I read a good one from the associate editor of NewsBusters. NewsBusters is a creatively conservative online site usually chock full of fact-free, wingnut postings.
First, a quick review…
You have probably seen a video clip by now of a sting on multiple ACORN offices by Hannah Giles (playing the prostitute) and James O'Keefe (playing the pimp). When the two sting actors finally got an ACORN person to bite on their "we want to buy a house, use it as a brothel for underage El Salvadoran girls, what should we do" nonsense, the video byte was quickly circulated by the right wing propaganda machine as "proof" that ACORN was a criminal enterprise.
No ACORN person has been charged with any crimes, NOTHING has been proven in a court of law….yet, Congress, the knee-jerk spineless assh*les that they are, quickly passed a bill to defund anything ACORN.
We now know that the acting duo tried out their vaudeville sting act in many ACORN offices around the country. So, we know it was a fishing expedition with only one purpose in mind…..get something damaging or potentially damaging to use against ACORN, thus, hurting the voter registration non-profit who primarily registers minority voters, who just so happen to vote overwhelmingly Democratic….AND….damage Obama in the process because he once had dealings back in Chicago with the community organizing group, ACORN.
The objective of the hooker-and-pimp show is clear.
Here's where the wingnut fun begins. Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe didn't find sound byte success in many cities' ACORN offices. ACORN employees called police on the sting duo at a couple of locations where a "gotcha" could not be obtained for Fox's Beck to later get a hard-on on camera about.
In Baltimore, where the young wingnut sting actors were trying, unsuccessfully, to entrap ACORN officials for wingnut-media purposes, a question has come up over whether the duo's taping the sting without permission was illegal.
That question of the illegality of secret videotaping in Maryland, just the question, has tweaked the tinfoil of NewsBusters' bloggers.
Associate editor of NewsBusters, Noel Sheppard…..I'm sure without any sense of irony, had this to say about the potential for Baltimore officials pressing charges against the hooker-and-pimp actors.
"..we now not only have a media unwilling to report the misdeeds of ACORNers, but we also have authorities going after those that dare to uncover such acts.
Honestly — what country is this?"
Though not intended….. that's some funny stuff.
Wingnuts, naturally, wanted every cable and network "news" outlet to run a 24/7 loop of the hooker-and-pimp sting on ACORN. Wingnut media representatives taunted any media outlet who didn't comply with their wingnut wishes to feature the phony sting story.
Wingnuts, like Sheppard and his boss, the goofball Brent Bozell, are the movers of the modern conservative movement, and minorities, while accepted by wingnuts, are rarely part of that movement. Wingnuts believe the work of a primarily black non-profit voter registration and inner-city housing group only benefits the Democratic Party….and it's the fulltime job of wingnuts to diminish any power Democrats have. ACORN, by it's very existence, is a threat to conservative wingnuts.
But back to Noel Sheppard's quote….."we have authorities going after those that dare to uncover such acts."
NewsBusters, when it came to the exposing of the unlawful acts of Bush/Cheney in spying on Americans without warrants, judicial warrants as the Constitution requires, didn't care so much about, you know, journalists uncovering and exposing such acts. In fact, NewsBusters wanted "authorities" to go after those who did the "exposing."
NewsBusters' Sheppard Jan.29, 2005…
If only the Times would follow its own advice and stop betraying the public's trust by continually convicting people in its publication before they’ve been charged with a crime.
Umm…..Amen, Noel.
Sheppard again, June 26, 2006…
[I]t is high time the U.S. government took a stand against the reporting of classified intelligence information by America’s press. Irrespective of the self-serving opinions of Bill Keller and his associates, the public’s interest in safety and national defense is much greater than its desire to know the intricate details of how the government achieves such vital goals.
…..
With that in mind, the Justice Department, led by attorney general Alberto Gonzales, must investigate and decide whether or not to prosecute the Times for its possibly treasonous acts.
I say to NewsBusters' Sheppard, "Honestly, Noel,…what country is this?"
Is ours a country where authorities are encouraged to go after those that dare to uncover such dastardly acts?
