Strike The Root Blog

As every American knows, “private property” is a joke. Like literally everything else, when real estate changes hands, the state gets a piece of the action (real estate transfer tax.) They also demand continual payment of protection money for real estate (property taxes.) When property values rise, naturally the tax man gets a bigger slice of the pie by officially increasing the “state equalized value” of one’s property. Should you improve your property, after you get their permission, you’ll pay higher taxes for the privilege of doing so.

In a shocking new twist, with property values falling, local governments are refusing to lower SEV’s no matter what the purchase price of a property is. This will pile more problems onto the deflating housing bubble, making foreclosures even less appealing to the few buyers who are out there.

When the value of property rises - so does the extortion cost. When the price of property falls, too bad, shut up and pay. Extortion never gets cheaper. The dough must continue to roll in - how else could they keep funding their benefit/pension plans and feathering their own nests?

Is it any wonder the American economy is crumbling with such internal bureau-rot? When the masses finally wake up cold, hungry, homeless and realizing they’ve been had, it will be ugly. Could this be the purpose of the domestic detention camps?

Death, Made in the USA:

Meet Obama, the latest political messiah:

The USG has bombed their cities, murdered their children, demolished their infrastructure, imprisoned and tortured their population, stolen their weapons of self defense, and destroyed what few liberties they had. But that’s not enough. Humiliation is the next step with house searches and retina scans of Iraqis:

The emperor carefully considers his next move:

John MacCain, war coward in Vietnam and war criminal in Iraq, enjoys the safe, “better” life in a Baghdad market. The vest is just a fashion statement, the posse of USG thugs- merely there to impress the locals:

I came across this shocking—absolutley shocking, I tell you!—story at CNN.com tonight:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — An Iranian opposition group based in Iraq, despite being considered terrorists by the United States, continues to receive protection from the American military in the face of Iraqi pressure to leave the country.

It’s a paradox possible only because the United States considers the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK, a source of valuable intelligence on Iran…

However, the U.S. State Department officially considers the MEK a terrorist organization — meaning no American can deal with it; U.S. banks must freeze its assets; and any American giving support to its members is committing a crime.

The U.S. military, though, regularly escorts MEK supply runs between Baghdad and its base, Camp Ashraf.

“The trips for procurement of logistical needs also take place under the control and protection of the MPs,” said Mojgan Parsaii, vice president of MEK and leader of Camp Ashraf.

The story of the U.S. support for the MEK is certainly not news to anyone who follows Justin Raimondo’s Behind the Headlines columns at Antiwar.com; he’s been tracking the story for years now. The MEK is a militant Marxist-Islamist group that helped to overthrow the Shah of Iran and establish the Ayatollah Khomeini’s Shiite Islamic republic—they were known to carry out attacks against U.S. personnel in the late 1970s and were involved in the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran—but subsequently fell out with the Khomeini regime and eventually made their way into Iraq, armed and supported by none other than the late Saddam Hussein.

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We need signs to ask mothers not to throw their babies in the trash:

Two war criminals reminisce:

Alberto Gonzalez prepares to choke on the truth:

Bono, leading state apologist, branch hacker, and promoter of theft and tyranny, is rewarded by the Master he serves:

Chief Karl Rove shows off his perpetual-war dance:

From the washingtonpost.com’s “The Once and Future Republic of Vermont”:

In October 2005, about 300 Vermonters attended a statewide convention on the question of secession. Six months later, the annual Vermont Poll of the University of Vermont’s Center for Rural Studies found that about 8 percent of respondents replied “yes” to peaceful secession, arguably making Vermont foremost among the many states with secessionist movements (including Alaska, California, Hawaii, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Texas).

We secessionists believe that the 350-year swing of history’s pendulum toward large, centralized imperial states is once again reversing itself.

Why? First, the cost of oil and gas. According to urban planner James Howard Kunstler, “Anything organized on a gigantic scale . . . will probably falter in the energy-scarce future.” Second, third-wave technology is as inherently democratic and decentralist as second-wave technology was authoritarian and centralist. Gov. Jim Douglas wants Vermont to be the first “e-state,” making broadband Internet access available to every household and business in the state by 2010. Vermont will soon be fully wired into the global social commons.

Against this backdrop, secessionists from all over the state will gather in June to plan a grass-roots campaign to get at least 200 towns to vote by 2012 on independence. We believe that one outcome of this meeting will be dialogues among different communities of Vermonters committed to achieving local economic vitality, be they farmers, entrepreneurs, bankers, merchants, lawyers, independent media providers, construction workers, manufacturers, artists, entertainers or anyone else with a stake in Vermont’s future — anyone for whom freedom is not just a slogan.

The idea of moving to Vermont is getting more and more appealing.