Tag Archives: Florida

Beyond Hilarious! Kick ’em Where It Hurts!

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Dear Friends, I’ve spoken occasionally about keeping your sense of humor no matter what nightmare you’ve experienced. Yes, the battle against the national HOA scam can scar a person’s heart forever, but humor has the incredible power of healing the damage. And humor, in some cases, is more powerful than a nuclear weapon. Want proof?

United Airlines baggage handlers busted a guitar which (unhappily for United) was owned by Dave Carroll, a folk singer from Nova Scotia who has a finely honed sense of hilarious indignation. United refused to repair the damage to the guitar. And now there’s a song that’s gone viral. And another. And another. Now there’s even a book. And a speaking tour. A Google search turns up nearly four million hits. It’s all called, “United Breaks Guitars.”

United Airlines has lost millions and millions of dollars in its public image because of this one singer’s poetic irony. United has now offered to pay for a new guitar. It’s offered to buy the song rights. It’s offered the singer vast sums of money to take his songs and his story off of YouTube. But with millions of fans watching the song, Dave Carroll just can’t afford to quit singing. And United Airlines continues to lose millions in its public image. That’s how powerful humor is!

Dave Carroll’s second video is even funnier than the first.

United Airlines, the behemoth that it is, has learned that every single customer is important. In our fight against the racketeering that pervades the American Homeowners Association Movement, every single homeowner is important. And that’s what arrogant organizations like the Community Associations Institute may learn at some lovely point in the future.

“Though the Wheels of God Grind slowly,yet they grind exceeding small,

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The whole quote is:

“Though the Mills of God Grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small,

Though With Patience He stands waiting, With Exactness Grinds He All.”

Friedrich Von Lougou

That’s one of my favorite quotes from The Retribution, and it’s been pasted on my computer since my first blue and gray Kaypro, purchased in 1985.

Yes, Heaven’s grinding mills are as vast as they are slow, but sooner or later every full circle comes about. Not soon enough, we mortal humans cry, but they do come around.

Comes now news that the Department of Justice is going to free up 39 million dollars for Overseas Service members who were shafted and ruined by Bank of America. It’s illegal to file civil actions against our military fighting on foreign battlefields, but that knowledge didn’t slow down Bank of America one whit.

No, when the Mortgage Crash and the Housing Bubble hit, Bank of America just played taps on the spines of our fighting men and women, while they forclosed on service members and kicked their families into the streets. Capt. Matt Clauer was a famous case that comes to mind, but there were many, many others.

Yeah, the Big Bank is going to refund some money, a little here, a little there. But by what means are they going to repair the many divorces, the shattered families and repair the misery of families who lost love and trust.

Bank of America, your fund is too low, your response is too weak, and you’re only doing this because you’d otherwise be facing contempt of court charges and a huge public black eye.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/April/13-crt-383.html

Hoo Boy! Let The Lawsuits Begin!

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It’s hard to sue the government. In fact, the federal government actually has to give an injured party permission to sue. Some states have imposed a maximum limit on how much an injured litigant can win in a lawsuit against the state. Colorado, for example, passed a law saying no prevailing party can win more than $250,000 in damages.

Well, that’s changing in the most unexpected ways.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that as tax revenue dries up, and police layoffs occur, wealthier neighborhoods are hiring private security companies to replace the lost police officers.

Whammo! Bammo! Here’s a tort lawyer’s wet dream! Private communities (read Homeowners Associations) are private non-profit corporations. And they do not have government immunity from lawsuits. The run-of-the-mill HOA can be successfully sued for millions and millions and millions of dollars.

Just think, twenty-four hours ago, we read that Trayvon Martin’s parents won an out-of-court settlement from the Retreat at Twin Lakes Homeowners Association of more than a million dollars. The future for tort lawyers and their clients against Homeowners Associations is golden. Let the lawsuits fly.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2013/0405/As-cities-lay-off-police-frustrated-neighborhoods-turn-to-private-cops?nav=87-frontpage-entryInsideMonitor

It’s spreading! There are more Trayvon Martin type confrontations/lawsuits in the works. This doesn’t amount to dipping your toe in the outhouse sludge. It’s a headlong dive! Hold your breath, Sucker!

http://www.khou.com/news/local/Houston-neighborhood-turns-to-private-security-firm-for-protection–201168841.html

Trayvon Martin Lawsuit Settled

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No one will say for sure, but the parents of Trayvon Martin have settled their lawsuit against the Retreat at Twin Lakes Homeowners Association, in Sanford, Florida, for more than a million dollars.

Martin was shot to death during a struggle with George Zimmerman who was serving as the neighborhood watch chairman.

It’s unclear whether this HOA was covered by insurance at the time of Martin’s death. It is clear, however, that the Retreat at Twin Lakes board quickly bought a Travelers Casualty insurance policy a few weeks after the incident. But Travelers Casualty has made it clear the insurance company was not a part of this settlement.

So, a big mystery: Was the Retreat at Twin Lakes insured when Trayvon Martin was shot? If so, why did the HOA do such a mad scramble to get insured after-the-fact. If not, then individual homeowners there are going to get hammered with a huge special assessment for legal fees, for the judgment, and for the inevitable hike in their insurance premiums.

Now, for those of you who think a Homeowners Association protects your property values, how do you think that’s working out for the folks who live in the Retreat at Twin Lakes? Home prices there are somewhere at the bottom of the outhouse.

This chart from Zillow.com is fascinating:

http://www.zillow.com/homes/sanford,-fl_rb/#/homes/for_sale/Sanford-FL/33865_rid/28.823696,-81.244841,28.746365,-81.344404_rect/12_zm/1_fr/

Will the last one leaving Sanford please turn out the lights?

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/trayvon-martin/os-trayvon-martin-settlement-20130405%2c0%2c6893976.story

Where Neighbors Are Neighbors

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Neighborhoods are supposed to be all about like-minded people working together to strengthen the bonds between each other. There’s a strange aloofness and paranoia among some of the country’s neighborhoods…. approximately one-out-of-five. You ‘in-crowd’ people know what that percentage is referring to.

But in my youth, I really do remember neighbors who’d talk over the fence, and gather for dinner, where the kids would take each others’ sons and daughters to the senior prom. Neighborhoods. Healthy. Old fashioned.

Yes, we’ve lost something in the madness of the modern HOA movement. We’ve learned how to keep those intrusive Negroes, Jews and Orientals from moving into our white ghettos. We’ve learned how to encourage the disabled, the single moms, the elderly, to find other places to live. After all, our exclusionary attitudes keep our property values up, right?

No, I kind of like that ‘old-timey’ feeling where we loved our neighbors with the full knowledge and assurance that they loved us right back.

The link below kind of moved me tonight, as I sat here contemplating where we’ve been, and where we’re going.

http://www.wkrg.com/story/21754502/whats-working-south-lafayette-street-community-association

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