Showing posts with label ACORN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ACORN. Show all posts

#OccupyWallStreet Is Occupied by Socialists, SEIU, ACORN

A funny photo manipulation by buddy "Irony Curtain" at the funniest blog on Earth, iOwnTheWorld. IC is poking fun at the pitifully misdirected saps who have fooled themselves into believing that they've actually "occupied" Wall Street, and that at any moment the bankers and moneylords will fall to their knees and give in to their fuzzy, ill-defined demands. Many of the participants, in fact, are paid to be there and don't really care about the purported goals of this bad imitation of a revolution.
Let's analyze the graphic above. What do the "Vacancy" labels on people's heads mean? Well, it means that their minds are devoid of any real thought processes. They accept the wacky propaganda and marching orders of their Leftist overlords. Some of us call these people "drones," because they are remotely controlled by their masters. Who are their masters? ACORN and the SEIU, that's who. Don't believe me? In this video, an organizer with the Working Families Party (WFP) talks about her involvement as an organizer of #occupywallstreet from day one. The WFP is "is a minor political party in the United States founded in New York in 1998," according to an entry about the Working Families Party at Wikipedia. WFP is not a national party, but has satellite partners in Connecticut, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Delaware, Vermont and Oregon, but there is as yet no national WFP. Wikipedia also says that the NY WFP "was first organized in 1998 by a coalition of labor unions, ACORN and other community organizations...." That Wikipedia entry, by the way, seems to be authored by the WFP itself, as it reads exactly like the Working Families Party website. That's enough. I think you get the point. WFP is a socialist organization that "blends a culture of political organizing with unionism, 1960s idealism, and tactical pragmatism. The party's main issue concerns are jobs, health care, education and energy/environment. It has usually cross-endorsed Democratic or Republican candidates through fusion voting, but has occasionally run its own candidates." Like their partners ACORN and SEIU, WFP is no stranger to dirty politics and election hanky panky. WFP are currently involved in a ballot fraud case in Rensselaer County, New York. There, a city councilman and a local WFP leader were witnesses yesterday in a special county grand jury investigating absentee-ballot fraud. According to the Times Union, the case centers around allegations "that nine Democratic officials and party workers forged the ballot applications and ballots of voters, many of whom lived in city public housing. The inquiry so far has resulted in the guilty plea of former City Clerk William McInerney and indictment of Councilman Michael LoPorto and County Democratic Elections Commissioner Edward McDonough." That handsome man on the far left (no pun intended) of the photo is film maker and serial liar Michael Moore. He's a drone too. The only difference between Moore and the average drone, however, is about 350 pounds and the fact that he's a hypocritical millionaire capitalist. What is meant by "Occupied" on the signs in the photo? Well, that's irony, kids. The drones of #occupywallstreet think that they've occupied Wall Street, but in reality they're little brains have been occupied by the likes of ACORN and the SEIU. That's right, they're unwitting puppets of special interests. Still don't believe me? Watch that video again.

Lunch With Anita MonCrief, Dick Armey at Right Nation 2010

The Right Nation 2010 bloggers had lunch with three heroes of the conservative movement today. It's part of the Activist Training Conference segment of RN2010 at the Marriott Chicago Northwest, which preceeds this evening's huge convention featuring Glenn Beck and Andrew Brietbart. Anita MonCrief is a former ACORN staff member-turned-whistleblower. She talked about her days with ACORN and the corruption and voter fraud that she witnessed while part of that organization. After lunch, Anita is a featured speaker at one of the seminars. Hers is concentrating on election fraud and how to recognize and fight it. Dick Armey, a former Congressman from Texas (18 years of service) and the current chairman of Freedom Works, added his usual dose of down-home humor to a brief talk that spanned a wide spectrum of topics. Like Anita MonCrief, he is also concerned about voter fraud. "If there's a Democrat in the race," he said, "you can expect at least five percent voter fraud." Armey cautioned that current "heroes" of the conservative movement cannot "do it alone" and that they need your support.

ShoreBank Gets Help But Is Still Begging

MAY 18, 2010: GE joins effort to save Chicago community bank‎ (Reuters) Privately owned ShoreBank, a community development lender on Chicago's South Side near the home base of President Barack Obama and some of his top aides, is getting assistance from a consortium of Wall Street banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), Citigroup (C.N), JPMorgan (JPM.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N), sources have said. Spokesmen for Citigroup and General Electric Co (GE.N) each confirmed $20 million investments on Tuesday, and JP Morgan previously said it was ready to inject $15 million. Another source said Goldman injected $20 million. However... The Financial Times reported (on May 19, GMT) that "Two people familiar with the deal said the next test for the bank was whether or not it could raise an additional $70m from the federal government." That would be in addition to the money from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and GE Capital. The American Spectator is almost as suspicious about the bailout of ShoreBank as we are here at Chicago News Bench. On May 17, they wrote that "Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee want to find out if anyone in the Obama White House attempted to influence the financial bailout of a well-known Chicago-based 'community bank,' which faced FDIC closure last week, and which, going back to the Clinton Administration, has had close ties to ACORN and the leftist community-organizing world of Chicago. The story about the bailout attempt of ShoreBank first began breaking last Thursday night. The FDIC was demanding that the bank have $125 million in investments by Friday, but discussions to bail out the bank, which has close ties to both senior members of the Obama Administration, as well as the Clinton family, went deep into the weekend as Chicago politicians scrambled to save the bank." What? Last Thursday? Where the hell has American Spectator been? It was two weeks ago, on May 5, that we posted "Failing ShoreBank, Cap-And-Trade and Jan Schakowsky." In that post, I wrote that "This story is about much, much more than just ShoreBank. It's about corruption, the $10 Trillion cap-and-trade scam, the continuing attempt by Schakowsky and the Democrats to seize control of America's energy policies, and more. It's about the Joyce Foundation, which is a major shareholder of ShoreBank and also a major player in the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). CCX trades in 'greenhouse gases.' Franklin Raines, George Soros, Al Gore, Goldman Sachs, Barack Obama and others are big players in this story. (At this point, I strongly suggest that you watch Glenn Beck explain the twisted story of the Chicago Climate Exchange and the Joyce Foundation.)Over the past decade, 'green' ShoreBank has become a shill and a front for the cap-and-trade crowd and those with a radical environmentalist agenda." Fourteen days ago, we called out the corruption of the ShoreBank situation. We were certainly not the first ones to do so, by any means, but American Spectator makes it sound as though the connection was only realized when the FDIC was trying to rush through a bailout for ShoreBank. The stench surrounding ShoreBank, Schakowsky, the Clintons, the Obamas and many others wafts back years. The odiferous mess is only now getting the attention that it should have gotten long ago.

