Another day, another faux outrage with the wing-nuts . . .

I'm not going to waste a whole lot of valuable blog space and time rummaging through the sordid details of the conservative ACORN "stings" that have recently occurred.

Suffice to say I find it highly interesting that right-wingers have focused their child-like rage on a long-established community organizing (dirty words to conservatives) group that prior to last fall's election was hardly ever talked about or heard about (they've been in existence for nearly 40 years) in the mainstream media.

What's most interesting (yup - here it comes) is that in 2007 and 2008 ACORN made a very public and coordinated national effort to register as many low-income and minority voters (uppity negroes and beaners!) as possible in preparation for a major get out the vote effort for the 2008 Presidential election. Keep in mind this voter outreach program started long before anyone knew who the eventual nominees would be. So - combined with the fact that the Democratic nominee turned out to be a liberal, highly educated (uppity) half-black (negro) man -- it seems a little more than obvious to this interested observer why the conservatives have shown such a sudden and intense interest in an organization such as ACORN and pretty much explains why they've ramped up their big-lie media machine to smear them in any way possible.

Has ACORN had some cases of internal malfeasance by their low-paid workers when it comes to voter registration. Yes they have, just as conservative voter outreach orgs have. However, in every single case with ACORN the national organization has reported such transgressions to the proper authorities, local law enforcement investigations were performed and the offenders were dismissed and/or held legally accountable.

One thing to remember -- and the dim-bulb conservatives are blithely ignorant of this fact -- voter registration fraud does not equate to actual voting fraud. I swear, there have been times where I've tried to explain this very simple distinction to conservative acquaintances, and the only response I get is glazed-over eyes, and head-shaking denials.

Basically, what voter registration fraud means is that some not too bright wise guys, in an attempt to satisfy their registration quotas, stupidly or lazily filled out and submitted phony registration forms with names like Mickey Mouse, Jack Daniels, Marie Callender, Jose Cuervo, etc., etc. However, it would actually require someone showing up on voting day at a voting precinct and actually attempting to cast a ballot based on the name/address of the faked registration for it to legally qualify as voter fraud (a serious felony). Duh!

To date there have been no prosecutions of ACORN staffers for that kind of actual voting fraud - none, nada, zero, zilch (regardless of what Hannity, Beck, Limpballs and FOX have told you to believe). Factcheck.org did some in-depth analysis of the ACORN charges after John McCain and Sarah Palin accused ACORN of "massive voter fraud" in the run-up to last November's election. Read it if you care to know the truth, ignore it if you choose to propagate your own ignorance on the subject.

So, if my conservative friends truly insist on playing this game with me of who has been officially and legally prosecuted the past couple of years for actual voter fraud (a rare occurrence by Dems or Repubs btw) please just let me know. I've got some interesting links you can read about of actual cases and, lo and behold, they have nothing to do with ACORN's voter outreach efforts. I'll reiterate -- I challenge anyone to show me a single documented case where ACORN was charged with, prosecuted and convicted of actual voter fraud. E-mail me your sourced links. I await with breathless anticipation.

Lastly -- let's take a close look who's pimping these stories the hardest -- yep-- that's right -- it's our good friends and journalistic super heroes at FOX Noize. And of course we all know that the gallant and honorable defenders of truth, justice and The American Way at FOX Noize would never, ever just make shit up, put it on the airwaves and claim that it's true ---- would they?





----k