Political Astrology of the US Election

I came across an interesting article on political astrology of the U.S. election day, Nov. 4, predicting Obama's win.

The celestial events taking place now are amazing. Pluto rules nations, and Capricorn rules governments. The last time Pluto was in Capricorn was from 1763 to 1778.This was the time of the American Revolution which culminated in the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.The next time that Pluto was to return to Capricorn was this November.
Today, the planet Saturn is in direct opposition to the planet Uranus. Saturn represents the status quo; and Uranus represents revolutionary change at a grassroots level. These two opposing forces meet each other head-on!
When you look at the charts ofMc-Cain and Obama, we see McCain is a Virgo, with moon in Aquarius and Pisces Rising.
Obama is a Leo, with moon in Gemini and Aquarius Rising.
Both these guys are successful go-getters. What will make the difference is which one of their charts has the strongest connection to the chart of the U.S. based on July 4, 1776, 2:24 p. m. I'll cut to the chase and tell you right off--it's the chart of Barack Obama, hands down.

Along with this being a once in a 250 year event Pluto in Capricorn means a major realignment of the world economy as well.

On November 27th Pluto goes back into Capricorn until 2023. If you ever wanted a signal that the world is in major reconstruction follow the path of Capricorn for the next fifteen years. The mantra that I give the transit of Pluto in Scorpio is ‘brick by brick and stone by stone’.

There's plenty of blame to go around for why the nation and the world finds itself in such a financial pickle. Greed. Lack of regulation. Too much easy money.
But some astrologers put much of the blame on that pesky one-time planet Pluto. Rumson astrologer Flo Higgins said Pluto is moving from Sagittarius (laissez-faire attitude, not following rules) to Capricorn (conservative, regulated).
"Things have got to be destroyed and rebuilt and that's what's happening in the world," Higgins said. "We're not doomed to eternity like this. It'll be okay, but we have to go through some life lessons.

Those who pooh-pooh astrological predicitions forget that they are essentially mathematical formula's, and their predictability is over the long term. And given their predicatability, they function well for long term global events. As for being irrational, as my skeptical friends like to dismiss them, nothing can be more irrational than Stock Market Capitalism.

For instance here is an interesting political astrological pre-election predicition.....

Saturn vs. Uranus: The Smackdown
Friday, October 31, 2008

On Tuesday, November 4th, Saturn in Virgo will be exactly opposite Uranus in Pisces. This hasn't happened since 1967, when the two planets were reversed -- Saturn in Pisces and Uranus in Virgo. Again in 2008, the times are indeed changing, as Dylan said. Back then we had the Vietnam war and the summer of love: two distinctly opposing poles in a roiling paradigm shift. Now we have youth, charisma, and hope writ large in the symbol that is Barack Obama. He has inspired millions and gotten us to take to the streets in a living, breathing network of change-making. All the organization and grassroots fundraising he's done is a testament to these beautiful progressive values. It is indeed interesting that Obama has Aquarius rising (the sign connected to the planet Uranus.) On the other hand, we have John Mccain, whose Saturn in Pisces is opposed to the Cosmic Taskmaster's current placement in Virgo. He's also a Virgo sun, so Saturn is sitting right on top of his sign, affecting his health, happiness, and making him angry all the time. Americans have a major choice to make right now, and the world is watching with baited breath. We can choose hope (Uranus/Obama) or we can choose fear (Saturn/Mccain). Just a quick word about the insanity of election day aspects: it doesn't look like it's necessarily going to be over by midnight. The moon and Mercury both change signs that day, Mars squares Neptune, and Saturn dukes it out with Uranus, putting everyone on edge. Be vigilant, and vote early if you can in your state. If not, clear your schedule and wait as long as it takes on that line at the polls. Document your experience there with your cell-phone camera. Don't be cowed by anyone that tells you can't vote -- voting suppression will be out in full-force in swing states, but documentation of irregularities will go far to prevent another stolen election. Even if we have to wait days, weeks, or months for a final result, let's hope that it reflects our democracy's best intentions.

India is awash in astrologers as well as mathmaticians and theoritical physicists, all of whose predictions are based upon the Vedic system; whether mathematical or astrological. And they too predicted Obama's win.

Indian astrologers predict sweeping Obama win
AFP - 30 Oct 2008


I have posted before on political astrology....

The Monkey On Paul Martin's Back

Year of the Pig and the Liberal Green Alliance

Burma's Curse

And I am not the only one to note the signifigance of te political astrological impact of the American election....

Obama, by Jupiter!
If the stars were aligned today for the coronation of the king of Bhutan, what does the president-elect's horoscope foretell?
Jupiter is why former president Ronald Reagan, a keen follower of astrological advice, took office as governor of California in January 1967 at the bizarre time of quarter past midnight. The giant planet was then high in the sky, promising a prosperous term for the king of the B movies. So it proved.
Might Jupiter have been similarly shining down on the victory of Barack Obama two days ago? Actually, no. By the time Obama was greeting the crowd in Chicago's Grant Park, Jupiter and most of the planets were below the horizon.
However, those looking for astrological omens for the Age of Obama (quite a few people, as a glance on the web confirms) have already noted that his inauguration – at noon on January 20 2009 – finds Jupiter perfectly aligned alongside the sun at the peak of the event's horoscope.
Most astrologers would look at the chart of the event and find it promising. By contrast, the inauguration of George W Bush in 2000 came dominated by Mars, planet of war.