ACORN's Tangled Branches

by Warner Todd Huston

News is all over the country that the often criminal group the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is dead, folding its tent, kaput. All this is because, as Politico puts it, of a "conservative assault that never prompted any prosecutions." But let us not get our hopes up that ACORN is defeated. It isn't. In fact, most of the groups that huddled under ACORN's left-wing are just changing their names and moving on with all the same people involved as if nothing ever happened. And this isn't anything new. The fact is, ACORN activists have always hid behind dozens of false front organizations and corporate identities to disguise their criminal network. In California, for instance, one of the ACORN affiliates is changing its name to “Californians for Community Empowerment” and one of the New York offices will now be known as “New York Communities for Change.” But all the same people that ran these former ACORN offices in these states are still there, no change has been made but the name. We also saw the shady groups connected with ACORN but not named ACORN just last year during the Doug Hoffman, New York 23 arc. There an ACORN affiliate had created a fake political party in order to funnel cash to the Democrat running in that race. One of the organizations hip-deep in that election was a political group called the Working Families Party. Of course, the WFP is more-or-less a front for ACORN in New York and no political party at all. This "party" is run out of the ACORN offices at 88 Third Avenue in Brooklyn, its Co-chair is ACORN President Bertha Lewis, and one of its prime representatives is New York's ACORN leader, Steven Kest. ACORN and the Working Families Party are inextricable. The two are one and the same. The chief duty that the WFP serves to left leaning candidates in New York is supportive. WFP offers its chosen candidates campaign services such as door-to-door canvassing, phone banks, envelope stuffing and other necessary but expensive and time consuming services. WFP also low-balls the costs of these services to its preferred candidates. It so undercuts the costs of these services that it effectively eliminates any other political service operations from being able to compete. In one instance, Democrat candidate Bill de Blasio who ran for a Councilman's seat in Brooklyn using WFPs Data Field services, got a great boost from WFP. These services might have cost $40,000 from a for-profit political service but de Blasio only paid $5,000 for WFPs services. Critics say that WFPs low cost services place their supported candidates at an unfair advantage to all other candidates that must use many thousands of dollars more of their campaign funds for support services to get elected. WFP, in essence, is donating its services as opposed to charging for them. Naturally, the only sort of candidates that are lucky enough to receive WFPs services are the sort that promise fealty to ACORN and the extreme left agenda. In other words, WFP is neither a real political party, nor a proper business but is rather an activist organization out to undermine the political system in New York. It is a pattern that ACORN would love to repeat in various forms all across the country and one of the ways they do so is to co-opt politicians with cheap services and huge financial support and then hide behind a corporate name that people aren't aware is connected to ACORN. But the WFP isn't the only example of this sort of false front organization in connection with ACORN. In fact, many of ACORN's principle operatives have registered dozens and dozens of false corporations with states all across the country, all of which get money from the state in one capacity or another. Some of these false front corporations can be found on your State's Sec. of State website. Each state has a different system, of course, and some are easier to search than others. In the state of Louisiana, for instance, one can search by a person's name. On the Louisiana site you are not limited to the name of the corporation like you are in Illinois or other states so it is a bit easier to find vendors and corporations that are approved to work with the state. (Louisiana mainpage, or go to the search only page) On the Louisiana site I typed in the name of ACORN founder Wade Rathke to see what corporations and LLCs he had registered with the state. I also tried Dale Rathke, his embezzler brother, to see what he had registered with the state. The results are amazing. What I found were dozens of different shell corporations registered to Wade and Dale Rathke all of which have the potential of reaping thousands of dollars from the state of Louisiana. The same thing is happening in every state of the union and it isn't just Wade and Dale doing this. ACORN employees at all levels are doing this in order to hide the fact that they are registering ACORN agencies. Louisiana List (all registered to New Orleans): RATHKE, STEPHEN WADE Agent of “UNITED LABOR ORGANIZATIONS” President of “TEXAS UNITED CITY-COUNTY EMPLOYEES, INC.” President of “BALTIMORE ORGANIZING AND SUPPORT CENTER, INC.” President of “WORKING FAMILIES ASSOCIATION, INC.” Member of “COALITION FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE IN , L.L.C.” President of “CHIEF ORGANIZER FUND, INC.” Director of “CHIEF ORGANIZER FUND, INC.” President of “ACORN INTERNATIONAL, INC.” President of “WAL-MART ALLIANCE FOR REFORM NOW, INC.” President of “AFFILIATED MEDIA FOUNDATION MOVEMENT, INC.” Director of “UNITED LABOR ORGANIZATIONS” Vice-President of “METRO TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, INC.” Affiliated with “ELYSIAN FIELDS PARTNERSHIP” Director of “PARENT TEACHER GROUP OF CHINCHUBA SCHOOL, INC.” President of “GREENWELL SPRINGS CORPORATION” President of “BROAD STREET CORPORATION, INC.” President of “SIXTH AVENUE CORPORATION” President of “FIFTEENTH STREET CORPORATION” Director of “FIFTEENTH STREET CORPORATION” President of “ACORN BENEFICIAL ASSOCIATION, INC.” President of “ACORN FUND, INC.” President of “HOUSTON ORGANIZING AND SUPPORT CENTER, INC.” Director of “HOUSTON ORGANIZING AND SUPPORT CENTER, INC.” Director of “AUSTIN ORGANIZING AND SUPPORT CENTER, INC.” Treasurer of “AUSTIN ORGANIZING AND SUPPORT CENTER, INC.” President of “MONTANA RADIO NETWORK, INC.” Director of “MONTANA RADIO NETWORK, INC.” President of “PHOENIX ORGANIZING AND SUPPORT CENTER, INC.” Agent of “PARENT TEACHER GROUP OF CHINCHUBA SCHOOL, INC.” RATHKE, DALE Treasurer of “ACORN MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, INC.” Secretary/Treasurer of “METRO TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, INC.” Affiliated with “ELYSIAN FIELDS PARTNERSHIP” Director of “ COMMUNITY HOUSING ORGANIZATION, INC.” Secretary of “ASSOCIATED REGIONAL MAINTENANCE SYSTEMS, INC.” Secretary/Treasurer of “SIXTH AVENUE CORPORATION” Secretary of “MASSACHUSETTS ACORN HOUSING CORPORATION” Director of “CRESCENT CITY BROADCASTING CORPORATION” Treasurer of “CRESCENT CITY BROADCASTING CORPORATION” Secretary of “SHREVEPORT COMMUNITY TELEVISION, INC.” Secretary of “LOUISIANA ACORN FAIR HOUSING, INC.” Agent of “MASSACHUSETTS ACORN HOUSING CORPORATION” You can be sure to find a similar list of corporations registered in Illinois and every other state to all sorts of ACORN employees and associates. These registered entities are really but shell corporations of ACORN. So, while the main ACORN monster may be either dead or dying, don't assume that this many headed hydra is down for the count. Do not celebrate prematurely for we have much more work to do in order to defeat ACORN and its acolytes.

Also see Warner's blog Publius' Forum. Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed

ACORN, Masters of Disguise

As predicted, reports of the "demise" of ACORN have been greatly exaggerated. They have simply changed their name in what would seem to be an initial phase of the socialist organization's transmogrification. They're not going away, they're just changing their name and putting on a new fright wig. trans·mog·ri·fy (trns-mgr-f, trnz-) transitive verb: trans·mog·ri·fied, trans·mog·ri·fy·ing, trans·mog·ri·fies To change into a different shape or form, especially one that is fantastic or bizarre. "The Chicago office for the community activist group, known as ACORN, seems to have disappeared," reports Fox News. However, the same report goes on to say that, "In its place; a company called "Affordable Housing Centers of America", located in the same office, with apparently many of the same employees, according to a woman sitting behind a desk there. The new name might be part of an overall rebranding of the embattled organization, which says it is disbanding." As I wrote on March 12, "ACORN....will probably morph itself into a new entity under a different name with new business licensing." It was no flash of genius to know that ACORN would not disappear. It's been too valuable to the Democrat Party for so long, by providing foot soldiers and political support, that they can't afford to let it go away. You might say that ACORN is too big to fail. Scandal-ridden ACORN has been accurately called a "criminal organization." It has been accused of committing or encouraging voter registration fraud, embezzlement and violating "the tax-exempt status of some of its affiliates by engaging in partisan political activities," reports Associated Press. (See some related links here.) "Last year, a series of videos filmed at ACORN offices around the country sparked a national scandal and helped drive the organization to near ruin. In one video, ACORN employees were shown apparently advising a couple posing as a prostitute and her boyfriend to lie about her profession and launder her earnings; Brooklyn prosecutors said they did not commit a crime." Yep, transmogrified ACORN - or parts of it, anyway - are now called "Affordable Housing Centers of America." ACORN = AHCA. "Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now" = Affordable Housing Centers of America. This is not the first time that ACORN has changed its name. It has done so before, frequently. ACORN In October, 2009 Warner Todd Huston noted that in Illinois and elsewhere, "groups like ACORN register hundreds of different shell corporations to hide behind. They register them to their workers and their directors and then they offer them to government as a vendor or organization for the state’s use. Naturally, state funds flow like water into ACORN’s coffers as a result." The recent name change to "Affordable Housing Centers of America," in other words, is just business as usual for ACORN. ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis admits that ACORN is not going away. In a March 23, 2010 interview with National Public Radio host Allison Keyes, Lewis uttered the following nuggets, excerpted from the NPR transcript: LEWIS: First of all, let me set the record straight. Rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. (Soundbite of laughter) LEWIS: We are transforming, of course. I've been transforming this organization since June of 2008. KEYES: Are you changing your name and the people who are running it? LEWIS: We are ACORN, Inc. I'm still Bertha Lewis. We still have a board the board may be smaller. I'm the ACORN lady. LEWIS: Here's what we need to do, we need to keep fighting. We need to keep talking about the principles. We need to fight every single day. ACORN is not going to go away. KEYES: In 10 seconds, wouldnt it make more sense to change your name and restructure? LEWIS: Well, to the right it doesn't matter what we call ourselves. They are still going to come after us no matter what we do, and so that's why we just have to stay focused, keep helping the folks that we represent. Lewis is correct in saying that it doesn't matter what ACORN calls itself. Would it have mattered had Al Capone changed his name to John Smith? A criminal by any other name is, well, still a criminal. Another report from Fox says that ACORN "will close its affiliates and field offices by April 1st." In fact, an organizational statement released by ACORN on March 22, 2010 stated that "The ACORN Association Board met on Sunday March 21 and approved a set of steps to responsibly manage the process of bringing its operations to a close over the coming months." That March 22 statement, however, was starkly contradicted by Bertha Lewis' own statements on NPR. Perhaps ACORN's March 22 statement was an early April Fool's prank. Or, maybe, Lewis didn't get that memo. It doesn't matter. Based on past performance, it seems safe to say that ACORN will be around for a long time, regardless of what it calls itself. RELATED: ACORN’s Tangled Branches Publius' Forum CEO Says ACORN 'Isn't Dead Yet' NPR To Kill ACORN, Kill the Programs CATO Institute ACORN branches rename, rebrand after video scandal The Associated Press ACORN Housing Sprouts New Identity Housing Watch Acorn affiliates change name ABC7Chicago.com ACORN is folding up...but not altogether Examiner.com SEIU, ACORN Keep Democrats Rolling Fat in Illinois Chicago News Bench NY Times admits being played for fools on ACORN Crooks and Liars Show ACORN the Money American Spectator ACORN'S Useful Idiots American Spectator Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed

ACORN Forced Out of Ohio "Permanently"

