This past week The Capital Area Association of Realtors released June home sales figures. For the second month in a row the association decided to do a previous month comparison, and year over year comparison. Why would they start a previous month comparison? In my opinion because the numbers sound better than year over year comparisons. What is being reported is factual, closed home sales for June were up over 20% from May. Sounds great doesn’t it?

What wasn’t reported was that June virtually has more home sales every year than May, and May home sales were down over 20%. This tid bit of information would put the previous month into proper perspective. OK, sales were up over a terrible month. Whooopeee! Actually it is good news, however June over June sales increased only single digits. In other words we are holding our own, but the way the information is reported could mislead consumers into believing all is peaches and cream in the local housing market. It’s not.

The same is true for the recent jump in the stock market. Headlines everywhere told us the market is up to the highest of the year. This is due to higher than expected earnings reports from industry leaders like Caterpillar. The truth is that major corporations posted bigger profits because they have reduced their expenses. How? Trimming their work forces which has pushed unemployment up to 9.5% heading for over 10%. Did Caterpillar earn more because of increased sales, and revenues? No.

Cat said they have raised their expectations for earnings because the stimulus plan in China is working. The Chinese economy continues to grow and they are ordering big Cats to help build industries like coal powered electric plants.

What are we doing in the U.S.? The house passed Cap and Trade legislation that will effectively cripple our coal industry, drive up the price of electricity, raise the price for gasoline, food, clothing, and everything else manufactured in America. The cost? Over two trillion dollars will be sucked out the private sector from every man, woman, and child in this country. All to pacify environmental extremists who have brainwashed people into believing that CO2 is causing global warming, although temperatures have fallen eleven straight years, and a group of 750 noted scientists refutes CO2 as the culprit. It is not settled science. Except for those that want government to takeover the energy industry.

The president wrapped this legislation as a jobs bill. This is blatantly false. For every green job created, two jobs will be lost for a net loss of two million jobs during a recession. Worse is that green jobs pay less than half of what the jobs being eliminated pay. If that’s not bad enough, our quality of life will be lowered. It is a government takeover of the energy industry through false pretenses. Again what the president says the bill will accomplish does not match what the bill says, which no one read before voting, and will have a devastating impact upon the economy, individual liberty, and quality of life.

Cap and Trade is wrapped as a jobs bill, and you get to save the planet too. Both lies. It is a takeover of the energy industry with trillions of dollars redirected to big government.

The same is true for Obama Care. The president says it’s not about him, when it’s all about him. He is either intentionally deceptive (a polite way of saying he is lying), or incompetent for not having read the bill. Obama says he wants a government plan to provide competition. There are currently over 1700 health insurance plans in the country. That’s not competition? A government option will undercut the price of private plans which will accomplish several things, but ultimately the most important to Obama; government takeover of the health care system.

Canadian government run health care started exactly the same way, by offering a government option. The private health industry no longer exists, rationing of care, and inferior care is now the norm.

Hawaii offered a plan that was to be an option of last resort, became the option of first choice because it was cheaper, bankrupt the program, drove small insurance companies out of business, and had to be terminated after only seven months.

Florida began offering homeowners insurance as an option of last resort which has become the option of first choice because it is cheaper. It is grossly underfunded and will cause tens of billions of dollars in losses to the taxpayers in the event of a hurricane according to actuarial studies.

Health care reform is wrapped as an option to create competition, and to insure the reported forty seven million without insurance. Both lies. One only need look at the census to realize ten million without insurance are illegal immigrants. When an amendment was introduced to ban illegal immigrants from the plan, Democrats voted it down. Millions that are uninsured are young people who simply choose not to spend the money. Obama Care would force penalties to be paid to the IRS for those who choose not to buy insurance.

Effectively there are about nine million Americans without insurance. This is not about competition or looking out for the uninsured, it is about a government takeover of the health care industry, again diverting trillions of dollars to big government.

So be careful how you process information being reported to you. It very well could lead you to false conclusions. If Cap and Trade is passed in the senate, and Obama gets his version of health care reform, then we cease to be a great nation.

Your choices will be made by bureaucrats. What kind of car you will drive, what kind of light bulbs you can use, where you can set your thermostat, trillions of American dollars will be diverted to the government, millions of jobs lost, resulting from this bill. Sold to you as saving the planet. A crisis manufactured by extremists, promoted by liberal media, and a popular president. Sad so many people are fooled.

