“From the little ACORN a mighty oak grows,” so states the old American proverb. And it seems that ACORN (The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) may just have become that mighty oak, much to the annoyance of this nation's right wing.
The weak elephant, the Nouveau Republican Party, and its mouthpieces, Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, have made no secret of their animosity towards a group that has dared to bring throngs of people from the huddled masses into the electorate.
The fact that, in America, everyone is created equal holds no interest for the weak elephant. The New Republicans don’t care about that anymore than they care about our healthcare crisis or our energy crisis or any of our other national problems that are begging for bipartisan solutions.
Two things they do care about, however, are discrediting the nation’s first black president and demolishing the organization that succeeded in registering many of our poorer citizens to vote for the first time in their lives.
We’ve been exposed to numerous distortions on this subject, so here are some facts.
ACORN is not one but a collection of organizations that provides services to lower income families. It promotes neighborhood safety, voter registration, affordable housing, better educational facilities and healthcare. Organized in the United States nearly 40 years ago, the combined operation now has over 400,000 members and more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters.
Over the decades, ACORN has registered more than a million citizens to vote. It has helped over 50,000 families achieve home ownership. It has launched a class action lawsuit against a sub-prime lender that resulted in the creation of a $72 million foreclosure avoidance program to provide relief to household borrowers at risk of losing their homes.
The overall organization has not been without problems, many of which were discovered by its own internal auditors. Most notably, these involved voter registration fraud committed mainly by outside contractors. And even though nearly all the fraud was uncovered by ACORN itself, that did not stop the New Republicans from trying to make a major issue out of it during the 2008 general election campaign and continuing into this year.
Last month, FOX News led the procession that aired secretly taped videos of several ACORN staffers advising people posing as pimps and prostitutes to lie on their tax returns. Again, ACORN took swift action by terminating the disgraced employees even though no transactions had gone forward. The organization also suspended all housing counseling work in the DC office pending the completion of a thorough investigation.
Significantly, in its zeal to destroy ACORN, FOX News failed to tell its viewers of the many unsuccessful stops the right-wing video-activists made in which they were denied assistance, or that ACORN staffers actually had contacted the police in a few cities. None of these mitigating circumstances slowed down the media onslaught orchestrated by the weak elephant.
In reality, we may not need to know much more about this situation than that, during the “W” years, Karl Rove tried to get ACORN prosecuted for fraud. When David Iglesias, U.S. attorney in New Mexico, refused to prosecute because he could find no evidence against the organization, he was fired
Meanwhile, capitalism and its shills have continued to escalate their wrath. ACORN’s efforts have raised the wages of the working poor. The organization has further campaigned for stronger regulations to control banks, mortgage companies and payday lenders from taking unfair advantage of the more unfortunate among us. To this nation’s “elite,” who believe they control all aspects of our military/political/industrial complex, these acts represent an intolerable affront.
The New Republicans would like nothing more than to be able to include President Obama in their destructive campaign and, as usual, outright lies have been the order of the day. For example, contrary to what you may have heard, ACORN has received no stimulus funds from the Obama administration.
When all is said and done, the weak elephant is in such dire straits, it has little hope of bringing down the mighty oak.
But here’s an idea. Given the list of prominent capitalists who actually have committed crimes…
…like…
John Rigas (looted Adelphia), Hayme Saban (tax evasion), R. Allen Staford (charged with $7 billion swindle), Richard Scrushy ($2.9 billion accounting fraud), Henry Samueli (charged in $2.2 billion stock option scam), among many, many others…
…not to mention…
...the currently expanding investigation into what may be the largest insider-trading ring in history...
...nor...
…the hundreds of executives and board members who stole from their stockholders by backdating options and who, apparently because of their sheer numbers, are not being prosecuted for the most part…
…nor…
…the quiet little building in the Cayman Islands, known as the Ugland House, which houses the headquarters of some 14,000 companies, all of which are there for the purpose of evading taxes…
…nor…
…the 4,450 suspected U.S. tax dodgers who held accounts in just one Swiss Bank, UBS, as of two months ago…
…MAYBE..
...JUST MAYBE...
…IT'S TIME TO TAKE CAPITALISM DOWN A PEG OR TWO…
Dave McGill, News Correspondent
Dave’s column, “The Contrarian,” generally published every Friday, to Gather Essential News and other groups will sometimes present a contrary view to various aspects of the news, or an alternate take on the conventional wisdom of the day. It will also often appear on other days of the week
Dave has been a senior officer of an eastern insurance company, involved in economic projections and investment strategy, president of a Midwestern mortgage banking company, and a financial consultant in Southern California, serving clients in the field of commercial real estate development.
