Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
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The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform published a (Minority) Staff Report on July 23, 2009 entitled "Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As A Criminal Enterprise?"

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the main investigative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. It has authority to investigate the subjects within the Committee?s legislative jurisdiction as well as ?any matter? within the jurisdiction of the other standing House Committees. The Committee?s mandate is to investigate and expose waste, fraud and abuse.

No one thought much of it at the time. Very few read it. It never made the national press. In hindsight, everyone should have paid attention.

Right now there are a number of criminal investigators, state agencies, federal agencies, church groups, charitable foundations, etc. furiously investigating ACORN and others just as furiously attempting to find something, anything, to defend them.

The organization willing to counsel and advise the establishment of a child prostitution business, enable the trafficking of 13 - 15 year old Latina girls and aid and abet tax fraud in at least five national offices has more on their plate.

Highlighted in the report:

* ACORN has evaded taxes, obstructed justice, engaged in self dealing, and aided and abetted a cover-up of the $948.607.50 embezzlement by Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke.

* ACORN has committed investment fraud, deprived the public of its right to honest services, and engaged in a racketeering enterprise affecting interstate commerce.

* ACORN has committed a conspiracy to defraud the United States by using taxpayer funds for partisan political activities.

* ACORN has submitted false filings to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor, in addition to violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

* ACORN falsified and concealed facts concerning an illegal transaction between related parties in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

I took the time to read this 88 page report over a couple of cappuccinos this morning.

Reading reports like this makes for a fine start to the day.

Want to join me in reading tomorrow's headlines today?

Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,747
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Just to dispel Pjabber's attempt to add legitimacy to a partisan hit piece, this is by the Republicans on that committee, not by the actual committee itself. It's only slightly more than a press release.

Pjabber you are either ignorant of the source or intentionally misleading people, either way you should fix your post.

EDIT: In light of this the fact that you swallow Glenn Beck's crap hook, line, and sinker makes more sense. You don't understand how to evaluate sources, and so for you the standard of accuracy is 'it tells me something I agree with'.
 

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
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As in my developing comments about the complete failure of the Left to refute Glen Beck's assertions or to even attempt such a refutation, why don't you at least make an effort to refute the findings of this report and avoid the oh-so-boring ad hominem attacks. C'mon, make it interesting for a change.

PS. I added (Minority) to my opening sentence to more accurately reflect that this Report was offered TWO MONTHS AGO by the REPUBLICAN MINORITY membership of the Committee for consideration by the FULL Committee. The full Committee, of course being MAJORITY DEMOCRAT, has NOT taken ANY action on this Report.

Clearer? :laugh:
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,747
54,762
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Originally posted by: PJABBER
As in my developing comments about the complete failure of the Left to refute Glen Beck's assertions or to even attempt such a refutation, why don't you at least make an effort to refute the findings of this report and avoid the oh-so-boring ad hominem attacks. C'mon, make it interesting for a change.

PS. I added (Minority) to my opening sentence to more accurately reflect that this Report was offered TWO MONTHS AGO by the REPUBLICAN MINORITY membership of the Committee for consideration by the FULL Committee. The full Committee, of course being MAJORITY DEMOCRAT, has NOT taken ANY action on this Report.

Clearer? :laugh:

That's much clearer, thanks for amending your post to more accurately reflect reality.
 

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
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No problem, sport. I am heading out to spend some quality time with the kids so enjoy the break yourself!
 

GeezerMan

Platinum Member
Jan 28, 2005
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Link

Here is a NYT article from July 2008:

"A whistle-blower forced Acorn to disclose the embezzlement, which involved the brother of the organization?s founder, Wade Rathke.

The brother, Dale Rathke, embezzled nearly $1 million from Acorn and affiliated charitable organizations in 1999 and 2000, Acorn officials said, but a small group of executives decided to keep the information from almost all of the group?s board members and not to alert law enforcement.

