Support International Squatting Rights!!!!

http://www.answers.com/topic/squatting-2


http://www.squatter.org.uk/



Around here, almost any road you drive down, you will see at least a few abandoned homes along the way. Some are probably for sale, but others have been unoccupied for years and years. It's so frustrating that houses are so expensive to own and so difficult to get loans for, and rentals are so overpriced and shabby, and all along the roads of rural New England are safe, comfortable homes with no one living in them.
( Now I realize that many folks will be all up in arms at my next statements. I must say to them: think what you want, but unless you have something truly thoughtful and constructive to say, please refrain from commenting. I am not interested in the thoughts of people who are too cowardly to publicly stand by their opinions. You are a waste of space, a dismembered idea floating through cyberlives, you're iceberg lettuce - as in what's the point? So please....spare me.)

I support the rights of squatters. I think that if someone is not going to care for a home, and spends so little time in a place that they don't even notice people living there for years and years, then maybe they don't deserve to own it. Some squatter activists like to say that we are all descended from squatters, and in one way or another that's probably true. In the 1800's there were significant laws passed in the US for homesteaders. Homesteaders were basically squatters. They simply had to make it out west, stake out some land, and build a 12x14 ft home and then manage to stay alive for five years. At that point they could petition for legal ownership of the land. I just read about it on answers.com, seriously. I wonder what's up with those laws today?

From the little bit that I've read about squatting movements so far, it seems like it's pretty prevalent throughout the entire world. Especially in really poor countries, obviously, people build huge communities of hand built shacks without the permission of the owner on which such communities are built. There are famous squatting communities all over the world, it's actually pretty amazing. I'm really hungry right now, so I'm doing a sort of half-assed post but count on hearing a lot more about squatting in the future. Because it's my new favorite idea.

They have their own symbol which I, unfortunately, cannot put online right now due to more Internet-at-work difficulties. But count on seeing that soon, too.

Anyway, I'm all about squatting as a political statement and simply to fulfill a housing need. Maybe if more people were willing to risk the certainty of comfort and predictability in order to fight for the basic ability to have a fair access to safe, affordable housing, our nations would not get away with charging such high prices for something all people should have - a realistically affordable housing option. The fact is that it is becoming really difficult for people in low income brackets to own homes, and rental prices are soaring. If these people could obtain a mortgage, the costs could conceivably be much lower than renting.....

But, I need a break from thinking of the housing issues of the world. I'm so lucky to have such a yummy dinner tonight. It must suck not to be me right now....especially if you are model-thin and deprive yourself daily of anything delicious and fattening. In that case, you probably really wish you could eat my fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, squash, and my second attempt at pecan pie which came out much better than the first. But I'll probably never weigh under a hundred pounds ever again and you will probably never stuff your face with solidified corn syrup mixed with nuts. Oh, well....