Palmer Blevins Blog

*Warning*
This post contains very strong, course, and expletive language that may not be suitable for all readers.

The unemployment rate in Illinois for the month of June was 10.3%, and our great state had to borrow federal money to replenish its unemployment insurance fund. The “budget” that was passed on July 15, 2009 will draw on $3.5 billion in additional borrowing to pay state employee pensions and will carry over $3 billion in debt to vendors to next year’s budget. There is a $5 billion dollar deficit that “lawmakers” and the governor have decided to deal with at a later date.

This is just sickening. The taxpayers and voters of Illinois are forced to sacrifice and worry about how they will get by day to day while a number of ass-clowns in the state house gear up for the coming political season and use the economic/financial crisis in the state to whatever political advantage they can. Why in the holy hell do taxpayers continue to pay the undeserving salaries to lawmakers who are more concerned with their political futures than dealing with the mess that they got us in? In a perfect world, each and every legislator would be kicked to the curb and be in the unemployment line…but by a strange twist of fate, this is the Land of Oz and the cowardly lions (the voters of Illinois) are either too stupid or too ball-less to do anything about the ones responsible for the rape, pillage and mockery of the State of Illinois.

It is odd how the politicians in this state can’t find a way to balance the budget without cutting programs or raising taxes, but these clowns can easily raise $1.3 million (Jack Franks) and $860k (Gov. Quinn) like it is the easiest thing to do. And didn’t Comptroller Hynes recently state that he could not authorize payment to some state workers…yet he can haul in $3.5 million from big time unions? Sen. Brady can easily loan his campaign $101K, yet he and the other shysters at 401 S 2nd St. can’t balance a budget? Perhaps if they weren’t constantly looking towards the next election and their own political advancement, they could.

If these pirates in the state house had any sense of dignity, honor, “sacrifice” or committment…if they really wanted to get the people of Illinois out of the mess that they themselves have created, they would use their ability to prostitute themselves out to special interests for the good of the People of the State of Illinois. They would give up their war chests, raise revenue and cut their own friviolities footed by the taxpayer in order to ensure necessary programs are not cut, people don’t loose their jobs or have to take un-paid days off, or that their state income taxes are not raised. Our “representatives” and “public servants” could take the noble route and donate their huge campaign war chests, with more zeros than many Illinois citizens will see in a lifetime, to fixing the f**king messes they created. Of course, there is a better chance of Jesus coming back and hell freezing over than that day ever seeing the light.

I am in the process of handing the keys of a property of mine on the east side to the mortgage company, and JP’s recent comments got me to thinking back to my very first tenant(s).

We took a loan out on the place in March of 2005, and for some reason my normal intuitions would have told me to get the hell out of the deal before it was too late. The seller had told us that the tenants were on Section 8 and that the government would be paying the majority of their rent (abt. $500) and they would only be responsible for the rest ($50). When I met the people for the first time, they put the white in trash; their mannerisms, their speech, their attitude, etc. But being 28 at the time and being greedy, I stamped on the little voice saying “Get Out!”

All they had to pay out of their pockets was $50 a month. Yet, getting that $50 out of them was like trying to pry a baby from the jaws of a dingo. They never had it: but they had plenty of money to buy their drugs, alcohol, and even put in a new carpet (without my permission). Trying to evict them was even worse…because in the great state of Illinois, landlords have no rights. For 30 days they were able to stay in the house rent free during the eviction process. Now what do you think trash are going to do when they find out that they are being evicted but have free reign…especially when all utilities are paid by the landlord, because that was a stipulation of Section 8?

They ran the water, gas, sewer and electrical bills sky high…something that took months to pay down. This is just one of the few nightmares I’ve had being a landlord. I mistake I shall never repeat again.

Don’t remember exaclty where I heard the conversation, but I’ve been pondering it and recently posed the question on my Facebook page: why is it perfectly legal for an individual, who wants to look younger, pretty and feel better about him/herself, to inject a toxin into his/her body…but in most cases, it is illegal for an individual to inject him/herself with steroids or other “performance enhancement” supplements for the same purpose.

Why is it that someone who uses something naturally occuring to improve him/herself, to feel better about him/herself, etc., is labeled a pariah, a cheater, etc.; but people are far more forgiving towards people who inject a dangerous toxin to do the same?

Neo-Cons, the same ones who brought you such pillars of marital fidelity as Newt Gingrich and Gov. Sanford, are accusing ABC of being biased towards President Obama because they are not airing opposing ads; and Fox News is jumping all over the story.

