Miami Activist Moves Poor People in Foreclosed Homes

Miami activist moves people into foreclosed houses

By TAMARA LUSH
Associated Press Writer

MIAMI (AP) -- Max Rameau delivers his sales pitch like a pro. "All tile floor!" he says during a recent showing. "And the living room, wow! It has great blinds."

But in nearly every other respect, he is unlike any real estate agent you've ever met. He is unshaven, drives a beat-up car and wears grungy cut-off sweat pants. He also breaks into the homes he shows. And his clients don't have a dime for a down payment.

Rameau is an activist who has been executing a bailout plan of his own around Miami's empty streets: He is helping homeless people illegally move into foreclosed homes.

"We're matching homeless people with people-less homes," he said with a grin.

Rameau and a group of like-minded advocates formed Take Back the Land, which also helps the new "tenants" with secondhand furniture, cleaning supplies and yard upkeep. So far, he has moved six families into foreclosed homes and has nine on a waiting list.

"I think everyone deserves a home," said Rameau, who said he takes no money from his work with the homeless. "Homeless people across the country are squatting in empty homes. The question is: Is this going to be done out of desperation or with direction?"

With the housing market collapsing, squatting in foreclosed homes is believed to be on the rise around the country. But squatters usually move in on their own, at night, when no one is watching. Rarely is the phenomenon as organized as Rameau's effort to "liberate" foreclosed homes.

Florida - especially the Miami area, with its once-booming condo market - is one of the hardest-hit states in the housing crisis, largely because of overbuilding and speculation. In September, Florida had the nation's second-highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every 178 homes in default, according to Realty Trac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties. Only Nevada's rate was higher.

Like other cities, Miami is trying to ease the problem. Officials launched a foreclosure-prevention program to help homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage, with loans of up to $7,500 per household.

The city also recently passed an ordinance requiring owners of abandoned homes - whether an individual or bank - to register those properties with the city so police can better monitor them.

Elsewhere around the country, advocates in Cleveland are working with the city to allow homeless people to legally move into and repair empty, dilapidated houses. In Atlanta, some property owners pay homeless people to live in abandoned homes as a security measure.

In early November, Rameau drove a woman and her 18-month old daughter to a ranch home on a quiet street lined with swaying tropical foliage. Marie Nadine Pierre, 39, has been sleeping at a shelter with her toddler. She said she had been homeless off and on for a year, after losing various jobs and getting evicted from several apartments.

"My heart is heavy. I've lived in a lot of different shelters, a lot of bad situations," Pierre said. "In my own home, I'm free. I'm a human being now."

Rameau chose the house for Pierre, in part, because he knew its history. A man had bought the home in the city's predominantly Haitian neighborhood in 2006 for $430,000, then rented it to Rameau's friends. Those friends were evicted in October because the homeowner had stopped paying his mortgage and the property went into foreclosure.

Rameau, who makes his living as a computer consultant, said he is doing the owner a favor. Before Pierre moved in, someone stole the air conditioning unit from the backyard, and it was only a matter of time before thieves took the copper pipes and wiring, he said.

"Within a couple of months, this place would be stripped and drug dealers would be living here," he said, carrying a giant plastic garbage bag filled with Pierre's clothes into the home.

He said he is not scared of getting arrested.

"There's a real need here, and there's a disconnect between the need and the law," he said. "Being arrested is just one of the potential factors in doing this."

Miami spokeswoman Kelly Penton said city officials did not know Rameau was moving homeless into empty buildings - but they are also not stopping him.

"There are no actions on the city's part to stop this," she said in an e-mail. "It is important to note that if people trespass into private property, it is up to the property owner to take action to remove those individuals."

Pierre herself could be charged with trespassing, vandalism or breaking and entering. Rameau assured her he has lawyers who will represent her free.

Two weeks after Pierre moved in, she came home to find the locks had been changed, probably by the property's manager. Everything inside - her food, clothes and family photos - was gone.

