Vol. 09 No. 37
Page I of IV ->
THE FOUNDATION
"As riches increase and accumulate in few hands, as luxury prevails in society, virtue will be in a greater degree considered as only a graceful appendage of wealth, and the tendency of things will be to depart from the republican standard. This is the real disposition of human nature." --Alexander Hamilton
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
ACORN: Organizing the community one prostitute at a time
ACORN -- A Tough Nut to Crack
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) bills itself as "the nation's largest grassroots community organization of low- and moderate-income people." Its mission is typical leftist activism -- anything from advocating for a higher minimum wage and the type of home loans that precipitated the housing crisis to ballot initiatives and voter registration. We know that ACORN has also submitted fraudulent voter registration forms filled out by "Mickey Mouse" and other fictional characters. But, hey, "get out the vote" knows no bounds. Also, Barack Obama worked alongside ACORN during his own "community organizing" days.
This week, news broke that the Census Bureau, which had planned to partner with ACORN in next year's census, severed all ties with the organization. Then the U.S. House and Senate each voted to deny the group access to further federal housing funds (though who knows what will happen in Conference Committee). Even the Obama White House "distanced" itself from this taxpayer-funded organization.
So why all the fuss? If inquiring minds read only The New York Times, they might be in the same blissfully ignorant boat as ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson, who, when asked about the ACORN scandal, claimed, "I don't even know about it."
The story began when two young conservative activists, James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, posed as a pimp and a prostitute seeking advice on obtaining a loan for a home to use as a brothel, evading income tax on the young woman's income and claiming as dependents underage El Salvadoran girls they wanted to employ. In five different ACORN offices (Baltimore, DC, New York, and San Diego and San Bernardino, California), workers bit on the story, hooker, line and sinker, freely giving pointers without so much as batting an eye on how to get illegal loans and evade taxes. The videos are posted on Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com. None showed concern for the obvious implication of child abuse.
The Times, however, with the motto "All the News That's Fit to Print," didn't find anything fit to print until days later, and then only with the laughable headline, "Conservatives Draw Blood From Acorn." As Charlie Gibson condescended, "[M]aybe this is just one you leave to the cables."
The truly unfortunate thing is that ACORN has received more than $50 million in taxpayer dollars since 1994 and was set to receive $8.5 billion in "stimulus" cash. Most Democrats are feverishly turning off the funding spigot before this scandal drags their own political skeletons out of the closet. For the record, however, seven senators voted to continue funding this criminal enterprise, and, not surprisingly, they're all Democrats: Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Dick Durbin (IL), Roland Burris (IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Bob Casey Jr. (PA), Patrick Leahy (VT) and self-proclaimed socialist independent Bernie Sanders (VT). In addition, 75 (yes, seventy-five) House Democrats voted to continue throwing our money at the group. Space doesn't permit us to list the names of these disgraceful twits, but BigGovernment.com has them for all to see.
One of the ACORN workers did tell O'Keefe, "Honesty is not going to get you the house." Perhaps she meant "House" with a capital "H." In any case, O'Keefe and Giles deserve a medal.
On Cross-Examination
"Good thing I wasn't drinking coffee when I read the Politico headline about Team Obama trying to run away from ACORN: 'W.H. distances from activist group.' Choking. Up. With. Laughter. Barack Obama can no more disown ACORN than he could disown his own shadow. He IS ACORN. And ACORN is him. The 'accountability' that White House flack Robert Gibbs says they take 'extremely seriously' doesn't extend to Team Obama itself -- and the accountability they have evaded for pouring more than $800,000 into an ACORN front group for campaign advance work that was mysteriously re-classified as 'get-out-the-vote' work. As for the ACORN 'advisory committee' that will 'audit' the group's illicit activities, I repeat: Choking. Up. With. Laughter." --columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin
From the 'Non Compos Mentis' File
"The truth remains that thousands of New Yorkers who are facing foreclosure depend on charitable organizations like Acorn for assistance." --Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
But as Investor's Business Daily argues, "The fact is that this 'charitable organization' helped precipitate the mortgage meltdown that shattered the economy. It was Acorn, under the cover of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), that intimidated banks through mob action into making risky loans in the name of 'fairness' to people who could not afford them. The tactics, taken straight from the pages of Saul Alinsky's 'Rules for Radicals,' were used by Acorn as early as 1991, when it took over the House Banking Committee room for two days to protest efforts to scale back the CRA."
Essential Liberty Project
On Thursday, Constitution Day, The Patriot Post announced the first phase of our new "Essential Liberty Project," the most important initiative we have ever undertaken, one motivated by the most critical need of our time. The goal is to support the restoration of constitutional integrity, an objective that has been foremost in The Patriot's mission since our inception in 1996.
To that end, Phase One entails the distribution of millions of Constitution booklets to high school and collegiate students nationwide, as a primer on our nation's founding documents and essential liberty. This compact booklet contains the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, as well as a comprehensive introduction on liberty and Rule of Law by Mark Alexander, recently published in The Patriot as Part One and Part Two. It is an outstanding resource for young Patriots.
We are asking you to facilitate a successful launch of this endeavor in two ways:
First, if you are a parent or grandparent of a high school or college student, please consider providing these Constitution booklets to your student's entire class, grade or school. The booklets are available in bulk here.
Second, if you would rather give a donation for the distribution of Constitution booklets to student groups or classes who do not already have sponsors, you can do so at our Essential Liberty Project support page.
Of course, we encourage distribution of the Constitution booklets to other groups, organizations, clubs, ministries and the like.
Help us restore our Constitution's mandate for Rule of Law by distributing Constitution booklets or by supporting that distribution.
ObamaCare, Baucus Style
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) made public his health care proposal this week, and no one on either side of the aisle or in the White House liked it very much. As Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Baucus took it upon himself to put a package together that he thought stood the best chance of drawing bipartisan support, but, instead, his plan landed with a resounding thud. None of the Republicans and Democrats from the so-called "Gang of Six" who were working with him on the bill showed up for the press conference to announce the bill, and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs stated that Baucus's plan did not reflect Barack Obama's vision for health care. This is bad news for Baucus, and it may be bad news for ObamaCare in general -- which, of course, is good news for America.
The plan does not include a public option, but that's about the only good thing that can be said about it. It advocates heavy regulation of insurers, forcing them to accept all comers regardless of pre-existing conditions, and it also establishes "exchanges" where insurers will be required to develop standardized plans for comparison-shopping.
The plan also includes an absolutely brutal tax and fee structure to "pay" for itself. Insurers would be forced to fork over an excise tax of 35 percent for high-value health plans, because liberals won't be able to live with themselves if they allow some Americans to have better health care plans than others, even though it's often a matter of personal choice. (And here we thought liberals believed in "the right to choose.") Arbitrary fees for insurers and makers of drugs and medical devices would also be used to fund the plan. While Congress always seems to forget this, keep in mind that all of these costs will be passed on to you, the consumer.
All Americans would be required to have health insurance or face stiff penalties. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that even after a low-income family receives government subsidies to purchase health insurance, their personal "investment" into a mandatory plan could amount to more than 15 percent of their annual income.
Baucus's plan also takes a swing at business. Companies are not now required by law to offer insurance to their employees, but those with 50 or more employees that don't offer coverage will face a $400 per employee fine. This fine would kick in if any one employee receives subsidies to buy insurance.
Conspicuously absent is tort reform -- the billions of dollars spent by doctors to pay up or settle frivolous lawsuits, the ever-increasing malpractice scam that requires them to buy expensive insurance policies -- all of which raise the costs to the insurers. Could this be a result of all the contributions made by trial lawyers to the Democrats? Surely not!
Criticism of Baucus's plan has come from all sides, and with virtually no support, it may very well die an ignominious death. It will go before the full Senate Finance Committee for dissection and potential rewrites, but there is little reason to believe that it (or any other Democrat proposal) can be made to fit within federal government powers enumerated in the Constitution.
Protesters Come to Washington
A large crowd of Patriots descended on the nation's capital last Saturday to voice their concern and displeasure with Washington's out-of-control spending habits and interference with people's lives. Estimates of the number of participants varied widely, from 70,000 to as many as two million -- but more on that later.
