Cracking ACORN Requires Comprehensive Electoral Reform
The rogue group and its related organizations will hold power as long as they can manipulate the electoral process.
James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles have rocked our world like no two twenty-somethings I can recall.
As of when this column was finished on Wednesday afternoon, as chronicled at Andrew Breitbart’s breakout BigGovernment.com site since September 10, multiple ACORN offices had been caught on tape providing guidance to O’Keefe and Giles, who are 25 and 20, respectively(!), on how to obtain home financing for a prostitution business that would include Giles and 13 illegal immigrant girls, with the ultimate purpose of generating funds for a future congressional run by O’Keefe. Helpful instruction from ACORN employees, many of whom are now ex-employees, included how to maximize tax benefits by claiming dependent exemptions and child tax credits for a few of the underage girls (not too many, so as not to raise red flags), how to hide the money (in a tin can, in the backyard, covered with grass), and how to keep the business covert (i.e., never talk about business, because “loose lips sink ships”).
Meanwhile, the establishment media, with the exception of Fox News, has only very belatedly been dragged kicking and screaming into recognizing the story’s existence. On Tuesday morning, ABC’s Charles Gibson, asked why “no one’s covering the story,” stunned a Chicago morning show’s co-hosts when he nervously laughed and said that “I didn’t even know about it” (full audio is accessible here). It seems that even Comedy Central’s left-leaning fake journalist Jon Stewart felt that he had to deal with the story or risk losing his credibility with his youngish audience — and he is still ahead of most of the media elite.
Lo and behold, on September 11, the Census Bureau ended ACORN’s involvement with the 2010 census. On Monday, despite the establishment media’s near-blackout of O’Keefe and Giles’s relentless barrage, and a mere four days after the persistent pair’s first video debuted, the United States Senate, which usually moves at a pace that would make snails laugh, rushed through a bill to block ACORN from Housing and Urban Development funding by a shocking 83-7 margin. As of Wednesday afternoon, a serious move was afoot in the House to totally deny all federal funding to the organization, and ACORN itself, according to the Washington Times, had “suspended advising new clients.”
Keeping taxpayers’ and unwilling workers’ money entirely away from this monster and its hundreds of related tentacles will be a monumental task — one I believe that the leftists who dominate Congress and this administration have no intention of permitting to succeed. In addition to the estimated $53 million it has received from the federal government since 1994 (an estimate that I believe is woefully low, because there are so many hard-to-track entities), ACORN has obtained significant funding from state governments, from local governments, from labor unions (probably illegally, based on the Supreme Court’s 1988 Beck ruling), and from shaken-down financial institutions.
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Tom Blumer owns a training and development company based in Mason, Ohio, outside of Cincinnati. He presents personal finance-related workshops and speeches at companies, and runs BizzyBlog.com.
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72 Comments
1. Sandra:It’s really frightening to see how this left wing group has been able to subvert the electoral process in the US. But it is so entrenched and well funded it will be difficult to root it out. Now that the light of day has revealed in a stunning way, the level of corruption in the organization it will be difficult for its partons in Congress to continue to support it. But I suspect there will regroup, rename and resume its corrosive and corrupt ways. Business as usual.
Sep 17, 2009 - 8:51 am 2. Mike T:There is no reason why every election polling place cannot have full video surveillance from multiple angles that is encoded in MPEG4 for archival. There is no reason why local and state police cannot station at least one officer at every polling place so that the malcontents can be intimidated into either obeying the law or leaving.
Sep 17, 2009 - 8:54 am 3. CatoRenasci:Electoral Reform should be simple:
1. every voter should be required to re-register before the 2010 Congressional elections; photo ID and proof of citizenship required. You are supposed to prove citizenship before you start a job; prove citizenship before you are allowed to vote.
2. no more ‘motor voter’ or same day registration – close the voter rolls 60 days before the election to allow verification of all new registrations, verification by mailing a card that has to be returned AND confirmation of the validity of citizenship by the same system used for employment.
3. limit absentee ballots to those who are legitimately unable to get to the polls or who have moved and cannot register in their new location in time for the election.
Penalty for being involved in any form of election fraud would be a felony involving the national permanent loss of voting rights.
Sep 17, 2009 - 9:03 am 4. David Thomson:ACORN has brilliant employed the race card for almost four decades. Politicians of both parties greatly fear this organization. It was tacitly understood that ACORN was untouchable. Republicans were very well aware that they will be charged with racism if they dare to even begin investigating ACORN’s activities. I also strongly suspect that police departments throughout the country were also afraid of the ACORN activists. That is why their office workers are so blunt and unhesitating in advising clients to break the law.
ACORN’s leadership probably wishes that the politically correct John McCain had won the presidential election. Things would have continued as usual. Barack Obama’s victory placed them in serious jeopardy. Inevitably, alternative journalists were going to put them under the spotlight. ACORN is now finished as a force to be reckoned with. Obama will throw his allies under the bus. A number of ACORN’s top leaders will be going to prison.
Sep 17, 2009 - 9:04 am 5. happi:As for ACORN receiving funds from state governments – remember, these are the same state govts that are ALWAYS claiming they’ve already cut their budgets to the bone and if they don’t get their tax increases, they’ll have to start getting rid of police, libraries, etc – but ACORN? Never!
Sep 17, 2009 - 9:16 am 6. steveg:A complete investigation should be in the cards, and if they are as corrupt as it looks, it will bring major damage to the left. Any candidate (all democrats) with strong ties to ACORN will be damaged goods also. There is a reason why Al Franken, who gave thanks to ACORN for their help in getting him elected was among the 83 senators to cut off funds to this organization.
Sep 17, 2009 - 9:35 am 7. tomw:ACORN will die, but all they have to do is change their name. They have no real ‘physical plant’ that must be reconstructed. They just have to show up at a differnt strip mall, or the same one with new signage. As some would say: “ACORN, shmACORN”, the proverbial “Fly By Night”.
Sep 17, 2009 - 9:38 am 8. Poor Citizen:tom
Maybe its time to do away with outdated quango’s like acorn anyway. Im sure they could re-stream what works about it into another quango, or split it into regional, smaller quango/s and just stop the funding. The same for education acorn type quangos as well. Money should be allocated to enforce guidelines and build the infrastructure with everything else provided locally. Some parts of goverment need to be reduced and/or eliminated.
Sep 17, 2009 - 9:54 am 9. Delia:How much taxpayer money has ACORN and its ‘nonprofit’ subsidiaries received over the years and will the taxpayers ever receive a refund or will this be another ’slap on the wrist’ and ‘new and improved’ name changer?
Sep 17, 2009 - 9:56 am 10. Rashputin:“If the growing tea party movement is looking for an outlet for its
All the ideas for what to focus on are a perfect example of where the republican/conservative crowd always runs into the ditch. They redirect available enthusiam into fifty different directions and end up with fifty different groups being shoved aside by the RINO set who stay focused on controlling the republican party.
The tea party movement should restore the Constitution from the top down, and let the states return to running the states. Except for LA which has been a democrat plantation for at least a hundred years, the states will do just fine once the federal government isn’t constantly groping them.
Regards
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:08 am 11. Rod:One further suggestion, at least for the Republicans:
Stop allowing Democrat switchover voters in Republican state primaries! It makes no sense to allow a registered Democrat, or someone who refuses to register as a Republican, to have any say whatsoever in choosing who the Republican candidate will be. This is exactly how we end up with weak candidates like McCain and Bob Dole. We get the candidate the other side wants us to run. Stupid! It’s time for Republicans to institute a closed primary system in every state and only allow people who have been registered Republicans for at least the prior three months to vote in those primaries.
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:17 am 12. wancow:Obama’s trying to keep from getting A-CORN-HOLIOED!
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:18 am 13. George S.:IT SHOULDN’T BE CALLED ACORN …..IT SHOULD BE CALLED HYDRA
cut one head off and it is replaced with 100
it is a criminal enterprise …it is part of the democrat party …it is part of the obama administration.
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:24 am 14. Francis W. Porretto:The counterthrust to any serious attempt to purify our election processes will, of course, be “you’re disenfranchising legitimate voters!”
One of the least well understood concepts in American governance is that voting is not a right but a privilege. Unfortunately, a great deal of language has been inserted into the Constitution and other places that speaks of the “right to vote.” But if it were a right, everyone would possess it ab initio, just as everyone — citizens, resident aliens, and visitors from other lands — possesses the right to life.
We confer the electoral franchise upon conditions. Those conditions include age, residence, citizenship, and in most places a record clean of felony convictions. There is no reason why we can’t insist that these things be routinely and regularly substantiated…but the very forces that rammed “motor voter” legislation through some years ago have a powerful interest in keeping things as they are. ACORN is only the most prominent of the bunch.
Expect to hear about the horrors of “voter disenfranchisement” from here until we’re worn thin from trying to extract ACORN from our politics.
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:25 am 15. M. Report:Who will bell the cat ?
Nobody will be allowed, by the State or the Pols,
to eliminate election fraud; don’t bother trying.
If the People want an accurate tally of their votes,
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:33 am 16. Cog99:they must set up an independent private organization
which conducts a parallel election, using On-line
banking as a model.
Why is any government funding outside organizations of any kind? ACORN is a slush fund with an enforcement arm. Cut off the money to all of them.
