Privatization as a plutocratic plot: They Want To Privatize Everything | California Progress Report

They Want To Privatize Everything | California Progress Report

One of the most important trends afoot right now is the move to privatize as many government services as possible. Billionaires like Bill Gates, along with hedge funds, are pushing an agenda of privatizing public schools, and funding a PR push in support of that cause with films like "Waiting for Superman" and the NBC "Education Nation" that included a panel with the title "Does Education Need a Katrina?".

This trend is fueled by the desire of the richest Americans to seek new income streams. Instead of spending their cash hoard on innovating new products or businesses that can create jobs and lasting economic activity, they're engaged in a process of rent seeking, which has no productive value. By taking tax dollars that currently provide public services and channeling them to the private sector, which contracts to provide the service at lower cost - and therefore at lower quality - these wealthy individuals can add new income streams while also blunting any effort to raise their taxes to provide these services.

Police: Conn. man stole flag, put up hippo toy

Police: Conn. man stole flag, put up hippo toy

WATERBURY, Conn. – Call it the case of the flying hippo. Connecticut police said a man stole an American flag from Waterbury's Town Plot Park and hoisted a stuffed hippopotamus toy in its place. Twenty-three-year-old Jeffrey Kovic, of Waterbury, was arrested and was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail on misdemeanor larceny, criminal mischief and conspiracy charges.

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Good thing he didn't fly the hippo from a pole in Privatopia or he would have faced both public and private prosecution.

Ozone layer 'is no longer disappearing and will return to full strength by 2048' | Mail Online

Ozone layer 'is no longer disappearing and will return to full strength by 2048' | Mail Online

"The ozone layer is no longer disappearing and could be back to full strength by the middle of this century, UN scientists have confirmed.

The phasing out of nearly 100 substances once used in products like refrigerators and aerosols has stopped the ozone layer being depleted further, although it is not yet increasing, according to a new United Nations report released last week.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1313599/Ozone-layer-longer-disappearing-return-strength-2048.html#ixzz108BleiJP

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About time we had some good news, isn't it?

Banks win delay in demolition of abandoned Fort Lauderdale condo complex

Debris is strewn across the 58-unit complex along the north fork of the New River. The doors and windows have been stripped away. Vandals have destroyed walls and ripped out copper wiring and plumbing. The city has been paying for metal shutters to keep away squatters.
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Ever wonder what happens when an association goes defunct? It is not pretty.
And what happens to all those property values that were being protected?

When a municipal election resembles Privatopia

Here's a story of a city council election out of Isleton, California, population 820, that might just as easily been about an HOA election. The incumbents are running unchallenged because the few candidates who considered running were apparently not sufficiently motivated to serve to even make sure their candidacy papers were in good order.

Yellow mailboxes latest symbol of anti-HOA protest

Mailbox battle in Chesterfield's Brandermill brings protest

Day by day, more of the yellow boxes are popping up. In fact, one more for our camera early this morning. They are standing out in a community making a big visual statement about a decision that hits their wallet. But it's a decision that the community association board says has been publicized for months, like in the community newspaper.

They are hard to miss -- one yellow box after another. When-Dee Morrison spearheaded this protest. "They definitely stand out. It doesn't go with our park-like setting," Morrison said. This, just days after the Brandermill Community Association decided each home in this community must get this new mailbox. Those boxes would cost $155.
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As political scientists are wont to do, Evan McKenzie, the owner of this plot of cyberspace real estate, has labeled the yet unorganized political movement that rejects the authority of private HOA governance (but oddly doesn't lobby states to repeal HOA enabling statutes) as the Pink Flamingos.

That token of expressing discontent and defiance arose out of HOAs going after inmates who dared to plant the tacky pink plastic avian decorations on their front lawns, potentially driving down property values faster than a trailer park full of deteriorating double wide FEMA trailers.

Now another symbol of protest against dictatorial, unresponsive Privatopian government has emerged: the yellow mailbox. Perhaps not coincidentally the same color of the Gadsen "Don't Tread on Me" flag that has become the symbol of a somewhat more organized political movement called the Tea Party.

Rule breakers, beware: New law gives homeowners' associations more muscle - Home & Garden - MiamiHerald.com

Rule breakers, beware: New law gives homeowners' associations more muscle - Home & Garden - MiamiHerald.com

Fred Pilot sent this link-seems that Florida is giving HOAs fining and even foreclosure power for rule violations.

