Robert Phoenix

Well it was at least more entertaining than the Obama/McCain snorefest. Biden with tranisting Venus in Scorpio just beginning to touch his stellium in Scorpio, seemed in command and well versed in the issues, this is par for the course with him as Scorpios are deep planners and Biden has no doubt had this date circled on his calendar since Palin joined the McCain ticket. The Scorpio Moon didn’t cause him too much unease and in fact allowed him to tap into feelings of grief when he recounted the story of his wife’s death and sons ensuing physical challenges as a result of their tragic car wreck. The transiting Scorpio Moon humanized Biden for a few, key moments.

While Biden was the picture of Scorpionic control, Palin was all over the map, channeling the spirit of Reagan, while adding a new twist of folksie, homespun homilies, invoking the memes of “The Soccer Mom” and “Joe Sixpack.” Much to the consternation of The Left, this is where she is the most effective, connecting with the populace, in ways that Biden, Obama and even McCain fail to do. She’s America’s cheerleader and that spirit was on full display tonight, in all of it’s eccentric, down home strangeness. But then, she would go completely off road when Gwen Ifill would ask her certain questions, like the one on same-sex marriage. It’s clear that this is where the pool drops off into the deep end for Palin and instead of having her own, individual take, she resorts to grabbing ahold of the talking point life vest to keep from going under. Remember, Sarah Palin has zero water in her chart, so her ability to retain information and experiences is not well supported by her chart.

Much like Obama, Palin is about projection, but unlike Obama who does have some water in his chart, her ability to be introspective and reflective is not her strong suit to say the least.

Whether it’s Joe Lieberman, Karl Rove or Cthulu who is crafting her script and sculpting her talking points, they need to be very aware of the fact that Sarah Palin is a loose cannon and while she did not embarass herself tonight, she flashed glimmers of dancing right off the edge.

I also noticed a genuine affection from Biden to Palin, as this is in alignment with his deeply Scorpionic energy.The big winner? Israel. Both candidates heartily agreed on their undying support for Israel as Biden pledged loyalty and fealty and Palin seemed ready to throw on some buckskin and boots to personally hunt down Ahmenijad herself.Tonight, the serpent and the eagle nested together in relative peace, while debating the merits of each ones vantage point, no matter how conditioned, ingrained or entrained.

Taking a well deserved break from the intense political and economic drama being played out before our very, eyes, we step back and give thanks as The Sun moves into zero degrees Libra, which symbolizes the arrival of The Fall Equinox and the shift from Summer to Autumn. This is the time of perfect balance and inner peace. It’s critical that on this day that you assess your life, your resources, your investements, your projects, your relations, your relationship to yourself. It’s not quite a day of out time, but it’s as close as it gets in the western sense of astrological data mining.

Why is it critical? Because we are staring down chaos in a way that supersedes any other period in recent memory. While The Fed has come to the faux aid and rescue of a financial calamity they helped to create, the solution to the hemmorhaging of The US economy and it’s long term impact are still a vast unknown and even our representatives in congress would not reveal what was said to them and the steps needed to make the change.

In addition to The US economy sinking faster than an ex-Seinfeld cast member sitcom, Russia is sending more ships to Venezuela, a hotel blows up in Pakistan where their leaders were supposed to have met, and The G-7 refuses The Fed’s latest version of the bailout plan. Today is a sacred time to re-connect with balance, stability and what that means internally for you, your loved ones and your own personal harvest.

THE SYMBOLIC END OF AN ERA

One of the things that we try to do here is view reality, through astrology from the meta level. Quietly, a symbol of The US dominance and role as global leader in the 20th century passed away yesterday. It’s not a person, and yet it has a symbolic character that is mytho-poetically rich and profound in meaning. Yesterday was the last day of the beloved, Yankee Stadium, “The House That Ruth Built.” If there was ever a fitting end to the final days of Pluto in Sag, it’s the passing of this venerable shrine to The US. It was here that Babe Ruth became a Bunyan-esque figure, larger than life itself, reflecting America’s rise in the consciousness of the world. It was Yankee stadium, where Lou “The Ironman” Gehrig said farewell before his body became choked by ALS, a disease now named after him, where in his farewell speech, Gehrig heroically announed to the world that, “He’s the luckiest man alive.” It was Yankee Stadium where Joe DiMaggio (Sag) roamed the outfield and courted Marilyn Monroe (Gemini), refelcting the rise in Hollywood celebrity, paving the way for the likes of Madonna and Brittney. It was Yankee Stadium, where the new Ruth, Mickey Mantle carved out his own legendary niche, both on and off the field and it’s where George Steinbrenner took his team and the sport into the marketing and financial stratosphere of the late-twentieth-century, shadowing the social and economic dominance of The US in The Reagan and post-Reagan eras. Ironically, one of the few times that The Yankees lost their way was was in the mid-sixties, when The United States moved away from the patriotic, homogeneity that had preceded the social turbulence of The Sixties. It’s even rumored that Jimmy Hoffa, who represents the death of the unions is taking a concrete nap in Yankee Stadium.