Dale Rathke remained on Acorn?s payroll until a month ago, when disclosure of his theft by foundations and other donors forced the organization to dismiss him. "
 

woodie1

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2000
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Originally posted by: GeezerMan
Link

Here is a NYT article from July 2008:

"A whistle-blower forced Acorn to disclose the embezzlement, which involved the brother of the organization?s founder, Wade Rathke.

The brother, Dale Rathke, embezzled nearly $1 million from Acorn and affiliated charitable organizations in 1999 and 2000, Acorn officials said, but a small group of executives decided to keep the information from almost all of the group?s board members and not to alert law enforcement.

Dale Rathke remained on Acorn?s payroll until a month ago, when disclosure of his theft by foundations and other donors forced the organization to dismiss him. "

Acorn seems to be a 1st class organization, kinda like some financial institutions.

 

GeezerMan

Platinum Member
Jan 28, 2005
2,146
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91
Let's see now. Why would you not want to alert law enforcement? Perhaps the same reason why thieves don't call the cops when they get robbed. I would have thought that the feds would have launched an investigation and audit before talking about handing them millions in taxpayers funds after seeing how Acorn handled the embezzlement, ah...I mean "loan"..
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,576
6,713
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Well well, I was just at my blackboard sketching out this right wing comuhippieconspiracy thingi trying to get the big picture and all of a sudden it hits me. Pull the camera back and focus on the big picture. Glen Beck is being fed his themes by the Republican party. They are trying to draw attention away from the fact that Republicans are the party of failure. Lets' scare the shit out of the few assholes that remain faithful and give them new meat to hate.

As far a Acorn is concerned, investigate and prosecute where guilt is found. Won't be the first time some organization that exist to do good is co-opted by assholes for their own personal gain.
 

GoPackGo

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 2003
6,517
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Left Wing Apologists will always defend ACORN and denigrate Republicans whether the Republicans are correct or not.
 

heyheybooboo

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2007
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Originally posted by: eskimospy
Just to dispel Pjabber's attempt to add legitimacy to a partisan hit piece, this is by the Republicans on that committee, not by the actual committee itself. It's only slightly more than a press release.

Pjabber you are either ignorant of the source or intentionally misleading people, either way you should fix your post.

EDIT: In light of this the fact that you swallow Glenn Beck's crap hook, line, and sinker makes more sense. You don't understand how to evaluate sources, and so for you the standard of accuracy is 'it tells me something I agree with'.

It's how BLATHER rolls ....





 
Dec 10, 2005
28,153
12,814
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Originally posted by: Budmantom
EskimoVic has always come to the defense of Acorn, are you a member?

You're always talking out of your ass, did you get your head stuck?
 

feralkid

Lifer
Jan 28, 2002
16,843
4,941
136
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Can we all just get along?

If you are willing to offer intelligent debate rather than constant troll-bait bullshit, I don't see why not.

:thumbsup:
 

DealMonkey

Lifer
Nov 25, 2001
13,136
1
0
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
As far a Acorn is concerned, investigate and prosecute where guilt is found. Won't be the first time some organization that exist to do good is co-opted by assholes for their own personal gain.
Absolutely, let's do that.

It seems to me there are some very serious allegations of illegal activity being slung around by the Republican minority via that report. Given the seriousness of the allegations, I would expect a full investigation and some indictments being handed down against ACORN.

Can anyone point me to the results of the investigation and whether there have been criminal charges filed? Because, like Fox News, we can ask loaded questions all day like, "zOMG! IS ACORN INTENTIONALLY STRUCTURED AS A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE?!?" and yet all that really matters in the end is whether this alleged wrong-doing is punished and the evil-doers captured and imprisoned for their crimes.

Why is no one seemingly taking these Republicans seriously? These workers who commit these crimes are fired and yet no criminal charges have been filed against them, let alone ACORN itself. How can this be? Where is the AG on this case? Where is the independent prosecutor?