So lets look at the new leadership of the U.S.

Barack Obama Astrology Natal Horoscope Report

Michelle Obama's Astrology Chart: The New First Lady - SpiritNow

Joe Biden is a Scorpio and is well suited to be the watery fire sign, not unlike Michele's Capricorn which is a watery earth sign, to balance off Obama.

Like many celebrities, Joe Biden has a stellium (more than three planets in one sign) in his chart. He has four planets in Scorpio, meaning that this is not a man to be messed with. He has the sun, Venus, Mars and Mercury in Scorpio. This line up speaks of pure power, as Scorpios are very good at politics, but they are ruthless when crossed! This many planets in Scorpio would also account for his incredible charisma.

And it is interesting to note that Sarah Pallins chart, she is an Aquarian, reveals her true self, which is that because of her Uranian/Neptunian nature she is a trickster. She is not what she seems.Scorpio is Novembers sign and it was not good for Pallin. She stung herself to political death.

All of these "sudden revelations" about Sarah Palin do smack of Uranus, though, and sure enough using this chart we have transiting Uranus retrograding over her progressed Midheaven. That would fit perfectly with her being picked out of nowhere and then this rapid meltdown.

Irene Mack
October 28, 2008 12:37 PM
Her Aquarius planets square Neptune in Scorpio. Transiting Neptune is on her Sun, reinforcing the Neptunian energy. Am I the only person here who is seeing someone who isn't who she professes to be? It's obvious to me that she's a phoney. Unfortunately, with that Neptunian energy she has going, she does have some people hypnotized into believing she's the real thing. And Venus in Aries. Please.She loves herself first.


I have posted here before about how Obama models himself on Lincoln....so lets look at their astrological coorespondence;

Barack Obama vs. Abraham Lincoln
September 22, 2008 ·
Their career paths have been compared, and almost parallel in their meteoric rise from being state legislators to Presidents (in Obama’s case potential president). But what do their charts say. Are they similar? And if so how? Let’s take a look at the man who helped start the Republican party and the current lead Democrat.

Others have gone further in associating Obama with Lincoln and indeed with JFK through their astrological charts, let alone Obama's adoption of their political iconography.

Last March, prominent psychic, Gordon Michael Scallion, speaking to a group at the A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment, The Edgar Cayce Foundation) in Virginia Beach, channeled the information that Obama is a reincarnated Abe Lincoln-- a compelling if improvable thesis. Lincoln may have freed the slaves and defeated the Confederacy, but he did not live to complete his mission of reuniting the nation. Many of the deep divisions that persist today are the legacy of a reconstruction gone awry. Obama is passionate about uniting the country, as if to complete Lincoln’s unfinished business. His statement I don’t see red and blue states, I see the United States, echoes Lincoln’s sentiment to bind up the nation’s wounds. Pundits are already predicting that the electoral map will morph into the color purple. Obama often cites the motto on the Great Seal epluribus unum, out of many one. Unity is essential if we want to effect real political change and fulfill the founders’ vision.

And while saying Obama is the reincarnation of Lincoln is pushing it the political iconography being used by Obama of continuing the Lincoln legacy is psychically potent as a political metaphor within the American mindset as he well knows.

The Presidential Inauguration will be held on January 20, 2009. A week of festivities will include the Presidential Swearing in Ceremony, Inaugural Address, Inaugural Parade and a night of Inaugural Balls and galas honoring the new President of the United States. The theme for the 2009 presidential inauguration will be "A New Birth of Freedom," commemorating the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. The words come from the Gettysburg address, and express Lincoln's hope that the sacrifice of those who died to preserve the nation shall lead to "a new birth of freedom" for our nation. The theme is particularly appropriate in light of the historic election of Senator Barack Obama.

Words of Lincoln Will Be Woven Into Obama Inaugural Activities

And lets not forget that when Obama won his first primary we were still in the Chinese Year of the Pig...we are now in the last phase of the Year of the Rat...... by the time he takse power we will be in the year of the Ox.

A Rat Year is a time of hard work, activity, and renewal. This is a good year to begin a new job, get married, launch a product or make a fresh start. Ventures begun now may not yield fast returns, but opportunities will come for people who are well prepared and resourceful. The best way for you to succeed is to be patient, let things develop slowly, and make the most of every opening you can find.

the year of the Rat is still ruled by the cold of winter and the darkness of night. Those who speculate indiscriminately and overextend themselves will come to a sad reckoning.

