Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice, The winter solstice occurs Thursday at 12:30 a.m. EST (0530 GMT), which corresponds to 9:30 p.m. PST on Wednesday for observers further west. At the time, the sun will be passing over the over the Tropic of Capricorn.

Here’s how northern winter solstice works: Since June 20, the altitude of the midday sun has been lowering as its direct rays have been gradually migrating to the south. The sun’s altitude above the horizon at noontime is 47 degrees lower now, compared to six months ago. As we often mention, your clenched fist held at arm’s length measures roughly 10 degrees, so the sun at midday is now nearly “five fists” lower in the southern sky compared to June 21.

Ancient skywatchers had no understanding of this movement of the sun. They thought this celestial machinery might break down someday, and the sun would continue southward, never to return. As such, the lowering of the sun was cause for fear and wonder. [10 Skywatching Misconceptions Explained]

As “armistice” is defined as a staying of the action of arms, “solstice” is a staying of the sun’s apparent motion over the latitudes of the Earth. At the summer solstice, the sun stops its northward motion and begins heading south. At the winter solstice, it turns north.

Technically, at one minute past the moment of the solstice, the sun has turned around and started north. It will cross the equator at the vernal equinox, passing into the Northern Hemisphere on March 20, at 1:14 a.m. EDT (or on the calendar date of March 19 for those living in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones).

When the ancients saw the sun stop and slowly climb to a higher midday location, people rejoiced; here was a promise that spring would return. Most cultures had winter solstice celebrations and some adapted it to other events.

In Persia, the solstice marked the birthday of Mithra, the Sun King. In ancient times, Dec. 25 was the date of the lavish Roman festival of Saturnalia, a sort of bacchanalian thanksgiving. Saturnalia was celebrated around the time of the winter solstice. And in 275 A.D., the Roman Emperor, Aurelian, commemorated a feast day coinciding with the winter solstice: Die Natalis Invicti Solis (“The Birthday of the Unconquered Sun”).

Among the many varied customs linked with this special season for thousands of years, the exchanging of gifts is almost universal. Mother Nature herself offers the sky observer in north temperate latitudes the two gifts of longest nights and a sky more transparent than usual.

One reason for the clarity of a winter’s night is that cold air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air can. Hence, on many nights in the summer, the warm moisture-laden atmosphere causes the sky to appear hazier.

Goooh

Goooh:Many of us are in consensus, even if we fly the different flags of Tea Parties, Tenthers, GOOOH, and so on. And by the looks of things, many Democrats have also just about “had it” after getting a war-mongering, lobbyist-filled, corporatist, secretive, and spying administration after not even the first full year of office. We need to reverse course to avoid an iceberg that will sink us all.

Secession? Not in the near horizon. Revolution? Nope. These are remedies that are always available to mankind. As much as the legal scholars and elites want to craft “rules” to retain the status quo, natural law dictates that the order of mankind transcends fascism, tyranny and corruption. It always has, and it always will. But these remedies will not be exercised in the next coming months.

Instead, we need to look to the 2010 elections. Within months, we will be in the thick of the political process once again. We are all-too-familiar with what we do not like in the system, and as we all know, the rhetoric will be spattered and bandied about as usual. Does anyone need a crystal ball to predict what will be said? “No lobbyists will influence me. I am for the people. I am for small government. I will vote to eliminate the debt.” Really?

Has any politician ever stood up and said, “I am beholden to corporations and lobbyists. I like power and want to expand my control. I need your money to do it, and if you will not give it to me, I’ll support Ben Bernanke and the Fed’s cranking up the printing press and running your kids and grandkids further into debt.” Of course, not. But that’s what they invariably do, despite what they say.

So, we need to be mindful and exercise a sharp, collective wit about us. We need to spot shallow rhetoric as soon as our candidates spew it, and when they do, we need to call them out for it. Who knows? Maybe a new website is in order: 2010rhetoric.com.

I think (and I hope you do, too) that we should DEMAND our candidates to tell us where they stand. They should tell us, in no uncertain terms, the answer to the following questions:

Name, in order, the top 10 federal programs that you believe are beyond federal authority under the Constitution; whether you would vote to dissolve them; the fiscal impact dissolution would have on the federal budget; and how long, in your opinion, should it take to dissolve them.

Should the federal budget be reduced, and if so, by what percentage do you propose? In terms of percentages (e.g. -5%, +10%), what is the highest change in the federal budget you would accept before committing, by your answer here, to vote against said budget?

If these candidates cannot or will not identify specific institutions and commit to answer the budget question, then, we know they are not for us, pure and simple. If they answer, then, we have a way to track promises and progress. If the candidate is elected, did he/she vote to fund the program, and if so, how much? Did the candidate make any effort to dissolve the program? Did the candidate match his/her actions with his/her budgetary constraint views and commitment?

As this movement continues, I realize this article’s specific suggestion will have since been forgotten. Reality dictates the process will not be carried out they way “Jeff” wants it. That’s okay, though, because that is not the purpose of this article.

The purpose of this article is to heighten awareness that we are setting the stage to be played and suckered with spineless rhetoric, once again. We need to be ready for that. We need to call candidates on the floor for it, and we need to let them know those days are over. A new discourse needs to occur.

This time, we need to set the stage right, and we need to demand specific answers to specific questions. “I’m not a lawyer,” “Let me get back to you,” and changing the subject will not cut it this time around.

Let’s make this the overall tone, and let’s make the message loud and clear. We must refuse to vote for “personalities,” parties and rhetoric. If we do not and we go back to old ways of voting, we will accomplish nothing and will have wasted immeasurable amounts of our precious time, energy, and the constructive end to our collective frustration.

Commit and stand firm to your principles and your demands.

Jeff Matthews [send him email] is an attorney living in Houston, Texas. His current projects include the website SovereignStates, and the forthcoming organization, The National Taxpayer Takeover.