A while back, I wrote verbosely about a concept that’s better described in one word: Endgame.

Justin Raimondo got me thinking about Endgame again this week when he opened one of his sterling rants with a reference to the final stages of the American empire.

The article he linked with the words “final stages” would seem like a little nothing to most people. The link takes the reader to a news item about the South Korean government buying gold. Only awarefolk would grok why Raimondo considers South Korea’s purchase of gold to be a sign of final stages of anything — a sign that Endgame is already underway.

In my ramble, I speculated that we might never see an “it” moment — a dramatic day when we can say, “Thar she blows!” and know Endgame has begun. Commentator Old Printer said he thought 9-11 was that moment. My gut said no, but I couldn’t articulate why.

I think it’s because big, dramatic events that come from the outside generally serve more as excuses than anything else. World War I didn’t really begin because some mad kid killed an archduke. The U.S. didn’t get into WWII because the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. And the fedgov didn’t go on a mad dash into perpetual war and police-state security because angry young men chose a horrific way of declaring their hatred.

Those events just gave rulers public permission to do what they were inclined to do, anyway. If we’re in Endgame now, it’s not because of those 19 murderous hijackers of 10 years ago. It’s because neocons (just the latest word for war-mad empire builders) were already waiting in the wings with their plans.

Barring some truly monumental catastrophe — eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano, a full-scale nuclear attack, or a supersized Atlantic tsunami triggered by a landslide on the other side of the world — Endgame doesn’t come from outside, but from the actions of insiders.

Endgame isn’t initiated by opponents, but by the response of the “home team,” so to speak.

If Endgame for the U.S. empire is financial, the trigger event was more likely to have been the August 15, 1971 Nixon Surprise. Something hardly anybody noticed at the time.

If Endgame for the U.S. empire is military … well, the trigger could still have been Nixon’s unpleasant little zinger. Or even the creation of the Federal Reserve, since the combination of both events ultimately allowed the federal government to expand endlessly and without accountability, financing welfare and warfare with funny money and ultimately flaming out from the excess. In which case, Endgame began nearly 100 years ago, again unnoticed.

But that’s unsatisfying. In that sense, Endgame is nothing more than the eternal process of creation and destruction. We are always in it. And always at the beginning of the game, too.

Assuming it’s true, though, that the American empire is in Endgame, what are the specific signs? Not the trigger event(s), which we may never see, or may see only in retrospect. When you look around you every day, what events or attitudes do you see that say “It’s over”?

Or, if you don’t see Endgame underway for empire, what signs do you see that the current fall is more likely to be just another bump in a long road?

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Just got the word: Atlas Shrugged, Part I will be out on DVD on November 8. They’re taking pre-orders now.

Confusingly, there are four editions & it’s not clear what the differences are between them, other than some commemorative labeling. Still … the price is reasonable and it’s good news for all you backwoodsers who never got a chance to see the film in Big City theaters.

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Whew, it feels good to have all those deadlines met! Yesterday, after all the immediate work got turned in, felt free and light. Didn’t hurt that it was also sunny — one of those late summer days that’s unusually warm, yet carries a tinge of fall.

I’m still not ready to say anything really profound, witty, or snarky, so pardon me while I slowly work up to all that. In the meantime, randomness …

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I discovered something Outlaw Cockapoos might take advantage of. Have you heard of Individual Development Accounts? Heck of a deal for those hoping to profit while bleeding the state. You put $2,000 into a bank account via monthly deposits and take some bonehead classes; some non-profit organization — using state and federal funds — gives you $4,000 or so. You just have to be a low-income person who’s saving for something like a home or business equipment. And there has to be a program in your area.

Such a deal, eh? I gather IDAs were inserted into the 1996 Ending Welfare As We Know It Act. If this is the way the fedgov “ends” welfare, the welfare state is in no danger. Except, of course, from its own excesses.

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August’s deadlines brought me a first. For the first time, I had more art than writing work to do. Substantially more: eight pet portraits or illustrations, only two articles.

One of my New Years resolutions was to do more artwork. But I’ve done nothing to bring this about, other than putting the thought (and the occasional picture) out there. I don’t mean to go all woo-woo on you, but I can’t count the number of times in my life that something has come to me just because I set an intention in my mind.

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Remember last spring when you guys helped me identify the purpose of an enormous, ugly patch of cheap wood I found in the middle of what I hoped was going to be a beautiful century-old wood floor? (Part I and Part II of that little adventure)

Well, seems I’m not the only one. But this lucky devil (a reader of this blog) also found the faux-Persian linoleum rug that was designed to cover such a spot when he tore into his old farmhouse floor this week. I want one of those!

He writes about it with charm, too.

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More firsts. I made the first meal from my gift Highland steer. It’s also the first clay pot meal I’ve ever made (Romertopf, thrift store, $3, never used; a steal). This is how it looks after the chuck roast’s been cooking over a bed of vegetables soaked in red wine for an hour and a half.

Okay. So it’s not pretty. But I think it’s going to be good.

The bed veggies cook to mush and later get smooshed into gravy. After taking that picture, I added the eatin’ vegetables — carrots and baby red potatoes. The whole kaboodle will cook for another hour.

As I write this, it’s Thursday evening before dinner (I’ll be posting Friday a.m. courtesy of the miracle of pre-scheduling) and I don’t yet know how it will turn out. I’ll let ya know.

Yeah, with the potatoes it’s not exactly a primal dinner. But then, primal is a nutrition plan, not a religion.

Although come to think of it, most people practice their religions about as faithfully as they practice their diets. And vice versa. So what the heck.

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It was delicious. And the chuck roast was falling-apart tender.

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