Why Should ACORN Get Taxpayer Funding? Just this week an unaffiliated journalist and a filmmaker revealed that while posing as prostitute and pimp in 2 different ACORN offices the staff there was willing (in both cases) to help them obtain a house for running a prostitution ring (including about a dozen underage illegal immigrant girls). The helpful ACORN staff gave advice on how to avoid trouble and guided the couple through the maze of how to commit tax fraud, immigration fraud, and bank fraud, for starters. At no time were the ACORN employees hesitant about the illegal activities they were explaining how to hide, they offered no guidance about the merits of such a life choice for a young 20 year old prostitute, and shockingly showed no concern for the underage victims being brought into a sex slave arrangement.
That's 2 out of 2! In other words if similar undercover investigations had been conducted in 50 ACORN offices, how many others would have been willing to abet and advice such illegal behavior? Is that the fraud that you can believe in? If you randomly inspected two items from an assembly line and both failed, then you would reasonably suspect that the entire lot was bad or at least that serious problems were present. Based on these revelations, the US Census has dropped ACORN as one of it's national partners.
This story has been, to be generous, underreported on ABC, CBS, NBC, New York Times and only a few times on CNN. Wonder why major media is ignoring this? Is that liberal media bias fraud or state-run media fraud? See the videos at [ biggovernment.com ] to develop your own outrage.
You'll recall, of course, that ACORN has received into a complex web of organizations and entities (most based in a single building in New Oleans) over $50 million in taxpayer dollars since 1994 with the possibility of getting part of $8.5 Billion (with a "B") in Stimulus funds of additional taxpayer dollars. Their website denies this. Yet they are anything but nonpartisan, having coordinated closely with the Obama campaign organization during and after the election. Should non-partisanship be a good rule for those receiving federal funds? ACORN has also been involved in multiple incidents of voter fraud including convictions and investigations in approximately 14 states? Is there systemic fraud and corruption here or as ACORN continually claims, just “a few rogue employees”?
Back in the spring of this year, Democrat John Conyers (not actually a right wing zealot) was going to investigate ACORN until he said that the "powers that be" didn't want it to go forward. Who are 'the powers that be' that could influence the House Judiciary Chairman from an investigation on what he had earlier called “a pretty serious matter”?
When this prostitution sting story came to light ACORN issued a statement that it was false, a smear and defamatory but yet they fired the 4 African-American ACORN employees involved in these 2 incidents. They were fired because they supposedly “did not meet ACORN's standards of professionalism”. No chance that they were instructed to behave this way tacitly or otherwise. Four more “rogue“ ACORN employees thrown under the bus. Never look at the organization, it's always just a few 'bad' employees (being partially paid for by taxpayer dollars don't forget).
BTW, everybody knows that Barack Obama used to the an ACORN attorney. But that was back in the good ole days when fraud was just referred to as back-scratching and corruption was just the "Chicago way".
What has to happen is that Federal funding needs to be cut off to this organization, an audit conducted to demonstrate how and where $53 million in public funds disappeared into their thicket of overlapping shell organizations, and an investigation conducted into WHO the “powers that be” are that dissuaded Representative Conyers from the investigation he was planning. Nothing else will suffice for getting to the bottom of ACORN (Aggressive Corruption, and Optimized Radicalism Nationwide). They call themselves the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
Conyers reversal links:
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/30/the-powers-that-be and
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/Examiner-Opinion-Zone/Rep-Conyers-Reverses-Stance-on-ACORN-Investigation--44485482.html
Indictments and Funding:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/13/from-acorn-some-shady-issues/ and
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/746zemwq.asp?pg=1
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Comments: 53 ( 1 removed by Ken S. )
ACORN needs to be put out of business.
Obama's past is coming up to bite him where he sits down.
You see, the ACORN “election fraud” story is one of those urban legends, like fake moon landings and alligators in the sewers, and it appears three or four weeks before every recent national election with the regularity of the swallows returning to Capistrano. First, the basics: ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is an activist group working with low and moderate income families that, among many other things, registers voters. To do this they hire people to go around signing up the unregistered, killing two birds with one stone – giving employment to people who need it (some with criminal records) and providing the opportunity to vote to members of minority communities whose voices all too often go unheard.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/2008/10/a_mighty_hoax_from_acorn_grows.html
Try a real source like PBS.
Do actual indictments not have any weight or bearing here. Does the fact that one of the leaders of ACORN embezzled approximately $1Million (not pursued criminally because the details of were covered up after some ''donor' reimbursed ACORN). Besides all that, where and for what do the federal funds going to the ACORN conglomerate of entities actually accomplish? DO we want to send taxpayer funds to such a strongly partisan organization? And what of their excellent help at establishing an illegal brothel?
I just want their activities audited . That's not asking too much. If they are as clean as they say, why are they so secretive?
BTW, It is not nice to plagiarize.
Ken S. Sep 14, 2009, 4:43pm EDT
Lori,
Do actual indictments not have any weight or bearing here. Does the fact that one of the leaders of ACORN embezzled approximately $1Million (not pursued criminally because the details of were covered up after some ''donor' reimbursed ACORN). Besides all that, where and for what do the federal funds going to the ACORN conglomerate of entities actually accomplish? DO we want to send taxpayer funds to such a strongly partisan organization? And what of their excellent help at establishing an illegal brothel?
I just want their activities audited . That's not asking too much. If they are as clean as they say, why are they so secretive?
BTW, It is not nice to plagiarize.
Bill Moyers is a left-wing propagandist, nothing more. Having said that, he's certainly entitled to his opinion, but not to credibility.
As for ACORN, Lori - back away. Just walk away, the evidence is so pervasive and so damning that there is no way, in anything resembling simple decency, that one can continue to support these people.
Lori, do you think it's "okay" to use violence to force immigrant girls as young as 12 into prostitution?
The ACORN workers in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and L.A. had no problem with that.
It's time to cut your loses.
So your logic is there are a few bad apples on Wall St. that brought the whole economy down, but when it comes to ACORN every member and the whole organization is are criminal child molesting pimps? is that pretty close?
Do you think it is okay to beat a 12 year old immigrant girl into prostitution? Maybe you should consult Bill Moyers about the moral question here. He might be able to help you out, unless he's lost his moral compass completely, which of course is a hazard for propogandists.
This isn't just a few bad apples, it's systemic.
When you can get the same result from six chapters just by walking in the door, you have uncovered some serious dirt.
Time to bail, dude, the trail you are walking simply exposes how bankrupt the say-anything crowd is.
Cut your loses.
> girl into prostitution?
That's just inflammatory silliness.
You regularly attack liberals without even listening to them. Bill Moyers has more facts in one show that someone like Mark Levin has expressed in his whole rabid career.
The shameful low-down Republican disinformation game is to make it seem like liberals are behind the crimes of ACORN, and black ones too that you can then smear over to Obama. This is just a crime that needs to be prosecuted, that's it.
The US has come a long way in race, and the Republicans are trying to alienate Obama from his supporters any way they can including these kind of racist associations. I don't give a damn what happens to ACORN either so I have no losses to cut.
The ACORN videos reveal a systemic pattern of crimes so egregious that anyone with a single ounce of humanity or common decency would be outraged.
Why not just go with the outrage?
By the way, the criminals at ACORN crossed all color lines including white, it is your own racism that smears them and Obama as "black".
You need to work on that.
"I don't give a damn what happens to ACORN either so I have no losses to cut."
Yeah, we all got that message. The moral relativism of rushing to defend the indefensible shrieks volumes.
True. And relevant.
This story has been, to be generous, underreported on ABC, CBS, NBC, New York Times and only a few times on CNN. Wonder why major media is ignoring this? Is that liberal media bias fraud or state-run media fraud? See the videos at [ biggovernment.com ] to develop your own outrage.
ACORN is closely aligned and assciated with SEIU. SEIU is closely aligned and associated with the President and his party - he returns the favor by giving his blessing, endorsement and support. The president himself used to be (until their pages were scrubbed) closely aligned and associated with ACORN. Mmmm...