You can find all of Dave’s “the contrarian” columns at: http://gather.com/thecontrarian. Keep up with Dave’s other postings and Gather activity by joining his Gather network at: http://atadaskew.gather.com. You’ll find Dave and other News correspondents, plus celebrity content and plenty of news experts at: news.gather.com.
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Comments: 182
Thank you for sharing this information with us. Who said that "sunlight is the best disinfectant?" I find this article quite helpful rather than the nonsense that comes out of the Fox News Channel.
I guess because he was once a community organizer, fox automatically thought he organized for ACORN.
He was NOT their accountant or financial advisor, you should consider the vat area of law and what type of lawyer non-profits have a use for. They are there to advise on housing laws and civil rights laws.
I once worked for a company which gave millions to African Aid and supported the homeless and they later, were sued for fraud. Am I a criminal? No! I did what I was hired to do and nothing else. You have heard of a JOB description, have you not!
And just what bothers you about that Johnice? What?
You did forget to mention Rick Scott who was fined $1.7 BILLION (no typo, it is with a B) for ripping off the gov and patients.
He now heads Conservatives for Patient's Rights. Yeah, like conservatives actually give a damn about patients.They just want them to live long enough so they can bleed their wallets dry.
Should the people and events you mentioned be taken to task? Absolutely. But that has nothing to do with ACORN.
President Obama is your target, Marilyn. You would love it if there was any truth to your fantasy. But, alas, there isn't.
Voter registration fraud did not happen in city after city at the hands of ACORN, Marilyn. ACORN took measures to correct the problems. What do you do when a family member slips from your values? If there is any love within the family, you help them. There is an old saying that my grandmother used to say: If you can't help someone, don't hurt them. You didn't have the benefit of my wonderful and insightful grandmother, Marilyn. But, you do have the benefit of life experience that tells you that there are bad people everywhere. It doesn't give you the right to resort to the evil practice of damning the good that is all around you.
No, ACORN does not need to be disbanded. Much good has come from their efforts. As I inferred in my earlier comment, the fact that people who benefit from it don't fit into your notion of acceptable "citizens" informs your opinion more than anything else.
From Fox's false reporting to Marilyn's keyboard. We sure don't want poor people actually VOTING! When is Marilyn going to question the unspeakable obscenities perpetrated by our Defense Contractors instead of worrying about keeping this country the "United States of White Corporate America"!
Did you know that in Cincinnati, they refused to help college kids register who wanted to register Republican?
And how do you know that "they refused to help college kids register who wanted to register Republican"? Could it have possibly been that they didn't have the proper ID, hadn't established their residency, the agency didn't have the authority to register citizens of another state to vote.... I could go on and on. But no, because you want to demonize them, ACORN had to have refused to register the kids because of their party affiliation.
Get a grip on reality!
How do I know? Because it was reported on our nightly news during the election campaign and students came forward about the practices. As did adults. That's how we found out that there were some people who were paid to register as many as 10 times. That's the organization that you and Obama hold dear.
But ACORN has such a history of fraud, Joe, that something needs to be done. And to think that Obama wanted them to help with the census is insane.
Shame on you for supporting any corrupt organization.
So, parents with young children have no responsibility to set aside $50 100 cash in the event their child gets sick unexpectedly? Maybe they should go to parenting school or never have had children they can't provide for.
Perhaps your parents should cut back on electronic purchases and start a forced savings account for unexpected emergencies if they refuse to pay for insurance.
Again, if you have not witnessed the "minor, can wait, health issues" clogging E R's then you must be both deaf and blind.
Awe, Nora what you were too late for the "Free stuff"? Perhaps you should stop and realize that if you have shoes and your neighbor does not that hey might just need a pair of shoes!
Heath Insurance is another story, NO ONE CAN AFFORD IT AND IT DOES NOT COVER YOU WHEN YOU NEED IT!
Nora, wants to believe the poor are busy stealing from her. But it is the elephant with the big feet stomping her into the ground and she can't see the elephant, it is hidden behind her hatred.
I had the foresight to move out of an economically depressed area. "Go where the jobs are". Those who choose to "stay close to family/friends instead of doing what is necessary for a better life have no right to expect others to pay for their poor choices.
So then, since the Republicans fixed that while they were in power, we can drop the issue and...
Oh, wait... I just got a memory flash - they DIDN'T fix ANYTHING. They just "cared."
You are a paragon of intelligence, virture and compassion.
But we are going to steal from the rich to help the poor. If that is what you want to call it.
Shorter work weeks,
Higher hourly pay
Health care
Better education
It won't be cheap.
The rich would not be rich if it were not for low wage workers.
Capitalism is based on cheap labor, not capital (money)
Those guys get their money from you and me. We buy the stock, they go to China or Pakistan or Indonesia, hire some slaves, then sell the cheap stuff to you at a very inflated price.
They then make decisions, and engage in business practices that destroy your investment, see General Motors.
None of those executives are poor now, but the GM investors and workers who have been laid off are.
Yes health care needs reformed, in an effective way not putting it under control of a Governmentr that has never controlled anything properly. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have managed to do that.
THese people don't want tro discuss facts, they want a nanny Government that will protect them from themselves, while letting any other country move in on them.
They say they love America, while supporting ever anti-American thing they know will continue to ruin this country. They have their perfect leader in office now, he has no idea what is going on, does not care an iota about this country, and is working to ruin it completely.
We cannot step on that, that is the right way to go, don't you know Nora...
And you're right, they don't care about our country, I wish they'd move to wherever they think their utopian society exists.
//There goes Chuck again, back into history, ho hum....// Pesky thing, memory. Too bad you have to look at what your party did wrong. It's much easier just to deny it. But "those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it". Plus, bringing up the past is a favorite tactic of Republicans when discussing Democrats' actions. They just want to ignore their own actions.
//Nora, you cannot debate with people who prefer not to think and spew what they are told to.// You also cannot debate by using those tactics.
LIBERALS DO NOT HAVE A "GIMME" MENTALITY, but WE believe a person should be paid fairly for a day's work, and that they deserve a safe place to live and enough nutritious food for themselves and their family. We also believe that consumers need to be protected from rapacious corporations whose only concern is increasing their own profits. If that reads as wanting a "nanny government", so be it.
Place me in the "TAX ME" to benefit all of us category.
Call me a socialist and send the bill.
Whenever a specific "today" issue is brought up too many of you go "well Bush"... ad nauseum.
Then Jeannie you attack slithers down to :argumentum ad hominem"
Nora if your house catches on fire do not call the socialist fire department to put it out, same with the police if your robbed or beaten don't call the socialist police and if your not on S.S. give it back because its socialist.
The public good is all that matters not your lopsided view of socialism.
Yeah! Socialism! LOL
Do you not think it's possible to reform health car industry without the government getting into the health care system any farther than it already is?
Their is no fix for health care insurance unless the government brings it under control. Their is no fix for the economy unless the government stop backing illegal scams and stops playing crony with the banks and stock market.
The public has a right to anything it is willing to pay for and the government only exists to support the public good not corporate cronyism.
The only cure is to keep voting out the hacks that support cronyism and spit on the public good.
State and federal money also goes to these services. Local governments spend a lot of money lobbying for it.
I remember in the 1980s when the GOP elected Ronald Reagan. The health care industry went to work on creating the notion that health care should be viewed as a product rather than a service. This was the beginning of the end for the general health of society. If we could all purchase healthy lives at Wal-Mart, we probably would do it. But, that isn't how it works.
With our current system, the for-profit health care insurance industry controls our lives by telling doctors what they can and cannot do. They lobby for control of our lives through "transparency laws" that relieve them of the burden of getting sued, thus denying the average person legal redress when mistakes are made. There are probably some good people in the health care insurance industry, Charles. But, on the whole, the entire industry has found legal methods of fleecing money out of people and the companies where they work. It is perfect control of our lives. And, when we don't play by their arbitrary rules, they deny us medical procedures that we need. I call it organized crime. This vicious cycle between the patient and the insurance industry has to end. You are supporting an industry that continuously thumbs its nose at its own customers. The Republicans are clearly wrong on this issue. Of course, they receive the bulk of the lobbyists dollars for their campaigns. So, tell me about control, Charles. Give me a break.
But we should have the ability to provide our own housing, food and health care.
If the government is doing those three "individual repsonsibilities", then that entitlement swings over to socialism.
Scenario #1: You have worked at the same company for 30 years. Just before you get ready to retire, they declare bankruptcy and you lose your pension. Your ability to purchase housing, food and healthcare just went down considerably. Nora would consider the government helping you enjoy a well-earned retirement "socialism".
