was a problem for a time telling the storm victims from those already embalmed.
More than 250 were dead before Camille swept up the Mississippi Valley as a tropical storm. Then, three days and 1,000 miles after it hit the coast, it took a right turn over West Virginia and, in some sort of terrifying meteorological joke, dumped 20 to 40 inches of rain in eight hours on Nelson County, Va., hosing away entire mountainsides, drowning or burying 150 more people and touching off 100-year-record floods in the James River basin.
Katrina, the National Hurricane Center said, is capable of more. Yet for a true New Orleans doomsday scenario, the storm's eye and strongest winds will have to thread a fairly precise path that carries its deadly northeast quadrant just east of the city. The real vulnerability of the city is not just that it's 10 to 15 feet below sea level, laced with more drainage canals than Venice, and must pump for its life around the clock in even the driest weather. Nor is the city's biggest problem the flown-in TV reporter's favorite specter of a hurricane storm surge up the Mississippi River that overtops the city's famous levees. That could theoretically happen, but it's less likely.
The real nightmare has always been the prospect of a Wagnerian hurricane like Katrina coming ashore so that its strongest winds push the Gulf of Mexico into the eastern-facing entrance to Lake Pontchartrain, which borders the city's northern edge. The lake is both unusually shallow -- rarely more than 20 feet deep -- and unusually large -- more than half the size of the state of Rhode Island. A 20-foot storm surge arriving in concert with both high tide and 20-inch rains could overwhelm the city's more vulnerable lakeside levees and then flow downhill all the way to the French Quarter. Many of the city's massive drainage pumps are located closer to the lake. Were they to be flooded out, the city would not only be helplessly inundated while the hurricane is overhead -- it would remain so for weeks if not months.
For more than 2½ centuries, that precise scenario has never quite happened, though hurricanes rake the Louisiana/Mississippi Gulf Coast regularly and sideswipe the Big Easy more often than not. One reason it hasn't is that the city was long protected by scores of miles of surrounding saltwater marshes capable of sponging up even massive storm surges like a swampy dishrag.
But for the last half of the 20th century and into the present day, those wetlands have been disappearing -- hundreds of acres of them every year -- starved by levees from the Mississippi River overflows that once fed them with silt from Minnesota and Iowa and Missouri, and eroded by canals dug for oil exploration and suburban subdivisions. To compare a 1930 aerial portrait of Louisiana with a contemporary satellite picture is to realize with stunning force how hundreds of miles of the state's beautiful if mosquito-laden southern wetlands now resemble moth-eaten lace.
With a far smaller marshland buffer zone to suck up Katrina's ferocious storm surge, New Orleans is very definitely in harm's way. Never mind the roof-ripping winds. Water fed New Orleans with commerce most of her life. If she dies today, it will be water -- born of Katrina's catastrophic power -- that's the death of her
By Ken Ringle
Special to the Washington PostMonday, August 29, 2005; Page C01
The problem with hurricane stories is that one uses up the adjectives on minor-league storms. Mail-order meteorologists and blow-dry weathermen have been inundating us for so long with evacuation hysteria for mere tropical disturbances -- complete with breathlessly narrated TV images of homeowners buying plywood and flashlight batteries -- that we think we've seen it all before.
We haven't. But we may well see it all before sundown. Because for years truly knowledgeable hurricane experts have been warning us that The Big One is what our coastal communities really need to worry about, and today The Big One is here.
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It may well be that New Orleans will dodge another meteorological bullet, as it has for more than 250 years, and once again escape the doomsday scenario that has long haunted the dreams of disaster officials and any Crescent City resident thoughtful enough to listen or read.
But it won't be because Hurricane Katrina is a patsy. Yesterday morning the National Hurricane Center cleared its throat and upgraded Katrina to a Category 5 hurricane -- the designation for storms capable of truly catastrophic damage and deadliness. That, however, wasn't the center's most significant statement. The real news was the center's chilling declaration that, at 902 millibars of internal barometric pressure -- the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico -- Katrina was "comparable in intensity to Hurricane Camille of 1969 . . . only larger."
Those of us who lived though Hurricane Camille will never forget it. Camille struck with the force of several hydrogen bombs, altering forever the topography of the Mississippi coast. Its nearly 200-mph winds and 25-foot storm surge exploded concrete buildings and erased entire communities -- then gouged open graveyards and hung corpses in the live oaks like so much Spanish moss. There was a problem for a time telling the storm victims from those already embalmed.
