http://i.huffpost.com/gen/183148/thumbs/s-ROY-large.jpg” alt=”" border=”0″ />
I’m not super worried about Obama. Why? Perspective.

He is still the politician with most favorable rating. Higher than the Democrats. Even higher than the ‘thuglicans. All throughout all the screaming, whining and tantrums, he and his administration remain cool, calm, on script. McChrystal? Who? Spy swap? Handled, European crisis? Weathered. Health-care reform? Passed. Finreg? Signed next week. DADT? Getting there. Oil spill? Not so good, but being managed. China? We’re talking with them. Russia? Ditto. Israel? Same sh**, different crisis.

Overall demeanor throughout? Calm, handled. In control.

Is he perfect? Name a president who was. Learning? Looks like it.

Bonus: much of what he promised is done. Energy and immigration come next. Energy gets to debate soon. I think he’s going to do some lame duck trickery on immigration. Stay tuned.

You know what you do when a youngin’ throws a tantrum? Most times you just let it go until the energy runs out. Once the screamin’ inevitably falls on deaf ears, the real conversation begins.
More on http://www.huffingtonpost.com:80/news/barack-obama“>Barack Obama
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-tv/roy-sekoff-on-joy-behar-w_b_645224.html“>Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Change without Martin Luther

Compared to individuals, societies change very slowly. That’s why I find the attached video very exciting, I do not expect the changes it suggests in my lifetime.

Empathic Civilization

Knowing the Answer, Not the Solution

I have little doubt that our system is broken. That our current way of life around the world is unsustainable. I suspect many share my few, and, like them feel frustrated that we can do little to alter the direction we head. That we need to change our view of life in order to save it. I knew the solution had to come from the spiritual side; that policy, without emotion, would not solve the complex issues we face. Since this cultural change equals that which Martin Luther or Karl Marx tried to implement, I felt that this was an issue ‘above my paygrade’. At the same time, I have been on the look out for the 95 Theses of 1893Neptune-Pluto2384.

Reformation & Secularism

1399Neptune-Pluto1893 was the last full Neptune-Pluto wave and its paradox centered around how reforming a corrupt led to secular progress, the root of our current paradox. Do you see the connection yet? The European Church stood fully integrated in the region’s DNA? How do you reform the Church, without killing? In the long run, the Reformation ultimately led to secularism, while the addressed corruption altered the Church, but could not save its influence. At the end, the world needed the whole process to get to secularism. At this point, I cannot decide whether Empathic Civilization represents the Reformation or Secularism. Could  be either, could be both.

The Multi-Contextual View I Need

Sometimes solutions lay right under you nose until you try something over or see someone else do what you were trying to accomplish. The major challenge of writing anything to do with http://measuringhistory.com/waves“>Measuring History comes from the many avenues it opens up all at once. As you now see here, the square next to each link now pops up into a multi-contextual window. Each one acts as a mini-browser loaded with related content in various media. Already I have applied it to the http://apture.s3.amazonaws.com/00000127e249cbd1c7095f08007f000000000001.madmen_outer-planet_tour.png“>MadMan: An Outer Planet Tour, while my mind reels with all the ways I can use these feature all thanks to the http://blip.tv/file/1757048“>Apture WordPress plug-in. For instance http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:bw-ISxuE0novuM::blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/mad_men_cd_cover_325x325.jpg“>MadMen & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold%20War%20%281953%E2%80%931962%29“>The Cold War I can now cite the many nations who either dramatically altered their inherent mission or emerged anew in the years surrounding http://apture.s3.amazonaws.com/00000127e22c5216558dbd48007f000000000001.1948satplu1982_0.png“>1948.

The implications are endless!

“There is also a decidedly nonsecular response to wrongdoing that paves the way for second and third chances — and serial abuse. In the secular world, the molestation of a child is labeled a crime, and a heartfelt apology for it doesn’t obviate jail time. In the Catholic Church, it is discussed as a sin, to be confessed and then, by the grace of God, forgiven. Penitence may well supplant punishment.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/weekinreview/28bruni.html?scp=3&sq=vatican&st=cse” target=”_blank”>At the Vatican, Up Against the World

Best Intentions

My plan to write a quick post on papal denial lies under a pile of links to the topic. The idea arose because the war with the NY Times sounded familiar. Indulgences are fine, Martin Luther (as was John Hus) is the problem. We were not against science, we didn’t like Galileo’s tone. Priests committing pedophilia over decades? LA LA LA LA, I can’t hear you. See I have my fingers in my ears. What pedophilia? Why must yu attack the Church?