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:47 am 17. Sallie:ACORN is a shill game and Rathke plays it well…it will merely change it’s name.
“Wade Rathke, who founded the organization, announced on his blog that ACORN International has officially changed its name to
“Community Organizations International”.
ACORN is in the process of dismantling Citizen’s Consulting Inc. (CCI), a New-Orleans based non-profit, which has been used to maintain centralized financial control, ACORN 8 activists claim. Tax records show that CCI is interlinked with several ACORN affiliates.”
It will be interesting to watch Pelosi react to all of this. A sham investigation, only a “few” bad apples, nothing to close down such a wonderful organization for…etcetcetc…she’s a real tool.
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:47 am 18. JED:Why do they retain their tax exempt status as a non-political/partisan entity? When that shield comes down, their books are open. This looks like another case for our famous attorney general, whoops!
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:52 am 19. Rashputin:“…using On-line banking as a model.”
You have a completely unjustified faith in technology. Banks are regularly hacked and defrauded by a variety of means but only those thefts of significant size get reported. Reporting all of them would “undermine confidence”. If it’s worthwhile to hack a bank for CC numbers or cash in amounts less than a grand, what’s it worth to hack an election even in a single state? The move to electronic and “motor voter” sorts of elections leads to enabling the theft of an election without the need for messy groups like ACORN who can embarrass the victor.
Like the old accounting joke, “.. What do you want it to be” will become the only question asked of the party with the most cash.
Regards
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:58 am 20. wancow:18. JED: “Why do they retain their tax exempt status as a non-political/partisan entity?”
BECAUSE THEY’RE DEMOCRATS!
Sep 17, 2009 - 11:01 am 21. Right as well as Correct:I have a feeling we won’t be hearing from vivo, david s, moho, or any of the other buffoons on this story. There is no defense.
Sep 17, 2009 - 11:11 am 22. Amphipolis:That is not enough.
Recruit poll watchers to be present at every inner city precinct. That will cut a lot of the systemic fraud that has nothing to do with registrations.
Target the precincts that report more votes than registered voters.
Sep 17, 2009 - 11:12 am 23. Right as well as Correct:Anyone know about previous plans to re-name A.C.O.R.N. and try to continue their dirty tactics? I seem to remember reading an article about that. If it is true, the newly formed version should be kept under the microscope.
Sep 17, 2009 - 11:14 am 24. steveg:I am now convinced that liberals live in their on little bubble. Nancy Pelosi admitted yesterday she was unaware of what the democrats election fraud unit had done.
Sep 17, 2009 - 11:53 am 25. Paul -Indiana:One of the ways in which we can overcome many of the bogus voter registrations is to have each voter at the polls receive that ‘ink stained finger’ used in Iraq to prevent multiple voting. One man – one vote. However, control of the absentee ballots is more complicated.
Sep 17, 2009 - 12:11 pm 26. Steve DeMarcus:Yes I do believe that ink stained fingers would be nice but also another mark that is visible only to a certain light might also stop alot of this behavior,then they wouldn’t attempt to figure out how to wash it off!
Sep 17, 2009 - 12:27 pm 27. Sebastian Shaw:ACORN needs to be completely dismantled & destroyed thanks to the inherent corruption from within the organization. De-funding it is a start; deprived of money, the ACORN will wither & die. Congress has to cut off every one of ACORN’s heads like Heracles killed the Hydra. A true investigation of ACORN will also lead it back to the corrupt SEIU as well which will bring Obama more troubles…
Sep 17, 2009 - 12:52 pm 28. karlinsync:The Obama admin. and leaders of Congress will go down as the most corrupt body of government in history. But then again, if the DOJ gets involved, this issue will just go away. 2010 cannot come soon enough.
Sep 17, 2009 - 1:02 pm 29. Looks Askance:You conspiracy theorists are whacked out! Do you really think ACORN rigged the last election? They are too incompetent for that. Get a grip on reality. You are all hysterical, hyper-ventilating ninnies.
Stop watching Glenn Beck, really, before he tells you all to drink the Kool-Aid. All he is doing is regurgitating the even more whacked out writer Skousen, who saw conspiracies everywhere. Always easy to do when the economy stinks or people are afraid. Why do you think Becky got all apoplectic about “McCarthyism” the other day–because he knows the American people are onto him and his days of influence are, hopefully, numbered.
He is crazy, plain and simple.
Plus, from your comments it sounds as if some of you would institute a writing test in these “inner city precincts” if you could get away with it. It is racism, whether you like it or not, and don’t forget Becky played that “card” first.
Sep 17, 2009 - 1:03 pm 30. malclave:@21
“I have a feeling we won’t be hearing from vivo, david s, moho, or any of the other buffoons on this story. There is no defense.”