_______________
Bonus video: NewsBusters could take a lesson from this video. This is how intended irony is done……
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
The only kind of folks I know of who have eight houses and zoos in their backyards are the Hollywood types in the video, Reverend. What a joke that video is, but since its demonizing someone I guess you're all for it.
Sorry ACORN and by extension Obama got busted for abetting child prostitution and promoting human slavery. I guess all you can do is defend those practices as best you can.
Yeah, larry, those double-digit-millions salaried CEO's in insurance and phrma, no doubt, live under bridges.
ACORN didn't get "busted" for anything. When there's an ACORN arrest, let me know.
You're right, Reverend–child prostitution and human smuggling/slavery is a gray area.
Especially when it's all a figment of some wingnut entrapment team's imagination.
Of course ACORN isn't going to get busted over an IMAGINARY prostitution ring, Rev. That is beside the point. The point is that ACORN was perfectly willing to help tell the prostitution ring how to become established and evade the law.
You've always been a left-wing nut, but lately you've gone completely around the bend. Must be because you know how wrong you really are. Now you're defending corruption, as long as it's left-wing corruption. Man. I feel sorry for you.
Don't feel sorry for the Reverend. He's always got the liquor cabinet.
Reverand,
There is no need to engage in comparative blame-shifting. The solution is simple.
The undercover investigators may have violated Maryland law. ACORN may also have violated the law. Why not investigate, and if warranted prosecute, them both? Is this not something that both Left and Right can agree on?
QuidPro
I have to agree. Let's have both sides of this issue investigated and prosecuted if needed. I think the main problem with the "debate" between right and left is that nobody is listening. If you listen to both sides of the Health Care debate both sides admit that there needs to be health care reform. Why don't we have a debate about what type of reform? Because if any type of reform is passed one side will lose some political power.
You have to love the incompetence of the GOP. Their law to defund ACORN may have dismantled the entire military-industrial complex. They may have done something right by mistake.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/22/whoops-anti-acorn-bill-ro_n_294949.html
@jimmy james – where to start, where to start.
There is no law, just a couple of bills. This is Saturday morning cartoon stuff. This is one of the reasons so many people voted for it. An old slimy politician trick is to vote for something in this stage and then not vote for it later when it matters. Then you can pretend to be on both sides of the issue. Think John Kerry – "I actually voted for it before I voted against it."
Secondly, provide for the common defense is constitutionally mandated. Even if something was passed that adversely affected this, it would not survive supreme court review.
Lastly, what kind of anti-American, mental midget, could take some perverse pleasure in hoping that were true?
bzzzp gets extra stars on his comment paper for his "mental midget" callout to jimmy.
jimmy was pointing out what hapens when knee-jerk….jerks, rush hellbent into a frenzied political witchhunt. Democrats, the spineless fools that they often are, didn't want any guilt-by-association to rub off on them with the ACORN faux-controversy, and Republicans…well….they hate ACORN, always have, because ….well….they're a black outfit and they signed up 1 million new, mostly Democratic voters, for the last general election.
Spineless or haters, doesn't matter, in their rush to act, Congress may have inadvertantly bit off their own representative noses in the process.
If ACORN is singled out, then it's a "bill of attainder", which is unconstitutional. That's why the Congressional action must include other groups receiving federal monies who have had problems with transparency and fraud. That includes a whole bunch of defense contractors as well as other federal partners.
Far from taking pleasure, jimmy was simply saying that what's good for the ACORN goose…is also good for other fraud-sponsoring ganders. By doing something stupid and irresponsible….ending funding for ACORN based on only accusations…..the Congress may have done a responsible thing by accident,…weeded out the much larger crooks who routinely defraud tax payers.
To Chris….we already had the discussion over what kind of reform America needs….we elected Obama, by a wide margin. If conservatives want something different than what Obama proposed while campaigning, and is pushing now, then they'll have to elect one of their people president.
Rev says, "jimmy was pointing out what hapens when knee-jerk….jerks, rush hellbent into a frenzied political witchhunt"
Which is exactly what the Reverend has done regarding the Tea Parties, raising the specters of rampant right-wing violence and racism, and by referring to the murder of poor Bill Sparkman as the beginning of some right-wing war without knowing the facts.
Self-awareness isn't your strong suit.