I can tell you that this is going to be hard to sort out, mainly because of the incredible partisan hatred of ACORN itself. How do we know whether this is a witch-hunt by Republicans who want to shut down the organization because of their get-out-the-vote efforts on behalf of Democrats? How can we know whether these charges are purely partisan theater? Or whether there's some merit?
 

Bowfinger

Lifer
Nov 17, 2002
15,776
392
126
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Can we all just get along?
You bet ... as soon as we start seeing real conservatives with the integrity to make honest, well-reasoned, and relevant arguments and with the backbone to rebuke the nutter propaganda attacks. Until then, you're undermining the foundation of American representative democracy, something many of us take personally.
 

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
4,822
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Originally posted by: DealMonkey
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
As far a Acorn is concerned, investigate and prosecute where guilt is found. Won't be the first time some organization that exist to do good is co-opted by assholes for their own personal gain.
Absolutely, let's do that.

It seems to me there are some very serious allegations of illegal activity being slung around by the Republican minority via that report. Given the seriousness of the allegations, I would expect a full investigation and some indictments being handed down against ACORN.

Can anyone point me to the results of the investigation and whether there have been criminal charges filed? Because, like Fox News, we can ask loaded questions all day like, "zOMG! IS ACORN INTENTIONALLY STRUCTURED AS A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE?!?" and yet all that really matters in the end is whether this alleged wrong-doing is punished and the evil-doers captured and imprisoned for their crimes.

Why is no one seemingly taking these Republicans seriously? These workers who commit these crimes are fired and yet no criminal charges have been filed against them, let alone ACORN itself. How can this be? Where is the AG on this case? Where is the independent prosecutor?

I can tell you that this is going to be hard to sort out, mainly because of the incredible partisan hatred of ACORN itself. How do we know whether this is a witch-hunt by Republicans who want to shut down the organization because of their get-out-the-vote efforts on behalf of Democrats? How can we know whether these charges are purely partisan theater? Or whether there's some merit?

Currently there are cultural bias difficulties in pursuing investigation and maybe prosecution of organizations like ACORN.

Here is one commentary that covers it fairly accurately -

ACORN, Kanye West and the Hierarchy of Multiculturalism

by Evan Coyne Maloney

Evan Coyne Maloney is a documentary filmmaker based in New York City. His film Indoctrinate U is currently airing on the Documentary Channel.

Journalists need to ask themselves, how did this happen? How could they miss the corruption at ACORN? President Obama was once an ACORN lawyer, so the group is certainly significant enough to warrant media scrutiny. Then how did all the seasoned professionals get scooped by two students?James O?Keefe and Hannah Giles?one of whom isn?t old enough to legally drink?

ACORN?s many problems have been well known for quite a while, at least to anyone venturing beyond network newscasts and liberal blogs. As an organization, ACORN doesn?t just limit itself to churning out forged voter registrations. It?s a full-blown racketeering enterprise worthy of The Sopranos, and it finances its operations with the help of taxpayer money.

So how could the major media fail to hold ACORN to account all these years?

I have my pet theory.

Political correctness has been slowly rotting the establishment media to its core, to the point where few professional journalists would dare launch a serious investigation into the exalted Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. Why? Simple: according to the tenets of political correctness, the racial makeup of the communities being ?organized? automatically confers the presumption of moral superiority upon ACORN. So all those nasty rumors about ACORN must be no more than lies spread by racist propagandists.

To understand the mindset of the politically correct, there are a few rules of racial relations that you need to know. These rules establish the Hierarchy of Multiculturalism:

1. If a person is a member of a group guilty of past racial oppression, that person has no moral standing in relation to anyone in any group that?s ever been a victim of that oppression.

2. A member of an oppressor group is always assumed to be guilty in relation to a member of a victim group.

3. An oppressor can only avoid presumed guilt by making a display of his or her sympathy for the oppressed.

4. Members of victim groups can lose their moral standing by expressing a preference for individual rights as opposed to group rights.

