BBB Reliability Report for Riverstone Residential – Dallas & NE Texas

Posted on August 2, 2009 by Sharon Kramer

 

BBB Rating

 

 F

 

BBB Report

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What Ails Health Care – (What’s Good For The Goose…)

Posted on August 2, 2009 by Sharon Kramer

excerpt –

Fleming’s advice, which set in motion a week of televised appearances and interviews, is simple enough, full of common sense and should stand as a guiding beacon for Congress.

Whatever Congress deems good and practical for other Americans should be good enough for the senators and congressmen who set up the program.

In other words, if lawmakers create a government-run program, they should be willing, nay, required to participate in that program instead of their extensive congressional health-care coverage.

That should bring some sober thought to a thorny issue. If health-care reform, which is needed, were easy, it would be done already.

Congress must be certain any reform extends to as many Americans as possible without a loss of quality or dignity. Dr. Fleming is right. What lawmakers deem to be good for we, the people, should be good enough for them as well.

louisiana news link – News Star (excerpt)

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The American Dream Home – Promise, Defects, Mold, Policy, Litigation, Medicine & Insurance

Posted on August 1, 2009 by Sharon Kramer

 

click on title to read this family’s story 

The Naples Lemon House

We have tried to capture our experiences into seven lessons of owning the American dream home: promise, defects, mold, policy, litigation, medicine & insurance. We are in the process of creating essays for each lesson and will eventually turn it into a book. We would like to share our life changing story with you by opening up the door to our American dream home.

7 Lessons

Lesson 1 –  Don’t accept anything a general contractor tells you as fact even if you know him personally. Always get a second and third opinion! I say this because if this individual is wrong and is lacking character and/or the money to back up his product, you will find that the legal process which is in place for your protection is very expensive and lengthy. See lesson number five.

Lesson 2 – Construction defects are very real and they can destroy your life as you know it. If you are a doubting Thomas, spend a few minutes searching the web.

Lesson 3 – Toxic mold is very dangerous to your health. If you have any reason to suspect that you have mold in your home, seek help ASAP!

Lesson 4 – The American homeowner’s insurance policy has been very watered down over the past six years as a result of millions of dollars of hard lobbying by our friendly insurance companies. Be very wary of insurance policies which exclude or limit coverage for mold and construction defects. In addition, be very cautious of “claims only” policies. They all are written to protect the insurance company’s profits not your assets.

Lesson 5 – Unfortunately, your last resort, the legal system, is not a citizen friendly process. This is an economic/time based process. Arbitration and litigation are extremely time consuming and very expensive. In almost all cases, you will loose. Even if you win, you will loose. The system is designed to protect the corporations not the citizens.

Lesson 6 – Traditional medicine is great and has come a long way. However, traditional medicine falls short specifically in the biotoxin illnesses arena.

Lesson 7 – Just as traditional medicine is lacking a widely held approach to biotoxin illnesses, health insurance companies are not providing coverage. The average American can not afford to get treatment. It is left to the top 1% of the population

Posted in Environmental Health Threats, Health - Medical - Science, Mold and Politics, Mold Litigation, Toxic Mold | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

140 ways to leave your landlord: Chicago’s first Twitter-based lawsuit anything but frivolous

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Sharon Kramer

Defamation occurs when falsities are asserted as facts, and when that assertion hurts an individual’s or business’ reputation. A tweet about the management company being a bunch of morons, Brown explains, would be protected speech; the sentence can’t be proved true or false, since it’s based on someone’s opinion. But a statement about mold in an apartment isn’t up for debate; the mold exists or it doesn’t.

By Steve Heisler
July 28, 2009

A lawsuit filed today for allegedly defamatory remarks shared on Twitter could hold more weight than one might think. Amanda Bonnen, a former resident of an apartment at 4242 N. Sheridan Rd., posted in May a single 140-character tweet about that building’s management company, Horizon Realty Group: “You should just come anyway. Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.” She has 20 followers (or at least she did before her account disappeared), and it was an @ reply, so theoretically, not many people were going to see it. All of that changed today when Horizon Realty responded to the tweet with a lawsuit, suing Bonnen for “maliciously and wrongfully publish[ing] the false and defamatory tweet on Twitter, thereby allowing the tweet to be distributed throughout the world.” And thus Horizon created a news story that strengthened these allegations by causing the tweet to be republished again and again long after the tweet itself was gone.

