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ACORNs own strategic consultant "outs" them with what really happens - and other news
I started taking notes on the news in the morning from Fox. Here are the CliffsNotes version of Monday morning's two hours of America's Newsroom in the order the stories were reported. This is not a transcript, it's just shorthand notes taken -- some verbatim quotes, some summarizing, simply to inform you of what's happening. Sorry I don't have time to make it pretty or super clear, but I think you'll be able to figure it out.
5/11/09 America's Newsroom Notes
MK – Megyn Kelly, Hemm = Bill Hemmer WH = White House
1. Tax revenues down 30%. Stu Varney - 260B into the coffers versus 400B last year (140B total loss) Plus in April, government shelled out an extra 38B. Deficit this year was forecast in January at 1.8T but more like 2T. You'd expect trimming in government – not so – instead quietly announced plans for big tax increases. Extra 200B from big business (learned last week). Over the weekend another 60B to come from estates and corporations. So no real trimming of spending. Just a quiet announcement of big tax increases. This shortfall in revenues was a lot bigger than expected. Jan 15 it was down 15%, April it was down 30%. (Updated #s, see #6 below)
2. Health Care Reform - Insurers, hospitals, doctors and drug makers are pledging to create 2T in savings over the next decade. How? They're trying to show they can cut their own costs. They don't want the white house health care plan crammed down their throats.
3. ACORN – NV and PA criminal charges for fraud. 14 states total. Anita Moncrief (AM), former Acorn employee (black, liberal, strategic consultant for Acorn, grad of Univ of Alabama). She said Acorn goes after its own members. Uses the poor and marginalized communities to build their coffers by causing chaos in the voter registration offices and to drive people out to the polls by saying the GOP is trying to take away their rights and trying to keep black ppl from voting. Acorn gets 28 to 30 million a year in their voter registration drives. Then the government gives them $.
MK – Do you believe there were quotas for employees that led to fraud?
AM – Yes, definitely since at least the 2004 election cycle. Training manuals say if they don't get 20 cards to fire them before the next shift so they don't waste $ paying them.
MK – Scott Levinson, the national spokesman for Acorn denies this quota exists.
AM – That's an "outright lie"
MK – What are they after?
AM – Power, not powerful communities, a powerful organization. Lobby for Acorn to get $.
MK – It's supposed to be nonpartisan.
AM – Umbrella organizations under Acorn are nonprofits. So the "nonpartisan" entities get the government $. 501C3 are nonpartisan. 501C4 are allowed to do certain aspects of political activity. C3 affiliates are Project Vote and Acorn Institute and are C3s (nonpartisan). So they solicit the $ from the C3s and Acorn uses the $ to run their partisan agenda which is always Democrat. Acorn is a C4 and uses other entities (C3) to funnel $ into Acorn.
MK – It is said that NY Times is actively working to cover up bad press that's come out on Acorn.
AM – That's true. I worked with reporter Stephanie Strom for several months in 2008. AM felt she watered down the article regarding the Acorn embezzlement scandal. Also a story that Acorn got their donor list from the Obama campaign, from DNC, Kerry and Clinton campaigns. They were operating as an unofficial arm of the Democratic party and the NY Times didn't want the truth out. Strom was on her way to get evidence in DC and her editors told her to stand down. AM feels everyone at the top level needs to be removed. The offices do good work, but the natl level has become corrupt and almost like a cancer on American Society.
4. Michael McCaul (R TX) is a ranking member of the Homeland Security Comm. We need $ to fund incarceration of illegal immigrants picked up on criminal charges. OAdmin announced it wants to cut 400M from that budget, so millions of illegal criminals could be back on street.
5. Dick Morris – OAdmin intervening in unions. Calif asked to cut wages of workers and tax everyone higher to offset deficit, but SEIU (service workers' union) told the WH and BHO threatened to remove 6.8B in stimulus $ to Calif, said "restore union pay or lose 6B. Chrysler bankruptcy has nothing to do with saving the car company or jobs of workers, it is it save the union who the workers pay dues to. There are 408K ppl well paid who work for non union car companies who could take those jobs. Car czar Ratner involved in pay to play with Richardson of New Mex. Richardson had 1.7B fund to fix highway and needed help underwriting, so gave Ratner's firm a contract for one tenth of 1% of the total amount. Ratner gave him a campaign contribution of 20K. Also Ratner and team he put together implicated in NY scandal where the controller was forced out. Unions are BHO's core constituents. BHO is not saving jobs, he's saving unions. He comes from Illinois and Michigan is a key element.
6. Hemmer – Breaking news, #s higher than 45 minutes ago (#1 story above). Prez says revised figures show deepening crises. Government borrows .50 cents for every 1$ this year. Deficit for current year will rise by 89B. We thought 1.7T, now it's 1.8T – 4X record set a year ago. WH sees no job growth until 2010.
Stu Varney – higher interest rates to bring in lenders. We are going to borrow on average 160B every month from here on out.
7. MK – 17B "cuts" enrages Dems (their pork may be cut).
8. SEIU/BHO threatens to take almost 7B from Calif because Calif cut 74M on local level. Brian Bilray R Calif says they are not helping, it is about power, control, political payback to union supporters. Governors, legislators are pupils of central government and expendable. Things will be dictated from capital. There is no one who's lived in DC who wants their home town run the way DC is.
