Here’s some real ‘hope and change’.

Wasn’t going to write anything this evening  (need some sleep before the drive to DC in the wee hours…), so I’ll point you to Fox News’s story on this welcome piece of good news:

Fox News: Census Bureau Severs Ties With ACORN

Here’s the letter from Census director Robert Groves to ACORN:

September 11, 2009

Ms. Maude Hurd

President

ACORN
739 8th St SE
Washington, DC 20003

Dear Ms. Hurd:

The goal of the U.S. Census Bureau’s partnership program is to combine the strengths of state, local, and tribal governments, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, schools, media, businesses and others to ensure an accurate 2010 Census. While not (sic) Census bureau employees, partners are advocates for census cooperation and participation. They serve a trusted voices within their communities and are critical to our strategy to count everyone once, only once, and in the right place.

The Census Bureau has established criteria for partnerships, which are listed on our Web site at <www.census.gov >, and reserves the right to decline partnership or to terminate an existing partnership agreement with any group that 1) may create a negative connotation for the Census Bureau; 2) could distract from the Census Bureau’s mission; or, 3) may make people fearful of participating in the census.

To that end, and in keeping with the standards we shared with your organization and others who volunteered to partner with the Census Bureau to help promote the 2010 Census, we are today terminating our Partnership Agreement with ACORN.

Over the last several months, through ongoing communication with our regional offices, 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.

While not decisive factors in this decision, recent events concerning several local offices of ACORN have added to the worsening negative perceptions of ACORN and its affiliation with our partnership efforts.

We do not come to this decision lightly. It was our original assessment that your organization could be helpful in encouraging cooperation with the 2010 Census among individuals who are historically hard to count, including renters, low-income residents, the linguistically isolated, and others. As of today, we have close to 80,000 partnership agreements with national and local groups – many of whom are trusted voices and serve these same populations – and we will be relying upon those groups to continue our outreach in the communities you serve. The full participation of those populations remains of utmost importance to us.

Unfortunately, we no longer have confidence that our national partnership agreement is being effectively managed through your many local offices. For the reasons stated, we therefore have decided to terminate the partnership.

Respectfully,

Robert M. Groves
Director

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-Cnation

hat tip: hotair.com

The hits just keep on coming. From biggovernment.com:

.

The mainstream media as a whole should be ashamed of itself (unfortunately, it knows no shame) that James O’Keef, a man who most of us have never heard of before, has exposed in a matter of days what big media should have been on years ago. This is what investigative reporting is all about.

You would think that eventually the MSM will have to stop ignoring the mounting evidence of ACORN’s criminal activity. Don’t hold your breath.

Well done, Mr. O’Keef and Ms. Giles.

-Cnation

Breaking story – the federally funded criminal organization ACORN strikes again:

FOXNews: ACORN Officials Videotaped Telling ‘Pimp,’ ‘Prostitute’ How to Lie to IRS
Officials with the controversial community organizing group ACORN were secretly videotaped offering to assist two individuals posing as a pimp and a prostitute, encouraging them to lie to the Internal Revenue Service and providing guidance on how to claim underage girls from South America as dependents. more…..

Now read this

Then this

Then this

These are Obama’s people, folks.

…..

-Cnation

Back in May of this year, Nevada filed felony charges against ACORN and two of its employees, Las Vegas Field Director Chris Edwards and regional director, Amy Busefink. On Tuesday (8/18/09), Edwards pleaded guilty to two gross misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit the crime of compensation for registration of voters. As part of his plea deal, he will also testify against ACORN and Busefink.

From the Las Vegas Sun:

But Las Vegas lawyers for ACORN and Busefink said they doubted Edwards’ testimony would hurt their clients because ACORN officials were kept in the dark about what he was doing.

“I’m not concerned about it,” said Lisa Rasmussen, who represents ACORN. “He was doing something he shouldn’t have been doing.”

Kevin Stolworthy, who represents Busefink, added, “I don’t believe they have anything in writing supporting what he’s going to testify about. Our position is, he was told not to do it.”

In his plea agreement, however, Edwards said that from Aug. 1 to Oct. 31, 2008, he unlawfully conspired with ACORN and Busefink to create a local bonus incentive program, known as “Blackjack,” giving ACORN canvassers an additional $5 for turning in 21 or more registration cards per shift. ACORN allegedly required its workers to submit at least 20 voter registration forms a day to keep their jobs.

It is illegal in Nevada to attach incentives to gathering registration forms because it encourages canvassers to submit fraudulent forms.

I cannot wait until this guy starts talking.

Whole story here:
Las Vegas Sun: In deal, ex-ACORN official promises to testify against others

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-Cnation

Updates On Conservative Man Beaten By SEIU Thugs

From the Saint Louis Tea Party website, a letter from David A. Brown, attorney for Kenneth Gladney, the man brutally beaten by SEIU thugs at Rep. Russ Carnahan’s town hall meeting in St. Louis yesterday (8/6/2009).

