House Votes to Suspend Acorn Funds After Video Uproar

[we vs us]

If we decided to audit the effectiveness of every nonprofit grant we make it right now -- regardless of size -- based on the some screwed up ACORN reps in field offices around the country, we're in for a hep of trouble.  The manner in which this was pursued was pretty shady, and undoubtedly partisan.  Regardless of whether ACORN objectively needs to be cut off or not (and I think it probably does) this is inseparable from the partisanship with which it was pursued.  It doesn't matter if moderate GOPers think it wasn't partisan; it's perceived by enough Dems to be that it would start a flat out war. 

My point isn't that it should be ignored because it's a lib cause; my point is that it just doesn't merit being top of the pile right now, especially because regardless of the savings we might find, we'd stand to lose much more in national morale.

Red Arrow:  I find their methods distasteful.  Just like I find a lot of Michael Moore's gotcha stuff to be distasteful.  Hell, just like I find "To Catch a Child Predator" distasteful.  It's too close to entrapment for me.

[Gaspar]

I believe ACORN is necessary because Pimpin aint easy.

[sgrizzle]

I believe ACORN is necessary because Pimpin aint easy.

That's why Pimps need Acorn.

[Conan71]

Hmmm, low friends in high places:

Conyers started an investigation then abruptly dropped it.  Maybe POTUS Obama will have better luck

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aZ8U4iOoY83w

"Last March, Democratic Representative John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, initiated a probe into Acorn's activities, only to back off. In May, he issued a statement saying, "Based on my review of the information regarding the complaints against Acorn, I have concluded that a hearing on this matter appears unwarranted at this time." In June, he explained, "The powers that be decided against it."

Although Conyers refrained from revealing which powers he had yielded to, John Fund reported in a recent Wall Street Journal column that a Republican representative's six attempts to call a House vote to restrict Acorn's federal funding were stopped by Speaker "Nancy Pelosi's hand-picked Rules Committee members."

Inquiry Stopped

The stonewalling of Conyers wasn't the first time that "the powers that be" called off investigations of Acorn.

In 2008, Acorn's national board assigned two members, Karen Inman and Marcel Reid, to conduct an internal investigation of allegations that the brother of an Acorn founder had embezzled almost $1 million. As part of the inquiry, Inman and Reid sought access to the group's books. They were then dismissed from the board and stripped of their membership, shutting down the internal inquiry, according to a CNN report."



http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g5I6tDiLF17oQUvXCSsqWXxeLNoAD9ARFH9O0

"California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, pressed Lewis to reveal more about the group's operations.

"The bottom line is, there's no transparency in ACORN," said Issa, who also was on Fox.

"Here we have literally hundreds of organizations tied under the ACORN umbrella, and you can't even find out what their incorporation is, whether they pay taxes, who makes what," Issa said.

Lewis said she has made sure, since becoming chief executive last year, that affiliates have "firewalls" between them. "I've completely overhauled all of our finances, all of our controls," she said.

She also said founder Wade Rathke was fired immediately after it was discovered his brother, Dale, stole nearly $1 million from the organization nine years ago. In fact, Wade Rathke learned of the embezzlement in 2000, told only a few people but failed to report the embezzlement to law enforcement. An anonymous donor compensated the group for the missing money."


Let's hear some more apologies and justification from the left on this.  What transgression of the GOP or it's pet groups is going to make all this little flap with ACORN okay?

[Red Arrow]

Red Arrow:  I find their methods distasteful.  Just like I find a lot of Michael Moore's gotcha stuff to be distasteful.  Hell, just like I find "To Catch a Child Predator" distasteful.  It's too close to entrapment for me.

I find methods bordering on entrapment distasteful no matter who uses them.

[Cats Cats Cats]

Again, I am all for people paying their taxes on all their income.  Even if it is illegal.

[FOTD]

Co Co, try this on...

BREAKING: Media Matters uncovers deep RedState.org/ACORN connections

"Today Media Matters for America officially confirms the breaking, bombshell, news that the conservative blog RedState.org has deep, shadowy connections with ACORN, the organizing group for low- and moderate-income communities.

How absolutely scandalous. This, I fear, is only the beginning. Just look at all of the authors now unmistakably tied to ACORN... prominent conservative like Haley Barbour, Michael Barone, William J. Bennett, Tony Blankley, Pat Buchanan, Jerome Corsi, Ann Coulter, Dinesh D'Souza, Steve Forbes, Newt Gingrich, Bernard Goldberg, Denny Hastert, Hugh Hewitt, David Horowitz, Laura Ingraham, Wayne LaPierre, G. Gordon Liddy, Rich Lowry, Michelle Malkin, Oliver North, Ted Nugent, Mitt Romney, Bill Sammon, Mark Steyn and R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. among many, many others including numerous conservative Senators and Members of Congress and the likes of Gary Bauer, L. Brent Bozell III, Larry Elder, Terry Jeffrey, Charles Krauthammer, Larry Kudlow, Bill O'Reilly, Tony Perkins, Michael Reagan, Rick Scott and John Stossel. "

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200909230030

ACORN is all about diversionary politics.

[FOTD]

Rachel Maddow deserves a journalism prize for this reporting.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x377131

The GOP is a bunch of paranoid punks....and the Dims are a bunch of idiots for following their lead.

[FOTD]

Oh the irony....

US Chamber Shuts off TheYesMen.org and Websites of Hundreds of Other Activist Groups

Free Speech, Free Commerce Threatened by "Free Trade" Champion


WASHINGTON - October 23 - Hundreds of activist organizations had their internet service turned off last night after the US Chamber of Commerce strong-armed an upstream provider, Hurricane Electric, to pull the plug on The Yes Men and May First / People Link, a 400-member-strong organization with a strong commitment to protecting free speech.

"This is a blow against free speech, and it demostrates in gory detail the full hypocrisy of the Chamber," said Andy Bichlbaum of The Yes Men. "The only freedom they care about is the economic freedom of large corporations to operate free of the hassles of science, reality, and democracy."

After suffering embarrassment at the hands of the Yes Men on Monday, the Chamber immediately threatened legal action, then followed through Thursday by sending a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice to Hurricane Electric Internet Services. In the DMCA notice, the Chamber claimed that the parody Chamber website operated by The Yes Men constituted copyright infringement, and demanded that the site be shut down immediately and that the creator's service be canceled.

But the Yes Men are not served directly by Hurricane Electric, but by May First / People Link. And when Hurricane Electric shut down the fake Chamber of Commerce site (now relocated), they also took down the websites of 400 other organizations.

May First / People Link fought back. They immediately "mirrored" the site, and then quickly negotiated with Hurricane Electric to restore service to their other members.

"The DMCA attacks the critically important right we have to effectively comment and criticize institutions and companies," said May First/People Link Co-Director Alfredo Lopez. "It's an undemocratic, backwards law, a perfect example of how the government shouldn't intrude on our lives. But the Chamber was perfectly happy to use it to stomp on the Yes Men's rights to free spech, and the rights of hundreds of other organizations to operate on the web."

The 400 May First / People Link members weren't the only victims of the Chamber's action on Thursday. Today is the start of the national release of the Yes Men's new film, The Yes Men Fix the World. The film is being released in a number of independent theaters - who, not being part of a chain, are heavily dependent on the Yes Men website for selling tickets to the film. The Chamber's actions thus impinge on the ability of these small businesses to turn a profit.

"The Chamber claims to represent 3 million businesses of every size, yet their actions undermined a fair number of small businesses," said Mike Bonanno of the Yes Men. "The Chamber is clearly much less interested in actual freedom, economic or otherwise, than in the license of their largest members to operate free from the scientific consensus." (The Chamber has opposed or refused to endorse a climate bill, the absurdity of which the Yes Men's Monday action was designed to highlight.)

This isn't the first time a Yes Men site has found itself targeted by a DMCA complaint brought by a large corporation. The Yes Men have in the past received DMCA notices from Exxon, Dow Chemical, DeBeers, and the New York Times. In each case, the the Yes Men (represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation) refused to comply, and prevailed. Even the George W. Bush campaign sent a complaint to try to interrupt service to GWBush.com, in 2000, resulting in extensive ridicule that culminated in Bush's mind-boggling gaffe that "There ought to be limits to freedom."

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/10/23-5

[nathanm]

Well, back to the topic, apparently the videographers were in fact lying.

Not only did the investigation clear ACORN of any wrongdoing aside from being unprofessional in even responding to Giles and O'Keefe, but they found that the audio portion of the video had been dubbed over in several places, so we don't even know what Giles and O'Keefe said to the ACORN workers to prompt their responses.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/07/AR2009120703985.html

"We did not find a pattern of intentional, illegal conduct by ACORN staff involved; in fact, no action, illegal or otherwise, was ever taken by any ACORN employee on behalf of the videographers," Harshbarger said in a statement.

Shocking that some Young Republicans would follow the Limbaugh/Beck/Hannity/O'Reilly model so closely and just make smile up.

Edited to add: And for your perusal, a link to the full report: http://www.proskauer.com/files/uploads/report2.pdf

[guido911]

Well, back to the topic, apparently the videographers were in fact lying.

Not only did the investigation clear ACORN of any wrongdoing aside from being unprofessional in even responding to Giles and O'Keefe, but they found that the audio portion of the video had been dubbed over in several places, so we don't even know what Giles and O'Keefe said to the ACORN workers to prompt their responses.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/07/AR2009120703985.html

Shocking that some Young Republicans would follow the Limbaugh/Beck/Hannity/O'Reilly model so closely and just make smile up.

Edited to add: And for your perusal, a link to the full report: http://www.proskauer.com/files/uploads/report2.pdf

That was an INTERNAL investigation that ACORN commissioned. ACORN cleared ACORN, what a surprise. Still, if Giles and O'Keefe lied, why did ACORN fire several of its employees?

[nathanm]

That was an INTERNAL investigation that ACORN commissioned. ACORN cleared ACORN, what a surprise. Still, if Giles and O'Keefe lied, why did ACORN fire several of its employees?

Because they were obviously idiots for even responding to the Young Republicans.

Note that the report did point out several issues with training and other HR functions.

If Giles and O'Keefe's video was accurate, why did they feel the need to fake their questions to the employees? And if ACORN was as bad as you seem to think it is, why did the employees not take any action on their requests and why did many offices call the police on them?

[guido911]

Because they were obviously idiots for even responding to the Young Republicans.

Note that the report did point out several issues with training and other HR functions.

If Giles and O'Keefe's video was accurate, why did they feel the need to fake their questions to the employees? And if ACORN was as bad as you seem to think it is, why did the employees not take any action on their requests and why did many offices call the police on them?

Care to source any of those assertions?  Nevermind. ACORN good, Giles/O'Keefe bad.

[nathanm]

Care to source any of those assertions?  Nevermind. ACORN good, Giles/O'Keefe bad.

Read the report.

[guido911]

I can only assume you are referring to the 47 page report, specifically pages 11-14 (or thereabouts) when the author discusses the edits to the videos. I did not see the word "lying" (in any connection much less towards Giles and O'Keefe) or that these two were "mak[ing] smile up" anywhere in those pages as you stated--unless you are referring to their  story that they were a pimp and prostitute looking for help which of course would be ridiculous. Since you most assuredly read the entire report before you posted (as opposed to just reading a news article that discussed the report or read something on a lefty website), could you direct me to where specifically in the report the author says they in fact were lying or that otherwise supports your suggestion that they were making smile up?