The good news is that hydra-headed ACORN has been forced to leave Ohio. It's a big blow to Barack Obama and corrupt politics in Ohio, and a huge victory for fans of a thug-free political process. Let's see if the same legal action can be repeated in other states. The community organizing group ACORN has agreed to permanently give up its business license in Ohio, under a settlement with a libertarian organization. More at Cincinnati.com... Robert Moon reports that "A conservative libertarian group called the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law has gone to court and permanently removed ACORN (the infamous voter fraud group at the core of Obama's agenda) from the state of Ohio." More at Examiner.com... (Also see this press release from the 1851 Center...) Brietbart's Big Government reports that "ACORN has reached a settlement under the Ohio Corrupt Activities Act, similar to the federal RICO Act – the same law that’s used to prosecute mobsters and drug kingpins. Under the settlement, ACORN, along with Project Vote, agreed 'to file a certificate permanently surrendering its business license in Ohio by June 1,' according to The Columbus Dispatch." The bad news: ACORN was already essentially inactive in Ohio, and will probably morph itself into a new entity under a different name with new business licensing. More bad news: U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon says the Federal Government can't block funds for ACORN. RELATED: ACORN Cracked, Run Out of State Under RICO Act in Ohio ACORN leaving Ohio after voter registration controversy ACORN will leave Ohio Court Dismisses ACORN Suit vs. 'Pimp', 'Hooker' and Breitbart.comLeave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed

Bob Beckel and Scott Lee Cohen Both Have PPP

Scott Lee Cohen is not the only guy in the news with PPP: Past Prostitute Problems. Liberal commentator Bob Beckel has PPP, too. The Illinois Democrat Party is freaked out about Scott Lee Cohen and his alleged relationship to a woman they claim was a prosititute. Cohen, who won the Democrat primary for Illinois' Lieutenant Governor on Feb. 2, is now by law the running mate of incumbent governor Pat Quinn. Cohen, by the way, claims that he thought the former girlfriend was simply a massage therapist. The irony here is so rich that it's positively artery clogging. The prostitutes and whores who run the Illinios Democrat Party sell themselves to the highest bidders as a routine matter of conducting business. Just as Illinois State Senator Heather Steans, for example. You think Rod Blagojevich was an exception? Nah, he was just dumber than most of them and got caught. To call Cohen unfit to run because he once had a relationship with a prostitute is the height of hypocrisy, even if by analogy and metaphor. The liberal media are hypocrites, too, as typified by Bob Beckel, one of the most annoying men ever to disgrace himself on America's television screens. Why Beckel is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity's show at Fox is beyond me, but there he was on Monday, February 1, falsely calling journalist Hannah Giles a "ho." For those of you in Kankakee, "ho" is slang for "whore," which is slang for prostitute. Lori Ziganto, a fine journalist herself, wrote this about that on iOwnTheWorld.com: For those who didn’t see the show, the creepy Bob Beckel called Hannah Giles, Queen of the awesome ACORN take-down, a Ho during his Monday night appearance on “Hannity.” Yes, THAT Hannah Giles, the beautiful young woman who pretended to be a prostitute in those ACORN sting videos. Giles herself wrote a wicked response to Beckel's slur against her, and posted it at BigJournalism.com: In the summer of 2002 Beckel came to know 20-year old “Tiffany,” a professional hooker who, after establishing a business relationship with him, attempted to extort $50,000 in exchange for her not exposing their relationship to his ex-wife and employers. Whoa! I mean, Ho! Beckel was involved with a whore, uh ho, uh prostitute, uh sex worker. I guess his involvement with an actual prostie disqualifies him from ever running for public office as a Democrat in Illinois, because the virtual prosties at the Democrat Party couldn't possibly have someone like him disgracing their untarnished reputations. Columnist and CNB contributor Warner Todd Huston wrote about the criminal nature of Illinois politicians in January, about three weeks before Cohen won his primary race: Illinois has had three governors sent to prison and a fourth, Rod Balgojevich, waiting to find out if he will become the next to take up residence behind bars. The “Land of Lincoln” has had over 80 legislators sent to prison since the 1970s. But Cook County deserves special recognition for its corruption and criminal politicians.... Full post at American Conservative Daily The Christian Science Monitor had a good report about the sliminess of the Illinois political sewer in late 2008: Three of the state’s seven previous governors have been convicted and served time. Since 1971, by one count, 31 Chicago aldermen and some 1,000 public officials and businessmen have been convicted. “We’re the corruption capital of the United States,” says Dick Simpson, a political scientist at the University of Illinois in Chicago and a former Chicago alderman, who maintains that state corruption count. “We have more [corruption] even than New Jersey and Louisiana, which are our competitors.” Bob Beckel and Pat Quinn will continue disgracing themselves by committing character assassination on people who are not corrupt, or not as corrupt, or no more corrupt, than many of the lawmakers who currently sit in the Illinois Legislature, the Chicago City Council and the Cook County Board of Commissioners. God forbid somebody like Scott Lee Cohen should want to stand next to the squeaky clean, non-corrupt, anti-vice Illinois Democrats. Somebody might get dirty. RELATED: Glenn Beck on Jan Schakowsky's Robber-Baron Husband New Madigan Mailer Slams Steans for Blago Ties and Lying Campaign Flyer Links Steans to Blago Pay-to-Play Scandals involving leaders of the Democrat Party Chicago News Bench: Ricky Hendon, Race Baiting Clown Sen. Heather Steans, Money Whore Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed

Another ACORN Sting Video

A second Philadelphia ACORN sting video (watch it below) was released on October 21. For those of you who just landed on this planet, the ACORN sting videos were made by two young journalists who posed as a pimp and a prostitute as they visited a number of ACORN offices and were given advice on how to get tax breaks, disguise their illicit business and, in at least one case, claim underage girls from another country as dependents. Adam Bitely of NetRight Nation was attended the morning press conference, which Bitely recounts: "...Andrew Breitbart, Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe released their new video filmed at the Philadelphia ACORN office. Interestingly, it looks like they are taking Media Matters to task for their comments on their work thus far. For those who aren't aware, Media Matters is attacking this courageous film team for releasing these videos. Aside from outrageous claims that they are making, Media Matters appears to be in a close relationship with ACORN." So-called mainstream newspapers also appear to be covering up for ACORN, too, as the video itself points out dramatically. (Also see: The Media’s Complicity: Analysis of ACORN Coverage) Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

ALERT! CONGRESS TO RE-FUND ACORN

Disgusting. Congress "defunded" ACORN, but only for a month! They are scheduled to begin getting more money midnight, October 31 (Halloween). RELATED: Rep. Bachmann Exposes Federal ACORN Refunding (video) OMB directs executive branch to cut ties to ACORN ACORN Throws Out Republican Voter Registrations GOP demands 'immediate accounting' of ACORN funding ACORN: Congress can't hurt us More about ACORN at BeltwayBlips.com Jan Schakowsky (D-ACORN) Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

Anti-ACORN Petition Now Online

Americans For Prosperity has launched an effort to force Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to launch an investigation into how much money the state is handing over to the criminal "community organizer" group ACORN, as well as the SEIU and other unions. AFP has launched http://www.SayNOtoACORN.com, where you can sign a petition demanding that Gov. Quinn investigate these illicit financial dealings. Please help us spread the word on this important petition to put a stop to corruption in Illinois. Send e-mails to friends, blog about it, post it in comments sections. Together, we have the power to bring our government to account for its assistance to criminal organizations like ACORN, but we can't do it without your help. Sign the petition and please tell others about it. For more information, please visit Publius Forum. ALSO SEE: Petition Drive: Cut Illinois Government Ties with ACORN Illinois Legislators Want ACORN Investigation SEIU/ACORN inundates IL Dems with campaign cash How ACORN Hides Behind Fake Names ACORN probe needed immediately Durbin vote proves his partisan position Roland Burris Defends ACORN, Says 'Fox Sting' and 'Agendas' to Blame SEIU Answers Congressman's Info Request Re ACORN Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

Is Obama a Socialist? Ask the Socialists

"The victory of Obama in the 2008 election has redefined the terrain on which we, as socialists and progressives fight, and that redefinition is to our favor." - from "A Defining Moment? The 2008 Presidential Election" by Bill Barclay, Chicago Democratic Socialists of America A lot of people snicker when they hear Barack Obama referred to as a "socialist." They poo-poo the notion. Those people can be described as one of the following: (A) Innocently ignorant; (B) In denial; (C) Unaware of what a socialist is; (D) stupid; (E) Hypnotized by Obama's vapid rhetoric;(f) socialist themselves. For those who fall under the A-E descriptions, we'll turn to those in (F), actual, real-life socialists. What do they say about Barack Obama being one of their own? We'll turn to the Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (CDSA) for enlightenment. First, let's understand what a "socialist" is. The CDSA provides insight (emphasis added): "We are SOCIALISTS because we reject an economic order based on private profit, alienated labor, gross inequalities of wealth and power, discrimination based on race and sex, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo. We are SOCIALISTS because we share a vision of a humane social order based on popular control of resources and production, economic planning, equitable distribution, feminism, racial equality and nonoppressive relationships." - From the 46th Annual Eugene V. Debs - Norman Thomas - Michael Harrington Dinner, May 7, 2004 (page 32 of the PDF) Translation: They are socialists because they want to eliminate private profit and the possibility of anybody making more money than anybody else, and they hope to achieve that by government control of "resources and production" through "economic planning." (That is precisely what The Third Reich and the Soviet Union attempted. The only way to achieve that goal is through authoritarian dictatorship.) The CDSA "is affiliated with the national Democratic Socialists of America but is separately incorporated." CDSA is present in Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties: "basically zip codes 600 through 609." (Source: http://www.chicagodsa.org/page2.html) CDSA publishes a newsletter called "New Ground." Each issue is numbered, of course, and the current issue (Sept-Oct 2009) is "New Ground 126." A search of New Ground archives for references to "Obama" produced a few nuggets that convincingly show not only that Obama is a socialist, but that the socialists themselves consider him to be a socialist. References to those nuggets follow (with emphasis added by me). Joined as the hip of the CDSA is the "New Party," an amalgam of local socialist political activists. ACORN and SEIU played crucial roles in the birthing of the New Party. On Saturday, January 14, 1995, "the New Party in Chicago took another step in its effort to establish itself as a political force by holding a major outreach meeting directed at Chicago's Left. About 100 people, with sizable delegations from DSA and CoC among others, heard Bruce Colburn and Elaine Bernard preach the gospel of the New Party. The audience was also introduced to the New Party's first candidate in Chicago, Michael Chandler, who is running for Alderman in Chicago's west side 24th ward. The meeting was held at the meeting hall of SEIU Local 880, a local that is tackling the extremely difficult task of organizing home health care workers in Illinois. SEIU Local 880 and ACORN share office space." - New Party Organizes, New Ground 38, January - February, 1995 The role of ACORN in the operations of the New Party and the DSA cannot be overemphasized, as noted by the CDSA itself: "In Chicago, the New Party's biggest asset and biggest liability is ACORN. "Like most organizations, ACORN is a mixed bag. On one hand, in Chicago, ACORN is a group that attempts to organize some of the most depressed communities in the city. Chicago organizers for ACORN and organizers for SEIU Local 880 have been given modest monthly recruitment quotas for new New Party members.... "....As the single 800 pound gorilla in the Chicago New Party, [ACORN] doesn't leave a lot of room for newcomers to participate except on ACORN's terms. This will make it difficult for the New Party to have a life apart from ACORN...." - New Party Organizes, New Ground 38, January - February, 1995 "When Obama participated in a 1996 UofC YDS Townhall Meeting on Economic Insecurity, much of what he had to say was well within the mainstream of European social democracy." - Chicago DSA Recommendations for the March Primary Election, New Ground 69, March - April, 2000 "The state government can also play a role in redistribution, the allocation of wages and jobs. As Barack Obama noted, when someone gets paid $10 million to eliminate 4,000 jobs, the voters in his district know this is an issue of power not economics. The government can use as tools labor law reform, public works and contracts." - Chicago DSA Endorsements in the March 19th Primary Election , New Ground 45, March - April, 1996 "The Chicago New Party is increasely [sic] becoming a viable political organization that can make a different in Chicago politics. It is crucial for a political organization to have a solid infrastructure and visible results in its political program. The New Party has continued to solidify this base. First, in relation to its infrastructure, the NP's membership has increased since January '95 from 225 to 440.... Secondly, the NP's '96 Political Program has been enormously successful with 3 of 4 endorsed candidates winning electoral primaries. All four candidates attended the NP membership meeting on April 11th to express their gratitude. Danny Davis, winner in the 7th Congressional District, invited NPers to join his Campaign Steering Committee. Patricia Martin, who won the race for Judge in 7th Subcircuit Court, explained that due to the NP she was able to network and get experienced advice from progressives like Davis. Barack Obama, victor in the 13th State Senate District, encouraged NPers to join in his task forces on Voter Education and Voter Registration...." - New Party Update, New Ground 47, July - August, 1996 "What does the 2008 election mean for that portion of the U.S. population that describes themselves as progressives / leftists / socialists. (Maybe the last category has grown since McCain and Palin were so insistent that voting for Obama was voting for a socialist?).... But, the victory of Obama in the 2008 election has redefined the terrain on which we, as socialists and progressives fight, and that redefinition is to our favor." - A Defining Moment? The 2008 Presidential Election, New Ground 121, November - December, 2008 So... is Obama a Socialist? Bob Roman addressed this question in New Ground #120.2, October 17, 2008. Roman's piece was a good example a brain addled by years of trying to keep socialist lies and real truth in separate drawers. What he wrote is so self-contradictory that reading it provides a virtual psychedelic experience: "First you'd better tell me what you mean by 'socialist'. I'm not being cute. There are people who would hysterically laugh at DSA being legitimately considered a "socialist" organization, never mind Obama. So what is socialism to you? Judging by the comments posted on some of these blogs, socialism is anything involving the government that the commentator doesn't like. By this standard, I suppose he is." Perhaps Bob Roman could look to chicagodsa.org, the web site where his own question was published, for that answer. As we already know, the name "chicagodsa" is short for Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. We're supposed to tell Roman what a socialist is? The home page of chicagodsa.org is peppered with links that answer that very question. One of those links, "Why We Are Democratic Socialists," gives a very clear definition in the DSA's own words. Roman's remark that "socialism is anything involving the government that the commentator doesn't like" is not only absurd, it would seem to be a very clumsy attempt to divert us away from the glaring fact that the DSA is socialist. Good Lord, this like a football player in full uniform insisting that he is not a football player even as he catches a Hail Mary pass and runs in for a touchdown. Roman's bizarre column continued: "Another way to consider it would be if Obama self-identifies as a 'socialist' or 'social democrat', just as DSA members do. Well, go ahead. Ask him. And if he says, Yes,' please let me know. Because in that case, he owes us for dues." Would Roman say that a pedophile must "self-identify" as a pedophile to actually be one? Ridiculous. Obama is a bright man, and smart enough to know that self-identifying (publicly) as a socialist would not have helped his political career. It would have been foolish to have publicly proclaimed himself to a socialist. It's as though Roman is saying that one's words are more important than one's deeds, and indeed Obama has flirted with, associated with, worked with and acted like the socialists that he has never publicly self-identified with. Roman's column continued: And of course, if you think that democracy, civil rights and civil liberties trump property rights; if you think that fair trade is a better deal for most of us than free trade; if you think that in a country as rich as ours education and medical care should be available regardless of one's ability to pay; if you think that workers should have the right to organize and bargain collectively well, then, it doesn't matter what you call yourself. You'll be called a socialist, too. That last paragraph is a watered down description of what a socialist is, but it applies perfectly to Obama, and that's why we call him a socialist. In essence, and perhaps by accident, Roman wrote that if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. Obama is our First Duck. Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