If Obama Care is passed, an entire industry will be eliminated driving up unemployment. The quality, and availability of your health care will be determined by a bureaucrat. You and your doctor will no longer be making the life altering decisions that will affect you, your children, your parents, and grandparents. This is insane. There should be reform, but not a government takeover of health care. Call your congressmen and senators to put a stop to the madness.

In spite of all the faults in our current system, America still has the best health care in the world. That will be lost with Obama Care. Not only will Americans suffer, so will everyone in the world, when there is no longer money for research that leads to medical breakthroughs and cures. Sad day for the world.

The economic impact of the government takeover of energy and health care will lead to a lost decade. It is impossible to tell if our economy would ever recover, or if America will simply turn into a European socialist style democracy where 15% unemployment is the norm, rationed inferior health care is expected, and there is a powerful ruling elite. Is this change we can believe in?

Be careful how you process information. That’s how you end up buying a bill of goods.

Fritz Pfister is a Realtor with RE/MAX Professionals Springfield IL. and a leader in the local real estate market hosting a one hour radio program, now in its’ 14th year. With over 2000 real estate sales, Fritz is recognized as a market expert.
Fritz’s website is
SpringfieldHome.com

[tags]cap and trade, Obama Care, economy[/tags]

Darwinian evolution, wherever it has been taught, has had the effect of implicitly denying the existence of God. Whether intentional or not, this denial of God has undermined faith and promoted secularism. In this article let’s examine one of the fruits of secularism, namely militant communism.

Communism is nothing new. Plato wrote of an idealized communist society in his work entitled Republic. In the 1500s, Thomas More wrote a book called Utopia about a mythical communist society.

Communist ideas were never seriously implemented until the 1800s when the rise of secularism (atheism) blunted many people’s hopes for redemption by God. This resulted in a huge movement led by intellectuals and their students to create man’s own redemption on earth.

This secular redemption on earth would be a perfect classless society in which all property is held in common. I will mention again that the gasoline on the fire of secularism was and is Darwinian evolution.

Communist ideology maintains that individual people are nothing more than atoms in motion and have no value. Communism also asserts that the society which is composed of many people is greater than the sum of its parts. Valueless people clumped together form a society that somehow has value. The civil government over the society takes the place of God.

When communists took over Russia and China they discovered to their amazement that people resisted having their property confiscated to form collective factories and farms. Then the killing began. Communists had no aversion to killing people whom they regarded as mere atoms in motion or more precisely as intelligent animals evolved from apes.

Lenin’s purges of the early 20s and Stalin’s purges of the 30s killed millions. Chinese communists killed millions in the early 50s. Many were killed or persecuted in China during the Cultural Revolution from 1966-76. The killing fields of Cambodia claimed more lives in four years of peace in the 70s than were killed in 15 years of Vietnam war! “The Black Book of Communism,” written by two French socialists, puts the total number of communist murders at between 70 million to 100 million.

The churches were closed and Christians were slaughtered or worked to death in slave camps. The churches had taught the concept of human dignity, the sanctity of human life and “Thou shalt not steal” (property rights).

Ideas have consequences. The idea that life came into being without a creator has had catastrophic consequences. I acknowledge that some civil governments that claim to believe in God have done bad things. Governments that don’t believe in God have done far worse.

Bill Nugent has written many articles on Christianity, philosophy and science. He has also written books that give Bible based teaching on sanctification and that caution against the error of legalism. His books are available at his website www.gracelawandsonship.com.

[tags]communism,genocide,mass,murder,Darwin,Darwinian,secularism,Stalin,Lenin,Mao,killing,fields,evolution[/tags]

Happy Independence Day! This is the 233 celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This timeless document established the foundation for the writing of the constitution which led to the greatest democratic form of government in history. Included in the Declaration of Independence comes these words; We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

There are progressives in our society and in our government today that are leading people away from the founders wisdom, and would prefer we celebrate Dependence Day. That the government is the answer to all problems, and in so doing are taking our liberty away through laws passed by an out of control congress. Those in charge today believe the constitution is a living document that must change with the times. How could the founding fathers have foreseen a society as we have today? They did, and that’s the reason for the constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Over eighty years ago, a president who was born on the fourth of July, Calvin Coolidge said this:

“It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with unalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress.”

