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James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles.
The heavily-edited videos (below) depict ACORN employees credulously advising the couple on how to get a mortgage and tax breaks for a house without attracting the attention of law enforcement. At one point, a staffer says, "Honesty is not going to get you the house. You can't say what you do for a living." Another advises, "When you buy the house with a back yard. You get a tin... and bury it down in there, and you put the money right in, and you put grass over it, and you don't tell a single soul but yourself where it is." Giles also informs staffers she has young teenagers from El Salvador working for her as prostitutes, and the staffers warn her "don't get caught—it's against the law what you are doing, and there's a chance you'll get caught."
Yeah, it doesn't look good, and the ACORN employees come off as remarkably dimwitted as they patiently share tips on how the couple can keep their prostitution earnings off the books. A similar hidden-camera visit to ACORN offices in Baltimore and Washington, DC resulted in the termination of four employees, and Rep. Charles Boustany of Louisiana has called for a hearing to investigate ACORN.
In a statement, ACORN Chief Organizer Bertha Lewis fired back at Fox: "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... 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."
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i'd buy that for a dollar (the whore on the right)!
She needs to drop that skirt down another 3 or 4 inches. The we'd be able to see behind her.
The face ain't much but that's not what she's getting paid for.
I don't know -- I think if you walked into enough of anyone's offices, you'd eventually find an idiot. Idiot employees are everywhere.
But, seriously -- what were they trying to prove? That a community program of no real importance has some real losers working for it? Ok...didn't need a video to tell me that.
it's black people helping white people. who says we can't get along? and, the white collared shirt would have been the dead giveaway, what's next, the Yellow power tie?
"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."
QFT.
Helping white people get a home, now that's going above and beyond. all things considered, you know....
Boogeyman? Echo chambers?
I hope ACORN and ACLU all board the Titanic's 10 yr anniversary voyage with Al Sharpton as the captain and it goes down. fast.
Your comment is so wonderfully retarded. The Titanic's 10th anniversary voyage, eh? Marvelous.
You're a real piece of shit troll. ONE HUNDRED YEARS, O.K.?
I missed a zero. Put down the friend chicken, shut your mouth, and open up your imagination fucktard.
http://twurl.cc/1lbg
That comment was even more retarded. You get so worked up! It's adorable. Now tell me, how did you know about my avian friend?
ha ha ha! - wait- you mean friend-ly chicken, right?
I also gotta say, this is nothing new. I bet most people are coached for some benefit program, police exam, government dollars, government grant even down to how to get a summer job through the summer jobs program. (which I never got because I don't know anyone)
In a completely non-partisan sense, I support what Hannah Giles is doing in this video. I'd like to meet with her and discuss it in depth..
...and at length, right?
What is the motivation of these "filmmakers"? I would love to see what the rest of their footage looks like when 9 out of 10 people tell them to go to hell.
There are serious ethical issues that this kind of entrapment "journalism" raises.
Hey James, what are you going to do with the thirty grand you sold the video for?
30 grand? are you mental?
Gee whiz, and I thought the ACORN crooks only committed voter fraud.
Yep, it's no secret Fox News has a hard-on for ACORN.
I thought this happened in Baltimore though?
pot meet kettle: it's well known that right-wingers are the best customers of all things smut. remember kids, it's only a sin if you get caught.
http://boingboing.net/2009/02/27/red-states-consume-m.html
Whatever your views on ACORN or the filmmakers, ACORN is a partisan group and should not be getting our tax dollars any more than a right wing organization should.
Exactly. Can you imagine the outrage if Bush had given, let's say the John Birch Society or the NRA 4 billion dollars as Obama just gave to his fellow thugs at ACORN.
Yeah, but he gave plenty to the so called Faith Based Organizations. No real difference.
ACORN tries to help people who would never vote Republican.
That doesn't make them partisan.
If I remember correctly, major banks did everything they could to get unqualified people mortgages they couldn't afford. It doesn't make what ACORN did right, but ACORN isn't demanding billions in federal bailouts.
There were several earmarks for community groups in the stimulus bill.
I don't approve, but it's still peanuts compared to the billions in mortgages commercial banks handed out to just about anyone with a pulse (I'm looking at you, WaMu).
Non-sequitur. I was against those, too. Two wrongs don't make a right.
ACORN is a papercut.
Irresponsible mortgage lending is an amputated leg.
Stopppppp, John. No one wants to hear your political leanings. This has nothing to do with New York.
Ever wonder why rent is so high in NY? Supply and demand, right? Well federal dollars for public assistance and direct assistance keep that demand artificially high.
What if (GASP!) we let prices fall so we wouldn't have to have wasteful middlemen graft from the public coffers. Because, you know I bet no community organizer has ever worked in their own self-interest, right?
I have two words for that and again I don't know what I'm talking about...Apartment Warehousing.
Yes, warehousing apartments. only in this city where Landlords will let an apartment be empty or a storefront be empty for years rather than to rent at a fair market value in a depressed economy.
How many still empty storefronts there are all over this city? just look back at the last RE meltdown in nyc, I know one condo was empty for 5 years before getting help from the City. Just look at all the For Rent signs that are still For Rent......
The reason we have bloated rents in New York City can be summarized in three words:
GREEDY
SCUMBAG
LANDLORDS
U can't really defend the ACORN people in this video. The purpose was to make ACORN look bad and they succeeded, regardless of how many times they failed. It's like defending the kid touchers on To Catch a Predator, sleazy or not they got caught by some snotty young republicans and those kids have every right to smear it all over the place.
Nobody is defending what ACORN did.
ACORN isn't defending what their employees did and fired them.
However, just about every organization, including churches, is going to have some idiots on staff saying this crime isn't so bad.
John,
Can you cite the article in the Constitution that permits federal dollars to be given to a third party to use in the assistance for housing?
Furthermore, why is it the responsibility for some family who makes $50,000 living in California...why do they have to pay taxes (whether it's their federal, or higher prices for goods because of tariffs and other onerous federal taxes) for some group in NYC? Or why do they have to help subsidize their rent?
The predictable response from you will be that I'm being a selfish dick. Liberals love calling conservatives that. Trust me, I am not rich. And I'm not selfish.
When you add up how much you pay each year in income taxes, property taxes, and sales/excise taxes, it ends up being close to half of your income for many middle class Americans.
Then factor in people's charitable contributions. Then factor in the higher prices you're paying for goods and services because of onerous taxes on those companies that produce and transport your goods.
Then factor in how many middle class families do things for their communities with bake drives, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, town athletics, town music programs, churches/temples/mosques, and school fundraisers...
...factor all of that in and Americans do a lot for each other.
This is why I hate. Hate. Hate. I hate it when liberals use the "we're all one united nation" line of reasoning and declare that one is selfish if you are not for all of these programs.
Americans sacrifice a lot for others in the form of money and time. You can always do more to better yourself. But to do so through another federal tax, higher federal tax, or more debt monetizing is just more stealing.
When people complain about government programs, there are times when you can look back and see what happens with little bit of government intervention. or even better, other countries with little intervention. Go back to the early 1900's with people dying of diseases, horrible working conditions, dangerous housing situations. Do we want an America with shanty towns? Would that be helpful for anyone?
I personally think that some of these government programs give more people the opportunity to succeed and participate in society, without dragging it down.
Like every modern nation in the world, it's about finding the right mix of socialist AND capitalist policies that create a stable and prosperous society. There's a reason there's no large scale fully capitalist society. It wouldn't work.
You can't say that without federal regulations we would never have stopped child labor or dangerous working conditions.
Civilizations evolve and the heavy hand of the federal government isn't always necessary. Most of the time, it goes too far and we retard our growth.
And I would argue that the shanty towns of the early 1900s is a bad example for a few reasons. First, I think you're arguing that people were poorer and more homeless back then. If you're talking pre-Depression, that's not entirely accurate. (If you're talking Hoovervilles, then yes. But that was because of the Fed.) Remember, those picture you saw are all relative. Many Americans today live in public housing (which most everyone considers a failure, other than putting a literal roof over one's head) that is not exactly enviable living or is homeless.
Calculating the homeless is always going to be a rough rough guess, but we're no better off than we were back then (per capita) and we're spending more than ever for public housing, energy programs for the poor and food stamps.
So is more assistance really the answer?
Yes.
what I've seen is this - I've seen having traveled to a lot of countries - the ones that seem the most orderly and where the people seem happiest - Im thinking of scandanavia those place - have the most govt programs the most regulation and also the most trust of the govt -they seem very happy -
the ones who distrust the govt have the least govt programs or social programs - and America is certainly one of them by comparison seem FAR more...crappy, and the people seem far more unhappy.
I think there are statistics and some of pseduo science to back up what I've seen - I dont know why we Americans dont expect more from our country.
"You can always do more to better yourself."
It is very difficult to imagine for many people, but when you have zero money*, and you know no one else with money, and there are no jobs, just what the fuck are you supposed to do to better yourself?
*By this I mean zero money and few or no possessions of worth. I do not mean zero money but owning a plasma TV. I do not mean zero money but spending $100/month on a cellphone and $10/day at McDonald's.
Fine print for people who want to put words in my mouth: The above doesn't mean that I support do or do not support any particular government program. The above doesn't mean that I support whatever silly strawman you can come up with. The above doesn't mean that the rest of the OP's points are invalid.
The 'you' was referring to the middle class person.
Alas, I still disagree. Anything is possible. One can always better themselves in one way or another--whether we're talking financially or spiritually or culturally.
Sure, is it very difficult for the poor? Yes. Is it sometimes unfair? Sure. But is re-allocating the funds of the rich and middle class always necessary? No because federal programs tend to be wasteful and inefficient. And secondly I think it's immoral for someone's hard earned income to be taken away from them without their consent because wealth is relative.
Again, I just get sick of John's smugness in his posts. He's not any more altruistic than the next person because he's liberal and likes taxes. The federal government is the most wasteful company in the world! Isn't it more benign to cut out the 1000s of bureaucrats and give to the highly efficient charities?
Would you rather have FEMA show up if you're town is flooded? Or would you rather have the Red Cross show up? Would you rather wait days for water from FEMA? Or would you rather see McDonald's and Wal-Mart roll in with trucks of water and food?
It's the arrogance and ignorance that John uses in his political posts that have little to do with the essence of NYC that is off-putting. Sure tell me it's a free blog, John, and I don't have to read whatever I want. Or take my legitimate criticism and logic and maybe tone down the political commentary.
OP: "You can always do more to better yourself."
Me: [Not always]
OP: The 'you' was referring to the middle class person.
We're talking about programs that help (or at least are supposed to help) poor people. So why the fuck does it matter that a middle class person can always do something to better themselves? It doesn't even make sense in the context of the original post.
"And secondly I think it's immoral for someone's hard earned income to be taken away from them without their consent because wealth is relative."
We have all consented to taxation. Social contract, representative government, blah blah. I know I don't need to explain these concepts to you.
Reading through a day later: you're right. I blended two of my points into one. I don't see anything wrong with it as it, though. "Not always." Sure. If you want to take it literally. But if you're fortunate to have your health and mind, humans can better themselves in one way or another.
And no we actually haven't consented to overspending on a federal level which results in monetizing debt (inflation). Where in the Constitution is the "spend more than you have" clause located?
These vids are taking too long to load so maybe the answer is in there, but did dude actually wear that Halloween costume somewhere without people laughing at him?
When people like John Del Signore are forced to spin the actions of corrupt, incompetent, underage sex trade-enabling organizations run on taxpayer funds, I'd say the Right has won.
Seriously? Those ACORN staffers bought the white boy pretend-pimp and his story? A lucky hit for Fox News is when they encounter someone who's actually dumber than them.
Truly. How could anyone with one working brain cell buy into that pimp getup? I mean, sure, that's probably what the guy thought pimps dressed like, but anyone who's ever spent any time on NYC streets wouldn't rely on stereotypes that out of towners know.
The biggest surprise after watching the video is all 3 women in ACORN who dealt with Jimmy The Pimp didn't care they were dealing with pimp who uses/abuses women for money.
Are they dealing with so many lowlifes Jimmy looks acceptable? Was Jimmy The Pimp the only guy they met that day who bathed? He's white, polite, listened to them, didn't curse or try to steal office supplies and maybe this trumps over being one of the lowest forms of criminal life, especially to women?
" a group conservatives hate because it receives government funding to help the indigent."
I have a friend who gave many years of service to ACORN. I think conservatives, or others for that matter, hate ACORN because they're inefficient at best, shady at worst.
It's not about their being partisan, it's about their plain stupidity and waste.
I think this is how ACORN brought down the entire Nation's mortgage banking industry and AIG. one pimp at a time.
damn, they are good.
Would Hannah have dinner with me?
I do have to wonder, though, whether the ACORN people thought they were just getting Punk'd. I mean...some obviously non-hooker girl and some obviously fake pimp come in looking to buy a house and then run for Congress... Real pimps and hookers don't go around announcing it, and they certainly don't look or act like that. In that situation, I'm looking for the hidden camera and waiting for Ashton Kutcher to pop out.
Or, if not Punk'd, maybe they just thought the obvious non-hooker and non-pimp were like every other dime-store wannabe they see on a daily basis, talking about how they're gonna get them some fine-ass ladies from El Salvador and get rich, yo. The real bad guys don't talk about it. The people who talk about it...ain't never done shit.
So the workers humored them. Hell, it's probably not a bad approach -- why spend your time arguing with some lame dude about whether or not he's a "true pimp?" You wanna be a pimp? Ok, great, you're a pimp. Whatever floats your boat, pal -- talkin' out your ass ain't a crime.
There's nothing wrong with humoring two big-talking jokers -- it may even help you get your job done. Nothing wrong, that is, unless you're being set up by people who actually believe that they're realistic interpretations of a Brooklyn pimp and prostitute, and a group of political zealots who are glad to overlook the absurdity of the setup if it scores a political point.
But at least this behavior warrants an investigation to see if it's happening for real. That's the whole point. And yes, it does prove a political point. I don't want my tax dollars funding an organization that participates in ANY illegal activity, whether it's Acorn or not.
I would like to take Hanna to the movies.
By which I mean, I would like her to be my whore - Brooklyn style.