Not that this sad Caylee Anthony case deserves any more media attention, but this leads into one of the topics I’d wanted to start writing more in-depth stories about — my intense dislike for Homeowners Associations (HOAs). This entry was prompted by the news that in response to protesters showing up at Casey Anthony’s place to say their piece, the local HOA there is suing them to make them stop. From the article:

According to the lawsuit: “The association is seeking to reasonably limit the nuisance activities that have caused irreparable harm and damage to the quiet use and enjoyment of the residential neighborhood.”

Apparently they’ve offered up a vacant lot for the protesters, a block away from the house they’re protesting. This is brilliant — why didn’t those idiot politicians come up with this in the sixties when “all those hippies marched?” This strikes me as dangerously similar to that most insane nonsense known as the “Free Speech Zone” that Bush’s cronies came up with when he was first elected (then re-elected … ugh).

The idea is pretty simple: let people say and do whatever the hell they want … far enough away from the people they’re trying to get a message across to that they can’t actually be heard, or seen. Of course it’s a blatant violation of the Constitution, but oh well, nobody seems to care about that tired old rag anymore¹.

The article doesn’t have much to say about the lawsuit against the protesters. I hope that’s because the author realizes how stupid it is. I also hope the lawsuit itself gets dismissed with the uproarious laughter it deserves. Because I live in America and I’m not a complete idiot, I know these hopes will live on forever in vain.

I openly encourage anyone close by enough to these assholes makes it clear that this kind of abuse of law won’t be tolerated. You have a right to peaceably assemble and to peacefully speak. If you break the law while you’re doing it, you should be arrested, but the last time I checked, constructing signs, walking in front of a building, and chanting/shouting slogans wasn’t against the law.

This is yet another reason why HOAs suck, by the way. The people in that house caused far more “damage” to this precious community than these protesters are.

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