They’re probably just at mandatory training at work today, and will show up later.
ACORN wants to make sure they only help set up REAL underage Latina sex slave rings, so they need to inservice their employees on how to identify the legitimate pimps.
Sep 17, 2009 - 1:11 pm 31. Now and Then:Imagine the horror of people agreeing to immoral fictions, Better yet, imagine actual horror . . .
Jamie Leigh Jones’ alleged she was kidnapped and gang raped at the hands of Halliburton/KBR employees back in 2007. Jones claims that while she was working for the company in Iraq, she was held against her will in a shipping container and repeatedly raped by multiple co-workers. To make matters worse, after finally being released and examined by doctors, her rape kit (which proved she had been raped) disappeared and a cover up by both Halliburton and the Bush administration ensued.
A federal appeals court says a Texas woman’s lawsuit alleging she was raped by U.S. military contractor co-workers in Iraq can go to court. A three-judge panel from the New Orleans court ruled Tuesday that Jamie Leigh Jones’ claims against Halliburton Co. and its former subsidiary KBR can go to trial. The companies contended Jones’ employment agreement required claims against the company be settled through arbitration.
Handling rape through arbitration . . . another example of shining conservative values and complicit criminality at work. Someone ( and I have an idea who) should be held . . . what’s the word, what’s the word . . . accountable!
Rage on, all ye vapid moralists.
Sep 17, 2009 - 1:20 pm 32. Russell Ricks:I wouldn’t put any stock in our corrupt governments claim to deny ACORN future funds or the Census Bureau’s so-called decision to drop ACORN. ACORN will soon return under “another name” and continue to steal our hard earned tax dollars. Bet I’m right.
Sep 17, 2009 - 1:20 pm 33. Professor Guvinoff:ACORN is exhibit for our current malady. If corruption was a liquid, overgrown governement would be the sponge that pulls it in.
How deep the soaking? The most remarkable part of this article is the case of law enforcement intimidated by ACORN: This means a level of corruption on its way to challenge the mexican standard!
Human organizations rotten at the bottom are necessarily rotten at the top in the first place, because all groups reflect the standards of their leaders, in a way similar to how a dog’s behaviors often come to reflect their master’s failings.
A pair of courageous young reveals the rotten apples at the bottom, and now it’s the turn of bigger and now it’s up to more powerful entities, congress, FBI, and ultimately the DOJ to uproot the shady network of rogue (and slick) operators.
Keep in mind a simple formula: “Banana republics are choke-full of bad apples”.
Let’s clean up the rot. A citizenry outraged by the moral offenses is the only guarantee of a government enforcing the legal transgressions. Keep up the pressure, tea party-ers!
Sep 17, 2009 - 1:24 pm 34. jb:Have to e-mailed your Reps and Senators yet? You need to do that ASAP. Completely de-fund ACORN now. Stop writing checks to criminals~!
This is a criminal enterprise sucking the life blood of American taxpayers.
Sep 17, 2009 - 1:30 pm 35. madeline:Thanks O’Keffe, Hannah Giles, Beck , and every
other outlet that was after the truth and saving of America from ACORN. thanks PJM.
I do not, by any means, believe ACORN will just go away. They will be around. They are like mold. They have tentacles deep in our society. These people are disgusting. They cheat everytime and everyone they can. They are Obama’s people of choice, just like the Black Panters.
There are large segments of America that back ACORN..uninformed, uneducated cheats. anything you can get for free, it doesn’t matter to them where it comes from or how hard someone had to work for their “free”…
Yep, better watch those polling places. Not only that, but whom ever Obama WH puts in control of the census. Why a census…if you pay taxes you get counted, don’t pay taxes, you don’t get counted.
Nancy Pelosi is just stupid. The botox has addled her brain. I truly believe she doesn’t care, if she doesn’t know about it..she thinks it doesn’t exist.
Obama doesn’t want to come out and say anything about all the racists stuff being thrown around,
because OBAMA probably sanctioned it , and HE has made it the topic it is now.
All he would have to do is go to the press, without his freakin smirk, and say…”STOP IT NOW”.. he’s getting a lot of mileage folks, he’s behind the “racism” stuff.
We would like to see some articles about the OTHER THINGS that have been put in Obama’s healthcare plan that he is trying to pass.
Sep 17, 2009 - 1:33 pm 36. Now and Then:All the other things are NOTNOTNOTNOT being talked about, and will hurt us if passed.
Thank god we have Fox News, et al to elevate the level of hard-hitting journalism . . .
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/
Sep 17, 2009 - 1:34 pm 37. Anonymous:Whoops! misdirected credit: The mention of intimidated law enforcement was from David Thomson (comment #4), not in the original article.
