The recent scandal involving ACORN, which you know all about if you read Fox or other conservative news sites, is appalling enough on the face of it. From Rich Lowery @ RealClearPolitics:
The radical activist group ACORN is the E. F. Hutton of prostitution. It stands ready to provide discreet advice on setting up a brothel and engaging in other, associated acts of criminality. When ACORN talks, pimps and hookers listen.
This has been established by an audacious video sting operation undertaken by guerrilla conservative documentarian James O'Keefe, 25, and his sidekick Hannah Giles, 20. O'Keefe posed as a pimp and Giles as a prostitute seeking help getting a mortgage for a brothel. In cities around the country, workers for ACORN - the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now - happily obliged.
Now chew on that for a bit. I don't know anything about O'Keefe and his accomplice, but I am guessing that ACORN has an army of researchers and detectives on that right now. But they entered a number of ACORN offices in their disguises, secretly filmed the employees as they were advised on how to defraud the federal government. To make things better, they openly said that the brothels would employ underage girls from El Salvador. That didn't seem to disturb the community organizers for reform now.
In Baltimore, ACORN staff assured O'Keefe and Giles that the group doesn't "discriminate" - i.e., has no standards whatsoever. Giles is told if she makes $96,000 a year selling sex, she should tell the government she only makes $9,600. Her occupation, meanwhile, should be reported as "performing artist." If the conversation had gone longer, surely she would have been advised how to apply for a National Endowment for the Arts grant.
O'Keefe notes that they want a house for 13 underage girls who will be imported from El Salvador to work as prostitutes. Only three - not all 13 - of the girls can be listed as dependents, ACORN prudently advises. And so long as they are under 16, they will make O'Keefe and his partner eligible for the child tax credit.
To be fair, we can't know how broad this corruption is at ACORN. The organization specializes in getting housing for the poor (including, apparently, poor $96,000 a year hookers), and in voter registration. Republicans have complained for years about ACORN mischief with regard to the latter. The organization itself confirmed this when it turned in 11 of its own employees for voter registration fraud. That's civic responsibility!
But it's still something of a shock to learn that several ACORN offices in several different states gave the above sort of advice. ACORN has received about $53 million in federal funds, and who knows how much in state and local money, since 1994. It looks now like some of that money was consumed by a culture of crime. Until recently, ACORN was involved in the census proceedings. The Census Bureau has now severed ties. The Senate has voted to rescind all federal funds from the organization. The House may be about to follow suit. I note that Senators Patrick Leahy and Dick Durban (among others) voted against the measure.
As creepy as the story is on its face, it is not the real scandal. The real scandal is the neglect of the story by the mainstream press. I did a quick Lexus-Nexus search today, and I can't find any evidence that the story has been mentioned by ABC, NBC, or CBS on their news shows. Going to the online sites, ABC has no link on its home page, though it does have a link to an article about Bernie Madoff's many houses. CBS finally has something up about the loss of funds going to ACORN. Well, at least they care about that. MSNBC has a link on its front page to a story about a dog who sniffs out inmate cell phones, but no link to the ACORN story.
Neither the Washington Post, nor the New York Times, nor USA Today has run its own story on the scandal, all of them relying on the same Associated Press story. The Minneapolis Star Tribune also put the AP story in its website, but buried it without a lead. You have to use the search engine.
This is ridiculous. We have a story here of a major organization, receiving a half a billion in public dollars, participating in defrauding the federal government in order to promote child prostitution, and none of the major newspapers has put a single reporter on it! Aren't any of these gray ladies the least bit interested in how far this thing goes?
Or are they very intent to make sure it doesn't go any farther? The major newspapers and news networks have been in financial trouble for some time. Now they are trying to spike a story that has all the ingredients of a blockbuster. They are obviously trying to protect the Democrats against bad news at a critical moment, even at the cost of their own self-interest. They are sacrificing what could be a very sellable story, and at the same time sacrificing their professional responsibility. The whole point of having a "mainstream press" is to have a body of publications that one can rely on. Maybe the reason that the newspapers are failing is not just that people prefer iPods. Maybe it is that everyone can see that the MSM is unreliable.
Correction: I just found Megan Greenwell's story from the Washington Post. It ran on Saturday, the 12th, which was plenty timely.
This is indeed shocking. Shocking that a twenty year old has done what the mainstream press refuses to do. A twenty year old!!! She makes the main street media look like a bunch of rank amatuers. And to make matters even worse, the press doesn't even pick up the story. What a disgrace our media is!!!
Posted by: Paul KS | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 01:19 AM
Don't know if it's true or not but...http://tinyurl.com/kn95d9
Posted by: Louise | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 06:35 AM
Propaganda... pull this child pimping, whore mongering, enemy of the union up by the roots...shake off the soil and prosecute. Co-conspirators, and MSM propaganists should not be spared either.
Posted by: false flag buster | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 08:00 AM
What I find amusing is that Progressives can never ever admit fault and even when the truth is right in front of them they refuse to see what ever might disagree with their narrow preconceived notions of the world. They live in fear they might be wrong, which is why they are a dogmatic people. They hate all who do not agree with them. They cannot understand how anyone cannot see the truth as they do. In a nutshell they are very dangerous people, dangerous to liberty and freedom.
Posted by: Ardelina Artist | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 09:21 AM
Louise,
Even your link acknowledges that Giles & O'Keefe appear to have exposed "genuine wrongdoing". If the Acorn worker was "playing around" with Giles & O'Keefe, she was certainly "playing with fire" & displayed extremely poor judgement.
That said, ACORN is finally beginning to get the scrutiny it's deserved for a long time and that's not likely to be a good thing for ACORN.
