We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth... For my part, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst; and to provide for it.  .....Patrick Henry

THE SOOTHESAYER INTERNET

February 2010

“The end of democracy, and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of the lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.”

Thomas Jefferson

America for Sale                  

The recent ruling by the Supreme Court is, in my opinion, the worst decision since they circumvented the Florida voters and brought in the 2000 election for George W. Bush.   Bush’s appointments to The Court have now set the stage.  They have defeated multiple historic laws regulating campaign finance by allowing unions and corporations, even those owned by foreign governments (such as Chinese oil and Saudi oil corporations, giant global hedge funds, etc.) to advertise to their hearts’ content for individual candidates running for office.  The banksters, big pharma, big oil, giant insurance companies, etc., who populate Washington with their multiple lobbyists, now have unlimited funds to dominate media campaigns.  Individual people who are embedded in these corporations are allowed to be invisible and unaccountable.   Regular individual  citizens are currently allowed to contribute a maximum of $2300 per person. 

The non-billionaire population of the USA, many of whom have lost their homes, their jobs, and their retirements, are moving into becoming inmates, soldiers, and homeless people living in tents or with their relatives in basements.  No real regulation of Goldman Sachs’ activity, has happened, whose credit default swaps made big money off AIG who was the counter party and who were “saved” from bankruptcy by TARP money.  In fact, it recently leaked out that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told AIG to keep their mouths shut about this deadly transaction.

Pres. Obama, formerly a professor of constitutional law, is finally and most appropriately outraged, appearing with Paul Volcker at his side, and promising to reform the financial system, and pass a law limiting campaign finance.  Even if this law is passed, the Supremes can also declare this a violation of “freedom of speech”.  America’s descent into corporate rule is demolishing democracy.  The fear-mongering is alive and well with the proposal of full body scanning machines at airports, and the continuance of absurd wars costing billions of dollars, ruining the lives of our young military personnel, to supposedly catch a few hundred terrorists.  Pres. Dwight Eisenhower’s words still ring in my ears:  “Beware the military-industrial complex.”

The Haiti Tragedy

In previous newsletters, I have warned of an escalation of tectonic activity, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis.  The terrible earthquake in Haiti has highlighted the woes of a nation that was mired in poverty and deprivation before this disaster.   It is forcing us to look at many years of subjugation and plantation slavery in the early years and neo-conservative policies of the U.S.A. in more recent years. This time, Americans are exhibiting their generosity by contributing money and personal effort to rescue their citizens.  Unfortunately, the Saturn/Pluto square hitting Haiti’s Mars/Saturn square will continue through August, adding Uranus and Jupiter to form a T-square.  The June 26^th eclipse conjunct Pluto plays right into this deadly configuration.  All this points to continuing tectonic instability and increasing crises.

The Economy

Although underlying weakness is still with us, Jupiter in Pisces sextile Pluto between the 1^st and the 8^th, gives some encouraging news.  In addition, this aspect will revive health care reform stimulating Congress to  come up with a more modest set of objectives.  It also lends hope that Pres. Obama will change his direction and begin a process of true economic reform that includes breaking up the banking monopolies.  The election in Massachusetts was a wake up call to Washington.  A new stimulus package is likely on the way.  Pres. Obama has finally stood up in protest; to the Supreme Court (in his State of the Union speech), to the Republicans who have presented themselves as the party of obstruction in all things, and to the Banksters when, with Paul Volker at his side, he announced his proposals for real and substantial financial regulation.

There are many people who suspect a “conspiracy” on the part of the rich and powerful to bring down our nation and control the world economy.  My take on this is that it is simple selfishness and greed magnified in geometric proportion to their wealth and power that have led the heads of these institutions to “buy” the government.  They are the same groups who have been deregulating banking, trading, investing, and lending since the early 1980s.  I also think that with the current Saturn/Pluto square, combined with the coming of the Saturn/Uranus/Jupiter opposition between April and August of this year, we will see before us a battle of the Titans. The horoscope of the “new” Goldman Sachs is hit extremely hard by these configurations.  We have watched this financial giant manipulate and gamble with the economy using exotic derivatives and trades, while the assets and households of millions of the people-at-large went down into a black hole.  The other banking giant, JP Morgan Chase is also a massive user of derivatives and has certainly played this game.  What many do not know is that they are ancient rivals.  Goldman Sachs people have dominated the Treasury Dept. giving them an inside track, for years, right into the present with Laurence Summers and protégé, Timothy Geithner lurking in this administration.  Pres. Obama standing up with Paul Volker, past Treasury Secretary and formerly from JP Morgan Chase may indicate a sea change and set the stage for the coming battle ahead.

