In the matter of ACORN, and other things:

Evidence continues to accumulate from far and wide that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is lousy with corruption. The latest revelations come from Louisiana and Oklahoma. In the former, the local ACORN Housing Corp. office received contracts worth a combined $625,000 from the City of New Orleans for repairing existing low-income housing and developing new units in poor neighborhoods. The contracts were paid for with funds from federal Community Development Block Grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. An investigation by the Pelican Institute think tank of New Orleans, however, found that no work was actually performed to fulfill the contracts…

…Meanwhile, in Oklahoma City, documents found in a recently vacated ACORN office included a detailed memo titled “Power Plan” for a five-year effort to elect supportive legislators and transform Oklahoma to a progressive state “in the way it was 100 years ago.” The man in charge of the office left town without paying back rent or utility bills, according to OklahmaWatchdog.org. Also found in the documents was a script for a Houston ACORN-directed recruiting campaign for “hiring Outreach Workers to remind people to get out and vote for Barack Obama in the upcoming election.” As a tax-exempt nonprofit, ACORN is barred from participating in partisan election activities…

A Congress which had any respect for law; any sense of morality; any understanding that they government only with our consent would be on this issue with furious resolution. But, of course, our Congress is mostly silent on it – likely because they know that very large numbers of prominent Democrats and associated leftists are hip deep in ACORN. Start a real investigation, and a lot of people are going to go to jail…and it will be very hard to find a Republican or a conservative among the guilty (though I’m sure the Democrats, if pressed to it, would dig up at least one…so they can call it a “bi-partisan” scandal).

What we have to watch out for are Democrat attempts to white wash the issue – cut off some funding, hold a couple friendly hearings, throw one or two ACORN-ites to the wolves and call the issue solved. But ACORN is just the tip of the iceberg – this sort of corruption we’ve seen is endemic on the Democrat side of the aisle. Corrupted by money – and now by money and power – the Democrat left has succumbed to an amorality in government not seen since “robber barons” bought and sold legislators in the 19th century.

We have to really hammer this stuff – because until we do, Democrat rank-and-file people will just continue to put up with it. To this point, no Democrat has ever been forced to resign due to corruption, in and of itself. All the few resignations which have happened have all been the result of party bigwigs forcing out a man who might lose an election…as long as your seat isn’t at risk, Democrats simply will not call you to account. Contrast this with how fast we bounced Foley once it was discovered he had written some dirty e mails. Neither side is innocent: but only one side has been held to account.

For the sake of our country – and, even, for the sake of the Democrat party – we need to hold the left responsible for the rampant corruption. This Congress won’t do it – perhaps the next one will.

Mark Steyn states:

..After pleading guilty, the non-non-rape-rapist skipped to Paris and took up with Nastassja Kinski, who was then 15, which in Polanski years puts her up there with Barbara Bush…

Remember what Polanski did: he drugged and raped a 13 year old girl in his home. I don’t know about you, but 13 year old girls don’t just show up at my house – and I’ll bet they don’t just show up at Polanski’s, either. He had to go get the girl, or have her brought to him. He had to have on hand, prior to the girl arriving, the supply of drugs necessary to incapacitate her. And then he raped her. Doesn’t this strike everyone as precisely the way all the other child molesters out there operate? Plan it out, grab the victim, do the deed.

I don’t have proof on the Kinski story, but Steyn is very reliable in his assertions, so I have no particular reason to doubt it. And it fits a pattern – Polanski’s apparent pattern taking off after young girls. It has been my understanding, as I’ve watched the parade of perverts over the past few decades, that the child molesters don’t do it just once, unless they are fortuitously captured right after the first event. Most of the time, there is a long trail of violated children – and all too often a trail lengthened when the criminals are let out: even after jail time, they simply aren’t deterred from going where their inhuman lusts lead them. Are we, with this experience, to assume that Polanski only did it this one time?

It stretches credibility to think so. It would have been different if, at one of the orgies of depravity current in Hollywood in the 70’s, Polanski had just happened to wind up in bed with a young girl. It still would have been horrific, but it wouldn’t have been pre-meditated…it wouldn’t have been an indication that Polanski has a serious problem with identifying what sort of people he’s supposed to have sexual attraction for. Polanski did this after careful planning – and then fled the country rather than face the music. Since then, he’s been protected by various government authorities against being returned to the United States. Is that all they protected him from?

It is known these days that rich men go on “sexual tourism” – trips to places where they can obtain a wide variety of sexual experiences…including sex with children, if they are so inclined. We can use the Polanski case to open up a full investigation in to this – first to see if Polanski was doing anything of the sort, secondly to expose the whole, nauseating practice and bring the “customers” in the ranks of the rich to justice. Some times, an accident exposes a long-standing injustice – Polanski’s arrest is just that, and we must press the matter.

Pajamas TV has the story on video here.

By using legislative sleight of hand – attaching the Senate’s Obamacare bill to an entirely un-related House bill as an amendment. As usual, trying to prevent the American people from actually reading the bill before it comes to a vote.

Why are they doing it this way? In order to get Obamacare through (placate the kook left base) while maintaining electoral viability (“I didn’t vote in favor of Obamacare, I just voted on a procedural issue.”).

The Democrats ran on this in 2006 – and turn about might be very fair play for the GOP in 2010:

For nearly two years, economic issues have held the top spot in terms of importance among voters

But the latest national telephone survey shows that 83% now view government ethics and corruption as very important, placing it just ahead of the economy on a list of 10 key electoral issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports. Eighty-two percent (82%) of voters see the economy as very important.

Back in 2006, the Democrats were being absurd – while there was corruption in the GOP, it was nothing compared to the Democrats’ corruption while they were the minority party. As Matt and I detailed in Caucus of Corruption, Democrats make corruption par for the course in their actions – this is different from the GOP which just has the more normal run of moral failures common to any group of human beings. One example from Caucus will suffice: Nancy Pelosi was fined early on in her political career for failure to report an in-kind donation – the fine was far less than the benefit received. Lesson learned: its ok to cheat, because the benefit outweighs the cost…and thus it was perfectly natural for Nancy to break campaign finance laws to purchase House Democrat support for her elevation to then-Minority Leader. This means, of course, that we have Speaker Pelosi because she illegally bribed members of her own party for her position…and there’s not a Democrat out there who will even mention this fact.

Because Democrats use corruption as a matter of course, it stands to reason that once in power, they’d just go even more wild with it than they did as the “out” party. And so they have – with people like Jack Murtha, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Charlie Rangel and many others breaking laws faster than people can count. And now its looming as an issue – likely because of Breibart’s expose’ of ACORN. For the past few years, ACORN and the Democrats have been identified in the public mind – especially with ACORN-in-Chief sitting in the Oval Office (when he’s not busy begging foreigners for favors in Copenhagen). The nauseating stew has been made, and now the Democrats are going to have to eat it.

As an aside, this will only work well, in the long run, for the American people if we GOPers become pretty darn good in such matters – and thus people like John Ensign (a man I’ve voted for three times) should step down…as should any other GOPer out there under such a serious moral cloud for actions while in office. Perfection is not possible, but we can certainly be better – and just being a bit better than the Democrats is too low a bar.

Another Friday passes, another set of banks fail:

Regulators have shut Warren Bank in Warren, Mich., and two small banks in Colorado and Minnesota, boosting the number of failed U.S. banks this year to 98 as loan defaults rise in the worst financial climate in decades.

What will it be by the end of the year? 120? 130? Back in 2007, it was 3 for the whole year.

Yep, plenty of green shoots out there…

Isn’t working out too well – from an NRO reader:

There’s actually something worrisome about this whole Chicago fiasco, and it goes back to President Obama’s inexperience. Diplomacy 101 tells us that your head of state only shows up on the high-profile stage when a deal is complete. The lesson that most politicians learn well before they gain positions of power is that diplomacy is done by diplomats, professionals who work through all the negotiations and the hardball tactics and the carrot/stick combinations. The principals in the matter gather to discuss high-level topics and to smile for the cameras as the agreement is being signed. Heads of state do not conduct diplomacy, they ratify it, and surprises are entirely unwelcome at those summits and signing events…

I could not have said be better, myself – the failure in Copenhagen is bad enough, but the worst aspect of it is the clear fact that Obama hadn’t done any advance work on it. He was counting on his prestige as The One to carry it off. Is Obama also counting on this to untie the knots vis a vis Iran? If he is, we’re in for a bad time.

From Mish’s:

…Hey Mish,

I always found it humorous when you posted people’s dealing with their mortgage lender, hence my personal submission.

We applied for Fannie Mae’s mortgage modification program only to be denied during the probation period for paying too early. Evidently, paying your mortgage one day early signifies an “over willingness” to pay (i.e. keep current) and from FNM’s perspective. That means you can afford the original payment.

Here was my response:

“Look man, I’m on my second layoff in 2 1/2 years and my wife’s company is hanging by a thread so I think I’ll stop paying you now. For the next 6-12 months I’ll save what would normally be spent on carrying/maintaining our underwater mortgage, while you run through the process of foreclosing.

My loan’s non-recourse so no worries there. And we’ll have no problem renting a home just as nice for 1/3 the cost. The way I see it, I need incentives to stay.”

And that’s where I left it.

…Once someone decides to stop paying, the loan may be irrecoverable no matter what incentives the lender offers down the road. On the other hand, if the lender offers new terms to anyone who asks, everyone will ask. Either way the lender loses. Moreover, the lender may not easily be able to figure out which option is worse.

There are millions of people out there in the same situation and unless the banks start sweetening the loan modification deal, those millions will simply walk away. This, in turn, would drop housing prices even more, which would encourage ever more people to walk. The only solution: “cram down”. This is where the mortgage amount would be reduced to fair market value – a huge hit for banks and homeowners, but the only surefire way to keep people in their homes, and their homes off the market.

Feeling a bit down? Wondering if we’ll ever get back on track? As JPII once said, “be not afraid”:

Fear not, my people!

Remember, Israel,

You were sold to the nations

not for your destruction;

It was because you angered God

that you were handed over to your foes.

For you provoked your Maker

with sacrifices to demons, to no-gods;

You forsook the Eternal God who nourished you,

and you grieved Jerusalem who fostered you.

She indeed saw coming upon you

the anger of God; and she said:

“Hear, you neighbors of Zion!

God has brought great mourning upon me,

For I have seen the captivity

that the Eternal God has brought

upon my sons and daughters.

With joy I fostered them;

but with mourning and lament I let them go.

Let no one gloat over me, a widow,

bereft of many:

For the sins of my children I am left desolate,

because they turned from the law of God.

Fear not, my children; call out to God!

He who brought this upon you will remember you.

As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God,

turn now ten times the more to seek him;

For he who has brought disaster upon you

will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.” – Baruch 4:5-12, 27-29

Have a little faith; this, too, shall pass.

Its like someone is slipping stupid pills in to the DC water supply:

Sen. Thomas Carper (D.-Del.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told CNSNews.com that he does not “expect” to read the actual legislative language of the committee’s health care bill because it is “confusing” and that anyone who claims they are going to read it and understand it is fooling people.

“I don’t expect to actually read the legislative language because reading the legislative language is among the more confusing things I’ve ever read in my life,” Carper told CNSNews.com.

And its on video – its like the 2010 campaign is writing itself…heck, I don’t know: Maybe Rove does have some sort of mind-control device…

Rather interesting comparison between our first socialist President and the USSR’s last:

The comparison between Gorbachev and Obama is apt on few levels. The chief difference is between the U.S. of 2009, and the USSR of 1985; between a huge, decentralized, open economy, and the society it serves; and a much smaller, very centralized, command economy, and the society serving it. These circumstances are not even remotely comparable, and one must be a fool indeed to play with a moral, economic, or ideological “equivalence” between the two old superpowers. Which is not to say such fools aren’t numerous…

…On the other hand, some interesting comparisons could be made between the thuggish party machine of Chicago, which raised Obama as its golden boy; and the thuggish party machine of Moscow, which presented Gorbachev as it’s most attractive face.

Both men have been praised for their wonderful temperaments, and their ability to remain unperturbed by approaching catastrophe. But again, the substance is different, for Gorbachev’s temperament was that of a survivor of many previous catastrophes.

Yet they do have one major thing in common, and that is the belief that, regardless of what the ruler does, the polity he rules must necessarily continue. This is perhaps the most essential, if seldom acknowledged, insight of the post-modern “liberal” mind: that if you take the pillars away, the roof will continue to hover in the air.

Being that the author is Canadian, he ends by pointing out that America’s preeminent power is passing away. This is a common sentiment among foreigners – mostly because foreigners, by and large, don’t understand the United States. When they visit, they hang out in New York or Los Angeles, and thus don’t understand what really makes for American strength. With that caveat, the comparison does work – out of touch socialists who think they are reforming when they are actually destroying.

Gorbachev was reforming by attempting to let a little liberty in to the prison; Obama is attempting to reform by putting us all a bit more behind bars – but both men attempt the same thing: to hold people down while giving the people enough freedom to allow the leaders to claim success and cut an impressive figure on the world stage. Gorbachev has, I think, over the years come to realize what he did wrong – Obama has yet to wake up to the massive error he is making.

The United States can and will survive whatever disasters Obama presides over – we might not survive two or three Obama-style Administrations in a row, but we can survive this one (and the way things are going, we’ll only have this one to deal with). But this doesn’t mean that we’ll get off easy – heck no. Obama’s policies will have to be paid for – in blood and treasure, just as Gorbachev’s policies were paid for by the Chechens, the Georgians and other people who emerged wracked by war in the downfall of the USSR.