Acorn: An Embarrassing Shame

by Matt Langford on September 11, 2009 · Comments

Acorn — the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — has diminished any credibility it had remaining. In the last 48 hours, there have been some truly horrible revelations about this group that is supposedly an advocate for the poor.

Obama_acornBefore I get to what has been revealed in the last couple of days, let me give you a recap of their past. President Barack Obama worked for Acorn as a community organizer, represented them in court, and trained their employees. Additionally, his campaign donated $800,000 to them to aid in voter registration efforts. Of course, Acorn supported Obama’s campaign as well.

Reports surfaced that The New York Times squashed a story that would have been detrimental to Obama’s campaign. They were also accused of voter fraud when their employees registered fictitious people such as Mickey Mouse to vote.

Despite all of that, our trusty government included Acorn in the whole bailout debacle. Seriously.

So, let’s get to the current stuff.

Now if you think what you’ve read so far is shocking, prepare to be horrified (assuming that you haven’t heard these details yet). This is not only embarrassing, but it decidedly corrupt. No doubt about it.

Two young investigative reporters, James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, went into an Acorn office in Baltimore, Maryland. Hannah posed as a prostitute, James as a potential politician. They asked how they could start a highly illegal prostitution ring with underage illegals from El Salvador, all the while avoiding arrest and taxes. Acorn helped them out. Watch these two videos.

Pretty horrific, right? This should make HUGE news, right? Wrong! While Fox News and blogs spread the word about this tragedy, the other major networks completely ignored it. When they eventually broadcast it, they prefaced it by accusing the reporters of behaving unethically and irresponsibly. Basically, they offered excuses for an organization that was helping to coverup tax evasion, prostitution, and child trafficking.

Acorn responded by firing the two employees and accusing the reporters of simply attacking via a political “smear” campaign. Well, if that’s the case, then this must be an isolated incident, correct? No other offices would dare do similar (or exactly the same) things. That’s just good common sense, eh?

Well, our two favorite reporters, James and Hannah, hit up a Washington D.C. Acorn office. And look what happened.

I’m sensing a trend. You remember that joke Sarah Palin made at the Republican National Convention about the light workload of a community organizer? Man, did she have that wrong! These videos prove that they do ALL kinds of things!

Whew, that’s a lot of stuff in 48 hours from one organization. That has to be all of it! Of course it is — except for this one last bit. 11 Acorn workers were just arrested for voter fraud in Florida.

Read More About These Events & Acorn:

  • phatgnat
    A-mazing! This is completely and utterly unacceptable!! Well, wait...it's unacceptable to US, the average American citizen...apparantly it's perfectly okay for other, more 'informed' entities! What a debacle!!
  • RBroussa
    Outrageous! They all should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. ACORN should be shutdown, and any monies given to this NFP organization from our tax dollars should be exacted from every employee, director, attorney; i.e., ANYONE remotely connected to this pathetic organization,
  • Huh. I wasn't shocked to read what happened with Acorn, but I *was* shocked to read it on this blog. I subbed to your feed to read about blogging and thesis tips, not to read about your own outrage over politics or whatever. When I first started reading this post in my RSS reader, I thought your blog had been hacked! I've already taken you off my reader and am going over to twitter after this comment to unfollow you there, as well.

    Maybe in the future you can separate your tech/blogging blog and your political/news blog. I can't imagine that most who're interested in the former are also interested in the latter. Just a friendly suggestion from a fellow niche blogger!
  • jeremybunner
    That's a pretty harsh response for posting political news, wouldn't you say? One political post shouldn't discredit Matt's other (and future) awesome posts about wordpress/thesis. Unsubscribing/unfollowing would definitely be your loss.
  • Thanks bro! But I have other political posts too! Haha
  • In the future, I will absolutely not separate what I write. It's not a hidden fact that this blog is a personal blog (it's named MattFlies, after all). I have posts about flight school, rants about Facebook, a look into teenage sex rates, a collage of Banksy Art, an article by Bobby Jindal, my thoughts on American Idol, a look at sidewalk chalk art, pictures of the coolest bathroom in the world, a list of OMG photos, an article about real pirates, an article about Martellus Bennett discovering dinosaurs, and a sarcastic paper about Christmas. And that's all in the last year!

    My header says, "Tech and NEWS." My About page specifically talks about how random my posts are. I will continue to post helpful articles for Thesis/Wordpress users, but I will not stop posting anything that interests me. That's the beauty of a personal blog!
  • WINDWALKERSDRM
    AWESOME DUDE!! KEEP ON KEEPIN ON!! I AGREE COMPLETELY WITH WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND SAYING. IT SEEMS THO IF WE MENTION OBAMA IN LESS THAN FAVORABLE LITE WE TEND TO GAIN A LOT OF CRITISISM. OH WELL!! WE ARE AFTER ALL STILL FREE HERE, HE HASNT ACCOMPLISHED RUINING THAT YET! I WILL READ YOUR BLOGS MORE IN THE FUTURE FOR THIS ENTRY! GO DUDE GO!!
  • brad
    Well I agree that ACORN is bad.

    But you started out talking about how Obama is mixed up with them and then never really made your point about Obama. Are you saying that he supports this type of activity?

    A few bad seeds:

    ACORN may have its fair share of bad seeds. But have you taken a look at Military recruiting lately? It's widely known that military recruiters lie, cheat, and steal to get their commissions. And then if you want to turn back after you sign it, it's illegal. AWOL.

    As far as I know, ACORN isn't run with tax dollars. I suggest worrying about larger institutions run with tax money before worrying about ACORN.

    But yea, I love your Thesis tips and good for you on defending your right to post your political views on your personal blog.

    -Brad
  • Brad, thanks for stopping by! To be honest, I really didn't have a point about Obama. At the beginning, I was just giving the background for the organization that (unfortunately) includes ties to President Obama. I didn't include an opinion, positive or negative, about him or his presidency.

    Also, I by no means think that Acorn is the only organization that is corrupt. I could talk about the czars, the automakers, the military -- even Beyonce, Kanye, and Taylor. It just so happened that the day I decided to sit down and write a post, Acorn was top of my mind! Also, while Acorn isn't directly run with tax dollars, they DID receive bailout money, which was funded by tax dollars.

    Thanks so much for commenting! I don't mind one bit when people post their opinions on here (whether they agree with me or not) as long as they remain civil, which you've done. Kudos.
  • Pretty outrageous. I can't wait until the Daily Show and Colbert Report start up again and bust on everyone about this.
  • I'm with you on that! I can already imagine the show: Acorn, Kanye West, and Serena Williams.
  • And how could we forget Semenya... the south african track star.
  • Oh yeah! That whole debacle is insane!
  • I find it's tough to form an opinion on it. Interested to see what those two shows come up with.
  • kara515
    Great article! I have been following the ACORN saga and I am amazed that a RICO action has not already been started. If there was ever a candidate for such, ACORN is it!

    ACORN has taken in more than $53 million in direct funding from the federal government since 1994, and substantially more indirectly through states and cities that receive federal block grants. Two weeks ago, ACORN filed applications seeking an additional $6 million more in federal funds. And, ACORN remains eligible for $8 billion in federal funding through stimulus money and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

    ACORN (now COI - Community Organizations International) is an unabashedly leftist community organizing group that has a nationally gained reputation for rampant voter-registration fraud (being investigated in 14 states ); aggressive, even physical, shaking down of businesses (boycotts against banks to force lower credit standards which contributed greatly to the subprime loan mess); and, most recently, blatant tax-cheating.

    There are cries to simply have future federal funding of ACORN/COI stopped. I say that is NOT good enough. ACORN and its numerous arms needs to be fully investigated, shutdown, indictments handed down, and people need to go to jail. That is the only way justice will be served for the people of America.

    Kudos for bringing awareness to this important issue. Keep up the great work!
  • That's a great point about RICO, this is a prime spot to implement it!

    I think ACORN should be given the same (if not harsher) punishment as Enron.
  • Now I know why I liked your blog so much (even though I maybe old enough to be your mother) ;))) Keep the posts coming and do not separate them from the others.
  • Thanks, Lori! I'm glad you continue to visit despite my off-topic (as some think) posts! =)
  • Two thumbs up for letting people know about this slimiest of pond scum organizations. Amazing.
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