5. Advocating on behalf of a victim makes one almost as unassailable as being that victim.

6. Coming to the defense of an oppressor is even more repugnant than being that oppressor.


This thinking is so common these days that many prominent liberals?from New York Times columnists to former presidents?believe that criticism of President Obama can only be motivated by racial bigotry.

That?s because people at a lower rung of the Multicultural Hierarchy are never allowed to challenge those above them. The purpose of this is to quell criticism and enforce thought conformity. Why break the rules and risk being thought of as a bigot?

Media coverage of Kanye West?s latest outburst at the MTV Video Music Awards illustrates this. Imagine the racial roles reversed:

It?s the Country Music Awards. A black female performer is accepting her first-ever award. She?s happy and a bit surprised; her style of music doesn?t usually win Country Music Awards. Halfway through her emotional acceptance speech, a white male country music singer runs up on stage, grabs the microphone from her, and announces that another woman should have won, a white woman?a ?real? country singer?instead of the underdog black woman.

I?d bet my life savings that the reporting would be quite different than what happened in Kanye?s case. Sure, he was roundly criticized in the media, but we?re in an age when hidden motivations are attributed to every interracial interaction, so it?s interesting that few dared to discuss a racial angle to the Kanye West/Taylor Swift confrontation.

There?s a simple explanation. By the rules of the Hierarchy of Multiculturalism, when a member of a victim group is the actual victim in a real-world encounter, it?s an example of oppression. But when an oppressor becomes a victim in real life, that?s just karma, man. Any possible racial angle becomes irrelevant.

So forgive me if I don?t believe that the abundantly Caucasian and overwhelmingly liberal journalist class is capable of taking on a target like ACORN, no matter how apparent the criminality might be.

In the end, though, it doesn?t matter. The work of Giles and O?Keefe highlights the diminishing relevance of the establishment media. Despite the story getting no coverage on broadcast TV or in any major newspaper, it propagated online, then to talk radio and Fox News. And before any ?mainstream? media outlet covered it, the political pressure grew to the point that the Census Bureau cut all ties to ACORN, and U.S. Senate voted by the overwhelming margin of 83-7 to cut off the group?s federal funding.

Even after these events, a vast majority of the media ignored the story. And yet the public kept getting the truth, which only made the media appear to be in the business of hiding news rather than reporting it. Realizing that this is not a winning business model for an ailing industry, a few of the more independent-minded reporters started covering the story, and now the White House Press Secretary is busy deflecting questions about the president?s former colleagues and fellow community organizers at ACORN. Despite the media?s best efforts.

James O?Keefe and Hannah Giles represent another massive power-shift in the age of Internet media. The first occurred when the Drudge Report broke Monica Lewinsky?s affair with President Clinton, a story that Newsweek got first but declined to run. The second was when CBS News got hoodwinked by documents that purported to impugn President Bush. After bloggers exposed them as forgeries, the documents ended up tarnishing CBS News instead. Long-time anchor Dan Rather was forced to retire in disgrace.

This is another huge embarrassment for Big Media?not so much because they look foolish, but because they?re beginning to look irrelevant.
 

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
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Originally posted by: Bowfinger
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Can we all just get along?
You bet ... as soon as we start seeing real conservatives with the integrity to make honest, well-reasoned, and relevant arguments and with the backbone to rebuke the nutter propaganda attacks. Until then, you're undermining the foundation of American representative democracy, something many of us take personally.

Having lost family members who dared to speak out against "socialist" totalitarianism I can assure you I have a vested personal as well as intellectual interest in maintaining Constitutional guarantees of free speech.

I don't feel I have any obligation to rebuke anyone's speech and I don't know why you feel you should. While I may make light of fallacious arguments and willful ignorance of fact, there is plenty from all sides to choose from.