On this day of the culmination of harvest, the life cycle of Yankee Stadium organically follows the cycle of planting and harvest as the first pitch was thrown on April 18th, 1913 and the last on the 21st of September, 2008. Ironically, Pluto was in Gemini at 28 degrees the day that the first ptich was thrown and eighty-five-years later, the day the last pitch was caught, Pluto was in an exact opposition at 28 degrees Sagittarius.

There will be a new Yankee Stadium, right across from the original, but it will have it’s first game under Pluto in Capricorn and come to mean something wholly different than the symbolic stadium of America’s rise in the 20th Century.

Tomorrow, we’ll get political again and look at how the upcoming Mercury Retrograde will impact the debates, financial markets, the election and certain key state initiatives.

“Fashion, turn to the left, Fashion, turn to the right.” — David Bowie

The culture wars subsided ever-so-briefly to witness the ominous arrival of the economic death star that pulled into close, geo-synchronous orbit with Earth. For a few days, the crushing realization that total financial collapse was imminent and for once, the bi-cameral split of the voting public couldn’t avert their eyes from the onset of the unspeakable. While the two candidates still blamed one anothers party and leadership, there was slightly less venom being spit from either side of the left/right divide. There was something bigger taking place.

But prior to being brought to the edge of the economic precipice, the volatility between The Left and The Right has been epic. It’s a cuture divide that cuts through families and communites. It speaks to a duality that is deeply woven into the tabula rasa of The United States. We are right and left, light and dark, sacred and profane, infuriating and exasperating to most of the rest of the world and it can be seen in The US Chart where Mars rests in Gemini at 21 degrees. Gemini, The Twins, represents a bi-cameral consciousness that borders on schizophrenic. Were we always this way? If not when did separate from the embryonic wholeness of ourselves and a national identity?

The answer might lay on 11/22/63. This was the day that John Kennedy died–the day a cold Winter chill ripped across the verdant hills of Camelot. You see, JFK was a Gemini. In fact, he personally embodied the contrary nature of the country in his own life. He struck the pose of the head of the first family, confident, loving, devoted, and yet his indiscretions are now legendary. From Marilyn Monroe, to Mary Cord-Meyer, JFK lived two (at least) separate lives. JFK’s Pluto sat right on The US Cancer in Venus at 3 degrees and just two degrees off of The US Jupiter at 5 degrees. This conferred a electric magnetism and sense of powerful expansion that translated into votes and devotion. Beyond the dual nature of his own existence, Kennedy had a deeply intimate relationship with the soul of The United States of America and it’s people. The people unaware of Kennedy’s double life, were equally attuned to his vibration as well. The cliche of Camelot was not an innapropriation of the symbolism. There was a wholeness between the man and the country.

But when Kennedy was assasinated, it all came to a crushing end and the country was left in a state of shock, post-traumatically stressed. That’s when the negative duality of Mars in Gemini came into play. Shortly after the death of JFK, the country was flooded with event after tragic event, social movements cutting a deeper divide into the psychic landscape. Vietnam split households and generations, the civil rights movement split north and south (again), the women’s movement split the sexes. Divide, divide, divide. Ironically, it was another Gemini who was the regional head of The CIA in Dallas, one George Herbert Walker Bush and many years later, out of his lips came the phrase, “New World Order” replacing The Camelot Matrix with something far more ominous.

Now I am not saying that any of the social movements in the aftermath of Kennedy were right or wrong, I’m simply noticing how the duality of the nation became much more painfully apparent.

We’re heading towards some form of unification and singularity, whether it’s externally imposed (New World Order variety) or internally activated (psychic commonwealth), we are lurching forward, it’s simply ours to choose and as a result we are learning about duality and separation through The Twins disconnected dance.

