The House and Senate voted to end funding for ACORN in the wake of a video sting. Now some are asking why the same treatment isn't being given to corrupt defense contractors.
Huffington Post's Ryan Grim noted that attempts to defund ACORN were worded so broadly that it could do the same for defense contractors charged with fraud.
"The amount of money that ACORN has received in the past 20 years altogether is roughly equal to what the taxpayer paid to Halliburton each day during the war in Iraq," Rep. Alan Grayson told Salon's Glenn Greenwald. Halliburton is alleged to have misused millions of dollars in over-charges for food and services in Iraq.
"You see, regardless of what you think of ACORN, it is laudable to stop taxpayer money from going to organizations that commit fraud against the government," Grayson said in a statement. "So as per the bill's text, I'm going to put into the Congressional record a list of organizations who have committed fraud against the government or employs anyone who has."
Thursday, Greenwald targeted Sen. Claire McCaskill who voted to defund ACORN to make his point. "If you're really so angry, why don't you support de-funding those [defense] contractors the way you did with ACORN?" Greenwald asked McCaskill on Twitter.
Jeremy Scahill, author of the award-winning book Blackwater:The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, also chimed in:
Here is a question for those Democratic lawmakers that voted in support of the Defund ACORN Act: How do you justify making this a major league legislative priority while Blackwater continues to be armed and dangerous across the globe on the US government payroll? Where is the Defund Blackwater Act?
For the massacre of Iraqi civilians, five Blackwater guards were arrested and charged with manslaughter. A sixth guard flipped and agreed to testify against the others. Government informants later claimed the company tried to gather up and destroy weapons involved in the slaughter.
The State Department announced last January that it would not be renewing Blackwater’s contract for security services in Iraq when it was set to expire in May, however the Obama administration decided to extend it through Sept. 3, according to The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill.
-- David Edwards
Get these penis envying crooks of our payroll. YES OUR PAYROLL. They are being paid with our tax-dollars. Goddamned droolers in the white house know it and keep right on paying these criminals.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gregory Noel and Paolo Fiora. Paolo Fiora said: Scandal exposer calls on Congress to defund Blackwater: The House and Senate voted to end funding for .. http://bit.ly/2TL3WA #altnews [...]
De-fund Blackwater or whatever it's called, now! ENOUGH!
Join the new & Share - http://blessedunrest.com/video.html.
[...] the babies about two weeks apart , an occurrence so rare that there are only 10 reported cases. Scandal exposer calls on Congress to defund Blackwater – rawstory.com 09/24/2009 The House and Senate voted to end funding for ACORN in the wake of [...]
I'm sure Fox News will be all over this just as they are with Acorn.
Such fair and balanced folks over there at Fox.
This is ridiculous. The difference is that Blackwater performs a service that has kept all those Members of Congress (and thousands of other people) alive on their CODELs, which is to say...uh...that they have done their jobs. ACORN was caught on camera in a scandal. Blackwater's scandal is based entirely on misinformation. Case in point: the picture you used above is not even Blackwater. It is New Orleans SWAT in the streets of New Orleans just after Katrina struck.
I'm sure the government would be glad to stop funding Blackwater, given all the bad publicity about them. But then they'll just start funding "Xe", and say, "see, we stopped funding Blackwater!"
Defund Blackwater? How about arresting, convicting and imprisoning these bastards? These mercenaries are way, way ,way overdue for justice........
Juniper is involved in the wife-swapping and prostitution perks "Christian" Blackwater managers enjoy at their North Carolina HQ! While Blackwater goons have been filmed molesting foreign children, NO ACORN employees committed actual sex trafficking! Hoochie ho Hannah and O'Beef won't show the films of ACORN people calling the police on them. Hoochie and O'Beef edited the other films to leave out ACORN people PUNKING or criticizing them. One savvy, caring ACORN woman tried to meet with Hoochie ALONE for lunch TO RESCUE HER FROM HER ABUSIVE PIMP! Hoochie and O'Beef were egged on in their racist Nazi sex sting by an ADULTEROUS Heritage Foundation media person who was fired from a previous job for using the company credit card for a CALL BOY RING! That media person is probably hitting on both Hoochie and O'Beef. Shame on Juniper for defending Blackwater pedophiles, WIFE-KILLING ADULTERER Erik Prince (of Hell), and genociders.
Why is it our government is only doing the bidding of the elite and not of the people? How is this our government when we can't get protection for the people and they continue to wage wars uning our children as blood sacks to throw at an enemy that did not attack us but that are sitting on oil reserves or have land that we need for pipe lines to cross. The global coorporate elite have a death grip on governments ... they are raping the globe and destroying life. There has to be an uprising against them ... they are after all few in number and are easilly spotted ... they are the ones behind the tinted glass limos and gated comminities. It's coming down to all they have left is military and police power to portect them ...
Mercenaries ain't cub scouts.
Face the ugly truth: Blackwater is doing exactly what they're paid to do.
6Juniper
This is ridiculous. The difference is that Blackwater performs a service that has kept all those Members of Congress (and thousands of other people) alive on their CODELs, which is to say...uh...that they have done their jobs. ACORN was caught on camera in a scandal. Blackwater's scandal is based entirely on misinformation. Case in point: the picture you used above is not even Blackwater. It is New Orleans SWAT in the streets of New Orleans just after Katrina struck.
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First, blackwater was convicted in killing the 17 innocent Iraqi people in that intersection, just ONE incident they were caught in, I know there are more.
Second, It wasn't swat in New Orleans, they used blackwater. Youtube it. You'll see. It was national guard and blackwater. So yes Blackwater did protect the droolers in the White House, which I think they should have been on their own, but they are costing us lives and I'm sure safety in Iraq. They should go.
To the poster named Juniper:
Your nonsense about the photo being 'not Blackwater' is pretty telling as to the level of your initiation into what is going on around you.
Blackwater was hired in New Orleans, you simian halfwit. They were there, far outnumbering the actual police and FEMA UNITS.
The image, then, is not erroneous, your ability to discern context is erroneous, and thus, you are a crime against reason.
Your punishment is that no one reading these comments is any better off than you are. You are still food to the machine you claim to both love, and loathe.
Make no mistake, you are all being EATEN. Feet first, or head first, you are choosing.
Racist sting?
Oh. I forgot. The term "racist" now is devoid of meaning, and just means "Bad!"
The same with "Nazi".
My brother served in Iraq and he HATED the Blackwater people. He never shared why but I guess we know now.
The Iraqi people hated Blackwater contractors so bad they were given a nickname, the Blond Gorillas. Is this really the impression we want to spread around the world? Blond Gorillas!
[...] Raw Story covered this story and they include an interesting statistic form Salon (linked below) The amount of money that ACORN has received in the past 20 years altogether is roughly equal to what the taxpayer paid to Halliburton each day during the war in Iraq,” Rep. Alan Grayson told Salon’s Glenn Greenwald. [...]
The guilty 9/11 Liars DEMAND to keep their Xe bodyguards ~
Yo, Juniper;
Yes, that is a photo from katrina, in New Orleans. But, yes, they deployed blackwater mercenaries there. Why defend blackwater, for gods sakes? Many of their top soldiers are not from the USA. It´s a mercenary group, meaning that as long as we can ensure that the 3rd world is desperate, we can lure them to do our battles for us paid for by the US tax payer. If a Colombian blackwater mercenary dies in combat, it wont make the death toll, or at least wont ever be mentioned in the press here. They are not members of the US military, therefore do not have to follow military code, and cannot be judged by a military court. Like the French foreign legion, they take the poorest, most un-educated, and many times people in prison looking at a life sentence, and send them to civilian populations far away from home, in cultures they cannot understand, arm them to the teeth, and then look away. And all for tons and tons of $$$$$ for themselves. Ever hear of Eric Prince?
Lay off the Juniper juice, dude....
First of all, the right wing trash has been after ACORN for years. ACORN helps poor people and registers them to vote. The people they usually register usually vote Democratic which drives them completely insane (as if they need any help with this).
I live in New Orleans and after Katrina it wasn't right wing trash helping people clean up their property and get their lives back together is was ACORN and they were doing it for free.