The company you work for restricts you to less than 30 hours a week, keeping you at "part-time" status in order to avoid paying healthcare benefits. They also pay minimum wage, which even in Washington state is only $8.55 an hour. That means you have about a grand with which to pay your bills every month; rent on a 2-bedroom apartment in my city goes for around $600. Nora would suggest you get another job to make ends meet, but what time does that leave to educate and monitor your kids? Again we must resort to "socialism".
Also FYI, Nora, if your LOCAL taxes were the only ones going to building roads, you'd still be traveling on dirt or gravel and not have as many roads to travel on. The Feds and state kick in for most of the cost of building roads, and I wouldn't be surprised if the state didn't kick in for some of the cost of maintaining them as well.
I am always amazed at how ACORN takes credit for black people voting. You would think they are all too stupid to realise how to do it on their own. Maybe education's "public option" isn't all it's cracked up to be.
CNN and ABC apologized for spreading lies about Rush claiming to have said racist things that were all false. You probably didn't get the memo that half the things you are told about Rush is B.S.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kit6rPVbek
It's interesting to see that you still tar everyone in the entire multi-agency organization with the same brush, even though just as many reports have been filed accentuating the positive and showing that ACORN has taken steps to deal with the negative. Sure, the folks who were filmed giving advice to people who represented themselves as researching methods of a criminal activity. But those folks were fired; how does their actions make their company criminal? To me, the agency those workers represented was just as much a victim as anyone else. And what about the people who filmed these interviews? They were not police officers, nor did they represent any of the media. Yet they lied about themselves, with the express intent of getting "dirt" on ACORN. They would have kept it up until they found something they could use as blackmail; it's revealing that we have not seen any of the footage which showed workers giving them the bum's rush and/or calling police.
Jeanie, if you got REAL news you would know that the tape where the workers reported to have escorted the Kids with a camera to the doors and called the police was shown and ACORN lied yet again about what happened so their claims of wanting to fix things is ridiculous They are only sorry that they got caught. Although the entire interview is on video, ACORN got a court order injunction that wont allow the audio of the ACORN worker. Talk about revealing!
ACORN has an enormous laundry list of broken laws and shoddy ethics. If they want to stay in business and clean up their act that's fine but they are NOT entitled to tax dollars and most people don't want to fund a criminal enterprise.
We don't want him to "fail" as an individual. What we want is his socialistic policies and the underlying corruption to fail.
Every body that I know feels the same and yet if we bring this up where told that we are a right wing terrorist group.....the eyes of the sheep will open as it falls over the cliff. respectfully
Then want everyone else to bail out the water from their siniking ship.
Do not be enablers!
Nora, we will often reap what we sow, but Christ didn't question someone about how they got to the point of where they were--poor, ill--he just asked, "Do you want to be healed?" Why do you feel that it is for us to judge and condemn people for their choices?
Can we extend your attitude to the wealthy? Can we allow the wealthy to suffer the consequences of their irresponsible, dishonest, and foolish actions? If so, I assume that we should not have given any bailout money to those major corporations that brought our economy to the brink of collapse.
But no, we have become a socialist government for the rich by enabling their scams and cleaning up the messes they make and a capitalist government for the poor complaining about any money sent their way.
Let's fire all of them!
You acknowledge evidence of ACORN's criminal activity, but "forgot" to mention Philadelphia, San Diego, and the other their chapters where there was similar evidence of wrongdoing presented. Gee, I guess the problem wasn't just a local one involving employees who didn't meet ACORN's "high ethical standards".
And, as for ACORN's effective "internal audits" that uncovered its activities associated with voter fraud, why is it that the Attorneys General of several states (some of them Democrats) have been kept busy with the fraud that ACORN failed to discover and prosecutions to protect the integrity of the election process in their states.
So, to move on, you say Fox News and Limbaugh are only interested in "discrediting the nation’s first black president and demolishing the organization that succeeded in registering many of our poorer citizens to vote for the first time in their lives." Let me suggest that the nation's first black President may have discredited himself by working for such a shady organization, and that there is still an open question about whether ACORN's goal was registering voters or raking in cash grants for the activity (which is still being investigated in many states).
Dave, you demean yourself by attempting to defend an organization like ACORN before independent investigations are complete. Fox News has distinguished itself by bringing ACORN's problems to the attention of the mainstream media and the Congress, which has affirmed the information by stripping ACORN of funding pending the outcome of investigations.
It is also notable that the administration of the "first black president" is now engaged in an unprecedented attempt to intimidate Fox News and the mainstream media to prevent additional news stories like the ACORN revelations.