SEIU, ACORN Keep Democrats Rolling Fat in Illinois

Illinois Democrats got some 'splaining to do. To be fair, so do some Republicans. Here is a must-read post at Illinois Review: Last week, Illinois Review posted the list of Republicans who've received donations from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) - the organization whose Illinois offices connect directly with the ACORN organization, which was recently dubbed in a U.S. House investigation as a "criminal enterprise." While the money to Republicans was significant, the SEIU largess shown to Democrats is significantly more. The kind of financial support that could give an organization a "controlling stake" in the Democrat Party, so-to-speak. Full Post... (Hat tip to Chicago Daily Observer) Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

AG Eric Holder, Sloth

The Democrat Party loves to pretend that they care about civil rights. Equally applied, of course. Sadly, they do not care, as demonstrated by the now-infamous case of those New Black Panthers intimidating voters at a polling station last year (see the amazing video and the followup news report). If they care so much, why the delay by Obama's Justice Department in an investigation into a clear violation of voters' civil right?... The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights asked Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday [Sept 30] to name a Justice Department official to oversee the production of what it called "our overdue information requests" for documents in the dismissal of a civil complaint against members of the New Black Panther Party accused of disrupting a Philadelphia polling place in the November elections. More at ACORN Watch Report... Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

10 Great Events in the Rise of the New Media

Friend Jerry Agar wrote a great piece about the influence of blogs and bloggers on American politics. He came up with a great list of "transformative moments" in recent political history. Those moments range from the influence that bloggers and micro-bloggers (Twitter) had on the aftermath of the Iranian election to major elected officials being taken down. It's a fascinating list that serves as a touchstone for any researcher. Jerry Agar can be heard on WGN 720 AM in Chicago. He has worked at other superstations, such as WLS in Chicago and WABC New York. He is currently also involved with the Illinois Policy Institute. 10 Great Events in the Rise of the New Media by Jerry Agar Not so long ago in America if it wasn’t on Walter Cronkite’s news report or in the pages of the New York Times, it wasn’t news. Most of the rest of the electronic and print reporters and commentators relied on those two entities to show them what was important. A person who knew something the big news operations did not, especially if their news contrasted with the way the media chieftains saw the world, was labeled as a crank and dismissed. The cost of setting up a competing news operation was a barrier to entry only a select few could penetrate. It is so cost prohibitive to start a daily paper that former KGB General Oleg Kalugin told me that it was the only piece of the “long march through the institutions” the Russians were unable to achieve. No more. The recent explosive story exposing the depths some ACORN employees were willing to sink to in order to thwart “the man” is the latest example of how powerful a tool the Internet is to the little guy and gal. With the help of local bloggers listed below I have compiled a list of the “10 Great Events in the Rise of the New Media.” We have tried to make a list of transformative moments.The Virginia Tech shootings, the landing on the Hudson and the 7/7 Tube bombings in London were initially reported by cell phone and blog, showing the power of on-site reporting with new media, but were perhaps not seminal moments, as they would have been reported anyway, and quickly, by the mainstream media (MSM). The list is an attempt to put these events in order of importance, rather than chronology, but it is not presented as definitive. Lists like this are inevitably arguable and worthy of discussion. Please, leave comments and discuss. That is the point. SEE THE LIST at Illinois Policy Institute The following bloggers helped with the list: The Chicago News Bench, Wilmette, Publius' Forum and Thoughts of a Regular Guy Conservative Hats & Shirts Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

