ACORN

Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. That is what ACORN stands for. Ever heard of it? If this is the first time you heard about it then you probably think it's a good organization. I mean, what could be wrong with organizing our communities, right? They are just trying to help out the needy and "less privileged", there's nothing wrong with that, right? If you can't see the sarcasm in the words you are reading, then let me tell you that I was being COMPLETELY sarcastic.

ACORN was founded by a woman named Bertha Lewis in 1970. ACORN: "advocates for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues." Doesn't sound bad, right? No, not a bad thing necessarily. Everyone needs a helping hand now and again. So why am I about to bust on this organization? Please, keep reading.

ACORN is an organization that, until recently, was receiving taxpayer dollars for it's funding. If you are an adult reading this (or a teenager who pays taxes) then that's your money that was being used to fund this organization. Well, there are lots of organizations that are government funded, what's so big about ACORN? Well, tell me if you think this is big.

A couple, posing as a prostitute and a pimp, went to an ACORN office to get advice on some "problems" they were facing. The couple was trying to start up a business, and they need some help getting the banks to loan them money. It seems that the banks aren't to quick to loan money to people who are trying to start a brothel. The employees explain that the couple can just launder the money the woman makes, so that the bank will give them a loan, and then they can purchase a house. Nothing wrong there, just money laundering. Who hasn't done some of that right? Not to mention that they only need to house to start a sex business. What's the big deal? (Sarcasm again). Keep reading, it gets worse.

They then tell the employees that they are trying to bring in underage girls from El Salvador to employ in their sex business, and they want to know how they can do that without being arrested. You would think that these employees would have just thrown them out right? No, they didn't, this gets worse. The employees proceed to tell them that they need to find a different name for their business, because they need to be able to find a code that they can use to file it under. Also because prostitution doesn't "look good" and it's illegal, who knew that? Prostitution is illegal, who knew? (Sarcasm...again). So they look through their book of codes trying to find a way to call prostitution something other than what it is. They finally come up with "Performing arts". Cause prostitution is kinda like a performing art, right? (I know, it's ridiculous, and that was more sarcasm). So now they can falsely file their business as something that it's not.

Then there is the issue of the underage girls that they are trying to bring in. The girls are all under the age of 16 so they can be claimed as "dependents" and then the couple can collect federal tax credits on the underage girls. But when the couple tells the employee that there are about 13 of the girls coming in, the employee tells them to only claim one or two, because if they put down "thirteen" that will "send up a flag". So there you go! You can bring 'em in, just lie about how many there are! It's simple, just break the law! You can also cheat on your taxes and collect the federal tax credits unlawfully! It's really not that big of a deal.....What?!?!? I know, it's unbelievable, but this is all true and it gets even worse.

What happens when the couple tells them employees that the girls are not even legal citizens? Surely that would be the last straw. They would never cross that line. Oh, but they do. Illegal citizens are ok too apparently, because underage girls that are trafficked in from El Salvador for the sex trade, are basically like "exchange students". That's all they are, "exchange students". Cause after all they're "performing artists". (Once again, sarcasm).

There are numerous other laws that the employees showed the couple how to break or get around, but I just want to see if you all are getting this. I mean, not only are they saying it's ok cheat on their taxes and bring illegal citizens, they are telling this couple that prostitution is a "performing art" and trafficking in underage girls for the sex trade is ok. It's hard to believe, but I'm sad to say that it is very true.

Now, I want to say that I don't like writing about this stuff. It's uncomfortable for me and it infuriates me, but this is absolutely atrocious and I feel like I need to make more people aware of what is happening (even if it is only the 10 people who read this blog). Just so you all don't think I somehow love writing about all these problems our government has.

Regardless of the fact that they are no longer receiving government funding, ACORN is still in business. After an internal investigation (emphasis on "internal") the investigators decided that there was nothing wrong with ACORN, but rather it was just those couple employees. Mike Flynn from BigGovernment.com says this:

"Well, ACORN retained a law firm to investigate its operations and, surprise, the law firm found that ACORN hadn’t done anything wrong in the undercover videos filmed by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. The review, overseen by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harschbarger, a long-time ally of ACORN, found that any problems within ACORN are, gosh darn it, simply because ACORN was too successful, i.e. grew too big and too fast. The problems are also mostly, conveniently, the result of people who are no longer employed by ACORN, i.e. Wade Rathke."

Well thank goodness this was just a problem with those couple employees, and not ACORN as an whole...it was just those employees right? No, actually there have been other incidents very similar to this one popping up all over. This is just the most prominent one. It seems ACORN has a few more bad nuts to deal with then the media says it does.

This is just one more thing that our government is seeing fit to excuse and sweep under the rug. Don't let them do that! Call your Senators, call your Congressmen, and tell them to get on this! We can not let this kind of corruption exist in any organization, let alone ones that are funded and/or endorsed by our government and our representatives. Thanks for reading.