Oh, James Okeefe...why are you such a douche? [ACORN]

Marauder

Right wing filmmaker and assistant pose as a prostitute looking to smuggle underage El Salvadoran girls in to the country to start a brothel, and a man running from congress loking to funnel the cash into a congressional campaign.

http://mashable.com/2009/09/10/acorn-video/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtTnizEnC1U&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egoogle%2Ecom%2Freader%2Fview%2F%3Ftab%3Dny&feature=player_embedded#t=519

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNYU9PamIZk


I shouldn’t, but i found the over the top pimp/prostitute stuff hilarious....and then was astounded at the fact that the two ladies from ACORN didn’t blink an eye, and proceeded to find tax and legal loopholes to assist a criminal enterprise.

The political orientation of those doing the revelation and the usual "A few bad apples shouldn’t spoil the whole bunch" argument aside, just...wow. When you have as big a target on your back as that organization does from right wing groups, wouldn’t you at least momentarily pause and go "Hey, this might be someone out to reveal shenanigans?"

Needless to say, authorities are involved now, ACORN employees fired. But wtf. I mean they repeatedly pointed out that A. They were going to run a brothel, and B. The girls were underage immigrants! .

At what point do you stop being a human being and go "Lets help them get some federal money and evade the legal system while whoring out underage latinos!"

Edit: Added the second video which i accidentally cut out when the color went screwy.

projectmayhem

I would read that, but my eyes are crying out for help.

durandal4532

I don't know what you mean, projectmayhem, it looks fine to me. Maybe it's a problem with your eyes.

Anyways, why would anyone give a shit about ACORN? They're a decentralized get-out-the-vote organization.

Quid

I'm pretty sure this is about some ACORN employees helping undercover investigators posing as illegal immigrant pimp and hooker get tax breaks. To include how to count underaged hookers as dependents when they said the wanted to get some from Mexico.

Which is all sorts of fucked up though the employees were also immediately fired as far as I know.

Marauder

Yeah for some reason word made everything black when i put it in to spell check, fixed.

Quid

Ah okay film makers. Brilliant.

Marauder

durandal4532 wrote: »

Anyways, why would anyone give a shit about ACORN? They're a decentralized get-out-the-vote organization.

This...this is sarcasm right? o_O

Richard_Dastardly

durandal4532 wrote: »

I don't know what you mean, projectmayhem, it looks fine to me. Maybe it's a problem with your eyes.

Anyways, why would anyone give a shit about ACORN? They're a decentralized get-out-the-vote organization.

According to conservatives, ACORN is synonymous with MAD and KAOS.

durandal4532

What I don't particularly understand is what exactly their being ACORN employees has to do with it. I mean, you have to be pretty scummy to help a dude get tax breaks for a friggin underage hooker, but is there anything about being employed by ACORN that would make you more liable to be able to provide assistance? I mean, I know a lawyer for Coca-Cola who could probably give me illegal activity advice (wouldn't, but could), that doesn't really relate to his position at Coke.

What does ACORN even do during the off season?

Edit: No, seriously, ACORN as an organization as far as I can tell is a get-out-the-vote group that doesn't do much of anything, then every 4 years is described as the Evil Empire. I've never understood the attention given to them.

Duffel

ACORN has always employed some assholes. It was obvious in the fact that last year you had the people being registered to vote who did not exist or whatever. The rebuttal from the left is that such actions, while inappropriate, don't have an effect on elections because Mickey Mouse can't actually show up and vote.

So, I don't really see how such obviously unscrupulous behavior by ACORN employees could ever influence an American election, even tangentially. But I do expect to see this dragged out into the spotlight as "testimony" to ACORN's mythical powers where the right acts like they're some sort of mafia/brownshirts/shadow government. It's going to be a pain in the ass.

Chanus

I'm amused at how all these "isolated incidents" are passed off as such, though they keep popping up.

There is such a thing as a bad apple... but when you constantly have bad apples... there's more to the problem.

Unknown

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Marauder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACORN

I dont think they're the evil empire, but you could see how this could cause controversey, seeing as how they:

advocate for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues.

Seems...I dont know. Like opposite day?

SyphonBlue

electricitylikesme wrote: »

Actually the point was that ACORN just put in the forms. The electoral office has to actually prove they exist and process the registrations.

So you can't register Mickey Mouse to vote, because he's not in any government database.

And even if he DOES get registered, he sure as hell isn't showing up to actually vote.

Quid

I think the issue is that ACORN is supposed to be helping poor people, not criminals. Admittedly the two interlap but this doesn't really look good on them.

Unknown

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Malkor

So I guess this is all the proof anyone will ever need ever that ACORN is the worst thing.

These two women are/were incredibly stupid, the entire scenario was absolutely ridiculous.

maximumzero

This shit is hilarious.

A local radio station, Rush Radio WRNO 99.5, is gonna be broadcasting live across the street from the Acorn HQ in New Orleans in the parking lot of a pancake house. It's gonna be half-protest/half-party and I'm considering going.

So tempting. Especially since they're all going out bar hopping afterwards.

durandal4532

I don't know, I wouldn't particularly care if ACORN was disbanded or whatever the hell. Get-out-the vote and community advocacy programs are still needed, but more would probably rise up to fill in the gaps. I still don't understand why anyone would specifically go to ACORN employees for legal advice, though. Were they even lawyers?

Edit: Parking lot of a Pancake House? Count me in that shit sounds hoootttt.

maximumzero

And now Glenn Beck is playing a SECOND tape from a different Acorn office with the exact same scenario. Hi-fuckin-larious.

Also why isn't anyone in the news media talking about this?

Lawndart

electricitylikesme wrote: »

Actually the point was that ACORN just put in the forms. The electoral office has to actually prove they exist and process the registrations.

So you can't register Mickey Mouse to vote, because he's not in any government database.

Another very, very important point is that it's illegal to not submit the voter registration forms that you collect, even if you know they're fraudulent.

While it's annoying to have Mickey Mouse showing up as a registered voter, it's much better than having the registrations of actual voters ripped up and thrown in the trash.

maximumzero wrote: »

And now Glenn Beck is playing a SECOND tape from a different Acorn office with the exact same scenario. Hi-fuckin-larious.

Also why isn't anyone in the news media talking about this?

You mean like CNN, which has this story on their front page? OMG, LIE-BERUHL MEDIA COVER-UP!

Oh hey, some important lil' details:

The video footage -- which has been edited and goes to black in some areas -- was recorded and posted online Thursday by James O'Keefe, a conservative activist.

Stuart Katzenberg, lead organizer for ACORN's Maryland chapter, told the Baltimore Sun that both ACORN employees were fired because they "did not meet ACORN's standards of professionalism."

Sonja Merchant-Jones, chair of Baltimore City ACORN, told CNN affiliate WMAR-TV that the fired workers were seasonal, part-time employees and that no senior ACORN staff members were in the building at the time the film was made.

Scott Levenson, a spokesman at ACORN's national offices said, "The portrayal is false and defamatory and an attempt at 'gotcha journalism.'

"This film crew tried to pull this sham at other offices and failed. ACORN wants to see the full video before commenting further," Levenson said.

The conservative filmmakers unsuccessfully attempted similar ruses at the group's offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Los Angeles, California, and New York, Levenson said.

Marauder

What if Glen Beck actually set up a similar operation in Baltimore and he actually raped and murdered on of his underage prostitute employees? Im not saying he did, just that maybe ACORN didnt help him out and thats why he hates them so much?

All kidding aside, I just found that the further in you get, the worse it was. Not just 10 second sounbyte. But 10 some odd minutes of out and out willful, stated intent to evade the legal system and assist them in importing underage hookers.

I mean especially with how much more predominantly African American girls make up those that are being abducted and used as sex slaves and the police right it off as runawayas, something that ACORN (supposedly) tries to shed light on.

Ed321

maximumzero wrote: »

And now Glenn Beck is playing a SECOND tape from a different Acorn office with the exact same scenario. Hi-fuckin-larious.

Also why isn't anyone in the news media talking about this?

Uh, FOX has it as front-page news.

Barrakketh

maximumzero wrote: »

And now Glenn Beck is playing a SECOND tape from a different Acorn office with the exact same scenario. Hi-fuckin-larious.

Wikipedia mentions that an ACORN board director said that the same scenario had been attempted at at least three other offices.

Malkor

"As this video confirms, ACORN continues to operate as a criminal enterprise."
said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

Now they can't even argue about it, because it happened twice.

durandal4532

Ed321 wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

And now Glenn Beck is playing a SECOND tape from a different Acorn office with the exact same scenario. Hi-fuckin-larious.

Also why isn't anyone in the news media talking about this?

Uh, FOX has it as front-page news.

WHY WON'T ANYONE TALK ABOUT THIS besiiiides the most popular news network?

maximumzero

Ed321 wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

And now Glenn Beck is playing a SECOND tape from a different Acorn office with the exact same scenario. Hi-fuckin-larious.

Also why isn't anyone in the news media talking about this?

Uh, FOX has it as front-page news.

Huh, I don't see it anywhere on MSNBC's website.

Malkor

maximumzero wrote: »

Ed321 wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

And now Glenn Beck is playing a SECOND tape from a different Acorn office with the exact same scenario. Hi-fuckin-larious.

Also why isn't anyone in the news media talking about this?

Uh, FOX has it as front-page news.

Huh, I don't see it anywhere on MSNBC's website.

It is on CNN.

Ed321

maximumzero wrote: »

Ed321 wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

And now Glenn Beck is playing a SECOND tape from a different Acorn office with the exact same scenario. Hi-fuckin-larious.

Also why isn't anyone in the news media talking about this?

Uh, FOX has it as front-page news.

Huh, I don't see it anywhere on MSNBC's website.

There's your problem.

Forar

I saw on another forum that this was tried at 6 offices and only worked once (which apparently led to the termination of the employees in question).

Was this incorrect? Did it actually work at 2 or more?

bone daddy

Duffel wrote: »

ACORN has always employed some assholes. It was obvious in the fact that last year you had the people being registered to vote who did not exist or whatever.

Accepting and forwarding voter registration forms you suspect or know to be bullshit isn't an asshole move unless complying with electoral law is now the height of dickishness. The collecting organization's opinion of the information's veracity isn't worth two shits to the supervisor of elections; they still have to run everything through their own certification process to make sure they're not disenfranchising someone based on the fact that their parents were taardvarks. The law also prevents organizations from selectively discarding registrations under the cover of weeding out "fraudulent" applications.

Presumably you can demonstrate that ACORN has always employed some assholes simply by pointing out that you could start a cult devoted to purging one's inner cockmerchant and still wind up sporting a 10 to 1 asshole ratio amongst your followers. Even some of the twelve disciples were major dicks.

Marauder

Im not going to broad brush the entire organization like FOX will, but I still think this deserves a stronger response than firing the 2 involved and then calling the evidence of there wrong doing a "smear campaign".

I mean, nonprofits around here get flack for paying their CEOs too much money, and this one has had repeated instances of illegal activity. They need a better PR arm, cause this shit needs a better statement than "These employees didnt meet our standards."

Henroid

Do the actions of the few represent the aims of the whole?

Also, fuck, I know I'm going to get a call from my mother at some point today with her going on a "I TOLD YOU SO" rant.

Unknown

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Couscous

Is there any evidence that this is endemic and encourage by the higher ups?

The Muffin Man

Couscous wrote: »

Is there any evidence that this is endemic and encourage by the higher ups?

So far it seems like quite the opposite. They've tried this before, and have been shot down.

So basically it seems like the filmmakers have an axe to grind more than anything.

Elki

woo, bone daddy!


I couldn't give a shit less about this. ACORN could be an incompetent organization, or it might not be, but what's more important to me than that is the utter unimportance of it. Oh no, some of their employees are awful!

Chanus

Elki wrote: »

woo, bone daddy!


I couldn't give a shit less about this. ACORN could be an incompetent organization, or it might not be, but what's more important to me than that is the utter unimportance of it. Oh no, some of their employees are awful!

It does seem to be a recurring theme with the organization, though.

And considering how much the current administration is trying to elevate them, it's noteworthy at least.

durandal4532

Chanus wrote: »

Elki wrote: »

woo, bone daddy!


I couldn't give a shit less about this. ACORN could be an incompetent organization, or it might not be, but what's more important to me than that is the utter unimportance of it. Oh no, some of their employees are awful!

It does seem to be a recurring theme with the organization, though.

And considering how much the current administration is trying to elevate them, it's noteworthy at least.

How much is the current administration trying to elevate them?

I could ask them to stop, if you like. I really, really, really do not care about ACORN.

Elki

Chanus wrote: »

Elki wrote: »

woo, bone daddy!


I couldn't give a shit less about this. ACORN could be an incompetent organization, or it might not be, but what's more important to me than that is the utter unimportance of it. Oh no, some of their employees are awful!

It does seem to be a recurring theme with the organization, though.

And considering how much the current administration is trying to elevate them, it's noteworthy at least.

Yes, but I constantly hear its nefariousness about it because it's being billed as an epic conspiracy that behind everything Socialist and Left. It's just some nonprofit.

And what is the administration elevating it to?

Tomanta

Barrakketh wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

And now Glenn Beck is playing a SECOND tape from a different Acorn office with the exact same scenario. Hi-fuckin-larious.

Wikipedia mentions that an ACORN board director said that the same scenario had been attempted at at least three other offices.

I'm sure if I went into enough GOP offices I could get an employee at one of them to pay me to rape kittens.

This is just ridiculous.