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M A Y A ' S M O O N R E P O R T , F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 3 The Capricorn Moon cycle began on January 2. Reread that entry in the archives. Building sound foundations, correcting past structural problems, and establishing inner authority were major goals of this cycle. Maverick Chiron was a major supporter. Chiron in Capricorn has been connected with the revelations of corporate wrongdoing. Sure enough, this moon began with President Bush cutting off the government statistics on mass layoffs. Those statistics have been coming thick and fast these last couple of years, but we (or at least I) saw none this month. The University of California has been running the Los Alamos Weapons Lab for 60 years. The government is now questioning UC’s competence, including findings of fraud. This has been an issue all month. More Chiron in Capricorn. The U.S. government says that collection of child support money should go to churches to support marriage. The Feds are about to shut off some Colorado River to California, a first. This is a complicated situation involving city vs. country. In Brazil there is a new deal with newly elected President Lula, a Socialist who seems able to bring all factions together. His presence is commanding, his integrity is real, and it seems he may be inaugurating a new kind of politics in Latin America, less beholden to the IMF and corporate power. We will see if he can help the people achieve a better life. Dominating California (and many other states) is a budget crisis. The deficit is huge, and so far it has not been resolved. Gov. Davis is ready to cut health care and education, and at the same time to put more money into prisons, his favorite charity. This does not sit well with the legislature. Gov. Davis proposes a big jobs program for California, but I haven’t seen it unveiled. Dominating the world is conflict. First, the U.S. has been demanding inspections, criticizing them, and whooping up the war cries to attack Iraq, as well as promising to use nuclear weapons in Iraq. This hollow drama, including the UN, has dominated the month of January. The Bush Administration will attack Iraq during the Aquarius cycle, despite the fact that 80% of the world’s population (at least) is against it. The important thing is, obviously, securing that oil dominance. An attack force has been building for months. The Israel-Palestine conflict is getting worse, with Israel obviously trying to drive out the Palestinians, who remain remarkably centered and resistant to the cruel Israeli occupation. Ariel Sharon, who has many times stated his desire to drive the Palestinians from Palestine, was given a vote of confidence as Prime Minister in an election this month. North Korea dismissed international inspectors from its nuclear program, and said they reserve the right to develop nuclear weapons. In return for a promise not to do that, they want a guarantee from the U.S. that the U.S. won’t attack them. So far, they are not getting that. Bush’s including them as part of the "axis of evil" frightened them into a defensive posture. Is the Bush doctrine of "preventive strikes" spreading to North Korea? Venezuela has been seething. Its president, Hugo Chavez, is an Indian, not a member of the elite, and democratically elected by an 80% majority. Venezuela is the biggest supplier of oil to the U.S. President Chavez wants to use oil profits to raise the standard of living of the people, rather than sending them to the pockets of global corporations. There is resistance from the ruling class. The U.S. backed a coup, which failed. The situation has calmed down, but it is not over. It’s interesting that the U.S., started as a nation by rebels, cannot now abide a rebel to the New World Order. GW set forth his economic program, which centers on a $600 billion tax refund plan, focused on the rich, plus elimination of the dividends tax. Most economists do not support this plan. In fact, Bush had to fire his Treasury Secretary, Paul O’Neill, and appoint a new one, John Snow, who would pledge allegiance to his plan. Snow’s corporation, CSX, has not paid income tax for three years and has donated much money to Bush. All alien males from Muslim countries are being required to register with Immigration. But what happens when they register is that they are summarily detained and held incommunicado for various lengths of time for even minor infractions. This is discriminatory totalitarian state treatment. Along with it, the FBI is infiltrating all mosques, and listing the names of members of their congregations. United Air has filed for bankruptcy. This is a shock, and does not bode well for the airline industry. As a United passenger, I can attest that United is making flying with them difficult. It feels like they are being run by fear. In San Francisco, members of the Board of Supervisors went against their powerful mayor, Willie Brown, to vote in Matt Gonzalez of the Green Party as President of the Board of Supervisors. Also in San Francisco, Judge Conti issued a restraining order to stop the testing of sonar on whales. In Washington, the Fourth Circuit of Appeals ruled that wartime presidents, which includes GW because of his self-declared war on terrorism, can indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen captured on an enemy battlefield and deny that person access to a lawyer. GE workers in Schenectady, NY struck for better health benefits. Health benefits are becoming a huge problem throughout the nation. GW sent several police chiefs from the U.S. to study "terrorism" in Israel. The Israeli police are known worldwide for their expertise in prisoner torture. Bush is using the Justice Dept. to fight affirmative action at the University of Michigan. In the same vein, Senator Trent Lott from Mississippi lost his status of Senate Majority leader due to racist remarks (not his first). Dr. Bob Frist of Tennessee takes Lott’s place, but although he is much more personable, his philosophy is no less racist. The administration’s vaccination program began, but with a whimper. The first state to participate was Connecticut, and only four doctors volunteered. The governing bodies of many communities in the U.S. are voting against the Patriot Act, as well as against the Iraq War. Congress is belatedly introducing resolutions to try to slow down the warhawks. The Senate also blocked funding for John Poindexter’s Total Information Awareness Program, designed to collect infinite data on everyone. There were huge anti-war marches in midmonth, all over the world, and the anti-war sentiment is growing. The German and French governments are not supporting the U.S., but Secretary Powell says the U.S. is prepared to go it alone. Secretary Rumsfeld says that France and Germany are "old Europe," no longer relevant. (How to make friends and influence people…) At the Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, Attorney General Ashcroft squared off against President Mahathir of Malaysia (an eminently peaceful, reasonable man) about the causes of terrorism. The Middle East is boycotting U.S. and Israeli goods. Sales fell by 25% during 2002. Tom Ridge was sworn in as head of Homeland Security. Bush appointed Thomas Keane as head of the 9-ll investigating committee in place of Henry Kissinger. Mr. Keane is connected with the bin Laden family via the oil business. The International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union wins big in its contract struggle. This is a victory for all labor. Labor united in strategy and negotiations against the U.S. government, and won. AOL posted an enormously high loss for 2002, the highest loss ever by any corporation—$100 billion. Its famous CEO, Steve Case, had already resigned. Soldiers heading for the Middle East are banking sperm, due to their coming radiation exposure.. I finished this month by attending a public informational meeting by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., our energy utility. We always have an excessive amount of power outages here, but this winter it has been outrageous. Some people have been without power for 10 days. We expected, finally, some real information at this meeting, but there was little but evasions and diversions, no matter how persistently we tried to pin the PG&E people down. The audience left feeling very unsatisfied. Capricorn is the sign of the establishment, of government, of finances, and of all institutions. We can see that this Capricorn moon cycle focused on such activities. The Iraqi inspection drama is surely a retrograde activity, a redo of earlier inspections |
