we were just following orders

lets get a few things straight about this blog..to start with our banner..if anyone has noticed..contains the following quote by the late martin luther king junior..

we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. we merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.

when anything goes wrong in wonderland it has to be the blogs fault.  the brouhaha this week concerning the board discussing a fee increase..is now blamed on the blog.  but this blog reported on that issue only after board members had been openly discussing it for months and only after the board published an error filled budget complete with projected fee increases.  and when residents wanted a meeting..an open meeting of all those who would be affected by an increase..the board sought to limit opposition by limiting attendance..limiting to owners..if your name wasnt on the deed..you could not attend..and they looked at every deed.

and how did they come up with this plan..they called the lawyer..and the lawyer said owners only..and they looked at every deed.  here is another martin luther king quote..never forget that everything hitler did in germany was legal..we are not equating anyone with hitler..the point we are making is the same that martin luther was making..legally right does not mean morally right.

if rosa parks had called a lawyer would he have told her to keep her seat or move to the back of the bus.  when the first martin luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door do you think he called a lawyer for advice..when gandhi led india to independence..did he have to call a lawyer first. and who put nelson mandela in jail..lawyers.

lawyers tell us what the law is..as written..at a point in time..but it is not their job or even the scope of their profession to tell us what is right..again everything hitler did in germany was legal..but we all know it was not right.

there is a reason this blog has chosen to quote martin luther king.. wonderland is now faced with an issue of civil rights.  wonderlands founding documents..the law..states that only owners may vote in the affairs of the association..and we have no argument with that premise..however the document acknowledges that in a family unit not all members of the family may be owners..so it solves the problem by saying that the family may decide their vote as a family and cast its vote through the legal owner as long as only one vote is cast per unit..makes sense.

remember..we are not making legal arguments here..we are not lawyers.  the question is if the family unit is allowed to decide its vote within the family..then why would you deny a family member access to information..particularly financial information that will eventually effect the family.

and here is where it gets ugly..because in wonderland we have non-traditional families..and property rights and ownership is viewed differently by the non-traditional partnership..in fact it is the law that denies a traditional union..and the denial of a long standing union..that would be traditional if allowed by law..is bigotry..pure and simple..no different than the lack of civil rights faced by martin luther king.  we are not accusing the board of bigotry but tuesday night..we  are told.. it permeated the air of the meeting and hung there like a stench that will not be forgotten.

and whats the excuse..well we followed the lawyers advice..we were just following orders..which brings us back to everything hitler did in germany was legal..because those that participated in that legal system said..as they stood on the gallows at nuremberg..we were just following orders..have we learned nothing.

this assault on the common decency of all that reside in wonderland can not be swept away with another party or a let’s all act like adults lecture..we do not know where or how this ends..thats up to the residents of wonderland..but as long as there is freedom of the press..we will report from wonderland.  remember..we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. we merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.

we apologize if we have offended our readers..but this week we were gravely offended.

lilly..dt..and wes