About Brainerd's Pequot Lakes

This is the last in the series of interesting quotes to start out your New Year with some wit.

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
-Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)



Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-Ronald Reagan (1986)



I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

-Will Rogers



If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!
-P.J. O'Rourke



In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-Voltaire (1764)



Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!
-Pericles (430 B.C.)




No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session..
-Mark Twain (1866 )


Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.
-Unknown

This is the second in the series of quotes to start out your New Year with some wit.

"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."

-Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member of Congress....
But then I repeat myself

-Mark Twain


I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle..
-Winston Churchill


A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G Gordon Liddy


Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)


Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University



Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

The early Americans were acutely aware that all they had was given to them by the hand of God. Whether they were in times of good and plenty or suffering through hardships, drought or war - they gave thanks to God for all that He provided and for all that He was.

America's history is deeply rooted in faith in God. Many today are threatened by that faith. They want to rewrite history and downplay God as just one of many things that some people seem to take comfort in believing. After all they think there are many roads to salvation and their goodness will surely get them admitted to Heaven. God's Word says otherwise and He is neither a liar nor a deceiver.

Listen to some voices from our past:

Samuel Adams, father of the American Revolution:

"It is therefore recommended ... to set apart Thursday the eighteenth day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor ..."—November 1, 1777 (adopted by the 13 states as the first official Thanksgiving Proclamation)

Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson, in 1779:

"[I] appoint … a day of public Thanksgiving to Almighty God … to [ask] Him that He would … pour out His Holy Spirit on all ministers of the Gospel; that He would … spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth … and that He would establish these United States upon the basis of religion and virtue."

President George Washington’s first federal Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789:

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.… Now, therefore, I do appoint Thursday, the 26th day of November 1789 … that we may all unite to render unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection."

President Abraham Lincoln, making Thanksgiving an annual national holiday in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War:

"No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy."

With more homes going into foreclosure in our area - the former owners think that they have a right to strip out any valuables. This is not the way it works legally and they are unknowingly setting themselves up for more problems. Not only are they stripping homes, they are actually vandalizing the homes upon leaving. Somehow they feel that by taking their frustrations with their lenders (or themselves) out on the home - they will gain something.

The following items are assets, fixtures that should not be removed from a home that is in foreclosure:

• Cabinets and counter tops
• Appliances such as stoves, built-in microwaves, dishwashers, etc.
• Furnaces and air conditioning units
• Plumbing and copper pipes
• Romex or other electrical wiring
• Light fixtures and ceiling fans
• Doors and hardware
• Flooring, ceilings and walls
• Windows and vents
• Medicine cabinets, sinks, tubs, toilets and showers
  

photo by afroswede

• Sink drains and faucets
• Built-in shelving / bookcases
• Landscaping, fencing, built-in pools and spas

Assets Home Owners Can Remove from Foreclosed Homes

If a home owner leaves behind personal belongings, the lender will seize those items. If the lender stores them, the home owner could be charged for storage.

Here are items a home owner can remove without fearing prosecution:

• All personal items brought into the home by the owner such as furniture, clothing and common household items such as dishes, pans and silverware
• Mirrors
• Personal artwork and photographs from walls
• Stationary lamps
• Pets and pet-related items such as dog houses, aquariums, bird cages (please find them homes)
  
• Easily removable window coverings such as drapes or curtains - not the rods
  
• Refrigerators, televisions, computers and stereo equipment
• Throw and area rugs
• Indoor plants
• Portable fans and heaters

• Question: What is America's first line of missile interceptor defense that protects the entire United States?

Answer: 49th Missile Defense Battalion of Alaska National Guard.

• Question: What is the ONLY National Guard unit on permanent active duty?

Answer: 49th Missile Defense Battalion of Alaska National Guard

• Question: Who is the Commander in Chief of the 49th Missile Defense Battalion of
  

Alaska's National Guard?

Answer: Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska

• Question: What U.S. governor is routinely briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counter terrorism?

Answer: Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska

• Question: What U.S. governor has a higher classified security rating than either
  

candidate of the Democratic party

Answer: Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska