Friday, March 13, 2015Tom Cotton |
Freshman Republican US Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas has set off a firestorm this week. He has written a letter to the the Iranian government and convinced 46 of his fellow senators to sign it. The letter reminds Iranian leadership that Barack Obama's unilateral attempts to negotiate with them do not carry quite the power that the US executive would like them to believe. This has many liberals screaming in rage, and some conservatives fist-bumping. Lew Rockwell is not impressed. I'm with Rockwell and the liberals in that any attempt to slap down a peace agreement is inherently a bad thing -- and Iran has proven through its history that despite autocratic rule it is probably the least aggressive nation in the Middle East. But I also understand the need to curb executive overreach when it happens. If Cotton had pulled this Rand Paul - type stunt on an issue that Rand Paul might have pulled it on (drones, etc.), I'd be applauding. Regardless of our views on him, the neoconservative-backed Cotton has put himself on the map, and the associated astrology is interesting. Also, now that freshman senators with no qualifications other than charisma and big-money backing can ascend to the American throne, it may be a good idea to watch any critters on the Hill matching that description.  In this case, the lack of a birth time makes it hard to see why Cotton is a regime Right-winger instead of a regime Left-winger. I suspect a time of birth would make it more clear. Pallas/Ethics Libertarian: Pallas square Sun and parallel Mercury. Authoritarian: Pallas parallel/septile Pluto. The factors are very strong in both directions, suggesting one who might initiate or accept great evil in the name of doing a great good. One might argue that the Iran letter was such a case, weighing the good of curbing executive power versus the evil of blocking a peace treaty. Venus/Economics Collectivist: Venus trine Neptune. Capitalist: unknown. Moon/Culture Liberal: Moon in Aries (ruled by Mars which is trine Neptune) or in Pisces (ruled by Neptune). Conservative: unknown. Other Venus-Mars/Saturn/Neptune Grand Trine: suggesting, perhaps, someone with an easy knack for working his dreams into solid reality. Jupiter/Saturn/Pluto aspect triangle: public authority and power? Uranus opposite Mercury, square Saturn, quincunx Jupiter: a public disruptor of authority through speech? Potential Bloodbath Formula, depending on birth time. It does not bode well that Cotton's first truly public act was to disrupt a peace negotiation.  Here's his astrological weather on the day of the publishing of the letter: Mars return, conjunct Uranus and square Pluto: vigor and action combined with powerful disruption. Transiting Uranus-Pluto square, square/opposite solar arc Jupiter: exploding unto the public sphere. Transiting Saturn square progressed Pallas: adding difficulty to the peace process. Transiting Jupiter conjunct progressed Saturn (midpoint of Jupiter and Pluto): the expansion of personal power. Jupiter is retrograde and will return: Cotton ain't done with us yet. Transiting Mercury opposite Cotton Pallas, trine Cotton North Node, and sextile transiting Pallas: speaking in a way that involves ethics and reflects his personal destiny. Progressed Mercury and Jupiter conjunct: words exploding into the public sphere. Solar arc Uranus conjunct Cotton Neptune: mystique erupts. If this is the worst of the last hit of the Uranus-Pluto square (triggered by Mars), we might consider ourselves lucky. AnonymousMarch 30, 2015 at 11:36 PM I'm going to have to pay much more attention to what Tom is up to. Back when he was a Representative, he wanted to enact a law that was contrary to the Constitution's prohibition against Attainder. In other words, he wanted the government to be able to punish family members of someone guilty of a serious crime (in this case it was regarding treason if someone violated sanctions against Iran). http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2013/05/23/tom-cottons-attack-on-the-constitution I've spoken with a few people across the state and gotten some good second-hand information about Tom. One of his high school teachers says that not only was he very driven, but he literally wrote a plan for his life while he was in her class. A soldier that served under his command in Afghanistan said that he was a good officer, but very much a Kool Aid drinker. And a guy that worked with his mom said that his parents really don't know why he is the way he is. I heard the phrase "He wasn't raised this way." Both of his folks are life-long Democrats; not unusual for their generation in that part of Arkansas. There are rumors that his marriage is a sham, that he is secretly gay, and/or that he has been compromised by Israeli intelligence units. However, I think all we really need to know is in his chart; hopefully we'll get that birth time one day. Saturn looms large in his chart and seemingly makes aspects with nearly every other influence. My own opinion is that he is an ideologically motivated believer in his version of America and what it should be. He is a very ambitious man who truly believes his own bullshit. I also think that he is out of his depth, and naive about how things are really going to work out with his political backers. But we'll see. A bill has already been introduced in the Arkansas legislature that would allow Tom Cotton to run for President while still a sitting Senator. This article seems to back up the stories I was told and lend some credibility to my opinion. http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/09/the-making-of-a-conservative-superstar/380307/ If anyone cares for more political detail, the chart at the bottom of this site, based on The World's Smallest Political Quiz, gives a decent representation of his voting record. http://ballotpedia.org/Tom_Cotton Write to me at "alan" + "@" + "zot.net". Weblog Index Home |