ACORN, prostitutes, and political corruption

I’ve got to hand it tot he folks over at ACORN: I’ve never heard anyone more capable of sounding like absolute idiots than the folks they’ve got representing them on the radio. I just listened to an hour long interview on NPR (notably left-wing in their reporting), attempting to address the recent ‘issues’ that have come to light regarding the way ACORN teaches their :clients” to commit fraud. Being NPR, I expected to hear a long list of excuses and justifications as to why ACORN shouldn’t be held accountable for their illegal actions, and I wasn’t disappointed. The interviewer presented one leading question after another that made it almost impossible for the ACORN rep to come off as anything but an innocent victim. ALMOST.

The ACORN rep had only one response to any one of the leading questions: The republicans are EVIL. An abbreviated example:

NPR interviewer: “I understand that ACORN has fired the individuals who were video taped explaining how that guy could get a subsidized loan to set up a  whorehouse selling 14 year old girls. Is that true?

ACORN REP: “it’s all the republicans fault. They’re evil. If you look at a couple of the republicans that have held office in the past 40 years, there are some cases of corruption and even prostitution!.”

OK, now I don’t know about you, but the NPR lead-in on this question should have been answered along the lines of “well, there are always a few bad apples, and yes,we did punt those idiots, but the stuff they did doesn’t represent ACORN’s standard procedures – especially if we know that we’re being taped.”

another example:

NPR: “What can you tell me about the ACORN 8 – the former ACORN board members who resigned because of corruption and unethical behavior (implying that the former board members resigned because they were caught dong unethical things, when they actually resigned because they couldn’t condone the actions of ACORN).

ACORN: “they’re don’t represent ACORN. They’re being paid by the republicans. Did you know that in the past 40 years, some of the Republicans have been convicted of ethics crimes? even prostitution!”

An hour of this. Seriously folks, we all know that ACORN finally got caught at what it has been doing for decades: using fraud and other illegal methods to build an empire of corruption that no news journalist could take on without being labeled as a racist and anti-PC nazi. The fact that they were taken out by a couple of kids with a video cam, and not a network looking for some hot ratings is a good clue to all you other crooked PC bozos out there. If you can make up a front organization that pretends to serve the poor and the minorities, you can hide your corruption for decades – until some punk and a chick with nothing to lose decide to blow your scam.

On the other hand, listening to this interview made it completely clear that ACORN really does have no way to explain their actions. The feds finally did something right by yanking their funding – now lets see if they can finish the job: lets see if the Attorney General can start a nice RICO case against the folks that are really responsible.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for organizations that serve the poor and the needy. Of course, I only support the organizations that actually support them. Organizations that teach them to use fraud, lies and loopholes to get a free lunch should be shut down, and the people that run them should be tossed into prison. It will be interesting to see how many of the victims (yes: victims – the ones stupid enough to use the ACORN methods may well be looking at detailed revues of the documents they submitted to get their subsidized mortgages. If there are false statements on them, the people that signed them could well be facing fraud and corruption charges, as well as losing their homes and the possibility of ever qualifying for government housing assistance again). A pleasant thought: The victims of ACORN may well end up in the same prisons as the folks that set the whole thing up. There may be some justice there….

cop shot fire chief in back during hearing. No charges filed?

OK, go read this before you go any further: Courtroom shooting.

this looks more like the plot for a bad Hollywood movie from the 70’s about crooked cops. What is truly amazing is that even after the cop shot the fire chief IN COURT, in front of witnesses, the cop wasn’t even charged. Remember, it is a felony to even carry a weapon into a court room unless you are on officer of the court. We can safely assume that the cop wasn’t an officer of the court, just a local cop.

If you had the slightest idea that cops are actually there to protect you, think again. Here’s a classic example of what happens when a bunch of people are given authority with no accountability. And if you think that there is any such thing as accountability for cops, take a look at this:http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com.

So, next time you have to deal with a cop, or read about someone that’s been having trouble witht eh cops, maybe you should think twice about who the real victim is….

party politics and why Health care reform will never happen – or any other significant legislation

While listening to yet another media report (I refuse to call it news anymore) flogging the whole “kennedy was god” crap, I actually heard an intelligent comment. The talking head commented that without Teddy, significant health care reform had no chance of succeeding. The other talking head commented that not only health reform, but pretty much ANY significant legislation had almost no chance of passing. She was claiming that without Teddy, no legislation could succeed, which I think is simply stupid – even for the kennedy worshippers, but there IS some truth to the statement.

Of course, it has nothing to do with Kennedy, it is all about how politics work in the USA, and health care is a great example. Pretty much everybody agrees that major reform is needed, and pretty much everybody agrees as to what should be done. The problem is that our political system requires the two parties to take “opposing” stands instead of working cooperatively. This is because the american people need something simple to associate with the political parties. Democrats help the poor, and are socially and politically correct. Republicans represent big business, don’t care about the people, and are all about making sure that the rich stay rich, and the poor stay poor. The two parties can’t work together because it would shatter the illusion that they are actually any different. Then, the people (and the parties) would actually have to think, make decisions, and figure out what and who to vote for.

