Hey- someone deleted my reply post on this from yesterday. WTF!?
Anyway this isn't an isolated incident. Another ACORN office in D.C. was exposed today for the same thing. They went out of their way to help a guy figure out how to evade taxes, AND get set up to where he could import 13-15 year old girls for prostitution purposes and not get caught. They even brought in, voluntarilly, their own "tax expert" to help advise them. The full video is 49 minutes, and in it you can hear them over and over telling the guy, "We're looking out for your best interests here," while what they perceive to be a 15 year old girl is standing next to him assumingly about to be used as an underage prostitute. Community orginizing at its best people.
According to ACORN's staff in DC, a pimp is a "marketeer" or "consultant." It's okay to have 10 Salvadorean underage girls turning tricks in the house ACORN will help arrange for them, because the pimps are "just the landlord." As long as they have a profit and loss report, they have no problems.
Faj27
sorry 17sss, i deleted it because i saw someone else had already posted this topic a few hours before me.
The17sss
quote:
Originally posted by Faj27
sorry 17sss, i deleted it because i saw someone else had already posted this topic a few hours before me.
ok oh... sorry man I didn't even realize this was a different thread. :p
The17sss
the silence is deafening on this topic. Acorn now busted in D.C., Maryland, NY, California.... and Andrew Breitbart has more videos coming out next week including what he calls "a blockbuster that's going to come out of left field."
Can't wait to see what that means. The irony is that this piece of community orgainzation group operates on tax dollars, and seems to have a systemic issue offering advice on how to avoid paying taxes. Not to mention the 1.3 million fradulent votes they were forced to purge from their roles during the election, and the 12 different branch offices currently under indictment for voter and tax fraud.
Brahman
News flash, nobody gives a (except for Republicans scraping the bottom of the barrel for a scandal). If this is all Republicans can come up with, Democrats should have no problem with the 2012 election..:stongue:
Groundhog Boy
Hasn't the government cut funding? What the else do you want?
And not to undermine the obvious problems, but the reason that no one cares is because it's a few bad apples working for a non-profit. It's hilarious how people try to make the actions of a few individuals emblematic of an entire organization. I mean, I think the left's view of AIG, banks, etc. is way over the top, since they don't recognize all the good work done that isn't problematic, but quite productive. I would expect you to see the same on both topics.
The17sss
quote:
Originally posted by Groundhog Boy
Hasn't the government cut funding? What the else do you want?
And not to undermine the obvious problems, but the reason that no one cares is because it's a few bad apples working for a non-profit. It's hilarious how people try to make the actions of a few individuals emblematic of an entire organization. I mean, I think the left's view of AIG, banks, etc. is way over the top, since they don't recognize all the good work done that isn't problematic, but quite productive. I would expect you to see the same on both topics.
a few bad apples? It is a systemic problem obviously. and the videos haven't even stopped coming. it is amusing that because the past-tense....er... main stream media doesn't cover it, it's not news. I wonder why that is- perhaps because Obama used to be an attorney for them and is fully tied to their community organizing. christ.
MisterOpus1
quote:
Originally posted by The17sss
a few bad apples? It is a systemic problem obviously. and the videos haven't even stopped coming. it is amusing that because the past-tense....er... main stream media doesn't cover it, it's not news. I wonder why that is- perhaps because Obama used to be an attorney for them and is fully tied to their community organizing. christ.
Silence is deafening on this issue? A systemic problem, "obviously"?
Maybe because you attach yourself so quickly and easily to the bull you listen to on AM radio and read in the ing Limbaugh Letter that you lose sight of a little perspective on this. So let's put things in a bit of perspective:
quote:
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. Just this week, The Post detailed how the government and Wall St. are now so intertwined that banking executives are spending vast resources to increase their presence in Washington:
(snip)As previously documented, Goldman Sachs itself has a virtual lock on the top Treasury positions no matter which party is in power. The vaunted bipartisan "Baucus plan" was literally written by a Baucus aide who just left her position as Vice President of Wellpoint to write the health care reform plan for the Senate -- a revelation which barely caused a ripple. And the Supreme Court is on the verge of striking down the few limits on corporate involvement in our politics, a ruling which may (or may not be) constitutionally defensible but which will flood American politics with so much corporate money that it will give new meaning to the term "oligarchy."