Undermining representative democracy??? I did not think my pithy comments were that important to you. Your feeble attempts to suppress others' opinions itself calls for a vigorous defense of representative democracy.

If nothing else, your commentary is certainly an example that everyone has a right to free speech, no matter how "nutter."
 

Bowfinger

Lifer
Nov 17, 2002
15,776
392
126
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Currently there are cultural bias difficulties in pursuing investigation and maybe prosecution of organizations like ACORN.

Here is one commentary that covers it fairly accurately ...
Except it doesn't. It's just more self-serving tripe from the wing-nut echo chamber. The main reason there hasn't been the saturation coverage the Beck faithful want is because it's not really that big of a story. It's great propaganda, but it's not front-page news.
 

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
4,822
0
0
Originally posted by: Bowfinger
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Currently there are cultural bias difficulties in pursuing investigation and maybe prosecution of organizations like ACORN.

Here is one commentary that covers it fairly accurately ...
Except it doesn't. It's just more self-serving tripe from the wing-nut echo chamber. The main reason there hasn't been the saturation coverage the Beck faithful want is because it's not really that big of a story. It's great propaganda, but it's not front-page news.

The ant sees a pebble and calls it a boulder. As a grasshopper you are obviously a giant among ants.
 

Bowfinger

Lifer
Nov 17, 2002
15,776
392
126
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Originally posted by: Bowfinger
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Can we all just get along?
You bet ... as soon as we start seeing real conservatives with the integrity to make honest, well-reasoned, and relevant arguments and with the backbone to rebuke the nutter propaganda attacks. Until then, you're undermining the foundation of American representative democracy, something many of us take personally.
Having lost family members who dared to speak out against "socialist" totalitarianism I can assure you I have a vested personal as well as intellectual interest in maintaining Constitutional guarantees of free speech.

I don't feel I have any obligation to rebuke anyone's speech and I don't know why you feel you should. While I may make light of fallacious arguments and willful ignorance of fact, there is plenty from all sides to choose from.

Undermining representative democracy??? I did not think my pithy comments were that important to you. Your feeble attempts to suppress others' opinions itself calls for a vigorous defense of representative democracy.

If nothing else, your commentary is certainly an example that everyone has a right to free speech, no matter how "nutter."
You need to give your over-inflated ego a rest. My use of "you" was collective, not personal. The RNC's increasing reliance on fear-mongering and dishonest propaganda attack campaigns is a cancer on democracy, a cynical exploitation of the fact that most Americans are poorly-informed and easily manipulated. It shows a repugnant party-before-country, we will win at any cost immorality. There is nothing wrong with winning on the issues. There is everything wrong with lying and cheating one's way into power.
 

Bowfinger

Lifer
Nov 17, 2002
15,776
392
126
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Originally posted by: Bowfinger
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Currently there are cultural bias difficulties in pursuing investigation and maybe prosecution of organizations like ACORN.

Here is one commentary that covers it fairly accurately ...
Except it doesn't. It's just more self-serving tripe from the wing-nut echo chamber. The main reason there hasn't been the saturation coverage the Beck faithful want is because it's not really that big of a story. It's great propaganda, but it's not front-page news.
The ant sees a pebble and calls it a boulder. As a grasshopper you are obviously a giant among ants.
ROFL. One of the persistent themes of your diverse personae here is whining about others' ad hominem attacks while freely engaging in them yourself.
 

DealMonkey

Lifer
Nov 25, 2001
13,136
1
0
Originally posted by: PJABBER
I have my pet theory.

Political correctness has been slowly rotting the establishment media to its core, to the point where few professional journalists would dare launch a serious investigation into the exalted Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. Why? Simple: according to the tenets of political correctness, the racial makeup of the communities being ?organized? automatically confers the presumption of moral superiority upon ACORN. So all those nasty rumors about ACORN must be no more than lies spread by racist propagandists.

