The existing contracts dodge …

The New York Times is reporting that the Eric Holder’s Justice Department has concluded that it is legal to pay ACORN under contracts signed before the Congressional ban on further payments to ACORN.

‘Splain to me Lucy …

why the Obama Administration feels that it can act with impunity to cancel or modify the bonus contracts of those financial firms which were in place before TARP funding was provided to key financial institutions?

or why the Bush Administration feels that it was in the best interests of the country to allow General Electric to continue providing aid and comfort to Iran, an enemy of the United States, that was complicit in providing deadly explosive IEDs that was killing United States’ soldiers?

“GE has long had a corporate presence in Iran, which U.S. officials say is providing weapons and training for Shiite militias in the Iraq conflict. Under growing criticism from the public and its own shareholders, GE announced in 2005 that it would accept no new business in Iran and would wind down existing contracts, which mostly involved sales of oil, gas and energy and health-care equipment.” <Source: Washington Post>

“GE favors an open trading system of equals, but we have taken decisions not to do business in certain countries because of the reputational and business risks involved. In 2008, GE decided not to do business with countries designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism by the U.S. Department of State (Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria.) The company will not accept business in these countries except activity that is authorized by the U.S. Government for humanitarian or public policy purposes. In 2008, GE businesses completed their obligations related to SST country sales, other than those authorized by U.S. Government license. In addition, since 1996, GE has not accepted business in Myanmar (Burma). GE continues evaluate the countries in which we do business on an ongoing basis.” <Source: General Electric>

How many U.S. and Iraqi lives were imperiled by Iran from 2005 to 2008? And why didn’t the Bush Administration take action to halt all trading and sanction GE if they continued to provide aid and comfort to a nation openly complicit in killing American troops?

The government has sworn to defend America from her enemies, both foreign and domestic …

Am I crazy or does the organization known as ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) stand accused of election improprieties and the improper use of non-profit funds to engage in political activities – all to the gross benefit of the democrat party?

In a political era where attorneys on both sides of the political spectrum file lawsuits to protect against the actual and potential disenfranchisement of the American voter, why is this Administration openly providing funding to an organization which presents a clear and present danger in subverting local, state and federal elections? Why is this organization, thought to be one reason for Obama’s stellar election performance being allowed to continue to receive funds in the face of obvious alleged wrongdoing?

The democrats needs ACORN to compete in the 2o1o election cycle …

Never before has any Administration sought to inflict so much damage on the United States and her legal citizens in pursuing a political ideology based on a Marxist wealth redistribution philosophy. Never before has one political party implemented such legislative initiatives which could cause the collapse of free-market capitalism and the loss of our Constitutional freedoms. And never before has a single party faced such an acrimonious response from citizens who are now being faced with the reality of an even larger government bureaucracy, the ascendency of counter-productive unions, higher taxes and the loss of common freedoms as the government dictates choice through their control of the economy.

The democrats need organizations like ACORN to continue to motivate voters to vote democrat. Buying votes by promising those who regard themselves as “victims of the system” with promises of future political power and ever-larger entitlements. And it appears that the Obama Administration will do everything in its power to keep ACORN, and its successor organizations, functional for the upcoming fight.

The New York Times is reporting … 

“Justice Dept. Says Acorn Can Be Paid”

“ The Justice Department has concluded that the Obama administration can lawfully pay the community group Acorn for services provided under contracts signed before Congress banned the government from providing funds to the group.”

“The department’s conclusion, laid out in a recently disclosed five-page memorandum from David Barron, the acting assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, adds a new wrinkle to a sharp political debate over the antipoverty group’s activities and recent efforts to distance the government from it.”

‘Since 1994, Acorn, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has received about $53 million in federal aid, much of it grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for providing various services related to affordable housing.”

“But the group has become a prime target for conservative critics, and on Oct. 1, President Obama signed into law a spending bill that included a provision that said no taxpayer funds — including funds authorized by previous legislation — could be ‘provided to’ the group or its affiliates.”

Like the “its for the children” strategy …

It is readily apparent that both the Bush Administration and the Obama Administration, as well as the Clinton Administration, were the proximate cause of our current financial crisis. By eliminating or extending legislative initiatives and Administration policy to allow the financial institutions to provide loans to those who couldn’t afford a car to purchase expensive homes. All with relaxed credit and underwriting standards.

And now, it appears that the Obama Administration is actually following the Bush Administration’s policy of extending the current recession by artificially preventing free market forces from working to stabilize our housing market. Keeping people who can still not afford their homes – ostensibly while they and the Administration wait for better economic times. It should also be noted that these policies are also preventing workers from migrating to other regions which offer better work opportunities.

Complicit in this financial catastrophe is HUD, which continues to pursue policies which keep those who cannot afford to rent similar properties in the open market in homes that they can’t afford. Thus enabling financial institutions to play accounting games to hide the fact that they are technically insolvent and whose assets should be assumed by others.

So why would the government allow HUD to pursue the toxic policies that would, in my opinion, extend our recession and do further damage to the United States. Of course, the answer is politics. The democrats need money and voter support. Money they can get from the taxpayers and lobbyists – but who will provide the voter support in the age of a growing disaffection with government policies and the pain they have inflicted on ordinary Americans? The democrats need ACORN and will do anything to insure their funding.

“A Housing and Urban Development lawyer asked the Justice Department whether the new law meant that pre-existing contracts with Acorn should be broken. But in a memorandum signed Oct. 23 and posted online this week, Mr. Barron said the government should continue to make payments to Acorn as required by such contracts.”

“The new law ‘should not be read as directing or authorizing HUD to breach a pre-existing binding contractual obligation to make payments to Acorn or its affiliates, subsidiaries or allied organizations where doing so would give rise to contractual liability,’ Mr. Barron wrote.”

Where is the investigation of ACORN which would prove that they are unable to administer these contracts and that they may have used funds in an inappropriate manner? Why cannot the power to administer these contracts be shifted to federally-supervised institutions?

It all depends on what the meaning of “is” is …

The democrat party, long known as the party of lawyers, for their litigious nature, the overly-complex legislation and the fact that they refuse to rein in the legal industry, is once again using the Clintonian parsing of words to pursue their preferred policy choices.

“Mr. Barron said he had based his conclusion on the statute’s phrase ‘provided to.’ This phrase, he said, has no clearly defined meaning in the realm of government spending — unlike words like ‘obligate’ and ‘expend.’”

“Citing dictionary and thesaurus entries, he said ‘provided to’ could be interpreted as meaning only instances in which an official was making ‘discretionary choices’ about whether to give the group money, rather than instances in which the transfer of funds to Acorn was required to satisfy contractual obligations.”

“Since there are two possible ways to construe the term ‘provided to,’ Mr. Barron wrote, it makes sense to pick the interpretation that allows the government to avoid breaching contracts.”

Just another reason that we should throw the democrats and their “weasel word” lawyers out on their collective asses! 

“Moreover, he argued, requiring the government to cancel contracts with a specifically named entity — ‘including even in cases where performance has already been completed but payment has not been rendered’ — would raise constitutional concerns best avoided by interpreting the law differently.”

“The Constitution prohibits ‘bills of attainder’ — legislation aimed at punishing specific people or groups. Acorn has filed a lawsuit arguing that the statute banning the government from providing it funds amounts to an unconstitutional bill of attainder.”

Nowhere in the Constitution does it prevent the Administration from performing its law enforcement duties. Investigating and sanctioning those who would subvert the Constitution by illegally using funds and methods to alter election results. This is a much bigger problem which could damage the United States than fighting about contractual matters in a court of law. 

“Founded in Arkansas in 1970, Acorn describes itself as the nation’s largest grass-roots community organizing group. It provides financial services to poor and middle-income families, conducts voter registration drives, and advocates for higher minimum wages and more affordable housing.”

Sounds great until you realize that the lofty words do not match the actions of the group which appears to be pursuing a Marxist political agenda and whose guidelines come from the Communist Saul Alinsky’s book, “Rules for Radicals.” They use the poor and disenfranchised to further their own political ends and enrich their own leadership.

Based on their alleged behavior, I would argue that it is a massive criminal enterprise, run for the benefit of its own leadership, promoting an alien Marxist ideology and which has purchased political protection by doing work on behalf of the democrats – many of whom appear to be protecting the organization at all costs.

“Conservatives have long complained about Acorn’s voter drives in poor neighborhoods, citing instances in which workers fraudulently registered imaginary voters like Mickey Mouse. Acorn has argued that it is the real victim of such incidents, which its employees have often brought to the attention of the authorities.”

“Criticism of the group escalated in September, when two conservative activists released footage they had recorded using secret cameras of Acorn workers in several cities. The activists had posed as a pimp and a prostitute seeking financial advice. Instead of raising objections, the Acorn employees counseled the couple on how to hide their illicit activities and avoid paying taxes.”

“Conservatives seized on the videos to further criticize the group, highlighting that the Obama campaign had paid an Acorn affiliate for get-out-the-vote efforts. Congress then enacted the ban on providing funds to it.”

Even considering the alleged embezzlement of more than one-million dollars by an ACORN official, the illegal co-mingling of non-profit and for-profit funds, the pursuit of voter registration which only assists one party, this is not about some amateur journalists who scooped the mainstream media with their video insight into the nature of the organization and its employees. It is about preserving the American system of free enterprise and a government relatively free of self-serving corruption.

Bottom line …

We are faced with a clear and present danger of a malignant political party pursuing a dangerous Marxist agenda. We need to shut down the corrupt facilitators who are enabling this socialist regime and return the United States to some semblance or normalcy.

Vote these corrupt democrat clowns out office in 2010 – and don’t stop with the democrats, vote out those corrupt republicans who served as enablers and who are currently profiting from the meltdown of our financial system.

-- steve 

Reference Sources:

Acorn Can Be Paid, Justice Dept. Says - NYTimes.com