Another major celestial event was the recent Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Sagittarius which happened before Jupiter left for Capricorn.

Stories which touch on the above Ju/Pl/Sag./Cap. themes have been all around. The recent ban on the death penalty by the state of New Jersey brings those themes together in the interest of justice and in a lasting way.

On a local note, and a sad one, yesterday morning a couple in their 40/50s were in the path of a trash collection truck. The truck hit the woman and she was pushed aside, but the man was run over by the truck and died. That has a decidedly Plutonian ring to it. Refuse, rot, violence, coercion, and endings are all under the domain of the 'Ruler of the Underworld', Pluto or Hades.

Another one is the uproar in New Orleans! People are protesting (Pluto-the masses) the city's (government-Saturn) plan to demolish a public housing site. This is exposing the subjects of race, government, and political power, to boot.

There seem to be many of these. The planetary changes and alignments taking place are heavy-duty ones and it's interesting to see how the traditional energies assigned to planets centuries ago manifest on the scene in 2007. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

As Jupiter, Pluto, the Sun, and Mercury move on into Capricorn, Saturn (Capricorn's ruling planet) turns retrograde. I've been wondering how this would manifest itself on the world stage.

Yesterday on NPR, there were several stories of Iraqi residents taking action against Blackwater for their extreme violence and heavy-handedness while in the country. Today, I see a story on what amounts to slave labor in Florida's food/fruit industry. Burger King (corporation) has resisted raising tomato pickers' wages, too.

Each zodiac sign has a planet that relates to the particular type of energy represented by that sign. Saturn is associated with, or rules, crystallization, hardship, hard work, stability, foundations, governments and bureaucracies (which support society), and extremes in authoritarian attitudes.

I am reading Joe Conason's book, "It Can Happen Here", which describes how America has been coerced into the neo-cons authoritarian rule with the Bush-Cheney administration. The plans were drawn up years before, while the neo-cons were under the spell of Leo Strauss. Mr. Strauss left Germany as Hitler began to transform the country to authoritarian/fascist rule. Strauss did not like the Nazis or Hitler, but he believed authoritarian rule was what America needed to become the world's superpower or Pax Americana. That translates to endless war, an unaware populace, an end to rights, and, basically, what we see Bush and Cheney trying to force upon us. The neo-cons tend to see America taking a 'fated' role in the world. These people also support the current GOP candidates.

I was reading a part of the book about Michael Ledeen, an old-time neo-con, and how he is 'fascinated' with the idea of "creative destruction". My curiosity got the better of me so I went to the computer to investigate. Ledeen has the Sun and Pluto conjunct (right next to each other) in Leo. Sun is creativity and Pluto covers destruction. Quite a signature. Most dictators and heavy-handed authority figures have a Saturn-Pluto marker in their chart connected with the Sun, the Midheaven or Ascendant. Saturn's slow, steady hand also demands justice and fairness. We will see this administration scurry in an attempt to remain unscathed by the demands of justice.

So as our attention has been on getting ready to enjoy the holiday, the script above us is drawing us into a plot about authoritarian rule, unfair labor, corporate rule, fundamentalist rule, diminishing human rights, and extremes in lack and cruelty.

This should get interesting and, hopefully, with some light shining in the dark corners, we'll be able to take back America. Discussion of exactly what the founders had in mind would be very healthy about now.