Posts by Alex Miller

A Liz in Blunderland By Alex Miller House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) must feel as if she’s gone down the rabbit hole these days. The conservative stalwart, daughter of former VP Dick “Darth Vader” Cheney, with a 78% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union and a record of voting with President Donald Trump 98% of the time, is being booted from her leadership position, likely to be replaced by a woman with a 44% ACU rating, who only voted 77% with Trump. The reason for Cheney’s fall from GOP grace? Her apostacy in refusing to accept and promulgate the Big Lie, that Donald Trump won the 2020 election in a landslide and had it stolen out from under him. Liz also voted to impeach Trump after the January 6th assault on the US Capitol, and has called him to account for his role in that abortive coup, for which she is now paying the penalty. Liz Cheney’s major political blunder is in being a truth-sayer, at a time when Truth is out of fashion in the Republican party. Having the third-ranking Member speaking uncomfortable truths is admittedly an awkward position for GOP House leadership to find itself in, and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, eyeing the return of the gavel in 2022 should Republicans regain control, has lost patience with the recalcitrant Cheney, who refuses to budge from her principled stance. Cheney easily survived a similar “no confidence” vote in the immediate aftermath of the insurrection, a period where Trumpist loyalties had been shaken, but times have changed, and most Republican lawmakers have reverted to their default deification of The Donald. Not so Liz Cheney, who calls it as she sees it, and she sees it clearly, stating in plain English that Donald Trump is responsible for the insurrection, that he lost the election fair and square, and that she will not support him should he become the nominee in 2024. For this heresy she has been banned from the GOP leadership, and will likely lose her seat in the Midterm Election. Born 28 July 1966 (no time available) Elizabeth “Liz” Cheney sports an exact Sun/Mercury conjunction at 5 Leo, so she’s an “ideas person”, intelligent, intellectual, a born rhetorician. Saturn’s out-of-Sign trine from 29 Pisces leans her toward conservatism, but its exact opposition to Pandora at 29 Virgo suggests an inability to leave well enough alone, to insist on probing into a matter, perhaps with dire consequences for herself and others. Saturn conjoins asteroid America at 26 Pisces, making Cheney one of the country’s leading conservative voices. Also with the Sun and Mercury is asteroid House, marking the US House of Representatives as Cheney’s political venue of choice, and a defining part of her self-image, as a House member. House with Mercury indicates Cheney’s ultimate goal, which seems a dream in the present circumstances: House Speaker. Her position as third in House GOP leadership was a stepping stone to that goal, which also likely explains why Cheney refused a Senate run recently which she would certainly have won – she preferred to cement her position in the Lower Chamber to being an undistinguished newbie in the Upper. But House Speaker, lofty as that is, might not be the extent of Cheney’s ambitions. Asteroid Whitehouse at 8 Aries is trine the Sun, and embedded at station (turning retrograde six days after her birth), so the pull to the Oval Office is strong in her psyche. There’s another pair of asteroids with the Sun worth discussing: Godiva and McCarthy, both at 9 Leo. Godiva is a point I’ve previously used only in reference to public nudity, but based on the legend, fellow asteroid obsessive Mark Andrew Homes reflates this point to “ruthlessness in action, the willingness to do whatever is necessary to accomplish an objective; the willingness to take any consequences for one's beliefs*.” This certainly seems to apply to Cheney’s current predicament, unwilling to back down and raising the ante whenever criticized. The night before her ouster, Cheney went to the House floor and gave a blistering attack on the Trumpist forces arrayed against her, refusing to give so much as in inch even when in extremis politically. Her Republican colleagues exited the chamber and declined to give her so much as a hearing. McCarthy here indicates the close contact between herself and current Minority Leader, would-be Speaker, Kevin McCarthy. PNAs conjoined the Sun indicate individuals who will be formative in our development, for good or ill. Godiva’s “ruthless” qualities might be applied here to McCarthy, willing to jettison his lieutenant when politically expedient. These also square a combination of asteroids Nemesis and Elisabetha (closest to Elizabeth) at 9 and 10 Scorpio. Having her own PNA (Personal-Named Asteroid) in connection to the Sun is the most common placement, so Cheney fits that pattern here. The square to McCarthy suggests friction or conflict between them, and McCarthy’s exact square to Nemesis identifies the Minority Leader as a source of ruin or destruction for Cheney. But with Elisabetha conjoined Nemesis, Cheney has a personal connection to divine justice herself, and could conceivably turn those cosmic tables at some future point. McCarthy’s treatment of her could come back to haunt him. The likelihood of this is reiterated in a cluster of asteroids Kevin, Karma and Troemper at 20, 23 and 28 Gemini, which portrays the basic dynamics of the current contretemps. Fate (Karma) is binding McCarthy (Kevin) and Trump (Troemper) in Cheney’s bio, and the fact that this T-Squares the Saturn/Pandora polarity defines her predicament. If she opens that fatal box of speaking truth about Trump’s (Troemper) culpability in the insurrection and duplicity about the election, she reaps the unintended negative consequences (Pandora) to her career (Saturn), facilitated by McCarthy (Kevin), but the situation is unavoidable and somehow fated (Karma). Cheney’s propensity for truth-telling in a political context is foreshadowed by a combination of asteroids Truth and Veritas (Latin for “truth”) at 15 and 19 Cancer, enclosing Jupiter, ruling politics, at 18 Cancer. Also here is Mars at 11 Cancer, making Cheney an aggressive, forceful champion of truth, but also engendering argument and conflict. These square TNO Eris at 11 Aries, suggesting that Cheney’s principled stances in politics cast her as a lightning rod for strife and division. Cementing Cheney’s personal connection to the truth is an opposition from asteroid Lizrao at 20 Capricorn, a compound-name asteroid which can be severed into its parts and used as a marker for either first or last name. Asteroid Lie at 13 Aquarius conjoins Damocles at 17 and opposes Sun/Mercury. To be her authentic self (Sun), Cheney must speak out (Mercury) against (opposition) deception and falsehood (Lie), but her inability to embrace the Big Lie of Trump’s stolen electoral victory now constitutes the doom hanging overhead (Damocles). There is another stationary point in Cheney’s birth chart: asteroid Elisa at 12 Sagittarius, which turned direct a week prior. Elisa represents Elise Stefanik (R-NY) the congresswoman most likely to replace Cheyne in her leadership role. As with solar connections, stationary points indicate persons, places or themes which are pivotal in the native’s character or biography, and here Elisa at station represents the literal “turning point” in Cheney’s career, as her successor. When Liz Cheney was ousted from her position on May 12, 2021, the skies once again reflect the temporal reality. In an incredibly brave move, Kevin McCarthy called a voice vote, so none of the members would have their votes recorded for posterity. After her removal, Cheney continued her lone fight for the soul of the Republican Party, stating, “We must go forward based on truth. We cannot both embrace the big lie and embrace the Constitution.” Asked about a potential Trump run in 2024, Cheney stuck to her guns: “I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office.” Donald Trump replied, “Liz Cheney is a bitter, horrible human being. She has no personality or anything good having to do with politics or our country.” Must have been looking in a mirror. Two points were at station for the vote: asteroids Stefani (for likely replacement Elise Stefanik) and Kevin (for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy), identifying the twin poles in the struggle against Cheney. Stefani turned retrograde May 13th, the day after the vote, and at 25 Capricorn conjoins Pluto at 26 Cap, indicating the power play to ensue. Stefani is also squared by asteroid Elisabetha at 26 Libra, showing the conflict between them, and is at the fulcrum of a T-Square with asteroid America exactly conjoined TNO Eris at 24 Aries, representing the strife and division in the country generally, and the Republican Party specifically, over this issue. Also here is asteroid Achilles at 20 Aries, portraying both Liz’s fighting stance and the weakness and vulnerability of her position. Kevin at 27 Virgo turned direct May 15th, three days later, and is also involved in a T-Square, opposing Neptune (fraud, deception, and fanaticism or zealotry) at 22 Pisces, and asteroid Truth at 25 Gemini, underscoring McCarthy’s weakness (Neptune) in refusing to support truth (Truth) over falsehood (Neptune). Cheney is currently undergoing a Mars Return, with the planet of argument and conflict exactly returned to its natal degree of 11 Cancer for the vote against her. This time it’s accompanied by asteroid Troemper at 8 Cancer, showing Trump as the root cause of the kerfuffle, with asteroid McCarthy at 6 Aries in square, depicting his inimical stance. Transit Saturn at 13 Aquarius, ruling both career and loss or diminution, exactly conjoins Cheney’s natal asteroid Lie, defining her inability to embrace the Big Lie as the source of her demotion and damage to her career. Transit asteroid Nemesis, a source of ruin or undoing, often self-created, falls at 8 Sagittarius, T-Squaring a stellium of transit asteroids Elisa, Washingtonia, and Lie at 4, 6 and 14 Virgo, and transit Lizrao at 6 Pisces, reinforcing the sense that lies (Lie) are at the root of Liz’s (Lizrao) fall (Nemesis) from DC (Washingtonia) grace, facilitated by Elise Stefanik (Elisa). The embedded opposition from Lizrao to Elisa and Washingtonia says all you need to know about Liz Cheney’s embattled position among her colleagues in the Capitol, but just to be cosmically clear, a Grand Cross created by a Venus/Mercury conjunction at 4 and 13 Gemini reiterates the circumstances, asserting a vote (Mercury) regarding a female (Venus). What looks like a setback for Liz Cheney now, may in fact be the road to redemption for herself and her beleaguered party, if it ever comes to its senses. Regardless, one thing is clear: if the male members of the DC Republican delegation had half the balls Liz Cheney does regarding the former president, we wouldn’t be in this predicament now.

