Strike The Root Blog

Down for the count. Time to wrap the corpse:

Henry the Healer looks to make things right (for some):

Banks? Time to look for a safer place for your money:

Self defense- the ONLY kind of defense:

The Emperor looks to heal a scarred land:

A symbol so tarnished and muddy, it won’t even burn:

The state finds success in protecting us from plants:

Even with the flowery adjectives, it’s still mob rule:

Passive resistance has its extremes:

Incidental casualties in the name of the War on Drugs are to be expected. Apparently, police officers like Joe Chavalia who are “just doing their job” need not worry about having to suffer any consequences for their reckless actions.

Even if you buy into the fact that the police are just doing their job and accidents will happen, this incident should make it very clear about the cost of a “war” on drugs. Are you willing to sacrifice your life in the name of a slightly more drug-free society than there was yesterday? If we can take out a couple crackheads every day, are you ok with your wife, husband, or child being “accidentally” slaughtered by a scared, heavily armed officer?

Those in power continue to get stronger and continue to exert more violence with impunity. On a more cynical day, I would say that incidental casualties are welcomed by government as part of keeping the populace in a state of fear.

The Regime insists on playing with lightning:

Johnny Law shows off his newest toy- proudly stolen from a productive businessman:

Ever get that “boxed in” feeling?……

…….surrounded on all sides by hostile forces……

….yet sometimes fate allows you to turn the tables:

How appropriate- A Yankee War Rag filled with hot air:

How to protect your home from being foreclosed:

US Crusaders dine on freedom fries in a free, democratic Iraq. Support The Troops!:

Boobus americanus finds a cleaner alternative to keeping his head in the sand:

The Master gives more trinkets to the maimed….

….while breaking ground on a new location to warehouse the disfigured:

Extreme yard art for the extreme nationalist:

JoMac turns to head massage to relieve his confusion……

….about how 1200+ lost souls have not yet tired of killing:

The judge said to us, “Only free people are lucky enough to perform.” He was speaking to a group of fifty of us who were about to go through the long, tedious motions of voir dire in a Ft. Worth criminal court. I tried not to laugh out loud.

Not being registered to vote, I was surprised to have received a jury summons in my mail six weeks prior. After cursing about it, I found out that in Texas, they grab people from the drivers license rolls, since there aren’t enough registered voters otherwise. No wonder–even if I didn’t view voting as an act of violence, I wouldn’t risk going through the horrid experience of jury duty again by daring to vote.

I read through the list of disqualifying questions, looking for an out. No dice, either I would have to lie, which I will not, or I was stuck going. Now, I do happen to believe in the merits of a legal system, just not one enforced by a government; I would have been much more willing to acquiesce were it to be a civil trial.

Instead, I ended up in front of a man being tried for narcotics possession. Geez, what a waste of taxpayer money, but at least that provided me with my out. When asked if anyone would be unwilling to sentence the individual, I was the second one with my hand up (the first guy said, “no, I know guys in prison, and no one deserves that horror”). “I don’t believe in drug laws,” I said, and was allowed to sit down, and eventually went home, not having to serve on the jury.

But that was after two days. I had to drive 22 miles each way, and after a full morning the first day waiting in a sea of voters and drivers, I was told to come back the next day and report to my appointed criminal courtroom. That’s 88 miles, or roughly 4.5 gallons in my old Explorer, about $16 of gas money at the time. I had to take off work both days. In Texas, your employer doesn’t have to pay you a thing; I’m fortunate to work for someone who did, and I’m very thankful for that. For my involvement, I got paid $6 for day one, and $40 for day two, which technically does not even cover the expenses of lunch and mileage. Seems like blood money, too.

Despite the judge’s words, I felt anything but free while enduring this onerous obligation. I was forced to abandon my job for two days, forced to drive a long distance, forced to go through a metal detector and proceed, unarmed, into an area full of armed guards. I could not communicate with the outside world, nor could I speak my true mind for fear of further imprisonment. There were no clocks and no windows within the courtrooms. The court administrator threatened us, indicating that armed men would show up at our doorstop if we neglected to return the next morning.

I felt badly for the defendant, but was far more interested in extricating myself from imprisonment, and that’s perhaps the worst crime of all. Some of the people that the defendants need most on the jury are doing everything they can to get out.

