Category Archives: Patriotism

Stupid, Stupid Legislators

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We’ve talked in this forum about some very stupid legislators, idiots in Arizona, California, Virginia and Florida who thought they were doing the right thing when their actions were absolutely against the interests of homeowners. But wait’ll you hear this one.

With all the emphasis on energy conservation and carbon output would you ever believe that an entire state would begin penalizing homeowners who install solar panels or rely on wind energy? Would you ever think such penalties would pass through a Legislature without debate?

Me, neither.

But welcome to Oklahoma.

I have friends in Oklahoma. I respect the intelligence of Oklahomans. It’s really a sophisticated state with great schools and doctors, businessmen, inventors and developers. But hold your breath as I spring this one on you.

The Oklahoma Legislature, without discussion, has passed a measure to assess (read that “fine”) any homeowner in the future who installs solar panels on his house!  And it most likely will be signed into law by the Governor. We’ve certainly heard of the idiocy of Homeowners Associations which sink their fangs into homeowners who install solar. But the State of Oklahoma?

Give me a frickin’ break!

Solar companies are dismayed. Wind energy companies are dismayed. Environmentalists are stunned. Save the world and pay a fine. What are these numbskulls thinking?

(link to Outside The Beltway)

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/oklahoma-to-charge-homeowners-who-install-solar-panels/

Link To Lawsuit Against Blondie & The Bimbo

      2 Comments on Link To Lawsuit Against Blondie & The Bimbo

Several readers have asked for the exact text of Arizona Dave’s lawsuit against Blondie and the Bimbo. Governor Brewer and Rep. Michelle Ugenti keep sneaking patently illegal HOA laws onto the books after bamboozling other legislators. So, here it is:

(link to text of lawsuit against Blondie & the Bimbo)

The more complete story was posted several nights ago. Just click back in this website’s history. I didn’t actually mean for this link to be a separate post. But I just like saying, “Blondie and the Bimbo.” From what I hear from insiders it makes this pair so angry. Especially when they realize this website has had 375,000 visits over the past 12 months.

Pennsylvania Widow Loses Home Over Six Bucks

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The grapevine is buzzing about a Pennsylvania widow who inadvertently underpaid her property tax by six dollars & change and lost  her house at the county tax auction. This fight’s been going on for several years but now a judge has essentially told her, “The loss of her home was just fine and dandy.” Her $280,000 house seized and handed off to someone else.

When her husband died, she apparently got behind on the bills. She paid the property tax but she says she was never informed about the six dollar interest charge. She’s going to appeal, and who knows, she might win in a higher court.

Still, she was protected by the U.S. Constitution, she had the right to due process and the right to appeal, the right to appeal over and over again.

Across this country the same thing is happening. The record home seizure was in West Boca, Florida, where a single mom lost her home over an inadvertent underpayment of Homeowners Association dues by 78 cents. But day in and day out, Homeowners Associations are attacking residents of the neighborhood for such things as parking the wrong kind of car in the driveway, not getting your trash cans inside within an hour after pickup.

In one paper written by a fellow in the Cato Institute, the author talked about HOA attorneys in Houston running around ticketing cars because they knew they’d make extra legal income by generating extra fines, liens and lawsuits. Talk about a conflict of interest!

The difference between the government home seizure in Pennsylvania and the confiscation of all those other homes by Homeowners Associations… HOA residents don’t have the Constitutional rights to fight back. There’s no due process, there’s no way to appeal, no checks and balances. The guy who tickets you is a member of the board or the HOA manager. So you have to appeal to the same people who are beating you up in the first place.

The typical HOA is based on the private non-profit corporation model, and when you’re attacked by your own corporation you have little or no access to Constitutional rights. 

Welcome to your new life in your HOA.

(link to Associated Press story)

 

Smoker’s Rights? Not In The Constitution, Buddy!

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A man in a Naples, Florida condo is steaming over his Homeowners Association voting to ban smoking on the front porch. He smokes cigars on his lanai. But under the new rules he’ll have to take his stogie indoors.

I understand his concern about personal rights, but he’s actually getting off pretty easy right now. Across the country the courts have ruled that HOAs can also ban all smoking indoors!

There are some well-recognized court cases including one in Jefferson County, Colorado where condo and townhome owners have complained that cigarette and cigar smoke seeps through walls and becomes an annoyance to others. In Naples, smokers are being ordered to take their habit indoors, while elsewhere in the country they’re being ordered to go outdoors. Whether they like it or not, smokers are discovering that the world is turning against them.

I’m not for or against the new laws, just an observer.

(link to FOX4 story on smokers)

http://www.jrn.com/fox4now/news/HOA-bans-smoking-at-Naples-condominium-255023971.html

Murdered By Swans, HOA Sued

      4 Comments on Murdered By Swans, HOA Sued

I’m not sure how far this lawsuit will go, but homeowners in this HOA will end up with special assessments to pay all the lawyers.

Have you ever heard of someone being murdered by swans? Me neither. But according to this Illinois lawsuit mute swans are capable of breaking a man’s leg. That probably makes them as dangerous as a vicious dog. And we all know that HOAs which use vicious dogs in their common areas are not immune to lawsuits.

Don’t count me as a skeptic on this one. I vividly remember being attacked by a vicious goose in the Quadrangle at Fort Sam Houston when I was just ten or eleven years old. My younger brother and I were both attacked and injured and it’s given me a lifelong fear of certain angry birds.  So believe me that large birds won’t hesitate at taking on a human. And even though I love animals, I get a special kind of glee roasting and serving certain birds on holidays.

Maybe this lawsuit will be tossed out of court because it’s frivolous. Maybe that won’t happen until the lawyers make a few hundred thousand bucks in legal fees. In the end, though, the homeowners will get pummeled. And these angry birds will get away with murder.

Count on it.

(link to murderous swans)