Yes, I want to keep all of you entertained and coming back to Neighbors At War. So forgive me if I’m reposting old material but I get a good belly laugh each time I hear this old Pete Seeger song. It’s so true for so many of us!
For a great history on Seeger’s Little Boxes hit, see the following:
(link to Little Boxes history)
Does this not perfectly represent our battle against the American Homeowners Association movement? Antonio Branco is an amazing artist from Washington State. He’s a musician who taught himself to paint. And his work is incredible.
(link to Antonio Branco’s website and art)
Ah yes, I do like to keep you posted on embezzlers who steal from their their neighbors. It’s such a personal crime. You have to look your neighbors right in the eye and tell them, “I’m robbing you blind and you’re too stupid to know.”
We’re not too stupid. We just don’t have the guts to spread the word. But that may be changing.
Lorene Lutey Treml, of the Meadow Valley Condominium Association in Wisconsin: You’re a crook. A firing squad is too good for you.
(link to story on latest HOA embezzlement)
I’ve whined about this sort of thing repeatedly: HOAs shutting down little kids’ lemonade stands just because some witch on the board thinks that kids’ activities destroy the neighborhood. Ah, how I long for the good old days when the presence of kids and their activities actually increased community property values.
Speaking of property values, I wonder if one of our Florida friends could track home sales in the Hawk’s Point HOA and see how they compare to home values outside any HOA? I would bet dollars to donuts that…naw, I’ll wait until the data comes in.
(link to Fox News story on shutting down of lemonade stand)
OK folks! I’ve been an investigative reporter for forty years. And during that time thousands upon thousands of documents have been released to me. Oh, there’ve been two or three that were held back, but always because of some extraneous circumstance usually relating to a name a prosecutor or a judge wanted held back for personal or political reasons. And we usually found a higher judge who ordered the documents released.
But Damn it! Political reasons don’t apply here! Personal reasons don’t apply. Nevada homeowners lost hundreds of millions of dollars when this organized crime ring crashed Homeowners Associations all over Nevada. Property values there still haven’t recovered. It wasn’t just a few dozen homeowners who were hurt in this monstrous scam. Millions were hurt. Taxpayers paid for this years-long investigation. Families went broke. Many lost their homes. Lives were lost. People killed themselves.
Who are you trying to protect by illegally keeping these files secret? A scummy judge who was able to escape indictment? Perhaps a scummy bigtime politician who, with his son, have become multi-millionaires investing in phony land deals based on illegal insider knowledge about housing trends in Nevada?
You found 100 “people of interest” in this case, but didn’t prosecute them because you thought it would be too expensive? Isn’t that a sneaky way of letting your friends and political boosters off the hook? Wouldn’t a thorough vetting of this whole slimy affair be a way for you to crawl out this greasy morass?
Federal Judge Mahan, there’s a lot you ought to be ashamed of including the awesome lack of meaningful prison time you handed out to these mobsters.
Now, you should be ashamed of letting your political cronies talk you into not releasing documents that you feel might shame your pathetic state and your miserable bench even further. I’ve learned over the years that when something doesn’t smell right, you start looking for the source. Something real close to where you’re standing, Judge Mahan, doesn’t smell just right.
(crooked lawyer gets ten years for swindling homeowners)
