ACORN trapped, congressmen cornered

Faux News ACORN investigation--Boom goes the dynamite!

You've seen the slobbering and heard the wailing over the scandalous ACORN video, the one where the ACORN employee "admits" to killing her husband. It's given certain on air personalities on FAUX fits. They've used it mercilessly this week to smear ACORN.

Yeah, that video? They were punk'd!

According to Media Matters and Crooks and Liars, both of whom have excellent video of the FOX News talking heads blathering over this hidden camera tape, the ACORN employee pretty much figured out why the people were filming and decided to, as they say in England, "Have them on."

She just kept inventing wilder and wilder claims, all of which FOX ran with without checking. Her husband is alive and well, something according to Media Matters:

"A reporter right out of J-school would have taken the two minutes necessary to call the San Bernardino Police Department and verify Ms. Kaelke's statements. But that never occurred to anyone at Fox News before the network ran with the story. This kind of shameful work raises serious questions about the legitimacy of the entire campaign currently being waged against ACORN."

More info here:

http://mediamatters.org/press/releases/200909160021

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/fox-gets-punkd-acorn-volunteer-knew

Oops!

OK, you can go ahead and laugh now

The average Faux viewer doesn't care if they make stuff up. As long as it makes a repetitious point that the Wingnuts can learn to salivate hate for on demand. It's all good for them.

If only we had known sooner that all the problems in our country were caused by the all powerfull ACORN! Look at the power this massive criminal conmspiracy has! They are solely at faulty for the banking meltdown. The banks and Wall Street were powerless against them! They have contrrolled every election through massive vote fraud. hey destroyed New Orleans. The hookers David Vitter used? Supplied by ACORN. ACORN outed Valerie Plame. ACORN has Saddam's WMD's and are going to supply them to Iran. Who was on the gressy knoll? ACORN. Who let the dogs out? ACORN. Who took the last cookie from the cookie jar? You guessed it. ACORN! They're everywhere! Be afraid! your neighbors are ACORN, your relatives are ACORN, the mailman is ACORN. Trust no one!

The ACORN offices of Brooklyn, Baltimore, Washington, San Bernadino, San Diego, to date, have all had employees, working on the job, in publicly funded offices and offering services of how to develop a criminal enterprise involving the human trafficking of young girls into the United States to be used for sexual purposes.

Forget the two filmmakers were escorted out of the Philadelphia office–just because individuals in one office refused to be involved with criminal activity doesn’t excuse the the individuals in FIVE OTHER OFFICES who were engaged in that type of criminal activity. It still indicates a rampant amount of criminal activity occurring in the Offices of ACORN.

One has to wonder how much of the over $50,000,000 of public funding, during the past fifteen years, has gone toward supporting and co-conspiring to engage in criminal enterprises?

One has to wonder where the root of the problem exists…with attorneys such as President Obama, who represented ACORN in the past and who has worked to get them over $800,000,000 in funding from the Democrat Party to support the “Get out the Vote” for his campaign?

Is the problem House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her weak stance on organized predatorial sex acts against minors who stated:
“It’s up to the Appropriations Committee to scrutinize Acorn or any other group that receives money from the federal government that has such an allegation against it."?

Is the problem many California Democrat Congressional members who still voted for ACORN to be funded and who didn’t view slavery and human trafficking of young girls for sexual purposes to be “an issue"?

Its time to vote all the bums out, from those who associated with the organization, to those that represented the organization, to those that justify the organization and minimize the acts of violence against women to those that see an individual shouting “You Lie” to the President is far more a serious act than enslaving children and trafficking them for purposes of prostitutions.

If Republicans want to get to the root of the problem...let's ban money. Really, money is the reason greedy Republicans are in congress....Money is the reaons the greedy banks made the loans to underqualified applicants.....money was the reason the greedy ACORN workers filed false registration cards, which ACORN rightly flagged when handing them over to the government.

