Our Taxpayer Dollars At Work

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/29/workers-porn-surfing-rampant-at-federal-agency/?page=3
Wanted: Senior Executive for National Science Foundation. Must be able to avoid looking at porn sites.
Wanted: Supporting staff at National Science Foundation. Must be willing to refrain from placing pornographic pictures of themselves on government computers.
The article above, an exclusive from the Washington Times (not that their crosstown rival would not have loved to be the first on this story) describes how staff and executives at the NSF spent so much time and foundation resources on internet pornography that millions have been spent by their inspector general. The IG was not able to do his real job of tracking down grant fraud; he was investigating a large number of employees spending all day looking at porn. A senior executive defended his actions by saying he was helping to support underprivileged Third World women.
So will ACORN be banned from running this outfit, too?

****************************************************************************

Congressman Rahall of the Third District recently defended his vote against defunding ACORN as a strike in favor of the Constitution. He (and likely Mollohan as well) interpreted the congressional action as a bill of attainder. A bill of attainder means that the government targets the actions of an individual or group for unfair punishment. The fact that widespread fraud and illegal behavior was found in this organization means that it was defunded for legitimate and legal reasons. The government has the authority to cut off funds when it believes they are being used for fraudulent purposes.
At what point did Congressman Rahall start representing Chicago and stop representing West Virginia?

Because He Obviously Has Nothing Else to Worry About

The politically weak Obama requested that New York Governor David Patterson (D) abandon his bid for re-election out of concern that he could lose the race. Obama considers the race too important for the Democrats to lose and Patterson must step aside. Thus spake Obama.

Does the arrogance of this administration know no bounds? How will New York Democrats react? Historically the governor's mansion is a powerful position that finds itself at odds with the New York City leadership. The US Representative from a district in Queensm Gregory Meeks, made the request. He has strong ties to the president.

Patterson is unpopular. His unpopularity comes from the fact that he follows the liberal Democratic playbook to a T. The state's economy deterorated and he has proposed a bizarre range of taxes instead of spending cuts. Yes, Patterson is less than effective. Still, according to tradition, the voters select the candidates, not the president.

This does come on the heels of New York reviewing its association with ACORN, one of the first Democratic states to do so. Patterson also did not select Obama's hand picked Kennedy to replace Hillary Clinton as US Senator.

The New York media and voting population should be outraged that Obama is trying to pick their governor for them.

When Will Our Democratic Congressmen Stop Listening to Pelosi and Start Listening to Us?

Revelations over the past two weeks transformed the image of ACORN from merely shady community organizers to a group apparently willing to help bring children into the United States for the purpose of prostitution. Multiple branches of this recently federally funded group offered to help various investigators commit a variety of felonies. The former Secretary of State Betty Ireland understood them enough to investigate their activities prior to last year's election. Her successor has not followed up on this problem.

The US Senate quickly voted to suspend funding of this rogue group. Several executive branch agencies, including the Census Bureau, stopped coordination with them as well. Today the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to shut down funding for ACORN.

Two representatives, Alan Mollohan and Nick Joe Rahall, voted against cutting off funding.

Why?

How are two rural congressmen so bound to these would be abbettors of child sex slavery?

It would have been appropriate and risk free to support the majority of Democrats and all Republicans on this issue. West Virginians are not known as vocal supporters of ACORN.

So why not vote against them?

Capito Asks for ACORN Hearings Housing Subcommittee Has Oversight Responsibility Congresswoman Says

In light of troubling reports about the conduct of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is calling for congressional hearings to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not being used improperly or illegally. ACORN, a recipient of federal funding, has been under intense scrutiny after representatives of the organization were documented providing housing assistance to a couple attempting to set up an illicit business.

In a letter to Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Cal., the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, Capito notes that the subcommittee has jurisdiction over many of ACORN’s key housing-related functions and she asks the chairwoman to hold a hearing to investigate current and past allegations.

“ACORN has been on the receiving end of more than $50 million from U.S. taxpayers and it’s only appropriate that we ensure that those dollars are not being mis-used,” said Capito, who is the subcommittee’s ranking Republican member.

“Housing programming forms a significant portion of ACORN’s activities and our committee should not ignore the implications of these recent developments.”
In her letter, Capito also addressed passed allegations of misconduct by ACORN representatives.

“… we cannot forget that this entity is also facing investigations regarding potential voter registration fraud in Ohio, Nevada, and Florida among others,” she wrote.

***Complete text of the letter can be found below***

----------------------------------------------------------------
September 16, 2009

Rep. Maxine Waters
Chairwoman
Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity
House Financial Services Committee
2344 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairwoman Waters:

Over the August recess, many of the concerns expressed by my constituents involved the amount of money the federal government is spending. They want to know where this money is going and when we will begin to reduce the overall level of spending. I think we can all agree that we must bring our nation’s fiscal house in order and be good stewards of the taxpayer’s money.

