Interesting bit on ACORN

[srkruzich]

I'm not sure about whats going on in the military, but it's interesting to see Beck finally making himself useful.  I didn't know much about Acorn and i still don't but i don't like what i saw in the vid.  Without going into too much detail, i'll say that this sort of thing is probably more common than we think, as i've seen similar situations in local non-profits here in california.  When Bush said he was going to fund NGO's to help the government do it's work, I supported him, but like many good ideas, there is a flip side.

well Acorn wasn't one of the NGO's that President Bush was pushing for funding.  Acorn has been around much longer.  If i remember right it was one that was created around the time of carter admin. 
The problem with acorn is they have been around far too long without any kind of accountability. 

We should have shut them down long ago when the first charges of voter fraud surfaced. 

[larryJ]

In the paper today, from the AP----The IRS had ended ties to ACORN tax assistance program. 


Somebody hung a census worker in Kentucky and wrote "fed" on his chest.

And my favorite-----sarcasm here.

by Matthew Daly----Associated Press

WILDFIRE FUNDING USED FOR D.C. WORK

WASHINGTON------Nearly $3 million in stimulus funds targeted for fighting wildfires is being spent to restore public parks and watersheds in the nation's capitol, which has no national forests.

The Forest Service has directed that $2.8 million in "Wildland Fire Management" funds, approved under the economic stimulus law, go to groups that will create "green jobs" in the District of Columbia.  The projects are intended to restore public parks and watersheds in the city and highlight the value of urban parks, including a park 2 miles north of the White House that once was plagued by crime.

The spending angered a group of Western lawmakers, who noted that the District of Columbia has no national forests and that forests throughout the West continue to burn.  A huge wildfire in Southern California blackened nearly 250 square miles of the Angeles  National Forest and resulted in the deaths of two firefighters.

"The last major fire in D.C. was likely lit by the British in 1814." said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who is leading Western lawmakers' effort to strip the city of the money.  "There are many wasteful and wild schemes born in Washington, but this takes the cake."

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, called it unreasonable that federal firefighting money is going to areas where there are no forest fires.

A spokesman for the Agriculture Department, which oversees the Forest Service, said the lawmakers' anger is misplaced.  While the stimulus law targets "Wildland Fire Management," the term encompasses a broad range of activities, it said, including forest health protection and rehabilitation and activities on state and private lands, said spokesman Caleb Weaver.

(reprinted from the SGV Tribune)

Larryj

[Anmar]

It's  a dirty shame what happened to that census worker.  Heard on the radio that he was a teacher and some kind of director for the local boy scouts.

[larryJ]

The article I read states that he was a part-time Census field worker and teacher.  I suspect there may be more to this story.  My speculations are that the locals just didn't really know what kind of "fed" he was, or that, he stumbled across somebody's still.  Anyway, I think there is more to this than the original story.  We will have to wait and see.

Larryj

[srkruzich]

The article I read states that he was a part-time Census field worker and teacher.  I suspect there may be more to this story.  My speculations are that the locals just didn't really know what kind of "fed" he was, or that, he stumbled across somebody's still.  Anyway, I think there is more to this than the original story.  We will have to wait and see.

Larryj

Well being my family is from that area, hills of kentucky, chances are folks thought he was a revenuer and reveneuers don't live long around those parts.

[larryJ]

From AP in my paper today---------------------

WASHINGTON-----The embattled community activist group ACORN appears to be collecting charitable contributions through affiliate organizations that it then uses for impermissible lobbying and political activity, says the Republican staff of the Senate Finance Committee.

The assessment, in a memo to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, farther fuels the controversy surrounding ACORN, formally known as the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now.

The GOP staff memo says ACORN-affiliated charities are being used to raise money which is then funneled to other charities or other organizations for purposes other than what a donor may have intended.

ACORN, the parent entity, is not tax-exempt, but dozens of ACORN affiliates around the country are tax-exempt.

On Thursday, Grassley asked Internal Revenue Service commissioner Douglas Shulman to explain how the agency audits organizations like ACORN "where the movement of money appears to be a shell game."

"Do IRS audit procedures require auditors to follow the money trail to or from a charitable organization to determine whether that money is being used for impermissible activities, including electioneering and promoting illegal acts?" asked Grassley.

_________________________________________

I think Varmint is right in the opening of this thread that this group has become to big for its britches, and, who is directly responsible for all these decisions?

Larryj

[Warph]

Obama's Top Aide Patrick Gaspard Tied To ACORN
Sept. 28, 2009 - NewsMax

Patrick Gaspard, considered one of the most powerful figures in the Obama White House, is a "longtime ACORN operative" and former union official, according to a report posted Monday on the American Spectator's online blog.

Gaspard's name recently surfaced as the official President Obama dispatched to urge beleaguered New York Gov. David Paterson not to run for another term. Paterson insists he'll continue to run for governor even without Obama's support.

Gaspard has extensive ties to organized labor and community-organizing groups. One measure of his influence in the White House: He holds the same "political affairs director" title that belonged to Karl Rove during the Bush administration.

The Spectator's Matthew Vadum, a senior editor at the Capital Research Center think tank, reported that Gaspard was the New York political director for top ACORN official Bertha Lewis before 2003. Lewis is the CEO and "chief organizer" for ACORN, which is the subject of more than a dozen investigations for vote-registration fraud nationwide.

The House and Senate recently moved to cut off ACORN funding after a series of videos revealed the willingness of its staff to help establish a reputed child-prostitution ring based in San Salvador.

Obama refused to support ending federal funding for ACORN, however, telling ABC: "It's not something I'm paying a lot of attention to."


Rest of story: http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_acorn_gaspard/2009/09/28/265678.html?s=al&promo_code=8AAE-1

[Mom70x7]

AP)  – Authorities are saying a Kentucky census worker found hanging from a tree with "fed" scrawled on his chest committed suicide and staged his death to look like a homicide. According to Kentucky police, 51-year-old Bill Sparkman died where he was found, bound, gagged and with an ID badge taped to his neck in the woods of southeastern Kentucky.

Sparkman was a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy. He had recently taken out two life insurance policies, neither of which covered suicide. Sparkman's son might also have been eligible for a $10,000 death gratuity for census workers killed on the job. Investigators say he acted alone in manipulating the scene to conceal the suicide.

Read more: http://www.newser.com/story/74748/police-rule-census-worker-hanging-a-suicide.html#ixzz0u3oC8OOS