In the Chinese zodiac, McCain is a rat and Obama is an ox. "2008 is a rat year, but next year is Year of the Ox and that favors Obama," says Weber. According to Weber the rat is a sign ruled by water and that makes McCain's personality one that conflicts with the energy of the coming year and explains much of his actions. "Looking at McCain during the debates, you could tell his emotions fluctuated and, like water, were more fluid."
Rats are considered positive, charismatic, hardworking and industrious and their negative qualities are over-ambition, ruthlessness, intolerant and scheming. If McCain came into office, it's possible that his emotions would get the better of him, as he's often known for a hot temper and quick reactions.
"Watching Obama in the debates showed his Ox qualities of being unflappable and steady," Weber explains. An ox is associated with the earth element and is known for being dependable, calm, methodical, and resolute and their negative qualities make them stubborn, materialistic, rigid and demanding.
According to Weber, McCain's rat energy would keep him from being effective in the Oval Office because the 2009 energy is earth and earth dams water. "It would be a "dammed" presidency from the start," she quips. Even so, rats are industrious and opportunity-driven and have great qualities for business, but with next year's energy, the rat energy isn't harmonious because water added to earth makes mud.
Obama, on the other hand, has earth qualities that will create a harmonious start with the earth energy of next year, and Weber explains, that next year has a double earth energy making the steady approach of the next president important in order to settle down the "rollercoaster we've been on" and take care of important things like America's standing in the world and investing in American infrastructure. "You could look at it as McCain's Year of the Rat is almost over, but Obama's Year of the Ox is the future. Speaking purely to the feng shui of time and energy, feng shui supports Obama over McCain."

A rat's life
For those who believe that the world is shaped by historical coincidence (a small minority populated entirely by sports commentators), a more worrying US election trend is also visible - 2008 is the Chinese Year of the Rat. In five of the last six Year of the Rat American elections - 1996, 1984, 1972, 1948 and 1936 - the incumbent president has been re-elected.
George W. Bush's greatest political asset has been his ability to win elections in which he seemingly had little or no hope either before or after the votes had been cast.
Let us hope that this Rat Year election proves a bridge too far even for him.

The Year of the Rat has been a rough one for China's richest, with fortunes being dragged down amid a 60% plunge in mainland stocks and a 50% drop in Hong Kong shares in 2008. The combined net worth of the 400 richest dropped to $173 billion from $288 billion. The top 40 lost $68 billion, or 57%. The minimum net worth slipped $20 million to $180 million.

On the Western calendar, the start of the New Year falls on Monday, January 26, 2009 — The Year of the Ox.

The OX year is a conservative year, one of traditions and values. This is not a year to be outrageous. A slow but steady year.This OX year will bring stability and growth where patience and diligence pays off.
This is a year of Harvest - when we reap what we have sown. Take care of business this year, do not let things slide.


SEE:

The First Computer- Second Century B.C.

Snake Oil Saint

1666 The Creation Of The World

Lucky Number 7

Godel, Cantor, Wiener and Schrodinger's Cat

Kabbalistic Kommunism


Tags:
Barack Obama, Barack, Obama, astrology, America, Michelle, Senator, Chicago, Illinois, USA, politics, Democrat, President, Presidentialrace, John McCain, republican, U.S.presidential election

Working Class Hero; Studs Terkel RIP

If E.P. Thompson gave voice to a new form of labour history; social history of the peoples struggles, history of the forgotten, with his Making of the English Working Class, American popular social hisorian Studs Terkel gave it voice through his interviews which were broadcast on radio and later published as books. Studs was as much a Marxist as Thompson, and both gave birth to the new labour history.

After being investigated by Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1953, his contract was cancelled. Terkel refused to give evidence against other left-wing activists and was therefore blacklisted and prevented from appearing on television. He later recalled: "I was blacklisted because I took certain positions on things and never retracted... I signed many petitions that were for unfashionable causes and never retracted."


Studs passed away on Halloween. His passing was noted in the press but they quickly moved on to history in the making; the U.S. Presidential election. An election that used terms not heard for over sixty years; working class, socialism, communism, marxism, depression. Studs wrote on American working class culture with his book Working and on the stories of the Great Depression. The irony of the current crash of the market which he warned about back during the Reagan revolution would not be lost on him.

When Terkel's 1970 oral history of the 1930s Depression, "Hard Times,'' was reissued in 1986 in the heart of the Reagan administration, Terkel's new introduction worked strenuously to show how the two eras were comparably nightmarish - though the 1980s never had anything like the 25 percent unemployment of the earlier era. Terkel writes: "In the '30s, an administration recognized a need and lent a hand. Today an administration recognizes an image and lends a smile.'' Part of Terkel's wide appeal was that he seemed to be a scrappy liberal in his choice of causes and concerns, but look more closely and it becomes less clear where his liberalism slips into radicalism. Though Terkel was not a theorist, nearly every one of the positions approvingly intimated by him seem to fit models shaped by Marxist theory; he even wore something red every day to affirm his attachment to the working class.

The most admired are those who, because of personal gifts, transcend the monotony of working life; the most respected are those who come to recognize those horrors most clearly and speak of them. The interviews fit the intellectual framework set up by the “Working” introduction: “This book, being about work, is, by its very nature, about violence — to the spirit as well as to the body.” That means it includes, in Mr. Terkel’s list, ulcers, accidents, shouting matches, fistfights, nervous breakdowns, daily humiliations and “scars, psychic as well as physical.” There are some, he says, who may enjoy their work, but these cases may “tell us more about the person than about his task.” He seems to cheer the questioning of the “work ethic,” though he himself clearly relished it and relied upon it.
This vision of work, though, is an obvious translation of a traditional Marxist view of the alienation of labor — the sense of disassociation that comes from the capitalist workplace. The most transformative accomplishment would be to recognize the causes of that alienation, because that would help usher in a new world; this is what Mr. Terkel seems to cherish in his most admired laborers and what he hopes to accomplish in the book itself

Being a Chicagoan he would have appreciated that home boy Obama won the election using the strategies and tactics of his old pal Saul Alinsky another Chicago radical.

Brian Viner: A shame that Studs Terkel didn't live to see Obama win

And he documented that great racial divide that Obama overcame this week.

Terkel, who was often praised as the consummate listener, didn't just arrive at someone's front door and say, "Tell me about yourself." He carried on a conversation. Terkel didn't let people off the hook. In Division Street, a 19-year-old man who had left the hills of Kentucky for Chicago talks about his fear of living too close to blacks. "It doesn't bother me," he says, "as long as they stay on their side of the street." To which Terkel asks, "Suppose they're on the same side of the street?" You can almost hear the young man consider this for a moment before laughing at himself. "I imagine we might be able to be pious and get along pretty good," he replies. That was Terkel. His effervescence brought out the best in virtually everyone he encountered. His books brought out the best in America

In fact Obama's appeal to the broad base of America to recognize itself in his story was very much based on Studs giving voice to America. In fact Obama's campaign theme of hope was influenced by Studs 'radical optimism', even if it never credited him.

"I've always felt, in all my books, that there's a deep decency in the American people and a native intelligence—providing they have the facts, providing they have the information."
"With optimism, you look upon the sunny side of things. People say, 'Studs, you're an optimist.' I never said I was an optimist. I have hope because what's the alternative to hope? Despair? If you have despair, you might as well put your head in the oven."

And Studs was not one to shy away from controversy in fact he defended fellow Chicgoa activist William Ayers of the Weather Underground. His support for fellow radicals was longstanding.

Mr. Terkel also provided a blurb for the memoirs of William Ayers, the Weatherman bomber whose connection with Barack Obama has been a point of controversy. “A deeply moving elegy to all those young dreamers who tried to live decently in an indecent world,” Mr. Terkel wrote. “Ayers provides a tribute to those better angels of ourselves.”

My last encounter with Studs might give Sarah Palin chills, or at least campaign fodder. It was a couple of years ago at the Studs Terkel Community Media Awards dinner, sponsored by Community Media Workshop. Bill Ayers wasn't there, but his wife and Weather Underground comrade Bernadine Dohrn was. Little did I realize I was "palling around with domestic terrorists" that night.

Mr. Ayers is married to Bernardine Dohrn,another Weather Underground figure. Both were indicted in 1970 for inciting to riot and conspiracy to bomb government buildings, but charges were dropped in 1974 because of prosecutorial misconduct, including illegal surveillance.

And with his usual humourous aplomb and indeaftable optimism and cutting wit he wrote his own epitaph.

He was in that living room last year when he said with zest that when he "checked out"--as a "hotel kid" he rarely used the word "dying," preferring the euphemism "checking out" and its variants--he wanted to be cremated. He wanted his ashes mixed with those of his wife, which sat in an urn in the living room of his house, near the bed in which he slept and dreamed."My epitaph? My epitaph will be, 'Curiosity did not kill this cat,'." he said.He then said that he wanted his and Ida's ashes to be scattered in Bughouse Square, that patch of green park that so informed his first years in his adopted city."Scatter us there," he said, a gleeful grin on his face. "It's against the law. Let 'em sue us."

SEE:

Gay Old Communists

American Proletarian Republicanism

Hobsbawm Historical Revisionist

Tick, Tock, We Live By The Clock

Tyrant Time-Tempus Fug'it

Tags; workers,, proletariat,, socialism,, labour, history,, labor, history,, Barack Obama, Barack, Obama, Studs Terkel, America, oral history, Social History, Chicago, Illinois, USA,

America's Historic Election

The election of Barack Obama as 44th President of the United States was the fulfillment of the drream of Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglas, who himself ran for the Republican nomination for President. Obama kicked off his campaing in Springfield, Illinois Lincolns home. His politics of unity, his sweep in the polls showing America is neither Blue nor Red but purple; his politics as I have pointed out here before are those of classic 19th century liberalism. He appeals to the old Republican party, the progressive, labour party of Lincoln not the later nativist, neo-con party of Reagan. And he made that clear in his victory speech....


Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.


While McCain supporters chanted USA, USA, Barack appealed not to a narrow jingoist nationalism but to a greater vision of Americans by their own merit and pulling together in a collective effort to meet the historic challenges facing them with his call; Yes We Can.

He is a Lincoln Republican and a FDR Democrat, remembering the the latters success was based on the progressive movement that pushed not for his election but for the third party candidate; Robert La Follette. A party and movement often overlooked for its impact on American politics, after it got Teddy Roosevelt elected president.

Obama was that third party candidate who used the Democratic party to win election, while appealing to both Republicans and Independents to join him in a bi-partisan campaign to make history. He swept red states and those he didn't win he got more votes in than any other Democrat ever has. He vindicated Howard Dean's fifty state strategy, and he did it by using the grassroots organizing of Saul Alinsky and the Civil Rights movement.

Lincoln and Douglas would be proud as would both Kennedy brothers, and LBJ who in their own way paved the way for Obama's historic election. Today is the fulfillment of the dreams of Martin Luther King, A. Phillip Randolph and Malcolm X. And it is the redemption of the Democratic party forty years after the debacle in Chicago in 1968.

The tears of Afro-Americans from the young students on campuses shown on TV to the celeberities in the crowd in Chicago; Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey, were the geniune mass weltashung of the realization that finally the ugly history of slavery and segregation were ended last night. And a man was elected on the merit of his belief's not his skin colour.

It's a new dawn in America.



SEE:

America's Real Conservative Choice For President



Lincoln Obama



Black Like Me

Winds of Change

The Blue Origin of the Red States



The Era Of The Common Man

A NEW AMERICAN REVOLUTION



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Pallins Pipeline 2

As I posted here previously the Alaska pipeline being built to transfer oil and gas south into the Gulf Coast refineries is being built by TransCanada Pipelines. Which originally was created by C.D. Howe and the Liberal Government and included the Alberta Socreds provincially created pipeline. Private capitalism which would not take a risk then took advantage of crown corporations created by public infrastructure funding. As taxpayers in Canada we have always funded big projects, like the railways and Air Canada, only to hand them over to private business interests when they were successful. Today you and I still pay for the privatization of our public infrastructure. Because that is the history of economic development in Canada, state capitalism for private benefit.



Ernest C. Manning was premier for 25 years. He was the wilful leader who walked the narrow path between powerful ideological opponents on the left and the right.
The socialists hordes in 1955 -- OK they were the Liberals and the CCF (today's NDP) - took 40 per cent of the popular vote in the election and wanted more government ownership of the oil industry.
Manning held the day with his 46 per cent of the vote -- and 37 of 61 seats.
The oilpatch capitalists, on the other extreme, tried to maximize their profits during the post Leduc oil boom that began in 1947.
Manning fought them off, too.
And Manning's government created a unique pipeline company in 1954 that was neither government owned, nor the profit-making tool of the international oil companies. It was called the Alberta Gas Trunk Line and is today part of TransCanada Pipeline.



In 1956, C.D. Howe forced the plan for the Trans-Canada Pipeline, a gas pipeline from Alberta to central Canada, through Parliament but paid heavily when the Liberal government lost the next election and he lost his seat.C.D. Howe retired from politics in 1957 at the age of 70.





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Steady Eddie Runs Away

Alberta's farmer CEO Ed Stelmach has no plan to deal with economic meltdown so what does he do instead skips the first ministers meeting for an all expenses paid junket to Europe. Guess he missed the news that this is a global crisis and that Europe ain't open for business its businesses are collapsing. And typically the Tired Old Tories have no plan. Instead they put their heads in the sand and hope no-one notices their arses are in the air.


Alta. premier to skip first ministers' meeting
Trish Audette , Canwest News ServicePublished: Monday, November 03, 2008
EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is skipping national economic discussions in Ottawa next week in favour of going to Europe on a trade mission.
Stelmach explained Monday that his presence at the first ministers' meeting, hosted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is unnecessary. The premier said organizers rejected having him connect to the Ottawa meeting by phone, so Alberta is sending a senior cabinet minister.
"We'll clearly identify the areas that we're concerned about," said Stelmach. "One of them is income trusts and another is where they cancelled all of the accelerated capital cost allowances for the oil and gas industry."

