Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Bush is one of the worst presidents in US history. I said that a couple of years ago. Carter said it again a couple of days ago, and his comments are all over the internet - many agree.

He's bad from the point of view of the conservatives, of the military, of the progressive/liberal/leftists, the journalists. Now even his own party. Everyone. Most likely Exxon and other corporations do like him.

Bush is a great president - from the point of view of an activist organizer. He makes everyone angry with everything he does. He tries to cover it up terribly, grossly denying it, or making little of it. Making more people angry. So for organizing, it's great. Everyone sees the problem.

It's tough organizing with a Democrat president. They do lots of terrible things, but people don't see it, they don't get angry at. Heck, with Bush it's still hard.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
That's the first key found to open HD-DVD discs.
Let's see how the popularity of this HD-DVD decryprion code increases over time.
Google links found searching for this string: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

may 2, 2007 2:13pm est
google 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Results 1 - 10 of about 321,000 for 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

Try it too, post a comment with what date, time and timezone you searched http://www.google.com/search?q=09+F9+11+02+9D+74+E3+5B+D8+41+56+C5+63+56+88+C0
Hmmm looks like someone cracked HD-DVD. Cool!
Got some work to do today. Don't feel like it though.
Democrats and Republicans and media go on with their talks of "funding" and "ending" the war, trying to fool the public to vote for them, no matter which is their opinion.

In the end, nobody does anything that actually listens to what the majority has voted for - end the war. i actually don't think they will, the economic forces at play, embedded in various corporations and people, are still dictating more than the government, and the people's voices aren't strong enough yet.

It seems that maybe they public will get frustrated and and angry and have to go for yet another election, this time electing the most anti-war president they can manage.

The wars go on. People killing and dying on all sides of several wars, building up various forms of trauma, causing uncountable forms of suffering in the whole population. Lack of water, power, food, work, sanity.

Meanwhile, in Washington DC, the politicians of the two-party system posture and position themselves to see who will win or lose points, and who will get their career damaged or improved by the war.

Businessmen with economic interests in wars continue to campaign for it to go on - weapons supplies, security companies, contractors, lobbyists, spy and information services, food supply, etc. Another hundred billion dollars flows from mostly poor taxpayers to military-related corporations, for the purpose of building violence.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

We need stronger tenant laws in New York. The current laws, tenant organizations, and tenant lawyers in New York are simply insufficient to defend a person's right to housing.

That one of the wealthiest cities on the planet cannot do something as basic as insure that people have a roof over their head is not due to incompetence. It is clearly the result of putting people as a second or third second priority, after other extraneous priorities, all and any of which should come after the basic needs of human beings.

Especially in light of the fact that these other priorities are, in the greatest majority, personal gain by a few individuals. Many will claim and be confused by many other reasons, rephrase personal gain in a million ways, such as "city tax income" or "free markets". In the end they are just saying they are responsible for the rights of the property, but not for the life of human beings living inside the property. Or in the street.

This minority of people will never agree with stronger laws defending tenants and human beings, unless there are thousands of organized people who strongly state their need for better law.

I propose these laws and policies, summarized first, below in more detail and reasoning:

1. Policies and laws discouraging speculative interests with NYC housing property, and encouraging home ownership by people who live in the properties.

2. Policies and laws applying the city's income from property towards projects assuring that NYC taxpayers are able to find affordable housing.

3. Making NYC municipal government ratify in law human rights to housing, in this way legally binding the government to be responsible for dealing with the consequences of its own housing policy, rather than churches and charities having to care for the homeless the city creates.

4. Policies and laws making it a criminal offense to abuse of NYC housing laws, courts, and officials, not merely a breaking of city and court rules.

5. Laws and policies eliminating the anonymity and legal curtain of landlords, allowing tenants to know who and where their landlords are, what other properties they own, and what their housing-corporation policies and activities are in all their properties.

6. Laws and policies encouraging the actual use of housing for long term living purposes and resulting creation of communities of long term residents, committed to their neighborhoods, and solutions for the large numbers of NYC travelers and other temporary or sporadic residents, and out of state or foreign investing residents.

In more detail:

1- This is in my view the most important point - encouraging people to own their actual home, rather than to become landlords of lots of other people. A person who own a home does not fight with the landlord, but rather, they take care of their home, doing their own maintenance, and caring for their building, street, etc. A tenant and landlord, on the other hand, create eternal fights over who is responsible for what, constant trouble for courts and police, result in poorly maintained properties, eternal litigation for numerous reasons, courts babysitting landlords and tenants on their basic obligations, and all kinds of legal games by both tenants and landlords, most commonly landlords, who have higher financial motive.

NYC apartments are becoming ever more corporate speculative investments, rather than used for housing. Buying and renting large numbers of NYC housing units is profitable. It is profitable to have tenants continually move in and out. Investing in and simply stocking unused NYC housing is profitable. Buying or building for the purpose of actual living in NYC housing is not at all profitable, and in many cases, a fool's investment, a mortgage trap, little more than false dreams. A naive and elusive "American dream" of home ownership.

All this simply creates a situation where everyone in NYC is a tenant, and few are the owners. People all over the world buy NYC property merely for investment, and leave them unused. Corporations big and small own all the housing, and people who live in them seldom own it. And people are currently being forced to leave in ever increasing numbers, as NYC rent regulation laws slowly and steadily no longer apply, as planned, to thousands and thousands of apartments.

A city property lax law making taxes very low if one lives and/or works in one's own NYC property, and high taxes if one does not live in the property, would help with this. If the tax was higher according to how many apartments the person or corporation owns, it would be more interesting to sell them to people who wish to live in them, rather than continually accumulate and hoard apartments. Enforcement would simple, a tax declaration would simply need to accompany proof of residence, and clearly impossible for someone owning 100 buildings.

, given that housing is extremely costly to the city, and said landlords could be seen as abusing of NYC housing resources built over many years, for purely personal gain. There is currently no civil penalty for a landlord that, for example, evicts tenants for no legal reason, falsifies records, guilty of graft with city officials, or lies under oath in court, all of which happen daily in NYC housing court.

The simple reason is that there is an extreme shortage of housing in NYC, and those representing speculative capital has for years insisted they plan to build housing, when in truth they manage to merely evict people from housing and keep people circulating among a diminishing supply of apartments of ever increasing prices.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

The Republicans are blinded by greed, cruel, devoid of any principle. The Democrats, on the other hand, are weak foolish, and mostly merely posing as an opposition, opportunists of the American political void.

They pose as trying to force Bush to stop the Iraq war. They know it will go nowhere, that it takes more than that. They can just deny to fund the war and it will be over. But they won't do that.

Bush has been actively campaigning to make his veto on the Democrats war-funding-and-war-stopping bill look like a weak play for politics. They simply won't oppose with a counter-attack. All they have to say is this - there will NOT be another funding proposal without a condition to start winding down the war. Bush can commit to end the war his way, or the Democrats, backed by the majority of Americans, can just tell him they are sick of it by pulling their money out of it.

However, Big Oil Inc. is the real boss, of both Bush and the Democrats, and nobody faces them down. They will never allow any politician to really give up Iraq, or their career is over, they will investigated, sex scandals starring them will appear, and they are gone.

But if they really wanted to end the war, they would just end it, and if they lose their job, so be it, that's no big deal compared to all the people, from all sides, dying and getting their lives ruined.

At the end of the day, all these politicians and business people are talking about their investments, their careers, reputation, prestige, votes, etc. All their interests.

Nobody really gives a damn about all the people stuck in the firing zone and crossfire.

Hillary? Obama? They're not going to do a whole lot either. They will hire better skilled public relations firms than the Republicans, of course, to make it look like they had no option, for the good of all involved, especially "the troops", they need to stay in Iraq. Or to get the Iraq war out of the newspapers. Something, but not stopping the war.

Whenever the American public decides to take their stand, much more than just vote out a few right-posing scum to replace them with left-posing scum, THEN something will happen.

We should all have a "liberation occupation" in the offices of all our congress people, until they vote something to put the Department of Defense back in defense, rather than go invade and occupy other countries which have nothing to threaten anyone with, and respect their basic rights to exist and govern themselves. And sell their own oil, their property, as they wish.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Protest everyday, with everything you've got.

At all moments in life, you are choosing, making evaluations, selecting, turning one way or another.

Buying something from someone is a vote of confidence in them, and it's giving them money.

Not buying from someone isolates them and takes away their money.

Every time you have a conversation, you can pick any subject you want. You can make it informative, reading more things, and talking about them with people.

Every time you go meet people, you can choose to see one group of people or look for another, go one place or some other. You can look for more informed, involved and interesting people, or less. People with a meaner, harsher attitude, or more considerate, kind-spirited people.

Think about your choices, study the impact of your choices, reflect on your choices.

Talk to more people about what you do in this world, to get more people aware of what they do and who they are.

You'll be having an impact every day, and multiplying it among many people, over many years of your life.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

"Be all you can be." - Be what? A fool?

"Be." Be WHAT? All you can of what? That doesn't say anything. Killer? Fanatic? Sucker?

Does that mean neurosurgeons, inventors, astronaut scientists, aren't being all they can be, and they should be Marine-trained killers, ready to die for George W Bush and Exxon?

What nonsense. And most people are too blind or afraid to question it - because it is military nonsense, and anything military is good, they've been told.

I'll tell you how many ways a kid who gets his ass kicked by a drill sergeant and beat up by military buddies is no genius, just a fool.

The military and "his country" don't actually give a damn about him, his life, or well being - it's all just blah-blah, empty speech and lies, so he will go, and everyone else will be in favor of it, and help too, asking no questions.

Wars are all fought full of lies, and the truth is usually known, but not recognized widely. Iraq? What could it be for? Bush & Co. is oh-so-concerned with the Iraqis, who don't have a functioning democracy? Really worried that country will invade the US, but not so much worried about the billion other Muslims they verbally abuse in the press, daily?

And these kids are told they are giving their lives for "patriotism", for "freedom", and similar lies. It's not- it's for corporations, worse actually, doing the bidding of the rich people that run and own them.

And they are told they will be taken care of. In fact they will sacrificed - the only concern with keeping them alive is for the press, public opinion. Once they're alive and on US soil, most are quickly discharged to get them off active duty benefits and treatment, making them veterans, pleading for help, and dumped in a nursing home, with their oh-so-honorable wartime head injuries making them into slobbering brain-damaged diaper wearers. Statistics: one less dead, merely another wartime injury. He's almost as good as dead, though.

If he's not that bad off, having merely lost a leg and an eye, he can now put out his resume and look for a job. If his post-traumatic stress isn't making him rant and beat up everyone from his boss to his girl.

There are some 3000 American kids dead, some 30,000 injured. About 700 Billion dollars spent. As if they didn't count, as we are always told, merely some 600,000 Iraqi "war casualties" dead.

For Exxon. Oh, and we must not forget to give our respects to the soldiers who sacrifice so much to help in all this.

Sorry, but they are mere fools, pawns in a giant geopolitical game, sacrificed and forgotten at the feet of God for Corporations - money.

They don't deserve respect for heroism - at best, pity for being such foolish suckers, and having their life stolen from them. At worst, disdain for helping pursue the death and violence of others, for the own benefit, profit, agenda, or sick pleasure of violence.

No, I will not "respect" military. Americans, like any country dominated by military methods and agendas, are fooled into thinking their military people or establishment is somehow grand, prestigious, and deserving help and respect. There are hundreds, thousands of examples in other countries and in history, where people see clearly their own and other military groups represent violence for all, not much better. There are a few examples where they actually do what they claim - defend peace, rather than kill it. But these examples are the exception.

People who want peace say just that - I want peace. That may be complex to achieve, but the objective is not.

If you say you want peace, but first you want war, so via some circuitous twisted path you will eventually arrive at something which you say is "reasonable peace", "possible peace", "pax americana", "balance of forces", or some other such confused, twisted propaganda and lies, you simply don't want peace, but rather, war and violence. And most likely you believe it's somehow in your own benefit and interest, and at someone else's expense.

In truth, it is more likely you are simply foolish, naive, or cowardly, and aren't capable of just saying you'd rather have peace.

Ask a few soldiers who lost their legs and families who lost people. Perhaps you will build some courage to say you'd like peace.
How to tell if you are a freelancer/contrator...

The apparently simple form question "yearly income:" gives you anxiety - it has space for a number. You'd prefer a dissertation, a spreadsheet, an equation, a prediction... anything but a number. Finally you guesstimate a totally random number.

The question "what do you do?" doesn't get a simple statement of profession - it gets you started on your sales speech routine, reminds you of the need for cllents, makes you size up the potential client, and pull out your business card.

There are times - hopefully not too many - that you are not quite sure whether you're incredibly overworked and successful or a proud unemployed foolish sucker.

Your yearly tax returns bounce randomly anywhere between 100,000 a year - and 0,00 a year.

You're not sure if some people think you're a genius or a great bullshit artist. You fidget with the bottom line of the invoice on that. One thing is clear - they pay it.

You often answer your cellphone and say in a very-concerned voice "that's really important", "I'll do that right now", and "I'm working on it at this very moment." You hang up and go back to eating, watching TV, and sleeping. Or you'll freak out completely and hold everything - later.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

This society is well set up.

To destroy people.

If you have a job, you most likely think it meaningless. If you don't, you - and others - think yourself meaningless.

If you think other people needs help, you are accused of soft, foolish, naive. If you're lucky, put on a pedestal as a "good person" - then left there alone.

If you work hard, you may get next to nothing in return. If you don't, you get pushed around, smothered, accused of lazy.

If you are lucky and get something for your work, you face envy, theft. And worse, your own realization that it doesn't get you what you need, wish, or want - something inside yourself, some meaning, is just not there.

I'm sure someone 3500 years ago had the answer to all these things and dared to speak about it, and was marginalized or killed because of it.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Yes, Alberto Gonzalez should resign. Firing a whole list of federal prosecutors, because of politics, is meddling with justice.

In fact I think he should be prosecuted. Along with, of course, others involved.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Tenant eviction questions
Disclaimer: The following is my opinion. IANAL - I am not a lawyer. Therefore I do not give legal advice. My opinion probably would, legally, be free and questionable advice, hearsay, rumors, or outright misleading information, lies, heresy, calumny, betrayal of trust, sabotage, espionage, terrorist information, brainwashing, illusions, dreams, utopia, and utter nonsense. So - you should ignore it and move along. Just run away fast.

But I believe I know something useful to someone, and I am still free to say whatever I have to say in this land of madmen. So far. I think. I didn't read the Patriot Act yet. So...

Could my landlord evict me?

Landlords commonly bring eviction cases against tenants, frequently without any justified reason. It's just business, not personal - they want you out to raise the rent for the next tenant. The landlord or you could win or lose the case. Only the court will decide.

How long could I still stay in the apartment?
Worst case scenario: your case is weak, you've done something illegal. If to defend your case you do nothing at all, never show up in court? Probably not very long. If you simply show up in court and try to delay it, saying you are looking for a lawyer, most likely several months. If you get a lawyer, probably several months at least, maybe around six months or a year. Or forever if you win, have a rent-regulated apt, and a lease, and the law doesn't change. Or until the landlord can bring another case, then the court will decide again...

But I would win in court, wouldn't I?

If the landlord has no valid argument and no evidence for one, you will probably win in court - if you defend yourself reasonably. But if you or a lawyer, don't appear to defend your case, nobody appears, you automatically lose.

How would I defend my apartment?
You could defend the case representing yourself. This would be difficult, time consuming and more risky, but possible. Ideally you would have a good lawyer, specialized, and dedicated, to NYC tenant law. Tenant associations call them "tenants-only lawyers". If you have a lawyer, you don't even have to go to most court sessions, although you can of course. Sometimes you should, sometimes probably not.

Where can I get some advice? Know more about this?
The best places would be a tenant's association, tenants legal clinic, tenant websites, and the Citywide Task Force on Housing. You can also try to get help at community and government associations, churches, a Community Board, a City Councilman's office, Congressman's office.

Where can I get a free lawyer? Does the court give me a lawyer?
Some poor people, below certain incomes, may qualify for a free lawyer from places such as Met Council, SRO Law Project, and others. You may have that option. If not, you will have to pay a private lawyer, or represent yourself alone, known as "pro se". NYC housing court has a few volunteer lawyers that will teach you a few things on how to represent yourself. They will not give you legal advice, and will not represent you in the court. The court does not give you a lawyer, or recommend lawyers. A tenants association will recommend you lawyers, and tell you your chances of representing yourself.

How much would a lawyer cost? To defend me, in my case?
It seems that it is around $1000-$5000, usually around $2000. But I don't know your case. And each lawyer has their own prices. And your case might be simple, short, and cheap, or complex, long, and expensive.

Will I get my legal fees back from the landlord if I win?
Usually, no, you will not. In certain cases you can, if you are persistent and have a good lawyer, and you establish that as an early objective of your case with your lawyer. Your lawyer will really prefer to get legal fees from your landlord instead of from you, but still needs to charge you up front. If you get legal fees, you get that money back.

