The Stars Are Not With You: The Perils of Being A Taurus With A Speech Today

I just finished speaking at the Seventh Circuit Conference in Chicago on a panel with former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, attorney Kenneth Feinberg, and Wall Street Journal reporter John Emshwiller on the federalization of crime. I had to share one humorous and ominous incident. I stayed with my Mom rather than use the room at the Blu Aqua Hotel and as I was heading to the taxi, my mother gave me my Chicago Tribune horoscope for today. It read: “Watch your words… you could talk too much.” Not exactly what you want to read heading into a public speech. (No I do not believe in horoscopes but I thought it was pretty funny nonetheless).

The good news is, while I risked the ire of the stars, I did survive. Of course, I expect many would agree that I certainly do “talk too much” — proving the accuracy of horoscopes. Then again, this may be a case where the controversy over where some of us belong under Taurus or Aries.

My favorite such ominous prediction was when my family was having dinner with a family friend who was about to invest in China as one of the first such investments following the removal of barriers by the government in the 1970s. We went to a Chinese restaurant and Joe’s fortune cookie came back with the only negative prediction any of us could remember: “avoid long trips or any new business deals.”

As for my own shortcomings in the speech, it appears that as stated by Julius Caesar “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”