Premier needs to deliver plan that will restore hope
The premier has been disappointingly mum on his plans to restore confidence . . .
Danielle Smith, For The Calgary HeraldPublished: Tuesday, November 04, 2008
On Monday, the finance ministers met to talk about the next steps the federal government will take to address the pending economic crisis. What Premier Ed Stelmach now needs to do is set a date to provide an economic update of his own, so Albertans know what he intends to do about it.
The premier has been disappointingly mum on his plans to restore confidence among consumers and business owners. Meanwhile, Alberta is not likely to avoid the effects of what appears to be the beginning of a global economic slowdown.
Business confidence is at the lowest levels we've seen in nearly two decades.
For the last four weeks, starting on Oct. 6, CFIB has surveyed members on a weekly basis to get their views on how they expect the economy to perform over the next 12 months. The results are sobering.
Each week the small business outlook has looked a little dimmer, as massive shifts in commodity prices and the shrinking availability of credit disrupt investment plans. For the first time, the index is now virtually equivalent to its previous record low -- found in mid-1990 -- a time that coincided with a protracted recession.
For the last four weeks, starting on Oct. 6, CFIB has surveyed members on a weekly basis to get their views on how they expect the economy to perform over the next 12 months. The results are sobering.
Each week the small business outlook has looked a little dimmer, as massive shifts in commodity prices and the shrinking availability of credit disrupt investment plans. For the first time, the index is now virtually equivalent to its previous record low -- found in mid-1990 -- a time that coincided with a protracted recession.
But the most important question Taft levelled, which still appears to have no clear answer, is: "As the world economy staggers to a halt, what is this government's plan to protect the wealth and jobs of Albertans?"
Stelmach responded that he would dip into the $7.7 billion stability fund if he needed to, but that doesn't address the core problem. The core problem is the Alberta government spends too much.
This year, the province increased operating spending by 9.7 per cent and capital spending by 22 per cent.
Not long after the budget was delivered, the province threw out its surplus management strategy (which was supposed to dedicate one-third of surpluses to infrastructure, one-third to infrastructure maintenance, and one-third to savings) and announced it would spend an additional $4 billion, on carbon sequestration and public transit.


Tories 'handing' U.S. oilsands upgrading jobs
Premier blames federal government
Renata D'Aliesio, Calgary HeraldPublished: Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Opposition leaders accused Alberta's premier on Monday of standing idly by as the United States siphons oilsands upgrading jobs from the province.
In question period, Liberal boss Kevin Taft seized on new industry warnings that Alberta is on track to upgrade only half of its bitumen production, far short of Premier Ed Stelmach's goal of 75 per cent.
Taft listed a litany of American upgrader projects designed to process the province's tar-like bitumen, including plans slated for Indiana, Minnesota and Montana.
He said the Alberta government should be worried that $30 billion worth of oilsands projects, including upgraders and processing plants, has been shelved due to the global financial turmoil.
"This government is on the brink of handing control of Alberta's wealth to the United States," Taft charged.


Unintended consequences: discounted Alberta land
Crescent Point says royalties deflated prices
Dan Healing, Calgary HeraldPublished: Saturday, October 25, 2008
It's a bold investment strategy tinged with more than a little irony -- Calgary oil executive Scott Saxberg, a vocal opponent of higher Alberta oil royalties unveiled a year ago this week, says his Saskatchewan-focused company is going to aggressively bid for land rights in this province.
"We are now looking at lands in Alberta because we believe, based on the way royalty rules are, Alberta is basically giving away their land for free," the president and chief executive of Crescent Point Energy Trust told the Herald in an interview this week.



SEE

The Economist On Alberta's Fair Share
Still not getting our due
Ed's Politics Of Fear
Nationalize The Oil Patch
Royalties Pay For Jobs

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October Surprise Was The Market Crash

On the Sunday News Talk Shows and on the American cable news channels the pundits all commented on how this election there was apparently no October Surprise.

In American political jargon, an October surprise is a news event with the potential to influence the outcome of an election, particularly one for the presidency.

No October Surprise???

What do you call this.......Mutual funds plummet in October as global credit crisis grows

THE US stock-market crash appeared to draw to a close with the month of October, as a gain in the final session helped shares to stellar returns for the week.However, consumer-spending data and a steady stream of layoffs suggest the bear market is not over yet. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 144.32 points, or 1.57 per cent, to 9325.01, for its first two-session gain since September. For the month of October, the Dow fell 14 per cent, its biggest percentage drop since August 1998. It could have been worse: Until Tuesday's rally helped it bounce 11 per cent this week for the best weekly return since 1974, the Dow was looking at one of the worst months in its 112-year history. The Nasdaq Composite rose 22.43 points, or 1.32 per cent, to 1720.95, gained 11 per cent on the week and finished the month with a loss of 18 per cent. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 14.66 points, or 1.54 per cent, to 968.75, helping it to a 10 per cent gain for the week. In October, the broad S&P 500 fell 16.9 per cent, its worst month since the date of another infamous crash, October 1987. "It was nuts," said Joseph Saluzzi, co-founder of agency brokerage Themis Trading, of the October action. "There was a time there in the middle of the month people were afraid, thinking: 'What is really happening here? Is this the end of the world? What's going on?'

It cost McCain the election when he insisted that the fundamentals of the economy were good as the market came tumbling down.US Election Panel: 'It was close until the credit crunch

Wall Street collapsed right on top of McCain
Point: Dan SchnurThe most decisive event in this campaign wasn't anything either of the candidates said at their respective conventions or in any of the debates. It wasn't a sound bite from a speech or interview, or a memorable assertion in a television commercial or e-mail attachment. The turning point in this election didn't happen on the campaign trail but rather on Wall Street. In the last week of September, the race was essentially tied. Then Wall Street collapsed -- and it collapsed right on top of John McCain.In the first week or two after the extent of the economic meltdown became apparent earlier this fall, what had been a closely contested election broke significantly in Barack Obama's direction. The worst month for the Dow Jones industrial average in more than a decade made McCain's national security credentials almost irrelevant to voters frightened about their economic futures. Just as the success of the troop increase in Iraq and the rise in gasoline prices earlier this year represented real-world events that boosted McCain's support, the political ramifications of the rapidly spreading economic crisis have been of immense assistance to Obama's efforts to convince voters as to the necessity of a change of course in Washington.

SEE:
McCain A Socialist
No Austrians In Foxholes


tagsGreat Depression, John McCain, market crash, free trade, Republicans, recession, asset-backed commercial paper ,, goldhomes, mortgages, housing, bubble, US, economy, oil prices, sub-prime mortgage, Wall Street, crash, recession,October Surprise, Inflation, Staglation, Stock-Market, US, Federal-Reserve-Chairman, Oil, gold, commoditiesSmoot-Hawley, protectionism, tariffs, Herbert Hoover, U.S., U.S. economy, Canada, Great Depression, John McCain, market crash, free trade, Republicans, recession,

Pork

So Joe the Plumber, who ain't a plumber but a McCain stand-in stereotype gets preferential treatement because of his celeberity status....pork by any other name. Hey McCain gimme the straight talk on this....

Joe the Plumber gets warning, not speeding ticket
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP)
— Police stopped "Joe the Plumber" for speeding last week but didn't issue a
ticket out of concern it would reflect negatively on the Toledo department, an
officer's report said.
Officers tracked Samuel J. Wurzelbacher driving about
50 mph in a 35 mph zone in his Dodge Durango SUV on Wednesday, the police report
said.
In the final presidential debate, Republican John McCain portrayed
Wurzelbacher as emblematic of people with concerns about Democrat Barack Obama's
tax plans. Wurzelbacher has since endorsed McCain. His instant fame set off a
rush of interest in the plumber's background.
Toledo's police chief said on
Tuesday — the day before the traffic stop — that a department clerk faces a
disciplinary hearing for allegedly looking up Wurzelbacher's address on a state
computer database.
Wurzelbacher was given a verbal warning because of that
ongoing investigation and because a citation could have "negative repercussions
to the department and city as a whole," according to the report, which lists
"Patrolman Bailey" as its author.
Wurzelbacher would not comment on the traffic stop when reached by telephone Monday evening.

And I really like 'Joe's' honesty

JW: You know, I don’t know enough about that to give you a real intelligent
answer

Typical Republican.

TagsJohn McCain, republican, U.S.presidential election, Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, ,Joe The Plumber

Vegetarians For McCain

In a deseperate bid for votes McCain in a sound bite I just heard on CBC said he is appealing to; "independents, libertarians and heck even vegetarians."

Someone should tell him that appeal to liberal vegetarians might not sit well with his VP.

Born Sarah Louise Heath in Sandpoint, Idaho, in February 1964, Palin was the third of four children. The family moved to Wasilla when she was a child. Her dad, Chuck, was a teacher and loved Alaska’s hunting and fishing lifestyle. Today Chuck’s pick-up truck has a bumper sticker reading “Vegetarian — Old Indian Word For Bad Hunter”.

Ironically it is the same sound bite he used back in 2000 when running against George W.

I hope to my Republican friends, and I believe to most Americans -- that we can reassemble a coalition, a coalition that reaches out across party lines, preserving our core with conservative Republican principles and yet attracting to our banner people who are independents, people who are Democrats, libertarians, vegetarians.''

The McCain campaign has gone green recyling old sound bites in the last hours before their defeat.


Tags
John McCain, republican, U.S.presidential election, Sarah Pallin,

Latino Votes Will Change American Politics

While much talk has been about Obama's success mobilizing black voters the other big ethnic block that will swing the elecion tommorow and change the face of America is Latino's. In fact it is the Latino vote that has Obama closing in on McCain in his own home state; Arizona. Red states are turning purple.

While the Republican Party represents the white folks in Red States including McCains home state, there are thousands of Latinos who work for those Republicans, and they are not voting for McCain who sold them out to appeal to the nativist politics of the Republicans to win the party's nomination for President. A decision he will live to regret after tommorow.

SEE:

West Side Story

Richardson On The Ticket

The Ugly Truth About Migration

Tags
John McCain, republican, U.S.presidential election, Sarah Pallin,Obama,Democrats,white power,nativism,racism, migrant workers, Marx, immigrants, temporary workers, farm workers, California labour, labor, employment, slavery,US, illegals, aliens, migration, migrants, immigration, Latin America, Mexico, latinos, US, illegals, aliens, migration, migrants, immigration, Latin, America, Mexico, latinos, , Lou Dobbs,Congress, Congressman, Bay Buchanan, Pat Buchanan, Tom Tancredo, CNN, Republicans, US Presidential race,

America's Real Conservative Choice For President

Much has been made about Barack Obama being a socialist and a Marxist by the dwindling white power base that is the decrpit Republican Party. But the reality is that tommorow America will have a choice between a real conservative President and a Republican. That choice of course is Barack Obama.

For conservatives, Obama represents a sliver of hope. McCain represents none at all. The choice turns out to be an easy one.

His politics of unity; the third way, his appeal to Americans that they need to take personal responsibility for their families and their neighbours, his rise to power as an example of American meritocracy, his appeal to hard work, and a fair share for all, are traditional American conservative values, indeed they are the values of bourgoise enlightment exemplified by Freemasonry. His are the values of both Abraham Lincoln and FDR, not Ronald Reagan. After all prior to Regans unholy alliance of neo-cons, paleo-cons and evangelicals, conservatism was really just an outgrowth of 'classical liberalism'.

His endorsement by Colin Powell, as well as by other leading Republican's and conservatives such as Chris Buckley, shows that Obama's polics are more closely aligned to 'tradtional American values' than those of the evangelical right wing that hijacked the party of Goldwater.

And his promise to expand the war in Afghanistan means that he and Harper have something in comon despite the difference in their party labels. And Obama's Green Plan will coincide with the one that is still to be unvieled by the Harpocrites.


A Conservative For Obama
Ronald T. Wilcox
I'm a conservative. I've spent my money and my time in support of Republican candidates. I also support Barack Obama for president.
Modern conservatism is deeply rooted in ideas and political philosophy, in rational discourse and pragmatism. John Stuart Mill matters to conservatives.
Conservatives used to ask the tough questions and did not accept simplistic solutions. That is why it is deeply disappointing to me, both personally and professionally, that John McCain has run a campaign that is so antithetical to rational discourse about public policy. His campaign has been about glib answers to complex problems. His choice for vice president was political malpractice.
He has catered to a wing of the Republican Party that believes everything will be all right--if only the government gets out of the way. No matter the problem, that is the only acceptable solution. To suggest that research about or thoughtful analysis of a situation might, in some cases, point in a different direction is apostasy.
For these Republicans, simply the act of doing policy analysis must mean that you are a liberal. They know that real Republicans, and real men, don't need to think things through. I do not respect these people. They have dragged a proud movement that had much to offer our country down into the mud of ignorance.
And yet the reason I now support Obama is only partially due to McCain's decision to embrace this base form of populism. It also stems from a growing respect for Obama's thoughtfulness, which reveals itself when he's faced with difficult questions. I do not agree with all elements of Obama's tax policy, but I certainly get the impression he has thought about it a whole lot more than McCain.

The attraction of Obama to Sullivan and other conservatives is not surprising. In fact, their support is consistent with the constructive wing of the philosophy of conservatism. Those stuck in the world of divisional politics can be baffled by this. How, they ask, can people who admire Reagan and Thatcher also have time for Obama?Aside from his positive message of unity, there are a number of things concerning Obama which appeal to conservatives, not least his appreciative attitude towards traditions and his understanding of the importance of learning from history. In her ambitious New Yorker profile of Obama published last May, Larissa Macfarquhar writes that Obama was critical of his parents and grandparents for breaking up from their respective communities and moving to other towns and countries. They allowed themselves to be seduced by the American dream of individualism and mobility, something which to Obama seems "credulous and shallow." To Obama, the abandonment of their surroundings in Kenya and Kansas to start anew somewhere else seemed, writes Macfarquhar, "a destructive craving for weightlessness." Freedom has a price, and this is shattered communities and loneliness.

Many traditional conservatives (not the neo-con subspecies) are embarrassed by George Bush and are looking for a way out of the foreign and domestic policy nightmare that he has engineered. They also understand that John McCain would be more of the same or even worse. There is a lively discussion of Barack Obama that is taking place both in the blogosphere and in the media directed at a conservative audience, and much of the discourse is surprisingly receptive to the idea that Obama, though a liberal, could bring about genuine change that will benefit the country. A recent article by Boston University professor and former army officer Andrew Bacevich appeared in The American Conservative magazine and is available on the internet at www.amconmag.com. It is entitled "The Case for Obama" and makes the point that Obama is a candidate that is certainly no conservative, but he is the only real hope to get out of Iraq and also avoid wars of choice in the future. Bacevich rightly sees the Iraq war and its consequences as a truly existential issue for the United States, one that should be front and center for voters in November. Any more adventures of the Iraq type will surely bankrupt the country and destroy what remains of the constitution. Bacevich also notes that the election of John McCain, candidate of the neoconservatives and the war party, would guarantee an unending series of preemptive wars as U.S. security doctrine and would validate the disastrous decisions to invade Iraq and wage an interminable global war on "terrorists." Electing Obama instead would be as close as one could come to making a definitive judgment on the folly of Iraq and everything that it represents, a judgment that is long overdue. Many conservatives would agree that the Obama commitment to leave Iraq is the right way to go and long to return to the days when America only went to war when a vital interest was threatened.




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