In today’s paper there is a headline; “Rising mountain of debt may be next U.S. crisis.” As Homer Simpson would say: “DOH!” On April 15 all across this nation hundreds of thousands of Americans rallied at Tea Parties to display their anger at an out of control government. The local paper ran an editorial, after falsely reporting upon the size of the local Tea Party, stating; protest but don’t ignore the facts, and then went on to present their one sided, progressive liberal slant about the rally. This illustrates one of the reasons that our government is out of control, why the people would elect progressives that are implementing laws, and rules that are destroying our economy, and robbing the people of their liberty.

To quote nationally syndicated columnist Dr. Walter Williams;

“Why did the founders of our nation give us the bill of rights? The answer is easy. They knew congress could not be trusted with our God given rights. Why in the world would they have written the first amendment prohibiting Congress from enacting any law that abridges freedom of speech and the press? The answer is that in the absence of such a limitation Congress would abridge free speech and free press. That same distrust of Congress explains the other amendments found in our Bill of Rights protecting rights such as our rights to property, fair trial, and to bear arms. The Bill of Rights should serve as a constant reminder of the deep distrust that our founders had of government. They knew that some government was necessary but they rightly saw government as the enemy of the people and they sought to limit government and provide us with protections.” Amen Dr. Williams!

Although there is freedom of the press, the press has been hijacked through progressive ownership and the majority of the press are government lapdogs and not government watchdogs. Due to the complicity of today’s news media the people have been led down the progressive path which will ultimately cause the demise of their very own liberty. Climate change is a prime example. Although there are nearly a thousand respected scientists that dispute the claim of CO2 causing global warming, you would never know it, because the media is complicit in brainwashing the people by telling only one side of this hypothesis. To quote Nobel Laureate in Physics Ivar Giaever: “I am a skeptic…global warming has become a new religion.” Dr. Kiminori Itoh said “warming fears are the worst scientific scandal in history.” Dr. Jarl Ahlbeck says; “So far, real measurements give no ground for concern about a future catastrophic future warming.”

Because the media failed in their duty to report both sides of the issue congress has passed Cap and Trade legislation based upon a hypothesis. This will result in millions of lost jobs, environmentalists becoming billionaires by selling ‘blue sky’, and will allow congress to control your life dictating by law what type of light bulb you can use, what type of appliances manufactures can make, what type of home a builder can build, and on, and on the usurping of people’s liberty.

This liberty eliminating, jobs killing bill must be stopped in the Senate.

If you want to sacrifice your liberty to government, to the progressives currently in control of all branches of government, then by all means support the presidents health care initiative. If you want a bureaucrat to stand between you and your doctor, to destroy the best health care system in the world, then support the progressives in their effort. Once government is in charge of health care then they can control nearly every aspect of your life. They will be able to tax everything that they deem unhealthy, tell you what you can and cannot eat, and ultimately make life and death decisions regarding you and your family. It is curious though, that in the proposed legislation Congress, the Executive Branch, and unions are exempt from their proposed government insurance. Don’t believe the lies that you can keep your doctor, or your insurance. After middle income workers get their employer paid health care taxed many will opt out for the cheaper government insurance. Many corporations will stop offering the benefit. The flood of people moving to government insurance will mean the end of the private sector health insurance industry. Should there be health care reform? Yes, but this is not the answer.

Progressives are patient, they’ve taken their time over the past one hundred years to incrementally implement their goal of supplanting God, and family by government. Progressives control the media, acedemia, and don’t believe in God given rights. Individual liberty must be sacrificed for the common good. This will enable progressives to become the entrenched rulers within government. These are the people who want Dependence Day.

Cap and trade, and Universal Healthcare are two of the primary examples of the failure of the main stream media to adequately inform the people, to serve as watchdog. These measures are the biggest power grabs attempted by the liberal progressives in history. How could such anti-democracy measures even see the light of day? Because the press has failed the people, and the trust of the founders.

It is up to us, the people that want to continue to celebrate Independence Day to stop our out of control government. If we don’t, the estimated 45% of people who want Dependence Day will win, and our liberty lost.

Thomas Jefferson said it best: “When people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.” It is time to put the fear into our representatives that are selling us down the river to becoming a second class socialist nation. Any congressman or senator that votes for Cap and Trade, or for Universal Healthcare needs to be voted out of office.

May we the people win the day, and keep America by the people for the people. It is time to take responsibility, and it is time for the people to show the bravery of the founders who wrote; “That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of our God given rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.” It is time to stop unsustainable deficit spending, onerous taxation, redistribution of wealth, and the destruction of our economy. Time to renew our faith in our democratic principles, stop the progressives, and return to the traditions that made America the beacon of democracy throughout the world.