Of course, no one can ever accuse Fox News of being biased in their “reporting” or commentary, right? The following quote from a conservative blogger on the report is hillarious: “All Americans who are opposed to a major media arm becoming a visible branch of the presidential political machine” should use the marketplace to voice their objection.” So, where was this blogger when a major media arm (Fox News) was a visible branch of the presidential machine (the Bush & Cheney Administration). Pot, meet kettle….your black!

I was so happy when I bought my house four years ago, but that happiness over the years has turned into regret and then by anger. I am a live and let live sort of fellow, I don’t care what my neighbors legally do in the privacy of their own homes and yards; as long as it doesn’t have a negative impact on my property and my life. Pretty simple and straight-forwards.

Two and three houses from me, on my side of the street, are neighbors that I just wish would pack up and move. All day and night long they do nothing but gather, harass people, buy and sell drugs, steal, and make noise until the wee hours of the morning. Their houses are not fit for habitation by even a sewer rat’s standards and yet the city does nothing; which I think is a little unfair considering the property I used to own on the east side. The police are generous in responding to complaints, but there is only so much they can do…and it is not their jobs to babysit burdens on society, thugs and bullies.

So what can be done in regards to these pests? Many of us in the Enos Park area pay our property taxes and do our best to keep our properties looking good, but what is the point when you have neighbors like these?

Blevins Blog will no longer be the main page for my website; the new main url is www.palmerblevins.net, however Blevins Blog is still active and most posts will be reserved for more commentary type posts with readership limited to my Twitter, Facebook and MySpace subscribers.

PPL have e-mailed wondering if I’ve fallen off the face of the earth again. The answer is “no comment at this time.”

The SJ-R has a pretty good article on vacant homes that blight city neighborhoods. But as a former landlord, I think I can give another perspective, other than placing blame on “slum lords.”

Instead, let’s put the blame on scumbag tenants who decide to trash another person’s property when they find out they are being evicted because they have better things to do then pay their rent. Let’s place the blame on the city’s building and zoning department that won’t go after places unfit for habitation by a sewer rat (yet, still houses people), but will waste no time and energy going after property owners who do their best to keep their properties in good shape despite tenants who don’t meet their obligations to pay, and vandalize a property when they do not get their way. Let’s blame a system that tells a landlord that he/she must file a five day notice, then a ten day notice, then a 30 day notice; giving an unruly tenant 30+ days to live rent free before he/she trashes the place in revenge.

For four years I busted my ass to make that property a Mecca in a crappy side of town. The place was an eyesore before I bought it; den of drugs, prostitution and other types of crime.

I did my best to put in good tenants, and got burned each and every time because I have a soft side for a good sob story. And dealing with Building & Zoning was a nightmare; if I had a choice between dealing with B&Z one more time, or getting shot in the crotch with a nail gun every five minutes for an eternity, I would gladly choose the latter.

I have talked to other landlords in the past who have washed their hands of their properties; and tenants, Building & Zoning and the fact that landlords have no rights are high on the list of why they just said to hell with it. And despite the ding to my credit and the fact that in a matter of weeks a property that I sunk over $45,000 in repairs, thousands of dollars in property taxes, mortgage and interest payments, will soon become the eyesore it once was…I have no regrets in turning the property over to the mortgage company, knowing that it will once again become an eyesore and blight. I did all that I could.

The best thing about a nightmare is that eventually you wake up and can go about your day without as much as an afterthought. If the city is so concerned about blight, perhaps it should find a way to treat landlords who have tried to better a property a little better and help them out.

Interesting tidbit that I did not know: President Lincoln and Tom Hanks are 3rd cousins, 4x’s removed. Their common ancestor is John Hanks (1680-1740), Honest Abe’s 2x’s Great Grandfather and Mr. Hank’s 4x’s Great Grandfather.

Also found an interesting site discussing ties between Abraham Lincoln and a John Hanks (1802-1889).

I have been working on a book going on five years now about religious fundamentalism; and if you have been a follower of this site, you know how I am about writing. I must have deleted and re-wrote entire chapters over the course of those five years; and the scary thing is that I was done three years ago, wasn’t satisfied with the “finished” product, and decided to start from scratch. Just the way I am, I’m a perfectionist I guess.

I have found a company I want to publish with, and have picked by best friend Saman as my agent/publicist. Pretty excited, I’ve self-published things before, but want the feel of legitimacy that goes with being published by a reputable company.