More than 250 were dead before Camille swept up the Mississippi Valley as a tropical storm. Then, three days and 1,000 miles after it hit the coast, it took a right turn over West Virginia and, in some sort of terrifying meteorological joke, dumped 20 to 40 inches of rain in eight hours on Nelson County, Va., hosing away entire mountainsides, drowning or burying 150 more people and touching off 100-year-record floods in the James River basin.
Katrina, the National Hurricane Center said, is capable of more. Yet for a true New Orleans doomsday scenario, the storm's eye and strongest winds will have to thread a fairly precise path that carries its deadly northeast quadrant just east of the city. The real vulnerability of the city is not just that it's 10 to 15 feet below sea level, laced with more drainage canals than Venice, and must pump for its life around the clock in even the driest weather. Nor is the city's biggest problem the flown-in TV reporter's favorite specter of a hurricane storm surge up the Mississippi River that overtops the city's famous levees. That could theoretically happen, but it's less likely.
The real nightmare has always been the prospect of a Wagnerian hurricane like Katrina coming ashore so that its strongest winds push the Gulf of Mexico into the eastern-facing entrance to Lake Pontchartrain, which borders the city's northern edge. The lake is both unusually shallow -- rarely more than 20 feet deep -- and unusually large -- more than half the size of the state of Rhode Island. A 20-foot storm surge arriving in concert with both high tide and 20-inch rains could overwhelm the city's more vulnerable lakeside levees and then flow downhill all the way to the French Quarter. Many of the city's massive drainage pumps are located closer to the lake. Were they to be flooded out, the city would not only be helplessly inundated while the hurricane is overhead -- it would remain so for weeks if not months.
For more than 2½ centuries, that precise scenario has never quite happened, though hurricanes rake the Louisiana/Mississippi Gulf Coast regularly and sideswipe the Big Easy more often than not. One reason it hasn't is that the city was long protected by scores of miles of surrounding saltwater marshes capable of sponging up even massive storm surges like a swampy dishrag.
But for the last half of the 20th century and into the present day, those wetlands have been disappearing -- hundreds of acres of them every year -- starved by levees from the Mississippi River overflows that once fed them with silt from Minnesota and Iowa and Missouri, and eroded by canals dug for oil exploration and suburban subdivisions. To compare a 1930 aerial portrait of Louisiana with a contemporary satellite picture is to realize with stunning force how hundreds of miles of the state's beautiful if mosquito-laden southern wetlands now resemble moth-eaten lace.
With a far smaller marshland buffer zone to suck up Katrina's ferocious storm surge, New Orleans is very definitely in harm's way. Never mind the roof-ripping winds. Water fed New Orleans with commerce most of her life. If she dies today, it will be water -- born of Katrina's catastrophic power -- that's the death of her
Sunday, August 28, 2005
So church today was
So, church today was AWESOME. We talked about the movie “Crash,” and everyone had outstanding ideas about the movie and observations about pre-judging people and situations, and about bigotry and racism. It is so great, what we’re putting together down there.
Sending out another blast fax campaign tonight. I want to sell at least ten books this week; forty would be better.
I have some things to write up for the church, I have homework due, I have a ton of work to do, and I just feel like .. I’m falling further and further behind. I haven’t been this busy since before 11Sept01.
Bought a new Treo 650 phone today. My Palm Pilot has been broken for months, and I’m starting to have problems dealing with being away from the office and not having it. Mikey wants to know if I’ll upgrade his phone with my cast off, but what I want to do is get him a cool new phone with a camera.
So. Last night, Mikey and I hit the sleezebar, EJ’s. What a night. A 55 year old Hispanic guy invited me to pay him for sex, and was so persistent that first, Mikey tells him that Mikey has the veto authority over anyone I may have sex with, and then calls me from the next bar stool so that my phone will ring and give me a reason to ignore the hustler. THEN ..
N8 calls, well, his PHONE calls. A woman (in a slight huff) wants to know who I am, sending text messages to her phone. Uh, wait a minute. So, I assure her that the only text message I’ve sent in a few hours was to N8. “Oh, just a minute.” Rustle, rustle. “Hello?”
It’s N8. “Hey, how’s it going? You can send messages to my phone?” Hello, it’s 2005, right? “I’m in Manhattan with my girlfriend.” Girlfriend? “blah, blah, blah, blah.”
THEN .. Michael (the Peeler, whom I just kicked to the curb) shows up. He’s acting all .. well, peeler-y, and I ignored him. THEN, this guy who looks like a runway model asks me if I want to pay HIM for some “trouble,” and I decide it’s time to go home.