But late last month, with Rameau's help, she got back inside and has put Christmas decorations on the front door.

So far, police have not gotten involved.

Click on title for article;
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FORECLOSURE_SQUATTING?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Candince Gingrich to Brother Newt

Another "compromised" famil relationship?

Dear Newt,

I recently had the displeasure of watching you bash the protestors of the Prop 8 marriage ban to Bill O'Reilly on FOX News. I must say, after years of watching you build your career by stirring up the fears and prejudices of the far right, I feel compelled to use the words of your idol, Ronald Reagan, "There you go, again."

However, I realize that you may have been a little preoccupied lately with planning your resurrection as the savior of your party, so I thought I would fill you in on a few important developments you might have overlooked.

The truth is that you're living in a world that no longer exists. I, along with millions of Americans, clearly see the world the way it as -- and we embrace what it can be. You, on the other hand, seem incapable of looking for new ideas or moving beyond what worked in the past.

Welcome to the 21st century, big bro. I can understand why you're so afraid of the energy that has been unleashed after gay and lesbian couples had their rights stripped away from them by a hateful campaign. I can see why you're sounding the alarm against the activists who use all the latest tech tools to build these rallies from the ground up in cities across the country.

This unstoppable progress has at its core a group we at HRC call Generation Equality. They are the most supportive of full LGBT equality than any American generation ever -- and when it comes to the politics of division, well, they don't roll that way. 18-24 year olds voted overwhelmingly against Prop 8 and overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. And the numbers of young progressive voters will only continue to grow. According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning, about 23 million 18-29 year olds voted on Nov. 4, 2008 -- the most young voters ever to cast a ballot in a presidential election. That's an increase of 3 million more voters compared to 2004.

These are the same people who helped elect Barack Obama and sent a decisive message to your party. These young people are the future and their energy will continue to drive our country forward. Even older Americans are turning their backs on the politics of fear and demagoguery that you and your cronies have perfected over the years.

This is a movement of the people that you most fear. It's a movement of progress -- and your words on FOX News only show how truly desperate you are to maintain control of a world that is changing before your very eyes.

Then again, we've seen these tactics before. We know how much the right likes to play political and cultural hardball, and then turn around and accuse us of lashing out first. You give a pass to a religious group -- one that looks down upon minorities and women -- when they use their money and membership roles to roll back the rights of others, and then you label us "fascists" when we fight back. You belittle the relationships of gay and lesbian couples, and yet somehow neglect to explain who anointed you the protector of "traditional" marriage. And, of course, you've also mastered taking the foolish actions of a few people and then indicting an entire population based on those mistakes. I fail to see how any of these patterns coincide with the values of "historic Christianity" you claim to champion.

Again, nothing new here. This is just more of the blatant hypocrisy we're used to hearing.

What really worries me is that you are always willing to use LGBT Americans as political weapons to further your ambitions. That's really so '90s, Newt. In this day and age, it's embarrassing to watch you talk like that. You should be more afraid of the new political climate in America, because, there is no place for you in it.

In other words, stop being a hater, big bro.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/candace-gingrich/a-letter-to-my-brother-ne_b_145739.html

How I Spent the Morning All 4 Naught?

Now that I am all powered up again, I have just got to tell you what has just now happened to me while working hard away at this ole 'puter of mine. I spent the last couple of hours working at updating my on-line "EZWayBay" Tack & More Store, adding new stuff and also figuring that I would jump on the exploitation & commercicalization of christmas bandwagon this year and re-dress the window of the store to decorate it in the seasons traditional colors of greens, reds and blues. I was working on the text, carefully and meticously outlining and highlighting each individual letter, changing the colors from black to alternating greens & reds, i.e; one green letter, then one red, then green, then red again, and so on. After about a half an hour to forty-five minutes of working away at this tedious task, when I was nearly to the end of the page and almost completed, ..all of a sudden the power went out and everything shut down. It was back on in an instant, but I am not sure because I havent even checked yet, Im afraid I may have lost all my changes. What a distressing thought of having wasted all that precious time! I am hoping against hope that my ole 'puter may have caught them on automatic save, for I dont know if I feel like going all through that again. I am afraid to look but will go there now and see whats what and get back to you with the story and a link to the store, in case you all may wanna buy somethin from me and help out with all my good causes! Do you hear that famb-o-lee? Wish me luck!