This civil demonstration followed the message and the momentum of the Tea Parties from earlier this year. Placards called attention to a number of issues: chronic government overspending and taxation, nationalization of various industries, the general ineffectiveness of Congress, and the liberal perception that the Tea Party protest movement is a racist mob. Actually viewing the gathering, however, would shed some bright light on that perception. The crowd represented a broad cross section of the country, from senior citizens concerned about ObamaCare's impact on their health care to college students worried about the tremendous debt their generation faces in the coming years, and everyone in between. They were polite to the police officers on street duty, and they left the Mall and streets significantly cleaner than attendees of Barack Obama's January immaculation. Of course, if the larger media outlets aside from Fox News actually bothered to report on the march as opposed to simply offering their own opinions of it, these facts would be known.
There is no official figure of how many people actually attended the march. Liberal pundits stated earlier last week that two million or so protesters were expected. Their high estimate is a slick tactic employed in protest politics -- pin high expectations on opponents, only to mock them when said "expectations" aren't met. However, the low-end number of 70,000 is absurd. There are photos of portions of the crowd that alone contain at least that many people.
Charlie Martin of Pajamas Media pegged the actual size at around 850,000 after performing a series of calculations based upon known facts such as the size of the National Mall, National Park Service definitions of what constitutes a crowd (one person per five square feet), and the number of marchers who passed down Pennsylvania Avenue in a three-hour period. If this number is correct, then it was about the same size of the crowd that attended Obama's inauguration. That event was originally estimated at two million but was later quietly reduced after careful study of satellite photos of the Mall.
New & Notable Legislation
Last month, the Social Security Administration announced that there would be no cost of living adjustment (COLA) in 2010, marking the first time since 1975 that Social Security recipients would receive no annual raise. Yet Medicare payments by seniors are slated to jump 9 percent, at least according to Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY). She's the sponsor of a House bill to give a one-time payment of $150 to Medicare recipients as a makeup for losing the 2010 COLA. Can anyone say "stimulus" payment?
For the most part, food and energy costs have gone down, leaving the largest source of increased costs to be the government: One tiny case in point is the $7 billion cost to make these one-time payments. Of course, the feds will take back some of that money since Social Security benefits are considered taxable income. Beware of the hand that gives since it can take away as well.
New! Air Force Hat
Our sharp 3-D Air Force Wings ball cap features raised white Wings and white accents. U.S. Air Force is stitched on the back of the self-adjusting cap as well as on the bill in front and on the right side.
News From the Swamp: Wilson Rebuked
On Tuesday, the House voted 240-179 -- largely along party lines -- to "disapprove" the behavior of Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who shouted, "You lie!" at President Barack Obama during a particularly galling portion of the Obfuscator-in-Chief's speech to a joint session of Congress last Wednesday. Wilson had already apologized and Obama had accepted, but that wasn't good enough for House Democrats. It is noteworthy that just prior to Wilson's outburst, Obama said that the charge of "panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens" was "a lie, plain and simple." He then called the claim that ObamaCare would cover illegal aliens "false." It was this straw that broke Wilson's back. Oddly enough, immediately after this bit of truth-telling, Wilson's fellow lawmakers began working on health care reform language that would explicitly deny coverage to illegals, while Obama began advocating legalizing illegals so that they can get health care coverage.
In other news, the president has yet to apologize for calling his opponents liars, and the House did not vote to disapprove.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports, "Earlier Tuesday, the House Rules Committee circulated guidelines on how lawmakers may refer to the president or his team. It is acceptable to call a presidential message 'a disgrace to the country,' the memo said, or refer to 'our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs.' But a lawmaker may not call the president a 'liar' or 'cowardly.'" All of the above easily apply to the current administration.
This Week's 'Braying Jackass' Award
"[Congressman Joe Wilson] did not help the cause of, uh, of uh, diversity and, uh, tolerance with his remarks. If I were a betting man I would say that it instigated, uh, more, uh, racist sentiment, feeling that it's okay, you don't have to, you don't have to, uh, bury it now, you can bring it out, talk about it fully. And so, uh, I guess we'll probably have, uh, folks, uh, puttin' on, uh, white hoods and white uniforms again and, uh, riding through the countryside intimidating people. And, um, you know, that, that's the, uh, logical conclusion if, uh, this kind of, um, attitude, uh, uh, is not, uh, rebuked. And uh, uh, Congressman Wilson represents it -- he's the face of it, and, uh, that's why I support the resolution." --Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), exhibiting the same verbal tic as Obama -- indicating that both are either lying or spouting B.S.
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