Joe Wilson and Acorn

Joe Wilson's outburst against President Obama was disrespectful at best and indefensible at worst. It is more evidence that the culture in our country continues its march to the coarse and base. Okay, I'm old-fashioned, but I feel that regardless of party affiliation, no one should approve Mr. wilson's behavior toward the President. However, his fit of pique delighted his supporters so much they sent him $1 million for his campaign fund. It's been said that the state he represents, South Carolina, is "too small to be a country and too big to be an insane asylum.(*)"

Former president Jimmy Carter has waded into this controversy shooting from the hip as usual. Nobody invited his comments but that didn't stop him. Apparently he was able to read Mr. Wilson's mind and found that Mr. Wilson's remark was inspired by racism. Wilson's son gives a much more favorable view of his father's attitude toward race.



But, thank you, Mr. Carter for pouring gasoline on the fire and giving the demagogues more ammunition. His statement also helps to perpetuate the myth that all white people and only white people are racists. I think Mr. Carter is still trying to somehow make up for his disasterous presidency. This is not the best way.



To his credit, Mr. Wilson apologized saying, in effect, that stress caused him to lose control of his emotions. Really? The only member of Congress under stress?





I'll admit I don't know if Mr. Obama's health plan bill is good. bad or somewhere in between. To really be knowledgable, one would have to read the entire massive document. With all the usual fraud associated with any government program, earmarks and other special interest considerations it contains, the bill might be found to not be about health care at all! It might just be about shoveling money out of the treasury willy nilly. That would be a good joke, wouldn't it?




I understand that ridding Medicare of fraud and waste is supposed to help pay for the new program. My questions are: Why has that not been done already? If the goverment has known all along that fraud and waste are in the program, why has that been allowed to continue?

What do you think?

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You may know by now that a man and a woman, pretending to be interested in establishing a brothel, went to the Brooklyn ACORN office for help. A hidden camera recorded the interview and revealed that the workers were more than happy to oblige. They took them thru the process and also advised the pretenders how they could avoid paying income taxes on their brothel business. Is this the first time supported ACORN workers have advised someone how to circumvent laws and avoid taxes? ACORN's president says this episode does not represent the org's activities and purpose and that the staff members involved have been terminated. She says Fox news was behind the scam for the Republican party. Does that imply that what the ACORN staff members did would be OK otherwise?

This is not the first or most notorious scandal involving ACORN. Go to "Scandals at ACORN" on the internet to see how your tax dollars are loosely handed out. There are too many incidents to list here. Nevertheless, they continue to operate with impunity. Could it be that it is to the advantage of one political party?

It's interesting to note that this organization, with offices around the nation, has recieved millions of taxpayer money. The White House spokesman said he "assumed" that how such monies were spent was monitored by the federal agencies that granted them. Baloney. This is pork barrel money. ACORN claims to work for the empowerment of the poor, for immigrants and low to medium income working families of blacks and Latinos. And they get out the vote. For whom, they don't say. But, it doesn't take a genius IQ to figure it out. One only has to see which members of Congress support and protect ACORN. Start with Barney Frank.

Of course, working for the benefit of the poor, etc., for their voting rights, decent housing and health care is a worthwhile cause. I certainly don't resent public monies being spent on helping the helpless and disenfranchised if it is done properly and honestly.


Jesus' deep concern for the poor is very clear in the scriptures and some might see his purposes as being aligned with such orgs as ACORN. However, before that truly happens, ACORN will have to adjust their methods, tactics and agenda to be at a much higher moral and spiritual level. Their current mottos seems to be "The end justifies the means." and "It's none of your business how we spend your money." They don't cut it.
The GOP is trying to cut off funding to ACORN.



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(*) Kathleen Parker's column