Archive for July, 2009
Freedom Watch: 7/29/2009
Posted by: | CommentsFreedom Watch 7/29/2009
Guests:
Rep Ron Paul – TX Congressman
Peter Schiff – Pres, Euro Pacific Capital
Andrew Schiff – Euro Pacific Capital
Sheriff Richard Mack – Author, County Sheriff: America’s Last Hope
Tom Mullen – Author, A Return to Common Sense: Reawakening Liberty in the Inhabitants of America
Dr. Walter Block – Professor, Loyola University New Orleans, fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute
Proof Positive That Global Warming is True: NOT!
Posted by: | CommentsPerhaps the earth is warming from all the hot air from people like this.
Cambridge Cops Support Crowley
Posted by: | CommentsCNN’s Don Lemon speaks with several Cambridge police officers who pledge their support for Sgt. Crowley.
Health Care: Humor From an Obot Propagandist
Posted by: | CommentsThis short spot contains some humorous moments from Monday’s healthcare forum with Russ Carnahan. It contains moments when the audience laughs at his assertions that the government run healthcare will pay for it self by the government getting rid of “inefficiencies” in the system.
If you believe that….
The Ghost of Tennessee Ernie Ford comes back to warn us that Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan and budget could be hazardous to our economic well-being. Jim Gossett and Lars Larson wrote the lyrics for “Two Trillion Tons” for the Lars Larson Show on Westwood One Radio Network.
Report: Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?
Posted by: | CommentsReport: Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?
Press Release
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
http://republicans.oversight.house.gov
July 23, 2009
WASHINGTON. D.C. – A report released today by Rep. Darrell Issa (CA), the Ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, presents evidence that ACORN has evaded taxes, obstructed justice, engaged in racketeering, and created a conspiracy to defraud the United States.
“This report is a comprehensive and substantive examination of an organization that has operated in secrecy and outside the law,” Issa, also a member of the House Judiciary Committee said. “There are number of legitimate questions raised about the political activities and organizational structure of ACORN. This report is about getting to the truth and when there are significant accusations and questions outstanding regarding an organization that has benefited from millions of taxpayer dollars, those questions should be answered and the truth should be brought to light.”
“The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has repeatedly and deliberately engaged in systemic fraud,” according to the report’s executive summary. “Both structurally and operationally, ACORN hides behind a paper wall of nonprofit corporate protections to conceal a criminal conspiracy on the part of its directors, to launder federal money in order to pursue a partisan political agenda and to manipulate the American electorate. Emerging accounts of widespread deceit and corruption raise the need for a criminal investigation of ACORN.”
The report includes significant new information about wrongdoing brought to the attention of committee investigators by ACORN whistleblowers.
Highlighted in the report:
- ACORN has evaded taxes, obstructed justice, engaged in self dealing, and aided and abetted a cover-up of the $948.607.50 embezzlement by Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke.
- ACORN has committed investment fraud, deprived the public of its right to honest services, and engaged in a racketeering enterprise affecting interstate commerce.
- ACORN has committed a conspiracy to defraud the United States by using taxpayer funds for partisan political activities.
- ACORN has submitted false filings to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor, in addition to violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
- ACORN falsified and concealed facts concerning an illegal transaction between related parties in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
“It is outrageous that ACORN will be rewarded for its criminal acts by taxpayer money in the stimulus and is being asked to help with the U.S. census,” said Rep. Issa. “This report shines a light on clear criminal conduct and it is abundantly clear that they cannot and should not be trusted with taxpayer dollars.”
Human Events Reporter Connie Hair reports the following:
Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), the secretary of the House Republican Conference and a former District Court Judge, is having his messages to constituents censored by Democrats on the Franking Commission. Republicans are no longer allowed to use the words “government run health care” in the communications to their constituents.
Carter received an email from the Franking Commission informing him of the censorship.
“It came to me from the Franking Commission and I have the email from the Franking Commission here if you’d like to see it,” Carter said. “We held a telephone town-hall… When you hold telephone town-halls you have a recorded message that introduces the town-hall and the subject matter you’re going to be talking about. You have to now submit that language to the Franking Commission.
“What we proposed as language was as follows, ‘House Democrats unveiled a government-run health care plan,’” Carter said. “Our response from Franking was, ‘You cannot use that language. You must use, ‘The House majority unveiled a public option health care plan,’ which is Pelosi-speak or ‘just last week the House majority unveiled a health care plan which I believe will cost taxpayers…’”
“I would submit to you this is a free speech issue, guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States,” Carter said. A highly-placed Hill staff source tells HUMAN EVENTS this is the new policy being enforced by Democrats. Republicans will be forced to use the Democrats’ version of language describing their attempted government takeover of healthcare on their official communications with their constituents or they will have to pay for the postage personally.
You can find this developing story here:
GOP Not Allowed to Say ‘Government-Run Healthcare’
House Oversight Committee Reports That ACORN is Corrupt
Posted by: | CommentsA Fox News story reports that according to a new report from Republicans on a House oversight committee, ACORN engaged in a scheme to use taxpayer money to support a partisan political agenda.
Do we really want this organization involved with the 2010 Census?
The report, released Thursday, accuses ACORN of fraudulent activities and widespread corruption and calls for a criminal investigation into the advocacy group. It offers the first detailed account of the allegations that have dogged the organization in recent months.
ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, has been under constant fire from conservatives since last year for its support of Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy and its planned participation in next year’s 2010 census.
The report was released by Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Issa’s GOP colleagues.
“This report is about getting to the truth and when there are significant accusations and questions outstanding regarding an organization that has benefited from millions of taxpayer dollars, those questions should be answered and the truth should be brought to light,” Issa said in a statement.
The executive summary of the report says ACORN provided contributions of financial and personnel resources to indicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and candidate Obama, among others, in what the report calls a scheme to use taxpayer money to support a partisan political agenda, which would be a clear violation of numerous tax and election laws.
“Both structurally and operationally, ACORN hides behind a paper wall of nonprofit corporate protections to conceal a criminal conspiracy on the part of its directors, to launder federal money in order to pursue a partisan agenda and to manipulate the American electorate,” an executive summary of the report reads.
ACORN, which was sent a copy of the executive summary by FOXNews.com, dismissed the report as a “partisan attack job.”
“We are busy fighting to stop the foreclosure crisis, to win quality affordable health care for all Americans and to build a stronger economy for working families, so we haven’t had the opportunity to read Rep. Issa’s screed at length,” Bertha Lewis, CEO of ACORN, said in a written statement to FOXNews.com.
“But an initial review indicates that the document is a recycled and repackaged partisan attack job on ACORN’s good work,” she added.
The report accuses ACORN, after receiving more than $53 million in federal funds since 1994, of blurring the legal distinctions among 361 tax-exempt and non-exempt entities to divert that money into partisan political activities.
Evidence found in the report relies in part on documents provided by former ACORN employees.
“Operationally, ACORN is a shell game played in 120 cities, 43 states and the District of Columbia through a complex structure designed to conceal illegal activities, to use taxpayer and tax-exempt dollars for partisan political purposes, and to distract investigators,” the report read.
“Structurally, ACORN is a chess game in which senior management is shielded from accountability by multiple layers of volunteers and compensated employees who serve as pawns to take the fall for every bad act.”
Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Issa, said ACORN’s response suggests the report “hit a nerve.”
“We stand by the findings of the report,” he told FOXNews.com. “There are a lot of legitimate questions raised about the political activities and organizational structure of ACORN. We’d certainly like to have a venue and platform for ACORN to respond to our report.”
In his statement, Issa said, “It is outrageous that ACORN will be rewarded for its criminal acts by taxpayer money in the stimulus and is being asked to help with the U.S. census. This report shines a light on clear criminal conduct and it is abundantly clear that they cannot and should not be trusted with taxpayer dollars.”
It would be up to the chairman of the oversight panel to hold hearings on the ACORN report and up to the Justice Department to pursue a criminal investigation. Likewise, the census director will determine whether ACORN remains a partner with the U.S. Census Bureau to assist with the recruitment of the 1.4 million temporary workers needed to go door-to-door to count every person in the United States.
A spokeswoman for Rep. Edolphus Towns, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.
GOP Congressional Report Accuses ACORN of Political Corruption, Widespread Fraud