The Cardinal T-Square Crisis - British Petroleum's Massive Oil Leak In The Gulf Of Mexico: A Mundane Astrological Solution; Plus, Israel, Gaza & MV Rachel Corrie Ship, Turkey, Tensions In Middle East & Mass Murder By Taxi Driver In England?

The Cardinal T-Square Crisis

British Petroleum's Massive Oil Leak

Memorial crosses symbolizing what's been lost because of British Petroleum's 'Deepwater Horizon' oil rig explosion and oil leak stand in the front yard of a house on Grand Isle, La., Tuesday, June 1, 2010. 'This is breaking people,' property owner Patrick Shay said of the spill's effect on Grand Isle residents. 
Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP

A Criminal Probe Of BP Ahead?

What about Stopping the Oil & Gas Leak?

A Mundane Solution & A Young Genius' Idea Could Do The Trick

Plus,

Gaza, Israel, Turkey, The MV Rachel Corrie & Cardinal Crisis In The Middle East

&

Taxi Driver Goes Berserk: Mass Murder in Northwest England?

By Theodore White; mundane Astrolog.S

Θεόδωρος

I've been urging calm, prudence, and restraint when it comes to these times as we near the full power of the Cardinal Crisis Transits - the first in a series of powerful global inclinations which has already begun.

The inclinations are highly volatile, and incline people, and the natural world towards unusual, sudden events that can be hard to solve.

These cardinal inclinations can be hasty, impulsive, and lead to irrational violent behavior as well as we've witnessed worldwide.



Mundane Comments on BP & The Middle East, etc ~ 

I continue to urge caution, as great accidents can take place on and over the high seas. It does not help when any leader decides to force issues that world transits do not support.

Geopolitics, competing interests, concentric circle groups, head games, power trips, power plays, etc., aside, the world transits could care less.

The one rule I always try to communicate about the transpersonal bodies is that they define the times, those of the past, the present, and the future. They care not for your opinions, or your personal sensibilities... sensitive as they may be.

No one ~ no matter how "powerful" or "rich" they may believe themselves to be, either individually, or by group, or organization ~ no one can escape the astrological laws of the universe.

This is impossible and cannot be done by human beings bound by the transits.

Moreover, those who lack knowledge of transits are that much more to be fully inclined by them ~ to their own demise, and that of others as well. And, there are consequences for this ignorance.

No matter "who" you may be or how much "power" or how many billions you may have. It will all come to naught. Nada. Nothing. Zero. Zip.

What will count is what is within you, and it better be good too or you are thoroughly screwed.

The real power is with the knowledge of transits. All true astrologers know this to be true. By this, one is able to help tone down events merely by understanding one's own place in the world, and also, having compassion, love and understanding for others who also share this world with you.


We do not see much compassion coming from the likes of some these days, such as British Petroleum, and others. 

It is not wise to mock the power of the universe around you, which you inhabit. You should be superstitious in this regard, but you are ignorant.

We can see this now with the events facing companies like BP. This is nowhere to run. There is nowhere to hide. One cannot hide from global transits.

For the free price of reading a mundane forecast, those big boys "in charge" could have easily avoided the oil leak, and, the crisis in many places ongoing, and building up...

That is what is truly scary. That some of these "powerful" people are, well, clueless.

I remind those that are "clueless" - that there is a heavy, and I mean heavy spiritual price to pay for transgressions.

But, go right ahead, be my guest, and "think" you know what you are doing under these powerful celestial inclinations, and see and experience what happens in the future.

Do not say I did not warn you.

I've been doing so for some time. For free, although this advanced astrology was paid for through the ages with gifts, and gold and silver by the monarchs and intelligentsia class who could also balance their nation's accounts by the way. 

Try that these days with the sovereign "debt" governments. Some of you guys are a joke. 

The monarchs - of centuries past - make you so-called "modern power brokers" look like the spoiled children you really are.

Do you really want to play dangerous games with the Cardinal T-Square Crisis?

Very unwise.

These mundane planetary configurations come and go through history. They are always on time.  

All the time.

It was the wise monarchs, the kings and queens, and some of the princes of the ages who listened  to and heeded their mundane astrologers, such as Queen Elizabeth I and Catherine De' Medici, to name just two.

If you think Queen Elizabeth I would have attacked a humanitarian flotilla, you would be wrong. She went for the Spanish Armada instead; according to the advice of her mundane astrologer, John Dee, who forecasted a devastating storm and gave tactics to the navy which secured total victory for England.

The rest is, well, what we call "history."

Perhaps we could use a little less testosterone out there when it comes to playing around with "paintball guns" that kill people, and expensive military hardware under the cardinal planetary inclinations that are about with you guys?

I also find it curious, and very interesting that common people, from all over the world are helping out - unpaid - and on their own time and dime, to help clean the oil mess up where they can. They also find time to deliver food, medicine, clothing, and toys for people in need.


Few of the "important" people out there who jaw up President Obama seeking favors are out there cleaning up the beaches with their own hands and their hearts.

Even the CEO of British Petroleum was more worried about what one cameraman might film on a oil-soaked American beach rather than donning a environment suit, grabbing a shovel and helping to clean up some curious black substance his oil & gas company allowed 40 millions gallons of to spill all along the Gulf coast states.


You see Gov. Bobby Jindal out there. You see President Barack Obama out there. You see single women, mothers, unemployed, broke, surviving hand to mouth working like men, cleaning up what breaks their hearts to see on the water, on the beaches, in the marshes, in the natural habitats.

They cry through it - but they keep working. We have our great National Guard out there, day and night, unsung heroes and heroines, doing all they can to keep the oil away.

Teenagers. Children. The elderly. Doing what they all can where they can and not being asked. They cannot place a price on what is being lost, ruined, and killed in the Gulf.

But, where are you? You so-called "leaders" who seem to able to muster tons of testosterone, jutting out chests, carrying a fat wallet, and talking a bold game for the cameras?

They like to play "power games" on television, but seem to be unable to put on some working boots, a white environment suit, and get to work cleaning up the oil mess?


You're a bunch of losers, slackers, that's what you are, and you deserve what you've got coming. I would not want to be you. No way Jose. Have you read the transits to come?

But, you would not believe me. I tell you, there is a time coming, where you will wish that you were one of those people doing good in the world, and you will beg to get another chance and the answer will be a resounding, "No!" 

But, you will not believe me; a mundane astrologer. And that, my friends, is a shame indeed. 

The universe does not play games. You want to know what is life and death? Look to your own stars, your own nativities, and to the skies above of the world transits.

Something is coming for you that you never thought was real. 

I tell you: it is real.


If BP wanted any idea of what's to come: here's something else for you - think secondary progressions by naibod, and a retrograde Mercury, in Taurus, not for 24 days, but for 24+ years. 

It is the end you did not foresee, nor would your own arrogance, the sloppiness in running your company, and your mammoth greed allow for you to see it.

But, you better believe it. It will soon be time to find a new career and those dividends BP is so silent about - you know, that $10+ billion you want to spread out before you have to pay for ruining the Gulf states? 

I will give you a hint: you all will not be in the oil & gas business for very much longer, you can bet on that. 

Watch, wait, and see for yourself.


Do not say I did not forecast this and warn you of the transits.

I just work here.

At this time in the world, I would advise perhaps that we allow good women and peaceful men to run the show for a while since some of the men out there do not seem to have it together much, and are causing so much damage - under very unfavorable world transits - that the stupidity of it all just boggles the mind.