So there Republicans, I just saved you all kinds of time in figuring out the problems. We can either stop being greedy or ban money...anything short of that is just plain stupid talk.

As FOX News.com reports, with some apparent glee today: "Republicans now have the firepower to run ads highlighting this vote, saying: "This lawmaker voted against defunding ACORN."

Fair and balanced. Guffaw.

Well ... this just goes to so that reality-based policy making will continue to take a back seat to truthiness and passion plays in the GOP for the foreseeable future.

Republicans have clearly decided that this a neat way to distract people and create a counter-narrative, which will excuse the GOP's role in creating the current economic mess. This ACORN deal is slight-of-hand that turns the GOP and the Bush Administration into passive victims of a dark, vicious conspiracy by the Democrats. And it tries to redirect the public's rage away from their own malfeasance onto Obama.

Very cute. Very clever.

Will it work? Who knows? Maybe it only needs to work well enough and rally the GOP's base. Trafficking in made-up facts, conspiracy theories and bogus investigations worked just fine back in the 1990's.

And look where it took us as a nation.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9mYCU0mH7w

It never ceases to amaze how the rightwing absolutely refuses to deal with reality. There has been absolutely no evidence whatsoever that anyone voted illegally because Mickey Mouse was registered by ACORN. Not only is there no evidence for ACORN having anything to do with the subprime mortgages, but the people who were actually issuing subprime mortgages were not the banks, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or anyone else subject to the antiredlining laws. They were issued by the big Republican funders on Wall Street. But the facts were never something that the rightwing was comfortable with and this episode is no different.

What Bonehead is trying to do is prevent anyone from registering people to vote because most people today are going to vote Democratic. For that reason he is trying to eviscerate an organization that has been working for the human rights of the poor and working class. Since these two groups are not exactly in the Republican party, Republicans want to make sure they are kept under heel.

This nothing more than Repuglican politico's proving once again that they are nothing more than bought and paid for political prostitutes for corporate America.

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.

All of those corporate interests employ armies of lobbyists and bottomless donor activities that ensure they dominate our legislative and regulatory processes, and to be extra certain, the revolving door between industry and government is more prolific than ever, with key corporate officials constantly ending up occupying the government positions with the most influence over those industries.

Exactly as one would expect, the prime beneficiaries of all of that pillaging continue to grow. The banks that almost brought the world economy to collapse but then received massive public largesse because they were "too big to fail" are now bigger than ever; as The Washington Post delicately put it: "The crisis may be turning out very well for many of the behemoths that dominate U.S. finance." Everything involving the government turns out well for these "behemoths" because they own and control the U.S. Government.

Oh...and maybe someone who works for near nothing will lose their job because of this sloppy reporting and Glenn Beck and his ilk are laughing all the way to the bank on the money the gullible followers are willing to part with for his "cause". I don't understand why they don't get they are being used by FOX and its "personalities" to make money.

Disgusted, corporate America provides jobs, it employs people (I know, not you and the rest of your loony left ilk), ACORN does not. Regardless that ACORN has "just" received $53 million over a 15-year period, it is still taxpayer dollars going to a crime outfit. Just because Mark Silva makes ACORN to be all fuzzy and cute, this organization actually is and has been under investigation in a multitude of states and soon-to-be more states. Child prostitution and human trafficking are not to be laughed at. (I know, I know, the Left thinks those things, especially child prostitution, are all ok.) Voter fraud is a serious crime. Mishandling of funds is a serious crime. And ACORN was in line to get as much as $8 BILLION from the Feds through the Obimbo spendulus package.

Why is Glenn Beck dressed like a Nazi on his new book cover? Is that his new look?

The FBI has a program of "integrity testing" and has had for years.

It is a cover for "getting" lawyers their masters don't like.

They send in agents, or in some instances, former clients from years ago who have gotten into trouble, and ask for a consultation. During the course of the consultation they try to entrap the target into suggesting some illegal course of action.

If the target lawyer does not unequivocally tell them, no, that is illegal, don't do that, I'm not going to be a part of anything like that, you can do what you like on your own but I'd advise you not to do that, etc. etc., and write them a letter confirming it, then they can try to build a case against the lawyer.

Acorn folk should have been aware of this.

Even if they knew the white pimp in the fur coat and whored out white coed were trying to set them up, "having them on" was not a good option.

Au contraire.

Some attorneys who have been subjected to "integrity testing" under the Ashcroft regime actually installed little video cameras in their offices as a deterrent to the "integrity testing" undercover FBI agents.

One thing you lefties seem to forget is that taxpayers are funding this organization. It's not like ACORN is some rogue group. This bunch has been funded with OUR money and they use it against the very people that they get it from. How would you like it if I asked you for $300, then bought a gun and shot you in the head? Aside from being DEAD, you'd be mad because YOU PAID ME TO SHOOT YOU. ACORN can be as evil as it wants to be standing on it's own. I for one, do NOT want MY tax dollars supporting a CRIMINAL enterprise. I also oppose SEIU, nothing more than ANOTHER arm of the ACORN scam. I REFUSE to support ANY special interest group that DOES not truly represent ALL Americans. You folks should understand this simple principal rather than mock your fellow Americans. Virtually ALL of the legislation before congress today has involvement from these groups. SEIU, The Apollo Alliance, etc...We have congress and the president pushing NOTHING but SPECIAL INTERESTS through the system. How about they represent US? C'mon people!

Seems funny how in this politically charged day......we have finally reached the time when it "is" good to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Sad times!

I read on another mainstream media site, a person commenting of how Acorn “helps” the poor.

It seemed so natural to them to advise people to lie on their tax returns and on mortgage applications. Just how many of the bad mortgages, applications filled out with false information, which later caused people to lose their houses, do you think acorn is responsible for? "Telling the truth won't get you a mortgage".

Perhaps they are primarily responsible for the crushing of the housing markets, which in turn almost caused the complete collapse of the world financial systems? How does taking someone by the hand and leading them to foreclosure "help" the poor? How does compelling people to falsify government documentation to keep pace with Acorns unreasonably demanding employee guidelines for registrations (200 cards per day, roughly one form every two minutes) "help" poor people, when they are later thrown under the bus by acorn and prosecuted for falsifying government documentation? How have they "helped" the poor?!

How much more were they in line to receive in stimulus dollars? I say not one more cent. This doesn’t even touch the fact that their employees repeatedly stepped up to the plate to assist someone in child sex slavery.

Just how many children being sold into a child sex slavery ring is approprpriate? Some of you folks here seem to have no problem with this at all! Disgraceful!

The Repuglican hypocrisy on this is so enormous it howls. The rights cries for ACORN's head are all about slamming the poor, destroying them. Notice how you don't hear the Wingnuts shouting about defunding the corporations that take REAL amounts of our tax dollars and yield REAL power and mounting serious investigations of THEM? This is just more right wing crap.

Isn't Michael Moore a "self-styled filmmaker"? It's not like you need a license.
The real story here isn't that some underpaid staffers got trapped by a hidden camera, but rather that the MSM is trying very hard to pretend there's no story. The NYT killed it's own investigation, and Clark Hoyt might be in hot water now.

Disgusted, corporate America provides jobs, it employs people (I know, not you and the rest of your loony left ilk), ACORN does not. Regardless that ACORN has "just" received $53 million over a 15-year period, it is still taxpayer dollars going to a crime outfit
Posted by: John D | September 17, 2009 5:41 PM
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Really?

Lil Johnny Droid,
If you are really dumb enough to believe that the Republicans trickle down Wall Street heroes (who destroyed our economy under Bush/Cheney) are creating jobs for you and not taking the tax cuts that Bu$hco gave them and putting them in off shore accounts then I've got a signed picture of Rush Blimpbaugh that I'd like to sell you.

