Voting Fraud 2.0

I'm going to part today from my usual foray into civics and history to something very much in the here and now of American politics. For all those people that remember the infamous "Hanging Chad's" of Florida, and all the controversy that followed that.. well the issue of voter fraud has reared it's ugly head into election politics and this time it's not after the fact and somewhat dubious; it's being perpetrated in very real and documented terms in all of the closest swing states across the nation. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN as it is known, calls itself:

"the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities."

Now despite the numerous number of problems that I have with just that one statement in this particular blog I have only two points that I wish to address:

1. The illegal actions of ACORN and their relation to Senator Barack Hussein Obama.
2. How the actions of ACORN, Senator Barack Hussein Obama and like minded people helped to bring about the home mortgage bubble and thereby helped to bring America down into an economic morass.

ACORN-OBAMA:
During the course of his campaign both for the nomination of the Democrat party and for the Presidency of the United States, Senator Obama has touted his Community Organizer work and how that helps make him qualified and prepared to assume such an important post. Unfortunately no one ever really delved into what he was doing in the community and with whom he was working with. It turns out Obama was often used as a lawyer for them and was specifically an integral part in representing ACORN in the revision of the CRA (Community Re-investment Act) in 1995 that helped more low income home buyers get loans for houses they would never be able to afford; sound familiar anyone? In addition to that Senator Obama was,

"personally recruited by Chicago's ACORN to run training sessions in 'direct action.' That's the euphemism for the techniques used under the cover of the federal Community Reinvestment Act to intimidate financial institutions into giving what have been called 'Ninja' loans — no income, no job, no assets — to people who couldn't afford them."

What were those techniques you ask? Ask and ye shall receive..

"ACORN would stage in-your-face protests in bank lobbies, drive-through lanes and even at bank managers' homes to get them to issue risky loans in the inner city or face charges of racism."

All this and more can be found an a very hard hitting Investor's Business Daily editorial and I'd challenge you to not only read it but then research the rest of it for yourself. Ignorance is the most expensive commodity that we have to pay for in this country and unfortunately there has been no actual vetting when it comes to Senator Obama, his friends and associates. So what exactly is so bad about ACORN besides actively proposing and supporting horrible economic policy? Where to begin..

All across the nation ACORN offices are being raided and very revealing documents regarding their practices are coming to light. Across the board Social Security numbers are not matching up and yet reports of fraud have been passed over for years. Do you remember the scandal that arose when President Bush fired some US Attorneys at the beginning of his second term? Well one of the attorneys in New Mexico was specifically fired because he would not investigate the allegations of voter fraud in his state. In Nevada ACORN activists had the entire starting line up of the Dallas Cowboys registered to vote in their district; in New Mexico and Wisconsin child rapists, drug offenders and forgery convicts are on the payroll and on the voting rolls. One man in Cleveland Ohio reportedly was given cash and cigarettes by ACORN activists in exchange for registering 72 times. Now if you tell people to vote in consideration for a vote, that's called VOTE BUYING and is.. you guessed it's illegal; and better yet, it's done with your tax dollars! How does Obama tie into all this besides his close association in the 90's?

"ACORN's political wing has endorsed Barack Obama for president, but Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign in Ohio, said ACORN has no role in its get-out-the-vote drive.

During the primary season, however, the Obama camp paid another group, Citizen Service Inc., $832,598 for various political services, according to Federal Elections Commission filings. That group and ACORN share the same board of directors."

Michelle Malkin also did a great piece on this but what is most disturbing is the fact that this has been going on for years and yet for months Americans were agonizing over the validity of ballots with a "chad" that hadn't quite fallen all the way. I'm in awe of the level of political discourse in this country; even a cursory inquiry into the background of the Democrat candidate for president reveals a man that has ties to some truly horrible people and it takes a willing mind to completely shut out all negative information about a candidate that they support simply on charisma alone.

The Economy and the Housing Bubble:
So now that we've gone over the ACORN and Senator Obama's close ties with that organization lets take a look at how that all ties into the current turmoil in the economy. The Community Reinvestment Act that both ACORN and Senator Obama supported and continue to support made banks give loans to people with bad credit a home loan that they would only be able to afford if property values continued to go up. If the bank refused to give these loans they were accused of racist or discriminatory policies and had demonstrations in front of or sometimes inside of their offices or homes. On it's face the idea that a person has a right to home ownership let alone a loan that would eventually be funded by their neighbors and other tax payers is wrong and a perversion of what many term "The American Dream." The active campaign to force lending institutions to finance home ownership for people who had no business in a home to begin with, ended up in a correction in the housing market. Housing prices over the past decade had continued to go up to astronomical levels, and all the sub-prime loans were based on the faulty supposition that home values would only continue to go up. When a much needed correction happened to revalue homes to their actual values happened it ended up bankrupting banks and eventually even the government supported Fanny May and Freddy Mac. Whom do you think these institutions favored most among Washington politicians? Well Senator Chris Dodd was number 1 on their list, not surprising since he is the head of the committee that was supposed to oversee their business; but right up there in 2nd place is.. you guessed it, Senator Barack Obama who in his short tenure as a United States senator managed to get more money from Fanny May and Freddy Mac in the form of campaign contributions than anyone else other than the the chairman of the committee that was supposedly providing oversight on them. I can't emphasize the corruption that helped to bring about this great market crash enough; a home is the major investment of most Americans and with the economic turmoil they turned ironically enough to the very politicians that enabled the crisis from incubation to fruition.

I find it both disgusting and insulting that Senator Obama and others in the Democrat party can decry the Free Market system that this country is based on when they know that the economic crisis that America and now the world are mired in came as a direct result of government intervention into good business practices in the private sector. Think about this logically for a moment. If you were a bank, and you knew that the government wouldn't get involved to bail you out later, would you give out risky loans to people? NO; because as a lender you are in business not have people default on their loans but to eventually reclaim the money at a profit. Senator Obama and others of like mind forced banks to loan to people that had no business getting a loan in the first place and then turn around and admonish the private sector for doing what they had been instructed to do as a government mandate. This never ending distortion of the facts is absurd and just once I wish someone would call them on it. Instead of having the CEO's of these companies come before Congress I'd like the congressmen and women that created this mess have to come in front of the people and face losing their jobs or jail.

So.. that was cathartic.. I think I know what my next entry is going to be on.. it'll probably have a lot to do with the economy, free market capitalism and socialism. Don't quote me on it, but I think that at this point everyone needs a refresher course on economics and civics because the obvious ignorance out there is almost beyond the pail. Despite all the controversy and bad blood floating around I am not completely without hope, because at it's core I believe in the essential goodness of the American people and that once provided with good information they will act accordingly, in this the greatest nation on God's green Earth.

Random Thoughts:
Some day, when I'm awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you..
And the way you look tonight..

Yes, you're lovely, with your smile so warm,
And your cheeks so soft,
There is nothing for me but to love you..
And the way you look tonight..

Quote of the Entry: Life only demands from you the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible - not to have run away.
- Dag Hammarskjold (1905 - 1961) Swedish Diplomat