Can I get a discount in my rent? For the lack of repairs, bugs, mold, no heat, or something?
Sometimes the judge will rule, or the lawyers will agree, on some reduction in your rent. It may be a tiny amount or a pretty large discount. A few people have permanent reductions in their rent. If very few cases, when landlords break many laws, tenants no longer have to pay rent, sometimes for many years, or get an offer to buy their apartment or building, at a very low price.

What if I win the case, or it looks like I'm going to win the case?
Normally you get to stay in the apartment. Some landlords will want to settle the case before it's over with a buyout. They will offer you $5,000 to move out. You, or your lawyer, will ask for $150,000 or more to move out. You will settle at something in the middle, and you will get a few more months to leave. Or you can just stay and keep living in the apartment.

But I have the right to stay in my apartment, it is mine, I own it, and get the money from the landlord, and get more money, and to keep the apartment, and they didn't repair what I said they should, and this is ridiculous, this is crazy, and besides...
Yes, yes. I agree. You are completely right. You need to complain to Congress, mobilize your friends and family to your cause, join a protest, and campaign for your rights. Politicians make the laws, not us, and they don't hear from you or me, so they make any law they want.

OK, just tell me who I need to talk to, what I need to do, and all that...
If you're living in a rental apartment, I think as bare minimum you should know your basic rights. Read the Attorney General's Tenant Rights guidelines. In addition you should be familiar with, and save the number, of two or three tenant's associations, and perhaps two tenants attorneys. One day, your landlord may become a problem. And you will want to know what to do and say, then and there.

A tenants only lawyer - http://www.manhattanfirm.com

NYC tenants website and discussion forum - http://www.tenant.net

A tenants association - http://www.goles.org

NYC Task Force on Housing - http://www.cwtfhc.org

Met Council on Housing - http://www.metcouncil.net

NYS Attorney General Tenants Rights Guide http://www.oag.state.ny.us/realestate/tenants_rights_guide.html


Obama, Hillary and company want to work for Exxon/Mobil?

If Obama or Hillary became US president, could he just stop the Iraq war? Tell all the soldiers to go home? The president can legally do that. But would they, even if they wanted to?

Who does the president work for, who has a hold on them? How much do corporations influence or control politicians, as opposed to the public, voters, and the law?

Hard to know how much, but we know that there's significant influence by corporations.

They have their lobbyists, which have influence in washington, as well as on elections campaign money.

Corporations have heir own advertising and PR to influence the public - although they can't use that directly for politics, they fund or influence other groups that can.

They can influence public opinion of the politician if they do things that are not agreed-upon. For instance, insurance companies could get articles written that bash a politician if they propose public insurance, or just good public hospitals.

There is their business, which they can move or just bluff about moving - tax money, paychecks, factories, stores, funds in banks, a large influence on the economy, is another lever businesses have, and don't even have to pull - the public and politicians generally enslave themselves to this money from their own initiative - and in some cases they don't and won't even have it, it's just inflated false hopes of gaining something.

There is of course illegal stuff, which clearly exists - plain bribes or kickbacks in various forms, getting lawyers to harrass politicians, their families, or journalists. Hiring "private eye", "investigative", or "security" agencies to gather information on people, create paranoia, fear, divisiveness, or outright violence. Using that information for any kind of blackmail.

So who are Hillary and Obama trying to work for? Perhaps they say they want to work for "the american people", and personally just want the prestige and power. But in the end, they will be restricted in what they can do.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Evition settlements - that means money

People in New York frequently receive a "buy-out" from the landlord to move out.

I found that it's very common for landlords and tenants to settle their eviction cases, most commonly quite high amounts. Of course the landlord eventually makes it all back, once the apartment is rented for two, three or four times what it was before. Settlements go from a paltry $5000, usually what a tenant accepts by himself, hithout getting a landlord, up the $70,000 or $150,000, in which case there are always lawyers negotiating.

It seems that it's not too easy to negotiate these - if the landlord thinks the person is just moving anyway, he will just wait and see if they do.

I'm not sure exactly what leads these cases into settlements - seems that it's mostly to end the trials and the waiting and uncertainty. I do see what motivates the landlord to pay this money - making more money later.

The rental market is high. An apt renting now for $1000 often could get $3000 at "market" values. Many things need to happen for a landlord to get that, but the first step is always the same - the tenant has to leave.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Let's see if the Democrats stand up!

They won the election to end the war, Bush wants to escalate it, and they need to answer now.

Cheney/Bush/Rice found just their strategy to back them off - call them chicken, or terrorists, or defeatists, non-american, and all that nonsense.