The two sleazebags that made these supposed "expose videos" failed to mention one very important fact. Yes, ACORN employees they showed did not react properly to their idiotic requests but THERE WERE 12 OTHER ACORN OFFICES THAT THREW THEM OUT WHEN THE APPROACHED THEM WITH THIS NONSENSE.
The democrats fell for the the right wing trash hysteria without doing any more research into what really happened.
The Democrats need to get their heads back on straight and stop falling for this type of nonsense.
The right wing trash may be loud and obnoxious but they are almost NEVER truly right.
"The Iraqi people hated Blackwater contractors so bad they were given a nickname, the Blond Gorillas. Is this really the impression we want to spread around the world? Blond Gorillas!"
The Iraqi people are racist!
Juniper is like a dog that runs into your yard and takes a dump. Then the dog and it's master leave, happy to know they left their shit in your yard for you to clean up.
I suggest we all quit commenting on how bad the dog's shit smells. Throw it away - it's just shit. Next time, chase him off if he tries to come back into your yard.
And remember, it isn't the dog's fault for taking a dump, that's what dogs do. It's the fault of the dog's owner, who leads him there, lets him dump and then walks away, happy with the mess he left for someone else.
Juniper sounds like just another garden-variety GOP child-molester to me.
I'd love to meet him alone sometime, somewhere.
I'd really like to talk to him... alone.
I think this is a fine law and should be enforced vigorously. It's amazing that it took minority voter registration to bring the subject up, but you bet we should ban companies that defraud the US! Get banning!
juniper my God have you no decency?
The misinformation is killing is good and helping people is bad!
Wait let me re-phase: Helping blacks,hispanics,white disenfranchised
is Bad.
Killing Muslims via blackwater/erik prince rite-wing Christian Taliban
idiot is okay in the name of Jesus n Halliburton!
Moron boy blackwater was in the aftermath of Kartrina/Rita depriving
the Second Amendment Rights of Americans as in taking away firearms
under the orders of the bush crime family!
All I can say to the foolish is: There will be a gay / disabled / atheist / woman
President just to piss off your bigoted dumbasses!
Our democracy has as much authority as we allow, if we allow none, it has none!
Same with these federal reserve notes, it only has a much value as we place on it, if we assign no value on it, it has none.
The fatal flaws in the structural components of our political institution enables the fatal flaws in our political economy to continue with the primary business of government; corruption.
the global economy goes up in smoke, choke, choke, while Rome Burns.
Its the only the oil industry con game in town. Record breaking profits indeed!
Harry Lord-Your comment is awaiting moderation?
Other than that typo "the"extra the, thought it was moderate?
May be the No Website?
Thanks for the comment post
I'm shocked, SHOCKED to hear that Democratic politicians rush to curry favor from Fox News and right-wing propagandists, while shielding mercenaries like Xe (Blackwater.
Shocked I say!
Everybody heard the one about an president promising "change" that wants to now bailout the Zionist newspapers (at a time a majority of us now see through their propaganda) that endorsed his trillion dollar bailouts of the Zionist bankers of Wall Street? That supports his continuance of the Zionist desired occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and his criminal demonization of Iran? That frames his sellout , corporate written and endorsed "healthcare proposal" as "reform?"
It's a HOOT, I tell ya....you can guess the punchline....no? Look in the mirror, the jokes on US!
I think that a mercenary army is a good idea. Eric Prince resigned and maybe he is a fanatical catholic. But he said that even though he views himself as a Christian Crusader, his organization is not limited to the Christian faith. And now he resigned from his position.
Anyone from any faith can go and learn from Blackwater. Its not just arms, you can go and learn how to act in an unfamiliar environment and other things. I think a lot of wrong intended people might get involved in the company. But you can also have people of good will doing the right thing in there too. That's just how business is. And if the right people step up to the plate then that's a good thing.
Non-Violence is a joke. Just take for example, everyone is told that Ghandis non-violence movement gave India their independence. But if you look into the details closely, you'll see that many Indians in the British army were being smuggled to the Nazi Army. The Nazi army were giving Indians huge rewards for switching sides and there were thousands of people being smuggled. That's why Britian gave India their independence. Not because of some so called non-violence movement.