The war whores are upset that billions won‘t be flying their way:

Time to put Algore in his place:

Dead (non-American) children are no longer considered relevant to US crusaders:

There’s nothing more entertaining than watching a state tyrant caught with his pants down:

The Emperor pleads for still more Hispanic bodies to fight his wars. He‘s working hard, selling them on the romance of killing:

The demonic force meets the immovable force:

It’s party time:

A war criminal’s hands can never be cleaned:

The “new” Abe is just as ugly and even more worthless:

Johnny Mac claims he can run the world but seems incapable of combing his own hair:

Those ballots look heavy. Why not just vote with your feet and your money?

Tibetans resist the occupying Chinese thugs. Will wimpy Amerikans ever show the same courage to resist their occupiers?

The Emperor greets one of the few with a comparable resume:

No, not Roger. Congress and its self-righteous buffoons, that’s the disgrace. Well, Roger may be one too, but they haven’t proven that yet. Congress has already proven their disgrace over and over.

Roger, a fallen, humbled man, stumbling over words, “misremembering” things (is he perhaps a long-lost member of the Bush clan?), admonished by High Ranking Members of the United States Congress. Or so the news reports portray–a sad, piteous image. Pity? I don’t have any pity for Roger. He looks to be a lying sack of you-know-what, as does his accuser McNamee.

What in the world does this have to do with governing a country? Why are Henry Waxman and his fellow bullies badgering ball players?

I used to believe in the US government and its constitution until I realized that it’s a joke of a document, one that our government tramples on daily. This circus of a hearing is one more example of abusing the constitution, but who cares?

I know little about Clemens, as baseball “bin very very borin’ to me,” and so I don’t know if he’s someone worth defending, but I hope he shows some cajones and tells Congress to go to hell, particularly Henry Waxman. It’s none of their business.

How to tackle your plumbing problems:

Just makin’ sure they’re learnin’ the right things:

The Dry Drunk Despot that promotes aggressive war and is responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of innocent individuals feels that peace in the Mideast is, “worth a try.”

Presenting the Hillary nut cracker. Feel free to make up your own joke:

How appropriate. The Haughty House of Horrors promotes the horrendous Hoax of HIV:

Wholesome stress relief. Sending the soldier boys some eye candy:

Another day’s haul for the Ganja Patrol:

Maybe, if you act like a cow they won’t tase you:

At least there is one life the Emperor will spare.  I guess he/she confessed:

The powers that be are protective of their war machines:

The War on Drugs includes the War with Drugs:

Yo, people of Pakistan, we here ya:

Don’t rub-bull me, bro:

Watch your step, kiddos:

A well toned army is essential to the defense of ruling regimes:

I will shirk no task to serve my Emperor:

The new way to check for friendlies:

Iraq has proven to be an excellent training ground for state initiated home invasions:

The Decider has his post-Emperor gig all arranged- as a pitchman for flatulent vegetables:

The late great Frank Zappa once said, “The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre.”

Consider the following:

Ecuador’s president has just effectively told Washington to kiss that country’s national rear end—he’s vowed not to renew the US Federal Megastate’s expiring “lease” on a death base within its borders. (He has left open the option of renewing the lease on the condition that Ecuador can set up its own death base in Miami, but something tells me that may go over like a lead balloon with the imperial bureaucrats, not to mention Miamians.)

Frustrated US troops in Iraq are engaging in some civil slackery, what they jokingly refer to as “search and avoid” missions: Parking their humvees in some out of the way place and pretending to be on patrol. Seems its done wonders for their life preservation.

The empire’s pretty curtains are falling away, revealing a hollow and empty husk; a mere facade.

So my question is this: If Ecuadoran bureaucrats refuse to heed the empire’s demands, and if the empire’s own stormtroopers are refusing to follow orders—why don’t millions of Americans do likewise here at home?

UPDATE: Roger Young’s latest blog post shames me into remembering that not nearly enough imperial stormtroopers are slacking off as much as they should be.  

Tyrone Brown was a 17 year old on probation for a $2 robbery when marijuana was found in his blood stream. The punishment? Life in prison. It took 17 years before the bloody state of Texas would release him. How many others are suffering the same injustice?

You can get some background on this story here, and here.