This Summer, in a wide opposition, Pluto in Sagittarius sat across from The US Mars in Gemini and highlighted what a deep split we have; Palin’s a stupid bitch, McCain’s a senile old fart, Obama is a closet homo-muslim (notice how Sun in Scorpio Joe Biden ducks out of the fray?). You know the bloody assertions all-too-well by now. The opposition highlights that despite the fact that there are other parties, with other candidates, this is and almost always has been and will be a two-horse-race, indicative of the polarity engendered by Mars in Gemini.

Pluto in Sag will be in it’s final days, highlighting this duality up until the end of November, until once again we notice the shadow of the economic deathstar darken our inner skies. So expect more barking, more free-floating anger directed at symbolic messengers of the split; soccer moms in SUV’s on one side, bike riding and Hybrid driving tree huggers on the other.

When Camelot returns, it won’t just be for the blessed of this land, it will be a planetary awakening, taking US up out the drama of our duality and into the essential awareness of our oneness with all.

Life for me is a series of strange attractions and unexplainable synchronicities. When I begin to mine a particular vein of thought or follow some ley line of meaning, unusual occurences begin to manifest. On the heels of my exploration of Aquarius in the chart of Sarah Palin, aquarius begins to manifest. I just found out that Sheila Fadia, my new health consultant and Thai massage therapist par excellence is an Aquarian and as I type from a hotel on the coast in Santa Cruz, the restaurant under construction here is named, “Aquarius.” I have no doubt that more synchronicities will begin to emerge.

In order to understand the role of Aquarius and what it has and will likely play in the furture of American politcs, lets go back in time and re-visit America’s last Aquarian president, Ronald Reagan. Reagan, known by many as “The Great Communicator” was born on Februrary 6th, 1912. Even though his Sun was in Aquarius, most of his planets were in Capricorn, in fact, Reagan had Mercury, Uranus, Mars and his Mid-heaven, all in Capricorn. Capricorn (The Goat) represents big business and large institutions like government and coporations. It’s no coincidence that when Reagan was in office, trade restrictions, tariffs, interest rates, etc began to be lifted and lowered, The US Govt announced that it was open for business. It was a dramatic shift in the policy and direction of the US as the seismic jolts of Reaganomics are still being felt to this day.

Even though the energy of Capricorn was prominent in his chart, Reagan was still very Aquarian as evidenced by his leadership of SAG, The Screen Actors Guild (Aquarians just love groups and organizations). Under Reagan’s leadership of SAG, he was extremely helpful in assisting Lew Wasserman, the head of MCA. Reagan’s influence in The SAG allowed Wasserman to be both a talent agency and a studio–that was verbotten until Reagan took charge of SAG and allowed Wasserman to have a near monopoly on talent and production. He never forgot what Reagan did for him and helped elect him first to govenor of California, then president. This type of cronyism goes hand in hoof with Capricorn. It’s big business, good ole boy networks and dollars for votes. The Reagan White House however was not just about opening the public coffers to big business.

Nancy Reagan was deeply into the occult, especially astrology. It played a key role in the Reagan administration and Nancy’s personal astrologer was Joan Quigley. Nancy Reagan had met Quigley on the set of The Merv Griffin show in the seventies and developed a relationship with her because she was fearful for The Gippers life. Quigley was the sister of Carroll Quigley, the noted Georgetown professor and mentor of Bill Clinton. Carroll Quigley was one of the few establishment professors who was aware of the fact and wrote extensively about the overthrow of Western politics by a group of elite bankers, businessmen, and acamedicians titled, The Anglo-American Establishement. But I’m getting slightly ahead of myself. We’re merely trying to establish the role that astrology played in The Reagan White House, during Ronald Reagan’s Aquarian presidency.

I met Joan Quigley once in the lobby of the Fairmont in SF, back in 1988. She had just written a book on astrology and was busy promoting it. Madame Quigley was demure to the point of being stiff. But she wasn’t calm by any stretch–there was a nervous energy that churned beneath her quiet reserve.

The difference between Reagan and Sarah Palin as Aquarians is pretty significant. Reagan, for all of the recognition he got as being “the great communicator” and a “uniter” was really all about doing business, big business. He was in some ways more Capricornian, since his mid-heaven, the place where we manifest our life path into the world was at zero degrees, it’s most potent placement. Sarah Palin has no Caprricorn planets in her chart at all and even though she has it on the tenth house as well, her chart is dominated by the eleventh house and her five-planet-stellium in Aquarius. If anything, Palin will be the anti-Reagan.

Ironically, Barack Obama has cited his admiration for Reagan, this goes back to the polarizing, opposite/attract dynamic I mentioned in the first part of this series as it relates to Obama (Leo) and Palin (Aquarius).

When it comes to the executive branch, the preponderance of presidents that are air and fire signs is notable; Dubya, fire (Leo), Clinton, air (Libra), Bush 1, air (Gemini), Reagan, air, (Aquarius), Carter, air (Libra), Kennedy, air (Gemini). Only Nixon, earth, (Capricorn) is the only elected preisdent that was not air or fire in the past 48 years. This obviously favors Obama, a fire sign (Leo) and not McCain, an earth sign, (Virgo). However, Sarah Palin, an air sign and a dragon in Chinese astrology will figure prominently in this election (a rat year) and will most likely be a very favorable candidate in 2012, the return of the year of the dragon.

Tomorrow, the astrological future of The USA as it relates to Obama and Palin.

I think that about 70% of the time that I’ve written Sarah Palin’s name, I have pecked out “Plain” instead of “Palin” this unintended, yet obviously ironic anagram is pretty interesting. She is anything but plain when it comes to her appearance, and yet as she spoke last night, she was the voice of “plain” folk. Her acceptance speech was just about what I expected of an Aquarian with Aries rising and most of her planets in Air/Fire/Earth. She was clear and in no way did she ever appear to stumble and fall on the biggest stage, during the biggest moment of her life. It still remains to be seen if she stays on the ticket (my bet is that she will), but if she does, her upcoming debate with Joe Biden on the 2nd of October will be must see viewing. I have no doubt, again, simply based on her chart that she will be far more formidable than The Dems and others that are firmly entrenched in the liberal camp are betting on. Based on my blog from yesterday and some of the conclusions I made, let’s see how it played out in her speech The bold are my comments from yesterday:

She will no doubt be an advocate of extracting this oil and the conservationists along with big oil would present considerable challenges. But on the subject of work, Palin is a bootstraps kind of gal and I could easily see her as being an advocate of re-invigorating domestic industry versus outsourcing. They will both revolutionize work, but from different angles and using disparate resources and measures in order to do so, Palin however might be even more agressive in this area than Obama.

Here is what Sarah Palin had to say about her relationship with oil, energy and work:

Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we’re going to lay more pipelines … build more new-clear plants … create jobs with clean coal … and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources. We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers.

The more seasoned and perhaps cynical pol might view this as frothing, populist, cheerleading, and yet, again, based on her chart, Sarah Palin actually believes this and if she has any say in the matter will lead a formidable charge in the area of energy independence and the creation of new jobs as a result. Right now, she is leaning on older school technologies, but Aquarians, are by nature progressive and forward thinking. She may start with the fundamemtal energy sources but I have no doubt that she will explore other, less publicized ways to create jobs via new forms of energy. Here is an excerpt on her path of service as it relates to a strong Virgo placement in her chart.

Sarah Palin has Uranus in Virgo and her psychic locus is in a very different place, unlike Obama who has Uranus in Leo. She is more concerned about service, work and healing, than Obama, who wants to be king. Both Pluto and Uranus are in Palin’s sixth house, ruled by Virgo. It is clear that this mother of five, public servant, hunter, etc is invested in transforming the idea of work and service, both on a personal and collective level. This is a very big theme in her life and will serve her admirably as it will promote a sense of humility and the feeling that noone is better than anyone else, not even herself. Elitism is not a word that people will ever use in the same breath as Sarah Palin.

Palin’s declaration of her desire to serve could not be more clear:

But here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion – I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.

And again:

But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and … a servant’s heart.

Victory in Iraq is finally in sight … he wants to forfeit. Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay … he wants to meet them without preconditions. Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America … he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights?

Here is where Sarah Palin’s Aryan/Martian aggression comes to the fore. While she can use the martial energy to be a passionate and tireless advocate/reformer for the people, her hawkish views do not leave much room for diplomacy, tact and saving face. This might appeal to the conservative caste that so readily supported Bush in his often perilous, yet undiminished convictions, but it could also lead to a backlash as people are beginning to call her “Dick Cheney in high heels and a skirt” (now that’s a priceless image!) Sarah Palin, for better or worse, when it comes to security and freedom she will be (pardon any innuendo) black and white on these matters. It’s a real, potential blindspot that could be manipulated both at home and abroad, especially when McCain’s views on the subject are very public and equally aggressive, as a result, temperment might not be in abundance on the McCain/Palin watch.Here is what I wrote about her relationship with Obama.

Lastly, she is the astrological opposite of Obama as Leo and Aquarius oppose one another in the skies. One wants to be king, the other to live in a world without them and yet as opposites do, they will be attracted to one another as much as they are repulsed. At some point between now and November, if Sarah Palin remains on the ticket, she and Obama will clash and it will be memorable. But in the midst of their conflict, each will grow to respect one another.

Last night, she threw down the gauntlet:

We’ve all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers. And there is much to like and admire about our opponentbut listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform – not even in the state senate. This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word “victory” except when he’s talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed … when the roar of the crowd fades away … when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot – what exactly is our opponent’s plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger … take more of your money … give you more orders from Washington … and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy … our opponent is against producing it.

And from earlier in her speech:

And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening. We tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

Here Palin again intones populist rhetoric that is part and parcel of being so heavily influenced by Aquarius and yet she is not afraid to go on the attack and dissasemble. Remember, Johnny Lydon is an Aquarian and represents the extreme in Aquarian ethos as a nihlistic punk who was unafraid to take on The Queen (Sid Vicious was a Leo btw). But Palin must do a better job in delineating the differences between her and McCain as she states that he, “doesn’t run with the Washington herd.” While this may play well with uninformed conservatives, it will be surefire fodder for liberals who will unpack McCain’s voting record in a DC minute and reveal that he really does run with them. Palin might suffer from her blind conviction as it is clearly illustrated by the fervor and zeal of the Aquarian/Aries connection.All in all, her speech was what I pretty much thought it would be based on her chart, but even I was surprised by her towering confidence and nearly flawless delivery.

Tomorrow, Part 4; The spiritual destiny of The US and how astorlogy has and will play a role.

Let’s not kid ourselves. This election isn’t about John McCain vs. Barack Obama, or Sarah Palin vs. Joe Biden, it’s about Palin vs. Obama, in the first Generation Zero showdown in a presidential election. For those out of the know, “Gen Zero” or “Gen Zed” as I lovingly refer to it is a sub generation born between 1958 and 1966, sanwiched between The Boomers and Gen X. The theme song for this back end boomer caste is Richard Hell’s, “Blank Generation” which neatly sums up many Gen Zed attitudes by cynically spitting out, “Triangles were fallin at the window as the doctor cursed/He was a cartoon long forsaken by the public eye/The nurse adjusted her garters as I breathed my first/The doctor grabbed my throat and yelled, “God’s consolation prize!.” This pretty much says it all as this/my sub-generation, the second child at the table when the fat of the land was being carved up.

The boomers got there first and capitalized on the savings that their depression era mammies and pappies salted away and started buying land and cheap real estate before the Gen Zedders were able to get on the credit train. While The Boomers came of age in the anything goes sixties, Gen Zero was weened on the acid reflux of Vietnam, the fall of Nixon and the impotence of Carter. Needless to say, influenced by the values of the sixties, their playground looked a lot less promising when they/we came to age. Instead of The Beatles and “Love Is All You Need,” they/we got Led Zeppelin and a “Whole Lotta Love” (loosely translated into “the shaft”) and the cloudy haze of self-searching through the supermarket of drugs franchised by their elders. They also didn’t really get the benefit of the “greed is good” Reagan era that Gen X trumped into dot.com start ups, IPO’s and conspicuous consumption. Trying to live up to the spiritual values that most of the boomers had abandoned (hello Bill Clinton) in favor of hard core capiltalism (hello Jerry Rubin) and late to the game when it came to an obsession with gadgets and video games, (hello Shawn Fanning), This is the generation that Obama and Palin represent and will leave it’s imprint on America and the world for at least the next four years.

Obama and Palin could not be more different as represented by their astrological make-up and yet they still mirror the zeitgeist of the times in which they were born into and raised.

Let’s start with Obama. He is Leo Personified. There is no denying that the man LOVES adulation and the messiah program that is being run for him makes him all the more malleable as it appeals to his Leo ego in a very, very, big way. What’s interesting abut Obama is because he has such a debate and grey area surrounding his birth time, certificate, etc, it’s difficult to pin him down about where the planets fall and angles meet. Based on what I have seen he has been cast as a Scorpio rising and as an Aquarian rising, but due to the controversy surrounding his birth chart, it’s difficult to get a fix on him. Sound familiar? The Aquarian rising chart has him being born in Hawaii, but the other rising suggests a differetn birthplace. Some have mentioned Canada, while others Kenya. Based on what I know and feel, I believe Obama is a Scorpio rising. That said, he has Neptune in Scorpio sitting nearly on top of his ascendent. This is critical as it transmits the experience of Obama as messiah to the masses. With Neptune in Scorpio greeting the world at large, people are apt to project feelings of religiousity and worship onto him and let’s not detract from the fact that he can be incredibly inspiring, so it is easy for people to want to put their faith in him. Whenever a planet like Pluto, Uranus and in this case, Neptune sits on the ascendent, the person with such an alignment has the ability to impact the world at large. They can appear almost trans-personal, channeling energies that are at times supra-human. Read the rest of this entry »

>So it must have been sometime last week when I was driving down the freeway and heard Christian Slaters familiar pipes telling me how great it was to buy a used car online. I’d heard this commercial hundreds of times before, but this time, I thought more about Slater in the context of Hollywood stars as compromised selves, split personalities that do the mytho-poetice bidding of meme agents with little resistance.

The compartmentalizing of self is actually one of the unique qualities that many actors share, to be able set one personality aside in the corner oftheir mind and then occupy some other created self. There was no better example than Peter Sellers, who in his autobiography would often claim that he as a personality didn’t even exist and that his characters allowed him to live his life through them.

This type of sectionalizing the self is one of the cornerstone techniques of mind control and allows certain people to carry on two or more separate realities at the same time. There are some examples of this that slip through the surface cracks of Hollyweird. Chuck Barris was adamant that he was an assasin as well as a game show host. Stephen Stills would often brag that he was an elite soldier in Vietnam and Phil Ochs, in the depth of his break from reality exclaimed that he was an agent that was a killer for hire as well as a voice of protest. These schisms in the psyche are not uncommon in the entertainment industry as I will illustrate shortly. Not only is the condition more common than what one might think, but the entertainment industry as an arm of the espionage world goes back to the 30′s and perhaps beyond. It recently came to light that Julia Child and Harry Houdini were a spies during WWII. It is also fairly common knowledge that Errol Flynn was also a spy hanging out the like of Ian Flemming (purported to be a MI 6 asset) and of all people, L. Ron Hubbard, who used Scientology and the auditing processs to extort info from well connected and often highly placed government officials.

As I began to think about the connection between the intelligence agencies and Hoillywood, triggered by Slater’s voice on the commercial, I wondered where Slater was in all of this? I wondered if the sociopath that he seemed very comfortable to portraying Clarence “I see dead Elvis” Worley in True Romance. Ironically Presley once approached Nixon about becoming a member of The DEA. He was also the psycho-boyfriend of Winona Ryder in Heathers, cold bloodedly executing the deaths of snotty clique chicks. Lastly, he even played the little brother of an arms dealer in Kuffs, who forcefully takes over the family business. So it seems as though Slater’s cinematic resume has all of the crucial components that has led him to his latest and perhaps most revealing role as he stars in a new series on NBC titled “My Own Worst Enemy.” Now get this; He plays a Edward/Henry a character who is a loving and well adjusted father by day and a stone cold killer for hire by night and, they aren’t even aware of one another. So in the span of roughly 24 hours, from my hearing his commercial, ruminating on his past, the whole concept of actor/asset/spy and how Slater might fit into this twisted paradigm, voila, he deilvers.

The concept of these various selves shut off from one another is nothing new in Hollywood, The Manchurian Candidate, Fight Club, Bourne Conspiracy are all films that have protagonists with dual and disconnected personalities. The Matrix and Usual Suspects have characters that also have dual personalities however, they are in rapport with another. I could go on and on, but let’s just say that dressed up schizophrenia is good for characters and plot devices, perhaps even better as a model for the new social self.

Let’s move onto the next character in this Janus-like deconstruction

Read the rest of this entry »