en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/654616 Comments by Doctor_X http://biggovernment.com/cmoody/2009/09/18/exactly-how-much-taxpayer-money-went-to-acorn/#IDComment35010836 Before any organization gets any taxpayer funds, it should be subject to a background check (including forensic accounting and a tax audit) so invasive that it falls just short of anal probing. That's not paranoia, that's good stewardship. Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:41:30 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/cmoody/2009/09/18/exactly-how-much-taxpayer-money-went-to-acorn/#IDComment35010836 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/09/16/the-audacity-of-hos-daily-show-skewers-acorn/#IDComment34729629 Never thought I'd be applauding Jon Stewart for political commentary. Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:30:01 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/09/16/the-audacity-of-hos-daily-show-skewers-acorn/#IDComment34729629 http://biggovernment.com/arandazzo/2009/09/16/president-obama-believes-in-a-free-market-so-why-not-regulatory-policies-that-would-promote-it/#IDComment34709182 Why does the government insist on trying to run businesses? Its been proven over and over they (to quote Tom Clancy) can't even spell efficiency, let alone implement it. I've been saying for 18 months that we have no need for a president who does not have a strong understanding of economics, and my fears are being realized as I type. If the public's primary concern was the economy why did they elect a president who probably doesn't even know the difference between a note and a bond? I have a financial background, but if I walked into an office building and asked for a position as CFO I'd understandably be laughed out of the room. Hence my befuddlement that people think a Harvard-educated lawyer (I have no respect for Ivy League education, as the morons who put the economy in the mess it's in all have Ivy League degrees) can fix the biggest economy in the world. Yes, he's got economic advisors (Keynesians and Communists, apparently), but one needs to know whose advice to heed. No law degree in the world will teach that. Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:30:48 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/arandazzo/2009/09/16/president-obama-believes-in-a-free-market-so-why-not-regulatory-policies-that-would-promote-it/#IDComment34709182 http://biggovernment.com/mflynn/2009/09/15/npr-on-acorn-the-hard-core-bigotry-of-low-expectations/#IDComment34615093 Translation: They don't know any better. Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:31:05 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/mflynn/2009/09/15/npr-on-acorn-the-hard-core-bigotry-of-low-expectations/#IDComment34615093 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/14/acorn-story-grows-but-mainstream-media-refuse-to-cover-it/#IDComment34605927 Good point. I stand corrected. Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:38:54 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/14/acorn-story-grows-but-mainstream-media-refuse-to-cover-it/#IDComment34605927 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/14/acorn-story-grows-but-mainstream-media-refuse-to-cover-it/#IDComment34516537 I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out why it is the media decides to embrace a biased stance, refusing to cover certain stories while beating others to death. I know it's not because of any love of the truth. The days of newsmen and women like Walter Burns and Hildy Johnson in "His Girl Friday", the ones that scare the living daylights out of politicians, are gone. The only answer I can come up with is that the media embraces the same elitist mentality that Washington D.C. does, preferring to 1) get their news from Reuters and the Associated Press instead of doing legwork, and 2) only broadcast the stories they think their customers and viewers want to get. Fox has a largely conservative base, ergo their news often has a conservative spin. MSNBC is the opposite, putting a largely liberal spin on stories or at least downplaying those that cast liberal agenda in a bad light. I get the business side of it: you tailor your product to your market. But if they do that they should not peddle themselves as news organizations, an idea that ideally conjures up images of empirical truth and objectivity. The interesting paradigm shift that we are seeing (none too soon in my opinion) is that news outlets are no longer the only way to learn about the world. There was a time that they were, and they often took that duty seriously. I like to think (can't say for sure) that the greats like Cronkite and Murrow felt a responsibility for the truth. It may be, however, that they never did, which makes to rise of sites like this one such a boon to the world. When you have amateur journalists (I refer to your professional status, not the quality of your work) breaking stories that media outlets refuse to cover, what may have escaped the public's notice twenty years ago due to that refusal now simply casts that outlet as at lazy at best and complicit at worst. Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:50:48 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/14/acorn-story-grows-but-mainstream-media-refuse-to-cover-it/#IDComment34516537 http://biggovernment.com/jokeefe/2009/09/14/acorn-video-prostitution-scandal-in-new-york-ny/#IDComment34427682 This stuff is finger-licking good. Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:40:41 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/jokeefe/2009/09/14/acorn-video-prostitution-scandal-in-new-york-ny/#IDComment34427682 http://biggovernment.com/jokeefe/2009/09/14/acorn-video-prostitution-scandal-in-new-york-ny/#IDComment34426864 Well, investigating the CIA must be a better use of the man's time. Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:28:48 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/jokeefe/2009/09/14/acorn-video-prostitution-scandal-in-new-york-ny/#IDComment34426864 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/12/statement-from-bertha-lewis-acorn-chief-organizer/#IDComment34212591 And why were they fired? I haven't seen the inside of a law school, but even I could roll into any court and sell that as an admission of guilt. Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:30:51 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/12/statement-from-bertha-lewis-acorn-chief-organizer/#IDComment34212591 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/12/statement-from-bertha-lewis-acorn-chief-organizer/#IDComment34212515 Good grief... have the guts to admit that there may be bad eggs in their organization and that the field offices need tighter oversight. It would be acceptable, nay, refreshing, to see ANYONE remotely connected to politics admit fault and pledge improvement. Also, I love how everything antagonistic to liberal organizations is automatically blamed on Fox. Conservatives, unlike many liberals I know, can often think for themselves. We do not require a cheerleader in Washington or on TV to call a cadence I remember before the primary elections getting a piece of paper in the mail stating item by item how good Republicans were expected to vote. That was the day I registered as an independent. NO ONE tells me how to think or how to vote, and the insinuation that any effort on my part to change my country is attributable not to my common sense but to a news organization or politician is incredibly insulting. Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:29:19 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/12/statement-from-bertha-lewis-acorn-chief-organizer/#IDComment34212515 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/11/maryland-acorn-official-foxnews-racism-behind-acorn-investigation/#IDComment34130743 A few thoughts... 1. Only on one occasion were the police notified? Shame on you. O'Keefe and Giles should have been locked up from the word go. Of course, I don't mean that knowing it's all an act, but if you tried to get help from either me or any other person I know to do what you were supposedly doing you never would have made it out the door. 2. I watch Glenn Beck every day. I don't agree with everything he says, but I've never heard him call the president racist (though he has called ACORN racist). They must have access to the director's cut. 3. It is truly a symptom of the cowardice we see everywhere in our country today that the best they can think to do is cry racism. For six months while I watched the economy burn I waited for someone to step up and say, "I did that. That was my fault and I accept the consequences." NO ONE SAID A DAMN THING! No one had the stones to do anything more than point fingers at everyone else for the troubles they were in, and ACORN is doing the same thing. This can't possibly be indicative of a wide-spread problem, it's just a smear campaign. I have worked in finance, and know how tightly regulated it is (anyone who says otherwise obviously hasn't worked in that industry). The thing is, ACORN professes to provide services that are equally important as financial services, and they receive federal money. Regulate THEM. Make THEM hire compliance officers and make THEM have to jump through umpteen million hoops just do something as simple as trading a share of stock. You may say, "Well, the welfare of the investor is at stake in that case." I say in reply that the welfare of several El Salvadoran girls damn well could have been at stake in this one. Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:06:23 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/11/maryland-acorn-official-foxnews-racism-behind-acorn-investigation/#IDComment34130743 http://biggovernment.com/hgiles/2009/09/10/in-the-bowels-of-baltimores-acorn/#IDComment34022036 Investigative journalism... it's just crazy enough to work. Well done, Hannah. You and James get what most news outfits have forgotten: real stories come from the streets, not newsrooms and anchor desks in New York. Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:47:43 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/hgiles/2009/09/10/in-the-bowels-of-baltimores-acorn/#IDComment34022036 http://biggovernment.com/jokeefe/2009/09/11/washington-dc-acorn-video-child-prostitution-investigation/#IDComment34019095 This is unreal... Anyone remember the movie "His Girl Friday"? That's the sort of journalism we see here, and the kind of journalism we need. All politicians should be scared to death of newsies everywhere, left and right, not teeing off with them. I loved Hannah's segment on Glenn Beck yesterday. Yeah, it's a smear campaign. That's doesn't mean it's false. Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:27:39 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/jokeefe/2009/09/11/washington-dc-acorn-video-child-prostitution-investigation/#IDComment34019095 http://biggovernment.com/jokeefe/2009/09/10/chaos-for-glory/#IDComment33884202 This goes beyond Obama. This is Chicago politics, which means Obama is just the public face and puppet of organizations which are involved in activities that are...less than commendable. I am not accusing him of accepting bribes beyond what normally goes on with campaign financing (Yes, I called campaign financing bribery), but one has to wonder why he hasn't publicly distanced himself from groups like this one. Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:33:49 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/jokeefe/2009/09/10/chaos-for-glory/#IDComment33884202 http://biggovernment.com/jokeefe/2009/09/10/chaos-for-glory/#IDComment33882370 Your point is well taken, but there is enough that the ACORN people themselves say, and enough that is not spliced to show that they are not only not reporting, but also ABETTING child prostitution, tax evasion, and the international sex trade. I have known girls who have been hurt because of people like these two women. I pray for their daughters, if they have any. Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:10:12 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/jokeefe/2009/09/10/chaos-for-glory/#IDComment33882370