Wal-Mart Hate and Deaf Aldermen

Is there anybody left in America who has not had to suffer through some liberal's rants about the evils of Wal-Mart? The hatred for Wal-Mart is difficult for most of us to understand. I get the arguments about Wal-Mart's heavy-handedness with their vendors, and I wish they would import less items that are made in China. I also grok the notion that $75 per hour would be a nice living wage for a Wal-Mart greeter. Wal-Mart will always be heavy-handed with vendors (it's all legal), China is cheaper (they don't have piggish union members demanding $75 per hour) and $75 per hour is just too damned much even for a greeter. What I don't get is the holier-than-thee attitude by anti-capitalist hate mongers who prefer to have people on the public dole and, therefore, at the mercy of the government. For those people to be earning their own way and not dependent on government and politicians is ... ah, so, that's it. Wal-Mart haters crave control, not to mention a need for communal reinforcement of their own elitism and a pychotic form of chronic schadenfreude. Penn and Teller put this in perspective brilliantly. See Penn and Teller's report about Wal-Mart hate, Part 1 (Advisory: Language) (Note to Chicagoans: In Part 2 Joe Moore, 49th Ward Ald. and toadie of the SEIU and ACORN, is ripped to shreds within the first minute of the video.) So, we know the prime motivations of most Wal-Mart haters. Some of those haters are Chicago alderman. The Chicago Tribune notes this in a recent editorial: We know organized labor wants to keep Wal-Mart from expanding in Chicago. But what do the aldermen's constituents want? The answer is clear: They want the opportunity to work or shop at Wal-Mart. A new Tribune/WGN poll found that 68 percent of city residents would like to see a new Wal-Mart store in Chicago, and 72 percent say Wal-Mart would be good for the community. The support is even higher with African-Americans, who stand to gain the most economic benefit from the proposed South Side store. The poll found 72 percent of African-Americans want Wal-Mart in the city and 81 percent say it would be good for the community. Surely, even the sub-par intellects on Chicago's City Council must have been aware of this widely held sentiment among their constituents even before the Trib spoon fed it to them. Certainly, since the spoon feeding, all of the aldermen are now aware of it, and we can be confident that they will go along with the wishes of the people they represent, right? The Tribune answered that question. It was including with the spoon feeding: But the aldermen aren't listening to their constituents. The unions provide money and troops at election time. Apparently the aldermen have decided that keeping the labor bosses happy is more critical than following the wishes of their citizens. Ah yes, money. That's another motivation. "I Hate Wal-Mart" t-shirts sell well among the feeble-minded, and union bosses pay - excuse me, contribute to - politicians very generously to help them fight Wal-Mart. For the bosses, it's both power and the prospect of more dues, which would allow them to pad their piggish salaries, extracted every month from members' pockets, even more. That doesn't help union members, it doesn't help the unemployed, it doesn't help the tax revenue stream. Conservative Hats & Shirts Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

ACORN Cracked in San Diego - O'Keefe & Giles Strike Again!

"If you’re looking for trendy boutique hotels, an exploding culinary scene, or visiting the local ACORN to get your underage prostitutes smuggled across the Mexican border, you’re in the right place." - ACORN Video: Prostitution Scandal in San Diego, CA

So writes my nominee for Man of the Year, James O'Keefe. With his partner Hannah Giles (my nominee for Woman of the Year), they released their fifth ACORN-crushing video today. Once again, it is shocking to see ACORN personnel approving of heinous illegal activity - and offering advice on how to be a better criminal. This offers yet more indisputable proof that there is a pattern of systemic criminality inside of ACORN. No wonder, then, that the US House of Representatives today voted to completely defund ACORN of any federal money. O'Keefe and Giles are not finished with ACORN, not yet. There are more ACORN videos coming.

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HOUSE VOTES TO DEFUND ACORN, 375-75

Via Andrew Breitbart's Big Government site: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) offered the Defund-ACORN bill to the Student Loans bill. The House vote convincingly to cut ALL federal funds to ACORN. Vote: 375 to 75. Complete results here. ALSO SEE: House votes to cut off ACORN funding - Boston Globe House votes to de-fund ACORN - msnbc.com ACORN vows to keep fighting after video controversy - The Detroit News Issa: We're Only at Tip of the Iceberg on ACORN's Criminal Activity - FoxNews video ACORN was in Boise, but isn't any longer - IdahoStatesman.com Cool Hats & Shirts for Cool Conservatives Leave a Comment... Chicago News Bench RSS Feed We're on Twitter...

Action Call to Conservative Bloggers! #tcot

THIS IS URGENT. Start saving ("caching") politicians' web pages NOW. ACORN and SEIU are scrubbing their web sites, deleting incriminating or embarassing information in an effort to cover their tracks. You can bet that plenty of elected officials are busy scrubbing their own websites to erase or modify what was written about their relationships with ACORN and/or SEIU. No matter where you live in the United States, the odds are good that at least some of your local elected officials have ties to ACORN and/or SEIU. Those ties may be direct, they may be indirect. Those officials - your congressman, US senator, governor, state legislator, county board members, mayor, alderman/city council member, school system president, and so on - most likely have web sites. NOW IS THE TIME TO CACHE/SAVE VITAL INFORMATION FROM THOSE OFFICIALS' SITES. Here's why... The American Spectator reported on April 22, 2009 that "ACORN did a strange thing today. It scrubbed its website of references to two of its key affiliates, Locals 100 and 880 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), an event reported by Kevin Mooney of the Washington Examiner." To "scrub" a website is to delete some or all material. It's akin to shredding documents. The difference, of course, is that we can access the politicians' web sites and copy virtually anything, saving it as an archived file (see tips for doing this below). This can be used later, if needed, to effectively prove they are lying if they deny what their own sites once said. Good friend John Ruberry (Marathon Pundit) addresses this in a brilliant post titled "Jan Schakowsky, ACORN, and no phone call." In that post, he wrote, "Let's get to work, conservative bloggers," he wrote this week, "before the libs scrub their sites." John and I live in Jan Schakowsky Land. He's in Skokie, I'm in a bunker on Chicago's north side. John has archived Schakowsky's web pages for years, and it bears fruit. John wrote about that, too. Another excerpt from John's post:
"I've compiled a greatest hits collection of ACORN and Schakowsky. I reserved two hours of my day for the congresscritter, below you will find the result of my labors. Each link comes from Schakowsky's congressional web site."
I know John won't mind me saying that we both urge YOU to archive web pages from your elected officials' web sites. As John did with Schakowsky, I have done with a Chicago city council member (see "Alderman Joe Moore, ACORN and SEIU "). Let's hold the SOB's to their words, including the ones they delete and later try to deny. Liberals love to revise history - let's not let them get away with it.
Tip 1: If you try to access web page but it seems to have disappeared, try clicking "Cached" in the search results.
Tip 2: Sometimes pages don't actually disappear, but are assigned new URL's. So, to quickly find a word or phrase on a website, use Google's advanced search, and go to "Search within a site or domain:" Enter the URL, without the "http://" or "www." For example, to search for "ACORN" on Jan Schakowsky's website (www.janschakowsky.org), you would only enter "janschakowsky.org" there. Click to see the results of that search.
Tip 3: Save the web page/s as an .mht file. In your web browser, click File, Save As, then choose Cool Hats & Shirts for Cool Conservatives Leave a Comment... Chicago News Bench RSS Feed We're on Twitter...

