September 13, 2014 
Seems like, this week, the Empire moved from terminally stupid to terminally insane, declaring an “air war” on IS in Iraq and Syria (even though we already have around 1500 “advisors” –all wearing boots, as one wag put it – on the ground in Iraq) while the Empire and our EU allies upped its proxy war in the Ukraine by increasing sanctions on Russia after their mostly “sound and fury” NATO meeting.
Aside from the screaming hypocrisy of Congressional and media warmongers over both situations for the last few months, (neither ISIS nor Russia currently represent a direct threat to the Imperial homeland), there are a couple of things that many in the military/intelligence community think we are not seeing straight about our latest foray into Iraq. https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/11/news-organizations-finally-realize-obamas-war-plan-messed/; http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/world/middleeast/struggling-to-gauge-isis-threat-even-as-us-prepares-to-act.html?_r=0; http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/countering-islamic-state-will-be-hard-in-iraq-and-harder-in-syria-officials-say/2014/09/10/de74d448-3943-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html
The proxy war the Empire and its NATO stooges started against Russia in Ukraine is not going away and may heat up if Russia decides to shut off the gas to Europe this winter just as we’re getting in deeper in Iraq/Syria. (Only one of Russia’s possible options, if we are truthful about it.)
US job creation for August, at 147,000, was the lowest since the beginning of 2014 while unemployment figures for last week were the highest in two months at 317,000. The global economy has yet to “break out,” though everyone from Nasdaq.com to Bloomberg thinks it will “soon”.
According to a new report from the World Resources Institute, several countries, including the US, may soon be facing the choice of fracking for oil and natural gas or having enough water to drink – a question already being raised in many Texas and California towns about both fracking and big farming as water dries up and towns find themselves without water at the tap.
Though global surface temperatures seem to have been rising much more slowly for the last decade or more, ocean and atmospheric temperatures are still rising fast, as are CO2 levels – with all the negative effects on sea life and record setting weather events across the world.
Oil prices have dropped recently because of lower demand in developed countries. If either of our wars suddenly blossom into something larger, what will be the effect on oil prices as that demand suddenly rises? On climate change? On a global economy still fragile from the great recession? I don’t know, but I’m sure watching for answers.
We are far too eager to believe our own hype about all of these things. As Einstein once pointed out, insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. And, like I said at the beginning of this post, I think the Empire just entered a state of terminal insanity.
The Conflicted Doomer 
I feel, emotionally and spiritually, like a fish that has been caught and thrown on the deck of a boat, wounded and gasping, flopping my last flops – in panic. The feelings I have about the future are so dark and laden with dread and I have never felt this way so deeply in my entire life. I agree with you that we seem on a terminal merry-go-round chasing …. what? Always moving forward but going nowhere with the singular vision of the same thing(s) put in front of us.
We are trying so hard to break free but cannot or won’t step off the horse and the platform.
Hi Nadia. You know, I don’t know what a person is supposed to feel when the empire they live in is falling apart. So, in a way, I guess I can choose what I want to feel. And, so far, what I feel is the same things I felt before I knew the Empire was falling apart – just maybe in a little different proportions from day to day. Right now, I feel more of a detached curiosity than I do fear or panic. Of course that may change as things get crappier. 😀 Hang in there, gal. Don’t spend all your energy on the things you can’t do anything about; save it for the little day to day things you might have an effect on. Big hug , my friend.
Thank you for your big hug. I really needed it that day. I am grateful, most of the time, for my life on this farm and for the good marriage I have and for the relative safety and good things available to me but my heart aches for those in the outer world who don’t have and may never experience any sense of peace and well-being provided by where they are and can only rely on their will and self-reliance to obtain a sense of happy. The flashpoints are everywhere as you know and so aptly describe.
I appreciate the “voice” you create for us and so appreciate your perspective. I feel and give back a big hug to you every post!
Yeah, you sounded like you could use a friendly virtual hug that day. Guess we all do, once in a while. Part of that “hanging together” so we don’t all “hang separately” thing. 🙂
I’m trying to think of a great leader in troubled times and I can only come up with Lincoln. Looking abroad and back in time, there must have been some, but my history is failing me.
Can anyone help me out with a name or two. It would do me a world of good, heh.
Hey Grave, wish I could help you out there, FDR maybe, but they do seem to be in awful short supply, don’t they?
Grave, the FDR expose on PBS – would appear to point to a leader, at least. Can we expect a true leader anymore given the pressures of conflicted life reigning down?