Btw, there are five tapes out now.
Not the first time an organization whose goals are generally good has succumbed to scandal (remember United Way, American Red Cross). Sad.
Sad, yes ... I agree.
But that said, it's always sad to see a young man with potential for great good, do murder; still, we do generally put him in jail no matter how sad his story is. As it should be. And only those who have also somewhat lost their own ability to discern right from wrong would defend a proven murderer.
Same with ACORN; it's getting quite indefensible no matter how sad the loss to those who have come to depend upon it.
No big deal. That only works out to be oh ... a little more than A QUARTER of the whole. No big deal. Looked at another way it's only a little less than A THIRD of em who were not only willing but capable and of the mindset that they were entitled to do it.
Barney Frank says it's Bush's fault, according to Barney Frank in a video provided by Winston Smith in one of his articles. +shrug+
Why isn't it being more thoroughly investigated now?
Many members of Congress probably owe their seats to ACORN or at the very least support them (one Maxine Waters for instance). Also, ACORN and SEIU are associated closely. SEIU and the President are associated closely. . .
Your points are valid and exactly why the John Conyers statement that the "powers that be" told him to call off his ACORN investigation are so troubling (and therefore need to be looked into ).
Your points Lee are telling.
Ken S. Sep 15, 2009, 9:23am EDT
Lee,
Your points are valid and exactly why the John Conyers statement that the "powers that be" told him to call off his ACORN investigation are so troubling (and therefore need to be looked into ).
Lee says: Sad to say .... it's very possible since nothing was done under him. But not just him.
You may have seen this but just in case you haven't, here's a link ... Way back in 1995 there were murmurrings against ACORN which no one 'heard.' Or cared to hear, or were intimidated into not hearing... EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT (1995)
If you or anyone is interested, that link and some other info are in this article of mine:
Acorn, AmeriCorps, Walpin, and Obama
Charles said: But Congress sets up funding, why didn't they force the issue?
Lee says: +slow deep shrug+
Charles said: Not that Barney had any problems with them until the public outcry got too bad.
Lee says: And anyway, there's always Bush to blame.
Charles Temm JR Sep 15, 2009, 8:20pm EDT
It wouldn't surprise me if it was at least partially Bush's fault. But Congress sets up funding, why didn't they force the issue? Not that Barney had any problems with them until the public outcry got too bad.
Your points Lee are telling.
What I mean is, there is enough dirt here to go around and anyone currently associated with ACORN also needs to be investigated to one degree or another to see how far the ACORN tentacles have penetrated their organization.
And there are many, many familiar ones and others not so familiar. However big, small, familiar or not so familiar they may be, those who contract with ACORN are just as culpable if they continue contracting with ACORN.
Even if they discontinue their association with ACORN, their past association should be looked into with an honest and non partisan eye. Will that happen? I'm not optomistic but I've been surprised before.
Gary (The Eclectic) Timothy Sep 13, 2009, 12:57am EDT
Does anyone know for certain IF acorn is federally funded, or do they simply get contracts to do work for organizations that do receive federal funds? Seems like we need to get that story straight first!
http://townhall.com/blog/g/7eed7282-fdf0-4fa6-bdea-a8723b3f1aa9
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/special-editorial-reports/ACORN-got-53-million-in-federal-funds-since-94-now-eligible-for-up-to-8-billion-more-44406217.html
Scott founded Conservatives for Patients rights. What a name. I was surprised there are Jewish Nazis so this group is not too surprising, what next, Conservatives for worker‘s rights?
Scott would go into a big city and buy up ALL the hospitals and close down all but one, thus monopolizing and increasing his revenue, who cares if a patient died in the extra time it took to get the ambulance to the Hospital further away.
He would regularly “up code” that is, he would charge Medicaid/Medicare for procedures not performed or not needed.
We will never know the millions he stole or the people who died going those extra miles to the hospital but we do know what a difference PR makes, Madoff to jail for the rest of his life, Scott, the hero to the right wing loons.