I started taking notes on the news in the morning from Fox. Here are the CliffsNotes version of Monday morning's two hours of America's Newsroom in the order the stories were reported. This is not a transcript, it's just shorthand notes taken -- some verbatim quotes, some summarizing, simply to inform you of what's happening. Sorry I don't have time to make it pretty or super clear, but I think you'll be able to figure it out.
5/11/09 America's Newsroom Notes
MK – Megyn Kelly, Hemm = Bill Hemmer WH = White House
1. Tax revenues down 30%. Stu Varney - 260B into the coffers versus 400B last year (140B total loss) Plus in April, government shelled out an extra 38B. Deficit this year was forecast in January at 1.8T but more like 2T. You'd expect trimming in government – not so – instead quietly announced plans for big tax increases. Extra 200B from big business (learned last week). Over the weekend another 60B to come from estates and corporations. So no real trimming of spending. Just a quiet announcement of big tax increases. This shortfall in revenues was a lot bigger than expected. Jan 15 it was down 15%, April it was down 30%. (Updated #s, see #6 below)
2. Health Care Reform - Insurers, hospitals, doctors and drug makers are pledging to create 2T in savings over the next decade. How? They're trying to show they can cut their own costs. They don't want the white house health care plan crammed down their throats.
3. ACORN – NV and PA criminal charges for fraud. 14 states total. Anita Moncrief (AM), former Acorn employee (black, liberal, strategic consultant for Acorn, grad of Univ of Alabama). She said Acorn goes after its own members. Uses the poor and marginalized communities to build their coffers by causing chaos in the voter registration offices and to drive people out to the polls by saying the GOP is trying to take away their rights and trying to keep black ppl from voting. Acorn gets 28 to 30 million a year in their voter registration drives. Then the government gives them $.
MK – Do you believe there were quotas for employees that led to fraud?
AM – Yes, definitely since at least the 2004 election cycle. Training manuals say if they don't get 20 cards to fire them before the next shift so they don't waste $ paying them.
MK – Scott Levinson, the national spokesman for Acorn denies this quota exists.
AM – That's an "outright lie"
MK – What are they after?
AM – Power, not powerful communities, a powerful organization. Lobby for Acorn to get $.
MK – It's supposed to be nonpartisan.
AM – Umbrella organizations under Acorn are nonprofits. So the "nonpartisan" entities get the government $. 501C3 are nonpartisan. 501C4 are allowed to do certain aspects of political activity. C3 affiliates are Project Vote and Acorn Institute and are C3s (nonpartisan). So they solicit the $ from the C3s and Acorn uses the $ to run their partisan agenda which is always Democrat. Acorn is a C4 and uses other entities (C3) to funnel $ into Acorn.
MK – It is said that NY Times is actively working to cover up bad press that's come out on Acorn.
AM – That's true. I worked with reporter Stephanie Strom for several months in 2008. AM felt she watered down the article regarding the Acorn embezzlement scandal. Also a story that Acorn got their donor list from the Obama campaign, from DNC, Kerry and Clinton campaigns. They were operating as an unofficial arm of the Democratic party and the NY Times didn't want the truth out. Strom was on her way to get evidence in DC and her editors told her to stand down. AM feels everyone at the top level needs to be removed. The offices do good work, but the natl level has become corrupt and almost like a cancer on American Society.
4. Michael McCaul (R TX) is a ranking member of the Homeland Security Comm. We need $ to fund incarceration of illegal immigrants picked up on criminal charges. OAdmin announced it wants to cut 400M from that budget, so millions of illegal criminals could be back on street.
5. Dick Morris – OAdmin intervening in unions. Calif asked to cut wages of workers and tax everyone higher to offset deficit, but SEIU (service workers' union) told the WH and BHO threatened to remove 6.8B in stimulus $ to Calif, said "restore union pay or lose 6B. Chrysler bankruptcy has nothing to do with saving the car company or jobs of workers, it is it save the union who the workers pay dues to. There are 408K ppl well paid who work for non union car companies who could take those jobs. Car czar Ratner involved in pay to play with Richardson of New Mex. Richardson had 1.7B fund to fix highway and needed help underwriting, so gave Ratner's firm a contract for one tenth of 1% of the total amount. Ratner gave him a campaign contribution of 20K. Also Ratner and team he put together implicated in NY scandal where the controller was forced out. Unions are BHO's core constituents. BHO is not saving jobs, he's saving unions. He comes from Illinois and Michigan is a key element.
6. Hemmer – Breaking news, #s higher than 45 minutes ago (#1 story above). Prez says revised figures show deepening crises. Government borrows .50 cents for every 1$ this year. Deficit for current year will rise by 89B. We thought 1.7T, now it's 1.8T – 4X record set a year ago. WH sees no job growth until 2010.
Stu Varney – higher interest rates to bring in lenders. We are going to borrow on average 160B every month from here on out.
7. MK – 17B "cuts" enrages Dems (their pork may be cut).
8. SEIU/BHO threatens to take almost 7B from Calif because Calif cut 74M on local level. Brian Bilray R Calif says they are not helping, it is about power, control, political payback to union supporters. Governors, legislators are pupils of central government and expendable. Things will be dictated from capital. There is no one who's lived in DC who wants their home town run the way DC is.
