http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/03/01/acorn_cleared

Quote :

"WASHINGTON -- A four-month investigation by the Brooklyn district attorney found no evidence that the local ACORN office had engaged in any criminal conduct, despite the hype conservative media gave to tapes of a fake prostitute asking for help from the organization. "They edited the tape to meet their agenda," a law enforcement source told the New York Daily News, which reported the investigation's results on Monday. The Brooklyn office was one of several ACORN sites visited by James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles for their hidden camera report that, they claimed, "proved" the organization was helping prostitutes and pimps engage in child sex slavery. (Though Breitbart seems to like pretending otherwise, there was no actual prostitution involved.) But as the decision by prosecutors not to file any charges underscores, the only thing O'Keefe really proved is that ACORN employed some people who were easily duped into playing along with his stunt. Breitbart, meanwhile, has refused to release the full videotapes of any of the ACORN visits. He says his critics may not "have the stomach to deal with" what's on the tapes. But if Brooklyn authorities are any guide, there may not be all that much there, anyway."

So it turned out to be a sham as I suspected.

Maybe the Republicans who called for their dismantling will apologize in Congress and push for their funding to be returned?

Nah, that would mean poor Black minorities would have help voting, and we can't have that.

Great work, Republicans, you achieved your goal of keeping the poor man down, and it was through fraud and hoax. I don't know how you sleep at night.

3/2/2010 8:39:09 AM

Plenty of Democrats also wanted to eliminate Acorn funding due to the scandal.

3/2/2010 8:54:53 AM

That's because they're spinless shitheads who don't want to look bad in an upcoming election. They bought into the hype.

3/2/2010 9:02:39 AM

There are lots of behaviors that are not illegal but everyone can still agree are morally reprehensible enough to warrant shunning.

To the point, it never occurred to me that ACORN could have done anything illegal. Employing someone that gave tax advice to what might be criminals is not illegal. It is tax advice, and last I checked, all the tax deductions they suggested were legal (had the reporter been a real criminal and gotten arrested, it would not have been the IRS after him). They did not do anything in furtherance of any crime, especially when the only evidence we have is that they gave tax advice to some fake reporter. The only crime you might possibly get them on is failure to report a crime, which would only apply to the adviser in question, not ACORN the organization. Yet again, no crime was committed here to need reporting.

As such, again, this is a non-story. ACORN has been rightly punished for its lax oversight. What they did not deserve was an investigation, which has thankfully been concluded with the correct result.

[Edited on March 2, 2010 at 9:18 AM. Reason : .,.]

3/2/2010 9:13:11 AM

it doesn't matter to most people that richard gere didn't stick that hamster up his butt

that's what he's known for

3/2/2010 9:27:37 AM

Quote :

"I don't know how you sleep at night."

Just think about how us libertarians feel....
When I voted for Ron Paul, technically I had to vote for a Republican.
I never thought I'd vote for a fucking Republican. I hope I never have to again.

3/2/2010 11:23:20 AM

well the two at the Brooklyn ACORN office were fired so they musta done something wrong....

3/2/2010 2:12:22 PM

On the other hand, the guy who "busted" acorn is probably going to spend some time jail for his next undercover attempt and has been charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/262613/january-27-2010/fox-news-puts-james-o-keefe-into-context

The latest description I've heard of his plan was not that it was wire tapping, but to mess up the phone lines and then record the senator having a good laugh at the fact that constituents couldn't get through when they called, because that is what all democrats do right? Brilliant! (except for the facing up to 10 years in jail part)

3/2/2010 2:30:03 PM

I never cared about this whole ACORN scandal. My concern from the start was why ACORN was ever getting any federal funding at all, regardless of any possible wrongdoing.

3/2/2010 3:42:20 PM

They're a not for profit organization.

3/2/2010 3:43:21 PM

Uhh, okay. So if I make a not for profit organization, I can get a few million too? You realize that this is just one big scam where Congress gives away tax money for votes, right? The sad part is that most Americans have been duped into thinking it's a legitimate function of the federal government.

The problem with this kind of thing is that when you allow government to have the power to allocate money to organizations like this, you open up the door for some Alabama congressmen to give money to his favorite "faith-based initiative," or some bullshit like that.

3/2/2010 3:55:13 PM

Would you rather we hire tens of thousands of federal employees to take care of all the stuff we subcontract to private organizations?

3/2/2010 3:59:03 PM

Speaking of not for profit organizations getting federal funds, the Catholic Charities in Washington DC has let its employees know that, now that gay marriage will be legal there starting tomorrow, they are going to no longer offer any spousal benefits to future employees, gay or straight, to make sure that gay couples who would now be eligible don't get them.

3/2/2010 3:59:50 PM

^^ Frankly, I don't care who does it. But I fully support GOTV and community based initiatives especially for low-income areas.

3/2/2010 4:01:23 PM

^^^Come on man, you already know my answer to that. The federal government should have nothing to do with it, because it has no constitutional authority to get involved. And, from just a practicality perspective, whenever the federal government gets involved, there's a lot of waste. Only a percentage of the money that the government takes in actually benefits "the people." The rest goes towards paying bureaucrats and middle men. If you had 100 bucks, would you rather give that money directly to a local charity/community building organization, or have it make its way through the federal system, where 5% is shaved off at every step in the process?

3/2/2010 4:07:50 PM

Stop reading Ayn Rand.

3/2/2010 4:14:26 PM

Quote :

"because it has no constitutional authority to get involved."

You do realize that they aid with the census, right?

3/2/2010 4:15:02 PM

Quote :

"Stop reading Ayn Rand."

I don't, but I do know how to think for myself. Hopefully, you'll figure that out at some point. Until then, keep having faith in the government. I'm sure it's a comforting thought.

Quote :

"You do realize that they aid with the census, right?"

My first question is why? Anyone working for the census should be on the federal payroll.

My second question is how much of the federal funding that they receive actually goes towards census-related activities. If it's anything other than 100%, that's totally unacceptable.

3/2/2010 4:26:36 PM

The government is obliged to help us pay taxes. This service is contracted to Acorn. They also offer voter registration. The rest is welfare-ish stuff. A "feeling lucky" googling turned this up.

Makes sense to me why they get money.

3/2/2010 4:47:55 PM

We should give Blackwater money

3/2/2010 4:48:59 PM

^^ Absolutely not. When it comes to provisioning services with a private company, you must engage a competitive bidding process to determine which entity can provide the greatest public service for the least amount of money. Best I can figure, ACORN was named by the legislation, and not even Bill Gates offering to do the same work for $1 would have a chance at getting the contract.

3/2/2010 5:58:05 PM

Quote :

"ACORN was named by the legislation"

link?

3/2/2010 6:45:00 PM

Quote :

"That's because they're spineless shitheads who don't want to look bad in an upcoming election."

This is practically the definition of politicians.

3/2/2010 7:05:21 PM

Surprisingly the scumbag hasn't gone to jail yet: http://thinkprogress.org/media/2013/03/08/1692451/conservative-media-star-james-okeefe-pays-100000-settlement-for-acorn-pimp-sting/

3/8/2013 5:41:00 PM