Again, it is obvious that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not seem to heed mundane astrological advice from the tone of his most recent statement on the blockade of Gaza, and the May 31, 2010 attack on the Turkish aid ship. 

I continue to warn anyone who cares to listen that the global planetary transits and their inclinations are to be taken seriously. 

The world climate, now, and to come, under these particular cardinal configurations are highly volatile.

Caution is strongly advised, particularly between Israel and Turkey, and well, the rest of the Middle East and the world, including Europe. 

And on the high seas, over them, and below them. I have been warning about potential events for quite a while now, and repeat my forecast warnings again here.

I urge leaders and policymakers, including presidents and prime ministers, secretaries of state, foreign ministers, commanders, execs, admirals, - okay - everyone, etc., etc., to use caution, prudence, and patience during the cardinal inclinations of this year, and next. 

Let's see about being real men and showing compassion for our fellow human beings as well perhaps? Especially with a Jupiter/Uranus conjunction at hand, and, by the way, a Cardinal T-Square?

 "This was not a 'Love boat,' it was a Hate boat": Says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a nationally televised address to the Israeli people June 2, 2010.

See Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech here.


~ The Jerusalem Post reports ~

Jerusalem-- June 2, 2010-- "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night, made his first public statement to the nation after the IDF raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, which left nine activists dead and has wreaked havoc in the international media.

Speaking live to the nation, Netanyahu said:

"The State of Israel faces an attack of international hypocrisy. This is not the first time we have faced this, two years ago we faced a massive attack of missiles fired by Hamas who hid behind civilians. 

Israel went to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties but who did the UN condemn? It condemned Israel." 

"Hamas continues to arm. Iran continues to send weapons to Gaza. Iran's rockets are intended to hit Israeli communities, not just in the vicinity of Gaza, but in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem."

"It is our right according to International law to prevent arms smuggling to Gaza and that is why the naval blockade was put in place. The flotilla intended to break the blockade, not to bring in emergency supplies which we allow to reach Gaza"

"If the blockade had been broken, hundreds of ships would have followed, with a scale of smuggling far greater than that possible in the tunnels. Two ships stopped in the last years -Francop and Karine-A - had hundreds of tons of weapons."

"It is our duty to examine any ship going to Gaza - If we don't do this, the result would be an Iranian port in Gaza, only a few dozen kilometers from Tel Aviv, which would also threaten other countries in the region. 

We offered to take the cargo to Ashdod and examine it, an offer which Egypt seconded. The flotilla leaders rejected this."

"The takeover of five of the ships passed quietly. In the sixth ship, our soldiers encountered an extreme group that supports Hamas terror. This wasn't the "love boat" this was a flotilla of terror supporters."

"I talked to our soldiers, they were shot at. There was an attempt to lynch them.
 

These are pacifists? The soldiers defended their lives with incomparable restraint.
 

What would any other country do? 

At best, they would act in the same way, or much worse."

"Of course we regret the loss of life, but I ask the international community what would you do instead?

We'll continue to defend our citizens and assert our right for self defense, which is my first duty as Prime Minister."

"It is important that we stay united on this issue, which is a matter of life and death."

~

Regarding this week's transits: American Astrologer Elsa Panizzon says,

 "Lots of action this week, no one is likely to be bored.

Amid the various chaos, surprised and hi-jinks of all kinds there is a stabilizing factor in play all week, courtesy a tight trine between Saturn in Virgo and Mercury in Taurus.

Saturn slows the mind in Virgo. Mercury in Taurus is not known for genius, but it is known for a cool head and a stable mind  - could be a saving grace in this climate."

I agree, let's hope so. I am praying this will be so. More from Elsa on this week's transits hopefully Thursday...

Meanwhile, current geopolitical problems could be solved, or at least temporarily resolved with wise, earthy heads, common sense, slowing down, diplomacy, being calm, cool and collected under pressure.... or I tell everyone, things could get out of hand.

I also continue to strongly urge caution, prudence, and not taking undo risks that could make already bad situations that much worse under the powerful world inclinations now strengthening as we approach the Cancer solstice of mid-June and into the months of July, August and September.

For a long time, I have been particularly concerned about the conjunction of both Jupiter and Uranus to the fixed star Scheat, a star at the end of the sign Pisces.

Scheat is infamous in the centuries-old annals of mundane astrology for being associated with great accidents at sea, and in water, from small ponds, lakes, to the high seas and oceans of the world.

We see this with a massive oil leak off the shores of the southern United States...

Cardinal Crisis in The Gulf:

Huge Leak That Just Will Not Stop Pouring Millions of Gallons of Oil into the Gulf of Mexico?

Six weeks into the British Petroleum Oil Leak in the Gulf of Mexico, and still, oil continues to be ejected in huge volumes from under the Gulf of Mexico.

 Fuming Over Oil Leak: A British Petroleum sign is seen smeared at a gas station at the intersection of Houston & Crosby Streets in New York City June 1, 2010.
Credit: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

The oil leak has angered tens of millions of Americans, and others worldwide.

The April 20th explosion that killed 11 rig workers, and the subsequent leaking of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and coasts of the surrounding states shows that the current crisis may have begun two days earlier, as Mercury stationed retrograde on April 18.

This means prior to April 20, someone knew there were problems below, but could not contain it, or, felt that they could. Either way, the subsequent explosion of the rig and deaths of the 11 rig workers April 20th proved that their efforts failed.

Transits show Mercury recently moved out of its "shadow" cycle at 12-degrees Taurus on May 28-29, and that progress can be made in stopping the leak in the days ahead, but time is running out.

The rush to do so is evident, since the stronger transits of the Cardinal crisis start June 8, with the conjunction of Jupiter & Uranus at 00-Aries, along with the ongoing Saturn, Uranus, Pluto T-Square configuration.

After June 8, things could get very out of hand and turn a disaster into something much more epic; which could only mean two things: the end of life as we knew it in and around the Gulf of Mexico, and the end of British Petroleum as a company.

Oil and gas continue to spew out of broken pipe from the Deepwater Horizon oil leak site in the Gulf of Mexico in this video image taken from a BP live video feed June 1, 2010. Credit: Reuters

~ Reuters reports June 2, 2010 ~

Louisiana, USA-- "BP Plc hit a snag in its latest effort to curb the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the British energy giant's shares stabilized on Wednesday and parts of the huge oil slick reached neighboring states.

The company's latest plan is to siphon off some of the oil by first using robot submarines to cut away what is left of the ruined offshore well's leaking riser pipe, then lower a containment dome over the remaining wellhead assembly.

 Support vessels surround a relief well near the Deepwater Horizon oil and gas leak in the Gulf of Mexico just off the coast of Louisiana.
Credit: Lee Celano/Reuters

BP will then funnel crude to the surface.

But the diamond saw being used to cut through the pipe became stuck, and BP is employing robots on the seabed to free it, a difficult task one mile deep.

"They're working to move the riser pipe to set it free....

The goal is later on today to finish that cut, and to be able to put a containment device over the top of the wellhead and stop containing the oil," Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, chief of the U.S. disaster response, told reporters.

Spread of Oil Leak: Click on Map Graphic to Enlarge
 
BP's latest plan to curb the oil flow after the "top kill" strategy failed could represent the last best hope before August, when the company hopes to have two relief wells drilled and functioning.

This latest attempted fix may actually increases the flow of oil at least temporarily before the leak can be contained.

President Barack Obama, facing one of the biggest challenges to his presidency, is under relentless pressure to stop the leak.