(per this CNN article)
The reasons ACORN should be a concern to everyone (even you) are in my article.
Take care when tossing rocks from behind the walls of your glass house. The guy who Barak Obama hand-picked to vet his vice-president and lead his Healthcare Reform agenda, Mr. James A. Johnson, engineered the largest excess excutive compensation package in history, a whopping 1.1 Billion for his buddy William McGuire at United Health Partners. He also engineered excessively generous packages for himself from the same corporation and Fannie Mae.
The settlement came when Bush was president. Scott and Bush were once partners and owned the Texas Rangers together.
Sure helps when you got friends in high places.
He was also successfully sued for discrimination by seven employees.
His latest venture is with Iran. He helps with the technology to block/infiltrate websites of the country's dissidents.
Yeah he's for patients rights but to hell with Iranian protestors. I wonder how many have been executed thanks to his help??
You know they routinely rape Iranian prisoners.
But that is nothing compared to fictional sex slaves of ACORN.
This is ambush journalism at its best, the kind of journalism that 60 Minutes and Dateline cut their teeth on. It's hilarious in a surreal Borat sort of way.
to heap shame upon the little ones
to say: okay big bully business
make us slaves to your monied interest
only the poor can be
subject to mockery
entrapped in the stocks
pelted with rocks
while the suits make off
with the profits
and we all sing tra la tra li
Singling out the one organization that gets results for people of color, and doesn't happen to be "faith-based", is motivated by a racist agenda.
ACORN is a 501c3 that is anything but nonpartisan. Such bias from a church would have you howling. But then you howl all the time anyways.
Seems like you're the one doing all the howling. Do you have any facts to back up this accusation of partisanship? Other than getting more people to vote in a democracy isn't to your partisan benefit.
You make my point exactly. The pastor spoke personally (which he is Constitutionally allowed to do), he apparently didn't tell anyone else what to do, and yet immediately a legal action was taken against him. Where is the legal action against the partisanship of ACORN. They admitted, in a interview I saw, that they don't register Republicans .
Where is the effort to revoke their tax -exempt status as well?
And btw, democratic churches frequently have candidates speak and are explicitly endorsed by the pastoral staff (remember Rev Wright, Jesse Jackosn, etc). Never a problem raised there but let a conservative candidate even appear at a church and the left's 'outrage' machine fires up.
And you are telling me that you think that ACORN is non-partisan? Please!
You wish! A pastor from a pulpit isn't "speaking personally" any more than a judge from the bench. When does a pastor speak for his organization if not from the pulpit. . . to a packed house. . . when church was in session? If he wasn't wrong, why was his weak defense that he just didn't know he was wrong? Nice try, but whoever is paying you to shill for the right should dock your salary for that one.
Are you telling me you have none of the facts I keep asking for to back up your accusation? I've been there when conservative voter registration groups ignore liberal voters, but nobody clamored to disband the Moral Majority. Don't you try to tell me the Moral Majority is non-partisan.
The right-wingnuts think they have identified President Obama's organizing base. Knowing the value of this from the Karl Rove Bible for mobilizing religious groups for political ends, the wing-nut puppetmasters have decreed that ACORN has to go. If you can't beat the opposition have them investigated.
It's the orchestrated attack on the one secular organization that does the most for people of color in this country that is blatantly partisan.
In contrast to the absolute prohibition on political campaign interventions by all section 501(c)(3) organizations (such as ACORN is supposed to abide by), I can see no evidence that the Moral Majority is such a 501c3 organization.
No, you've singled out ACORN for entrapment. The consequences for isolated instances in edited videos for any other non-profit do not include summary revocation of status on the basis of partisan suspicion and curtailment of all funding.
Then let's cut off the churches, too, until everyone gets investigated.
The indictments and numerous investigations are linked in the original article. The recent videotapes clearly show a willingness to participate in unlawful activities in a statistically significant sample.
There is NO evidence that the tapes were edited.
They should be prosecuted for being an accessory to commit fraud... and shut them down...