Carnahan released a statement Friday morning that said:

“Sadly we’ve seen stories about disrupters around the country, and we have a handful of them here in Missouri. Instead of participating in a civil debate, they have mobilized with special interests in Washington who have lined their pockets by overcharging Americans for a broken health care system.”

“I will continue to engage with constituents that I am honored to represent in Congress and fight to achieve long-overdue health insurance reform in our country,” Carnahan said

Carnahan’s allies in the SEIU are beating down citizens, and this is all he has to say? What an absolutely reprehensible excuse for a human being.

Here’s the entire report from the Saint Louis Tea Party website.

Also, it appears the Saint Louis Tea Party is not taking this laying down. They have scheduled a protest at SEUI’s St. Louis headquarters tomorrow, August 8th:

The protest is to demand justice for Kenneth Gladney, an African-American conservative who was brutally beaten by 4 individuals, at least 2 of whom were identified as SEIU representatives. The beatings included racial slurs and required hospitalization of Mr. Gladney.

As videos show, the attack was unprovoked and no one retaliated against the union thugs.

This attack followed hours of taunts and verbal assaults by SEIU and ACORN members upon citizens gathered to express their views under the First Amendment. We believe this brutal beating is part of an organized plan to suppress dissent to the Administration’s planned seizure of the medical industry in the United States.

Anyone who believes in non-violent protest, in the rule of law, in the right of black men and women to express conservative political views, in the right to peaceably assemble, to speak freely, and to petition Congress for a redress of grievances is invited to attend.

God bless these patriots. If you are within a day of St. Louis, I hope you can join them.

.…here’s that video again.

.
My guess, the community-organizer-in-chief will have nothing to say about this.

…..

-Cnation

Two must-reads today, both from Michelle Malkin:

Michelle Malkin: Who’s funding the Obamacare Astroturf campaign?
My syndicated column today investigates the deep pockets behind the “grass-roots” campaign for Obamacare. Chicago crony/White House senior adviser David Axelrod is, of course, the master of astroturfing. So it certainly comes as no surprise that left-wing puppetmasters are behind the government health care takeover lobby. But an informed citizenry needs to know the nitty gritty details.

Will the ABC “All Barack Channel” News health care infomercial tell viewers about the cabal at 1825 K Street (a far Left office complex/headquarters that is the Washington DC analogue of the 1024 Elysian Fields ACORN headquarters in New Orleans, which I first reported on in August 2008)?

Will they tell viewers about the First Lady’s patient-dumping scheme?

Of course not. more…..

…………….

Michelle Malkin: Document drop: The story behind the “ACORN changed its name” story
There is some confusion over the story about ACORN “changing its name” that needs to be cleared up and given context. Getting it right is important.

I provided a link to the piece by Kevin Mooney at the Examiner on Monday in my post focusing on Project Vote/ACORN’s lawsuit against whistleblower Anita Moncrief.

The link was a sidebar to my main story, but I should have spelled out the facts on the name change more clearly, and so should everyone who has mischaracterized the story and glossed over the real reason for the name change: more…..

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-Cnation

First things first – if you forward this petition around – and you should – do not use the “email friends”/”tell a friend” link on the petition site, because it doesn’t work. It looks like it does, but trust me on this, it’s hosed. Instead, use the ‘share this’ button at the top of this post, or email your friends/family directly.

Now, on to business…

Rep. Bachmann builds on-line grassroots support for new Anti-ACORN bill

By: Kevin Mooney
Examiner Investigative Reporter
06/05/09 3:19 PM EDT

Thousands of Americans are expressing support via an on-line petition for new legislation that would block taxpayer funding for organizations with a criminal history such as the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN).

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has introduced the Taxpayer Protection and Anti-Fraud Act, which would restrict access to taxpayer dollars available through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for groups that have been indicted for violations of state or federal laws.  Almost 5,000 citizens have registered their support for the bill available through Bachmann’s online site, according to her press office.

As The Examiner has previously reported ACORN has received at least $53 million in federal funds since 1994, and the controversial group could potentially gain access to $8.5 billion in additional taxpayer dollars, unless Congress intervenes. The track record is not encouraging.

On the very day law enforcement officials in Pennsylvania charged seven ACORN workers with either forging, illegally soliciting or illegally filing out voter registration cards during the 2008 elections the House passed an amendment from Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that lowered the bar for groups under investigation to acquire federal funds.  Earlier that same week new voter registration charges were filed against ACORN in Nevada.

Full article here

Stop ACORN from Accessing Taxpayer Dollars, Sign the petition HERE

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-Cnation

It is almost beyond comprehension that here we are four months into Obama’s presidency and nobody outside of the blogosphere – with the exceptions of Dobbs,  Fox News and conservative talk radio – is taking a serious in-depth look at ACORN, its myriad associated groups/companies, its political connections, and – most importantly – its close association with the Obama administration and role in bringing it to/keeping it in power.

I was speaking with someone the other day who gets their news primarily from the mainstream or Obama-friendly outlets (ABC, CNN, etc…) and our conversation reiterated, for me at least, how little the general public really understands about our federal government in terms of what its actual role is supposed to be and, more importantly, where its limits are as defined by our Constitution.

The lack of real reporting being done by the overwhelming majority of traditional media outlets these days is, in my opinion, largely responsible for this ignorance. With the exception of the current generation, Americans in general were raised to believe that the large institutionalized media outlets (CBS, NBC, ABC, NY Times, etc…) were the bringers of truth; if they said it, then that’s the way it was. Period. Not that it was necessarily so; some may argue – correctly perhaps – that major media has been corrupt to some degree or other for decades. There was, however, this perceived aura of integrity surrounding the major players that protect them to this very day from the critical scrutiny they deserve. Unfortunately, even as one major media outlet after another allows its objectivity to fall victim to ideology in obvious and even brazen ways, a large segment of the population still puts their trust in them fully and simply refuse believe that these outlets are either biased or corrupt despite the evidence.

The state of big media these days borders on criminal; the things they turn a blind eye to -  Obama’s ongoing shady campaign fund raising efforts, for example – belie any claims of unbiased reporting they may still make. Their lack of coverage of – and complicity in -  the massive political fraud happening before all of our eyes is disgraceful.

Michelle Malkin’s syndicated column today looks at one of these big media outlets in particular – the New York Times – and how “Fishwrap of Record’s admission that it spiked an election eve story on the possible illegal coordination between the Obama campaign and ACORN’s canvassing arm, Project Vote, has gotten zero scrutiny.”

Another absolutely mind-blowing read on the subject comes from the Gateway Pundit, and illustrates by example how Obama’s fund raising machine is still accepting donations from anyone, anywhere, with absolutely no verification of the actual source.

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-Cnation

Jumping around from link to link earlier this evening, I found possible the best article I’ve ever read on the current recession, from its genesis with the Community Reinvestment Act back in 1977 to the ultimate collapse of the housing market in 2008 and the carnage it caused.

Fannie/Freddie, ACORN, NWRO, Saul Alinsky, the Cloward-Piven Strategy of Manufactured Crisis (reading Cloward-Piven will give you tremendous insight into the methods currently being used by the Obama administration to achieve its goals), the Federal Housing Enterprises Regulatory Reform Act of 1992 – it’s all there.

The author’s name is Dianna Cotter, and her articles can be found at The Examiner.

In 2008, the United States would enter a recession that was 32 years in the making. Actions taken by congress starting in 1977 would begin the process that led to the catastrophic collapse of the housing market, which directly brought about the banking crisis that triggered the recession. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) passed in 1977 would create the framework for a machine of catastrophe. Building upon that framework, the Housing Enterprises Regulatory Reform Act of 1992 would force banks by law, to write sub-prime loans in federally mandated numbers that would eventually cause banks to collapse in America and around the world. Exacerbated by ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and the Cloward-Piven Strategy of Orchestrated Crisis, the economy continues to spiral down in 2009.
If we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy. Their finances are now under such a course of application as nothing could derange but war or federalism. The gripe of the latter has shown itself as deadly as the jaws of the former.
~ Thomas Jefferson, 29 November 1802

In order to put the fiscal situation of the United States into some context, a basic understanding of several factors is necessary. The CRA, Federal Housing Enterprises Regulatory Reform Act of 1992, ACORN, The Cloward-Piven Strategy, the Government Sponsored Entities (GSE’s) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and their relationship with Congress are all significant gears in the machine that stopped the economy in its tracks. More……

Read the entire article here: Dianna Cotter: Recession of 2008-9 caused by Congress

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-Cnation

Group operating out of small building donated $33 million to Obama campaign

Fox News’ Glenn Beck may have uncovered another twist to a series of ACORN’s alleged scandals when he revealed on his show that the group’s main affiliate is operating out of a former New Orleans funeral home and bringing in millions of taxpayer dollars.

The Service Employees International Union’s New Orleans headquarters location that also houses ACORN is supposed to be home to more than 270 related corporations and non-profits.

Acorn / SEIU funeral home headquarters

“Does that former funeral home look big enough to you to house 270 organizations?” Beck asked. “The owner of the building is a company whose partners are – oh my gosh! – Wade and Dale Rathke.”

Former funeral home owned by Service Employees International Union and said to house 270 groups, including ACORN

Wade Rathke, a New Orleans resident, is founder of ACORN and also founder and chief organizer of Service Employees International Union, which donated $33 million to President Obama’s campaign last year.The online OpenSecrets.org estimates Obama’s entire campaign spending at about $640 million. more……

Currently, both ACORN as an organization and/or its members are under indictment in Pennsylvania,  and Nevada where they racked up a whopping 39 felony counts.

In the mean time, the Conyers investigation of ACORN has inexplicably been dropped, while ACORN continues to enjoy the full support of congressional democrats and Barney Frank.

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-Cnation