Sep 17, 2009 - 1:35 pm 38. Richard:You aren’t going to get “electoral reform” out of this Congress, just like you didn’t get it out of a republican controlled congress or any other congress before that.
Its in the vested self-interest of both parties to keep the system screwed up like it is. We didn’t get to where we are by accident, its been a steady creep down the hill of tyranny for a long time, no matter which party is proposing the “reform”.
You have to vote all these bastards out to teach them a lesson. Its time to clean house.
Sep 17, 2009 - 1:35 pm 39. 2face:My country has not seen a single case of voter fraud for more than 100 years. I have bin a voting official many times. It’s all about having well thought out procedures. The amount of fraud and fraud allegations in the US is ridiculous. Your registering, voting, counting and reporting procedures clearly sucks. It’s annoying to listen to this debate over voter fraud, because it’s so easy to avoid.
Sep 17, 2009 - 2:37 pm 40. TriGeek:Great job Now & Then- you can’t defend ACORN, quick, change the subject. What a moron.
Sep 17, 2009 - 2:37 pm 41. Michael:Liberals very busy trying to misdirect this thread. Very enjoyable when they can’t fight the point and they must try to subvert, but then that is a liberals first instinct.
It still is indefensible to be against secure fair elections. Oh and idiot boy, no test to vote, just proof of registration and that one person gets one vote. (one living person for those from Chicago.)
Sep 17, 2009 - 2:40 pm 42. jb:I apologize for the typos above, I may be the world’s worst typist. But I may not be the world’s worst thinker. (that title belongs to my idiot liberal cousin)
I do think our liberal friends underestimate the problems facing us these days. WE ARE ON THE BRINK OF BANKRUPTCY~! Get it, dummies? As Margret Thatcher so aptly put it; “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples money to spend”,,, we are at that point now. What we spend today in government programs will be paid for by our grandchildren. Are you willing to impoverish your grandchildren? Government does not, and cannot create wealth, only business and commerce can do that. Tax business out of existence and you kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
ACORN is an obvious problem, it is solvable by simply de-funding anything related to ACORN. Stop writing government checks to criminals. Period~! When the money dries up they will go back to selling crack on the corner. And make no mistake about it,,, that’s where these vermin came from.
Sep 17, 2009 - 2:44 pm 43. David Thomson:“Whoops! misdirected credit: The mention of intimidated law enforcement was from David Thomson (comment #4), not in the original article.”
I forgot to add that the IRS was probably also subtly informed to ignore ACORN’s officials. The odds are that there will be numerous easy convictions! These clowns have most likely flagrantly broke the law. They may have not even tried to seriously cover their tracks. Close to 40 years of getting away with a lot of nonsense, after all, can encourage one to get very careless.
Sep 17, 2009 - 3:13 pm 44. Professor Guvinoff:David Thomson: I am the one who misdirected the credit from you for your remark about indimidation in law enforcement quarters. Perhaps some software bug in the PJM website mis-attributed my misdirection to Anonymous (#37), who might be wondering about the content of a post he did not write. Perhaps he also wrote something which landed with someone else’s name?
From what you write, the IRS was somehow (?) inhibited from enquiring about ACORN-related documents before the notorious tax evader Thimothy Geithner received the ultimate responsibility for tax collection. Where does this stop?
Sep 17, 2009 - 3:47 pm 45. Delia:Hey, #29! It was only a matter of time before the race card was played. *yawn*
Tell ya what though…like ta hear it?–here it go!
I wouldn’t mind a ‘viability’ test for voters who:
A. Have been DEAD for years
B. Have Fictional Cartoon/Sitcom Character Names
C. Have the same face with multiple voting identities
Surely we owe it to the children to make sure Mickey Mouse/Fred Sanford/Sybil-Larry-Curly-Mo are actual living people before they are allowed a vote?
Sep 17, 2009 - 4:06 pm 46. Sebastian Shaw:From Politico.com, “White House distances from activist group”:
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0909/gibbs_vs_acorn_497f1d7b-b91c-481a-a438-6027d3ba82c5.html
In Obama’s case, he is so fundamentally linked with ACORN it would like removing a fundamental organ such as his heart or lungs; President Obama can no more distance himself from ACORN since he started as a community organizer for the group for several years. Obama is looking to weather the storm, but the corruption is so vast that I believe this ACORN story will grow to include the SEIU. Is Obama going to distance himself from the SEIU when they are no longer working for him?
Sep 17, 2009 - 4:16 pm 47. Realist:Like their name ACORN is just a small little piece of the vast intricate network of criminal organizations and enemies of the state that usurped the US Federal Government for their own diabolical purposes.
Good Work – yes, but there is plenty more to do.
Sep 17, 2009 - 4:26 pm 48. Dave Surls:“Cracking ACORN Requires…”
…Indicting those ACORN members who appear to have conspired to break various federal laws.
…A RICO investigation so that the organization can be disbanded and its assets seized, if merited.
“Plus, from your comments it sounds as if some of you would institute a writing test in these “inner city precincts” if you could get away with it.”
Yup, along with a financial requirement.
If you can’t read and write at high school level…no vote.
If you can’t pay your own way…no vote.
Nationwide though, not just in the inner city.
Sep 17, 2009 - 4:28 pm 49. David Thomson:“From what you write, the IRS was somehow (?) inhibited from enquiring about ACORN-related documents before the notorious tax evader Thimothy Geithner received the ultimate responsibility for tax collection. Where does this stop?”
I have no hard evidence to offer—but the IRS has long been known to place its organizational wet finger into the air to see which way the political winds are blowing. The odds, though, are that I will ultimately be proven right. ACORN has been deemed untouchable for decades. What else explains the verbal diarrhea of these low level employees? They obviously didn’t think there was much to worry about.
Sep 17, 2009 - 4:31 pm 50. Fantom:As for the “one man, one vote meme”. I have a better idea… progressive voting. Let those who pay the piper call the tune. Say one vote for every thousand dollars in taxes above what you receive in direct payments from the government.
Sep 17, 2009 - 4:49 pm 51. Mark Epstein:“But ACORN and its offshoots are about much more than money; they are all about power, and wielding it ruthlessly and undemocratically.”
Absolutely! Fixing Washington’s corruption must begin with identifying and ridding ourselves of the <a href="http://markepstein.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/the-democratic-underground-stormfront-acorn-ideological-soulmates-from-hell/"Nazis masquerading as Progressives. For ACORN, Obama, Pelosi, etc., politics is god and anyone who questions the Leftist worldview is a traitor.
Sep 17, 2009 - 5:01 pm 52. Now and Then:“We need segregated buses.” Who said that . . . today?
Sep 17, 2009 - 7:03 pm 53. Paul M Hupf:Where’s the outrage? The Obama administration is silent except for a mild statement from the press secretary. The President should denounce the conduct of Acorn. Instead he remains silent!
Sep 17, 2009 - 7:51 pm 54. elvis:the energy on the A- hole(Van Jones speak) trolls seems to be vanishing… kind of like there facts and logic… VANISHED
Sep 17, 2009 - 9:24 pm 55. Moho:Remember this, you spineless hypocrites:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/rush-to-judgement-on-blackwater-defendants/
Citing the findings of a Congressional report, the cable network claimed that Blackwater USA guards inflicted “significant casualties and property damage” in Iraq. According to investigators, Blackwater contractors fired their weapons 195 times, “an average of 1.4 times a week between the beginning of 2005, and September 2007. In 80% of those incidents, Blackwater reported that its personnel fired first.”
That certainly fits the popular template, but it’s also worth remembering that Blackwater (and other private security firms) face a daunting challenge in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Baghdad shootout occurred as conditions in the city — and the rest of Iraq — spiraled out of control. Terrorist attacks were increasing at an alarming rate, with insurgents targeting the Green Zone and other locations that were once considered “secure.”
Sep 17, 2009 - 9:34 pm 56. Marty Drew:THESE are the times that try men’s souls.
Tyranny, like hell and corruption, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.
Now, from eloquent language to my words.
If no one, not even Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck has said it, please permit yourself to hear it first right here in a PJM comment.
Sonia Sotomayor, an admitted racist, a vile creature, has been appointed to the United States supreme court.
This is what should concern Jimmy Carter who laughed when George Bush was booed during a state of the union address.
Getting back to Sonia, though.
When she proudly bellows time after time that the Hispanic woman is always intellectually superior to the white male, that is “smoking gun evidence” proof that an outright bigot has been made a Supreme Court Justice. The harm Sotomayor can do from that seat of power is enormous.
It gets worse. Barack Obama actually and knowingly named an avowed American hating, self proclaimed free speech hating communist to one of the highest positions in government, a man named Van Jones.
Is that the smoking gun that brands Barack Obama a Communist?
I don’t think so. But it is another one of many relationships and statements Obama has had and made that leads me to the following conclusion.
In 2008, a Communist was elected President of the United States. If one is intellectually honest, that conclusion not only is logical, but inescapable.
The fact is, every step he’s taken since entering the oval office has damaged our country. If Obama’s gross spending measures succeed in devaluing the dollar, hyperinflation will not be far behind.
To many non-communists, this appears to be part of a planned succession of events that have the potential to effectively bring this wonderfully majestic experiment in Democracy to its knees, leading not only to a weakening of the military, but a possible full out assault on this nation by those who want severe harm to be visited on us like never before.