What a total cop-out. If that were the case, we wouldn't have a far higher proportion of black men and women in our prison system than white.

I?d bet my life savings that the reporting would be quite different than what happened in Kanye?s case. Sure, he was roundly criticized in the media, but we?re in an age when hidden motivations are attributed to every interracial interaction, so it?s interesting that few dared to discuss a racial angle to the Kanye West/Taylor Swift confrontation.

Using the Kanye incident as supporting evidence? Puh-lease. He was roundly kicked in the nuts by everyone on the planet for what he did, he apologized profusely, and clearly has some sort of problem with alcohol. But excuse me, what should Kanye's punishment have been? Why would anyone automatically assume there was a racist component to what he did?

James O?Keefe and Hannah Giles represent another massive power-shift in the age of Internet media. The first occurred when the Drudge Report broke Monica Lewinsky?s affair with President Clinton, a story that Newsweek got first but declined to run. The second was when CBS News got hoodwinked by documents that purported to impugn President Bush. After bloggers exposed them as forgeries, the documents ended up tarnishing CBS News instead. Long-time anchor Dan Rather was forced to retire in disgrace.

And finally, how is this even remotely news? Bloggers and more nimble sources of news have been out-dancing the big networks and big papers for a looonnng time now. This is a great observation ... only about a decade late. And by the way, if you distrust the big, bad, liberal MSM so much, but automatically put your faith without question in two self-described "conservative activists," you obviously have your own issues with bias.

"Why go after ACORN?" Giles asked. "Because I love America, I love God, and corrupt institutions don't help that."

http://bit.ly/8t12t

Sure, that seems like a good reason to do what you do. And bonus! No liberal MSM bias! :confused:
 

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
4,822
0
0
Originally posted by: Bowfinger
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Originally posted by: Bowfinger
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Can we all just get along?
You bet ... as soon as we start seeing real conservatives with the integrity to make honest, well-reasoned, and relevant arguments and with the backbone to rebuke the nutter propaganda attacks. Until then, you're undermining the foundation of American representative democracy, something many of us take personally.
Having lost family members who dared to speak out against "socialist" totalitarianism I can assure you I have a vested personal as well as intellectual interest in maintaining Constitutional guarantees of free speech.

I don't feel I have any obligation to rebuke anyone's speech and I don't know why you feel you should. While I may make light of fallacious arguments and willful ignorance of fact, there is plenty from all sides to choose from.

Undermining representative democracy??? I did not think my pithy comments were that important to you. Your feeble attempts to suppress others' opinions itself calls for a vigorous defense of representative democracy.

If nothing else, your commentary is certainly an example that everyone has a right to free speech, no matter how "nutter."
You need to give your over-inflated ego a rest. My use of "you" was collective, not personal. The RNC's increasing reliance on fear-mongering and dishonest propaganda attack campaigns is a cancer on democracy, a cynical exploitation of the fact that most Americans are poorly-informed and easily manipulated. It shows a repugnant party-before-country, we will win at any cost immorality. There is nothing wrong with winning on the issues. There is everything wrong with lying and cheating one's way into power.

I am not of the "collective." I also do not belong to any political party, though the commentary being made on this forum and the actions of the One Party government is driving me, like many independents, toward voting against the Democrats, not "for" the Republicans the next time around.

I get it, you are a Democrat Party hack. You don't have repeat it ad infinitum with this "my Party is better is than yours," crap. I pretty much tune it out as I do all of the other polarizing nonsense that is spewed in the pursuit of entrenching personal power.

What you and your fellow travelers don't get is that the voting population is entitled to change their minds every couple of years and vote you bums out if you don't deliver something a damn sight better that the other guy.

So far, I have not seen anything delivered but a rush toward "collectivism" and a surge to suppress the voices of opposition. So, I am going to vote to throw you out. And I plan on urging and encouraging all of my friends to do the same - because I am a Constitutionally protected loudmouth and getting better at it every day. :laugh: