Posted on 09/17/2009 4:49:53 AM PDT by Kaslin
I would not go see the film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" because I found more cruelty than humor in deliberately exposing unwitting civilians to the easy ridicule of smug sophomores.
Now the right has its own Borat-style entertainment. Equipped with a video camera, conservative activists James O'Keefe, 25, and Hannah Giles, 20, sought the answer to this question: "What if a 'prostitute' and her alleged law school boyfriend walk into ACORN seeking housing for an underage brothel to fund his future congressional campaign?"
The answer, they discovered, was that some of the folks who work at ACORN (the left-leaning Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) were overly adept at looking the other way -- even after O'Keefe and Giles told them that Salvadoran girls as young as 12 would be working as prostitutes in their brothel.
One ACORN worker told the couple they could list the under-aged prostitutes as dependents "because they live in your house, especially if they're under 16." Some organizers emphasized that it was not their job to judge others. A Baltimore worker tried to sign up the couple as dues-paying ACORN members.
ACORN has reacted by charging that the videotapes were "doctored" and charged O'Keefe and Giles with trolling for damning material. ACORN also claims the couple is not airing tape from offices where they were shown the door. The Philadelphia Daily News, for example, reported that the local ACORN office kicked out O'Keefe and Giles and filed a police report.
On Saturday, ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis said in a statement that she would not defend actions of the now-fired workers. She also charged that O'Keefe and Giles broke the law -- "and we will be taking legal action against Fox (News) and their co-conspirators."
But what of CNN and other new organizations that have reported on this story? The prank is paying off. On Friday, U.S. census director Robert M. Groves terminated the bureau's (nonpaying) partnership agreement with ACORN.
On Monday, the Senate voted 83-7 for a measure by Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., to prohibit granting federal housing funds to ACORN. California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer -- yes, Barbara Boxer -- voted for the measure.
This is progress. As recently as March, however, the Senate tabled an amendment banning federal funding for ACORN -- which has received $53 million directly from Uncle Sam since 1994 -- despite several state investigations into ACORN voter registration. Last year, ACORN was forced to acknowledge that election officials rejected 400,000 of the 1.3 million people the group had tried to register.
Congress should pass a measure ending federal funding for ACORN, and President Obama, who represented ACORN in a 1995 lawsuit, should sign it.
But I won't join those who are hailing the enterprising O'Keefe and Giles for doing the sort of work "60 Minutes" should have done. But there was so little fact-checking in this exercise that Fox News' Glenn Beck ran a video in which a San Bernardino ACORN organizer said she had killed her husband -- when she had not.
Conservatives, beware. Any activist can grab a camera, head for a church or a campaign, and record some stupid quotes. When they do -- and they will -- the right will complain that it is wrong to brand a cause by the careless comments of a handful of disciples.
The part on the under-aged prostitution ring begins about 5 minutes into the 35 min audio segment. And it continues on at about 11 mins into it (following other news).
Wrong! If a huge, federally-funded right-wing organization was arranging loans for paedophile brothels we would want them caught.
ACORN and Obama were spawned in the same swamp.
Exactly and that is the difference between us and them
Saunders is barking up the wrong tree here. I don't see how it was Beck's responsibility to verify that. It's just one more example of what sort of people are working for ACORN. There seem to be no limits to what some of them will say, or what advice, legal or otherwise, they will offer those who seek their help.
Debra J. Saunders didn't watch Beck or others. Everyone said they didn't know what to make of it. Beck said law enforcement was contacted and had no comment. Showing her saying she shot her husband made the point ACORN hires lunatics whether she did kill or husband or not.
What was Beck supposed to do? Hide that part of the tape?
If he did the left would say he hid the part proving she is delusional.
What is the matter with Saunders? She's usually brighter than this.
The corruption @ ACORN pales in comparison to the shoddy goods being marketed by the msm, which has now been clearly exposed.
Acorn is Obama.
The President is merely one of the Democrat Criminal Enterprise entities connected by a line to the center of the web of criscrossing threads of deceit and corruption.
The web and all the contents must be physically destroyed to return America as America. As long as one entity is allowed to live, it will regrow
A strong case can be made that the two young activists established the proverbial "pattern of behavior" where ACORN is concerned. I expect that is why they visited so many ACORN offices. Isn't Saunders some sort of conservative? This is a terrible column from her. Why is she trying to diminish what was accomplished?
Debra got a big “but” at the end there, and she has been expressing sympathy for the devil for years. Melanie Morgan wrote her off a long time ago.
I wonder what you’d come up with if you went out to some of the ACORN locals posing as ACORN reps, and ask if they’ve scrubbed their paperwork and briefed the workers on what to tell the investigators.
Gee, Deb, just a little pouty that the right is starting to fight by the left’s rules of engagement....
Saunders is barking up the wrong tree here. I don't see how it was Beck's responsibility to verify that. It's just one more example of what sort of people are working for ACORN. There seem to be no limits to what some of them will say, or what advice, legal or otherwise, they will offer those who seek their help.
Yes, Beck and the couple didn't claim she had killed anyone, she said it in her own words. For this guy to claim it was Beck's responsibility to verify is like saying there was a smear done on Van Jones by using his own words against them.
Beck made a disclaimer on his show and said they couldn't confirm she had actually killed anyone. That's all he needed to do to cover his butt and the couples.
BTW, Breitbart has a document on his website(biggovernment.com)that shows there is a dead husband in her background.
Not only that, one of her recent husbands(I think she has two on record)has a restraining order out against her, gotta be a reason for that.
The fact is she said it, talked about it, confessed it...and it was a falsehood? If she hadn't killed her husband, if I were him I'd be watching my back. How many other young girls has she given the murder advice too?
Monday, July 13, 2009
Michael McCray: “No one knows how much ACORN i
EXCERPT
Q: One of the complaints we’ve heard related to funding among all of the various ACORN-related entities. What were some of the more egregious activities you saw perpetrated by top management?
A: Well the multi-million embezzlement and 8 year cover up has to lead the list of egregious illegal conduct. The embezzlement was publicly reported to be $1 million, however the board was notified that the true number was at least $5 million.
Senior Staff and the Executive Committee knew about the embezzlement and covered it up for eight years.
We believe that any participated in, benefited from or knew about and withheld information about the embezzlement from the board should be terminated and/or removed from any association with ACORN. We demanded a forensic examination and independent financial audit of ACORN and all of its related entities to ferret out the wrongdoers.
Q: Mixing of non-profit funds with those of the for-profit entities has been mentioned repeatedly as an ACORN theme. How bad is or was this situation and where do you see it leading?
A: Our position is simply this – we do not believe that the national board of directors has ever been given access to ACORN’s corporate books and financial records. Thus, no one really knows how much ACORN is actually worth and how much non-profit –vs– for profit funding has flown through ACORN unless and until there is a forensic examination and independent audit. We know that all funding flowed through Citizen’s Consulting Inc. (CCI). But CCI claims to be a private company – but it is really the financial management division of ACORN.
Ultimately, their must be a forensic examination and audit of ACORN. Otherwise know one will ever know for sure how much went into ACORN, how much money was co-mingled at ACORN or how much money was embezzled from ACORN. It’s just that simple.
She sounds mad because she didn’t think of this herself.
This isn't a couple of stupid quotes, this is a pattern done over 5 different offices now and more coming. This sting wouldn't work on some one who is honest, it isn't as if the words were taken out of context, they are caught giving illegal advice too a pimp and his hooker.
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