Homeowner's Association Uses Chopper To Find Violations - Local 2 Investigates News Story - KPRC Houston

Homeowner's Association Uses Chopper To Find Violations - Local 2 Investigates News Story - KPRC Houston

I'm posting this because an anonymous poster copied and pasted a huge part of the story into a comment. I'm deleting the comment and posting the link to the story.

Folks, we need to be a lot more careful about using big blocks of text from copyrighted on line news stories. There is a "fair use" doctrine that allows posting a little bit of these stories and then commenting, but just putting in all or most of a news story is copyright infringement. There are lawsuits going on against bloggers right now, for doing exactly that--even if the source was cited.

So please avoid this, OK? Keep the story snippets short and always include the source and hyperlink.

Big Brother is searching you - Computerworld

Big Brother is searching you - Computerworld

"The town of Riverhead on Long Island usedGoogle Earth to search all back yards in the town for illegal swimming pools.

They found about 250 pools built without permits and collected about $75,000 in fines."

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This came from Mystery Reader. I remember prosecuting drug cases where the search warrant was based on aerial surveillance, and the Supreme Court ruled on issues such as how high the plane had to be, etc. But now government can use Google Earth and zoom right in.

FT.com / US / Economy & Fed - US state steps in to meet city’s debt cost

FT.com / US / Economy & Fed - US state steps in to meet city’s debt cost

The state of Pennsylvania has stepped in to help its capital city Harrisburg avoid a default by advancing next year’s state aid so that the money can be used to make a $3.3m bond interest payment due this week.

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It seems to me that the policy makers of this country and the educated population ought to be figuring out how to restructure the financing of state and local governments, before we have a housing-industry-style, sector-wide, meltdown. Doesn't seem to be a major concern, though.

SIDE STREETS: HOA acting squirrelly at Lexington Park and everyone appears to be nuts

SIDE STREETS: HOA acting squirrelly at Lexington Park and everyone appears to be nuts

It sounded too wild to be true: A woman claimed her efforts to rescue a squirrel had incited the wrath of her homeowners association board and led to harassment, hundreds of dollars in fines, and even allegations of felony theft lodged against her with police.

So I contacted the president of the Lexington Park Townhomes HOA figuring I’d clear it up and move on.

But Chad Farris, the HOA president, declined to talk to me. Ordered me not to use his name. Wanted me to meet him “in a public place with my attorney present.”

Hmm. Maybe the squirrel lady isn’t nuts, after all.

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Indeed. And kudos to the writer of the headline for this tale of HOA insanity.

FOXNews.com - Cities Increasingly Turn to 'Trash Police' to Enforce Recycling Laws

FOXNews.com - Cities Increasingly Turn to 'Trash Police' to Enforce Recycling Laws

In a growing number of cities across the U.S., local governments are placing computer chips in recycling bins to collect data on refuse disposal, and then fining residents who don't participate in recycling efforts and forcing others into educational programs meant to instill respect for the environment.

From Charlotte, N.C., to Cleveland, Ohio, from Boise, Idaho, to Flint, Mich., the green police are spreading out. And that alarms some privacy advocates who are asking: Should local governments have the right to monitor how you divide your paper cups from your plastic forks? Is that really the role of government?

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I'd say, "no."

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/sep/08/pa-homeowners-stand-may-be-shortsighted/

Cars on blocks. Knee-deep grass. Going to seed. Around a neglected above-ground pool. In the front yard. Chartreuse-and-fuchsia repainting jobs. Beds of silk plants. Bordered by pinwheels acquired at a dollar store end-of-the-season closeout sale.

The horror. The horror.

Apocalyptic prospects

The remote chance that one or some combination of these apocalyptic prospects could come to pass on your block is why deed restrictions and their enforcement arm - the homeowners association - evolved. It turns out, apparently, after Woodstock and Vietnam, we no longer trust one another to tend to our corner of the American dream as fastidiously and tastefully as June and Ward Cleaver (the 1980s Clair and Cliff Huxtable notwithstanding).

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To that, the HOA abolitionists cry "HOA apocalypse now!"

HOA residents told garbage pick up their problem

Subdivision residents appeal for service they didn't get

Meredith Baker was happy and excited on the day in June when she and her family moved into their new house in the Country Meadows subdivision in the Village of Hamburg — until she found that there was no one to pick up the garbage.

