Strike The Root Blog

The human soul hits rock bottom when it applauds state servitude:

The Emperor gives the eulogy for the American economy and dollar (Imagine the same picture with Lew Rockwell giving the eulogy for the state):

Prepare for a future with lots of depreciating Obama funny money:

Brother, can you spare some M3?

Voting parasites, ashamed of their affliction, tend to hide in the darkness….

….as do the mercenaries they employ:

Hold on to your wallets. Sar-krazy makes a call for “economic government.”

A leap of faith. No matter who wins, expect a hard landing:

The Empire reaches out to those it has imprisoned:

Commerce always finds a way around walls and borders:

Delusion- noun; a persistent or false psychotic belief:

Hang ‘em high- and then finish the job:

Kuh-oool! Video games that kill:

Things are not so peaceful anymore at Walden’s Pond:

McCain/Palin are here to save the day:

Michael Moore’s classmate films a response to `Sicko’ | MiamiHerald.com

 A dose of reality for the commie cheerleader from someone who knows what a liar he is.  Sicko is a joke that’s not funny.

In response to Joe Biden’s prediction that Dear Leader Barack Obama would face a major foreign affairs crisis within his first six months in office (read as: some foreign government[s] won’t do what he tells them to do), John McCain proudly declared while shamelessly pandering to Pennsylvanians yesterday (maybe they got a lot of adjustable rate mortgages?) that he’s already been tested by crisis:

McCain recalled being ready to launch a bombing run during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which Biden said over the weekend tested a new President John F. Kennedy and was the template for the kind of “generated crisis” the 47-year-old Obama would face within six months of taking office.”I was on board the USS Enterprise,” McCain, a former naval aviator, said in the capital city of Harrisburg. “I sat in the cockpit, on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise, off of Cuba. I had a target. My friends, you know how close we came to a nuclear war.”

As the crowd of several thousand began to swell with cheers and applause, he added with dramatic effect: “America will not have a president who needs to be tested. I’ve been tested, my friends.”

As the article notes, McCain has previously written of his experience in the Cuban missile crisis:

“The Enterprise, sailing at full speed under nuclear power, was the first U.S. carrier to reach waters off Cuba,” McCain wrote in his memoir, “Faith of My Fathers.” “For about five days, the pilots on the Enterprise believed we were going into action. We had never been in combat before, and despite the global confrontation a strike on Cuba portended, we were prepared and anxious to fly our first mission.”

He added: “Pilots and crewmen alike adopted a cool-headed, business-as-usual attitude toward the mission. Inwardly, of course, we were excited as hell, but we kept our composure and aped the standard image of a laconic, reserved, and fearless American at war.”

In other words, McCain and his fellow would-be executioners could barely contain their glee at the juicy prospect of dropping bombs on Cubans. Ye gods! In both his speech and the book you can practically hear him lick his lips in anticipation of the opportunities for slaughter he thought awaited him and his comrades.

(And take note of Biden’s creepy “Stand By Your Leader” exhortations in Seattle…)

(Cross-posted at The Postmodern Tribune.)

Joe the Plumber has had enough:

Some jackboots try a more folksy approach….

….to keep tyranny from becoming tiresome:

Three smiling gangsters:

Wall Street’s new rallying cry- “Ain’t too proud to beg:”

Babbling Bobbleheads:

Lined up for the firing squad? Not yet, but be patient:

Is JoMac headin’ for a fall?

B.O. collars a female to draft:

Cheney gets fixed up at a special hospital:

Some folks out there have a clue:

Even busy tyrant wanna-be’s take the time for a booty call:

Despite the shepherd’s record of failure, there’s still plenty of sheep to shear in Your America….

….Watch the Free Lunch Crowd sidle up to the always giving Federal teat:

What I would rather do than vote:

Why The Worst Will Soon Be Over - John Mauldin’s Outside the Box - InvestorsInsight Publishing

This is hilarious.  John Mauldin use to be rather sensible on many things but then he started defending Alan Greenspan and now appears to be outright lobbying for Paulson’s job.  It sounds like this could have been written by an old Soviet apparatchik completely devoid of economic theory focusing on the psychology of market participants.   It basically says that the rules of economics and banking have changed; the government did what it had to do and thank God because it could have been worse if they didn’t.  Oh yea, and don’t waste your time trying to figure out why things went so bad or who is to blame because we have to move past that.  Don’t worry the government is on it so invest in bank stocks!

Some great excerpts:

“The result is state directed capitalism. It has lead to howls of outrage across the investment and political spectrum, from the purists who believe market forces should be allowed to work themselves out, to the mob baying for capitalist blood. The cacophony of noise and finger pointing will continue for many years, but both arguments are irrelevant. They are based on old rules. For just as in war habeas corpus and other rights are torn up, so in a financial meltdown the old rules are shredded.”
 

“This multiple approach is already being favourably viewed in other countries; it is speedy, cheaper and turns the all-important psychology from one of utter despair to merely gloom. It is more effective, and overall less burdensome on the taxpayer than any other solution.”
 

“State directed capitalism must emerge with heavier-handed, state monitoring of its population.”
 

“Inevitably these [state directed banks] are ponderous and suffer poor shareholder returns, but in a whacky way, the system works.”
 

“Many savers will still lose money in those weaker institutions which the governments have rightly decided to sacrifice, to preserve the core of the system. It will be unfair and unpleasant, but the right action. More important is that just as banks in each country will consolidate down to a core handful, so the same will apply in many other sectors. Consolidation is the new trend.”
 

