Satire is dead. How can one satirize the news when it’s ridiculous in its natural state?

The Colbert Report and regular news are converging at a fast pace. When Colbert says he’s running for an office, is it truly satire? Al Franken made the leap from satire to politics and I’m guessing Colbert may also have real dreams of being in politics.

For that reason, I was avoiding the Todd Akin news story. In case you haven’t heard, Akin is a Missouri Congressman who said recently in an interview (link from the New York Times) about rape and abortion:

“It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Mr. Akin said of pregnancies from rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something: I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”

Even though I hadn’t planned to blog on Akin, I was curious to check out his background and know if he had a wife and some knowledge of female anatomy.

Trying to keep an open mind, I also entertained the idea that Akin might have a magical, mysterious method for women to “shut that whole thing down” and avoid pregnancy.

Think of how the world would change if women could do that!

I got a little lost imagining a world where women could block pregnancy (without contraceptives). Back to the blog, and to reality.

Todd Akin

Akin’s chart has water (sun and Mercury in Cancer, Jupiter in Scorpio) and a grand air trine (moon in Aquarius, Mars/Uranus/Venus in Gemini, Neptune in Libra) and a dash of fire (Saturn and Pluto in Leo).

What lacks in Akin’s chart is earth. Lack of earth means lack of grounding, practicality and connection to the body.

With the abundance of Cancer and Gemini, Akin is actually a moody and changeable personality. He’s by turns loving and aloof, next to you one minute then across the room the next.

Cancer is generally a loving and nostalgic sign, concerned with belonging. As such, it rules mothering and family and home. Moon in Aquarius is much more aloof but seeks group involvement. The moon could possibly be in Capricorn which has a similarity to Aquarius. Both are unemotional, but Aquarius seeks groups while Capricorn seeks authority and rules.

Whether he has Cancer-Capricorn or Cancer-Aquarius energy, Akin needs to belong.

As I wonder if Akin truly believes what he said, I’m guessing he was simply playing politics, trying to support the team he belongs to by not giving in to rape questions when defending the belief that there should be no abortions.

There are no stupid questions

When you take a class, the teacher often says that there are no stupid questions, that the question you have is also in someone else’s mind.

I believe, too, that what Akin said is probably in someone else’s mind. And if Akin is trying to feel part of the gang, his belief is probably in many more minds.

Rather than trying to get Akin to shut up and go away, I think we should let him be. One reason is that we all harbor beliefs that others find stupid and/or erroneous (which is why we have this “free speech” idea).

The second reason is that for those of us who find his statement outrageous, it might be important to see who else shares this belief.