 A roadside sign in Grand Isle, Louisiana expresses anger at BP and President Obama over the oil leak disaster.
Credit: Lee Celano/Reuters

BP, now facing an Obama administration criminal investigation, has lost two-thirds of its market value since the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 and triggered the mile-deep gusher.

BP shares were down less than 2 percent in European trading June 2nd, after plunging 13.1 percent the previous session.

The company has lost more than a third of its market value, or about $67 billion (46 billion pounds), since the crisis began.

The cost of insuring the debt of BP, rig operator Transocean and Anadarko Petroleum Corp hit fresh highs on Wednesday as concerns grew about the companies' exposure to the spill.

 Tar Balls Hit The Beaches: Workers contracted by British Petroleum pick up building oil tar balls flowing in from the Deep Horizon oil leak off the beach of Grand Island, Louisiana on May 30, 2010.
Credit: Lee Celano/Reuters

Tar balls and other oil debris from the giant, fragmented slick reached Alabama's Dauphin Island, parts of Mississippi and were less than 10 miles from Florida's northwest Panhandle coast.

The region's vital seafood and tourism industries were at risk.

A section of Dauphin Island beach well known for its white sand was covered with patches of black and an orange sheen.

Hundreds of workers and around 150 boats set out to lay more protective boom around the island, though they were delayed by a squall that passed over the tourist haven off Alabama's Gulf coast.

 Working Day & Night: U.S. National Guardsman Sgt. Katherine Triche from Ponchatoula, Louisiana closes a valve on Tiger Dam June 1, 2010. The makeshift dam is being used to protect Grand Isle from the oil coming in and spreading with the high tides.
Credit: Sean Gardner/Reuters

"It is so depressing. It is really happening. It really won't go away. And the American people really don't know what has hit them," said Dauphin island homeowner Caroline Graves.

LAST BEST HOPE?

The containment dome, designed with a gasket on the bottom to fit snugly over the leak and seal out seawater, is intended to capture a large portion of the billowing oil and channel it through a hose to a ship on the surface.

BP must make two cuts on the riser pipe, with the second key to ensuring that BP gets a clean seal between the pipe and the containment dome.

"The cleaner the cut, the tighter the seal we can make on it," Allen said, enabling BP to capture more oil and funnel it to the surface.

The cap also is equipped with valves to allow operators to inject methanol or warm water that would prevent the buildup of slushy gas hydrates that thwarted an earlier siphoning effort.

But sawing off the end of the damaged riser pipe through which oil has been pouring nonstop could increase the flow of crude by 20 percent until the containment dome is lowered into place.

Allen said it could take 72 hours to get the containment cap operational.

As much as 19,000 barrels of oil (800,000 gallons or 3 million liters) a day has been pouring into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana since the April 20 explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig and killed 11 crewmen.

The accident ranks as the worst oil spill in U.S. history, surpassing the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska.

The spreading slick coincided with the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season and predictions that this summer could be the stormiest since 2005, when Katrina and Rita wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast.

Commercial fishing, shrimping and oyster harvests have been shut down for weeks along much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, home to a $6.5 billion seafood industry.

 Frustrated: Robert Armand, a 27-year professional shrimp farmer sits idle on May 31, 2010 in Grand Isle, Louisiana.
Credit: Sean Gardner/Reuters

While cleanup crews have attacked the oil slick on the surface with skimmers, dispersants and controlled burns, shoreline-protection teams have scurried to block the spread of oil with containment booms, sandbags and other barriers.

Scientists and Gulf residents are most concerned about the encroachment of oil into bayous and marshes teeming with shrimp, oysters, crabs, fish, birds and other wildlife.

BP will seek to patch up its battered share price by reassuring investors the cost of cleaning up the spill is manageable and will not affect dividends, British media reported on Wednesday.

"If our current efforts were to fail and we have to wait for the relief wells to be drilled and had six months of clean-up, we estimate the cost at $3 billion," BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward told the Daily Mail."  
~

The White House is so angry about the six-week-old oil leak that it has now brought in the Department of Justice ~ looking to potentially file both civil and criminal charges against BP?

U.S. President Barack Obama surveys the damage May 28, 2010 along the Louisiana coastline at Fourchon Beach caused after a BP oil line ruptured in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. 
Credit: Larry Downing/Reuters

~ AP reports June 2, 2010 ~
By Greg Bluestein & Brian Skoloff

PORT FOURCHON, La. – "As submersible robots made another risky attempt to control the underwater Gulf oil gusher, the crude on the surface spread, closing in on Florida.

BP's stock plummeted and took much of the market down with it, and the federal government announced criminal and civil investigations into the spill.

The stakes couldn't be higher.

After six weeks of failures to block the well or divert the oil, the latest mission involved using a set of tools akin to an over-sized deli slicer and garden shears to break away the broken riser pipe so engineers can then position a cap over the well's opening.

But it's a big gamble: Even if it succeeds, it will temporarily increase the flow of an already massive leak by 20 percent — at least 100,000 gallons more a day.

That's on top of the estimated 500,000 to 1 million gallons gushing out already.

In Florida, officials confirmed an oil sheen about nine miles from the famous white sands of Pensacola beach.

Crews shored up miles of boom and prepared for the mess to make landfall as early as Wednesday, June 2.

Workers collect oil that washed ashore from last month's Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion on Fourchon Beach Port Fourchon, La., Tuesday, June 1, 2010. Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP

"It's inevitable that we will see it on the beaches," said Keith Wilkins, deputy chief of neighborhood and community services for Escambia County.

Florida would be the fourth state hit. Crude has already been reported along barrier islands in Alabama and Mississippi, and it has impacted some 125 miles of Louisiana coastline.

More federal fishing waters were closed, too, another setback for one of the region's most important industries.

 More than one-third of federal waters were off-limits for fishing, along with hundreds of square miles of state waters.

Fisherman Hong Le, who came to the U.S. from Vietnam, had rebuilt his home and business after Hurricane Katrina wiped him out. Now he's facing a similar situation.

"I'm going to be bankrupt very soon," Le, 53, said as he attended a meeting for fishermen hoping for help. "Everything is financed, how can I pay?

"No fishing, no welding. I weld on commercial fishing boats and they aren't going out now, so nothing breaks."

Le, like other of the fishermen, received $5,000 from BP PLC, but it was quickly gone.

"I call that 'Shut your mouth money,'" said Murray Volk, 46, of Empire, who's been fishing for nearly 30 years. "That won't pay the insurance on my boat and house. They say there will be more later, but do you think the electric company will wait for that?"

 A sign left by the side of the road near Grand Isle, Louisiana. US authorities said they opened a criminal probe into the nation's worst ever oil spill as BP voiced hopes of capping the six-week-old Gulf of Mexico leak soon. Credit: Win Mcnamee/AFP/Getty Images

BP may have bigger problems, though.

Attorney General Eric Holder, who visited the Gulf on Tuesday to survey the fragile coastline and meet with state and federal prosecutors, would not say who might be targeted in the probes into the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

 U.S. Justice Department Probe: From left, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana Stephanie Finley; U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana Jim Letten; U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder; Assistant Attorney General for the Environment & Natural Resources Division Ignacia Moreno; Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division Tony West; and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi Don Burkhalter - announce in New Orleans that the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, June 1, 2010. 
Credit: Cheryl Gerber/AP

"We will closely examine the actions of those involved in the spill," Attorney General Holder said. "If we find evidence of illegal behavior, we will be extremely forceful in our response."

The U.S. federal government also ramped up its response to the spill with President Barack Obama, ordering the co-chairmen of an independent commission investigating the spill to thoroughly examine the disaster, "to follow the facts wherever they lead, without fear or favor."

The president said that if laws are insufficient, they'll be changed. He said that if government oversight wasn't tough enough, that will change, too.

BP's stock nose-dived on Tuesday, losing nearly 15 percent of its value on the first trading day since the previous best option — the so-called top kill — failed and was aborted at the government's direction.

It dipped steeply with Holder's late-afternoon announcement, which also sent other energy stocks tumbling, ultimately causing the Dow Jones industrial average to tumble 112.

If BP's new effort to contain the leak fails, the procedure will have made the biggest oil spill in U.S. history even worse.

"It is an engineer's nightmare," said Ed Overton, a Louisiana State University professor of environmental sciences. "They're trying to fit a 21-inch cap over a 20-inch pipe a mile away.

That's just horrendously hard to do. It's not like you and I standing on the ground pushing — they're using little robots to do this."

Since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, eventually collapsing into the Gulf of Mexico, an estimated 20 million to 40 million gallons of oil has spewed, eclipsing the 11 million that leaked from the Exxon Valdez disaster.

BP PLC's Doug Suttles said that although there's no guarantee the company's latest cut-and-cap effort to close off the leak will work, he remained hopeful, but wouldn't guarantee success.

Engineers have put underwater robots and equipment in place this week after a bold attempt to plug the well by force-feeding it heavy mud and cement - called a "top kill" — was aborted over the weekend.

Crews pumped thousands of gallons of the mud into the well but were unable to overcome the pressure of the oil.

The company said if the small dome is successful it could capture and siphon a majority of the gushing oil to the surface. But the cut and cap will not halt the oil flow, just capture some of it and funnel it to vessels waiting at the surface.

The British oil giant has tried and failed repeatedly to halt the flow of the oil, and this attempt like others has never been tried before a mile beneath the ocean.

Experts warned it could be even riskier than the others because slicing open the 20-inch riser could unleash more oil if there was a kink in the pipe that restricted some of the flow.

Eric Smith, an associate director of the Tulane Energy Institute, likened the procedure to trying to place a tiny cap on a fire hydrant that's blowing straight up.

"Will they have enough weight to overcome the force of the flow?" he said. "It could create a lot of turbulence, but I do think they'll have enough weight."

But BP's best chance to actually plug the leak rests with a pair of relief wells but those won't likely be completed until August.

The company has carefully prepared the next phase, knowing that another failure could mean millions more gallons spew into the ocean and lead to even more public pressure.

And they say they have learned valuable lessons from the failure of a bigger version of the containment cap last month that was clogged with ice-like slush."
 ~

The entire oil leak is the stuff of high drama. The race to clean up what oil has escaped since mid-April is complicated by the daily influx of oil gushing into the Gulf.

Here, on Global Astrology, we propose a solution to ending the oil spill.

Solutions have been offered to British petroleum and over the web by engineers and others since April, but have not yet been tried.

This has led to the wasting of valuable time in a disaster that is about to become an epic disaster with decades of dire consequences ahead for the region, along with the habitats and populations that depend on the Gulf for their very existence.

 The Six Week Long Oil Leak: Since the Deepwater Horizon Rig exploded April 20, 2010, killing 11 oil rig workers, then collapsing into the Gulf of Mexico, an estimated 20 million to 40 million gallons of oil has spewed out into the Gulf since June 2, 2010. This is far beyond the former worst oil spill in U.S. history - the 11 million gallons that leaked out in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.

~ BP Oil Leak Investigations Reveal What Happened On Oil Rig ~

By Bondo Lamaragi

May 19th, 2010

"The recent case of London-based BP Plc in the Gulf of Mexico dubbed as the “BP Oil Leak” has now become a main consideration for the future of offshore drilling worldwide. 

Initial findings of the oil leak suggests that there seems to be a negligence on the part of BP Plc which have lead to the disaster April 20, 2010. 

Based on the initial investigation conducted by the United States Coast Guard and the Minerals Management services the following had been the initial findings of what may have caused the incident:

First, it was found out that there was a leak in the hydraulic system that provides power to the shear rams.

Second, there are unexpected modifications in the BOP which includes the connection of the underwater control panel to a test ram rather than the bore ram, [a] huge discrepancy of the structural plan to the actual structure constructed.

Third, the BOP shear rams lack the power to cut through joints in the well pipe and the success rate of the BOP is expected to be at only 90% of the drill pipe.

And fourth, the emergency control mechanism of the platform had severely failed and the system may not be as effective as it should have been.

One proof of this is that one of the so called “dead man’s” switch has a busted battery.

Besides these initial observations, it had been revealed as well that there had already been 39 explosions prior to this incident during the first five months of 2009.

The U.S. Coast Guard had also acknowledged at least 18 small scale BP oil leaks from 2009 to 2010. 

In order to speed up investigation and determine the root causes of the disaster so that disasters like this will be prevented in the future, President Barack Obama ordered an independent investigation May 11.

The investigation will be headed by the National Academy of Engineering that will conduct an independent technical investigation on the BP Oil Leak disaster.

As for the current situation: BP Plc decided to have a new approach to the catastrophic and life-threatening oil leak. BP had deployed a mile-long siphon tube through undersea robots.

The siphoning-tube will be brought down to the leaking well and BP is hoping to capture about a fifth of the oil leaking from it. BP officials says that the tube will help contain the flow but it will not stop the flow of oil out of the well.

BP Chief Executive Tony Howard says they feel they have turned the tide in their favor and the oil leak will be contained in the coming days. [Did not happen as of June 2, 2010.] He also added that in the last 48 hours [since May 19] they have achieved some good progress.

A study released by the Center for Public Integrity showed that two BP-owned U.S. refineries accounted for 97 percent of all flagrant safety violations found in the refining industry by government inspectors over the past three years.

The BP Oil leak had placed the London-based company into full scrutiny as various environmental, safety and state regulations had been violated by the company.

Jordan Barab the deputy assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health says 'BP has a serious, systematic safety problem.'

Meanwhile in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid has rejected a proposed cap of $10 billion for oil companies to cover damage from oil spills. Reid says this is inadequate considering its possible long term effect on the environment.

The current BP Oil leak is closing in damage and danger to the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska which so far has been the worst U.S. ecological disaster. [As of late May 2009, the BP Leak has accomplished this dubious record.]

The incident will also certainly hold the proposal to increase offshore mining permits in the United States and will put a strict review on the ecological viability of it.

Before this incident there were lobbying to allow increased offshore drilling in the United State and they are indeed making progress, however the BP Oil leak puts them on the retreat."

~

The situation has become so desperate, that U.S. officials are looking at any and all alternatives should BP fail to contain, and stop the flow of oil and gas.

~ The AP reports June 2, 2010 ~

WASHINGTON (AP) -- "Top Kill" didn't stop the Gulf oil spill. How about something "Titanic"?

Federal officials are hoping film director James Cameron can help them come up with ideas on how to stop the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Canadian film director James Cameron, an expert in underwater technologies and strategies, joins a emergency brainstorm group on June 1, 2010 seeking ways to stop the massive BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

The "Avatar" and "Titanic" director was among a group of scientists and other experts who met Tuesday with officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies for a brainstorming session on stopping the massive oil leak.

The Canadian-born Cameron is considered an expert on underwater filming and remote vehicle technologies.

More than 20 scientists, engineers and technical experts attended the meeting, which also included representatives of the Energy Department, Coast Guard and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

Other organizations represented at the gathering included the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute; Oceanographic Institute at Harbor Branch, Florida Atlantic University; University of California at Santa Barbara; Nuytco Research Limited; World Wildlife Fund; and the University of California at Berkeley."

 Mundane Solution

Two Procedures: Using Astrology & the Law of Physics

When I heard about the explosion, being so close to the Mercury retrograde of April 18th, I was very concerned. 

Accidents that fall under a retrograde of Mercury tend to persist throughout the entire length of Mercury's full retrograde, and it's shadow period, which can last for a week or more after Mercury stations direct.

We've seen this mundane rule prove out time and again - especially in the Gulf of Mexico's massive oil and gas leak.

By astrological secondary progression, I have calculated that BP will be dealing with the financial, legal, and moral responsibilities resulting from the Deep Horizon Oil Leak for at least 24 years.

BP engineers have said that a serious problem they've been dealing with has been the hydrates that form from the cold temperatures at this depth in the Gulf of Mexico; along with the expansion of gas in the riser.

A solution to this would be a larger pipe that has less chance of hydrates forming on it. A larger pipe can then be fitted over the existing leaking pipe, but not in it. 

From a surface ship, operate a large bore submersible pump that can be run on a smaller string of pipe between 41/2" to 51/2″ inside the larger pipe. 

When they pump fluid out of the larger pipe, the sea water will then be sucked in at the bottom, but will prevent any oil or gas from escaping.

Surfactants and methanol alcohol can then be injected at the base of the larger pipe to help prevent buildup of any hydrates; which can help in the separation of oil, gas and sea water on the surface.

BP has access to large Bore Centrifugal Submersible Pumps that are used when working these high-volume oil wells.

The idea of the suction pipe within the pipe seemed to be a good beginning. The idea is to insert a retainer seal into the pipe itself. 

The law of physics says that pressure of the flow will force the pipe to seal itself. This would slow the rate of oil flowing, and the building pressure will then close it off completely. This stops the flow.

Another problem has been to make a seal between the pipes to prevent the pressurized oil pushing past the smaller pipe.

The solution to this would be to use a air hose that is powered by compression from the surface ship to inflate donut-like seals fitted just below the neck of the smaller pipe.

Once this is done, inflate the donut seal from an air hose powered by a compressor on the ship surface.

But what do I know? I'm just a mundane astrologer.

God Bless America. 

And, God Bless the Gulf coast.
~

Another idea to stop the flow of oil comes from a genius named Alia Sabur, studying in my hometown of Philadelphia, could significantly slow the flow as the mundane solution I propose is fully activated.

BP has struck out three times in efforts to stop the six-week oil leak. And, time is running out, according to global transits.

~ The New York Post Reports June 2, 2010 ~
'I can Plug Oil Leak Says Genius'
By Kieran Crowley & Jeremy Olshan

"BP's engineers can't stop the gushing oil spill, but a young genius from Long Island says she found the solution in less time than it takes most people to finish a crossword puzzle.

Since the "top kill," "junk shot" and "top hat" techniques failed to end the environmental nightmare, Alia Sabur -- who started her engineering Ph.D. at age 14 -- is pushing for a more radical idea.

Alia Sabur teaching a class at SUNO in New Orleans.
 Credit: Toby Armstrong

The Northport native, who started reading before she could walk and who at 18 broke a 300-year-old record to become the youngest-ever college professor, proposes surrounding a pipe with deflated automobile tires, inserting it into the leaking riser, and then inflating the wheels to form a seal.

She calls the plan the "seabed retread."

"It's not completely out there, considering that tires are used for everything and they're expected to withstand a lot," Sabur, 21, told The Post.

The idea came to her while watching television reports of the failed attempts to plug the hole last week, she said. And she had it all worked out in a just a few minutes, sketching it out on paper.

"I can't believe that at this point, with all our technology, that something like this can happen and devastate an entire area," she said. "Even at the smallest estimate, it's still a lot of oil."

Since BP's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, more than 40 million gallons of crude have spilled into the Gulf.

Sabur, who is finishing her doctorate in engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said it frustrated her that none of BP's solutions seemed to have any success.

The oil company has tried to drop containment domes over the leaks, but one missed its mark and the other got clogged with an icy mix of methane gas and water.

It has also tried pumping mud, golf balls, tire scraps and other objects into the well to stop the flow.

"I figured experts would know more about it than I did, but their ideas didn't work," she said.

"So I started thinking about it."

The prodigy, who has received awards and fellowships from NASA and the Department of Defense, decided to take a different tack from BP's latest strategy, the "lower marine riser package," in which the riser pipe is cut and a housing is placed over it to collect the oil.

"This was a thought experiment," she said. "They tried covering it and now they're trying to block it, and it seems they are trying things that go on it or around it.

"I started thinking of something that goes inside it."

The tires might not be able to fully inflate inside the pipe, but the resulting seal would be able to stem the flow of oil and redirect it into a new pipe, she said.

A valve in the pipe could be closed to block the oil or open to allow it to flow, presumably to a ship on the surface.

Sabur admitted that she's not certain the inflated tires would be enough to hold the new pipe in place.

"But if it works, then it might be possible to then put something on top of it -- to brace the inserted pipe -- to do something more permanent," she said.

"Obviously, I hope that what they're doing now works. It's just absolutely terrible."

Even if her idea fails to stave off further catastrophe, Sabur has an amazing history.

At the age of 2, she started reading novels, and at 11 she played the clarinet with the Rockland Symphony Orchestra.

She hasn't yet been able to get her idea to BP, but thinks they should consider it if other efforts fail."

~ 

The Cardinal Crisis

Gaza Aid, Israel, Turkey & The Middle East

After the May 31, 2010 Israeli Defense Force attack on a international humanitarian mission to Gaza, the situation in the Middle East and around the world continues to be tense over the Israeli attack on the flotilla.

~ The Associated Press reports June 2, 2010 ~
'Israel Deports Activists from Gaza-bound Flotilla'
By Amy Teibel

JERUSALEM – Israel on Wednesday began deporting the bulk of nearly 700 international activists detained during its deadly raid on an aid flotilla bound for Palestinians in the blockaded, Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The raid that ended with Israeli soldiers killing nine activists has strained diplomatic ties, sending Israeli relations with Turkey, in particular, to a new low.

Pakistani demonstrators burn an Israeli national flag during a protest against Israel on June 1, 2010. Tens of thousands of people joined angry protests around the world after a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31, 2010, demanding retaliation and showing support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. 
Credit: Arif Ali/Reuters

At least four of the nine killed were Turkish and the ship Israel attacked was Turkish. Israel ordered families of its diplomats out of that country a day after Turkey branded the raid a "massacre."

Egypt eased its blockade of Gaza after the raid and at the newly opened crossing in the border town of Rafah, about 300 Palestinians entered through Gaza's main gateway to the outside world.

A smaller number entered Gaza from Egypt and humanitarian aid also came in including blankets, tents and 13 power generators donated by Russia and Oman.

Magdi al-Titer, a 31-year-old Palestinian among those crossing into Egypt, said he lost his right leg during Israel's brief war with Gaza that ended in January 2009.

"I have come with a medical report to get fitted with an artificial leg in Egypt," he said.

Israel has come under harsh international condemnation after naval commandos stormed the flotilla in international waters on Monday, setting off the deadly clashes.

Israel says its soldiers opened fire only after being attacked by angry activists, who said they were trying to breach the blockade of Gaza to bring in aid.

Gaza has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since 2007. Egypt's opening of the border was believed to be temporary, although the government did not say how long it would last.

A corrections official said Israel is aiming to deport all the foreign activists by the end of the day. But there is a possibility some could be held in custody on suspicion of violence against Israeli troops.

Some 400 activists, most of them Turkish citizens, were bused to Israel's international airport for flights home by midday Wednesday.

 Deported From Israel: Detained activists, some injured in the Israeli attacks on the Gaza-bound flotilla, gesture as their bus arrives at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport before being deported from the country, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Israel quickened expulsions of the activists from the Gaza-bound flotilla as the diplomatic fallout stretched far and wide from its deadly predawn raid on the flotilla May 31.
Credit: Oded Balilty/AP

Corrections department spokesman Yaron Zamir said the Turkish activists would board planes Turkey had sent to pick them up. Greece also had an aircraft on standby there to pick up its activists.

An additional 124 activists from a dozen Muslim nations without diplomatic relations with Israel were deported to Jordan before sunrise.

 An activist, arrested aboard one of the Gaza-bound ships, places his hands and a message against the window of a Israeli prison transport bus as it leaves Ella prison in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on June 2, 2010.
Credit: Alberto Denkburg/Reuters

About 100 foreigners remained in a prison in southern Israel by midday, Zamir said.

Several of the activists deported to Jordan told The Associated Press that they were deprived of food, water, sleep and access to toilets in Israeli detention.

"The Israelis roughed up and humiliated all of us — women, men and children," said Kuwaiti lawmaker Walid al-Tabtabai, who was on board one of the ships with other activists from Muslim countries.

"They were brutal and arrogant, but our message reached every corner of the world that the blockade on Gaza is unfair and should be lifted immediately," he added. The lawmaker claimed there "was not a single weapon with the passengers aboard all the ships."

Israel claimed some of the passengers attacked commandos with knives, iron rods, sticks and with two pistols wrested from soldiers.

Video released by the Israeli military showed commandos attacked by angry activists with metal rods and firebombs during the raid.

One soldier was thrown off one deck onto another below, and Israeli authorities said its troops were attacked by knives, clubs and live fire from the two pistols wrested from soldiers.

Israeli defense officials have also said, without providing proof, that night vision goggles, gas masks, flak jackets and thousands of dollars were found on the ship, suggesting the possibility that some mercenaries were on board.

Israeli media reported Wednesday that the foreign ministry ordered the families of its diplomats in Turkey to leave that country because of the uproar there over the raid.

Demonstrators clash with riot police during a protest against Israel in front of the Turkish residence of Israeli Ambassador Gabby Levy in Ankara, Turkey on June 1, 2010.

Photo: Umit Bektas/Reuters

The diplomatic mission itself would remain in Turkey, said Israel Radio and other stations and newspapers. The ministry would neither confirm nor deny the reports.

The fallout also expanded far from the region's borders. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Nicaragua is suspending — though not severing — diplomatic ties with Israel over the raid.

While many Israelis were critical of the way the raid was executed, the overwhelming reaction backed the soldiers' response and supported the Gaza blockade.

 Israeli right-wing students demonstrate in support of Israel following a deadly raid by Israel's navy on an aid flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip, outside Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Tuesday, June 1, 2010. Meanwhile, Palestinian activists on June 1, 2010 sent another boat - the MV 'Rachel Corrie,' flying Irish and Malaysian flags, to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip as Turkey accused the Jewish state of committing a 'bloody massacre' in a botched raid on an aid flotilla in international waters that ended with soldiers killing nine activists.
Credit: Maya Hitij/AP

Israelis have little empathy for the plight of Palestinians in Gaza because militants used the territory to send thousands of rockets and mortars crashing into Israel for years.

Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas, which has fired thousands of rockets into the Jewish state, from building up its arsenal.

Critics say the closure has failed to hurt Hamas but has damaged Gaza's already weak economy.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton supported a U.N. Security Council statement that condemned the "acts" that cost the lives of the pro-Palestinian activists off the Gaza coast.

 

 June 1, 2010: U.S. secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses the Israeli attack on the Gaza humanitarian flotilla.

But U.S. officials did not say whether they blamed Israel or the activists for the bloodshed.

Israel has promised to halt a new attempt by pro-Palestinian groups to sail two more ships to Gaza's shores within the next few days.

Despite the widespread outcry over the violent sea raid, the Palestinians were resuming indirect peace talks with Israel later Wednesday, through U.S. envoy George Mitchell.

 Turkish protesters hold a photograph of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as they shout anti-Israel slogans in Amman, Jordan on June 1, 2010. Turkey called on Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza as a step towards normalizing relations, but also added it was time that "calm replaced anger" in the wake of Israel's deadly raid on a Turkish-backed aid flotilla to Gaza.
Credit: Muhammad Hamed/Reuters

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was to meet Mitchell at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah."

It has also been reported that Turkish lawmakers on June 2, 2010 called on the government in Ankara to review all its political, military and economic ties with Israel.

 Stern Words At Emergency U.N Session: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu condemns Israel for the storming of a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York, May 31, 2010.
Credit: Chip East/Reuters

In a show of hands, the Turkish lawmakers said Israel must "formally apologize" for the May 31st raid on the Gaza Flotilla that killed a reported nine people, and "must pay compensation to the victims families as well as bring to justice those responsible."

"This attack was an open violation of United Nations rules and international law," Turkish Deputy Parliament Speaker Guldal Mumcu who read out declaration.

"Turkey should seek justice against Israel through national and international legal authorities," the declaration said.
~

I continue to warn about serious problems on the high seas under the cardinal planetary transits. Mistakes such as the world has seen on May 31, 2010, could occur again. Wars have started with less provocations in the past.

It is also reported that a possible Turkish warship may have been sent to protect the next aid ship heading to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid. That ship is the MV Rachel Corrie.

I continue to urge extreme caution. Things could get very much out of hand in the days and months to come if calm, and cooler heads do not prevail.

The MV Rachel Corrie:

Israel says it will stop Irish Humanitarian Ship On Way to Gaza
Turkey Will Send Warship To Protect Her?

See this interview. 

~ The Irish Times & Reuters reports June 1-2, 2010 ~

"Israel has tonight decided to free hundreds of foreign activists detained aboard a Turkish-backed aid flotilla to Gaza, including some it had threatened to put on trial.

Sources in Israel told Reuters that cabinet ministers had made the decision amid rising world protests against Israel's raid of the flotilla yesterday.

The raid resulted in the deaths of at least nine people.

Tonight it emerged that some 680 activists seized on the boats would be released.

"It was agreed that the detainees would be deported immediately," Nir Hefez, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a written statement

Israel's security cabinet said it regretted the killings in the interception of the Gaza bound flotilla but called the incident an act of defense against violent provocation.

Ministers said in a statement they regretted the loss of life in the raid, but blamed activists who they said assaulted soldiers who boarded the ship for any fatalities.

Israel said it would continue a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip it has imposed as part of a general embargo on the territory's border crossings.

Earlier today, Taoiseach Brian Cowen warned there would be “most serious consequences” should any harm come to Irish citizens involved with an aid flotilla destined for Gaza.

