You know where alot of ACORNS problems come in at especially during the preelection stuff they hired people off the streets with no background checks or anything. Trying to give the disadvantaged a chance to work.

So in trying to do a good thing they ended up paying for it with the people doing stupid stuff. I don't know if they are still hiring the street people or not but some street folks do not have work ethics in alot of cases because they don't work. They don't know how much trouble a person can get into for some of these things. They probably don't even know what fraud is.

Dosn't make any of it right by any means but at least we all know it is not a malicious act like it is being portrayed. It is stupidity not malice.

Thank you for the read Quiet, but does this mean a huge organization like this is all bad because of those listed over the years? Is the government all bad because of those who abuse it?

I know some will say yes, but it won't be me. What they do is important, so find the abuses and set some regulations to change them. Is this the only organization caught in underhanded dealings. I don't think so, and they won't be the last as we will probably soon find with some other organization associated with liberal of conservative politicians. But if the organization is useful and productive you fix it....

I'd just like to discuss this with out the revenge theme but if that can't happen I will just avoid the thread and let if fill with innuendo and suppositions..

so now we have videos implicating ACORN employees in illegal activities and fraud in

Baltimore

Washington, DC

Brooklyn

San Bernadino

and San Diego

this just doesn't sound like isolated incidents, it sounds more like an institutionalized pattern


EDIT: I have no revenge factor with ACORN and sure if it's fixable then it should be fixed

but the accumulated circumstantial evidence would indicate that ACORN is about the business of disenfranchising the American voting process to promote it's own agenda

maybe they do some good and should be allowed to continue that at the expense of the laws they break?

in that case the Patriot Act is okie doke too right?

Well we have some how lost much of our compassion in this country, so that would only be seen as an excuse even if it where just a good deed that went bad. But I agree and I was just telling a friend that many of the people they hire for minum wage that are from the streets are clearly a risk. Though in this economy there might be some good people just down on their luck in the streets.

I don't know how one curbs that when it's low payed work. I wonder what the women in the video where payed, how long they were there and what type of screening they get when they apply for those positions.

they also require the workers to turn in 20 voter registrations an hour

when they are turning in 60% fraudulent registrations consistently every year

there is something wrong



the guy in the video in San Diego was actually giving them advice on how to get illegal underage girls through Tijuana. I wonder how he would know that?

Well, now those women in the video will have all their needs met.
Three squares, clean sheets, a place to rest their heads, bath every daym and free legal council. All their needs will be met, compliments of the County Jail and prison system.

I think when and organization that large gets involved with voting when it has already a lot to be in charge of your going to have problems especially if you get your help off the street. They probably could not have afforded to do it if it weren't for getting street people to do it. I would say that alone was just a bad idea, there's no way you can watch people every minute. I think one thing they should stop now is any voter stuff, period.

I agree with you Quite, if this is system wide they need a complete over haul. I would not want to see the legitimate recipients of their legitimate work suffer for what the organization did.

The is going to be a long investigation if those women did similar things with others in the way they were shown as doing in that video, they are going to have to back track to see what recipients might have been part of this too, and it makes me livid that they would put live in jeopardy for their deeds. So not they should not be allowed to continue at the expense of the laws they break, I don't know anyone that would suggest that.

I don't know who you might be talking about but, I rotate mine to keep them from getting boring.

Roasting ACORNs on an open fire,

You know Quiet I think if I were the fed or who ever looks into this sort of thing I would be angry at this young couple going in with out some backing. With help from the proper authorities they might have gotten a lot more information that could help prosecute the abuses, by finding out such things are where to get illegal underage girls through Tijuana. I don't have a problem with the sting, I have a problem with their immature way of going about it. They wanted dirt for their right wing associates, and were so intent on that they didn't consider getting the law involved?

as far as ACORN being the saviour of lower class workers


In 1995, for instance, ACORN sued the state of California, seeking an exemption to the state's minimum wage, then $4.25 per hour. ACORN argued that by having to pay its workers more, it would have to employ fewer people; thus, its First Amendment rights were violated. More laughably, ACORN's lawyers argued that, by paying its workers less than minimum wage, they would better empathize with the downtrodden people ACORN was trying to help. The lawsuit was tossed.

That same year, the ACORN Housing Corporation -- technically a separate entity that shared space with ACORN in Texas -- was stripped of an AmeriCorps grant for using funds, illegally, for ACORN itself.

Kettenring blames the minimum-wage flub on ACORN's attorneys, who he says "wrote dumb stuff" and muddied up an otherwise simple question of compensation for volunteers. "It made us look contradictory," he admits.

As to other questions the report raises, he responds: "We do think reports put out by the restaurant industry are not worth too much effort. The bad guys can always dig up dirt on you."

He is referring to the Employment Policies Institute, the source of the reports and ACORN's political nemesis. Nonetheless, EPI's work is well-sourced and it does raise questions of "do as I say" hypocrisy. "ACORN consistently campaigns for laws that it refuses to follow in its own workplace," the EPI report says.

But there is another troubling, and more recent, fact: In March, the National Labor Relations Board cited ACORN for, of all things, union-busting. In 2000, a wave of unionizing spread throughout ACORN's ranks, starting with the Seattle office, where four employees went on strike and were thereafter fired.

ACORN, were it not an activist group, would be ripe for organizing. According to the NLRB report, workers make as little as $16,000 a year and often put in 54 hours a week. They are routinely sent into high-crime neighborhoods to sign up members and rally community members.

The unionizing movement started in Seattle and spread to Dallas, where ACORN employees were allegedly fired when they tried to unionize and ask for one weekend off per month rather than working every Saturday advocating for a living-wage ordinance. Head organizer Kimberly Olsen, according to the NLRB report, tried to stop any union activity by telling employee John Rees that ACORN workers in Seattle were fired for organizing. Olsen also fired three other ACORN workers for organizing, the report says.

Kettenring insists ACORN is not anti-union. In Seattle, he says, the workers were fired for general laziness; in Dallas, he says he's unaware of the details of the situation. "We're not stupid," he says. "We're a pro-union organization. The only reason we ever terminate people [is] they weren't doing their job."

-Orlando Weekly

and I'm not naturally inclined by dogma or ideology to hate ACORN

but this has been going on SO long

I made up my mind as to their credibility and honesty ten years ago. this stuff coming out now is all just gravy on the cake

What other non-profit organiztion would benifit from the monies ACORN wastes.
Doesn't Salvation Army help with trying to get people off the streets and into jobs and housing? Oh, but they didn't make big donations to THE election fund.
There are a few other alternatives than a corrupt ACORN.

The kids who did the sting should be put on Homeland Securities or the FBI's payroll. Without them, I'm sure it would have continued to be covered up.

How long has the corruption been going on again??

Well if even half of that is true then this investigation should be huge and should be completely over hauled with all higher ups removed. Thanks again for the info, i'll be interested in seeing what comes of this.

I would not put someone like that on the payroll, they should have involved the authorities that deal with corruption, period. Just as I dont' want inept people running organizations I don't want them running stings.

And before you assume that the Salvation ARmy is beyond scandal you might want to look in to their history as well. We have had two scandals where with the SA alone in recent years.

In this small town the price on goods at the salvation army is so high locals know not to go there. They go to thrift shops that help the poor and not the thrift shop newbies.

One more this month brings the number to eighteen where Acorn is being investigated for voter fraud.

Please don't egg me into saying something that would get me banned, Willing, though momentarily it might be worth it. Go ahead and fill the entire profile with nasty photos of Obama, I can't see them anymore. Or anyones for that matter because my browser allows me to turn off images.

Sadly I did love seeing new pics from the users, but those are so offensive to me that I prefer to turn off images for Mingle than subject myself to them in every thread.

So go for it. Maybe someone can let me know when you have tired of it, so I can once again enjoy mingle photos.

Right and if this is so, then it's time for a massive investigation, couldn't agree more.

sighhhhh

I guess I better get off my azz and do something

I'll be interested in the results of all the investigations

if there ever are. one thing ACORN seems to be really good at is shrugging off and diverting attention

Nah, as much as I can't stand the revenge type politics crap politicians like to engage in with Acorn, it will at least force the issue and hopefully clean it up or end it once and for all.