March 20, 2005

• Out There
  in the world –

  George F. Kennan, the author of the Cold War “containment policy,” died
  last week.  He had a good, long, influential life, but perhaps not
  influential enough.  He always regretted that our government chose
  military containment over diplomatic containment, and he called himself
  a “pestiferous insect” buzzing around those in power and occasionally
  getting in a stinging bite.

  The World Peace Herald used this occasion to look at Kennan and his opponents:

      The two schools — call them Kennanites and anti-Kennanites, or
  realists and idealists, or neo-cons and multi-lateralists — differ in
  the ways they assess U.S. interests.
      

      On the one hand are the, call them realists, who view the world
  as a collection of nation-states of which the United States, however
  dominant, is but one. They see the world crisis as a collection of
  conflicts that can be settled through negotiation, collective
  international action and, as in the case of the Cold War, by waiting
  out the opponents.
  
      

      Those on the other side of the coin, the idealists, treasure
  the idea of liberty and are committed to having the United States as
  its principal exponent.

  World Peace Herald:  The passing Thursday of retired U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan at the age of 101…

  
  Meanwhile, the investigation into the death of a 14-year-old prodigy is continuing in Nebraska.  Brandenn Bremmer  was found shot in the head last week, an apparent suicide.

  Our prez shrub is reportedly scurrying back to Washington so he won’t
  miss out on any of the current domestic spotlight being cast on the
  capital by the doings on Capitol Hill where Congress has decided to intervene in a family squabble.  Reading this week’s celestial weather  from Rich Humbert, I was struck by the relevance of tomorrow’s daily forecast:

  “Under the Leo Moon, don’t trip over those who are building
  monuments to themselves. Politicians are making a mighty noise and
  doing very little with Saturn standing still from our POV on Earth.”

  Mercury stationary retrograde today at 14 degrees Aries, and Saturn
  stationary direct on Tuesday at 20 degrees Cancer, can herald
  frustrations and confusion for the whole planet, especially for people
  whose natal charts are heavily aspected from those positions.

  ---

  In Here
  in my world –

  The Mercury station is conjunct my fourth house cusp, the Nadir. 
  That puts the spotlight on my inner life, as indicated in yesterday’s
  dream and the trend of my recent thoughts.

  Saturn  is stationary on my eighth house cusp conjuct my
  North Lunar Node.   Sex, death, money and karmic/dharmic
  issues are coming to a head for me.   All those themes have been in my dreams.

  Restrictions,
  ambiguities and compromise have always been problematic for me. 
  Now I’m being forced to face them.  I gotta do it but I don’t have
  to like it.

  Doug captured this picture a couple of days ago when all four of our
  household critters had joined me on the bed.  I spend a lot of
  time there.  Most of the pictures of me taken by Doug or Greyfox
  in recent years have been there.  I don’t display them a lot,
  don’t look at them much.

  I’d rather see myself out in the woods or down at the spring.  I’d
  rather BE there, too, but every one of those trips is a strain and a
  drain, and in the main my life is spent in this room.  Here I
  relax, I droop.  Out there I wear my public face, stand up
  straight, try to walk without limping, and it exhausts me.

  I got some sobering insight into how I’m handling the damned disease on
  Thursday when the car trouble kept me from keeping my volunteer
  commitment in Wasilla.  I had mixed feelings of relief and regret
  at first, and then the next day I got an unpleasant surprise.  The
  “payback”, the fatigue and debility was almost as severe as when I
  actually go to town. 

  All I had done was fill the shower bag, hang it up, clean up, dress up,
  and make half a dozen or so trips out to the car trying to start it,
  phone around for the mechanic, convey my regrets to the ranch because I
  couldn’t show…  It wore me out, and all along I’d been thinking
  that it was going to town that was getting me down.

  I have known all along that I’m sicker than I want anyone else to
  know.  It’s becoming apparent that I’ve been denying to myself how
  sick I am, too.  Now I’m trying to decide if it’s a delusion worth
  hanging onto.  Much of my optimism and hope for the future hinges
  on what I can do with the life I have left.  Time to reevaluate
  and rethink, I think.

  

  • 3:52 pm
  • 8 Comments