RealTown's RealTalk

Tom,
Obama has been a supporter of ACORN, thru funding.
Who else has supported ACORN?

Robin Short
Weichert, Realtors
licensed in Virginia

According to their website:

"To maintain independence, ACORN does not accept government funding and is
not tax exempt. "

Merv.

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is a
community-based organization that advocates for low- and moderate-income
families by working on neighborhood safety, health care and other social
issues. ACORN has over 350,000 members and more than 850 neighborhood
chapters in over 100 cities across the United States, as well as in
Argentina, Canada, Mexico, and Peru. ACORN was founded in 1970 by Wade
Rathke and Gary Delgado.[1] Maude Hurd has been National President of ACORN
since 1990.

ACORN's priorities have included: better housing and wages for the poor,
more community development investment from banks and governments, and better
public schools.[2] ACORN pursues these goals through demonstration,
negotiation, legislation, and voter participation.[3]

ACORN is made up of several legally distinct parts including local
non-profits, a national lobbying organization and the ACORN Housing
Corporation.[4] ACORN says it is non-partisan though it is often aligned
with the Democratic Party on policy.[4] This political alignment and some of
the causes it advocates have made ACORN the subject of partisan
conflict.[5][4] Some of ACORN's voter registration programs have been
investigated for fraud.[6]

>From Wikipedia

---

Of course, we can find voter registration fraud in both parties, and one
party in particular especially with regard to purges of the voting roles...
but in truth this sounds like a nice legitimate Community building
organization... you all keep acting like this is some sort of disease or
something... just a group that advocates for the poor... very few groups do
that, since there is little money in it... raising money for this
organization, as Obama did, is completely in keeping with his long history
of community organizing... big deal... another lobbying group... McCain has
his lobbyist advisors, and Obama his... what is the point?

I would rather have a lobbyist who works hard for disadvantaged or
disenfranchised people than one who lobbies on behalf of those with already
too much clout.

That's just because I have some compassion for my fellow humans, rich or
poor.

Perhaps that is a problem for some, but it should not be for any good
Christian, Jew, or yes, even Muslim. We all agree that helping the poor is
good... and that is what this group does. Sometimes, things that are good
for a group do not work out as planned, or as hoped. But certainly we cannot
blame this group for working successfully to assist their own
constituency... is not that their purpose... it would be like blaming oil
company lobbyists for successfully influencing legislation that helps oil
companies... anyone know anyone who did that?

At least we should be consistent... if we say we are Christians or Jews, and
feel strongly about that, then we should not immediately contradict that by
going out doing the opposite.

Never the less, the rancor about ACORN is simply unfounded... someone should
understand what they are criticizing before they go ahead and criticize
it... at least that is my view... and that is what I try to do...

Paul Silver
Focus Professionals, Inc.

Paul - Thank you for your intelligent and thoughful contributions to the RealTalk conversations.  It's refreshing!

Paul,
Bless you, for your posting regarding ACORN. I've been wanting say something about it, but was afraid I'd get too carried away and be too insulting. You said it perfectly.

I have never been involved with ACORN, but support their efforts and ideals 110%.
They advocate for the people that have no voice, no clout, and that are often mistreated.
They tried to get more people to register to vote, explain where to go, and help many of them get there. But that was just one facet of all the other stuff they do. (And battling racism is still an on-going thing in Houston...  )  We've had areas in our community where owners paid full city and county taxes but had NO public water&sewer... I don't actually know if ACORN was involved in that one, but it is the type of thing they do.

I've been wanted to write a post defending ACORN, due to my disgust at several posters that seem to comdemn it with such surprising acrimony & vehemence. They feel threatened? by a group of do-gooders?

And then one poster asked if you are an ACLU attorney.... another organization that does great works, but is often castigated for a few unpopular cases. (Stone the attorneys for representing someone... jeez.)

When I hear people denigrating ACORN and/or ACLU, I put those people in a "special" category (a not very nice one). Of course, ACORN and ACLU have both had their problems, but no worse than our own police dept., our fire dept., our city council, our universities, our judges, etc.; always in the news for some bad things they've done.
ACORN & ACLU are not perfect, but damn, they try.
Perhaps they both need some bright college kid to give them some good PR representation.

Lindy in Houston

It's nice to know where you stand Paul Silver.

"Never the less, the rancor about ACORN is simply unfounded... someone should
understand what they are criticizing before they go ahead and criticize
it... at least that is my view... and that is what I try to do..."
 

It's nice to know where you stand Paul.  Unfortunately you are ignorant of the hidden agenda of ACORN.  But it's nice to know you have a generous heart for the impoverished of America.  The road to a hellish economy is paved with good intentions.  ACORN is a community of political organizers that are interested in socializing our economy.  I'd say they've done a pretty good job of organizing this mess we are in, wouldn't you agree?  ACORN is an extension of the War on Poverty.  It's outfits like ACORN that keep the survivors where they belong.  This is why boneheaded ideas such as "minimum wage" is the maximum pay corporations are obligated to pay.  ACORN is an arm of political appointees who pander to the needs of the poor because the poor can't find representation without ACCORN.  That's the hidden agenda of the Democratic Party.  They want all of us to believe we can't survive without their affiliated programs.  ACORN is the nonviolent form of the 60s revolutionaries.  They just learned how to manipulate the system politically.  The road to hell is paved with good intentions.  I appreciate your heart but you are totally ignorant of the facts my friend.

Neal said:
RE: ACORN. Perhaps this last post was intended for me, others or all of us. I was merely repeating what I had heard on the the news and had not made any criticism of this organization. That being said it seems peculiar an organization is being investigated by close to a dozen states for voter fraud. As a far as my time and efforts in charitable efforts. I have donated hundreds if not thousands of hours to several REALTOR� associations, city and county organizations doing mediations, lectures, speeches, training etc. My wife is involved in animal rescue and Alzheimers Association (her mother suffers from this dread disease). Additionally, we donate a portion of each real estate transaction closed to various organizations. So to be brutally honest, I don't need to be lectured by anyone in this forum about efforts to assist the less fortunate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lindy writes:
Huh?
Who lectured you? me? Paul?
Neal, you should know better than most that there are often barbs in any heated discussion, and I'm surprised you took it personally.
I went thru the thread, trying to figure out which posting lectured you specifically, and can only guess it was mine.  If so I apologize, as I was not singling you out, but en masse.

I find VERY few do anything philanthropically. Giving to their churches is about all many do.

When I was once collecting for contributions at CB, for a FunRun, to benefit the Eye Bank, and  to get our company name on the backs of the T-shirts, etc. I was encouraging people to come run or walk in the FunRun, but if they didn't want to, at least contribute to get our name on these T-shirts (the event was very close to our office, in one of the Villages) The richest agents were the most difficult. Fact. (It was only $5 or $10.)

In an office of 60 very comfortable agents, how many adopted a child... ? 1 besides me.

I have so many "Causes", it is impossible to spread myself that thin. My sister once said to choose 2 or 3 "causes" and let the rest go.
I tried that. Can't do it, can't turn my back. 
I have this overabundance of empathy. Some people have NONE.

Lindy in Houston
no spellcheck, not proofed..

Dear All,

Regardless of how many charitable things you do, the conversation on ACORN here has not helped me to understand the organization It is amazing how much emotion there is in the air these days. (I hope that we all give back to our communities.)

A few months ago, I was searching the internet for resources for homeowners faced with pre-foreclosure. One of the sites that I found was ACORN Housing. Here are my notes:

It sounded very nice to me. I prefer to recommend credit counseling that is not affiliated with any lending institution, as lenders have often counseled customers to take out loans that are too burdensome for their income levels. So I was astounded to hear on CNN that ACORN is suspected of voter registration fraud.

I am surprised at the vehemence expresssed against this organization and the need for political types to distance themselves from this organization.

For now, I guess I should not recommend that anyone contact ACORN.

What do you guys recommend for credit counseling?