Posted by: William | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 09:55 AM
The question is just screaming to be posed: How many ACORN locations did these "investigators" (Inquisitors?) have to infiltrate before they were able to implicate three corrupt officials?
Has anyone bothered to ask that question?
I smell a rat. Better still, I smell a FOX.
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
Posted by: Tom Degan | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 11:12 AM
Ok, so ACORN is perpatrating fraud... woohooo! We can take these losers down. Now all we have to do is do the same thing for Blackwater.... ooops, I guess maybe on 2nd thought that if ACORN was doing this in the compounds in Iraq or Afghanistan, it would be ok...
Posted by: Saladdin | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 11:54 AM
Mr. Degan: How many ACORN offices advising pimps on how to get federal funding for underage prostitution would be too many?
Saladdin: Your comparison works both ways.
Posted by: KB | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 12:46 PM
Acorn is being prosecuted in multiple jurisdictions for voter fraud. The
New Black Panthers practiced intimidation at polls in Philadelphia during
the last election. Coverage in the broadcast media and major press outlets?
Little if any. In 2004 there were allegations of voter fraud and intimidation
leveled against Republicans for which no evidence was ever found. Big media
printed or broadcast every allegation, no matter how ridiculous. John Kerry
continues this meme to avoid responsibility for his shortcomings as a candidate.
He is never called to task for this. Without the cable news outlets and the
alternate media the American people would be flying blind (and deaf).
Posted by: George Mason | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 12:48 PM
So why does Fox News hire someone like Beck who is rumored to have raped a young woman in 1990? I don't think he's ever denied it -- doesn't Fox do background checks on their talking heads?
Posted by: George | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 02:48 PM
George: Beck did no such thing. See: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/can-a-mere-domain-name-be-defamation-glenn-beck-says-yes.ars. Any reason person could have figured that out in a few minutes time.
Posted by: KB | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 03:41 PM
It appears the stingers got stung...
According to the San Bernardino Sun...
""They were not believable," Kaelke said in ACORN's official statement. "They were clearly playing with me. I decided to shock them as much as they were shocking me."
Amy Schur, ACORN's top California organizer, said Kaelke exercised bad judgement in "messing with" the undercover bloggers."
http://www.sbsun.com/search/ci_13345649
"Detectives Investigate Homicide Claims
Investigations Lt. D. Keil explains that an undercover video reportedly filmed in the San Bernardino office for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was recently released on the Internet. The film depicts a worker talking about her past involvement in prostitution and the alleged self-defense killing of her former husband.
The San Bernardino Police Department is investigating the claims made regarding the homicide. From the initial investigation conducted, the claims do not appear to be factual. Investigators have been in contact with the involved party's known former husbands, who are alive and well."
http://www.ci.san-bernardino.ca.us/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=1124&TargetID=6
Posted by: Dodge | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 03:57 PM
It's sad that it's taken a "stunt" to finally drag ACORN to public scrutiny. However, this is the type of undercover video expose that launched "60 Minutes", back when CBS was serious about its reporting.
As I said before, "If the Acorn worker was "playing around" with Giles & O'Keefe, she was certainly "playing with fire" & displayed extremely poor judgement." Ronald Kaelke said in a telephone interview. In 2007, the couple traded allegations of domestic violence and received separate restraining orders against each other, he said. "As far as her murdering an ex-husband, that's news to me,' Ronald Kaelke said. 'She's definitely got problems and goes off the wall sometimes."
http://corner.nationalreview.com/ajax.p?md5=e477d3d3b67b78efc21f975e45ba510a
"Off the wall", yeah that sounds about right...
ACORN has enjoyed the protection of politicians that have benefited from its less than reputable practices. Those involved in politics, especially in Illinois and major urban areas, are well aware of ACORN and its connections. As is the mainstream media IN those areas, who tend to support those politicians and the "progressive" goals of ACORN.
That protection is unraveling as ACORN is finally becoming exposed to the general public.
Even the MSM is finding itself forced to begin reporting on ACORN (however reluctantly) as their attempts to bury the news is effectively burying them in the marketplace.
Posted by: William | Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 10:33 PM
I'm glad that ACORN is getting busted and de-funded. The question remains though, will those funds just be transferred to their new organization called COI (Community Organizations International)? And although this is a victory, it is a SMALL victory...we cannot relent! It's like yard gainage at the Super Bowl...it's just a small gain in the larger scope of everything. Are we going to think of this as a victory and go back to slumberland, or are we going to hold their feet to the fire and DEMAND a real investigation, going all the way up to the top? Are we going to demand that those in government, who have been involved with ACORN and the corruption that abounds, also be fully investigated by a truly impartial panel or are we going to give them a free pass? And what about SEIU? I say it's time we stop slumbering and hold each accountable for their level and participation in the corruption, and that anything ACORN was involved with (from election to housing) be investigated fully!
Posted by: Proud South Dakotan | Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 09:55 PM
Obama is on record of not following the scandal too closely- sure right.
He is on record be in favor of an investigation but not specifically a
Justice Department one. Typical for a not important national issue(according
to him)-sure right again! Widespread corruption of his former client, advisor in setting his administration's agenda and recipient of over $800,000 of his money
doesn't warrant his close attention-sure right again for the third time. Leave it to Acorn's internal audit and investigation-sure we trust them too!
Disingenuous thy name is Barack Obama!
PS-Please quit insulting our intelligence.
Posted by: Michael Hickland | Sunday, September 20, 2009 at 06:23 PM
Michael: Whatever connection Obama has to ACORN, he is quite right to ignore the controversy. Any comment he made would be interpreted as 'covering his butt.'
Posted by: KB | Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 11:55 PM
NY times is best.
Posted by: celebrities exposed | Monday, December 07, 2009 at 10:17 PM