Happy Independence Day. May we have hundreds more for the sake of our children, grandchildren, and for the sake of the world.

Fritz Pfister is a Realtor with RE/MAX Professionals Springfield IL. and a leader in the local real estate market hosting a one hour radio program, now in its’ 14th year. With over 2000 real estate sales, Fritz is recognized as a market expert.
Fritz’s website is
SpringfieldHome.com

[tags]progressives, liberty, cap and trade, universal healthcare[/tags]

From the beginning of his political career in 1982 as a member of the House of Representatives John McCain has supported our armed forces, worked to stop extravagant government spending, and to lower taxes. In 1986 he was elected to the United States Senate. He has fought against special interests and their lobbyists. These are the reasons many people of conservative bent like John McCain.

He has been aligned with the pragmatists conservatives who are less war like, though he thinks we need a strong and modern missile defense. He understands that we need a capable defense against countries that have and would use intercontinental ballistic missile to bomb the United States.

McCain knows that our troops should be strengthened so that our men and women in uniform don’t have to serve multiple tours of duty in war zones. He is also a watchdog for pork barrel riders that deflect money from bills designed for defense to home projects of some members of Congress.

It is because John McCain truly believes in and stands for American ideals that people that are also patriots like him. Folks that believe in the grassroots truth that Christian prayer is the spiritual fabric of our country support McCain. When he was interviewed by Time Magazine concerning being a prisoner of war he said that prayer gave him strength and got him through his captivity. He said that all of the prisoners that prayed had more physical strength and didn’t despair.

McCain says that prayer is a basic part of his life every day. He explains that he finds many times a day to say a prayer. He understands that Christian faith brings help and closeness to God; much needed during times of failing.

Those against abortion find an alley in John McCain as he thinks Roe VS Wade should be reversed. His stance is that a Constitutional amendment to ban abortion except in cases of incest, rape, and when the woman’s life is in danger is the answer. He also says a federal law to this effect is another good way to settle the issue. He voted for the 2003 bill that banned partial birth abortion. He also voted for a bill that would have made it a federal offense to take a minor across state lines for an abortion, unless you are the parent.

Those against taxes swamping the middle class have a man with a practical idea on their side. He supports repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax Act. This measure rapes Middle America to the tune of 60 million yearly. It was meant as a measure to tax the richest in America, but it has hooked more and more middle class citizens because of inflation rising. It hits those that claim extensive deductions.

Basically, people of faith, those that believe in defending the U.S.A, people against abortion, those that want taxes lowered, and people that believe in family values find John McCain a favorable politician they can support.

Tristan Andrews is a freelance author who writes articles about Political Games and Obama.

[tags]political games,politics,republican,mccain[/tags]

The McCain detractors come from liberal and conservative ilk. It is obvious that those of liberal bent don’t approve of John McCain because he dislikes pork barrel spending. Those that like to waste government funds raised by taxes don’t want the hay day to end. No matter that the federal government’s debt is soaring and we have been lowered to borrowing from China.

The liberal crowd doesn’t care for his stance on the Iraq war either. It seems they prefer terrorists to defending the United States against them. They have preference for a president that will try to talk our enemies to death. That is talking persuasion and carrying no stick at all.

Those for partial birth abortion dislike McCain’s stance on abortion. What part of the word birth don’t they understand? Also, they would rather that people other than their parents, which McCain is against, could take teenage girls across state lines for an abortion.

People that don’t understand that the United States was traditionally based on Christianity can’t stand McCain. They refute the fact that the bible was the first book printed by the federal government and distributed to schools. Does this sound like the Constitution meant separation of church and state? The idea was not to have a State Church like the Anglican Church in England.

McCain has been aligned with the pragmatists conservatives and the neo-conservatives don’t approve of some of his stances. McCain’s lifetime rating with the American conservative Union is 82.3% - definitely a score that agitates liberals and not conservative enough for neo-conservatives. They think that preemptive military action to stop our enemies is justifiable, while being a pragmatist conservative McCain is less of a war hawk.

Though he was against the Alternative Minimum Tax Act, McCain voted unfavorably to conservatives on the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. McCain believes in a cap and trade bill for limiting carbon dioxide emissions that infuriates far right conservatives and he agrees that an immigration reform bill giving illegal aliens citizenship is a good move. That definitely isn’t popular with stanch conservatives.

To get where the rubber meets the road - staunch conservatives call McCain a deviationist. He can’t veer in his opinions one bit from the ultra conservative party line and please them. His stance on the federal government buying problematic mortgage loans angered many economic conservatives. They saw this as rewarding lenders that mishandled their jobs. Thus, economic conservatives spoke out against McCain on this issue.

It is a fact that John McCain is disliked by some conservatives and by liberals. At least both groups disapprove of some of his ideas and policies. It seems that it doesn’t pay to have a different opinion at times because then a politician is coloring outside of party lines. But even if he does that on some issues most liberals forget it so that they don’t view him favorably either. Some conservatives and most liberals dislike John McCain. Maybe that shows he actually thinks for himself.

Tristan Andrews is a freelance author who writes articles about Political Games and Obama.

[tags]political games,politics,republican,mccain[/tags]

At first glance, the average observer would be hard-pressed to find a link between liberalism and socialism since the two seem to be diametrically opposed.

However, when you delve deeper into these ideologies, the link becomes apparent, and it is possible to see how both are being utilized to change the shape of our country. The roots of liberalism go back to the Age of Enlightenment, a time when conventions, religious piety and monarchies were being overthrown.

Socialism also took a big step forward during this time and adherents to this movement played a pivotal role in the revolutions that swept through Europe.
In our time, it is clear that a strong link has been formed between the two and that there is a concerted effort in place to co-opt our country.

One of the best examples of the combination of the ideologies is the push for socialized medicine in the United States. While our health care system is definitely broken, the push to socialize medical care is one giant step on the slippery slope towards installing a socialist regime in this country.

You can look at the economic situation in Canada and the United Kingdom, two governments that have socialized medicine to see that they are in no better shape than we are, and are failing fast. The goal of socialists is to remove monarchies from power, but there is something more sinister going on.

Although the United States is technically a republic, we are seeing numerous changes occurring that are very disturbing.

WHERE DOES ALL OF THIS LEAD?

Politicians in both major parties are leaning more strongly towards socialist tendencies and liberalism is becoming more accepted every day. Strong values are being replaced by a new society where only liberal thought is allowed and where convention is shunned.

The Elite have set up the United States for the ultimate coup, and because the joining of liberalism and socialism has been so gradual, most of us have failed to notice what is happening.

WHAT WILL OUR FUTURE LOOK LIKE?

Throughout the campaign for president, there were whispers that Barack Obama was a closet socialist, but now that he has been installed as president, there is no doubt where his allegiances lie. We were told that he was the harbinger of change, but little did we know that change could come at the cost of our liberty.

Liberalism and socialism are poised to become the norm in the United States and there is little that can be done to stop this travesty.

However, if we pay attention, if we stand up for our ‘God-given’ and inalienable rights and use the voices guaranteed to us by our constitution, we can stand up for our nation and the republic for which it stands.

Read more about conservatism at Truth-it!

[tags]liberalism and socialism[/tags]

This past week was a moment for happiness and sadness for the Pfister family. My wife Kristie’s Great Aunt Ruth Miller passed away and her funeral was on Tuesday. Then Saturday my Aunt Chloe Rehfield passed away and her funeral was on Wednesday. Although expected, still a shock and sadness that these two ladies would no longer be with us on earth.

During Ruth’s service the minister provided an eloquent tribute to Ruth. Although Ruth lived in Springfield Illinois and Chloe in Grosse Ile Michigan, I couldn’t help but to think of my Aunt Chloe and how similar her life was to Ruth’s.

Chloe born in 1912, and Ruth in 1915. Chloe lost her husband Alfred in 1983, and Ruth lost her husband Carlton in 1981. Both devoutly religious, neither ever a complaint, never a harsh word for anyone, both always with a smile on their face, and both always in perfect attire. Neither had children. Both lived through the Great Depression, both members of The Greatest Generation living through WWII, and witnessed all else to their passing in 2009.

During the service the minister recited a poem called The Dash. On every tombstone there is a born on date, a dash, and a passed away date. The message was clear, it is what you do, and how you live during the dash that’s important.

These two ladies filled their dashes with happy lives, always available to offer a helping hand to family, friends, and neighbors, and everyone was considered a neighbor. Both deeply devoted to their faith and their churches. How lucky to have known them. They were leaders by example.

These events caused me to ponder what am I doing with my dash? What are you doing with your dash? Are we filling our dashes with acts of kindness, and labor to help our neighbors? Quietly, humbly, and without fanfare, as did these two ladies?

What of our leaders today? What are they doing with their dashes?

