I am not a big fan of ACORN at any time. But there are plenty of reasons to make them a target. ACORN really did a very good job in NYC in the 2000 census to make sure every person was counted. As a result, NYC's official population grew which of course, gives liberal democratic new york more clout politically, and means that more money will be sent here from the state and federal government. Plenty of conservatives and other interests don't like that either.
and by the way, you didn't answer the question. Do you actually think that ACORN is conspiring to run prostitution rings?
But there's more to the story, don't you think? It's called context. KBR is a non ideological organization that is doing business with the government. If they are not providing the services they are contracted to do, it's not a partisan attack to criticize them. ACORN, on the other hand, gets peanuts in comparison to perform their non profit services and are generally associated with democratic causes. This is a partisan sting by people who don't care what conservative non profits do with the money. It's disingenuous to say that this is somehow not about politics, it clearly is. Because if this was about government efficiencies, ACORN would clearly not be anyone's first target.
In all honesty I can't say I'd ever heard of the group until the controversy about voter registration in the run-up to the 2008 election but, reading their website and seeing how their structured, it seems to me that they're being given a hard time which in SOME respects is probably unfair. If they were a monolithic organisation, taking direction and instruction from the top, then the criticism would probably be fair but it appears to be more an association of like-minded operations. I say that because although these 'sting' operations worked in a few places they were given short shrift in others where, presumably, the people giving advice had a better grasp of morals and the true aims of the organisation. Apart from anything else, who can honestly say they wish to impede the organisations work against Predatory lending and for affordable housing, Living wages, Katrina relief, Educational improvement and voter registration if it's properly carried out. I can see the argument for ensuring the organisation is properly run but STOPPING all funding? That's going too far IMO.
It really comes down to voter suppression, nothing more. ACORN registers lots of people in the cities and that drives some Republicans nuts. Actual "voter fraud" is not common and if you recall, some Bush US attorneys were canned for not making more out of voter fraud. http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_republican_war_on_voting
ok, what about Republican operatives who scare off immigrant citizens by telling them they'll be deported if they goto vote? Or messing with felony lists to get more black people on those lists, to take away democratic votes? (statistically - immigrant and African-Americans tend to vote democratic).
you could also just pass voter ID laws [Indiana] that make it harder for old people and poor people to vote...you know you have to protect against voter fraud, even when none has been shown to be happening...
Don't forget, Fox just lets the news happen. They don't take sides whatsoever: http://www.dailykostv.com/w/002164/
No. I don't think that ACORN is conspiring to run prostitution rings. I'll tell you what I think. I think the fact that somebody came up with the idea of trying to pass himself off as a pimp in order to trick ACORN employees and catch them helping him means that he probably heard rumors that ACORN workers do in fact help pimps. I think the fact that he found workers willing to help him means that the rumors are probably true. I think that the fact that he found them in different offices in different cities and states means that the problem is probably widespread. I think that there is no evidence that the leadership of ACORN is involved in this, and although I don't really know much about them, I think it is most likely that they do not condone this type of behavior and are probably embarrassed by it. There is nothing in the evidence I saw that indicts anybody other than some workers at the street level, or that suggest that there is a conspiracy. I think that while perhaps the leadership means well, there is probably a serious lack of control and lack of ethics within the organization, which manifests itself at the street level, where the workers meet the people that they are supposed to help, and that is why we see some workers willing to help pimps. I think there is no evidence (at least in the evidence that I saw) to suggest that ACORN or its employees actually benefit in any way from helping pimps. I think the reason they help them is probably not because they gain anything from it from it but most likely simply because some of these people ACORN hires have moral values so warped that they see nothing wrong with helping pimps, and in one case helping somebody who claimed to be smuggling under age foreigners to use in the sex trade. I think the leadership of ACORN needs to evaluate how they are running their organization and how they hire people and how they train them to deal with ethical issues like the ones that came up. I think they should do a serious internal investigation, and be willing to make the reforms deemed necessary, if they want ACORN to be the type of organization that has a positive impact in society. I think that until ACORN does take the initiative to reform itself, Congress is right if they choose to cut off their funding. I think that some news organizations and radio personalities are pumping up the story and making it bigger than it is for political reasons, because ACORN has a reputation as a partisan organization that registers more Democrats than Republicans. But I also think this is a story interesting and significant enough to be worthy of being discussed here in these boards. And based on the responses to this thread, it appears that there is indeed some interest in discussing it.
Not a lot of Republicans among the homeless and the poor. ACORN obviously has some organizational issues, but the attempt by the GOP to paint it as some kind of Secret Obama Zombie Army is silly.
Are they the really slow zombies like from the "Dawn of the Dead" movies or the fast zombies from "28 Days Later" ?? I always prefer the zombies I can outrun.
Hope you didn't think I was suggesting the controversy wasn't worthy of discussion here. I was suggesting it shouldn't be something that should be taken up the my Main Stream Media to the extent that the right wing wants them to.
Nah they aren't. There's a scene in 28 weeks later where they chase the one guy all across the countryside in the middle of the afternoon.