Category Archives: Carolina
Reflections on Flags
Flag etiquette is a touchy subject in this country. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that burning the American Flag is a protected form of speech under the First Amendment. Still, we hear calls from elected politicians that displaying the Confederate Flag is not protected speech.
The beginning of the Confederate War was never about slavery, it was about the massive tax burden being imposed by the North against southern businessmen. The slavery issue arose two years into the Civil War and at that point the Stars and Bars and slavery were forever linked.
But the original flag, the one that George Washington commissioned, was never about slavery, either. It was about this country’s brash argument that it wanted to be free from foreign rule and oppressive taxes. Yes, George Washington owned slaves. So did many others of the country’s founders. So did the Cherokee Indians, for that matter.
So how is the American Flag any less a symbol of slavery than the Confederate Flag? The two flags are just red, white and blue pieces of cloth stitched together. And now professional rabble rousers are insisting that anything Red, White and Blue be torn down and assigned to the dustbins of history.
The two flags represent culture. There are good and bad things in every culture. But believing that Americans are too stupid to make up their own minds about important cultural issues is Political Correctness run amok.
Flee from political correctness, that apple barrel of hypocrisy and prevarication which is sitting and fermenting and waiting to poison the discussion and the common sense that most Americans have.
Now, we have a very real situation taking place in a Southern Colorado neighborhood. A Hispanic man hung a flag upside down as a show of disrespect because of the racism he feels in his community. He says he feels harassed by the HOA’s management company.
Whew! Don’t we all?
There’s a craziness afoot in American neighborhoods. There’s an intolerance that’s as insidious as a cluster of cancer cells. Let’s get rid of it. Leave the flags alone. Leave our First Amendment alone. If someone has the bad taste to display a flag improperly, just walk away and let him be. What a nice place this would be if we just gave each other some space. Forgive, forget, and get on with life.
(link to El Paso County flag story)
And We All Give Thanks
By coincidence the celebration of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving begin in the same few hours this year. And I am thankful for all my friends in many faiths… and even those who are skeptics. But you can all have faith in this: I respect you and am thankful for all of you.
Ward Lucas
“Quail Run Condos Falling Down, Falling Down, Falling Down, Quail Run Condos Falling Down, Run, Mr. Johnson!”
guest blog by Nila Ridings
What’s happening at Quail Run Condos in Charlotte, North Carolina? They have no money to repair James Johnson’s cracked foundation which has caused his floor to drop and walls to crack. But they do have money for a two year battle and a property manager who can schedule the repairs but can’t get the work started. Talk is cheap so they’ll be discussing this nightmare at the next HOA board meeting.
Quality-built? Sure, if compared to your breakfast cereal box! Lowest-grade cheap materials and sloppy construction. In about thirty years or less they are ready to be bulldozed. No more structurally sound than a mobile home minus the wheels.
Mr. Johnson, the HOA admits the structural problems are theirs to fix. Okay, so they have breached the HOA’s side of the contract. They break promises to repair it because you are a “troublemaker” for trying to keep your condo from falling down. I call that deceptive practices. Next, they will claim they are not responsible to pay for the interior damages. They will try to force you into bankruptcy with a legal battle which they will have funded by a multi-billion dollar insurance company that is committed to destroy you.
Forget about selling. You’ll be dumping this nightmare on some other innocent person. Hire a structural engineer. If they declare the place unsafe, contact the City of Charlotte Safety Inspector. They may condemn the property. Have your attorney sue for breach of contract and deceptive practices in violation of the North Carolina consumer protection laws. Add a demand for the HOA to buy your property and pay your legal bills.
If you don’t, you’re right, you’ll have to pay somebody to take this worthless piece of crap off your hands. This is precisely why condo owners all across America are walking away and letting the banks foreclose on their properties.
How do I know this drill? I live in an HOA with nearly these identical problems. I’ve been living this same nightmare for eight years!!!!!!
TRUST ME, IT DOES NOT GET BETTER!
I’ve learned these maintenance-provided HOAs are nothing but cash cows for the HOA, property managers, insurance companies, attorneys, and the city and county tax collectors. They are a massive hemorrhage on the owner’s bank account, health, and happiness.
Maintenance-provided is the worst kind of HOA hell. The buyers become the losers the day we sign the contract!
Getting All Snuggly In Bed with the CAI
Nobody crystallize and focuses an argument better than Arizona’s George Staropoli. Around the country property rights advocates a pondering whether to invite the CAI (Community Associations Institute) into the flock. Staropoli nails it:
Guest blog by George Staropoli
Why do people NOT mention that the attorney speaking out is a CAI member? It does help to put his comments in perspective. (Would saying he’s a conservative help clarify his statements, for instance?) Think in terms of “loyal party member” who knows enough to give the appearance, the illusion, of being fair and helping the other side with his column and website, but is a party stalwart.
His column and website are vehicles for the party line and will never deal with the fundamental defects of the HOA legal scheme, like addressing the Study Committee issues that I raised in my Proposed HOA Study Committee issues of substance. Let’s see if CAI will respond. Hell no! They can’t and won’t, and an opportunity to show what CAI really stands for fails again. (Why is CAI silent on these issues,” can be asked, demanding a response in public.)
I would think that the call for a task force would be ideal grounds for making these issues the platform for NC HOA reforms. Going to the Governor with your own agenda is the right thing to do! That might force the Governor to say, Let’s play kumbaya and set up a Task Force. Now, that’s a power play by advocates!
Asking the other side to join in admits to a lack of power, and reform legislation is a game of political power.
Read more at http://www.pvtgov.org
