American Glob

Because he’s good enough, he’s smart enough, and doggone it, convicted felons like him…

The six-month election recount that turned former “Saturday Night Live” comedian Al Franken into a U.S. senator may have been decided by convicted felons who voted illegally in Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

That’s the finding of an 18-month study conducted by Minnesota Majority, a conservative watchdog group, which found that at least 341 convicted felons in largely Democratic Minneapolis-St. Paul voted illegally in the 2008 Senate race between Franken, a Democrat, and his Republican opponent, then-incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman.

The final recount vote in the race, determined six months after Election Day, showed Franken beat Coleman by 312 votes — fewer votes than the number of felons whose illegal ballots were counted, according to Minnesota Majority’s newly released study, which matched publicly available conviction lists with voting records.

Furthermore, the report charges that efforts to get state and federal authorities to act on its findings have been “stonewalled.”

“We aren’t trying to change the result of the last election. That legally can’t be done,” said Dan McGrath, Minnesota Majority’s executive director. “We are just trying to make sure the integrity of the next election isn’t compromised.”

No surprises there, in fact I’m reminded of another election in 2008. Remember this?

CLEVELAND – A man at the center of a voter-registration scandal told The Post yesterday he was given cash and cigarettes by aggressive ACORN activists in exchange for registering an astonishing 72 times, in apparent violation of Ohio laws.

“Sometimes, they come up and bribe me with a cigarette, or they’ll give me a dollar to sign up,” said Freddie Johnson, 19, who filled out 72 separate voter-registration cards over an 18-month period at the behest of the left-leaning Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

“The ACORN people are everywhere, looking to sign people up. I tell them I am already registered. The girl said, ‘You are?’ I say, ‘Yup,’ and then they say, ‘Can you just sign up again?’ ” he said.

Breitbart covers the media, ACORN, the O’Keefe arrest and talks about the videos he has yet to release.

Awesome.

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along…

ACORN has been cleared of wrongdoing in Brooklyn, New York.

Brooklyn prosecutors on Monday cleared ACORN of criminal wrongdoing after a four-month probe that began when undercover conservative activists filmed workers giving what appeared to be illegal advice on how to hide money.

While the video by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles seemed to show three ACORN workers advising a prostitute how to hide ill-gotten gains, the unedited version was not as clear, according to a law enforcement source.

“They edited the tape to meet their agenda,” said the source.

O’Keefe and Giles – who visited ACORN offices in several cities, including its Brooklyn headquarters – stirred controversy when they posted the videos on their Web site.

I’m sure you’ll be just shocked, SHOCKED to find out that the special prosecutor in the case, Charles J. Hynes, received the endorsement of the “Working Families Party of New York,” one of the zillion heads of the hydra known as ACORN.

So far the worst of the Working Families Party/ACORN’s atrocities have been in New York City counties where the Democratic District Attorney’s have all enjoyed the support and endorsement of WFP. That Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes says he will look into the Brooklyn-based ACORN gives one little comfort. Hynes has enjoyed WFP/ACORN endorsement. Ironically this is the same Charles J. Hynes who put away the Brooklyn Democratic Party Chairman for trading the party nomination  for a judgeship for a political consulting contract from the judicial candidate to a favored vendor–precisely what the WFP has done in the City Comptroller and Public Advocate races.

Here’s a link to the Working Families Party website where they announce their endorsement of Charles J. Hynes: Scroll down to Brooklyn, Hynes is the second person listed.

Unbelievable Typical, isn’t it?

Obama said he worked with ACORN only once. His “Fight The Smears” website even had a special page about ACORN.

Politifact even went after Karl Rove last fall for suggesting that Obama’s ties to ACORN were more extensive than he admitted.

As for Rove’s claim that Obama used to be a lawyer for ACORN, yes, Obama once took on a case for ACORN. But Obama was never a staff attorney for ACORN. He did not do ongoing work for the organization. He handled one case along with two other attorneys. ACORN was one of several plaintiffs. And the U.S. Department of Justice sided with ACORN in the case. We think Rove’s comment suggests a deeper legal relationship between Obama and ACORN than actually existed. And so we rule Rove’s statement Half True.

And yet now, we have this…

While many news outlets rushed to convict activist filmmaker James O’Keefe of illegal wiretapping, Patterico led the charge to defend him since all the facts were not yet known.

When I first read a news story about this yesterday, it sounded to me like O’Keefe and company were being accused of an attempt to wiretap or bug Landrieu’s phones. Indeed, that’s the way I characterized the Government’s claim in my post based on a news story. But now I have had a chance to review the affidavit. And it doesn’t say that.

The link to the affidavit is here. I challenge you to find me the language that accuses O’Keefe et al. of a “plot to bug” Landrieu’s office, or an “alleged wiretap scheme.”

It isn’t there.

Now the Los Angeles Times is confirming that Patterico may have been right all along…

New Orleans – Four conservative activists accused of trying to tamper with a senator’s phones were attempting to record undercover video of her staff ignoring calls from constituents angry that she supported President Obama’s healthcare overhaul, one of their attorneys said Thursday.

The four — including James O’Keefe III, 25, who previously posed as a pimp and used a hidden camera to target the community-organizing group ACORN — were arrested Monday after targeting Democratic Sen. Mary L. Landrieu’s office in a New Orleans federal building.

Attorney J. Garrison Jordan denied that the suspects were trying to disable or wiretap Landrieu’s phones.

“You’re dealing with kids,” he said. “I don’t think they thought it through that far.”

Instead, Jordan said, they hoped to get embarrassing footage of Landrieu’s staff handling constituent calls. Her office received complaints last month that callers opposed to her healthcare stance couldn’t get through.

Don’t act surprised, you just knew this was coming…

“The provision he [Senator Burris (D-IL)] cites, found on pages 240 through 248 of the manager’s amendment, requires that six different agencies each establish an “Office of Minority Health.” The agencies are the “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.”

“According to a Senate legislative aide, the scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now could qualify for grants under this provision. ACORN would also qualify for funding on page 150 of the underlying Reid bill, which says that “community and consumer-focused nonprofit groups” may receive grants to “conduct public education activities to raise awareness of the availability of qualified health plans.”

It’s sadly ironic that a “health” bill could end up funding ACORN, a cancer on American politics.

We haven’t yet reached the bottom of the abyss.

BigGovernment.com has been airing a hefty portion of ACORN’s dirty laundry this week, thanks to the efforts of a private investigator who recovered thousands of documents hastily dumped in the trash by San Diego’s ACORN office days before they were to be investigated.

ACORN is now reacting by claiming that the documents were stolen. From their trash.

“A tempest in a trash can is brewing in San Diego County, where ACORN is trying to recover tens of thousands of documents taken from its garbage by a Republican activist.”

“It’s the latest skirmish in a war between ACORN, which stands for Community Organizations for Reform Now, and conservative critics who accuse it of corruption.”

“Derrick Roach, a private investigator who unsuccessfully ran for a state Assembly seat last year, said he took more than 20,000 documents from a caged trash area behind ACORN’s office in National City on Oct. 9.”

“Some of the documents later posted on a Web site and displayed at a news conference Monday appeared to show driver’s license and Social Security numbers of ACORN members or job applicants.”

“There also were immigration records, credit reports, tax returns, credit card statements and bank account numbers, Roach said Tuesday.”

“ACORN California Head Organizer Amy Schur said the confidential papers were carelessly included in the trash, and there was no intent to dump rather than shred them.”

“We want to get our property back so that we can properly secure it,” she said.”

Perhaps you should have thought of that before, Amy. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

BigGovernment.com broke the latest chapter in the ongoing ACORN scandal today. According to a private investigator who has joined the effort, ACORN dumped thousands of sensitive documents just before CA Attorney General Jerry Brown was due to begin an investigation.

“Shockingly, we now learn that the ACORN office in National City (San Diego County) engaged in a massive document dump on the evening of October 9th, containing thousands upon thousands of sensitive documents, just days prior to the Attorney General’s visit.”

“BigGovernment.com has learned that not only did this document dump occur, but the documents in question were irresponsibly and brazenly dumped in a public dumpster, without considering laws and regulations as to how sensitive information should be treated.”

‘I am a local licensed private investigator. I took it upon myself to keep an eye on what the local ACORN office was up to, in light of the release of the undercover videos. I retrieved these documents from the public dumpster.”

“ACORN’s political agenda is also exposed, with thousands upon thousands of documents revealing the depth of the political machine that is ACORN, and its disturbing ties to not only public employee labor unions but some of the most radical leftist organizations.”

“The laws governing how sensitive, personal information such as social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, immigration records, tax returns, etc. must be treated are very stringent, and thus it seems as if ACORN may have committed serious violations in that department alone, with thousands upon thousands of potential plaintiffs.”

Visit BigGovernment.com to see photos, video and scanned documents.

In related news, an ACORN employee in Nevada who was found guilty of participating in voter fraud last year was sentenced today. The penalty? Three years of probation.

“LAS VEGAS — A former Las Vegas supervisor for the political advocacy group ACORN was sentenced Monday to up to three years’ probation for his role in a plan to pay canvassers to register Nevada voters during last year’s presidential campaign.”

“I just want to say I take responsibility for what I did,” Christopher Edwards told a judge who responded that he was “not pleased to say the least” by allegations that Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now paid bonuses to canvassers who collected 21 or more voter registration cards in August and September 2008.”

“I’m sorry. I truly am,” Edwards said, “and it will never happen again.”

We know it won’t happen again, Mr. Edwards. We’re watching you scumbags now.

Democrats are going after fraud? What are they going to do, investigate themselves?

From the department of laughable via Politico:

“The Obama administration on Tuesday will announce “a sustained, multilevel attack on financial fraud,” including mortgage rip-offs, a senior administration official said.”

“The crackdown will range “from executives who illegally profited on Wall Street, to the bad actors still targeting middle class families with mortgage fraud schemes,” the official said.”

“The probe is to be announced at noon Tuesday at the Justice Department by Attorney General Eric Holder, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Division Director Rob Khuzami.”

So they’re going after the frauds… Good for them.

Will they be investigating Barney Frank & his buddies at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for their involvement in the US mortgage meltdown?

Will they be “cracking down” on the financial fraud of uber-corrupticrat Charlie Rangel?

How about the fraud of Chris Dodd and his shady Countrywide mortgage deals?

Is ACORN voter fraud on the target list?

Perhaps Obama’s campaign finance fraud?

Everything you need to know about the hypocrisy of this supposed “crackdown” is summed up in the fact that Tim Geithner, the tax fraud who’s running the Treasury Department, is part of the team announcing the attack on “fraud.”

What a farce.

I ask this question based on a legitimate concern.

Republican leaders continue to back the ACORN/Daily KOS endorsed Dede Scozzafava while fretting over Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman in the New York 23 congressional race.

Establishment Republicans, including Newt Gingrich, are puzzled by the excitement over Doug Hoffman and the endorsement of his campaign by figures like Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty.

Politico reports:

“A senior GOP strategist, granted anonymity in order to speak candidly, lamented that in endorsing Hoffman, the contenders had delivered to the White House an early victory in their efforts to brand the Republican Party as dominated by its conservative wing.”

Conservative wing? Conservative wing???

Hello???

Gallup reported today that Conservatives are the dominant ideological group in America.

Since when is the majority a “wing?”

“Changes among political independents appear to be the main reason the percentage of conservatives has increased nationally over the past year: the 35% of independents describing their views as conservative in 2009 is up from 29% in 2008.”

Did the GOP miss the last six months? Did the party leaders not see the Tea Parties, the town hall meetings or the national outrage over ACORN? Have you been sitting in a dark room with your ears plugged?

Here’s a newsflash for the GOP from a libertarian who wants to vote Republican.

1. You don’t need to re-brand the party.

2. If you run a candidate with ANY connection to ACORN, SEIU, or any corrupt affiliate thereof, he or she will LOSE.

3. Run genuine Conservative candidates and you’ll win.

In the mean time I have just one final suggestion.

Buy a computer and check out “the internet.”