The Cellar - ACORN

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- - ACORN (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=18380)

Redux - can you get a copy of the report mentioned here?

Quote:

Such rhetoric in the past has deflected scrutiny of Acorn tactics, such as street demonstrations and boycotts against banks to force lower credit standards for home loans, which a congressional report found contributed to the subprime loan mess.

just a few more tidbits to add:
1) Acorn was sanctioned by the National Labor Relations Board in 2003 for illegally firing workers trying to organize a union.
2) Acorn unsuccessfully sued California to be exempt from the minimum wage
3) Wade Rathke, who founded Acorn in 1970, engaged in a cover-up of a million dollar embezzlement of Acorn funds by his brother Dale, then the group's chief financial officer.
4) Acorn's allies in Congress have long stopped every move to rein it in.

5) Rep. Steve King (R) has tried six times to get House floor votes restricting Acorn's access to federal funds but has been blocked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi's hand-picked Rules Committee members. Some Democrats have grumbled.
6) John Conyers urged a hearing be held on Acorn abuses in March, but "the powers that be" decided against it.

Quote:

"MSM ignored the Van Jones story, so it now seems the same is happening with the latest ACORN situation, a story being carried only by FOX,
"If something is on FOX first, does that automatically make it anathema for the MSM lest they be thought to [be] anti-Obama?"

Seems like they are not the only ones....

Quote:

"A search of transcripts through Monday at NBC, CBS and MSNBC revealed no national TV coverage of the growing ACORN scandal."

I'm not surprised that Americans don't trust the media to cover stories responsibly or objectively. All Americans should want to hear all sides of a debate (good and bad) and learn all about it, not just the biased points selected by media elites. It’s quite TELLING when a 20 year old girl and 25 year old guy out-sleuth the entire Main Stream Media!

Lastly, I am amazed at the lack of shock or surprise shown by all the ACORN workers. They didn't even flinch when the couple told them about the prostitution ring nor bringing in children to use as sex slaves...

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These videos showed the demeanor the organization portrayed in assisting the 'young professionals'',showcasing eager and willing individuals offering them nonchalant assistance.
The videos were released from three separate locations, all with the same advice; one in Baltimore, the next in DC, and the third in Brooklyn.
Now, another video has been released.
Make that four different cities. The video, not surprisingly, contains the same exact guidance. The location this time is San Bernardino,CA . Except this time a lady admitted to shooting and killing her husband, on video.

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Lastly, I am amazed at the lack of shock or surprise shown by all the ACORN workers. They didn't even flinch when the couple told them about the prostitution ring nor bringing in children to use as sex slaves...

The one lady kept patting the girl, smiling, and telling her "You're ok!" - after the child sex slave discussion. Fuckin A.

Strange how an issue like this has drawn so much....

SILENCE

What silence? I don't watch tv news, so can't comment on them. But the major newspaper I read every day has covered it, and NPR this morning gave it more time than most of its other top stories. The federal government has cut their funding. What more do you want?

I intentionally watched some cable news shows the last few nights. All MSNBC did was attack the GOP about some other nonsensical, irrelevant crap like who called who a name. FOX, as expected since they broke the story, never stopped talking about it and there wasn't even a mention on the other three.

I didn't get to see the "nightly news" so I don't know what was on there, if anything.

Louisiana wants to see ACORN's books now, or so I heard. that should be interesting. I guess what bothers me is how you actually look at the books of an organization that has several hundred other "organizations" under it.

Part 5 is San Diego, where they meet a Mexican lawyer who has contacts in Tijuana who will help get the El Salvadorean children into the US.

OMG - This is too much. Thanks for that.

I love this "excuse"

Quote:

Christina Spach, the office supervisor at the ACORN office in San Bernardino, told the San Bernardino Sun that the woman on the tape knew the pair were joking but went along with it in part because she was alone in the office and was concerned for her safety. "Just to be clear, ACORN in not in the prostitution business," Spach told the Sun. "She was in an office all by herself. She felt unsafe in their company.

Uh, no :headshake
Joking or scared? Which is it?

Quote:

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said the state will not renew a contract with the controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), after 70 ACORN employees were convicted of crimes committed in the course of their work.

ACORN has investigations, indictments and prosecutions currently pending against it and its staff throughout the nation. The U.S. Census Bureau ended its relationship with ACORN on Sept. 11 and the U.S. Senate voted 83-7 to cut off federal funding from ACORN on Sept. 14.

ACORN has a contract with the Georgia Department of Human Services that expires at the end of September.

Perdue also issued an order preventing executive branch offices from doing business with the group and puts under review any existing ACORN contracts.

“In July, I directed my office to review all consulting contracts the state has with outside vendors to look for budget savings; that review did not identify the ACORN contract, because it does not involve state funds,” Perdue said. “The state of Georgia will not renew the contract, which expires in 13 days. Further, I have issued an executive order that prevents executive branch agencies from doing business with ACORN in the future and calls for a review of any existing contracts with ACORN.”

Link

This really belongs here.

As if it couldn't get any worse for Acorn this month....

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CEO Bertha Lewis told Fox News' Chris Wallace on Sunday that her group "absolutely pays its taxes." Not true: The IRS and Louisiana's taxmen have imposed nearly $2 million in liens against ACORN for failing to fork over taxes at its New Orleans national headquarters.
The IRS recently filed a $548,000 lien against the group, and Louisiana state tax officials have slapped $334,000 in liens on ACORN since last October.
But the tax mess shows that the lawlessness starts at its headquarters. (ACORN actually has three national HQs -- in the Big Easy, Washington, DC, and New York City.)
Another New Orleans group, the free-market Pelican Institute for Public Policy, uncovered official records that confirm ACORN's deadbeat tax status.

At the Orleans Parish Clerk of Courts Office, Pelican researcher Steve Beatty found a Sept. 3 IRS filing showing that "Elysian Fields Corp., Inc., Alter Ego of ACORN" skipped five quarterly withholding-tax payments -- covering income, Social Security and Medicare levies -- in 2005-08, and made no federal unemployment-tax payments for the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2008.

"We have made a demand for payment of this liability, but it remains unpaid," reads IRS form 668(Y). So the federal taxmen have placed liens on ACORN's New Orleans offices at 2609 Canal St. and 2610 Iberville St.

This follows a $1 million invoice that the IRS already had handed ACORN, as Pelican reported last August. The group's in trouble with the state, too.

"We have a full-scale investigation into ACORN and all of its subsidiaries," Tammi Arender, spokeswoman for Louisiana Attorney General Bobby Caldwell, said recently. "No stone will be left unturned. We're still looking into their recent activities."

ACORN spokesman Scott Levenson did not reply to repeated requests for comment.

Link

I went to Acorn the other day. I asked them how I could fund a covert insurgency in Central America. A guy named Ollie recommended that I sell arms to Iran and use the proceeds to fund the insurgents.