So with this massive pillaging of America's economic security and the control of American government by its richest and most powerful factions growing by the day, to whom is America's intense economic anxiety being directed? To a non-profit group that devotes itself to providing minute benefits to people who live under America's poverty line, and which is so powerless in Washington that virtually the entire U.S. Senate just voted to cut off its funding at the first sign of real controversy -- could anyone imagine that happening to a key player in the banking or defense industry?
Apparently, the problem for middle-class and lower-middle-class Americans is not that their taxpayer dollars are going to prop up billionaires, oligarchs and their corrupt industries. It's that America's impoverished -- a group that is growing rapidly -- is getting too much, has too much power and too little accountability. Anonymous Liberal has a superb post on the manipulative inanity of the Fox-generated ACORN "scandal" (h/t D-day):
quote:
Let's take a step back and consider just what ACORN is. It is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower and improve the lives of poor people. As with many other organizations, ACORN has a number of legally distinct parts, each of which has different sources of funding and engages in different kinds of activities (ACORN's conservative enemies routinely conflate these various parts to imply that ACORN is using federal money for improper political purposes). Since its founding the 70s, ACORN and its employees and volunteers have fought successfully to, among other things, increase minimum wages across the country, increase the quality of public education in poor areas, and protect people from predatory lending practices. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, ACORN helped rebuild thousands of homes and assisted victims in relocating and finding housing outside of New Orleans. The ACORN activity that has drawn the most conservative ire is its voter registration efforts which, consistent with ACORN's mission, are primarily aimed at low-income voters (who tend to vote Democratic). . . .
But even if you take these film-makers at face value and assume the worst, the reality is that ACORN has thousands of employees and the vast majority of them spend their days trying to help poor people through perfectly legal means (and receive very little compensation for doing so). Even before yesterday's Senate vote, the amount of federal money that went to ACORN was very small. This is a relatively insignificant organization in the grand scheme of things, but it's an organization that has unquestionably fought over the years to improve the lives of the less fortunate in this country.
That the GOP and its conservative supporters would single out this particular organization for such intense demonization is telling. In September of last year, the entire world came perilously close to complete financial catastrophe. We're still not out of the woods and we're deep within one of the worst recessions in U.S. history. This situation was brought about by the recklessness and greed of our banks and financial institutions, most of which had to be bailed out at enormous cost to the American taxpayer (exponentially more than all of the tax dollars given to ACORN over the years). The people who brought about this near catastrophe, for the most, profited immensely from it. These very same institutions, propped up by the American taxpayer, are once again raking in large profits.
But rather than focus their anger on these folks, conservatives choose to go after an organization composed almost entirely of low-paid community organizers, an organization that could never hope to have even a small fraction of the clout or the ability to affect the overall direction of the country that Wall Street bankers have. ACORN's relative lack of political influence was on full display yesterday, when the U.S. Senate (in which Democrats have a supermajority) not only entertained a vote to defund ACORN, but approved it by a huge margin (with only seven Democrats opposing).
If one were to watch Fox News or listen to Rush Limbaugh -- as millions do -- one would believe that the burden of the ordinary American taxpayer, and the unfair plight of America's rich, is that their money is being stolen by the poorest and most powerless sectors of the society. An organization whose constituencies are often-unregistered inner-city minorities, the homeless and the dispossesed is depicted as though it's Goldman Sachs, Blackwater, and Haillburton combined, as though Washington officials are in thrall to those living in poverty rather than those who fund their campaigns. It's not the nice men in the suits doing the stealing but the very people, often minorities or illegal immigrants, with no political or financial power who nonetheless somehow dominate the government and get everything for themselves. The poorer and weaker one is, the more one is demonized in right-wing mythology as all-powerful receipients of ill-gotten gains; conversely, the stronger and more powerful one is, the more one is depicted as an oppressed and put-upon victim (that same dynamic applies to foreign affairs as well).