“I called the village the next day and said, ‘What day is our garbage pickup?’ ” she said. “They said, ‘What are you talking about? We don’t pick up your garbage.’ ”

Then she called Ryan Homes, the builder of her house, and asked whether the homeowners association picked up the garbage, and she was told she would have to buy the service herself.

Financial crisis hits condo associations Amy Hoak's Home Economics - MarketWatch

Financial crisis hits condo associations Amy Hoak's Home Economics - MarketWatch: "The current problems only exacerbate what's been an issue for years, some say. Many condo associations aren't prepared for major maintenance jobs due to ill-funded reserves and insufficient planning, said Evan McKenzie, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has written about homeowner associations."

CONSUMER FINANCE: Condo Owners Trade Lawn Mowers For Spread Sheets - WSJ.com

CONSUMER FINANCE: Condo Owners Trade Lawn Mowers For Spread Sheets - WSJ.com

This McKenzie guy is spouting off again.

Paying the tax man when Privatopia craters

Paying the tax man when Privatopia craters

The crippled Las Vegas housing market has triggered a legal battle pitting investors buying foreclosed homes against homeowners associations, with millions of dollars at stake.

The key issue — and what will probably be dragged out all the way to the state Supreme Court — is collection companies tacking on their fees to the delinquent HOA dues they have been trying to collect, in many cases for longer than a year. If associations lose and can’t get past-due fees, assessments on paying homeowners will probably increase.

That additional charge for collections has run several thousand dollars in some cases and exceeded what the investors sometimes had to pay in delinquent HOA dues. With collection costs averaging about $2,000 per foreclosed home, investors said the amount owed could easily surpass $50 million.
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When local government privatizes, so does the task of collecting property assessments. Private local government collection costs are just too doggone high, claim investors who are being hit up for past due HOA assessments on thousands of Las Vegas REO properties. The community association collection industry counters with dark warnings that HOAs will go into receivership and assessments will increase if the assessment collectors don't get their due.

This is one of the drawbacks of privatizing local government. The tax collectors aren't paid by the taxpayers but rather via private contracts to act as the HOA's proxy. As this Las Vegas Sun story illustrates, that can lead to some nasty litigation.

Questions raised about tombstone removal from small historic cemetery in Holmdel | APP.com | Asbury Park Press

Questions raised about tombstone removal from small historic cemetery in Holmdel | APP.com | Asbury Park Press: "'The tombstones of children who passed away in the 1800s and those of their family members were unceremoniously destroyed. This was essentially sanctioned vandalism at the behest of a board.'

But Beau Ridge Association president Edward Esler said everything was done by the letter of the association's laws.

'There's no story here,' Esler said. 'By the bylaws of our organization, we are required to maintain that area, which was done when the place was built 25 years ago and is being done now. Everything we've done has been done to the letter of the law.'"

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The HOA charm campaign contines.

FloriDUH: HOA charging $600 for a mailbox

FloriDUH: HOA charging $600 for a mailbox

Now the association is trying to turn the neglected neighborhood around by charging fees to new buyers lured by low home prices. They think homeowners who didn't pay mortgages or dues for years should not be allowed to just walk away and leave behind an eyesore, reports TBO.com.

The community started charging buyers a $400 transfer fee, then a $225 fee to release liens against the property. There is also a $250 charge to prepare a letter detailing the fees owed. If buyers or sellers opt to do the work themselves, there is a $75 fee for the association to review the work, reports TBO.com.

And $600 for a mailbox.

Do homeowner regulations go too far? | StarNewsOnline.com

Do homeowner regulations go too far? | StarNewsOnline.com: "New Hanover County Fire Marshal Matt Davis said investigators don't know whether Darius intended to die in the fire or just wanted to blow up the house because of the ongoing problems with his homeowners association."

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That's quite a sentence, isn't it?

Bladder Lane, Bent Street and Butt Hole Road – the street names that reached the end of the road - Telegraph

Bladder Lane, Bent Street and Butt Hole Road – the street names that reached the end of the road - Telegraph: "Dozens of councils across Britain have reported cases of residents changing the names of their street because they dislike the one on the map.
In some cases, the name change has followed years of ridicule.
The inhabitants of Butt Hole Road even had to put up with coach loads of US tourists visiting to have their pictures taken near the road sign, after the street appeared in an American book and on the internet."
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This is the opposite of what developers do, where they name streets in a desert something like "Ocean Wave Lane."

Housing Choice - Help Today’s Owners or Future Buyers - NYTimes.com

Housing Choice - Help Today’s Owners or Future Buyers - NYTimes.com: "As the economy again sputters and potential buyers flee — July housing sales sank 26 percent from July 2009 — there is a growing sense of exhaustion with government intervention. Some economists and analysts are now urging a dose of shock therapy that would greatly shift the benefits to future homeowners: Let the housing market crash."
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Home values have already dropped 30%. What does "crash" look like, please?

Walter Russell Mead's Blog - The American Interest

Walter Russell Mead's Blog - The American Interest: "Automation, outsourcing and unremitting pressures to control costs are going to squeeze upper middle class incomes.� What blue collar workers faced in the last thirty years is coming to the white collar workforce now.

Yet as their financial prospects darken, students’ educational costs are exploding.� Like the health care system, the educational system is being overwhelmed by rising costs and rising demand.� And as misguided government policies contributed to the real estate bubble by artificially inflating demand, government programs are burdening students with unpayable loans and contributing to relentless and unsustainable inflation in school costs."
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Mead is a famous political science professor at Yale and Bard College.

When the HOA forecloses: This isn't like a tax assessor's sale

When paying the mortgage is not enough

When Becky and Chris Hobbs' home was foreclosed on and the family evicted from it this spring, the couple had not missed a house payment. They had, however, not paid their homeowners association dues. "I had no idea that anyone other than your mortgage company can evict you from your house," Becky Lew-Hobbs said. "It's absurd to me that one late payment can evict you."

Skipping out on homeowners association dues can have extreme, and often unexpected, consequences. Increasing numbers of the neighborhood-based groups are turning to foreclosure proceedings to collect on overdue fees, which the associations use to maintain community clubhouses, pools and the like.
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People who have suffered a big loss of income in the economic contraction may figure that as with delinquent property taxes, they can settle up with the assessor's office when their financial situation improves. Wrong. HOAs come knocking years before the tax man for significantly much smaller sums. Since HOA assessments are considered private and not public obligations, private attorneys play the role of tax collectors. And they charge big fees for doing so, often multiples of the underlying amount owed. Good work if you can find it or an appalling scam -- depending upon your perspective.

U.S. housing value down at least $4 trillion | Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/05/2010

U.S. housing value down at least $4 trillion | Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/05/2010: "Since the real estate boom ground to a painful close about 31/2 years ago, the nation's housing stock has shed from about $4 trillion to $7.1 trillion in value."
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Ouch. How about this quote from a developer: "The perception of homeownership as a wealth builder has suffered a deep setback." No. Really?

In struggling housing market, buyers and sellers are out of sync

In struggling housing market, buyers and sellers are out of sync: "Across the Washington region and around the country, the expectations of buyers and sellers are out of whack, thwarting deals that could potentially lift the U.S. housing sector from its long funk. The nascent rebirth of the market earlier this year proved to be a mirage."
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Sellers think their homes are worth about twice what anybody is willing to pay. An acquaintance of mine just bought a home in foreclosure. It was sold new in 2006 for $370,000. The absentee owner, who bought it as a (really bad) investment, has been trying to unload it and eventually he couldn't even find a tenant for it. The house sat vacant for a while and finally the owner just let the bank take it in foreclosure. At the foreclosure sale the bank wanted about $154,000. Only my acquaintance even bid on it--for one dollar above that figure. He got it.

There are three houses for sale on my street. One has been on the market for almost two years, the others over a year. No action. I'm sure they could be sold, but the prices would have to come down so low the owners either couldn't pay off the mortgage or would consider their lives ruined.

And every TV talking head keeps talking about "the recovery." Yeah, sure.

The Ogallala Aquifer and Its Role as a Threatened American Resource - APEC HRDWG Wiki

The Ogallala Aquifer and Its Role as a Threatened American Resource - APEC HRDWG Wiki
Here's some info on what I refer to below...

