Pitch Perfect: Redford’s ‘The Conspirator’

Historical Events of 1865 Come Alive Before Our Eyes!

by Jude Cowell

The official website of The Conpirator may just inspire you to see this period film directed by Robert Redford and perhaps this film review will, too.

As an American born with four planets in Capricorn, the Saturn-ruled sign of Government, Law, and Business, and considering my ongoing interest in studying historical and current events through the lens of Astrology, I highly recommend ‘The Conspirator’ if you’ve not yet seen it.

The film begins with a quick view of battlefield conditions of the Civil War, then quickly moves to the treasonous deeds, and the arrest and trial of boarding house owner Mary Surratt, mother of participant John Surratt. These characters become the focus of the film and to good effect for costumes, accents, and scenery down to the period’s smoke-filled rooms are on view along with some mighty good acting by James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin Kline, and others–all are pitch perfect in their roles.

And this is being said by a southerner who is seldom impressed by the alleged ‘southern’ accents with which we’ve been regaled for years in film and TV! Mr. McAvoy’s thick Scottish brogue is nowhere to be heard as he plays lawyer Frederick Aiken, though between scenes, Mr. Redford states in his director’s commentary that no one could understand a word he said. ;p

The trial’s philosophical highlights are in evidence as well as Secretary of War Stanton (Kline) demands a rush to ‘justice’ for Mary Surratt (she, in lieu of her son who has fled) while Aiken’s mentor Reverdy Johnson (played by the excellent Tom Wilkerson) idealistically prefers the upholding of the US Constitution even during times of war. (The war was not to officially end until about two months after the trial and hangings of the conspirators in July 1865.)

Of course, anyone paying attention to current events in the New Millennium cannot miss the fact that themes from the time of 1865 have repeated throughout US history and continue to bedevil our views on the US Constituion, the rule of law, and military tribunal v civilian trial by a jury of peers, something Confederate sympathizer and Marylander Mary Surratt was denied.

What you may not find in this telling of the story of Mary Surratt’s trial by military tribunal is the answer to how involved she actually was in the plot to first kidnap President Lincoln then, after that failed, to assassinate him. I have my opinions and assure you that after watching ‘The Conspirator’ you will have yours, or at least have gounds for pondering the ongoing historical mystery of Mary Surratt.

This film tells part of a well-known historical event by showing the conditions surrounding the heinous murder of Abraham Lincoln. It gives the viewer a feeling of walking back into 1865 and you may wish to take that journey and get a feel for the little understood character of Mary Surratt who, if she was nothing else, was a mother protecting a wayward son.

~:~

Astro-Note: these hangings by neck in 1865 took place under the auspices of powerful, sabotaging, murdering Pluto in Taurus, sign of The Neck. The lucrative ‘Reconstruction’ of the South could really get underway then with President Lincoln (who financed the war through printing of ‘greenbacks’, a maneuver which enraged the big bankers and their agents in America) gotten permanently out of their way.

For a little Astrology on the topic of the assassination and natal chart of Abraham Lincoln, click here and note that no edits have been made. If you study Astrology, also note that the assassination was perpetrated under a Jupiter Rx Station at a critical-crisis degree 29Sag+…’30Sag’ = “The Pope Blessing the Faithful. Yes, the Surratt family were of the Catholic persuasion but, as you know, Jupiter relates to bankers, generals, judges, and to philosophy and is posited in its own sign of Sagittarius, The Seeker.

For further reading on such topics, here’s a Timeline of The History of the House of Rothschild which necessarily includes The House of Rockefeller.

Rep Louis Gohmert and the 3 branches of government

Returning from errands a while ago, I found Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) on C-SPAN speaking in the chamber on a resolution to teach the US Constitution to high school seniors.

Since I had Civics classes all through school, I heartily agree that this is a wonderful idea to re-install classes on government prior to an 18-year-old’s voting for the first time.

Rep. Gohmert said that many Americans cannot name the three branches of government, and I’ve read this somewhere recently myself – a result, I suspect, of taking Civics courses out of our public school system.