This is Chicago’s first Twitter-related case, according to Evan Brown, an intellectual property and technology lawyer with local firm Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP. He says Horizon might have a case. All it has to do is prove a defamatory statement was published, adding, “In defamation law, publication has a special meaning—all it means is that words were uttered, or made available to someone else.” Even just one person, and regardless of the medium (blogs, IM conversation, real-life conversation). “It’s not enough for the defendant to say, ‘I was on Twitter’… It is a tool through which a person can defame another.”

Defamation occurs when falsities are asserted as facts, and when that assertion hurts an individual’s or business’ reputation. A tweet about the management company being a bunch of morons, Brown explains, would be protected speech; the sentence can’t be proved true or false, since it’s based on someone’s opinion. But a statement about mold in an apartment isn’t up for debate; the mold exists or it doesn’t. “No reasonable person would think her assertion of mold is mere opinion,” Brown says. “It’s an assertion of fact, 140 characters or not.”

Not much is known right now from Bonnen’s perspective: Her Twitter account and Facebook pages appear to be shut down, and she couldn’t be reached for comment. Though a call to Horizon was not returned, the company released a statement at 5:30 p.m. via e-mail, attributed to Jeffrey Michael. It outlines a few events that preceded the lawsuit, including a statement that Bonnen’s building experienced leaking because of roof repairs in March 2009. The statement says no mold was found when Bonnen moved out June 30, but that a class-action lawsuit had been filed against Horizon one week prior to her moving out. Michael says he found the tweet while preparing for this case.

Michael told the Chicago Sun-Times, “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization” but later redacted this in his statement. For the suit to find solid ground, Horizon will have to prove that no mold was present and that it negatively affected the opinions of the message’s recipients—whose scope may have grown exponentially today. “The plaintiff should consider, in depth, how much attention they want to draw by filing this lawsuit,” he says. “Given a few retweets, on a good say at most 100 people probably saw the original tweet. No one pays attention to a tweet more than a day old; but now there’s this lawsuit, so it’s seen by maybe thousands. It would have just been ephemera otherwise.”

chicago.decider.com

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Defend Your Health Care – How You Can Protest

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Sharon Kramer

Defend Your Health Care

How You Can Protest

House and Senate Bill Link

Thanks to a diligent person, line by line, page by page; Barack Care!

THIS IS A MUST READ!!  PLEASE SEND IT TO EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY YOUR “REPRESENTATIVES” IN WASHINGTON!!!

Big Brother is at your door.  This has to be stopped NOW and FOREVER!!!
 
You won’t believe what you’re about to read, but it’s true.
 
Here are a few one liners from the House health bill: 

 

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt. will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!
 
Pg 30, Sec 123 of HC bill – THERE WILL BE A GOVT. COMMITTEE that decides what treatment you get.
 
Pg 29, lines 4-16 – YOUR HEALTH CARE IS RATIONED!!!
 
Pg 42, of HC Bill20- The Health Choices Commissioner will choose YOUR Health Care Benefits for you.  YOU HAVE NO CHOICE!
 
Pg 50, Section 152 – Health Care will be provided to ALL NON-US CITIZENS, ILLEGAL OR OTHERWISE!
 
Pg 58, – Govt. will have real-time access to individual’s finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued!
 
Pg 59, lines 21-24 – Govt. will have direct access to your bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.
 
Pg 65, Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community organizations (ACORN).
 
Pg 72, Lines 8-14 – Govt. is creating a Health Care Exchange to bring private Health Care Plans under Govt. control.
 
Pg 84, Sec 203 HC bill – Govt. mandates ALL benefit packages for private Health Care Plans in the Exchange.
 
Pg 85, Line 7 – Specifics for Benefit Levels for Plans = the govt. will ration your Health Care!
 
Pg 91, Lines 4-7  – Govt. mandates linguistic appropriate services, i.e, translation for illegal aliens.
 
Pg 95, Lines 8-18 – The govt. will use groups, i.e., ACORN & Americorps, to sign up individuals for govt. HC plan.
 
Pg 85, Line 7 – Specifics of Benefit Levels for Plans.  AARP members, your health care WILL be rationed.
 
Pg 102, Lines 12-18 -&nbs p;Medicaid Eligible Individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid.  NO CHOICE.
 