The Ogallala aquifer is being used today to supply residential and agricultural communities across eight Midwestern states. For nearly 80 years the nation’s breadbasket has been irrigated from Ogallala groundwater—a practice so unsustainable it severely threatens an aquifer that had flourished for over a million years. Farmlands are already shrinking on some portions of the Ogallala that have been mined of water. As the water table continues to plummet the High Plains will have to take drastic measures, whether communities import costly water or abandon the most profitable farming in the nation. Either way the decision has to be made soon because the aquifer that once held enough water to cover the entire United States under 1.5 feet of water is rapidly running out.

Aral Sea Almost DRIED UP: UN Chief Calls It 'Shocking Disaster'

Aral Sea Almost DRIED UP: UN Chief Calls It 'Shocking Disaster': "NUKUS, Uzbekistan -- The drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet's most shocking disasters, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday, as he urged Central Asian leaders to step up efforts to solve the problem.

Once the world's fourth-largest lake, the sea has shrunk by 90 percent since the rivers that feed it were largely diverted in a Soviet project to boost cotton production in the arid region."
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The Aral Sea is one especially horrible example of what is happening to the world's lakes and rivers. Damming rivers for crackpot schemes to irrigate deserts and build cities where only reptiles would be comfortable; industrial pollution; overpumping of ground water that won't recharge for a thousand years; using millions of gallons of water to extract oil from tar sands, and on and on. We are about 10 to 20 years from a global water crisis, and in fact it has already started in some places.

Now, let's bring this down to the US and the housing industry. The western US is sucking rivers dry and draining the aquifers so deep that the ground is subsiding. The Rio Grande is running dry. Some years it doesn't even reach the Gulf of Mexico. The Colorado River is in danger of basically drying up by 2050 or so, by some estimates. The level of the Ogallala aquifer that underlies the midwestern US and supports 1/5 of our agriculture is being overdrawn so badly that is dropping by 1.75 feet per year. It took 6000 years to fill, and the most dire estimates say it will run dry in 25 years. I could go on, but if you take a look at this book or any number of others with a similar message, you will see that the evidence for an impending world water crisis, including parts of the US, is overwhelming.

Now--with that as the background, what are the implications for the American real estate development industry? For example:

1. Should developers be permitted to build new subdivisions in deserts and other places that don't have sufficient water (such as Atlanta, GA)? Is it wise to keep building vast quantities of housing in and around Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Atlanta, Riverside and San Bernardino, etc., when they are pumping in or otherwise stealing millions of gallons of water already?
2. Should golf courses be permitted at all in such locations? Or is it time to shut them down in order to avoid wasting water?
3. Should local communities be allowed to adopt building moratoriums and keep developers out entirely, on the sole grounds that there isn't enough water?
4. Should HOAs be forced by state law to permit low-water yards, regardless of what the governing documents say?
5. Should state laws impose water conservation measures on cities and HOAs?

What do you think?

Jane White: Work Until You're Dead? That May Be the Only Option for Many Americans

Jane White: Work Until You're Dead? That May Be the Only Option for Many Americans: "Many Americans are likely to have to work until they are dead, not as a result of Social Security shortfalls but because of their inadequate 401(k) savings or the fact that they have no retirement plan at all. This disaster has not dawned on the mutual fund companies that manage retirement assets, much less debated on Capitol Hill. Given that the first wave of Boomers is scheduled to turn 65 in 2011, Attention Must be Paid."
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Sounds about right. As Mr. T would say, I pity the fools that want our jobs after we retire.

Florida’s High-Speed Answer to a Foreclosure Mess - NYTimes.com

Florida’s High-Speed Answer to a Foreclosure Mess - NYTimes.com: "No one disputes that foreclosures dominate Florida’s dockets and that something needs to be done to streamline a complex and emotionally wrenching process. But lawyers representing troubled borrowers contend that many of the retired judges called in from the sidelines to oversee these matters are so focused on cutting the caseload that they are unfairly favoring financial institutions at the expense of homeowners."
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Judges these days are focused on processing cases in the name of efficiency, and committed to the notion of enforcing the terms of contracts. Those aren't bad things, but it can lead to some very harsh consequences.

White House to Deploy Broader Mortgage Aid - WSJ.com

White House to Deploy Broader Mortgage Aid - WSJ.com: "Officials say between 500,000 and 1.5 million so-called underwater loans could be modified through the program, the first initiative to target homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments but are at risk of default because they have no equity in their homes. Some experts are warning, however, that the same knots that tied up prior initiatives could do so again.

Under the new 'short refinance' program, banks and other creditors that write down mortgages to less than the value of the property can essentially hand off the reduced loan to the government. The process involves refinancing borrowers into loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration."
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I mentioned weeks ago that this was coming. When an underwater borrower hands off a chunk of their debt to "the government," that means "the taxpayers," so I'm pretty sure that means that people like me are paying somebody else's mortgage. I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick of this kind of "aid." Who, precisely, is going to pay a share of my mortgage?

Newspaper chastises Arizona HOA for calling for removal of flag as "debris"

HOA, don't tread on a classic piece of Americana

The state Legislature has intervened before on behalf of flag-flying residents against their HOAs. The Avalon Village folks know full well that lawmakers will do it again if they press this matter. The group needs to quit its line-parsing interpretation of the rules and let the flag fly.

Don't tread on Andy McDonel. Or his flag. The fact is, McDonel's HOA lost this argument when it called a classic piece of Americana "debris."

God Bless America: HOA reaches accord with resident over patriotic garage door sign

Compromise reached on 'God Bless America' sign

The assistant Delray Beach police chief had used magnetic letters to spell out the words on his garage door, and his actions incurred the wrath of the Springs Hamlet homeowners association. They told him the sign violated a blanket ban, no matter how patriotic the sentiment.

He refused to take it down, saying his rights as an American were being hindered. His stance brought calls from newspapers across the country, and an appearance on Fox News.
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I bet all that publicity gave Mr. Milenkovic a good deal of leverage with the HOA, making it more inclined to compromise rather than risking fines and litigation which would have only brought more bad press.

Life imitating art? Sacramento officials investigate real estate company official

Remember that creepy HOA cult classic video titled The Colony that featured an uber regimented HOA controlled by an iron fisted developer who silenced a barking dog by cutting out its vocal cords? And who also indulged his voyeuristic inclinations by installing cameras in the bedrooms and other private places of the homes of his inmates?

The Sacramento Bee reports Michael Lyon faces a local criminal investigation amid allegations he secretly recorded people in his private homes and has temporarily stepped down as CEO of Lyon Real Estate. The newspaper reports "allegations of cameras concealed in bedrooms and bathrooms in Lyon's homes have jolted many who work at Lyon Real Estate, where top officials have retained an outside public relations consultant to manage the escalating crisis."

The Sacramento County sheriff's and district attorney's offices told The Bee they are launching their own investigation to determine if Lyon broke any state laws after the U.S. attorney's office closed a 16-month FBI probe of Lyon for lack of evidence.

"After being cleared of any wrongdoing by the U.S. attorney and the FBI, Mike will spend time clearing his good name and dealing with current baseless allegations being investigated by the district attorney," according to a statement by the company published in the newspaper.

Will the Pink Flamingoes join with the Tea Party?

I posed this question to the good perfessor who owns this blog over the weekend. He thinks not and I tend to agree.

But the political climate is such that private HOA government is finding itself under fire just as are all levels of public government. So now when HOAs so much as appear to be trampling on someone's rights of expression and redress of grievances, they too get their turn in the media spotlight.

The stories get additional legs in the blogosphere such as this post at a Yahoo News blog by Liz Goodwin. Goodwin reports the American Civil Liberties Union is defending an Arizona man ordered by his HOA to furl his "Don't Tread On Me" Gadsen flag.

Welcome To Kiryas Joel: Please Dress Accordingly � CBS New York- News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of NY

Welcome To Kiryas Joel: Please Dress Accordingly � CBS New York- News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of NY: "The tradition in the village of Satmar Hasidic Jews is modesty. Even on the hottest of days, most residents cover up from head to toe. But visitors don’t necessarily follow that tradition, and now the main synagogue is asking them to comply.
Congregation Yetev Lev posted signs at the village’s entrance – in both English and Spanish – asking outsiders to cover their legs and arms, use appropriate language and maintain gender separation in public."
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And this isn't even a private community.

Mortgage lenders hold loan work out jamboree in Florida

US Homeowners Flock to Florida Event in Desperate Bid to Save Properties

Welcome to America's biggest jamboree of delinquent borrowers. For five days, the Neighbourhood Assistance Corporation of America (Naca), a not-for-profit organisation, is working round the clock to help homeowners hang on to their houses. More than 12,000 people have signed up in advance and more than 20,000 are expected to turn up, travelling from as far afield as California, Georgia and Maryland.

FoxNews.com Atlanta: Judge sides with homeowner, rules federal flag law trumps HOA rules

FoxNews.com Atlanta: Judge sides with homeowner, rules federal flag law trumps HOA rules

The homeowners association, which claimed the flagpole was an "obstruction," reportedly sued Tripodo for $25 each day the flag flew in his front yard -- a charge that totaled $32,000. A Cherokee County judge, however, dismissed the lawsuit this week, freeing Tripodo from having to pay any fines.

"I wish I didn't have to go through all this aggravation, but I was going to defend this flag all the way," Tripodo said. Tripodo said he believed the 2006 Freedom to Display the American Flag Act superseded any subdivision rules that prohibited the flagpole.

Americans spend a bit more as economy limps along

Americans spend a bit more as economy limps along

Paul Dales at Capital Economics said the economy is likely to remain in a slow-growth rut for several years. He said economic growth is likely to average around 2 percent for the rest of this year and through all of 2011 and 2012 as well. That's far below the rates needed to drive the 9.5 percent unemployment rate lower.
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If this forecast is borne out, it means a slow motion train wreck for Privatopia and the economy in general. In recent decades, the U.S. economy has come through relatively brief periods of high unemployment. But if it remains high over a prolonged period such as this, it begins to do structural damage. Many Americans will find they cannot afford to pay for both public and private local government.

Hardball HOA assessment collection tactics questioned

Hardball HOA assessment collection tactics questioned

Arizona homeowners associations are not accepting a resident's foreclosure as an excuse when it comes to collecting unpaid dues, assessments and fines.

Already forced to raise member dues and cut services to cope with unprecedented delinquency rates, HOAs also are turning to skip traces, collection agencies, process servers and out-of-state attorneys to collect what is owed.

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George Staropoli is quoted, taking issue with selective collection methods and excessive collection costs.

California students get tracking devices - San Jose Mercury News

California students get tracking devices - San Jose Mercury News
Preschoolers. Federal grant. Now the school staff will know where the child is, and...whether the child has eaten or not.

Your tax dollars at work. $50,000 of them, to be exact.

Daily Herald | Cook Co. red-light camera ultimatum seems to lack legal weight

Daily Herald | Cook Co. red-light camera ultimatum seems to lack legal weight
Cook County Commissioner Timothy Schneider believes he has seized the initiative to turn back a red-light-camera program with the legal finding that the county can't arbitrarily impose it on municipalities.
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But other people disagree...

Top 7 insane homeowners association rules - The Week

Top 7 insane homeowners association rules - The Week
This article is from December 2009 but I don't remember seeing it at the time. The lead talks about "the astonishingly restrictive ways of homeowner associations."

University professors among latest sued over R-J copyrights - Friday, Aug. 27, 2010 | 2:05 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun

University professors among latest sued over R-J copyrights - Friday, Aug. 27, 2010 | 2:05 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun
The Las Vegas Review-Journal is suing many bloggers who posted even one article from their online edition without a citation--but some of the people being sued seem to claim that they did put in the citation. I would like everybody who posts here not to quote or link to anything from that newspaper's web site. They don't want their material used, so I will respect their wishes.

HOA groups in Arizona cutting services, raising fees

HOA groups in Arizona cutting services, raising fees

With no contingency plans and little help available from cash-strapped cities and towns, homeowners associations are likely to face money problems for years to come, market analysts said.

"Associations are not designed to have 38 percent delinquencies, or even 20 percent," said Amanda Shaw, president of HOA management firm Associated Asset Management of Phoenix. "They're designed to have a 2 percent to 5 percent delinquency. They are designed to be successful."

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The economy as a whole is designed to be successful, always growing. But that collides with the business cycle, which has its natural downturns. And when leverage and speculation run rampant, those downturns can get awfully long and nasty as we're now experiencing. There are no carve outs or exceptions for HOAs.

The Adventures of a Highway Road Runner: A City at War With Itself: Chicago - Fast Tracking To Anarchy (Understanding the Organizational Paralysis of the CPD and the Mission to Recovery)

The Adventures of a Highway Road Runner: A City at War With Itself: Chicago - Fast Tracking To Anarchy (Understanding the Organizational Paralysis of the CPD and the Mission to Recovery)
The author of this blog post is Chicago Police Department Lieutenant John Andrews, who I happen to know. For writing this piece on his own blog, he is now being pursued by Internal Affairs. This outrage is now being covered by The Huffington Post.

The post that got John in trouble with Superintendent Jody Weis is devastating, loaded with fact and insight, and of course deeply embarrassing to the power structure in this city. With the Chicago Tribune and the Huffington Post and perhaps some First Amendment advocates on the case, I hope John will be protected from the Machine.

FL Officer, Community Spar Over Patriotic Display

FL Officer, Community Spar Over Patriotic Display

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) - A South Florida police official is fighting his homeowner association's request that he remove a patriotic display from his garage door.

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No signs allowed including "God Bless America" spelled out in little magnets.

Tea Party "Don't Tread on Me" flag roils HOA politics

Tea Party "Don't Tread on Me" flag roils HOA politics

An HOA attorney contacted by 9NEWS said Smith's case fell into a gray area because the flag could be considered a "political sign," which would be protected under state law, or it could be considered a "decoration," which would not be protected but would require the HOA to strictly enforce a policy forbidding all homeowners from displaying any kinds of decorative flags.

The most recent letter sent to Smith from HOA lawyer Elina Hindley states: "Please be advised, we have discussed this situation with the board of directors and the board has decided to allow the Tea Party flag to remain displayed on your property. Thus, you may disregard the request contained in the original letter."

"The board was told to back down, at which point they promptly all resigned," Smith said. He was once the HOA board of directors' president and has now volunteered to serve on the board again, along with his neighbor across the street who also displays the Gadsden flag.

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Perhaps HOA boards are getting a bit media savvy after years of PR gaffes over flag flying that generate lots of bad publicity for Privatopia. Had the board not retreated in this case, the story would have likely been spotlighted on Fox News.

The Really Creepy People Behind the Libertarian-Inspired Billionaire Sea Castles | Economy | AlterNet

The Really Creepy People Behind the Libertarian-Inspired Billionaire Sea Castles | Economy | AlterNet
More on who is behind the bizarre Libertarian "seasteading" fantasy.

The Ultimate Escape: The Bizarre Libertarian Plan of Uploading Brains into Robots to Escape Society | | AlterNet

The Ultimate Escape: The Bizarre Libertarian Plan of Uploading Brains into Robots to Escape Society | | AlterNet: "Perhaps you've had a good laugh over seasteading, the scheme hatched by rich libertarians to escape the clutches of democracy by living on giant metal platforms in the middle of the ocean. But as it turns out, seasteading is something of a wet dry run for some libertarians’ ultimate escape plan of uploading their brains into robot bodies and blasting off into space."
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They are serious about this, too. They want immortality. Some libertarians are into cryogenics. They have contracted with these corporations that promise to freeze your head, or for a higher price your entire body, until such time as (a) you can be brought back to life with a new and improved body, or (b) your brain's contents can be downloaded into some electronic medium and put into a robot.

Does that put into context just how realistic the libertarian infatuation with common interest housing really is?

Fascinating Underground Homes | JetSetta

Fascinating Underground Homes | JetSetta
Bilbo Baggins would love these places.

America’s Ten Dead Cities: From Detroit To New Orleans - 24/7 Wall St.

America’s Ten Dead Cities: From Detroit To New Orleans - 24/7 Wall St.
And here's the funny part. Congress and Obama have committed billions of dollars to building a high speed rail system that would include connections to Detroit and Cleveland, both of which are dead, dead, dead.

The Problem with Seasteading | Bottom-up

The Problem with Seasteading | Bottom-up: "The brainchild of Patri Friedman (grandson of Milton) and others, seasteading is a program for political reform based on a proliferation of self-governing ocean colonies."
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Floating condominium buildings full of libertarians...why didn't I think of that?

Preacher told not to issue unauthorized fatwas - Arab News

Preacher told not to issue unauthorized fatwas - Arab News: "RIYADH/JEDDAH: The Kingdom's most senior religious scholar has ordered a preacher to stop giving unauthorized fatwas (religious edicts) after he called for boycotting a supermarket chain that employs women as cashiers."
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I guess they stopped him before he laid a big fatwa on Justin Bieber.