Best Report on ACORN Scandal I've Seen

This must-see ACORN report is, believe it or not, it's from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show (Sept 15). It's cleverly titled "The Audacity of Hos." No, I won't explain that to you. No, he's not breaking any news here, but to his credit Stewart brought the ongoing ACORN-prostitution-tax fraud scandals to the attention of hundreds of thousands of people who otherwise might still be unaware of it. Like, you know, Charlie Gibson. Stewart viciously mocks the Old Media such as ABC, CBS, NBC and the rest, while giving a back handed compliment to FoxNews. Love him or hate him, ya gotta admit that Stewart is one funny guy. I've always liked his humor. I like it even more now.
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Audacity of Hos
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorHealthcare Protests
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Alderman Joe Moore, ACORN and SEIU

UPDATE, 9/17/09: HOUSE VOTES TO DEFUND ACORN, 375-75 Chicago Alderman Joe Moore (49th Ward) has friends in low places, particularly ACORN and Service Employees International Union (SEIU). ACORN, a criminal organization, has very, very close ties to SEIU. SEIU Local 880 shares office space with ACORN in Chicago (at 650 S. Clark Street, Chicago). That's where the National ACORN Housing Corporation hangs its collective hat. SEIU Local 73 (1165 North Clark Street, #500, Chicago, 60620), of course, works closely with Local 880. Both have supported Moore heavily in the past. It is curious that both the national SEIU web site and their Illinois site now omit address listings for Local 880 (a/o Sept 15, 2009). ACORN referred to SEIU Local 880 as a "sister union" on page 38 of their 2005 Annual Report (PDF). Joe Moore has close ties to both organizations. On the same page, ACORN wrote, "For over twenty years, SEIU Local 880 – currently the largest local union in Illinois – has organized thousands of homecare workers and home childcare workers..." It should be noted that Locals 73 and 880 are not your average locals. In fact, they often lead the rest of the SEIU in Illinois. According to newstips.org (emphasis added): Although SEIU has 18 locals in the state, it is dominated by a few big locals. Local 73 has 23,000 members who are public employees (Christine Boardman, president, and Joanna Misnik, communications: 312-787-5868).... Staff director Keith Kelleher has organized over 30,000 home care workers into Local 880 (Myra Glassman, media contact, 312-939-7490 ext. 135), including state employees as well as workers previously considered "independent contractors" for social service agencies which are reimbursed by the state. And in 2005, 50,000 home child care providers in Illinois won the right to organize and voted for Local 880 as their collective bargaining agent. The local has also been a leader in the campaign for a "living wage" in the city. The ACORN connection is also noted by newstips.org (emphasis added): Labor unions often form coalitions with community groups to advance common interests. A few deserve special mention. Citizen Action/Illinois (312-427-2114; William McNary, co-director) bring together unions, community, senior citizen and other groups to promote candidates and legislation. ACORN (312-939-7488; Madeline Talbott, director) organizes mainly in low-income neighborhoods and works closely with SEIU, especially Local 880, on issues such as living wages or in support of independent-minded political candidates.... "Independent-minded political candidates?" Really? Are we to believe that SEIU or ACORN would support an "independent-minded" candidate who favors brining a Wal-Mart into a neighborhood? Are the Democrats that they endorse and support (try finding a Republican that gets their help) really "independent-minded," or are they toadies to the DNC's party line and leftist ideology? Was John McCain, called "the maverick" and hailed for being independent-minded by Democrats and Republicans alike, not "independent-minded" enough to earn SEIU's support? Alderman Moore pretends to be an independent-minded maverick who stands up to Chicago Dictator Richard Daley, while in reality he rubber stamps Daley more than 70% of the time in City Council voting. Even so, SEIU apparently thinks Moore is "independent-minded" enough for them. And why not? Although Daley was at odds with Moore, the unions and ACORN over the "living wage" issue in 2006, Dictator Daley is generally pro-SEIU and ACORN. "Independent-minded candidate," in the lexicon of unions and community organizers, translates to "someone who agrees with us." It helps, too, if the candidate is a Democrat. Here are just a few links about Moore's circle of diseased bedmates: New Ground 38 - Chicago Democratic Socialists of America - "SEIU Local 880 and ACORN share office space." - chicagodsa.org Marathon Pundit: Ald. Moore: Putting the unions' money where his ... Citizens for Joe Moore SEIU Local 880 PAC 1024 Elysian Fields New Orleans, LA 70117 $1000.00 6/8/2006 Individual Contribution Citizens for Joe Moore ... From Moore's Own Web Site: Moore also has picked up the support of ....the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 880. Paid for by SEIU IL Council too? - Toni Duncan ACORN Duo - Toni Duncan Chicago News Bench: Analyzing Joe Moore's SEIU Money - In total, Moore's D2s show 89 receipts for SEIU money, totaling $155,958.01. YouTube - SEIU Says - 06.12.2007 (Part 2 of 2) - Endorsement of Moore ALSO SEE: The Twenty-Five Million Dollar AlderRace - Aldertrack archive SEIU: ‘One of the Pillars of the ACORN Family’ - BigGovernment.com Hundreds Show Up to Protest SEIU Thuggery - Gateway Pundit SEIU violence justified v. union-busting union - The Union News Nurses Blast SEIU for Deceit in Hiding Violence at Michigan - Apr 24, 2008 - bio-medicine.org Cool Hats & Shirts for Cool Conservatives Leave a Comment... Chicago News Bench RSS Feed We're on Twitter...