There is only one way out of this. It is for the American people to rise up in righteous protest just like they have begun doing. We are up against bullies who are petrified not just by opinion polls, but by angry people taking to the streets in protest.
Violence was necessary in 1775. It is not necessary today.
In fact, it would do tremendous harm to our crusade to save this Republic.
The pen plus peaceful, but angry, unending, unrelenting protest will win out. From sea to shining sea, we must send the message to those in our government who want to do us harm that their days in office are numbered.
If you’re counting on Acorn to steal any more elections, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
The words of Thomas Paine ring as true today as they did in the days of yesteryear.
The people of the United States of America, when backed against true evil, be it communism, fascism or governmental corruption do not back down. We will be heard. We will be unbending. We will overcome.
President Obama, sacrifices on the alter of freedom we are prepared to make.
“We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe whether foreign or domestic in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty”.
Sir, Mr. Obama, the man who spoke those words was not a member of your political party.
He was a Democrat. And he didn’t just believe in them. He died for them.
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:53 pm 57. Ytzik:Decent people should send messages to Dems urging them to get rid of their radical extremist who are corrupted their party.
Sep 18, 2009 - 4:41 am 58. Paul -Indiana:Of course, I don’t sympatize with Dems but if they try to clean their own house they will destroy themselves. That is it, or they will be trashed in next elections…
Are you still proud that you voted for Obama? LOL
Sep 18, 2009 - 5:07 am 59. Dale:To claim that the stupid behavior of a half-dozen employees should discredit a national group with offices in more than 75 cities staffed by many thousands of employees and volunteers is like saying that Mark Sanford, David Vitter or John Ensign have discredited every Republican governor or senator. Indeed, the indignation of the congressional Republicans screaming about ACORN and the phony streetwalker is diluted by the presence of at least two confirmed prostitution clients — Rep. Ken Calvert and Sen. David Vitter — in their midst. Neither of those right-wing johns has been even mildly chastised by their moralistic peers. Nobody is cutting off their federal funding.
Sep 18, 2009 - 8:15 am 60. Moho:Not right, not correct. A. The videos are edited, there’s no way of knowing what kind of interactions really occured here. At one point, one of the ACORN employees claims she murdered her husband–pretty obvioulsy calling the bluff of these ridiculously clad idiots. In other cases, there may be contextualizing information. B. Even if there is no contextualizing information, we have no way of knowing how many times the idiots visited the ACORN offices before they found people to help them in their quest. C. In any case, the behavior of a few employees does not reflect policy.
Here’s a thought experiment, if you are indeed capable of thought. What if Blackwater had a few employees who raped, murdered and pillaged? Should Blackwater be fired? Oh wait, that already happened, and zero outcry from you spineless hypocrites.
Sep 18, 2009 - 9:10 am 61. Dale:Right on, Moho.
ACORN has received a grand total of $53 million in federal funds over the last 15 years — an average of $3.5 million per year.
Meanwhile, not millions, not billions, but trillions of dollars of public funds have been, in the last year alone, transferred to or otherwise used for the benefit of Wall Street. Billions of dollars in American taxpayer money vanished into thin air, eaten by private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, led by Halliburton subsidiary KBR. The same Halliburton and KBR that covered up brutal rapes of its employees by other employees and has up til now gotten away with it.
We get article after article about how the million-dollar operation ACORN is destroying the country, but when have we seen a single article discussing the trillions being funnelled into Wall Street, about Halliburton, Blackwater, KBR, Bechtel?
The stupidity and hypocrisy are astounding.
Sep 18, 2009 - 10:00 am 62. M. Report:@ 19. Rashputin:
Unjustified faith in On-line banking technology
Shame on you for telling half the truth.
The other half of the truth is that each hack
produces a fix, and by now a well-constructed
_new_ system is _not_ hackable.
This is a disprovable assertion; Set it up
and offer $$$ to anyone who can hack it.
@ 22. Amphipolis: Target system fraud.
The System is a self-protecting fraud.
In the past, a little “Home Cooking”
in close elections was tolerable;
It tended to even out.
The new idea is to rig _all_ the results,
producing a permanent democratic majority;
A few elections like that, and the minority
will be legally taxed into wage slavery
to support the majority and the State.
See the recent history of Argentina for
a horrible example.
@ 25. Paul -Indiana: Ink-stained fingers
While nobody was looking, biometric ID
has progressed to the point that one
_can_ guarantee 1 man / 1 vote.
@ 29. Looks Askance:
Do you really think ACORN rigged the last election?
No, I think they were _planning_ to rig the
last election, as in no more, ever.
Racist inner city precinct writing test
The hot-bullet ace Race Card is played again !
And a bonus voter qualification straw man !