Both Mr Cowen and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin called on Israel to allow Irish humanitarian ship, the MV Rachel Corrie , pass through its military blockade of Gaza.

The MV Rachel Corrie is named after the young American woman who was crushed to death and killed in 2003 by an Israeli bulldozer demolishing a Palestinian home that Corrie was trying to protect from destruction.

Rachel Aliene Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) was an American member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who traveled to the Gaza Strip during the Second Intifada. She was killed by a Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer operated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during a protest against the destruction of Palestinian homes.

The cargo vessel is going ahead with its attempt to deliver aid to Gaza despite yesterday’s deadly attack by the Israeli navy on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

Mr Cowen called today called for the immediate establishment of "a full, independent international inquiry into yesterday’s events, preferably under UN auspices”.

He called on Israel to release "unconditionally" Irish citizens who he said had been taken to Gaza by the Israeli authorities and asked to sign papers allowing for their deportation.

Speaking in the Dáil during Leaders' Questions, the Taoiseach said the presence of Irish diplomatic personnel in Israel provided "better prospects" that the citizens would be released "sooner rather than later"

"But I will make this point. If any harm comes to any of our citizens, it will have the most serious consequences.”

Mr Cowen said Ireland’s longstanding position was that the Israeli blockade of Gaza was “immoral and counterproductive” and should be ended.

“Israel must listen and respond to the clear concerns of the international community on this issue.

To do otherwise will only serve to reinforce the position of the extremists on both sides and jeopardize the hope of achieving some urgently needed political progress in the region, which the current proximity talks represent," he said.

The Israeli army has warned that it will be stopped if it attempts to enter Israeli waters.

 See Video of the next ship to attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza here.


The Rachel Corrie,  which has five Irish nationals and five Malaysians aboard, is due to arrive in Gazan waters over the coming days, a spokeswoman for the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign said.

It became separated from the main aid flotilla after being delayed for 48 hours in Malta due to logistical reasons, and is currently off the coast of Libya.

Mr Martin, who called Israeli Ambassador Dr Zion Evrony to a meeting yesterday, said the boat should be allowed through peacefully.

Mr Martin said Israel was also obliged to respect its international obligations under the Vienna Convention and ensure Irish citizens have access to full consular support.

He also expressed his condolences to the Turkish government and the families of the people killed when Israeli commandos raided the Turkish registered Mavi Marmara  aid ship in international waters as it traveled from Cyprus, killing nine people.

Five Irish campaigners - including leading activists Dr Fintan Lane and Fiachra Ó Luain - are being held in the Be’er Sheva detention camp, from where they face deportation.

Dr Lane and Mr Ó Luain were on board Free Gaza boat Challenger 1  which was boarded by Israeli forces.

Two Irish people, including activist Shane Dillon, have been deported and are expected at Dublin airport late tonight.

The Irish ambassador in Tel Aviv was given permission to meet Mr Dillon at Ben Gurion Airport before his departure. It is understood Mr Dillon said he was treated well. Officials have been waiting to see the other detained Irish citizens during the day.

Nobel laureate Maireád Corrigan-Maguire, former UN assistant secretary general Denis Halliday, film maker Fiona Thompson and husband and wife Derek & Jenny Graham are the Irish nationals on board the Rachel Corrie.

Speaking from the ship today, Mr Graham said the vessel was carrying educational materials, construction materials, medical equipment and some toys.

“Everything aboard has been inspected in Ireland,” he said. “We would hope to have safe passage through.”

However, an Israeli marine lieutenant, who was not identified, told Israel's army radio his unit was prepared to block the Rachel Corrie.

"We as a unit are studying, and we will carry out professional investigations to reach conclusions," the lieutenant said, referring to yesterday's confrontation.

"And we will also be ready for the Rachel Corrie ," he added

Former UN assistant secretary general Denis Halliday has called on the Government to highlight the situation of the Gaza-bound Irish aid ship Rachel Corrie with US president Barack Obama’s administration and the EU.

Speaking by satellite phone on board the Rachel Corrie yesterday several hundred miles from Gaza, Mr Halliday said it was imperative that the Obama administration and the EU supported Ireland’s call on the Israeli authorities to ensure safe passage for the ship, which is carrying aid supplies.

“We feel that, like the UN, the EU has failed the Palestinians and we feel that the EU could exert more pressure in terms of trade links, which the Israelis are very dependent on,” he said.

Mr Halliday, a Connemara resident, confirmed that Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin had been in phone contact with the ship over the past two days .

“We are very grateful to the Minister, who has been completely supportive, but we need more,” Mr Halliday said.

“We also feel there is a role for the Irish diaspora here, in the US and elsewhere to lobby politicians over this continued illegal blockade of Gaza, which is causing such hardship to the Palestinian people.”

The 1,200-tonne Rachel Corrie, registered in Cambodia but owned by the Free Gaza Movement in Ireland, was half way between Crete and Libya June 1, and is still several days’ steaming distance from its destination.

The estimated time of arrival off the Gaza coast yesterday was tomorrow night [June 4] or early Saturday, June 5.

The ship would refuse an offer of an Israeli escort that involved impounding its cargo of construction and educational materials, Mr Halliday said.

“We are the only Gaza-bound aid ship left out here. We are determined to deliver our cargo, which includes 1,000 tonnes of cement and 20 tonnes of educational materials and toys, along with vital medical supplies.”

However, the 15 crew and passengers would not put up any resistance if the ship is boarded, he added. “We will inform the Israeli authorities by VHF radio that we have put up our hands,” he said.

“We are an unarmed, harmless, cosy, friendly group of Irish and Malaysians, including a Malaysian politician. Perhaps we can give Israel an opportunity to show that it does have some respect for human rights.”

Mr Halliday admitted that the ship’s passengers had been “very shocked” by Monday’s raid by Israeli commandos on the main aid flotilla, which resulted in at least nine deaths and the detention of more than 600 activists, including several Irish.

Due to technical problems, the Rachel Corrie had been steaming several days behind.

“The killings in international waters took our breath away, but the shock wore off and after some discussion on board it made us more determined to continue,” Mr Halliday said.

“Everyone is in good spirits, but apprehensive. When we are 100 miles off, we will be skywards.”

Mayo electrician Derek Graham, a fellow crewman and a member of the Free Gaza Movement, said that “if this aid is not delivered, then Monday’s deaths will have been in vain”.

Mr Halliday, a Trinity College Dublin graduate who resigned from his position as UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq over the impact of sanctions on the population, has more than 30 years’ experience with the UN.

Since his resignation, he has devoted his time to working with non-governmental organizations, including Perdana, the Malaysian global peace movement which is supporting the Rachel Corrie voyage, and Action from Ireland (Afri).

The other Irish on board the ship with Mr Halliday and Mr Graham are Free Gaza Movement activist Jenny Graham, 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maireád Maguire and Dundalk film-maker Fiona Thompson."
~

The Cardinal Crisis inclinations can be very violent, as we have seen throughout the world of late. The global transits into early June 2010 continues this theme, as witnessed in this horrible tragedy which took place in picturesque northwestern England on June 2, 2010:

The Cardinal Crisis:
Taxi Driver Goes On Rampage in Northwest England

Kills A Dozen People & wounds 25 others in 30 Separate locations

Worst British mass murder in 14 years: A British police officer holds his head as he guards the covered body of one of many victims reportedly killed at random by a taxi driver in Seascale, northern England June 2, 2010. 

Credit: Phil Noble/Reuters.

~ Reuters reports June 2, 2010 ~

Cumbria, England -- "A gunman killed at least 12 people in a rampage through quiet towns in and around the scenic Lake District of northwest England on Wednesday in Britain's worst shooting spree for 14 years.

See interactive map here.

Terrified locals and walkers were told to stay indoors as 52-year-old taxi driver Derrick Bird opened fire on people in towns across the predominantly rural and sparsely populated county of Cumbria, one of Britain's top tourist destinations.

 It is unknown how many people were killed inside this Land Rover covered by police with a tarp, in Seascale, northwest England, on June 2, 2010.
Credit: Phil Noble/Reuters

In addition to the 12 dead, 25 others were wounded, including three whose condition was said to be critical, in shootings in 30 separate locations.

After a huge manhunt, Bird's body was discovered in a secluded area in Boot, a remote hamlet in the Eskdale valley, an area popular with hill-walkers. Police said he was believed to have killed himself.

 Led police on deadly three-hour manhunt before taking own life: Taxi driver Derrick Bird, 52, is alleged to have killed a dozen people & wounded 25 others in a daylight rampage in northern England June 2, 2010, say Cumbria police.
Credit: Reuters

"This has shocked the people of Cumbria, and around the country, to the core," said Stuart Hyde, Assistant Chief Constable of Cumbria Police.

"We are still at a very early stage in our investigation and we are not able to really understand the motivation behind it or establish whether this was a premeditated or random attack."

Multiple shooting incidents are rare in Britain where there are strict gun controls.

In 1996, a gunman massacred 16 children and their teacher in the Scottish town of Dunblane, and a man shot dead 16 people in the southern English town of Hungerford in 1987.

The Dunblane killings led to new laws which banned civilian ownership of handguns and meant other weapons required a certificate from the police.

However, government figures showed there were certificates covering almost 1.37 million shotguns in March 2009.

Police said they were investigating where Bird got the two weapons he used in the attacks and whether they were legally owned.

TAXI DRIVERS DISPUTE?

The shootings began in the coastal town of Whitehaven where Bird worked.

"He had a dispute with a taxi driver yesterday morning which carried on into today. He absolutely lost the plot," Lorraine Rimmer, who works for a cab firm in the town, told Reuters.

"He was a bit of a loner who hardly spoke to people."

 Multiple Murder Sites: Two police officers guard a murder scene on Duke Street in Whitehaven in Cumbria, England June 2, 2010.
Credit: David Moir/Reuters

As police chased Bird for three hours through sleepy towns and villages across the Cumbria, frightened locals were told to shelter indoors.

The gunman eventually dumped his car and headed on foot through picturesque areas popular with walkers.

"It was very unnerving," King told Reuters, saying there had been a steady trail of hikers heading to his pub for shelter.

He said Bird's body was believed to have been found about 200 yards (meters) from his pub.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the local communities would be shattered by the killings. "The government will do everything it possibly can to help the local community and those affected," he told parliament.

During the manhunt, the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Seascale said all the site gates had been closed, with staff told to remain at their posts. However it said its operations were unaffected."
 ~

The Guardian reports June 2, 2010:
 'Cumbria shootings: 12 dead as Gunman goes on Killing Spree'

 

 

Loss of life: A British police detective looks at a dead body in Egremont. Derrick Bird's June 2, 2010 killing spree in northwestern England was the UK's worst shooting incident since the Dunblane massacre.

 Credit: Andrew Milligan/PA

"Police examine more than 30 crime scenes after Derrick Bird shoots dead 12 and injures 25 before taking own life

Twelve people were confirmed dead and three were fighting for their lives tonight after a taxi driver went on the rampage in the UK's worst shooting incident since the Dunblane massacre.

Derrick Bird, 52, shot dead at least one colleague before driving through rural west Cumbria, firing indiscriminately at people in towns, villages and country roads before killing himself.

Twenty-five were injured during the three-and-a-half hour killing spree which paralysed the county as desperate police, hunting him on the ground and by air, ordered a lockdown.

Tonight the Queen said she was "deeply shocked" by the shootings and shared the nation's "grief and horror".

Cumbria police said it was too early to "really understand the motivation" behind the attacks, described as the "most exceptional and challenging incident" the tiny force had ever dealt with. Tonight they were examining 30 crime scenes.

The terror, which started in the harbour town of Whitehaven at 10:30 a.m, [British Summer Time] ended only when the gunman's body was found in a wooded copse outside the tiny hamlet of Boot in the Lake District at 1:40 p.m.

Two Guns Were Recovered

Police stand next to a body following a shooting on Duke Street, Whitehaven, Cumbria. 
Photograph: Rod Minchin/PA

There were unconfirmed reports that Bird, from Rowrah, near Frizington, a divorced father and grandfather with two sons and described as a quiet man, had rowed with colleagues on the taxi rank the previous night.

One friend, Peter Leder, told CNN that Bird had said to him the night before: "You won't see me again."

According to one woman in Whitehaven Bird "shook them [his colleagues] by the hands one by one and said there's going to be a rampage in this town tomorrow ... they just laughed and didn't take him seriously."

One relative reported that Bird had been bequeathed "a load of guns" in his father's will.

The home of a local solicitor, Kevin Commons, who had been in touch with Bird, was tonight cordoned off by police.

Neighbors and friends described Bird, known locally as "Birdy" as a friendly, even-tempered man – the kind of neighbor with a ready smile who would also stop for a chat. Their shock at his unprovoked shooting spree is complete.

Ryan Dempsey, a neighbor, had known Bird since he was 10. "He was a very easy-going sort of fellow – never walked past without saying hello.

The last time I saw him was the night before last, and he was just as happy as before. He waved through the window, nodded and smiled, and the next thing I hear is this tragedy."

Sue Matthews, a telephonist at A2B Taxis in Whitehaven, said: "To be honest, he was a quiet fellow. I am in absolute shock. It is like watching something from America."

Last week Bird's son Graeme and his wife Victoria, who lived only a few miles from his shabby cottage, had a son.

Bird's first victim was named locally as Darren Rewcastle, a fellow taxi driver.

Witnesses said he then drove through Whitehaven with a gun hanging out of his car window, before heading south to Egremont, Gosforth and Seascale.

Cumbria's deputy chief constable, Stuart Hyde, said police had yet to establish whether it was a premeditated or random attack. "This has shocked the people of Cumbria – and around the country – to the core," he said.

"Current indications are that 12 people have died, plus Derrick Bird. And a number of people are also receiving treatment in hospital."

It was a "terrifying and horrific incident", he said. "Our thoughts go out to all the family and friends and colleagues of those killed or injured in this tragedy."

New British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to do everything possible to help communities "shattered" by the killings. "The government will do everything it possibly can to help the local community and those affected," he told MPs.

It is the third tragedy to hit west Cumbria in six months, following the devastating floods last year and the deaths of three people, including two schoolchildren, in a coach crash on the A66 last week.

The lockdown saw shops, offices and even the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant close their doors while the gunman was on the loose.

Helicopters and armed officers from other police forces were brought in to help in the hunt.

Many of the injured were taken to the West Cumberland hospital in Whitehaven, where a major incident was declared and routine operations cancelled, and to hospitals in Carlisle and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Bird's spree is the biggest mass shooting since Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and an adult at Dunblane primary school in March 1996, before killing himself.

The area's Labour MP, Jamie Reed, said it was the type of area where people keep their doors unlocked. "Things like this don't happen around here," he said, visibly shaken.

"What is happening is completely beyond our experience."

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