FAIR CONFERENCE: DAY 2 PHOTOS

It was a full docket of guests today as well. We spoke with former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo, Roger Hedgecock, Minuteman Chris Simcox, Mayor of Hazleton, PA Lou Barletta, and the head of Talkers Magazine, Michael Harrington. Also joining us were current congressmen Dana Rohrabacher of California, Ted Poe of Texas, and John Carter from my district. All extremely gracious.

Barrack and Roger Hedgecock...



Barrack and Michael Harrington (THE man to know in talk radio)...



During Lynn's interview with Tom Tancredo, Lynn mentioned that as he and I walked the streets of D.C. that "Barrack pointed out that buildings like the FTC, Dept of the Interior, etc. were all money pits and a waste of taxpayer money." Tancredo's response: "Barrack is right." Needless to say, I will be pulling that clip and incorporating it into my show intro.

Barrack and Tom Tancredo...

ACORN DEFENSE: REVERSE STING

This is quite the defense, indeed. As James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles posed as a pimp and prostitute respectively, they recorded their conversation with an employee of the San Bernardino, CA ACORN office named Tresa Kaelke.

During that conversation, Kaelke (among other things) admitted that she shot her husband dead. The SAN BERNARDINO SUN now reports that the head of ACORN in California (not the San Bernardino office) is saying the joke is on O'Keefe and Giles because Kaelke knew what they were doing and was just playing along. No, seriously.

California ACORN head organizer Amy Schur said the video is a gross misrepresentation of what actually happened.

"In this video, there are two actors who come into our office and who were messing with us. And our employee was messing with them," Schur said.

Yes, this is the argument put forward not by the head of a local ACORN office or regional office but the head of ACORN in California. Do you find yourself wondering if this group is having difficulty getting the word out to all of its officials to shut their mouths? Making this defense even weaker is what O'Keefe and Giles encountered at ACORN offices 3000 miles away from the one in San Bernardino.

It gets better though. The San Bernardino Sun reports that Tresa Kaelke is now willing to sign an affidavit stating that she had the upper hand in the exchange:

Schur said that Kaelke will sign an affidavit stating that she was not seriously entertaining the idea of cooperating with an apparent attempt to establish a house of prostitution.

Even if we're to believe a defense a child would scoff at, why wouldn't Kaelke send the couple away or call the cops instead of putting hereself in a position of having to sign an affidavit?

That's a level of stupid that will be difficult to beat.

h/t to HOT AIR

SQUIRRELS IN ACORN FINDING LESS NUTS

In the wake of all of the somewhat less-than-flattering videos surfacing in the undercover videos in the Baltimore, D.C., Brooklyn, and San Bernardino ACORN offices, the sources of funding for the organization are drying up.

On Friday, we learned that the Census Bureau is SEVERING TIES and then on Monday, the Senate voted by a margin of 83-7 to block Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from issuing grants to ACORN.

A wide margin, yes, but how on earth could 7 senators justify continuing to fund such an organization when multiple offices were caught aiding a would-be pimp and prostitute in the trafficking of 13 year-old girls into this country illegally to work out of a brothel? Seems to run a bit counter to HUD's charter, doesn't it?

Two of the seven senators are from Barack Obama's home state of Illinois - Roland Burris and Dick Durbin. Here is the ENTIRE LIST:
Burris (D-IL)
Casey (D-PA)
Durbin (D-IL)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Leahy (D-VT)
Sanders (I-VT)
Whitehouse (D-RI)

Say, would that be the same Roland Burris who was appointed by the indicted and impeached governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich? Uh, yes. So not only does Obama have extensive ties to ACORN but both senators from his state appear to be willing to martyr their political careers to defend the organization as well.

On Tuesday, as it became clear that an employee at the San Bernardino office was caught on tape admitting to the murder of her husband, 130 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Barack Obama, asking him to terminate ALL Federal funding to ACORN. That leaves 305 Congressmen who did not sign it.

Here is the letter:


2009-09-15_ACORN_Letter_to_President_Obama-1 -

I'm not sure who makes up the list of the 305 yet but today's WALL STREET JOURNAL piece by Jake Sherman seems to provide some indication as to what future talking points for those who will side with ACORN might look like (there is a problem with low level employees but not with management and executive leadership).

The office of Nancy "Speech" Polici didn't return calls for comment and House Whip Steny Hoyer appears rather adept at the art of manufactured naivete.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) told reporters Tuesday the Acorn employees' behavior was "despicable." "If it's broader-spread, I think we need to look very carefully at the assistance that we give," he said.

Note that the employees - who were trained by someone - exhibited despicable behavior but he gives the organization quite a wide berth. I'd say employees who engage in very similar behavior in four offices across the country (including New York and California) would indicate a problem that is a bit systemic.

ACORN is still exhibiting a high degree of gall in the face of all of this.

An Acorn official said the organization is not worried about losing federal funding. Brian Kettenring, the organization's deputy national director, said Acorn received between $2 million and $3 million in federal money last year.

"People are going to have to look at the fact that we got grants because we are so effective at helping people improve their daily lives," Mr. Kettenring said.

Wouldn't you love Mr. Kettenring to explain his view of helping people improve their daily lives? We already know how multiple ex-employees in several ACORN offices interpret the idea.

It would appear that ACORN 8, the group of former ACORN employees-turned-whistleblowers may be receiving some phone calls from other former ACORN employees soon (if they haven't already).

h/t to BIG GOVERNMENT