I have been saying from the beginning they really won't do anything, because in reality they are not really that different from Bush/Rebublicans. Each thinks vastly different things perhaps, but at the end of the day merely postures themselves differently to the public, and ends up doing mostly the same thing - supporting business, and themselves.

They could do many things to force the president's hand to end the war. And a lot of Republicans, and the population in general, would support them.

They can, for example, deny all money going to Iraq. Which would be a real showdown of opposing intentions. But none of them are in for any of that.

There is the large problem that all of them want to save face, and climb the social ladder some more. Get to say "I got us the victory" in the Iraq war. More self-interest - the people who are dying on all sides simply don't matter as much as their careers.

But the Iraq Study Group solved that problem for everyone I think, by taking the blame for making the decision - they looked at it in depth, a bunch of retired, experienced people, who have gone to war a number of times. They decided it can't be done. Kissinger also stated his opinion to that effect. And some US generals.

What's to be done? What are they doing?

In the virtual world of US politics - ignore reality, say you are going to win, and keep on postponing losing and killing more people.

Bush, the republicans, and the democrats, after arguing and fighting a bit more, will keep right on at it - pushing the hot potato to each other and hoping someone else gets stuffed with the "chicken" label, rather than everyone just leave Bush isolated with the "arrogant dreamer" label for having invaded in the first place, against his own father's and the world's advice.
Old lady is not a drug dealer, does not get evicted.

This was an especially funny case. Someone saw the landlord's lawyer screaming at this lady in the hallway of the court building, and decided to talk to her.

They were evicting her implying there's support for it in a law that facilitates evicting drug dealers. So they accused grandma of being a drug dealer. They get six witnesses, somehow, and video evidence.

But the actual legal argument was that she was a nuisance - there was no police involved, no police report, no drug complaints from the neighbors - only the landlord and his lawyers accusing this old lady and her grandchildren of being drug dealers.

So they call their witnesses. One of them doesn't show up. The other is there, but doesn't want to testify. Finally one takes the stand. He apparently operated the video surveillance equipment of the building. They have there a bag full of tapes, one DVD, and a video recording unit of some kind.

While answering some very simple questions, he is fidgeting in his seat, looking at the prosecution lawyer, making hand signals to communicate with his lawyer, mumbling and saying incoherent things, and the judge warns him to stop looking and making hand signals to his lawyer, and just answer the questions. He lies to the judge, challenging the judge's observation, saying he is not looking at his lawyer.

Finally, the guy says he doesn't feel well, and needs to leave. He goes home, in the middle of testimony. The next day, the case continues, and the judge just decides he's seen enough of this circus - the lady is staying in the apt, and the landlord has no case against her.

This landlord and his lawyers put on a good standup comedy though!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Eviction Notice? Me too!

Here's what you do when you get an eviction notice:

1 - DO NOT MOVE OUT! That's the most stupid thing you could do. Don't move or plan to move out - if you leave, you lose your rights. Although you are afraid, nervous, anxious, etc, nothing is going to happen.

2 - EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE FINE! You got an eviction notice. That does not mean you are getting evicted! Statistically you have about a 98% chance that you will not get to an actual eviction, not need to move, and will be there many more years. You need to stay calm and find out what will happen - exactly, in detail, carefully.

3 - TALK TO EVERYONE - And don't listen to anyone that says you need to move. You need to talk to many people - the neighbors and some lawyers. A tenants union or other organizations, a city council office in your neighborhood, and your friends and family. Everyone will teach you things and give you confidence. Look for poeple who already did this, and won the case.

4 - ORGANIZE! - Read the "eviction" papers you have received. You are not getting evicted, did you hear me? Read about what the law a little. Organize your documents - leases, reciepts, bank statements, tax returns, everything in nice folders. Collect you utility/electric/gas/phone records, personal mail, etc. Organize your money, you will eventually have to pay all the rent. And you will do well to pay a lawyer up front, but you may be able to get the that back from the landlord, when you win the case.

Here's some stuff to get you started. These are in New York, where I am.

Search for things on your eviction letter. Lots and lots of info. Read the forums, post messages.
http://www.tenant.net -

Legal firm where I work now. Lots of information on their site too. They only work with tenants law for years, so they know what they're doing.
http://manhattanfirm.com/newsite/fact_sheets/

New York Attorney General information on tenant rights.
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/realestate/tenants_rights_guide.html