What made me chuckle was the lawmaker’s lament that more US citizens can name the Three Stooges than can name the three branches of government, so let me take the Civics test now:

Mo has to be the president of the Executive branch;

Larry must be the Judicial branch, SCOTUS;

which leaves crazy Curly as the Legislative branch, aka the US Congress.

Did I pass? Am I passing yet? Am I lying? And would you consider grading on the curve? ;p

Obama’s speech Canton, OH 10.27.08

If you look under ‘Speeches’ in my sidebar you’ll find a link to Barack Obama’s Closing Argument speech delivered today in Canton, Ohio – full text courtesy of Time’s The Page.

A constitutional lawyer as president? Yeah, I could get used to that, as long the US Constitution is being upheld so that America can be. Isn’t that what a US president’s Oath of Office SAYS he will do?

McCain says join the military and Palin’s birth time

Lots of cheering going on tonight at the RNC as John McCain suggested that Americans join the military, become teachers, help the needy, and other good ideas to keep busy and not notice how the balance of the Supreme Court, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights will continue to be eroded under another Republican president. They failed to mention these things tonight.

No, I was not comforted…sounds like 100 years in Iraq to me. And will a McCain presidency extend the civil-liberties-squelching provisions of the US ‘Patriot’ Act? Neocons didn’t go to all that trouble only to let go of power and control now.

Cut to Palin in the audience! Eric Francis has a reported birth time for Sara Palin if you want to check out his excellent observations. Eric is working on rectification and says the chart works:

http://planetwaves.net/pagetwo/2008/09/02/neptune-on-the-rise-sarah-palins-astrology/

So if 4:40 pm is correct it gives Palin Leo rising just as has been suggested in comment threads here. It is difficult to miss her mane of Leonine hair and her past beauty queen competition for the approval and applause that Leo adores.

Biden idealizes Obama’s best traits 8.23.08

And Obama returns the favor!

As I’ve studied the planetary placements on this auspicious day for the Obama campaign with the events in Springfield, IL marking the kick-off of the Biden leg of the prez tour, I was struck by how complex the astrological picture is, from natal, progressed, and composite charts.

Interesting with my wizard’s hat in place, but difficult to write anything remotely resembling a unified and clear analysis without giving both my regular readers crossed eyes and headaches.

So I shall confine myself to a few observations, beginning with today’s Sabian Symbol for the Sun’s position, “1 Virgo”…”In a Portrait, a Man’s Best Features Are Idealized.”

Dane Rudhyar gives the Keynote of this degree as relating to the path of discipleship and the harvest season as the Sun leaves Leo and enters Virgo. Perhaps Obama may be said to have been Biden’s disciple? Biden has attempted to enter the White House and stay there before so it seems that Obama may be HIS ticket.

Now the Sun’s reaching the end of Leo/00Vir+ links to Egyptian star lore, the Sphinx, and to ancient mystery cults, plus, there are other indications between today’s chart, Obama’s and Biden’s natal and progressed charts, and their composite charts - indications of mystical influences and supernatural concerns.

Is Astrology Afoot Along with Biden’s ”Firm Stand”? 

Timing today’s speech with the Moon’s position (29Tau+) because it’s opposite the Inaugural 2009′s Moon is a clue, as well as transit Sun today being conjunct Joe Biden’s natal NN…see above Sabian Symbol. Either there’s a campaign astrologer or two behind the woodpile in Lincoln’s land, or synchronicity times and wins the day along with some crumbling temple in Giza!

Now you may or may not think that this is (or will be) problematic for the Dem team, however, it is possible that if there are mystical associations, they may aid the Dems in their bid for the White House, or ‘White Lodge’ as I often think of it.

How benefit?

Besides support from abroad and from possible connections with secret organizations, these two grand egos, both of which are vying for the highest recognition and glory, must be able to consciously direct the sublimation of their personal egos on behalf of a higher cause and this will be the difference between success or failure.

What I can’t tell you astrologically – at least not yet – is whether their shared cause, mission, and goals are truly on behalf of the common good. A new direction for America away from the Bush policies? Yuh, sounds great! And sorely needed.

For we know that America always corrects course after too much of one Party’s ideology has run away with the day and overly fatigued us with its falsehoods and self-serving high-handedness.

Yes, the Obama-Biden team talks a good game of it, but we’ve been burned too many times by cynical politicians whose agendas are not remotely in tune with our own best interests. Yes, Barack and Joe sing a melodious tune, but who wrote the lyrics and for what ultimate political purpose?

But since the charts mentioned show a somewhat better story on the people’s behalf, I’ll try to muster a little faith in the Dem ticket’s duet because a vote for John McCain is like a vote for George Bush, and you know it.

And thennnn….?

Along the campaign trail will appear the anti-common-gooders who try to march off with the prize, and we’ll recognize them as neocon goose-steppers and enablers who hatchet the backs of the more popular contenders in order to continue the *Bush Doctrine and agenda and keep themselves top dogs.

But will the ‘old boss same as the new boss’ model take the cake?

What a Dem administration may do to scale back the constitutional weakening that Bush-Cheney have overseen will show how straightforwardly they intend to do the people’s business which has tragically been disregarded for too long – and to much ill effect for society’s sake, I may add.

~:~

*Link to chart image of Bush Doctrine but no grimey details added as of yet:

http://judecowell.wordpress.com/bush-doctrine-sept-17-2002/

And here’s a Page I’ve added with a link to NPR’s audio player so you can listen to Joe Biden’s first speech as VP nom today in Springfield in which he idealizes Obama’s best traits…you’ll find a link to Obama’s speech today – in which he idealizes Biden’s best traits -  in the previous post:

http://judecowell.wordpress.com/bidens-1st-speech-as-vp-nom-82308-link/

Mixed feelings about Woodward’s new book

Okay, so reading Bob Woodward’s new book, which will be excerpted Sept 7 in the Washington Post and released Sept 9, will be hard to resist since it purports to give the skinny on the inside of the Bush administration’s decision-making process (there’s a process? I thought it was Bush’s ‘gut instincts’ and eye-gazing, along with Cheney’s master planning) so it will have to be read.

But mixed feelings come in when I get the same old (tired) feeling of ’why didn’t he tell this when it might’ve done some good?’ – as I get with so many tell-all books and articles that spill the Bush beans after the cornbread is already burned to a crisp and I’ve lost my appetite.

That mega-bucks are expected to be made on Woodward’s book for its publisher and author, and for the myriad of talking heads, pundits, and critics who will have something new to blab about online, in print, and on TV goes without saying…they’ve established quite an industry of Bush-and-Cheney bashing while barely diverting the neocon agenda from its goals much at all.

Of course, most media board members and network bosses sit on the same Trilateral Commission boards and whatever brotherhood societies that keep the billions flowing and the agenda on track – one needs a score card to keep up with everyone’s motives and memberships, if you can find a publisher of score cards not in on the big game.

The rest of my mixed feelings about Woodward’s book stem from the fact that if it’s going to be THAT revealing with such deep inside scoops as it’s being touted to contain, our enemies can read it, too.

Now I know what we once called that sort of thing years ago when I lived in Washington and you’d think we still would.

But as usual with Bush-Cheney tactics these last interminable years (and adminstrations before them), the bar has been lowered, which is, after all, what the one-world-government types have been doing for years – getting the masses accustomed so that the next outrage - ignoring the Constitution, subverting the legal system, the Bill of Rights, the banking system, failing to protect the WTC if not being in cahoots, undermining the US dollar, outing covert spies like Valerie Plame - whatever element of the social fabric we-the-people have come to depend on – will be less opposed when dissolved and may be swallowed more readily next time.

And as most people are aware, Bush-Cheney have put in place contingencies bwo The ‘Patriot’ Act, for emergency police action against the people who may dare to fight or complain too loudly against the next outrage or whatever else they have in store – called off elections, lack of response to a natural disaster,  fill-in-the-blank.

Here’s a link to a March 2007 post concerning the Attorneys General firings, Al Gonzales, and a mention of the ‘Patriot’ Act provision they inserted for certain purposes, if you’re interested:

http://starsoverwashington.blogspot.com/2007/03/gonzo-meet-in-november-fire-in-december.html

Parallels with Bush-Cheney White House and Nixon days

There’s an op-ed by Frank Rich in the New York Times today which you’ve probably seen, but in case not:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/opinion/13rich.html?em&ex=1216094400&en=0987bb6f1e2acead&ei=5087%0A

titled, “The Real-Life ’24′ of Summer 2008.”

Parallels between the Bush-Cheney White House’s obsessions and corruptions with that of Richard Nixon’s tenure are depressingly obvious and have been part of making America less safe and have seriously undermined our nation’s reputation in the world.

Rich’s article lays it out and cites several books which tell the tale against Bush-Cheney and their unAmerican torture tactics which serve to produce false confessions and send our military on wild-goose chases.

The most glaring wild-goose chase has been the war in Iraq and now we see Taliban-Afghanistan violence ramping up with redeployment of our troops from Iraq seemingly the only option the Pentagon has. That this circumstance will be somehow fitted into GOP and Dem plans for their own selfish interests is a given for it seems political thespians never learn.

The Bush-Cheney ‘strategery’ has been appallingly shortsighted as such national myopia always will be when Politics rules and ‘unintended consequences’ are wrapped inside the shroud of plausible deniability and attended by a compulsive need to seem infallible and “not a crook” a la Nixon.

You may wish to view my August 2007 article ‘celebrating’ the 33rd anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation here:

http://starsoverwashington.blogspot.com/2007/08/nixons-resignation-33rd-anniversary.html

for as a resident of Washington DC at the time, I can personally attest to a deep relief and a decided sense of breathing cleaner air once the crook’s helicopter had left the vicinity. And I remember precisely my reaction as I watched his ‘victory’ sign on TV – laughing and crying at the same time.

Yes, the radical Bush-Cheney regime these last Several years has given me that deja-vu feeling all over again but with emphasis on the crying side – for America and for her brilliantly devised Consitution (see NYT article.)

You’ll find that my article on Nixon contains a link to his resignation letter to Henry Kissinger who notated the time which is what I used for the Astrology chart mentioned. Too bad no one has received had such a letter from the White House’s current denizen or from his major domo, Mr. Darkside.

My SolarFire software is at-the-ready to calculate the chart if one should be sent! 

Now one of my concerns 2008 is that economic collapse, as horrid as that would be on its own, would possibly cause mass revolt from market meltdown with runs on banks and with marshall law declared by the White House (Kent State was nothing in comparison), and/or other considerations such as violent attack, a terroist tape revealed just prior to the Nov 4 elections for swaying purposes- again)  – all of which would give Bush-Cheney a pretext for staying holed up within the White House, and giving ‘bunker mentality’ a new and lower level of meaning.

Dost Thou Harken to Hillary?

Well, if you’re one of the two people who read this blog or Stars Over Washington, you already know what a ‘populist’ I am with America the only nag in any race as far as I’m concerned. No apologies for it either.

So when Hillary Clinton won Kentucky yesterday, and Barack Obama took Oregon, all as promised (or planned), I felt a lingering melancholy because I cannot seem to feel elated that a double-you-oh-em-ay-en may obtain the keys to White House at last. Paternalistic power morphs into maternalistic power. Big whoop, if my following misgivings for this country ensue.

You see, there’s this haunting lack of trust which Hillary engenders in me…call it Vince Fosteritis, if you wish, or call it a glop of concerns about her as cited in The Nation’s article of Nov 5, 2007, ‘Hillary’s Mystery Money Men’ which you will find online here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1913243/posts

And no, it isn’t just Hillary and Bill, it’s Rs, Ds, and in between.

Terry McAuliffe was a linchpin where Hillary was concerned, yet his seeming neutralization doesn’t solve her Bush-Harken, Alan Quasha, Hassan Nemazee, oil-and-insider-trading connections. Nor does it bode well for the American people because many of the politicians thought to be above this corruption are down in the vat with the rest and in process of leaving the American people simmering in a thick stew.

Perhaps it was always too much to ask that Washington not stink like the swamp it was built upon. Why build it upon a swamp? Location, location, location–the coordinates were desired by America’s Masonic founders, swamp be dam*ed. As you may already know, the spot aligned astrologically with London and Cairo. (Yes–Cairo!!)

Now our so-called Manifest Destiny is decreeing the end of America as we know it, economic collapse and all with the dollar in process of going buh-bye along with American borders, our Bill of Rights, the US Constitution, and our legislative and judicial systems.

By their dismantling of America, these social tinkerers, these self-imagined ‘world servers’ of the one-world government intend to give lie to the liberal and peaceful principles which have been at the base of America’s very founding.

Biblically speaking, I must think of Revelation’s beast with the lamblike horns which ‘spake as a dragon’ and exercised ‘all the power of the first beast’…which foretells quite plainly the development of the spirit of intolerance and persecution. This beast will enforce some observance which will pay homage to the papacy, the first beast.

Such action will be directly contrary to the principles of the US government as they were set up, to the genius of its free institutions, and to the direct and solemn avowals embedded within the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.

All this even though our founders sought to guard against the use of secular power on the part of the church which results in the inevitable consequence of intolerance and persecution!

It is only by flagrant violation of these safeguards to our nation’s liberty that religious observance can be enforced by civil authority, yet I believe that this is the wider path upon which we have been set by globalists who masquerade as “American politicians.”

They have their world banking and royal bloodline enablers and cousins, of course, and the now-beginning economic collapse of US currency and sovereignty is on the agenda for their world revolution.

Since President Bush41 had called for the New World Order, did you imagine that Bush43 would NOT be a continuation of their world domination plans? Have you seen how much Shrub has accomplished these long years with the attacks of 9/11/01 as the pretext?

Bill Clinton’s presidency was part of the process as will be the next White House shill–Hillary’s touted “inevitability’ is evidence of this continued dynasty. Yet they always have their bases covered for McCain or Obama will dance to the NWO tune at our expense–especially once the initial honeymoon is over.

And part of the purposeful hubbub and confusion roiling the 2000 election bwo enabler Jeb’s Florida involvement…(he really delivered, in spite of what the film “Recount” may imply with its attractive thespianism)…was to further disenfranchise our voting system and the American electorate’s faith in its honesty. Then SCOTUS showed its hoofprints in order to seal the coup.

Yes, the symbol of “lamblike” horns of this beast is purposefully gentle and harmless like a little woolly lamb, isn’t it? For in order for the US to form an ‘image to the beast’ religious power must so control the civil government that state authority must be employed to accomplish the church’s ends…and probably perpetrated in the name of “security.”

Protestant churches have followed in Rome’s hoofprints by forming alliances with worldly powers and have shown us in recent years that an individual’s conscience may be thought to be legislatable…a fallacy if there ever were one. Once you tell a man what his conscience SHOULD tell him is right, you overstep a line and seek to negate and make mockery of what is obviously his personal conscience by definition.

So when Protestant churches seek more of their “world councils” of unity, beware.

And when the leading churches of the United States unite upon points of doctrine which they hold in common and influence government to enforce their decrees, you’ll know that Protestant America is forming an image of the Roman hierarchy–with infliction of civil penalties soon to follow. Yesiree bobtail, the melding of church with state is Always a bad idea for the common good.

Scripture says that in the last days men shall be lovers of their own selves…do you think we’re there yet?

Well, my lamentable habit of composing-at-keyboard has led to these sparse and browner pastures for sheep such as the American electorate to starve themselves upon. And it’s taking Democrats AND Republicans to implement the crimes and abominations mentioned above.

And while no politicians is exempt from my contempt on these and other issues, yet I will vote in November, for they can’t (as of yet) take that from me, even if my vote disappears down the rabbithole of Karl Rove’s political imagineering.

My slogan for today: US Politics–No Real Candidate for The People Need Apply.

And though it pains me to type it, if you’ve previously missed the above-linked article, please read it before November, for you’ll find the name of Barack Obama listed as well…and as I’ve stated previously on my astro-political blog, Stars Over Washington, NO ONE can be a US presidential candidate without being vetted from “on high.”

Thus the United States of America is no longer a qualified entrant. If so, then my nag in the race has already lost.

 

Harry Truman on government as source of terror

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” Harry S Truman

Jumpin’ Rosicrucians! Freemason Harry sure had it right, didn’t he?

Totalitarianism returns as the earth warms up (said astrologer Sybil Leek)–and a vote for John McCain is like a vote for neocon Bill Kristol…more of same. Probably more of same with the Dems, too, but one can at least hope.

With Harry Truman’s fixed prejudices, this Sun Taurus-Moon Scorpio personality blend instilled him with a ruthlessness for power–he was a tremendously stubborn fellow who dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan. 

Yet his Sun Tau-Moon Sco combo also gave him enormous confidence, administrative abilities, and much personal charisma, too. A shrewd and independently minded president with staying power was old give ‘em hell Harry.

Harry Truman May 8, 1884; Lamar, Missouri; 4:00 pm CST in AstroDataBank files, but Dr. Marc Edmund Jones gives his birth time as 4:17 pm.

And:

“No one can read our Constitution without concluding that the people who wrote it wanted their government severely limited; the words ‘no’ and ‘not’ employed in restraint of government power occur 24 times in the first seven articles of the Constitution and 22 more times in the Bill of Rights.” Edmund A. Opitz

Press under fire: NYT James Risen subpoenaed for sources

Guess this one’s been coming a while which makes the timing interesting astrologically as well because the subpoenaed grand jury testimony of NYT reporter, James Risen, is set for the day of the Unmasking Eclipse–Feb 7, it was announced today.

In a clear Bush-Cheney attempt to force disclosure of Risen’s sources for his book, “State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration,” Mr. Risen will apparently be reporting to the court room in Alexandria, VA. to answer for himself–and will testify as an archetypal figure for all reporters who uncover governmental misdeeds, crimes, and ineptitudes.

You will remember from Dec 2005 that Risen and fellow NYT reporter, Eric Lichtblau, broke the story of the Bush administration’s overreaching, off-the-books domestic spying caper which Risen terms, “the Program.”

Imho, any true–and thus dissenting–American owes them a debt of gratitude for performing the tasks which Thomas Jefferson agreed was the job of a free press lest the Washington power elite get too big for their britches.

Now with the big-but*ed infestation in Washington, we see yet another institution under fire–and more to save their sorry fascist hides than from any honest regard for America.

Cut them some slack? At best I could say the current and former administrations have tied up their own secret high-handed manipulations with legitimate national security concerns of our nation–always an unsavory blend with the high-mindedness of one unhealthily diluted by what turns out to be underhanded criminal activities.

But these varmints have raised the ante beyond imagination, and since I dwelled in DC during the Nixon regime and witnessed (on tv) his well-deserved and humiliating skedaddling outta town, I am perhaps tres sensitized to rotten politicians who cynically lampoon the American People while making a mockery of our ideals and fondest hopes.

If they had true regard for America and the common good, they wouldn’t be undermining every social net, dissolving the Constitution and Bill of Rights, radicalizing and neutering our judicial system, and fermenting unrest and incompetence in all departments of government.

Oh and let me not forget The People’s delusion of actually being part of the electoral process of voting a politician into office–and our One-Party two-party system of crooks with their happy, pocket-lining enablers oinking at the trough. 

Wouldn’t it be el perfecto if Risen had more Bush-Cheney-Tenet secrets to reveal–secrets which his grand jury testimony would inadvertantly uncover?

(See ‘Unmasking Eclipse’ info in Sidebar under ’2008′s Solar and Lunar Eclipses–’, if you wish.)

Perhaps we should get a copy of Risen’s book while we can!

http://www.amazon.com/State-War-Secret-History-Administration/dp/0743270665

So much of what has gone on and goes on now mimicks the rise of the Third Reich 75 years ago…want examples?

Start with WWI and rampant inflation in the postwar years leading to the world economic collapse of 1929–Germany had a massive unemployment rate (sound like the just-released jobs-creation numbers this week for the US?), there was a general fear of social and economic decline which was menacingly stirred from both left and right (ditto), and they all tried to consolidate their positions (selfish interests) with violence which opened the door for Hitler’s seizing of power. Shades of 9/11?

There was much more going on, of course, but that’s it in a nutshell and it sounds eerily familiar to present day America–again imho.

My source: Hans Ottomeyer, director of Berlin’s German Historical Museum, and I think he should know…no subpoenas, please!