Democrats were told that to even SUGGEST investigating Blackwater or Halliburton to find out where the money that vanished went was unthinkable and obsessing about the past. In fact, you know what Sen. Leahy was addressing when Dick Cheney told him to go Cheney himself? Right, exactly this issue. And inside of caving like babies, the Democrats should have told the Republicans beating up on ACORN to go Cheney themselves too. In fact, it's a phrase we should be practicing. All you disgusting, immortal, soulless righties? Go Cheney yourselves!!!!!!

Ah !! what a glorious day, to read all the posts from my old party members not being able to come to terms with the demise of a criminal enterprise in our midst. ( Al Capone would be green with envy) To see all you fools on the left defend the indefensible fills my heart with glee. I'm going to save some though for events to come, oh Charlie your day is coming, Mr. Murtha front and center... Mr. Mouilhan we haven't forgotten about you either. I'm soooo anxious to hear the 21 hrs. of speak with Rahm and Blago..... Jessie Junior is toast, maybe he can bunk up with Mr. Jefferson, and we all know there's more dirty Dems. I say let the games begin.

the akorns r bad cause Glen BeCk told me so and he nows evrything, my maw likes him to, an she be smart n stuff.

Just how many children being sold into a child sex slavery ring is approprpriate? Some of you folks here seem to have no problem with this at all! Disgraceful!

Posted by: Hope | September 17, 2009 6:58 PM
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Teresa,
Yes of course, now acorn is running a sex sting operation too!....HA ha ha!

Do you whackjob Wingnuts EVER think for yourselves or did Faux put a micro chip in your skull that constantly beams their propaganda signal directly into your brain?

- Idiots.

Jessie Junior is toast, maybe he can bunk up with Mr. Jefferson, and we all know there's more dirty Dems. I say let the games begin.

Posted by: Don B. | September 17, 2009 8:32 PM
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Hey Donny Walnuts,

What have minorities ever done to you? You need to start using that little wingnut lizard brian of yours for something other than hating on black and brown people. It's no wonder you Repugnuts can't win elections anymore.

Take it easy on those poor dumb Acorn field workers and go after their white masters ie. Radtkes, Stern and Levenson.

Acorn is just the tip of the iceberg. You need to understand the connection of Acorn/SEIU/CSI/Tide Foundation/WH Czars/Obama/Andy Stern, etc. OMG! It will make you sick. Start by learning how BO/AS/Alexrod/Emanuel destroyed the Chicago Public School system:
http://www.cdobs.com/archive/featured/andy-stern-and-marilyn-stewart-%E2%80%93seiuctu-%E2%80%93out-to-crush-chicago-school-reform-%E2%80%93-for-starters,14973
and http://libertychick.com/2009/05/08/rathke-acorn-seiu-the-tides-foundation-oh-my/

If I'd have read this article by Stanley Kurtz when he published it back in May I wouldn't have believed it.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI=#more

Ensnaring ACORN employees? "Townhall is notable for the contributions of enlightened voices"

What good is Mark Silva if not for touting the lefty line?

Mark has the Trib thought about trying a business model that doesn't involve sucking up to Obama? Something like reporting hard news? Or has it decided that it needs to remain in "The One's" good graces in hopes of a federal bailout?

Jessie Junior is toast, maybe he can bunk up with Mr. Jefferson, and we all know there's more dirty Dems. I say let the games begin.

Posted by: Don B. | September 17, 2009 8:32 PM
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Hey Donny Walnuts,

What have minorities ever done to you? You need to start using that little wingnut lizard brian of yours for something other than hating on black and brown people. It's no wonder you Repugnuts can't win elections anymore.

Posted by: kathy | September 17, 2009 9:27 PM
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He mentions 7 people and 2 of them are black, so he's "hating on black and brown people." Sounds like a perfectly reasonable, logical, intelligent assessment to me--just like most of these moronic left-wing posts.