Pg 124, lines 24-25 – No company can sue GOVT. on price fixing.  No judicial review against Govt. Monopoly.
 
Pg 127, Lines 1-16 – Doctors/AMA, the Govt. will tell YOU what you can make.
 
Pg 145, Line 15-17 – An Employer MUST automatically enroll employees into public option plan.  NO CHOICE.
 
Pg 126, Lines 22-25 – Employers MUST pay for Health Care for part time employees AND their families.
 
Pg 149, Lines 16-24 – ANY Employer with payroll 400k & above who does not provide public option pays 8% tax on all payroll.
 
Pg 150, Lines 9-13 – Businesses with payroll between $251k & $400k who doesn’t provide public opt pays 2-6% tax on all payroll.
 
Pg 167, Lines 18-23 – ANY individual who doesn’t have acceptable Health Care according to the govt. will be taxed 2.5% of income.
 
Pg 170, Lines 1-3 – Any NONRESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay.)
 
Pg 195, HC Bill – officers & employees of HC Admin. (GOVT) will have access to ALL Americans’ financial and personal records.
 
Pg 203, Line 14-15 – The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax. (Yes, it says that!)
 
Pg 239, Line 14-24 – Govt. will reduce physician services for Medicaid.  Seniors, low income, poor will be affected.
 
Pg 241, Line 6-8 – Doctors, it doesn’t matter what specialty you have, you’ll all be paid the same.
 
Pg 253, Line 10-18 – Govt. sets the value of a doctor’s time, professional judgment, etc.  Literally, the value of humans.
 
Pg 265, Sec 1131 – Govt. mandates & controls productivity for private Health Care industries.
 
Pg 268, Sec 1141 – Federal Govt. regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs.
 
Pg 272, SEC. 1145 – TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS.  Cancer patients, welcome to rationing!
 
Pg 280, Sec 1151 – The Govt. will penalize hospitals for what the Govt. deems preventable readmissions.
 
Pg 298, Lines 9-11 – Doctors, if you treat a patient during initial admission that results in a miss read, the Govt. will penalize you.
 
Pg 317, L 13-20 – OMG!!  PROHIBITION on ownership/investment.  Govt. tells Doctors what/how much they can own.
 
Pg 317-318, lines 21-25,1-3 – PROHIBITION on expansion.  Govt. is mandating that hospitals cannot expand.
 
Pg 321, 2-13 – Hospitals have an opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input is required. Can you say ACORN?!!
 
Pg 335, L 16-25 Pg 336-339 – Govt. mandates establishment of outcome based measures. HC the way they want it.  Rationing.
 
Pg 341, Lines 3-9 – Govt. has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc., forcing people into the Govt. plan.
 
Pg 354, Sec 1177 – Govt. will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs people!
 
Pg 379, Sec 1191 – Govt. creates more bureaucracy; Telehealth Advisory Committee.  Can you say HC by phone?
 
Pg 425, Lines 4-12 – Govt. mandates Advance Care Planning Consultations.  Think Senior Citizens end of life (assisted suicide).

Pg 425, Lines 17-19 – Govt. will instruct & consult regarding Living Wills, Durable Powers of Attorney. Mandatory!
 
Pg 425, Lines 22-25, PG 426, Lines 1-3 – Govt. provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death.
 
Pg 427, Lines 15-24 – Govt. mandates program for orders for end of life.  The Govt. has a say in how your life ends.
 
Pg 429, Lines 1-9 – An Advanced Care Planning Consultation (assisted suicide) will be used frequently as patient’s health deteriorates.
 
Pg 429, Lines 10-12 – Advanced Care Consultation may include an ORDER for end of life plans.  AN ORDER from YOUR GOVERNMENT!!
 
Pg 429, Lines 13-25 – The govt. will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.
 
Pg 430, Lines 11-15 – The govt. will decide what level of treatment you will have at the end of YOUR life.
 
Pg 469 – Community Based Home Medical Services are Non-profit organizations. Hello, ACORN Medical Services here!
 
Pg 472, Lines 14-17 – PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORG.  One monthly payment to a community-based organization.  Like ACORN?
 
Pg 489, Sec 1308 –  The govt. will cover Marriage & Family therapy.  Which means they will insert govt. into your marriage.
 
Pg 494-498 – Govt. will cover Mental Health Services, including defining, creating, and rationing those services.

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