Sure, some of you are going to scream that dems and reps are really different. Republicans have affairs, cheat on their wives, and only pretend to care about family values to keep the religious right on their side. Get real. For starters: Bill Clinton. By all “family values” measures he should be a ‘republican’. Take a good look at the sex scandals, mistress scandals, and all the other trash about politicians, and you’ll find it on both sides of the aisle in equal amounts.

Others will scream that the dems really care about the people, and that the republicans only care about the rich and corporations. If you really think this is true, you should go take a look at the folks that these politicians spend their time with and get their money from. Both parties will make token visits to Podunk village, and make sure that they get lots of photo ops with ‘normal folk’ – especially during election season. The rest of the year, they rubbing elbows with folks that can sling around 5 and six figure campaign contributions, and no one else matters. If they played the game any other way, they’d be out of office PDQ.

As far as the republicans working to keep the rich rich, while the dems work to make sure the poor get a fair shake, simply reread the last paragraph, and put it into context. The main job of any politician is NOT to represent ‘the people’, it is to get re-elected. In today’s world, that means making sure that you’ve got the backing of either the democratic or republican party. What you do is pretty much irrelevant, because a bit of slander, a good add campaign, and a thinly wrapped pack of lies and misinformation is all that really matters – something that we call by the euphemism “campaigning”. And for campaigning to work, there has to be an “us” and a “them”.

So there ya have it. Any real change is destined to fail, or at best get so watered down as to be irrelevant simply because if something DOES get done, one party or the other will be able to take the credit for it. And of course, if one party gets the credit, it means that the other party is left short. The democrats are starting to realize that without absolute control over the house, senate, and presidency, they are stuck in the same mire that they used to try and keep Bush under control.

So, is there any real hope? well, it depends on your point of view. If you have a bazillion bucks to throw into lobbyists on both sides of the aisle, you can pull off fiascoes like the latest GM bailout, the bank bailout, the blackwater (renamed to Xe) cover-up, etc. These work because the folks behind the decisions can line the politicians pockets and campaign chests well enough to throw up a smoke screen hiding what is really happening. A good two-sided campaign of misinformation can confuse the issues so much that anyone can believe whatever they want, and justify their opinion based on “expert opinions”.

Of course, if your particular cause does NOT have those gigabucks to toss around chances are that it’ll never get anywhere. So what are your options? Armed rebellion is a good one. The french revolution is a great example of what a truly pissed off population can do. You can vote third party – it will probably make you feel better, but won’t actually accomplish anything. Or, you can be a Good American, and simply sit there and shut up. When the time comes to vote, you can try and tell yourself that your vote matters, makes a difference, and may even be counted (maybe, if you’re lucky). Then go home, and watch the results on TV with the millions of other delusional sheep. Meaning that there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it. Ain’t america great?

Oh yeah, on the whole kennedy thing – in my last post, I referred to him as ‘compost’. I must admit my error. That dude was so packed with alcohol and other chemicals that he’ll never be compost. Toxic waste maybe, but not compost…

In memory: Ted Kennedy – one less liberal democrat

OK, so Teddy is now compost. We got the news, so now the news channels and talk radio can stop eulogizing him as if he were some sort of saint. Lets face it folks, this guy started out his career by using his wealth, social status, and families political connections to get away with murder (or at the very least manslaughter).  He’s a notorious drunk, womanizer, and pretty much demonstrated the ethics that we’ve come to expect from politicians – both democratic and republican.

We can all pretend that all the “good work he did” for all of the “powerless minorities” makes up for the fact that the was basically a sleazeball, but if we simply take a look at the attitudes portrayed in that simple justification for his life, we can find the real meaning. Lets see: “powerless minorities” in Kennedy-speak means anyone that isn’t worth a few bazillion bucks, and doesn’t have the political connections to ignore the law, then buy or barter away the penalties associated with the crime. “Good work” means that he had a  successful career as a politician. If you consider that “good”, you’re reading the wrong blog.

It would be pretty easy to take a walk through any federal prison and find some murderer who was willing to “dedicate his life to helping the poor minorities” in exchange for a free pass for his crimes – especially when the pass includes a lifestyle that only a very small minority of people in the world get to enjoy. So why is Teddy and the rest of the Kennedy clan so special? Dunno. I live in New England, and for a lot of the locals, the Kennedys are pretty much akin to some sort of diety, and can do no wrong. As has been demonstrated by repeated escapes from charges of drunken driving, rape, assault, and a slew of other crimes that would put any non-deity behind bars for a long time.

O.K., so its always a drag when someone bites it (well, almost always anyway), but enough with the friggin’ saint kennedy crap. He was a normal person at best, at worst a murder sleazebag that spent his life avoiding the results of his debauchery. We’ve said it, we’ve heard it, now shut the hell up and move on.