I see Dumb Dumb Janet, er Deranged John E uttered more stupidities. Janet, dear, Wall Street employs lots of people: from traders on the floor to investment folk at your neighborhood Edward Jones office. Jewel employs people. Boeing employs people. McDonalds employs people. Blue Cross Blue Shield employs people. Ford employs people. Get the idea?
As far as Bush tax cuts, well EVERYONE got them, from the poorest to the richest. In fact, Bush made it so that the poorest NO LONGER pay a federal income tax! Also, Janet, er John E and the rest of the loons, please tell one poor person who employs someone. Rich people do employ people.

What have minorities ever done to you?
Posted by: kathy | September 17, 2009 9:27 PM

Congratulations Kathy, for showing everybody here that folks like you on the left are unable to logically debate issues without interjecting race, these people are or were engaging in unlawful activities who are under investigation by their own peers, Jefferson has been convicted. I suppose we should give them all a pass because they are "people of color", although Murtha and Molihan would be surprised they are "people of color". Yeah Kathy, it's just swell that the person who writes tax law doesn't bother declaring or paying his taxes.......oooppps there I go again, i forgot, weren't no suppose to mention "people of color" when we discuss their criminal behavior.

" janet": Seriously, do you really believe their is a source of jobs that is not corporate? Oh sure, government jobs are increasing, but they ultimately rely on the private sector to provide the tax income to fund those jobs.

You are quite wrong on the financial problems. Those were an example of the governent intervening in the market and, once again, leading us to unintended consequences. If there were CRA, then no sub prime market, no froth in the housing market, no financial crisis. Funny, Barney Frank (a major cause of the problem) has just introduced a bill to "modernize" the CRA and bring it back.

You are also wrong on Blackwater and KBR (hint, try to figure out who KBR is). KBR has been doing what it did in Iraq since the 1960's. They were a favorite of LBJ. Blackwater was brought in because the Democrats, under Clinton, significantly reduced the size of the military. Blackwater was used for protection details, hence freeing up troops for other actions.

Leahy is a weasel. Leahy had been publically taking very nasty shots at Cheney and then he ran up to Cheney and wanted to act like his best friend. I suspect you would say exactly the same thing is someone tried that on you. Leahy deserved worse.

Rick

I just love these people trying to say this was Fox News. No, this was a couple of independents doing what the "main stream" or "Elite" media were supposed to be doing in the first place. Fox is just picking up the story.

Just remember that when a rich person goes into a large bank and asks for advice on avoiding taxes that's called "investment banking" and it is highly compensated. When a poor person goes in and asks an employee of a community organisation for advice on avoiding taxes, that is a henoius crime to be investigated and prosecuted.

Where is the outrage at UBS for helping billionaires evade their taxes from the people who are so angered at ACORN? Where is their outrage at David Ritter? Oh that's right, thy are rich and poqwerful, the laws no longer apply.

Let's hope that Acorn decides to follow through with their threat to sue Fox News and journalists who filmed the Acorn employees.

A law suit would mean the claimants would have to open themselves up to discovery. Let the depositions fly!

Let's all pray that Acorn doubles-down on their stupid.

Reich Fuhrer Becky sho does look grand in dat uniform!

Herr Beck,
Yeah, I thought it was an Onion scam, but that's the cover. What a weeny.

With his movie star looks and athletic physique, you can see why Beck has struck a chord of sympathy with the average white cracker redneck down in S Carolina/Alabama/Mississippi/Texas.

Can't you?

It didn't take much to blow the ACORN house of cards over in terms of taxpayer funding.

That's how things go when they resonate with the majority.

Don't you on the left ever get tired of situational ethics? You go out on a limb constantly to defend the most corrupt politicians and their actions. The list is long: Barney Frank, Christopher Dodd, Bill Clinton, Both Chicago Mayors Daley, Sr and Jr. the Kennedys, The reverends, Al, Jesse, and Wright. Then there is the politics of Chicago. Oh, that's where the Tribune is. That sparkling, and shinning example of truth that unmasks the decades of corruption, and dirty deals of the most corrupt city in the country. You can REALLY laugh now.