Just Sayin’

Okay, I know better than to wage war with Catholics, but the Church proves so central to our history, a review can only help improve perspective.

Jan Huss and Martin Luther

Both turned into heretics in the Rome’s eyes. Both wanted to reform an overtly corrupt and out-of-touch institution. Huss’ reward? Burned at the stake. Martin Luther would have surely met the same fate had not his protectors been so vigilant.

The Reformation

The Hussite and Lutheran movements led to Reformation. Church response? The Counter-Reformation agreed some reform would help, but declared Protestants heretics, igniting the 80 and 30 Years Wars.

Kepler & Galileo

About the same time, Kepler and Galileo forwarded geocentric theories of planetary movement. This went against Scripture. Galileo refused to recant his findings and when, found guilty, submitted to long-term house arrest. The Church didn’t like his attitude ishttp://www.catholicleague.org/research/galileo.html” target=”_blank”> one defense offered.

Beyond Enlightenment

Growing secularism led to intellectuals bypassing the Church. Its denial of Kepler/Galileo made it seem the world was passing it by. The response? Deny. Deny. Deny.

A byproduct of this appeared in the Syllabus of Errors published in 1864, denouncing modernism. Condemned in the document:

‘ “human reason, without any reference whatsoever to God, is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood, and of good and evil” (No. 3) “All the truths of religion proceed from the innate strength of human reason; hence reason is the ultimate standard by which man can and ought to arrive at the knowledge of all truths of every kind.” (No. 4)’
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllabus_of_Errors” target=”_blank”>Syllabus of Errors

The Holocaust

I really wish I didn’t have to go here, but I can only go where research takes me, not where I would prefer to go

Throughout the http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/holo.html“>Holocaust, Pius XII was consistently besieged with pleas for help on behalf of the Jews.

In the spring of http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Chronology_1940.html“>1940, the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/IHerzog.html“>Isaac Herzog, asked the papal Secretary of State, Cardinal Luigi Maglione to intercede to keep Jews in http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Spain.html“>Spain from being deported to http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Germanytoc.html“>Germany. He later made a similar request for Jews in http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/lithtoc.html“>Lithuania. The papacy did nothing.http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/pius.html#N_5_“>⁽⁵⁾

Within the Pope’s own church, Cardinal Theodor Innitzer of http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Vienna.html“>Vienna told Pius XII about Jewish deportations in 1941. In 1942, the Slovakian charge d’affaires, a position under the supervision of the Pope, reported to http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Rome.html“>Rome that http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/slovakiatoc.html“>Slovakian Jews were being systematically deported and sent to http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/ccpoltoc.html“>death camps.http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/pius.html#N_6_“>⁽⁶⁾

In October http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Chronology_1941.html“>1941, the Assistant Chief of the U.S. delegation to the Vatican, Harold Tittman, asked the Pope to condemn the atrocities. The response came that the Holy See wanted to remain “neutral,” and that condemning the atrocities would have a negative influence on Catholics in German-held lands.http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/pius.html#N_7_“>⁽⁷⁾

In late August http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Chronology_1942.html“>1942, after more than 200,000 Ukrainian Jews had been killed, Ukrainian Metropolitan Andrej Septyckyj wrote a long letter to the Pope, referring to the German government as a regime of terror and corruption, more diabolical than that of the Bolsheviks. The Pope replied by quoting verses from Psalms and advising Septyckyj to “bear adversity with serene patience.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/pius.html ” target=”_blank”>Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/pius.html ” target=”_blank”> In light of this, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/world/europe/03church.html?ref=global-home” target=”_blank”>likening criticism about not making every effort to eliminate pedophilia to antisemitism can be best seen as a slap in the face.

Homosexuality

The latest tactic seems to blame homosexual priests and ‘post-pubescent’ boys.

“Johnny, sorry I raped you repeatedly over many years, but you shouldn’t have worn  that (insert clothing item here) . You know I can’t help myself!”

If you have homosexual priests, should you not acknowledge the issue. I doubt homosexuality really is the issue, but either way the Church, by failing to deal with the reality that it exists does not help. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226410439?ie=UTF8&tag=mundaneastrol-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0226410439">The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism</a><img src=” target=”_blank”>Silence of Sodom exposed the issue long ago, yet it still goes unaddressed. Again the Church response is to blame others.

Public Relations Lesson #1

Please stop insulting the public. Thousands of families deal with your ruinous policies on child abuse all over the world. Stop blaming others, like you have done throughout your history (the list above is very condensed). Yes, Catholics still do good works, but unless you poke your head out of the window and see how people really feel, the backlash could be terminable. Europeans have grown to mistrust your institution over the decades. You are only making it worse!

For the sake of all, acknowledge that the problem exists and commit every resource to end it. The current uproar comes from what we know. What happens when the next round of  abuse surfaces? Blame no one but yourself  Mr. Ratzinger–your behavior in this matter makes me feel calling you anything other than your real name is disingenuous–fire yourself if you have to. But as they say in politics: “The buck stops with you!”

The Wavering Road to World War I

We still struggle to integrate the results of World War I into so many areas of our lives. The Balfour Agreement encouraged Jews to emigrate to Palestine. The current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan point to the fall of the British and Ottoman Empires. The ‘Great War’ turned petroleum into a strategic commodity and presaged how important globalization would become. If we catalog all international situations currently in play, we can trace most back to the period surrounding World War I. During the entire period ~1870-1920 many vectors of history veered to the directions we now head. Of the 6500+ years of history I now study, I can declare, without equivocation, that the period leading up to World War I the most complex period of all.

Many issues led up to WWI, but one that piques my interest in this book deals with three monarchies central to the conflict. One can easily see through brif investigation that these systems of government had become inadequate and obsolete.

the author’s account observes a profound anachronism at play: that these three monarchs, in what they didn’t realize were the waning days of the institution of monarchy, handled foreign diplomacy as if it were a family business.

Europe plunged over the precipice of war in August 1914, revealing in stark terms the inability of royal familial ties to control and contain national disagreements; as the author has it, the fact that Wilhelm, Nicholas, and George were out of touch with actual politics could not have been more apparent.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400043638?ie=UTF8&tag=mundaneastrol-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1400043638">George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I</a><img src=” target=”_blank”>Amazon.com: George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I

What readers of Ramble should know is that the period  included the transition from one Neptune-Pluto wave to another 1399Neptune-Pluto1892 to 1893Neptune-Pluto2384, a once in ~495 year event, while two major outer planet transits also appeared in the same period. The outer planet transits for sure mirror the complexity of the times.

Throughout 1399Neptune-Pluto1892 populations looked to monarchies to lead them through history. Few may have suspected that the title ‘monarch’ did not necessarily confer intellect or ability. In http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345349571?ie=UTF8&tag=mundaneastrol-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0345349571">A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mundaneastrol-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0345349571" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> ” target=”_blank”>Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, Barabara Tuchman’s excellent tome, a theme of leaders’ incompetence appears continually. Between then and the book’s period governments had improved, but the reliance on monarchy and dynasty continued to stifle governments meeting the needs of the time.

I leave with a quote , but based on the reviews, I recommend adding this to your collection.

The real tragedy was that neither George, Nicholas nor Wilhelm was built to adapt to a changing world; their time was evaporating. “As great mass movements took hold of Europe,” Ms. Carter observes, “the courts and their kings cleaved to the past, set up high walls of etiquette to keep the world out and defined themselves through form, dress and precedence.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/books/24book.html?ref=books” target=”_blank”>Books of the Times: As War Loomed, 3 Leaders Wandered Lost

Where has NOW been throughout this entire debate? The abortion issue should be the final straw, but there are other issues women’s groups shirked . Insurance companies discriminate by charging more for a woman’s policy. Since most single-parents end up being women, they not only have to deal with their own issues, but their children’s as well. Since women do not have as a secure place in the job market–there’s that perception that they’ll leave to have babies–they face discrimination on that front, too. And yes, women have more complex health issues to address than men do. As a man, there are likely other issues I overlook; complete the list if you must.

Yet, throughout the entire debate we have heard not a peep out of NOW, the League of Women Voters or other feminist organizations. Why? Are they still bitter about Hillary? If so, that sure seems petty since no or poor health-care reform, per the reasons laid out above, affects women more than men. I am not sure that is the answer, but I certainly puzzled as to why, except for a few peeps after the Stupak amendment passed, very few prominent women have not advocated for one of the biggest changes in our culture in a century.

I can’t help but thinking that the public option would have had a much better chance if women’s voices were more loudly heard through the organizations that represent them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendy-button/will-one-senator-stand-up_b_399557.html“>Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

I’m still working on Paraddox2140:Progress, a comprehensive, interactive way of viewing our future. My contention is that Progress offers the same degree of conundrum pre-modern Europe faced over the too political, greedy Church without destroying it, in other words, the paradox of their time. This view will make more sense when fully explained.

For now I just want to point to an Economist cover article: http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=15108593” target=”_blank”>The idea of progress, onward and upward. I should have much more on Paradox2140 later. For now happy reading.

Using What’s Available

As if you haven’t guessed, I think the connection between my work and many areas of non-fiction. This makes placing ads to Amazon a natural. This strategy has worked in a limited manner so far, but my efforts toward it have been minimal so far. That status changes now.

The Listmania Opportunity

Amazon features Listmania, an opportunity to build lists of all types. For the UsedKarma Portal the number of lists, 20 and growing, points to the many different areas of interests UsedKarma, Measuring History and mundaneastrology.net covers. From a logistics end, Listmania lets me build ads for titles that should interest UsedKarma readers.

Keep in mind that the lists covers too many works for me to have reviewed all of them. My next step is to review the ones I have read and to comment on ones  I think readers should check out.

Below the lists so far.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/community-content-search/results?ie=UTF8&flatten=1&search-alias=rp-listmania&query=usedkarma” target=”_blank”>UsedKarma:Industrialism 2.0

Paradox2140

http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress/lm/R34JNHYHWWL70F/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140: Progress http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-Sustainability-Seafood/lm/RZ6HS29JJAF6F/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140:Progress:Sustainability:Seafood http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-Sustainability-Climate-Change/lm/R3JDKBLQDBRT13/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140:Progress:Sustainability:Climate Change
http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-Science-amp-Technology/lm/R2V3YN571FID51/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140-Progress: Science & Technology
http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-The-More-We-Know-The-Less-We-Understand/lm/R26B89BY5KQOXJ/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140: Progress: The More We Know, The Less We Understand
http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-The-More-We-Know-The-Less-We-Understand-Google/lm/R3GW9IAWQBPIZD/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140: Progress:The More We Know, The Less We Understand: Google
http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-Natural-Resources/lm/R1G6J9Q2LZB1Y/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140:Progress:Natural Resources
http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-Sustainability/lm/RTXDJRI6Y7LZQ/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140:Progress:Sustainability
http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-Sustainability-Energy-Sources/lm/R2Y75SVUWK88AH/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140:Progress:Sustainability:Energy Sources
http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-Sustainability-Consumerism/lm/R2VUVY83Z58RFJ/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140:Progress:Sustainability:Consumerismhttp://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-Sustainability-Consumerism/lm/R2VUVY83Z58RFJ/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140:Progress:Sustainability:Consumerism
http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-New-Morality/lm/R1NLN7ZPAY4O3R/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140:Progress:New Morality
http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-One-World/lm/R1MT6OPSYCSJZU/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140:Progress:One World
http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-One-World-One-Atmosphere/lm/R25G565P2LV64P/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140:Progress:One World:One Atmosphere
http://www.amazon.com/Paradox2140-Progress-One-World-Global-World-Local-Politics/lm/R84F2WGHSBWM0/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full“>Paradox2140:Progress:One World:Global World,Local Politics

Measuring History’s Outer Planet Histories

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/R1LX0OO4SQM2AY/ref=cm_lm_pthnk_view?ie=UTF8&lm_bb=“>Measuring History:The Cold War & 911
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/RQ56I0R524IWZ/ref=cm_lm_pthnk_view?ie=UTF8&lm_bb=“>Measuring History:Outer Planet History:20th Century
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/RSBH33L8127AD/ref=cm_lm_pthnk_view?ie=UTF8&lm_bb=“>Measuring History:History of the 21st Century