I wonder why? Perhaps where there's smoke, there's fire.
President Obama hasn't said or done anything that remotely can be called intimidation of FOX News or the mainstream media. The only presidents who have been proven to send intimidating messages to any media outlet ever have been President Ronald Reagan and President George W. Bush. Of course, many presidents throughout our history have stated that they didn't trust media outlets. And, many have suggested that they should be closed down. But, only two of our presidents have ever attempted to stop media outlets from giving stories to the public. The media outlets represent the Fourth Estate and have privileges that if taken away would destroy America for good. I wouldn't take it lightly, if I were you.
Free speech isn't free!
If you don't regard the remarks of Axlerod and Emmanuel on the Sunday talk shows as intimidation, then your mind is so partisan there is no use talking further. Attempting to omit Fox News from media pool interviews, a move repudiated by the mainstream media members, was a naked showing of White House power that was repudiated by all of the members of the pool.
It is worth noting that supporters of the Clinton's, like Lanny Davis, have been quick to condemn the Obama administration's attacks on Fox News and others as ill-conceived and unprecedented. (Unprecedented means that it has never happened before.) I'd like to see your sources on the alleged Bush and Reagan "intimidating messages" you mention.
I agree that many U.S. presidents have disliked the media, but the Obama administration is the first to try intimidation.
If this was all that it takes to intimidate Fox News, I say it should have been done sooner. Fox News has been selling anti-Americanism all the while exclaiming silly slogans like "we report, you decide." They are as phony as a three dollar bill. If you hang with liars, you become one yourself without ever uttering a word. Your tacit approval is just as dishonest as the liars themselves.
What's next? A Hugo Chavez like move to take over the media? Isn't the Obama administration talking about a bailout bill for newspapers? Will they "help" them just like they "helped" the auto companies and end up owning them?
You can keep calling Fox News names, and it is not persuading anyone. If you can provide examples of untrue news on a news program, someone might pay attention to you. (Opinion shows are different than news programs, as CNN and MSNBC have clearly shown in their opinions about President Bush).
The reality is the Republicans hate anything that goes againt the lust for power. Poor people voting is bad for the Right so they oppose it and want to end it. Never mind that 90% of ACORN's activities have nothing to do with politics. The Right would gladly do away with all the good works ACORN does simply to stop them from registering people they know are not going to vote for them.
Poor people can vote anywhere in the U.S. and nobody has ever tried to deny their vote. We are against ACORN registering dead people, cartoon characters, Entire football teams, super heroes etc. Also we really don't like our money being used to teach people how to cheat the system and get away with human smuggling. Pathetic you dirt bags are.....
There is are cases, where people out trying to register Republican voters, were caught throwing away, the cards of people who had checked Democrat.
Here is one case. . . From The Guardian UK Since it is not covered in any Conservative Press, the fraud took place in 2008.
..."The head of the California Republican party's own voter registration firm, Mark Anthony Jacoby of Young Political Majors (YPM), plead guilty to charges of voter registration fraud earlier this year. Republican outfits like YPM have actually changed registration forms from Democratic to Republican without telling voters, and even shredded Democratic registration forms altogether, disenfranchising thousands of Americans.. . Jacoby pleaded guilty.
There is now documented physical evidence of how the Republicans with the help of Republican Govenors and local Republican officials, purged the voter rolls of possible Democrat voters. Go look it up.
As for your Acorn charges. If this is true, you can provide actual court case documentation of the times Acorn was charged with fraud, and found guilty or convicted.
But, you might be interested to knot that even the Catholic Church stopped funding ACORN after learning that a officer embezzled $1 million from the organization and the ACORN board covered it up.
Just keep kidding yourselves about organizations that "help" the poor.
It made Pimps-Hoes, and tax evasion-Rangel style look good.
ACORN, is looking out for you- America!!
Fifty years later-remember the democrats were going to end pover-tey and bring social justice to the blacks in America?, what did the liberal victims get devastation, the original Hope and Change lie.
The dirty little secret is that the demo-rat party can not win an election in this country without the Bribed-Black vote. That is why demo-rat louses like, Sharpton-Jesse-Rangel-Obama-rev.Wright-Pelosi-Kennedy's- the entire democrat party constantly flame racism in America. Spartan, real Hope and Change is coming- Obama is a total disaster and when the conservative party elects a person of color to the presidency, the American minority people will get off the demo-rat plantation of welfare dependency- and suceed like every other American.
Regardless: To answer the question. No the weak elephant may not be able to knock down the Oak tree, However an Elephant does have a long memory. I think ACORN's days may be numbered.
Obama even stated he had help from his Chicago friends, Wanted fellon Ayers, and Pro Communist Klosky, that they helped him get into ACORN.
As usual to prove their point, the Liberals have to constantlyh change facts so they can be correct... Isn't that the same thing as lying? Or is that just when the left accuses someone else of it?
I'll bet you've said that so often it comes out with rhythm. Pretty good... sort of like Hannity's constant "cut, run and surrender" every time he said the word "democrats."
You guys and your bouncy little sanctimonious slogans. They're so cute... makes me just wanna HUG you.
Then there is Humana, not convicted, but settled after defrauding Medicare.
Still a Medicare provider.
The lies about ACORN are not about fraud. It is about empowering the poor.
A very bad thing. . . ha!
righting the ship of state? You can't do that cutting holes in the bottom of the ship to let in anti American phylosophys like the UN
I feel sorry for any student that took a Constitutional Law course from the President.
I've read your comments. You do not have a clear understanding of the US Constitution. Your ideas are often quite good. But, your understanding of our legal system needs more work.
I would ask about others but that is all he's done so far.
What has the "constitutional scholar" done to reverse any of the gross violations of our constitution Bush committed?
The bail outs for private enterprise didn't seem to be a problem for you, Colonel when it was done for the financial industry under George Bush. But, now that the auto industry received incentives (not the same as a bailout), you criticize President Obama. I believe in time that the competence of this commander-in-chief will be obvious for all to see. It is true that his critics are winning the message today. I believe it is a fleeting victory that will not sustain itself. We have too many paying for health care insurance who are not receiving the care they need when they need it. These scare tactics about the government option are working because most people don't want to believe the truth. The truth always wins out. There are signs that people are waking up which is encouraging. In the meantime, I think that we are much better off with President Obama than we were with former President Bush.
They are both the same, just like Bush and Obama. Both are NeoCons and neither one good for the country. It takes more than one administration to put the country in the mess we find ourselves.
What I AM afraid of is that the tarring brush will cause enough damage to permanently damage ACORN's ability to continue to fulfill its charter.
Did Fox News way back in 2005 mention the more than $212 Million in overcharges by Halliburton, to the government. No, Fox keeps hammering away at ACORN, as if it is some giant octupus of crime. ACORN is not, but it has registered all these voters, and sued the big banks, successfully! Is Halliburton still doing business with the government? Yes. Is Fox making a fuss about it? No.
Excuse me? How in the world can you have an opionion on something you have not had first hand experience evaluating? Ooh, word of mouth... okay.
Including at the Fux News site.
I just have no tolerance for listening to the idiots or the commercials.
The second, and more greatly disturbing, bothersome thing is the smug sanctimony and self-righteousness evident in every post. As if the entire point of ACORN were of no moment, and it existed only to create tax havens for whores and pimps... as if these legal wrongdoings were "sins."
And yet they dismiss the much greater "sins" of their own masters. They seem not to be able to understand that the people they protect see them only as cannon fodder in these debates... that the illegal tax havens in the Caymans and Switzerland are far greater "sins" than any perpetrated by ACORN employees. And that these "sins" are perpetrated by the bosses, not the employees.
So you agree with this?
You're not as cute as you think you are
I do think I'm fairly cute, btw. Thanks.
. . . ... Here, if you actually want more information, which I am guessing you do not, but here it is anyway.
...from: San Fran Examiner, no it is not "politically liberal"
Well, let's first talk about how Wade Rathke is “deeply involved” . . . not. According to Henderson-James, Wade Rathke founded ACORN and served as its chief organizer for 38 years. In 2000, Rathke's brother, Dale, embezzled just under $1 million from ACORN in an 18-month period, and then-chief and brother Wade Rathke attempted a cover-up. Despite O'Reilly's implication that ACORN tried to sweep the scandal under the rug, in fact ACORN did not become aware of the embezzlement Wade Rathke deep-sixed until 2008, and in June 2008 ACORN's Board removed Rathke as head honcho, when Bertha Louis took his place as CEO and Chief Organizer of ACORN. ACORN elected to enter into a restitution deal with Dale Rathke instead of jail time – not unusual in criminal cases where repayment is an option – and Dale Rathke is repaying ACORN the money he stole. Despite O'Reilly's desire for it to be otherwise, ACORN was a victim, not a perpetrator, of theft and fraud.