Until last Thursday, many Americans assumed ACORN’s massive tax windfall was just a way to funnel taxpayer money to a radical organization. That was before the shocking video revelation that ACORN Housing staff — funded by millions of dollars of the public’s money — is willing to offer their “counseling services” to would-be operators of child prostitute rings.

Clearly, it’s time to take a closer look at how taxpayer money drives the ACORN empire.

The Public Trough

Until recently, few knew much about ACORN or the reach of its 300-plus organizations with a hundred-million-dollar budget. The main financial sustenance for the behemoth comes from unions (which outsource dirty work, strategy, and anti-corporate attacks to the group), powerful and politically minded non-profit foundations, political campaigns (including $800,000 from then-Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008) and taxpayer money.

That public trough has been open to those who seem to feel they are more equal than others. The Washington Examiner investigated and found out that “at least $53 million in federal funds have gone to ACORN activists since 1994.” (See the spreadsheet here.)

A large chunk of that money flows from the federal government to the ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC). On the group’s IRS filings for the fiscal year ending in June 2007, AHC reported taking in more than $2.8 million in that year alone — accounting for approximately 30 percent of that year’s budget. A 2008 report from the Consumers Rights League found that from 2004 through 2006, government funds accounted for 40 percent of the group’s $18.3 million in revenue.

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JOHANNS’ AMENDMENT BLOCKS FEDERAL FUNDING OF ACORN –

ACORN is not only a radical organization devoted to undermining the American system of government: It is a massive, ongoing criminal conspiracy that should be investigated for possible violations of federal racketeering laws.

With a long history of lawbreaking that is finally getting media attention, the poverty pimps of ACORN are currently in retreat across the nation, and an upcoming voter registration fraud trial may reveal embarrassing information that disrupts the operations of the embattled radical activist group. This is in addition to the undercover child prostitution sting videos revealed in recent days on this website.

The testimony will come soon from former ACORN Las Vegas field director Christopher Edwards. Charged with election fraud by Nevada’s Democratic attorney general, he cut a deal last month with prosecutors and has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit the crime of compensation for registration of voters.

Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 17.

ACORN stands accused of enforcing voter registration quotas with its employees and offering bonuses for extra registrations. Nevada law forbids the use of such incentives on the theory it encourages canvassers to file fraudulent registrations. No wonder: ACORN registers “Mickey Mouse” and various celebrities, out-of-state residents, and dead people, every election cycle.

As part of the plea deal, Edwards, whom state investigators consider to be the mastermind of the incentive program, has agreed to testify against former regional director, Amy Busefink, and against ACORN, which is a co-defendant. The Las Vegas Sun reported that Edwards acknowledged he conspired with Busefink and ACORN to create the “Blackjack” incentive program that gave canvassers an extra $5 for submitting 21 or more registration cards each day. The daily quota was allegedly 20 forms.

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The investigative journalism of James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles has opened yet another chapter in the corruption-tinged history of ACORN. For most Americans, ACORN is a political organization, running voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote efforts at election-time. With a rather alarming regularity, the pop into the news cycle with allegations of fraudulent voter registrations and, even, voter fraud.

No doubt, the recent undercover videos from ACORN Housing offices in Baltimore, Washington, DC, and, now, New York, are shocking. I’m a long-time observer of ACORNapalooza, and I found myself in stunned, silent disbelief as the interviews unfolded. It wasn’t just the subject-matter. No, it was the fact that not one ACORN employee seemed to even flinch when presented with the ridiculous scenario of a pimp and a prostitute trying to get a mortgage to house a dozen or so underage El Salvadoran child-prostitutes. They just oozed seamlessly into conjecture about whether or not a child prostitute could be considered a “dependent” for tax purposes. What do these employees hear on a daily basis that this scenario was just another problem that needed fixing?

But even these videos, no matter how disturbing, are just part of the ACORN story. As, too, is the pattern of problems with the voter registration system. This past weekend, Brandon Darby discussed his experience with ACORN when he was coordinating relief in post-Katrina New Orleans. ACORN saw New Orleans as their “turf” and targeted Brandon and his colleagues, trying to intimidate them to either submit to their “leadership” or leave. This is a pattern readers of Big Government will soon hear more about.

In fact, in the coming days, you’ll learn a lot about the full ACORN story. It is an amazing story, in its own way. After waiting years for the mainstream media to finally peel back the ACORN layers, Big Government will have to take it upon itself to do so.

To start this, we are publishing an internal quasi-employee manual Big Government has obtained. Given to all ACORN employees, it isn’t your normal manual. It doesn’t discuss things like sick leave or vacation time, but, rather, as the title states, the “Principles and Foundations of ACORN.” How an organization communicates with the public is important. How it communicates to its own employees, however, provides a richer understanding of an organization’s nature.

The whole thing is worth a read. I draw your attention to just one sentence (ACORN emphasizes it with italics):

ACORN’s lifeblood is conflicts with targets outside the organization.

Think about that. ACORN’s lifeblood isn’t empowering disadvantaged communities nor lifting people out of poverty. It isn’t concerned about increasing economic growth to improve the lives of its members. It’s lifeblood is conflict. Conflict with targets. It actually thinks of the world outside itself as targets.

It explains a lot:

Principles and Foundations of Acorn –

This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen.
-Bertha Lewis, Chief Organizer, ACORN

So, we headed up to New York…
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Alinsky Rule #10, “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign.”

Bring it on. (more…)

Exclusive story here.

Listen to the full unedited audio here:

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Full transcript follows:

Washington, DC ACORN Video: Child Prostitution Investigation transcript –

In the “gee, I made this not very smart person look really stupid” genre of film making- the sort of “ask stupid questions and play ridiculous characters and edit to make funny” made most famous by Sacha Baron Cohen- comes “Baltimore Acorn Workers support prostitution.”

Acorn is a community organizing network that works on a variety of issues, from voter registration to fighting predatory lending practices. In other words, it is just the sort of organization for poor people that the Right loves to hate.

According to the news stories, the video may show two (Black and seemingly not terribly educated) Acorn employees trying to help two (white and seemingly educated) young people figure out how to start a brothel with girls from El Salvador (who, not coincidentally, are here illegally).

ACORN workers caught on tape allegedly advising on prostitution – CNN.com.

Within this fantasy is every fear and desire of the far right: evil Black women activists, poor people, illegal immigrants, and sex. (more…)

RELATED: American Media Ignores ACORN Scandal

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The U.K. Telegraph reports on the ACORN scandal in today’s edition:

The US Census Bureau has broken links with the controversial community group Acorn, once a close ally of President Barack Obama, after it supported a purported brothel owner with a stable of underage prostitutes Photo: GETTY

Group once linked to Barack Obama taped giving advice to ‘brothel owners’
The US Census Bureau has broken links with the controversial community group Acorn, once a close ally of President Barack Obama, after it supported a purported brothel owner with a stable of underage prostitutes.

Acorn employees were taped giving advice on tax avoidance and employment of 13-year-old illegal immigrants to Right-wing activists posing as brothel owners.

“It is clear that Acorn’s affiliation with the 2010 census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 census efforts,” said Robert Groves, the census director.

Acorn – the Association of Community Organisations for Reform Now – is a poverty action group with over 400,00 members that pushes for better housing, government grants and voters registration.

The group became a controversial 2008 election issue after investigations showed that employees submitted dozens of false voter registration forms, including some with names such as Mickey Mouse. (more…)

Fox News reports:

Filmmaker Demands Apology From ACORN for Claiming Undercover Video ‘Doctored’

The independent filmmaker whose hidden-camera videos prompted the firing of four ACORN workers is demanding an apology from ACORN for calling his work a fabricated “scam” and daring the activist group to take legal action against him.

“Bring it on,” filmmaker James O’Keefe said Sunday on FOX News.

That was after ACORN lashed out at O’Keefe, who with his friend Hannah Giles posed as a pimp and prostitute looking to evade the IRS and apply for an illegal housing loan for a brothel. The sting operation caught four ACORN workers in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., offices appearing to offer their help.

Those workers were subsequently fired, and the U.S. Census Bureau severed ties with ACORN in the wake of the controversy. But ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis issued a written statement Saturday saying that while she cannot defend the actions of the workers who were terminated, O’Keefe may have committed a “felony” with his operation. She also threatened legal action against FOX News, which aired the videos but did not produce them. (more…)

You’ve undoubtedly heard someone, maybe even yourself, say that you have a Constitutional right to free speech, right?  While that seems to make sense, it’s not true, or at least wasn’t before the government got so big that it started intruding into areas of our lives in which it has no business; and it is part of a modern mentality that has the potential to harm our individual liberty.

To understand what I’m talking about, the first thing you have to understand it that the Constitution does NOT grant you rights, it protects the rights you inherently have from government intrusion.  The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights is this:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.  

Just look at the part that addresses speech, “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech…”  Nowhere does it say that you are granted the right of freedom of speech, it says you have it, were born with it, and the government cannot do anything about it.  But that’s not how it’s viewed or even talked about by politicians these days.

By saying that someone has a Constitutional right for free speech implies that it is granted to you and, therefore, can be taken away at some point by amending the Constitution.  While legally this is possibly true, trying to get that amendment passed would have about us much of a chance as getting a safe driver of the year award named after the late Teddy Kennedy.  But the mentality that uses and teaches that erodes, even a little, our basic liberties.

