http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/22/whoops-anti-acorn-bill-ro_n_294949.html

Quote :

"Going after ACORN may be like shooting fish in a barrel lately -- but jumpy lawmakers used a bazooka to do it last week and may have blown up some of their longtime allies in the process. The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so broadly that it applies to "any organization" that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a group charged with any of those things. In other words, the bill could plausibly defund the entire military-industrial complex. Whoops. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) picked up on the legislative overreach and asked the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) to sift through its database to find which contractors might be caught in the ACORN net. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Gumman both popped up quickly, with 20 fraud cases between them, and the longer list is a Who's Who of weapons manufacturers and defense contractors. The language was written by the GOP and filed as a "motion to recommit" in the House, where it passed 345-75. It carried the Senate by an 83-7 margin. POGO is reaching out to its members to identify other companies who have engaged in the type of misconduct that would make them ineligible for federal funds. Grayson then intends to file that list in the legislative history that goes along with the bill so that judges can reference it when determining whether a company should be denied federal funds. The Florida freshman is asking for direct assistance. He has set up a Google spreadsheet where people can suggest contractors who have been charged with violations and include a link to a media or government report documenting the alleged transgression. The weapons manufacturers might have a better line of defense in court, however. Immediately after the bill passed, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), a constitutional whiz, noted that the measure appeared to be a "bill of attainder" -- specifically targeting a company or organization or individual -- and is therefore specifically barred by the Constitution. If it's not targeted at one group, then Northrop Grumman is in trouble. Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.) sent a letter to the Congressional Research Service on Tuesday asking it to clarify, among other things, if the Defund ACORN Act is constitutional."

...Oops. I will enjoy seeing the backpedaling going on in Congress once word gets out about how this will affect those lucrative military contracts that companies lobbied Republicans so hard for.

9/22/2009 10:24:02 PM

huffauxington post

9/22/2009 10:46:14 PM

Are you denying the existence of the bill due to liberal bias?

lol.

9/22/2009 10:47:20 PM

nope, just making fun of the source

theres a 20 page fox news thread like 4 threads down, so i'm being fair and balanced

also shutting down funding to companies doesnt mean they wont just swap up some articles of organization and seamlessly make shit happen under a new entity


[Edited on September 22, 2009 at 10:49 PM. Reason : ,]

9/22/2009 10:48:46 PM

9/22/2009 10:50:11 PM

Just to add a few links, here's the POGO stuff:

http://www.contractormisconduct.org/
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/if-congress-attacks-the-mighty-oak-of-contractor-misconduct-it-shouldnt-just-settle-for-an-acorn.html

And here's the link to Rep. Grayson's Google Doc submission page:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dC1WUm40dWk4YnJNQl9sNWR6aHRybnc6MA

9/22/2009 10:53:10 PM

Quote :

"theres a 20 page fox news thread like 4 threads down, so i'm being fair and balanced"

If you want to be "fair and balanced," why don't you post an article that is written from an opposing or neutral viewpoint if you think this article is biased about the issue. That is lot better than providing a worthless quip about Huffington Post.

9/23/2009 12:05:33 AM

Change charged to convicted and I'm on board. The military-industrial complex could use some serious trimming.

9/23/2009 1:13:08 AM

Quote :

"...Oops. I will enjoy seeing the backpedaling going on in Congress once word gets out about how this will affect those lucrative military contracts that companies lobbied Republicans so hard for."

As if the Republicans are the only ones who lobbied so hard for those lucrative military contracts. The Democrats and their union allies are equally in just as deep, and for that reason, they'll probably deep-six this turn of events in the name of defending ACORN, constitutional legality, or some other cover story.

Also, if this language is written as broadly as it is, I think you could probably defund just about any major contractor (not just defense contractor) that does business with the government. With the sheer amount of money and paperwork that moves around at both the state and federal level, I'm sure you could tag just about any firm or individual whose done work that crosses the TINA threshold (~$650k).

9/23/2009 10:04:53 AM

When did democrats move to a position of defending Acorn? Or did you just ASSUME..

9/23/2009 10:11:34 AM

Quote :

"Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.) sent a letter to the Congressional Research Service on Tuesday asking it to clarify, among other things, if the Defund ACORN Act is constitutional.""

While they have their copies of the Constitution out, maybe John & Barney can also show us where the federal gov't has the authority to force us to buy health insurance.

9/23/2009 10:11:47 AM

Quote :

"When did democrats move to a position of defending Acorn? Or did you just ASSUME.."

Oh no, I'm saying that when they realize that their defense contractor or other contractor buddies are under threat, they may use defending ACORN (perhaps saying that they've been bad but should have a chance to clean up their act or something) as an excuse to go back and reverse this proposal.

9/23/2009 12:28:29 PM

I don't understand why Congress or the Federal Reserve, or whoever funds ACORN, can't just say "Sorry, we're not funding you anymore because you do illegal acts." Why do we need a law to do it?

9/23/2009 6:28:43 PM

Quote :

"While they have their copies of the Constitution out, maybe John & Barney can also show us where the federal gov't has the authority to force us to buy health insurance."

No shit.

9/23/2009 6:36:48 PM

hahahahahahahah

9/25/2009 5:22:41 PM

^^^^I'm pretty sure that would be a massive double standard, for all the other companies that break the law and still get funding.

9/25/2009 10:03:33 PM

I always feel like Bobby freakin De Niro in Backdraft when God or nutsmackr post and I've just asked them (donald sutherland's character) what they want to do to the world

9/25/2009 10:17:56 PM

Quote :

"Judge Gershon's opinion is a model of careful and dispassionate judicial reasoning. Rejecting the DOJ's claim that Congress had merely exercised its funding discretion rather than "punished" ACORN, the court wrote: "Wholly apart from the vociferous comments by various members of Congress as to ACORN's criminality and fraud . . . no reasonable observer could suppose that such severe action would have been taken in the absence of a conclusion that misconduct occurred." The court pointed to numerous statements made by Senators, including the bill's primary sponsor (Sen. Johanns), in which they anointed themselves judge and jury to declare ACORN guilty of crimes with which they had not even been charged, let alone convicted. Relying on Lovett -- which held unconstitutional a Congressional act banning specified individuals from government employment based on the unadjudicated finding that they had "subversive beliefs" and "subversive associations" -- Judge Gershon explained that under clear Supreme Court law: "the discretionary nature of government funding does not foreclose a finding that Congress has impermissibly singled out plaintiffs for punishment.""

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/12/12/acorn/index.html

the post is fairly long, so i'll let you click through if interested.

12/12/2009 4:27:11 PM

Military Industrial Complex Triumphs!

12/12/2009 10:41:36 PM

Yep, glad to see Congress can't target individuals or organizations with laws

12/12/2009 11:46:04 PM

ahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaha

12/13/2009 4:37:33 AM

No Homers Club

12/13/2009 11:30:44 AM

two birds

12/14/2009 10:19:48 AM