It's such an obvious falsehood -- so counter-intuitive and irrational -- yet it resonates due to powerful cultural manipulations. Most of all, what's so pernicious about all of this is that the same interests who are stealing, pillaging and wallowing in corruption are scapegoating the poorest and most vulnerable in order to ensure that the victims of their behavior are furious with everyone except for them.
UPDATE: John Cole highlights what might be the most telling aspect of all of this: demands for a "Special Prosecutor" into Obama's so-called "relationship with ACORN" from the very same circles that vehemently objected to investigations into torture, illegal government spying, politicized prosecutions, military contractor theft, Lewis Libby's obstruction of justice, and virtually every other instance of Bush-era criminality. Those, of course, are the very same people who, before that, demanded endless inquiries into Whitewater and Vince Foster's "murder." There's nothing more valuable than petty, dramatic "scandals" to distract attention from what is actually taking place.
So taken in full perspective on what exactly we're dealing with here and how much is given by the government to this organization, all I have to say is in' puleease.
The17sss
quote:
Originally posted by MisterOpus1
Silence is deafening on this issue? A systemic problem, "obviously"?
Maybe because you attach yourself so quickly and easily to the bull you listen to on AM radio and read in the ing Limbaugh Letter that you lose sight of a little perspective on this. So let's put things in a bit of perspective.
So taken in full perspective on what exactly we're dealing with here and how much is given by the government to this organization, all I have to say is in' puleease.
Yes lets put it in perspective, and pay attention to the facts, which I know get in the way of the Left's template to sweep all things negative towards Obama/Democrats under the rug. Their history of voter fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement, goes back a lot further than this year. So, yes it is obvious that it's a systemic problem... obvious to those who read publications outside of MoveOn.org, the HuffPo, and Kos. For instance:
1) They take 40% of their revenues from taxpayers. Read this article with factual links to their fradulent voter registration dealings and how their money tree operates... and this was just as of 2004! http://www.nationalreview.com/comme...00410311142.asp
3) Forced to purge 1.3 million votes from their roles in 2008 nationwide. Pleaded guilty in Seattle for voter fraud (largest case uncovered in Washington's history), and have been indicted for the same in Ohio, New Mexico, Missouri, and 7 more states. This is 2007. And right after the Seattle conviction, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) offered a bill to give them more money. wtf? http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ht...syndication=rss
5) Obama's campaigned funneled an $800,000 payment to an ACORN front group called "Citizen Services, Inc." for "campaign advance work"... which Obama's administration says is no big deal. Yet once uncovered he had to "amend" the financial report because they were "mistaken" as to the services CSI would provide. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pit...n/s_584284.html
7) NY Times story which was buried until right after the election, even though the reporter pushed for it to be in print well before that... exposing the illegality of ACORN's "project vote" and its ties to Obama's people. http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=h...Q3EfhQ7EeuyQ5CV
It just goes on an on and on.... again, all of the above doesn't even include the videos that came out last week, or the new ones coming out this week- they were never turned away from any offices in which they entered asking for illegal help. I bet you haven't even watched the videos. It is a systemic problem undoubtedly, and ACORN needs to be completely dissolved as an organiztion.
What's disturbing is that Obama is so closely tied with them. And you supporters of Obama seem to be ok with this, damn the facts and examples that keep coming out. He said on Stephanopolis' morning show today that "I didn't even know ACORN was getting a whole lot of Federal money." BULL!!!!! There is over $8 BILLION in earmarked money for ACORN in the stimulus bill.
Wake up man.
Groundhog Boy
quote:
Originally posted by The17sss
Yes lets put it in perspective, and pay attention to the facts, which I know get in the way of the Left's template to sweep all things negative towards Obama/Democrats under the rug. Their history of voter fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement, goes back a lot further than this year. So, yes it is obvious that it's a systemic problem... obvious to those who read publications outside of MoveOn.org, the HuffPo, and Kos. For instance:
Would you like to explain how voter fraud has anything to do with the videos above?
I won't go Opus's route with the comparisons to Wall Street, because I don't agree with that, either, but stop trying to make mountains out of molehills.