While our Founding Fathers agreed that our basic right to free speech was granted by God, you don’t have to be religious to embrace the idea that we were born with it. In fact, avowed leftist atheists are often the ones wrapping themselves falsely in the First Amendment with the claim that the government protects what they have to say. But it’s not exclusive to leftists, people on the right often cite this mythical right granted them.

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From the American Spectator:

Here’s the Saturday morning round-up on the Census Bureau story for the formerly mainstream media, checking out their home Web pages:

Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, CBS News, CNN Sucks — story isn’t there. WashPost did run a piece about the Big Government expose’ in DC.

MSNBC, to its credit, posted a link to an AP version of the story near the top of their homepage. Some of the others above have the AP story too, but they don’t headline it on their homepages. This is significant because all the major news organizations have an auto-feed of wire service stories to their sites — MSNBC just took the trouble to link it from their homepage.

Fox News of course has followed the story all along, and the Washington Times ran the AP version.

And kudos to ABC News (top of their homepage) and reporter Jake Tapper. Unlike the other lazy and indifferent bureaus listed above, Tapper stayed on the story doing original reporting, crediting Fox News and Big Government for their scoops, embedded one of James O’Keefe’s YouTube videos in his story, and got a response that no one else did:

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I first experienced ACORN in post-Katrina New Orleans. I was part of a relief organization, Common Ground Relief, which  had been delivering much needed aid to the 9^th Ward, an area that had been hit especially hard by the flood waters and by neglect. Rumors immediately began surfacing, questioning our motives and intentions. I was very confused by these rumors. Who was behind them? How could anyone question the vital work we were doing in the community?  We lived and worked in the 9^th Ward. We suspended our regular lives and, in many cases, left our families to travel to New Orleans to help those affected by Katrina and poverty. We slept on dirty plywood floors and shared everything we had with the residents.  Most of us were white. Was our skin color the issue? I knew from personal experience that the majority of the Black 9^th ward residents didn’t care what color our skin was. It took me awhile to get over the hurt I felt at such allegations and to find out where they were coming from.

In the following weeks, I was made aware of the fact that ACORN had reopened its New Orleans office (several months after the storm). Various groups from around the city informed me that Acorn was upset with us because we were in “their” community and had not sought approval from ACORN to operate there. I was told that ACORN said that we were “privileged white people who had come to a Black community as saviors and we refused to work with local Black leadership.”

The more I pondered the matter, the more I realized what was happening. As usual in marginalized and impoverished communities, a small group of radical self-proclaimed leaders was insisting that all local aid and relief came through them—even if they were AWOL for several months. Though the majority of residents either hadn’t heard of ACORN or simply disagreed with their politics- ACORN insisted that they were THE Black leaders. This was upsetting to me. Sure, the local pastor we worked most closely with was Black; but that didn’t matter to ACORN. It was as if Pastor Johnson didn’t count because he didn’t evoke the name of Elijah Mohammed or Malcolm X. It was as if Pastor Johnson didn’t count because he didn’t submit to ACORN’s mandate that ACORN was the sole leadership of Black New Orleanians.

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Statement from Bertha Lewis, Chief Organizer, ACORN Regarding Recent News Reports:

The relentless attacks on ACORN’s members, its staff and the policies and positions we promote are unprecedented.  An international entertainment conglomerate, disguising itself as a “news” agency (Fox), has expended millions, if not tens of millions of dollars, in their attempt to destroy the largest community organization of Black, Latino, poor and working class people in the country.  It is not coincidence that the most recent attacks have been launched just when health care reform is gaining traction.  It is clear they’ve had these tapes for months.

We are their Willy Horton for 2009.  We are the boogeyman for the right-wing and its echo chambers.  If ACORN did not exist, the right-wing would have needed to create us in order to achieve their agenda, their missions, their ideal, retrograde America.  This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen.  I am appalled and angry; I cannot and I will not defend the actions of the workers depicted in the video, who have since been terminated.  But it is clear that the videos are doctored, edited, and in no way the result of the fabricated story being portrayed by conservative activist “filmmaker” O’Keefe and his partner in crime.  And, in fact, a crime it was – our lawyers believe a felony – and we will be taking legal action against Fox and their co-conspirators. (more…)

FoxNews.com reports:

After Census Severs Ties, ACORN May Face Scrutiny of Housing Grants
ACORN Housing Corporation received $1.6 million in federal money to provide housing services to low-income communities in this fiscal year

Conservatives have cheered the Census Bureau’s decision to sever ties with ACORN because it had lost confidence in the group, but the hidden-camera videos that prompted ACORN to fire four workers this week could raise more questions about the federal funding ACORN receives for housing outreach.

ACORN Housing Corporation received $1.6 million to provide housing services to low-income communities in this fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, according to USASpending.gov, a federal government Web site for tracking government grants.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development Grants has given $8.2 million to ACORN in the years between 2003 and 2006, as well as $1.6million to ACORN affiliates.

HUD could not be reached for comment. (more…)

Something curious happened during the summer of 2008. Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
shut down the House and C-SPAN cameras with a resolution that passed by just one vote, smack in the middle of an energy crisis. Afterwards, Madame Speaker jetted off on a week-long book tour while gas prices soared.

The Republicans stood in the dark and refused to leave. A few officials, including John Culberson, took out their phones and began Twittering the action to America, this spawning the #dontgo movement. It was the first nudge to the hibernating conservative constituency who were excited about having something over which to be excited in their party. Netroots activists seethed at the realization that Democrats left America in limbo rather than vote against reducing energy costs and drilling stateside –  though the majority of the population approved of such. They rallied around the legislators that had the brass to stay and urged them to “Don’t go!”

Democrats shut down Republicans a second time promptly after the election by moving to bar them from amending legislation in the House.

Taxpayer fury over these offenses grew to a shriek in February when Rick Santelli delivered his famous diatribe on the floor of the Chicago exchange. The feelings of angry disenfranchisement felt by so many conservatives coalesced following Santelli’s speech. The first wave of tea parties came from this, the first national effort occurring on February 27th, 2008. I was at St. Louis’s very first tea party and stood across the mighty Mississippi on the Arch steps with a bunch of wide-eyed, virgin protesters who were just as shocked as I was to see the amount of people who had assembled.

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If there were a Death Panel empowered by legislative fiat to determine the political viability of legislative agendas in Washington, D.C., it would declare ObamaCare all but dead, not worth any further time and expense incurred by the American people.  “Do Not Resuscitate,” the tribunal would vote, citing the best comparative effectiveness research in its non-negotiable determination.

Unfortunately, that merciful committee does not exist, so we have been subjected to yet another clarifying speech from President Obama on his proposed hostile government takeover of our health care.  In just a few weeks, we have gone from “health care reform” to “insurance reform,” and now “health security.”  Is it just me, or does this White House simply repackage the very same bad ideas with more carefully chosen new words, confusing rhetorical elegance for good policy?  Ok, maybe less rhetorically elegant than once believed.

Regardless, the timing of last night’s hastily arranged speech before a joint session of Congress was weird.  Such special sessions are themselves weird, exceedingly rare forums usually reserved for dramatic effect, like when Presidents declare war.  The glaring exception, it seems, was Bill Clinton’s ill-fated, pen-wagging veto threat to Congress if they failed to pass his (Hillary’s) health care plan.  So why did Obama do it?  Why now?  According to USA Today before his speech, “the ever more noisy opposition to his health care objectives has had one result: It prompted Obama’s decision to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday in an effort to regain momentum on the issue.”

So the President wants to have another argument with the voters. He already has ridiculed publicly citizens who have the audacity to disagree, like the lady who asked him to keep government out of her Medicare. (Maybe she was referring to his proposed $500 billion in cuts from a system that is already $46 trillion in the red, to fund another government-run health care system for new populations?)

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QunicyNews.org reports:

Steve McQueen is acting a bit like an expectant father right now.

That’s because he and the other organizers of “Lincoln’s Legacy: Patriots on the Prairie” are putting the some of the finishing touches on the Quincy Tea Part event, set for Saturday at 1 p.m. in Quincy’s Washington Park.

But with the final Blues in the District concert tonight, an event honoring police and firefighters on the anniversary of 9/11, work to set up the park, including the stage, cannot begin until late tonight or first thing Saturday morning.

With FOX News carrying portions of the event live, the network asked McQueen yesterday to find scaffolding for them to park their cameras. McQueen said he expected there to be several last-minute details to be finalized.

Quincy Mayor John Spring has accepted an invitation from Quincy Tea Party organizers to welcome those expected to attend the event from around the Midwest.

A few thousand people are expected to attend from all over the Midwest. (more…)

TRANSCRIPT–Guest-host Guy Benson discussed ACORN with Charles Krauthammer on Friday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show”:

Guy Benson: Charles, I want to quickly shift, as we have just a little over a minute left here, to the home front, and a domestic story that is breaking within the last few minutes, which is the Census Bureau citing the brewing and growing scandal at ACORN, they have cut ties with ACORN entirely when it comes to the 2010 Census. Your reaction?

Charles Krauthammer: ACORN has all of the appearance of a criminal racket. This is graphic appearance, incredibly strong evidence, but it’s at the end of a long list of evidence going back years and years. I’m glad that the Census is cutting its ties. What I’m worried about is that the Stimulus package had millions of dollars, and there are loopholes in there which would allow it to end up in the hands of ACORN, and that’s what people ought to be looking at right now.

GB: Yes.

CK: That’s where our investigative journalism ought to be headed. Are they now going to be getting our tax money in large doses to continue their, what appear to be racketeering operations? (more…)