With that in mind, the recent reports of inappropriate behavior by employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, commonly referred to as ACORN, must be addressed. In the past few weeks, there have been numerous accounts of ACORN representatives advising a young couple on how to obtain housing assistance to set up an illicit business.

While ACORN reportedly is taking steps regarding some of the individuals involved, this is but the latest development in a series of serious charges being leveled against this group. Since 1994, the American taxpayers have provided ACORN with approximately $53 million in federal funding for housing assistance and counseling. While there may be entities within ACORN that provide appropriate assistance to Americans struggling to find housing, we cannot forget that this entity is also facing investigations regarding potential voter registration fraud in Ohio, Nevada, and Florida among others.

Many of ACORN’s activities relate directly to issues under the jurisdiction of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. Specifically, the ACORN Housing Corporation provides counseling to first time homeowners, mortgage counseling and foreclosure prevention assistance, and low income housing development. Earlier this year, the Committee adopted an amendment I offered directing the Committee to conduct oversight over the use of Federal funds by non-profits, for-profits, and third party entities; especially with the identification of questionable behavior by housing personnel. It is imperative that the Subcommittee hold hearings on the current and past allegations against ACORN to ensure that the taxpayer’s money is not being used improperly or illegally.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Shelley Moore Capito
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity

New Black Panther Party Scandal Erupting

Most of us saw the horrifying video on national television. Two members of the New Black Panther Party stood outside a polling place yelling racial epithets and carrying weapons. Incredibly, they were able to intimidate voters for quite some time. Bush's Justice Department secured major indictments against the two individuals and leaders in the terrorist group. however once Attorney General Eric Holder took over, he cited "freedom of speech" and only had them convicted of very light acts. The Justice Department also claimed that since the two accused refused to show up to answer for their crimes, they must be innocent.

The US Commission on Civil Rights has launched a major investigation of the New Black Panthers and the Justice Department, threatening the Attorney General with subpoenas.

Would we tolerate for a moment the appearance of hooded Klansmen outside a polling place, burning crosses, and shouting racial slurs? They would be jailed for interfering with voting. You cannot even have political signs within a football field of a polling place in most areas.

One would hope that racial motivation or pressure from outside groups such as the notorious outlaw group ACORN did not play a role in this case. In any event, the menacing presence of these people at a polling place must be severely punished. It might encourage similar behavior by the Black Panthers. You may also see voters willing to challenge the New Black Panther thugs for their right to vote . . . "by any means necessary."

"Tennant For Governor" Office Now Open! or Goodbye Betty Ireland, Hello Third World!

For four years West Virginia has enjoyed the vigilance of an aggressive secretary of state. Betty Ireland's zeal for following the laws laid out by the state legislature even led to some GOP criticism. It also meant that groups like ACORN would find no easy way to violate state and federal election laws. However we would much rather have a person in this office who is dedicated to the law than see what is about to happen now.

Natalie Tennant initiated step one in turning the secretary of state office into her own left wing feudal domain. When Ireland took over four years ago, she kept the capable Elections Division head hired originally by Joe Manchin. No one ever said that Ireland did not aspire to a higher office, but she was willing to irritate her own party to do the job right.

Tennant hired as chief of the Elections Division Dave Nichols. Nichols runs a leftist blog and formerly headed Progressive Democrats of America/West Virginia. Anytime you see the word "progressive" it means Communist. Vic Sprouse's blog compares this hire to the hypothetical scenario of Betty Ireland hiring Gary Abernathy for the same job. The difference is that Abernathy generally uses wry humor and rarely crosses the respect line. Nichols is a firebrand bombthrower with a burning hatred for all things Republican. Sounds like the bad old days with a Marxist twist. West Virginia elections, at least in some regions, may once again descend into the septic tank of Democratic corruption.

Welcome to West Virginia ACORN. Feel free to violate any law you want. Natalie's too busy running for governor to care.

Why oh why didn't someone, somewhere pump a little money into Charles Minimah's campaign?

*********************************************************************

Sometimes you just have to love story placement. Yahoo News this morning listed about five or six headlines. One headline proclaimed that an ice and snow storm had covered much of the country and killed I think seven. The one right below said that global warming is irreversible for a thousand years.

Global warming chicken littles are really pulling out the stops now. Sure this winter was the coldest in forty years and last summer was, except for a few weeks, not really hot. But don't you worry, disaster is just 'round the corner!

Truth be told, many world scientists (now that the hated Bush is gone!) are coming out and saying what the Old Farmer's Almanac has always told us. It's the sunspots. This past year saw the complete disappearance of sunspots for the first time since the Little Ice Age. It led to a predicted colder winter.

I guess my sedan and my neighbor's SUV made the sunsports come and go. Or maybe it was the Cheney Weather Machine.