Another disgraced Illinois governor of style over substance, apparently motivated by personal gain over the good of others, is now out of a job.

Media moguls that sensationalize doom and gloom in the economy to achieve a desired outcome should be ashamed. These journalistic tactics are responsible for a great portion of the falling consumer confidence, by delivering a self fulfilling prophecy.

A past President that used fear to motivate, and rush a congress to pass a bailout bill with trillions of dollars for financial institutions, has born no measurable fruit, while adding to our massive national debt.

A sitting president also uses fear, with an accommodating media, to rush to forge a stimulus plan that will saddle future generations with debt by supporting a pork laden bill that has less to do with stimulating the economy than growing government for the sake of power.

When witnessing these actions I think of what my Aunt Chloe would say when discussing such less than admirable behavior, rather it is what she would ask; well, what are you going to do? She is right. Well, what are you going to do?

As I have opined on several occasions; things are never as good as they appear, nor are they ever as bad as they appear. That the recovery and the solution to our economic condition today will start with each individual person deciding to be as productive as they can be. That is to accept personal responsibility, to be self reliant, and to know there are acres of diamonds beneath their feet.

I remember the 1980’s all to well. An economy much worse than today. Interest rates were above 20%, unemployment 12%. The country was attempting to recover from the misery index.

My employer closed his business in May 1982. Now jobless, my first child on the way, and jobs as scarce as hen’s teeth. There was never a thought of applying for unemployment, instead opening a line of credit on the good will of the Dellert Paint store, and knocking on doors, painting houses and apartments to support my family.

Then as winter approached with painting jobs coming to an end, I was hired to drive a truck for $4.50 an hour, having been chosen out of over a hundred applicants, becoming one of the luckiest days in my life.

Why? Because there was an Aunt Chloe and Ruth, grandparents and parents that taught self reliance, and personal responsibility, who asked; well, what are you going to do?

I am concerned that we may see a repeat of the hardship of the 1980’s, because sadly today, self reliance, and personal responsibility must not be being taught in many families. That the majority of people would choose to relinquish self reliance, and personal responsibility to the government. It’s not; well, what are you going to do? It’s; well what is the government going to do for me?

Yes this week was a mixture of sadness, and happiness. Happy to have learned from the lives of two fine ladies that led by example, who always placed substance over style, always available to lend a helping hand, never waivered in their faith, and lived their dash to the fullest.

Then sad to see our leaders place style over substance filling their dashes with disgrace, and utilizing fear for personal gain, and power.

Take a few moments today to think about how you are living your dash, and ask yourself; well, what are you going to do?

Fritz Pfister is a licensed Realtor with RE/MAX Professionals Springfield Illinois.
Fritz is a leader in the local real estate market and hosts a live one hour radio program, now in its’ 14th year. Fritz has been voted “Best Realtor” the past two years by readers of The State Journal Register in Springfield, Illinois.
Fritz’s website is
SpringfieldHome.com

[tags]lessons from greatest generation economy 2009[/tags]

Today, it’s nothing but a bad dream, but, many years ago, before modern medicine had come up with more humane procedures for dealing with hemorrhoids, I suffered through a period of extreme discomfort in the sensitive posterior of my anatomy. Because I had vivid memories of my father howling in agony after undergoing a hemorrhoid operation decades earlier, I was concerned, to say the least, about following in his footsteps. (Strange metaphor, eh?)

Over the course of about a year, I visited two proctologists, but nixed letting them put me under the knife. Instead, they gave me a variety of salves and ointments to deaden the pain. As a result, I had “invisible” hemorrhoids for a full year. They were still there, of course, but by applying medication, I could pretend they weren’t. What a marvelous delusion.

Finally, it got to the point where salves and ointments could no longer bail me out. In desperation, I went to a third doctor — one who’d been touted in a newspaper article as “the best in his field.” After a cozy little examination that almost put me through the ceiling, he said to me: “I’ll give it to you straight. Your problem will never get better on its own. The only way to get rid of it is through surgery.”

I was in such pain that, without even thinking about it, I blurted out, “When could you operate on me?” To my surprise, he said, “I can do it tomorrow if you’re up to it. It’s my day in surgery.” Without giving myself the opportunity to mull over it and probably put it off, I impulsively said, “Let’s do it.”

Out of respect to your sensibilities, I won’t give you the gory post-operation details that bad dream. Let it just suffice to say that, for the first few days, I regretted having been so impulsive. But soon I started to get progressively better. And within a month, I was pain free. I had survived the medical equivalent of a deflationary depression by getting it over with.