“The imminent brave new world of state directed banks and cartelisation of sectors is inherently corrupt and less efficient, but should work. It is certainly the least bad solution for us all; yet this very different and cartelised world could be rather interesting, and profitable.”
 

John: Say it ain’t so!

Government moves again to unclog credit lines | MiamiHerald.com

Excerpt: 

Said Bernanke: “We will not stand down until we have achieved our goals of repairing and reforming our financial system and thereby restoring prosperity to our economy.”

The move, in effect a partial nationalization of the banking system, does put the United States in the awkward position of owning shares in institutions it also regulates. The shares purchased by the government are expected to be nonvoting ones.

“The government’s role will be limited and temporary,” Bush pledged. “These measures are not intended to take over the free market but to preserve it. He said these steps and other related actions echoed similar bold moves made overseas in an effort to prevent a global recession. Bush said that by restoring confidence in the system, the hope is to “return our economy back to the road of growth and prosperity.”

The belief, nay hope, that the Federal Government/Fed can solve any problem that they created by doing more of what caused the problem in the first place is pathetic.  Does anybody doubt that we live in a fascist country now?  Does anybody with half a brain really believe that casting a vote for Frick or Frack can “fix” the economy?  “Limited and temporary” government power to save the free-market; uh, right.  

The biggest, most powerful state in history is on its knees folks.  The idiots who birthed this fiasco are getting desperate while grabbing more power and exercising more control.  I hope you all are tightening up your local networking groups, especially with your local farmers.  Silver is a steal.  Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

All is not well in the Land of Lehman:

Just a regular guy- Joe Six-Pack and his body guards:

Someday, the giants of freedom will walk tall among the remains of the bloody empire:

Everyone is a suspect:

Never give in and certainly don’t resort to begging:

The new dollar….

….to help you out of those sticky situations:

What ever it takes to sell the con. How’s this for putting lipstick on a pig?

The clueless search and search….

….until they find their soul mate:

The White House has time to think about breasts:

Cuba holds on to its myths:

The next financial crisis- the search for more digits:

A building on fire that doesn’t collapse? No “unusual magnetic forces” or “thermal expansion” here:

JoMac and his maniacs are feeling a bit anxious:

Pests and varmints come in all sizes and shapes:

Not to advocate violence, but someone really needs to slap this bitch:

Even the war mongering state can’t hold back the forces of nature:

What to do, what to do? The Emperor is lost in the woods:

The outcomes of game theory’s ULTIMATUM GAME raise serious implications for the prospects of freedom in any community.

In one version, given two players A and B, A finds $100 that he can keep only on the condition that he gives a portion to player B that B will accept. B also knows the conditions, but if B declines the 1-time offer, neither player gets anything.

Experiments show that B usually turns down anything less than a quarter of the money. In essence, people are willing to have nothing rather than something if they think what’s being offered is “unfair” even  for found money – property that they’ve had no hand in creating or perpetuating.  The purely rational choice would be to accept any amount since something is always better than nothing, but many people’s sense of “fairness” and “justice” tilts their preference to desiring nothing for all parties concerned.

This occurred to me while debating “price gouging” with an Atlanta resident who made it clear he’d rather sit in a city with no gasoline than in one in which the price impacted the marginal dollars of poor people in a much more significant way than for the well off (as if it could be any other way).

Such a mindset — hopefully, not genetic in origin — explains the movie monster type resilience of socialism which is ever popular no matter how much misery it spreads equally. The game implies the resentment is inevitable in a necessarily free and unequal society, and the task of people who want freedom to be the rule is a relentless task of educating people to know that freedom is in their best interest.

Hide your crimes by encouraging others to read goofy books:

Any sweet, moving stories about dropping bombs on women and children?

Watch JoMac say “thumbs up” to socialism:

Watch Jo Mac have an identity crisis:

Running a con is so much more fun when done with a loved one:

The new War Wench seeks counsel from a killing expert:

Headed for the dumpster of obsolete symbols?

Take comfort, Johnny Law will dry your tears:

“Now I know the secret; there is nothing that I lack.
If I give my love to you, you’ll surely give it back.
Let it rain, Let it rain…..”

….Or is a just God pissing on, still another, false messiah:

Congress takes a close look at Bush’s bailout plan….

….and responds to the corrupt, evil minds that created it:

The Emperor and his henchmen walk away empty handed….

….But with a little sweetening (and apocalyptic warnings), the plutocrats succeed with Bailout 2.0:

Love that plastic:

It appears the American sheep are all onboard, waiting to be fleeced:

Tough economic times require looking at alternatives:

Clueless Joe vs. The War Wench. Another good reason to dump television….

….and keep an eye on your assets:

The state gets angry….

….when its subjects fight back….

….by returning fire:

A lesson for the kids- Leviathan gobbles up taxpayers:

The state aims to create more warring robots….

….rather than tactful peacemakers:

The instruments of war have a long life:

They’re ALWAYS watching. NEVER get used to it:

A new design for a worthless coin commemorating a worthless tyrant:

“What? Obama is still alive?”

Keep the faith. There’s always hope when pigs start to fly:

Ben contemplates his bailout….

….despite rampant opposition:

Henry points to fellow Americans to bail out his buddies:

How quaint. Daddy and Mommy are going off to war. Killing for the state always takes precedence over caring for your children:

US Crusaders do the killin’ and the Iraqis do the buryin’: