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Politics : The Obama - Clinton Disaster -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JakeStraw who wrote (19057)	9/16/2009 12:32:17 PM
From: GROUND ZERO™	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 103300

Right, but the AG is too busy investigating the CIA agents who were impolite to those who tried to murder us... after all, obama's team has its priorities... GZ

To: JakeStraw who wrote (19057)	9/16/2009 12:39:08 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 103300

I saw this article today... it seems to have some numbers and facts associated with it: End to all U.S. funds to ACORN sought House Republicans act to bar aid to activists linked to tax-evasion advice By Paul West \| paul.west@baltsun.com September 16, 2009 baltimoresun.com WASHINGTON House Republicans renewed a push Tuesday to end all federal funding of ACORN, an activist community organization that is under fire nationally for apparently giving advice on evading tax laws in Baltimore and other cities. The move followed a bipartisan Senate vote Monday evening that could block ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, from a major source of federal funds as early as next month. If the Republican-sponsored provision, approved with broad Democratic support, survives a House-Senate conference committee, various ACORN programs, including mortgage counseling and community development, would be ineligible for federal housing or transportation funds. Seizing upon the Senate action, which attracted 49 Democratic votes, Republicans put renewed energy into an anti-ACORN effort that bore little apparent fruit during the 2008 campaign. Republican National Chairman Michael S. Steele revived the issue of President Barack Obama's past ties to the organization, while the party's Senate campaign arm demanded that a Democratic candidate in Missouri renounce the group. "Simply put, ACORN should not receive another penny of American taxpayers' money," House Republican Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio said in a letter to Obama. Boehner plans to introduce legislation in the Democrat-controlled House that would sever all ties between ACORN and the federal government, his office said. Even if a complete ban were approved, it isn't clear how much that would hurt ACORN, which claims to have delivered approximately $15 billion in benefits to poor and moderate-income people through its affiliates in 110 cities, including Baltimore, over the past 10 years. Boehner's office tallied about $53 million in direct federal aid over the past 15 years, but it said more had flowed to the organization from state and local governments. Last week, the Census Bureau announced that it would not allow ACORN to participate in the 2010 national population count. Also last week, prosecutors in south Florida arrested 11 ACORN employees on charges of falsifying hundreds of voter applications during a registration drive last year; ACORN alerted authorities to the suspected fraud. For years, conservatives have assailed ACORN, largely without success, in an effort to limit its effectiveness. But aided by the recent "sting" operation in Baltimore and other cities, the conservative attacks appear to be bearing fruit under an administration led by a one-time community organizer with ties to ACORN. Obama represented ACORN in a 1995 lawsuit and worked briefly for Project Vote, a voter registration effort that partners with ACORN. During the 2008 primaries, Obama's campaign contracted with an ACORN affiliate for get-out-the-vote services. Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain tried, without apparent success, to link Obama last fall to allegations of voter fraud involving ACORN. At the time, ACORN officials described the allegations as highly exaggerated. But on Friday, the Census Bureau, in cutting ties with the group, said ACORN's involvement in promoting the 2010 count had become "a distraction" that could hurt next year's effort, the Associated Press reported. The action came to light as ACORN dismissed a total of four employees in Baltimore and Washington after the latest controversy involving tax advice to a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute. ACORN has been closely associated over the years with liberal causes and Democratic politicians. The group says it has registered 1.7 million low- and moderate-income voters since 2004, a period in which Democrats scored major victories in consecutive national elections. ACORN's ability to maintain access to federal housing funds will rest with a conference committee that is expected to craft a final version of the $122 billion Transportation and Housing and Urban Development spending measure. House Democratic Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland told reporters he was concerned about the "despicable" actions of two ACORN employees in Baltimore but stopped short of supporting a similar move in the House. But he said that if what happened in Baltimore was part of a wider pattern, "I think we need to look very carefully at the assistance we give" to the group. Meantime, Steele called ACORN an "undeniably corrupt organization." The former Maryland lieutenant governor, highlighting what he said were Obama's "close past ties to ACORN," called for an immediate end to all federal funding. Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun