factbat.com

In a story on the Newsweek website, a writer -- not to be confused with a journalist -- has been conscripted to post misinformation in an article which claims to expose conspiracy theories as mere ramblings of lunatics, disenchanted sensationalists, worry warts and propagandists who randomly engage people in what he delineates as some form of recurring social nightmare.

However, when taking the time to investigate some of the turbid and solicitous claims made by the author, David Graham, one finds that his analogies are so erroneous he could not possibly be anything more than a data diversion tool meant to convince people, albeit not very persuasively, to ignore mountains of circumstantial and primary evidence supported by unequivocal facts.

What then becomes imperative, is understanding why. Readers can likely make that assertion for themselves when presented with the following...

In the fictional storybook ramblings of Graham, he attack’s -- and claims to disprove -- various alleged conspiracy theories, and while this article will only address one of them, factbat.com will be proving all of Graham’s claims to be disingenuous at best, in yet another series of “debunking” articles.

Beginning this series with Graham’s number 7 unfounded conspiracy “ACORN is part of a liberal conspiracy to steal elections,” this article will delve predominantly into the fraudulent activities of Barack Obama and various associates.

Graham’s explanation of the ACORN issue begins by saying “The coalition of community organizations first came under fire after allegations that members were filing fraudulent voter-registration forms in order to beef up the Democratic vote in the 2008 elections. Pressure heated up after a videotape sting humiliated the group.”

However, ACORN has been investigated and indicted for fraud repeatedly over the last two decades, and many times convicted.

Graham then goes on to say that “they have been exposed for questionable conduct at the very least (referring to videos by James O’Keefe), but neither this nor anything else proves a vast left-wing conspiracy between Democrats and ACORN to steal elections.”

However, what other reason would a major organization engage in voter fraud, than to steal an election? Does ACORN simply get its jollies sending people paper with scribbles on it? Because there are plenty of grandchildren out there who have that job covered.

The truth is that ACORN has been involved in voter fraud for decades, and Barack Obama was the organization’s chief attorney for many cases. Obama defended them for charges of voter fraud during several years as a community organizer in Chicago; including a motor voter court case which Barack Obama won for them.

Furthermore, Obama, who claims to have no lasting ties to the organization, has funneled over $800,000 to the coalition. Not to mention his campaign’s close cooperation with ACORN during the 2008 presidential race.

In October of 2008 Drew Griffin did a hit-piece for CNN that exposed ACORN for voter fraud in Lake County IL -- Obama’s back yard -- where they were stealing votes for Democrats.

Facts detailed by Griffin, prove ACORN had submitted over 5,000 fraudulent voter registration cards just before the October 6 deadline. Initially over half of them were easily recognized as fakes since all of the handwriting was identical. Out of 5,000 cards, over 2,100 were quickly red flagged. However, as local voting official Ruthann Hoagland began to actually call the phone numbers -- all disconnected -- or check the names and addresses against the voter rolls, she discovered that not just half of them were fraudulent, all of them were.

Many of the cards were registered to deceased persons or the address was listed for a local business named for the individual on the form. In one case where Griffin hunted down the location on a voter card registered to one Jimmy John, he found that the address led him to a small fast food joint called, you guessed it, “Jimmy John’s.” Just to be thorough Griffin entered the establishment and confirmed there was no Jimmy John residing there.

ACORN alleges that they are an advocate for those who do not feel they have a voice (like dead people?) and that they are merely endeavoring to register the disenfranchised and low income voters who tend to vote Democrat. However, a Las Vegas facility was raided by authorities for fraudulently registering members of the Dallas Cowboys football team.

Remarkably, it is one of ACORN’s chief directors, Brian Moller, who claims to be the victim of a conspiracy. Moller alleges in a video for CNN that “we believe the government’s interest is to attack ACORN and suppress votes. They think that by attacking ACORN they can discourage people who have registered with ACORN from voting.”

However, from 2002 to 2006, arising from excessively suspicious activities and mountains of documented proof, over a dozen states launched investigations into ACORN for voter fraud. And soon after, complaints against them exploded nationwide.

CNN, attempting to reach the head of the organization, called their headquarters in Gary Indiana. However, when calls went unanswered, CNN traveled to the location, only to find it abandoned. Griffin was then told by ACORN’s director that the headquarters was actually in Milwaukee. But CNN would only run into another dead end as they found that location vacant as well.

When contacted, ACORN’s attorney in Boston told CNN that “allegations his organization has committed fraud is the governments attempt to keep the disenfranchised from voting.” Once again the real conspiracy theorists appear to be on Graham’s short list of compatriots as he attempts to convince people they are legitimate entities.

Barack Obama has attempted to distance himself from the organization since some scathing media coverage of their tactics and criminality surfaced. However, despite its past Obama has given large sums of money to the organization in order to fund its primary voter registration drives. But what else would a spurious career politician with a questionable track record do for a criminal organization endorsing him for president.

Deepak Bhargava, long time director of ACORN and close associate of Obama’s, lobbied for ACORN to force the Clinton Administration to toughen the Community Reinvestment Act. ACORN and Obama then sued banks to force bad loans. Much of the sub-prime debacle found its inception with this and other ham-fisted moves by Obama and the Democratic Black Caucus.

At a major rally in 2008, organized by Bhargava, Obama claimed to a predominantly ACORN crowd that they would be consulted significantly and given the opportunity to shape various policies of his administration.

So, in other words, ACORN and friends, who are responsible for voting fraud and much of the sub-prime crisis, are likely now shaping policy for the Obama Presidency. That explains a lot.

Not only was Barack Obama -- prior to his election as an IL legislator -- legal counsel to ACORN, he was also their chief trainer at annual conferences. Having established themselves as the most corrupt voter registration organization in American history, it is extremely suspect, and rather unsettling, that Obama would have such close relations with them.

James Terry, the chief public advocate for the consumer rights league, testified in Sept of 2008 during an oversight hearing that “ACORN routinely say’s it will clean up its act. Yet, given its decade-long history of voter fraud, embezzlement, and misuses of taxpayer funds, ACORN’s pattern of fraud can no longer be dismissed as a series of unfortunate events.”

The president and founder of the organization’s brother -- who was the chief financial officer embezzled over $1,000,000 in 1996. ACORN did not report it to the authorities, nor did they even tell their own board of directors. They allowed him to remain in his capacity until the scandal broke, and then he was quickly fired.

ACORN and its associates have been convicted of voter fraud in St. Louis, Kansas City, Seattle and several other states. In 2008, 37 of their employees were investigated for fraudulent practices in Wisconsin, and employees in Pennsylvania were under indictment for perjury. They were also caught registering a 14 year old boy in North Carolina.

Election board director in Kansas City, Ray James, said of ACORN “they basically raped our voter registration rolls in a very irresponsible and abusive way." Of the 35,000 voter cards the organization delivered from its “get out the vote” campaign, James characterized about 85 percent of them as trash. They were littered with fictitious names and forged signatures not matching the election lists.

According to KOAT 7 News, a drug bust in New Mexico turned into something more when officers found the people in the house, employees of ACORN, in possession of actual bona fide registration forms that were never turned in, and were not those of the drug addicts in the house. So essentially, some people were going to get to the voting polls and not be allowed to vote. The local authorities’ main concern is that someone was stealing these peoples’ vote. Those in possession of the forms claimed they were working to collect them for ACORN.

One of the worst recent voter scandals happened in Washington state where voter registration forms for 1800 people were submitted by ACORN. These were fraudulent claims and those who submitted them admitted they had sat in the local library and either invented the names out of thin air, or looked in the phone directories for ideas. One of the workers even admitted that he would just sit at home making up names and smoking marijuana. This group actually threatened to sue if election officials did not accept their registration forms.

The problem is that only 6 of the 1800 people on the forms actually existed.

ACORN is a massive organization with over 150 subsidiary’s and in early 2008 had a $110 million budget. They have had tens of thousands of fraudulent voter cards discovered, with millions actually being submitted. However, citizens will be upset to find that most of their activities are financed by tax dollars.

This is the organization that David Graham and Newsweek appear to have absolutely no problem with, and regardless of the fact that ACORN clearly exhibits the behaviors of an organized crime syndicate entirely capable of conspiring to swing elections, the quickly depreciating Newsweek writer pool claims they are merely misunderstood.