Update: Here I am back again with a good report. All I can say is thank the techno-gods for auto-save! Click on title above to go to my newly decorated store and just SHOP BABY SHOP, SHOP HERE SHOP NOW! Its the Bush-way patriotic thing to do!

Ted Williams Dosent Get His Wish: Terms of Will Thwarted

Help Us Free Ted Williams From His Frozen Fate Tuesday, 4:54 AM

On July 5th 2002 at the age of 83, Ted Williams was pronounced dead as a result of heart failure. His body was secretly taken by private jet to Alcor in Scottsdale, Arizona where his head was decapitated from his body and than placed (both head and body) into liquid nitrogen. Ted Williams' eldest daughter, Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell fought against the process, saying that her dad had requested in his 1996 Will to be cremated and his ashes scattered off the Florida coast.

Currently, the greatest baseball player who ever lived, as well as a true American war hero, is being held captive and frozen in two separate metal devices at a cryonics laboratory in Scottsdale, Arizona. As you will learn, this disposition was not in his formal Last Will and Testament of December 1996, nor did he ever contract for such treatment. In short, Ted Williams' LAST WISH has been desecrated.

Please go to my petition to learn more and to support this cause.

Click on title above to see and sign petition;

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/regulate-cryonics-freeted

Another Troy, Rensselaer Co., NY Distinction: The Martiniz Fragging Case

The first Iraq war fraggin case getting ready to go to trial (at last),
and the guy happens to be from my home town!

Way to go Troy,Rensselaer Co., NY!

Click on title above for full story.

Rensselaer Co. Ballott Boo Boo Makes Colbert Report

Story by IRENE JAY LIU, Capitol bureau
Last updated: 1:04 p.m., Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Stephen Colbert gave a shout-out and a "wag of the finger" to Rensselaer County on Tuesday night's episode of "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central.

As we reported on Friday, Board of Elections officials sent out absentee ballots to around 300 voters with the misspelled name "Barack Osama" on the Democratic line.

The story was picked up by the national press, but you know you've made a serious flub when you get a finger in your face from the bespectacled king of late-night political satire.

Click title above for article and "Capital Confidential" link to video-clip.

"The Troy Incident" Inspires a New Group

On April 27, 1953, at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, Professor Herbert Clark and his students entered a metal shack that served as a laboratory for their radiochemistry class. All the Geiger counters were registering radiation many times the normal rate. The students carried the radiation measuring devices to areas on campus noting the high readings. Assuming the previous night's heavy rains had washed some atmospheric radiation onto the campus, Dr. Clark contacted John Harley, an associate at the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's Health and Safety office in New York City. Dr. Clark summarized the details of campus measurements from his class. Gamma radiation on the ground was ten to five hundred times normal; beta ray radiation was even higher and hot spots of even higher readings were found in rainspouts and puddles.

Later that day, Dr. Clark learned there had been an atomic bomb test conducted by the AEC in the Nevada desert two days earlier. The mushroom cloud had reached 40,000 feet into the atmosphere then drifted 2,300 miles across the United States in a northeasterly direction. It passed over Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania before being caught up in a storm that dropped rain on upstate New York, southern Vermont and parts of Massachusetts.

Dr. Clark's students took their geiger counters on the road and began measuring the radioactivity on the ground, roof shingles and vegetation wherever they stopped in Albany, Saratoga Springs, and Schenectady, New York. Typical readings were twenty to one hundred times higher than normal. This has become known as "the Troy incident."

Click on title above to go to new group created to address this issue.