Category Archives: Fraud

Monopoly? (guest blogger, Nila Ridings)

Not sure why the game of Monopoly always led to fights when we were kids. Someone would invariably cheat, the others would protest, and….there went the neighborhood!

Same thing goes on today in many American Homeowners Associations! Your new retirement community seems perfect, the dues seem about right. Suddenly, without notice the rules change. Monthly dues skyrocket from $180 to $500 a month, with even more hikes on the way. 

When you weren’t watching the rules changed. They changed because a new developer or a new majority took over the HOA. Now, you suddenly find yourself foreclosed upon, or you’re priced right out of the neighborhood where you once had your dream home. 
 
Don’t believe it?

Read the link below and weep.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-03-17/news/os-lk-lauren-ritchie-homeowner-associations-20130317_1_homeowner-association-levy-fees-subdivision

 

 

Thank You, Hackers! Thank You!!!

It’s been an interesting evening just casually surfing around the Internet. Haven’t done that for awhile. There’s just too much work involved in researching and writing my daily blog to go back to the casual surfing that I used to do.

But I’ve noticed that the recent hacker attacks that took down and trashed my website have actually ended up scattering 300 to 500 of my past web posts all over the Internet! My old webposts used to be pretty well organized and confined just to NeighborsAtWar.com. But a search of “ward lucas” or “ward lucas hoa” show that the “gods of the Internet” never forget anything. And a trashed website actually leads to multiple sites around the world spreading the message of our Homeowners Rights Movement.

So, rather than condemn the recent hackers who caused us so much work, we’re just happy to sit back and bask in the kind of sunlight that brings enlightenment to people who’ve wondered if they’re all alone in their fight against the neighborhood ‘lawn nazis’.  No, my friends, you are not alone. You are part of an awakening. You and your HOA problems are potentially viral.

“Dear God, thank You for free speech. It’s a beautiful thing. And it’s the only thing that keeps a free society free. Thank you, God.”

 

“Drop Your Pants, Bro!”

One of the weblogs that was lost in my recent hacker attack is going to be re-written here, simply because I have a quick break in my schedule. No, maybe it’s because I’m a little bit bored right now. But it has to do with the recent incident where Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill was outraged after being manhandled by an airport TSA worker.

LOL! I had a similar experience right after 9-11 while returning to Denver after giving a speech in New Orleans. I was dressed in my customary business suit and tie, minding my own business, when a female guard pulled me out of the line of passengers for ‘special’ treatment. I was told to stand at a spot about six feet away from my fellow travelers and spread my legs. This woman then dropped to her knees in front of me and began the patdown of all patdowns. She touched places that haven’t been touched since my honeymoon. I was speechless. The nearby passengers were speechless.

When this woman had thoroughly handled all my potentially dangerous body parts she instructed me to return to my place in the line. Talk about shock and awe. The passenger right behind me whispered in my ear, “Well, did she find out if you’re circumcised?”

Every word of that story is true.

Back to Senator Claire McCaskill. It’s interesting to hear you whining about the TSA, Senator. But now you know what the rest of us have had to endure for the past 12 years!

 

 

Beyond Hilarious! Kick ’em Where It Hurts!

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.

Looking Into The Face Of Evil

There’s just no other way to put this, but the Community Associations Institute, along with its blood brothers including Associa, run by Texas State Senator John Carona, are just ugly institutions. Not illegal. Just ugly.  And every American homeowner needs to be educated to avoid the kinds of financial assaults that have victimized thousands of homeowners across the country.

Our American founders, afraid of ending up with the same kind of European monarchy they had just left,  wrote a Constitution that forbade our new government from interfering in rights that were bestowed on us, not by government, but by God. In their vision, God given rights could not be subsumed by a Monarchy or a Dictatorship, or even a ‘majority’ of the people. Remember that we do not live in a Democracy. A wild out-of-control mob is a democracy, and that is not our form of government.

No, our rights emanate from God. Remember that. Repeat that. All human rights emanate from God.

With that in mind, I provide you with a page from the CAI playbook as it begins using its vast wealth and power against the Homeowner Association reform bill now percolating in the North Carolina Legislature.  I will highlight some sentences that offend me and should outrage you.

 Here goes:

Repeal of Foreclosure Option for HOAs and POAs

February 13, 2013: Representatives R. Moore, Alexander and Hamilton introduced an NC House bill to repeal the ability of a HOA/POA to use foreclosure as a tool in the collection of delinquent dues. This bill modifies G.S. §47F-3-116 of the NC Planned Community Act and 47C-3-116 of the Condominium Act to accomplish its goal. The effect of this bill, if passed by the NC House and Senate and signed by the governor would be to remove the option for HOA/POAs to use foreclosure as a method of recovering unpaid dues and force them to use the much more expensive method of bringing a Civil Action in court to accomplish the recovery. The Civil Actions are much more expensive and the courts have not always awarded attorney fees and court costs to the winner of the suit. This can mean that even if the HOA/POA wins the suit, they may lose money because of their costs to bring the suit to trial. Removing the foreclosure option for HOA/POAs could have a devastating impact on the finances of HOA/POAs. The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary A Committee.

The CAI-NC LAC opposes this bill and will use all of its resources to assure that it does not become law. HOA/POA Board members should contact their NC House and Senate members and request that they oppose passage of this bill, referred to as HB-175. For more information and current status of this bill, go to www.ncleg.net and search for HB-175.

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Dear Friends, I hope you understand that the CAI is acknowledging that it likes a slanted playing field.  It wants the law so biased that this massively wealthy organization acts as judge, jury, king and executioner. Under this system there are no God-given rights. If this law is passed in North Carolina it will amount to a massive restructuring of Society. Look for other states to do the same.

I’m am not trying to oversell this point, but I have read some history books. Adolph Hitler found a way to take control with a minority party behind him. He did not make the world a better place.