Out with all of you. Out with the corrupt politicians of all and every party, their supporters and their network of media and organizations.

We the people are sick of you and your elistist attitudes. You are the ones that have gotten us where we are. You are nothing but a bunch of enablers. It is time that SOMEONE uncovers all the corruption. The media is too busy fawning over and protecting its darling Obama. Everybody else grab a camera, a cellphone and let's youtube these fools into the dust of history.

Now I remember where I started hearing the twisted logic that runs rampant through the comments by leftist bloggers and commentators. It all began:

http://www.fallacyfiles.org/twowrong.html

Two Wrongs Make a Right

Example:
The operation cost just under $500, and no one was killed, or even hurt. In that same time the Pentagon spent tens of millions of dollars and dropped tens of thousands of pounds of explosives on Viet Nam, killing or wounding thousands of human beings, causing hundreds of millions of dollars of damage. Because nothing justified their actions in our calculus, nothing could contradict the merit of ours.
Source: Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, from his memoir Fugitive Days, defending a bombing attack by the Weathermen on the Pentagon. Quoted in "Radical Chic Resurgent", by Timothy Noah, Slate, 8/22/2001.

Analysis

Exposition:
This fallacy involves the attempt to justify a wrong action by pointing to another wrong action. Often, the other wrong action is of the same type or committed by the accuser, in which case it is the subfallacy Tu Quoque. Attempting to justify committing a wrong on the grounds that someone else is guilty of another wrong is clearly a Red Herring, because if this form of argument were cogent, one could justify anything―always assuming that there is another wrong to point to, which is a very safe assumption.

ACORN for the little guy?

ACORN sued the state of California to get out of paying its own employees the minimum wage, and even fought their efforts to create a union.

Just a real compassionate group.

A

Community

Of

Real

Nutjobs

Mark, your article is so saturated with left wing doctrine that you vilify people for merely exposing a thoroughly corrupt enterprise. You say ACORN is... “a national organization that helps impoverished people find housing.” You forgot to mention; ACORN uses strong arm tactics on lending institutions to approve loans to unqualified borrowers, most of which are now in foreclosure and compounding the housing crisis. ACORN is to the housing industry as HAMMAS is to the free breakfast program in Gaza. Both claim they are helping the poor.
Also you never explain why, if ACORN is doing such great charitable work they need taxpayer money. I would think they can raise all they need from private donations.
You call the two investigative journalists…“a pair of conservative vigilantes with a video camera ensnaring a few ACORN employees in some bizarre conversations has jeopardized the federal funding of a group that aids the poor, with more than 700 employees.”
In your view NBC, ABC, CBS can perform investigative journalism on significant topics but these folks are vigilantes. I might add that no one has ever seen the ACORN books so we don’t know what the ACORN employees do, what they are paid, and if a criminal specialty is required for employment.
Lastly, you infer it’s a bad thing that a bipartisan vote has cut funding to ACORN. I infer you believe helping folks open brothels staffed with children is a worthy task for a taxpayer supported organization. Seven members in the Senate and 75 members in the House of Representatives apparently believe this too and can explain their votes in favor of retaining funding for ACORN to their constituents.

That ersatz Nazi uniform is a hoot.

And Glen the Doughboy does remind one a bit of Ernst Rohm.

He does get a bit flighty about the wrists and histrionic, no?

He may end up the same way...

But the Bush crowd were really p***poor Nazi wannabes.

Because all they really were interested in was $$$$$.

In the final analysis.

All that "warnterr" and protect-the-homeland crap was, ah, just crap.

Unlike the real Nazis, the true believers....

They would have dispensed with the whole Bush crew the way Hitler did with Rohm.....

Mark, scantily clad? Give me a break. You sound like a conservative columnist from 1965.