This afternoon, I come home, natter on the internet and work on my stuff, run to Half Price Books, sell a trunk load of books for $8.00, and buy three used DVDs for $30.00. Come home, start walking the dogs and feeling like I’m gonna DIE with this heat, and Nicole called about having dinner, which was quite fun. Come home, start working on some website publications, and phone call after phone call. I’m talking to Chuck about there being no Southern Decadence (on account of the likelihood of there being no New Orleans) and .. N8 calls.
Let’s talk to N8.
He’s still in NYC. The “girlfriend” is gone, and he assures me that said girlfriend is only a ruse so that he can get free air travel. He tells me that she was weirded out by reading my several text messages (going back two and a half weeks) on his phone, which he didn’t know were there. He’s miffed that I’ve not been in touch. Assured me in some weird way that the girlfriend is NOT an issue, but then asks me why I should think something between he and I is possible when we’re twenty years apart in age and I don’t help him grow out of his 20s.
At which point, I tell him “what about the emails I’ve sent detailing how we’re getting you into law school, etc.”
He says that he hasn’t received any email from me at all. Since he left here that Monday, two weeks ago tomorrow. He doesn’t understand that Hotmail will route people’s emails into their junk mail folder without letting them know. He hates computers. He hates Texas; wants to move to San Diego. The conversation gets lighter. Then, he has to go. Calls back. Has to go.
Whatever. He’s back on Tuesday.
Anyway, having my teeth cleaned in the morning, then working on the stack of work I planned on completing today and didn’t get to.
Sending out another blast fax campaign tonight. I want to sell at least ten books this week; forty would be better.
I have some things to write up for the church, I have homework due, I have a ton of work to do, and I just feel like .. I’m falling further and further behind. I haven’t been this busy since before 11Sept01.
Bought a new Treo 650 phone today. My Palm Pilot has been broken for months, and I’m starting to have problems dealing with being away from the office and not having it. Mikey wants to know if I’ll upgrade his phone with my cast off, but what I want to do is get him a cool new phone with a camera.
So. Last night, Mikey and I hit the sleezebar, EJ’s. What a night. A 55 year old Hispanic guy invited me to pay him for sex, and was so persistent that first, Mikey tells him that Mikey has the veto authority over anyone I may have sex with, and then calls me from the next bar stool so that my phone will ring and give me a reason to ignore the hustler. THEN ..
N8 calls, well, his PHONE calls. A woman (in a slight huff) wants to know who I am, sending text messages to her phone. Uh, wait a minute. So, I assure her that the only text message I’ve sent in a few hours was to N8. “Oh, just a minute.” Rustle, rustle. “Hello?”
It’s N8. “Hey, how’s it going? You can send messages to my phone?” Hello, it’s 2005, right? “I’m in Manhattan with my girlfriend.” Girlfriend? “blah, blah, blah, blah.”
THEN .. Michael (the Peeler, whom I just kicked to the curb) shows up. He’s acting all .. well, peeler-y, and I ignored him. THEN, this guy who looks like a runway model asks me if I want to pay HIM for some “trouble,” and I decide it’s time to go home.
This afternoon, I come home, natter on the internet and work on my stuff, run to Half Price Books, sell a trunk load of books for $8.00, and buy three used DVDs for $30.00. Come home, start walking the dogs and feeling like I’m gonna DIE with this heat, and Nicole called about having dinner, which was quite fun. Come home, start working on some website publications, and phone call after phone call. I’m talking to Chuck about there being no Southern Decadence (on account of the likelihood of there being no New Orleans) and .. N8 calls.
Let’s talk to N8.
He’s still in NYC. The “girlfriend” is gone, and he assures me that said girlfriend is only a ruse so that he can get free air travel. He tells me that she was weirded out by reading my several text messages (going back two and a half weeks) on his phone, which he didn’t know were there. He’s miffed that I’ve not been in touch. Assured me in some weird way that the girlfriend is NOT an issue, but then asks me why I should think something between he and I is possible when we’re twenty years apart in age and I don’t help him grow out of his 20s.
At which point, I tell him “what about the emails I’ve sent detailing how we’re getting you into law school, etc.”
He says that he hasn’t received any email from me at all. Since he left here that Monday, two weeks ago tomorrow. He doesn’t understand that Hotmail will route people’s emails into their junk mail folder without letting them know. He hates computers. He hates Texas; wants to move to San Diego. The conversation gets lighter. Then, he has to go. Calls back. Has to go.
Whatever. He’s back on Tuesday.
Anyway, having my teeth cleaned in the morning, then working on the stack of work I planned on completing today and didn’t get to.
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