Now, I ask you to help spread the word — friend by friend, neighbor by neighbor, coworker by coworker — that what America needs is a hemorrhoid operation, not more bailouts. That means a lot of pain and suffering for all of us. And, make no mistake about it, we deserve it for having allowed our elected officials to turn the Constitution upside-down and dupe us into believing that we are obliged to answer to them rather than the other way around.

As Viktor Frankl once put it, man has a right to suffer. Suffering is a part of life. The time has come for us to tell the politicians that we don’t want any more economic salves and ointments. The only way for things to get better is for government to get out of the way and stop making them worse. I say: My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for yourself.

People are resilient — provided they are free to make their own way in the world. But with B. McBama likely to ascend to the throne in January, what is left of our freedom is likely to rapidly disappear (especially if he and his Marxist advisors decide to classify us as “rich”). If you’ve been listening closely to what he’s been saying — through his endless GAVEC statements — you know that he has virtually guaranteed it.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “But both B. and J. McBama are right. Something has to be done about ‘the gap between the rich and the poor,’ about those ‘greedy’ folks on Wall Street, about immoral speculators, et al.”

Robert Ringer has helped more people transform their aspirations and goals into reality than perhaps any other author in history.

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At the beginning of this vicious presidential race I complained that there wasn’t a lot of difference in the two candidates, John McCain for the Republican Party and Barack Obama, a Democrat. Being a political conservative, I thought that John McCain had entirely too many leftist leanings and Barack Obama was much too liberal for me to even think seriously about giving him my vote. Since they both officially became their party’s nominee for president, a lot has occurred to change my mind about one of them.

Let’s take the lies being told by both sides. While we all know that lying is part of our political process, the trick is to determine which candidate is fibbing the least; the hardest thing to do in any election. The trouble with these two fellows and their campaign staffs is that they talk so much without saying anything concrete; it’s hard to distinguish the truth from a fabrication.

I try to determine whether the politician who is speaking can actually deliver what he is promising. If I think he can, then I figure he’s probably telling the truth about other things. The flip side of that of course, is if he lies about one thing, he’s probably lying about something else. Increasingly, neither party seems to be embarrassed when held accountable for their statements. They just spin another answer!

I’m for a strong national defense because I think that is the way to keep our enemies at bay. I don’t think that can be accomplished by cutting the military budget by 25% and sitting down and having meaningful discussions with those that intend to harm us. Call me old fashion, but I’d feel much safer if I knew that the bad guys feared a strong, decisive and immediate consequence, of any harm done by them to the United States.

Our economy is the number one issue in this campaign and there have been two entirely different views on how to solve the problem and I don’t believe more government bailouts are the answer. The nation’s financial problems were caused by greedy politicians and banking executives. Both Republicans and Democrats alike have to share the blame in this debacle. I doubt though that either party will step up to the plate and assume responsibility for the financial mess in which we’re mired.

Democrats are supposed to be in favorite of bigger and bigger government, though the Republicans in the last term seemed to have been in a contest to see which party could spend the most money and expand their power the most! In this regard there’s not much difference in the two parties. That’s why in the beginning of this presidential race, I was discouraged about having to pick either Mr. McCain or Mr. Obama.

Being an economic conservative, I don’t believe raising taxes on those who employee workers is going to move an economy that is tottering on the brink of recession, to a return to being a world financial leader.

If I understand Mr. Obama’s economic plan, additional taxes were originally going to be levied on those persons or businesses making over $250,000. The last quote I heard from Joe Biden, the Vice Presidential candidate, is that figure has changed to $120,000 or less. This makes their plan a lot more difficult to swallow.

Even though the election has not yet been held, the Democrats are putting another tax rebate or stimulus package together. Mr. Obama has stated that 95% of Americans will receive a check, even though roughly 40% of the country doesn’t pay taxes. It seems that including folks who receive Social Security Checks or any government check will entitle them to government give-a-way. I hope I have my facts wrong because we’re moving into scary territory and I’m not sure either one of the two candidates can get us to the Promised Land.

My hat is off to both Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama, even though I question the sanity of both of them for wanting to be President in this time financial upheaval. That having been said, I suppose I’ll stick with the devil I know instead of the one I don’t! I’ll vote for McCain.

Bob Alexander is well experienced in outdoor cooking, fishing and leisure living. Bob is also the author and owner of this article. Visit his sites at:
http://www.redfishbob.com
http://www.bluemarlinbob.com

As you know a massive government bailout was passed with the goal of saving the economy. The Oct. 4, 2008 front page headlines in the SJR “Bailout is coming, but will it work?” Good question. In my opinion the headline should have been “Bailout coming, was it necessary?”

The bailout represents much more than the $857 billion dollars of your tax money pledged to be spent to save the economy. Once again irresponsible earmarks were attached to the plan to bribe congressmen to change their votes. Rum distilleries in the Virgin Islands get $20 million, wooden arrow makers get $8 million, and corporations get a $300 per employee write off for employees that ride bikes to work.

The pilfering of the treasury for these earmarks is not what I’m referring to. Read the last paragraph quoting Barney Frank in the article. To quote: “Congress will tackle next year; overhauling housing policy and financial regulation in a legislative effort compared to the New Deal”. Welcome ladies and gentlemen to America’s new and improved socialized housing market.

Reported so far is a homeowners protection clause, that will establish an expanded bureaucracy to help people in foreclosure save their homes. In other words a bureaucrat will tell banks to adjust interest rates, and lower principal on loans. The bill also gives bankruptcy judges the same power.

Ninety five percent of Americans pay their mortgages on time. What this bill does is to reward people for defaulting on their mortgages, with paying down their principal with your tax dollars, and giving better rates than responsible mortgage payers can receive. In the name of helping an infinitesimal number of homeowners defrauded by predatory lenders, this bill throws out the baby with the bath water.

Do you think rewarding bad behavior will encourage or discourage more bad behavior? Hey, I don’t have to pay my mortgage, I’ll just go to the local housing administrator and he’ll have the evil bank that locked me in the basement and beat me with a rubber hose until I signed a mortgage I couldn’t afford, reduce what I owe and lower my interest rate. Hey I might even end up with some extra beer money with the lower payment. Before you decide to stop paying your mortgage in hopes of the housing administrator shaking down your bank, you’d better be sure your political affiliation matches the administrators!

Was this bill necessary? In my opinion, no. If the financial markets were in such bad shape why are Citigroup and Wells Fargo fighting over Wachcovia? Why did Warren Buffet invest billions in Goldman Sachs, Why did Bank of America buy WashMu? In other words there were strong companies, and weak companies. The market would have sorted this all out without government intervention spending hundreds of billions of your tax dollars.

Why the crisis? Why the rush? Could it be because the government caused this mess? Absolutely. Investor’s Business Daily has chronicled the genesis of the meltdown. What you are paying for in this bailout is a failed social engineering project. In an attempt to get as many low income families mortgages, the government created this mess.

Mix in a helping of corruption, and fraud at the governmental political plumbs called Fannie-Mae and Freddie Mac and you have the perfect storm. Hundreds of millions of dollars were paid to political operatives with no mortgage lending backgrounds to manage these entities. Millions of dollars were made in campaign contributions by Fannie Mae. The very politicians in charge of oversight were bought off. Those that ran Fannie Mae and headed the oversight committees should be investigated for fraud.

What happens? The very ones responsible for this fraud carried out against you the taxpayer, are now going to be in charge of the financial markets, and housing markets “New Deal” legislation. God help us all.

The American housing market was socialized by the bail out. What will happen to the value of your home as a result? Probably not much for the short term, however when banks are ordered by bankruptcy judges, and local housing administrators to take losses so people can keep their homes, those losses will be made up elsewhere. Namely higher profit margins to absorb potential losses. In other words, higher payments for the responsible home owner.

What other negative consequences will you as a homeowner suffer as the result of this government action? Only time will tell, but big brother will have a say. Should treasury flood the market with properties purchased through this bail out, time to recovery in the housing market will be extended.

It is my hope and prayer that every congressman, and senator that voted for this ill advised bill be voted out of office. It is tragic that both presidential candidates voted for government intervention into the free market.

In the name of saving the economy, the government is now imposing itself upon one of America’s most valued liberties, home ownership.

Wait a couple years comrade and I’ll see you at the commune!

Fritz Pfister is a licensed Realtor with RE/MAX Professionals Springfield Illinois.
Fritz is a leader in the local real estate market and hosts a live one hour radio program, now in its’ 13th year.
Fritz’s website is
SpringfieldHome.com
Fritz provides advice that helps consumers succeed in the sale or purchase of homes, leading this Central IL. market with over 1125 home sales since 2000.