I highly recommend reading the article by Ellen Brown published on the internet January 28^th, at www.webofdebt.com/articles.  It is entitled “The Battle of the Titans: JP Morgan vs. Goldman Sachs or Why the Market was down for 7 days in a Row.”  She suggests and supports the case for Goldman manipulating the stock market and basically operating the equivalent of a “criminal syndicate”.  This would also explain why many predictors of market cycles, including myself, gave up predicting since we observed the market frequently moving in the opposite direction from facts and indicators with regard to the economy. 

The great financial “conspirators” are fighting each other tooth and nail.  Our government is at war with itself.  The people-at-large are bewildered, feel forsaken and are getting angry.  Between April and August, severe economic and political consequences will make themselves felt.

Gold has recently tanked and the dollar has strengthened.  There may be a major trend reversal in March when Mars goes direct and Jupiter is trine and sextile the nodes.

Wild fluctuations will be present for some time.  Those who buy and hold gold are not in it to “invest” but to protect themselves in turbulent times.  The mortgage market is still tanking, and banks are still failing throughout the nation.  The “real” unemployment figure is close to 20%.  Yet we hear how the economy is “recovering”.  I wonder who they think they are kidding?

Lunations:

The new moon in Aquarius on the 14^th is conjunct Neptune and Chiron near the moon in the chart of the U.S.A. This symbolism points to either illusion or disillusion or both.  We also need to be careful with regard to air travel (Aquarius) due to strange weather conditions.  This placement is in the first house of Pres. Obama, opposes his Uranus and is square his MC.  Could this be when he starts phasing out the bad advisors and bringing in a better team?  We will see.  The full moon in Virgo on the 28^th could signify a stimulus package to create more jobs and another push for health care legislation.

Other nations:

We need to get ready for battles coming up in the Spring.  Iran’s current revolution will escalate in the period between April and August.  Both Iraq and Afghanistan will be coming apart at the seams.  Israel will be moving toward invading someone, possibly Iran, and failed states around the world will be engaging in civil wars.  This month will likely be comparatively quiet.

Final Thoughts:

My husband and I find ourselves conversing into the wee hours of the morning about the fate of humanity and our small part in the trajectory of human history.  We are facing a profound series of crises in economies, climates, resources, and faith in any future at all.  Other periods in earth’s history resembling this brought about climate extremes that caused many species to go extinct.  Later, new species arose, such as ourselves, who were more intelligent and more complex.  Darwin called this “natural selection” or as we commonly refer to it: “survival of the fittest”.  Those who could adapt to the new environment lived and those who could not did not survive.

I think the time has come for what my husband called “intentional evolution”; an expansion of consciousness that we choose to embrace, propelling us into a new and advanced human presence on the planet.   It will require courageously opening ourselves to a less obstructed concept of the universe.   It will demand a heart centered determination to embrace one another and the miracle of our planet’s having given us life in the first place.  

Many of are sensing that this new resonance and way of being is already here with us.  It calls to us out of the darkest hours and in times when we feel most lost.  Let us be quiet and listen to it together.

Linda

 Linda

Linda Schurman

NOTE: I am proud to introduce Kathy Spiliotopoulos,  a new contributor to this website, and I dearly hope an ongoing contributor.... for she has so much to offer.  Her first article

"Three Steps to Achieve Health Care Reform Goals"

 is backed by over thirty years experience as a consultant to both institutional and health insurance companies.  I love her introductory sentence.....

"The goals to empower consumers to choose wisely, and pressure insurers, providers and health care suppliers to deliver high quality economical services can be achieved."

Note: I welcome all your comments whether they are critical or complimentary.  This site represents astrology as a tool for a deeper understanding of the themes and issues of our times.  This period in which we all live may be the most critical time for human civilization ever!  It is my wish that we all do our best with whatever talent we have been given, to further the survival and evolution of life on planet earth!

our email is: soothesayer@usa.net

Three Steps to Achieve Health Care Reform Goals

Author:  Kathy Spiliotopoulos                                                                       October 12, 2009

The goals to empower consumers to choose wisely, and pressure insurers, providers and health care suppliers to deliver high quality economical services can be achieved.

 The first step is to establish a basic set of health care benefits for everyone, perhaps using the Federal Employee Program as a model. Benefits can be set up in categories by age ranges, to reflect the care needed at each stage of life.  Implementation requires the cooperation of governors to give up control over benefit mandates, and instead, to empower their staff to conduct quality control, fraud and abuse prevention, and health delivery improvement activities. 

Currently, each state is responsible for determining what benefits must be included in health insurance policies issued to their residents.  The benefit mandates vary widely. Of course there are ways around them for big business.  Large employers self insure by spreading their risk over a large employee base, with a customized set of benefits that exclude expensive, undesirable mandates.

 Establishing a uniform benefit package creates a level playing field with the cost of the universal mandate spread across everyone:  individuals, small businesses, large corporations, and the government.  Establishing a uniform benefit package supports the worthy goals of health care reform: 

·     ▪    Protect consumer choice by reducing complexity so that consumers know what they are buying and can compare “apples to apples”

·     ▪      Improve quality and coverage by shifting states’ focus from mandating benefit mandates to assuring quality and accessibility of care.

·      ▪     Lower costs and thus insurance premiums by reducing the complexity from 50 sets of benefit mandates to a single set. The proposed “health insurance exchange” would cost less to implement, supporting comparison of health insurance options nationwide, instead of state by state.

 The second step is to establish uniform provider reimbursement methodologies that are auditable to reduce fraud and waste, and that provide incentives for outstanding performance centering around quality of care. There is no other industry to my knowledge that has a more complicated way of determining how to bill for their services than do health care providers.  Each third party payer, including insurance companies, the federal government and state governments set payment methods and rates they are willing to pay providers.  Arrangements can be based on a fee schedule, a per day allowance,  a set fee by diagnosis, or capitation whereby a fee is paid for each covered patient for a basic set of services or for the entire care of the patient. Establishing uniform reimbursement methodologies will dramatically cut administrative costs, especially for providers.

 Quality performance expectations and guidelines for providers should be established as benchmarks.  Credentialing of health care providers should be included. Providers who do not meet quality benchmarks can be retrained and/or culled from the system, which sets the stage for torte reform.  Tracking performance and providing nationwide comparisons against standards in an understandable format enhances consumer choice.

 Other components of the health care system contribute significant costs, and add complexity.  These include drug producers, pharmacies, laboratories, durable medical equipment and medical supplies producers and distributors.  They also need to be included in the universal benefits package, have accountable reimbursement methodologies, and quality standards.

 Primary responsibility for quality control should be at the state level.  The federal government could provide grants for demonstration projects that increase quality, reduce fraud and abuse and support sharing of best practices. This will support the goals of reducing costs and improving quality.

 The third step is to reduce the number of federal health care programs. For example, why not merge Medicare and Champus into the Federal Employee Program?  Health care benefits, claims and service could be differentiated if necessary for each group of covered members so that federal employees, the elderly and those servicing in Uniformed Services received appropriate coverage and service.  Three large bureaucracies could be reduced to one, saving an enormous amount of money, and shrinking the government a little.

 Achieving health care reform goals requires a unified, realistic effort among all of the participants in the health care system.  Politicians at the state and federal level must work together to simplify our overly complicated system. If this miracle occurs, we will have great hope that “care” will actually become the focus of our health care system.

*  *  *  *  *

About the Author:

Kathy Spiliotopoulos has spent more than three decades consulting to the health care industry, both to institutional providers and health insurance companies.  Her efforts have resulted in administrative cost reductions and improved service, saving her clients collectively hundreds of millions of dollars. Ms. Spiliotopoulos consults independently through her company Nestor Advisory Services, and earlier in her career was a consultant with Booz Allen and with Touche Ross, now Deloitte-Touche.

At long last, my book “What Next?  A Survival Guide to the 21^st Century” is in print.  It is on sale on through my publisher.....

Click here to buy

I have been working steadily on this publication for nearly four years.  The research I have done has been a “wake-up call” for me as I have tracked the historic trajectories that have led us to where we are now: at the critical point of choosing either extinction or illumination.

However, I am greatly encouraged at discovering that many people are developing new and innovative technologies that can solve the coming energy crises and are conceiving of new, more egalitarian economic systems and societal transformations.  These pioneers may help us to navigate this “age of transition” from cannibalizing our planet to living in concert with the earth and each other.

Our journey through the great constellations has taken us to this place in time, this powerful historic point, this great challenge to human survival and evolution.  It will take great courage on all our parts to open our hearts and minds to the level of truth needed to fulfill the great prophecies given to us through the ages.  I think we can do it!

Reviews

What Next? A Survival Guide to the 21st Century, by Linda Schurman, Lazer Lady Publishing, Inc., 2505 Anthem Village Dr., Ste. E-165, Henderson, NV 89052 USA, 2007. Softcover—164 pp.—$15.95 (ISBN 978-0-9796900-2-0). Available from: www.lazerladypublishing.com

Linda Schurman has maintained a private practice in astrology for more than 34 years. She is also a studious observer of the larger world stage, including domestic and global politics, climate change, financial markets, and social justice.

What Next? A Survival Guide to the 21st Century is a concise book that addresses the daunting issues of our time. This book is clearly written for non-astrologers. The specific astrology in the text is minimal; however, the author offers an educated view of the challenges we all face. The information, though directed to the general public, provides a timely and useful context for the concerns that clients bring to practicing astrologers every day.

The first chapter, “Pluto in Sagittarius (Nov. 1995 – Nov. 2008),” sets up the immediate background of where we are now by recapitulating the big themes of these years — Globalization, Financial Speculation, Religion, Law, Education, and the Media.

The next three chapters cover a similar range of themes and are organized around the outer planets’ transits: Uranus in Pisces (Mar. 2003 – Mar. 2011); Neptune in Aquarius (Jan. 1998 – Feb. 2012) (Septile Pluto 2001 – 2011); and Pluto in Capricorn (2008 – 2024), Uranus in Aries (2011 – 2018), Neptune in Pisces (2011 – 2026).Schurman also writes on the upcoming Jupiter–Saturn conjunction in Aquarius (Dec. 2020)and offers a chapter on “Sedna — A Planet of the 21st Century.” Although the book is organized by astrological motif, and there are key astrological charts in the Appendices, the body of the text is informed by the work of (non-mainstream) journalists and economists.

Given the subject matter, Linda Schurman’s book has a necessarily unflinching tone; she diligently refers to research on global warming, the energy crisis, corporate and political corruption, and other such matters. This author writes a large story in accessible language. She combines a view of the forces at work in the greater world with a positive and practical set of ideas for managing life in these often overwhelming times. For example, Schurman makes “prophecies” and suggestions throughout the book: Chapter 4 contains sections on the Worst-Case and Best-Case scenarios, as well as “The Quiet Revolution — Moving into the Solution” and “New Frameworks of Consciousness.” Chapter 3 includes some investment recommendations and has a special section on solar design.

Linda Schurman is facing reality and yet also holds an impressively hopeful vision for the future. If you feel confused by the complexity of the times, her book will help you to sort out what has happened, who is responsible — and what we can do now (as she writes in the Introduction) to help ourselves become “able to ‘invent’ our way out of even the most profound set of challenges.”

— reviewed by Mary Plumb

by K. Diaz

A Practical and Spiritual Survival Guide for the 21st Century, September 12, 2007

There are several doomsday books that have been written that question our ability as a species to survive the threat of global warming, the impending energy crisis and a world that is imploding with new super bugs and looming pandemics, all of which are eventually guaranteed to wipe out civilization as we know it. This book, written by a well-renowned and incisive astrologer, not only points out the harsh truth about what the future holds for our planet and its people should we decide to continue our xenophobic thinking and behavior; it also provides hope through concrete scientific information, backed up by several references from well-respected professionals in their specific fields. The author also shows, through previous astrological patterns, how we are destined to repeat our mistakes with much graver consequences unless we choose to raise our consciousness in a way that connects us with every thread that runs through the universe and to realize that we all individually and collectively play a part in the future of our Mother Earth. The message that she brings to the table is that we are all our brothers' keepers. The book is concise and easy to read without the usual technical vernacular used in most astrology books, although it provides charts of nations and events to prove her points to the astrology student or professional. A beautifully written book that provides hope for change and a different future for our children and grandchildren in a world currently devoid of compassion and understanding for one another.

Bonnie Neely

Important NOW Book, August 28, 2007

What Next? by Linda Schurman is an astute account of the world's affairs, political, ecological, and economic, as they are today. Linda, a well-known astrologer makes dire predictions about where we are headed as a world, but she emphasizes it is up to us...we have choices, because although the planets and heavens have patterns that are read as given proclivities to certain events, they are not absolute because mankind's will can change events or prevent some. The book is important reading for our time, because we are running out of time for changing our fate. For professionals, Shurman gives official astrological charts to back up all her predictions. For the general public, we need this book to wake us up to what will likely happen if we don't act now. A MUST READ! I highly recommend this book.

Click here to buy