No: Count every vote, but do not allow fraud;
When the Dems fail to deliver on their promises
to the inner citizens, those votes will change.
@ 38. Richard: Throw the rascals out !
and the unelected co-conspirators to
whom they owe their office;
Simply replacing every incumbent with
the next in line for their position,
from within their own party, would
help.
@ 42. jb: Bankrupt System
Soon to be reopened, under new management;
End Game, distract, delay, hold on to power
until the Crash, then use the Crisis as an
excuse to create the Re-United States, with
the same Bosses in permanent control.
@59. Dale: A few bad apples
Who were immediately fired,
even though they had done nothing wrong.
Who worked for a National Corporation
Sep 18, 2009 - 10:05 am 63. Tom Holsinger:with a culture of corruption; There is
sure to be a written Ethics guideline;
What does it say about funding
child prostitution ?
ACORN is a classic racketeering enterprise whose chief form of income is fraud on the government – federal, state and local. The predicate RICO acts are chiefly interstate wire fraud (i.e., email). ACORN bought protection from prosecution by sharing with the federal, state and local Democratic parties. I.e., there is a national racketeering enterprise comprised of ACORN and the Democratic politicians who protect it.
If ACORN is so unwise as to sue Fox and/or BigGovernment.com for defamation, its senior officers will be in great risk of premature death because the ensuing civil discovery process will gut the Democratic party. Too many of its senior elective and appointive office-holders with real power have non-trivial criminal exposure risks due to being co-conspirators with ACORN in this long-standing racketeering enterprise.
Sep 18, 2009 - 10:14 am 64. Michael:Give it up guys. ACORN is if not a criminal organization is at least a fatally flawed corporate entity. Your supposition that the tapes are doctored is unsupported and just wishful thinking on your part just as all their voter fraud investigations.
Next point. Community organizer is an odious phrase. Whatever it started as it is now a byword for a partisan political action group. If ACORN continues after the house cleaning so deservedly needs then it must be treated as a political action committee.
Sep 18, 2009 - 10:47 am 65. Sapwolf:This would be a great issue to tackle at the state and local level.
The Tea Party Movement in one sense is an anti-ACORN movement too.
Sep 18, 2009 - 11:03 am 66. Sebastian Shaw:Michael (#64), ACORN is a non-profit entity; hence, it’s status to be supposedly non-partisan & status to receive tax payer money from the federal government. However, ACORN is a pervasive corrupt organization & quite partisan. Partisan meaning they support Democrats only. This alone betrays their status as a non-profit. However, their own corruption will bring down many Democrats as the ACORNS hatch into Harpies. The fact remains that these journalists can simply record to show ACORN’s corruption is evidence enough.
Bertha Lewis has said many contradictory things about the videos & none of them are consistent (hence the contradictions). I hope ACORN does sue Fox News. The discovery will lead to more Harpies for ACORN & the Democrats.
Sep 18, 2009 - 12:03 pm 67. William:Defund ACORN? Forget it. The bills passed by the Senate and House covered separate issues, purposefully. Now these bills will go through the labyrinth of Congressional committes, rules, procedures, etc. until any legislation that might be suitable for the President’s signature will be either buried in the congressional wilderness or hopefully (by Obama) forgotten. This is typical of a Congress not wanting to do anything to upset their base and because they think we are stupid.
Sep 18, 2009 - 1:11 pm 68. Bohemond:39 2face:
The problem here is that goups like ACORN and corrupt politicians, mostly leftists, have successfully prevented any sort of meaninful provisions against vote fraud being implemented.
Sep 18, 2009 - 2:36 pm 69. Gringo:29 Look sAskance
It is a lack of integrity on your part to put words into the mouths of others that they did not say.
Sep 18, 2009 - 9:42 pm 70. EyesOpened:ACORN drops tarnished name and moves to silence critics. NEW NAME = COI
“The new name will let ACORN leaders continue their operations without worrying about prior bad publicity, according to Marcel Reid of ACORN 8, a group of present and former members.”
“Wade Rathke, who founded the organization, announced on his blog that ACORN International has officially changed its name to “Community Organizations International.”
see the whole article at:
Sep 19, 2009 - 5:22 pm 71. Charles Kirtley:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2339896/posts
Little, if anything, will happen to ACORN. After a name change, a few firings, and an “investigation” or two, everything will go back to normal. In case you white racists haven’t noticed, ACORN is a largely black organization. Whites have had their turn at the trough, now it’s the blacks’ turn.
Sep 20, 2009 - 4:44 am 72. Now and Then:71. Charles Kirtley:
Little, if anything, will happen to ACORN. After a name change, a few firings, and an “investigation” or two, everything will go back to normal. :
Blackwater much?
Sep 20, 2009 - 9:02 am