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A Liz in Blunderland

House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) must feel as if she’s gone down the rabbit hole these days.  The conservative stalwart, daughter of former VP Dick “Darth Vader” Cheney, with a 78% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union and a record of voting with President Donald Trump 98% of the time, is being booted from her leadership position, likely to be replaced by a woman with a 44% ACU rating, who only voted 77% with Trump.  The reason for Cheney’s fall from GOP grace?  Her apostacy in refusing to accept and promulgate the Big Lie, that Donald Trump won the 2020 election in a landslide and had it stolen out from under him.  Liz also voted to impeach Trump after the January 6th assault on the US Capitol, and has called him to account for his role in that abortive coup, for which she is now paying the penalty.

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cleo leaves

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RIP Cleo

It’s déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Berra would have it.  Less than four months ago I put down my rescue cat Charcoal, who had a cancerous tumor in his mouth, and now his companion Cleo follows him across the Rainbow Bridge, from the same complaint!  Cleo and Charkey were very close, and she hasn’t been the same since his passing.  Her eating habits had become erratic, and she was isolating more and more in the upper reaches of a storage unit in the laundry room that was their home.  After a few initial forays into the spring sunshine of the garden, she refused to go out, and the weekend before her death, she stopped eating completely.

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Garden Glimpses: May Day

As April wanes and fades into the lusty month of May, spring bulbs in the garden are waning, too, but there’s a last flourish of late-season daffodils to enjoy, and the muscari are at their peak.  Perennials have returned, and are lush with new green growth (or in the case of heucheras, that might be rose, bronze, burgundy, yellow or purple growth!), and some have even bloomed.

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Guilty, Guilty, Guilty: The Derek Chauvin Verdict

Ten months after his murder, George Floyd’s family received some closure and a form of justice when the jury convicted his killer, former Officer Derek Chauvin, on all three counts of murder and manslaughter charges, after less than 11 hours of deliberation.  The evidence against him was so egregious, that outcome should have been beyond dispute, but in such racially charged cases of police misconduct, nothing is certain. 

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O 93 cover

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It’s Oscar Season!

The very concept of awards and movies seems alien this year, after a twelvemonth of pandemic restrictions and closed theaters, but the Hollywood Dream Factory grinds on, and though it’s been delayed a month from its normal airing, the 93rd Academy Awards will be presented Sunday, 25 April 2021, starting at 8 PM PDT in Los Angeles.  And that means it’s also time for my annual Oscar asteroid prognostication!

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Garden Glimpses April 2021: Paying Attention

I love flowers.  Not just the blooms, their whole process of unfoldment.  Spring flowering bulbs really embody this, as we watch the first tentative emergence of their leafy tips, often while winter still holds sway, giving way to graceful stems and swelling buds held aloft.  Starting off slowly at first, at some point critical mass is reached, and the bud bursts into a full-fledged bloom, sometimes within hours.  For many varieties, the transformation continues, as the blossom’s initial hue alters over time, deepening, fading or blushing, requiring a daily viewing if the full effect is to be absorbed.  In that way, spring flowers teach us a lesson of paying attention, mindfulness, being present, lest any precious stage in their development escape our notice.

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