So the whole ACORN pimp scandal is not going away.  For those not paying attention, two people posing as a pimp and his whore have been seeking tax advice from ACORN all across the nation.  It began in Baltimore, then DC, then New York and on to two locations in Southern California.

Dressed to validate every b movie stereotype, and making their story more and more outrageous (the pimp is going to run for office, and they are importing underage sex slaves from El Salvador) the pair still was never refused.  ACORN workers advised them to hide the ill gotten gains in a coffee can in the backyard, schooled the pimp on deniability and even found a way to make the sex slaves dependents for tax purposes.

Congress had removed their funding for now, the Census Bureau and the IRS have cut all ties but many congressman still defend them…if they even admit to having heard of the scandal in the first place.

The most absurd thing has been the lawsuit filed by ACORN for defamation against the pair.  Apparently exposing you as the slimes you are based solely on your own words, on video, counts as defamation.

It started with the AP deciding to run with a photo despite being asked not to by the family:

Shame on the selfish Associated Press. Shame.

Via Politico, AP defies common decency for the Greater Good (hat tip – Blackfive):

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is objecting “in the strongest terms” to an Associated Press decision to transmit a photograph showing a mortally wounded 21-year-old Marine in his final moments of life, calling the decision “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.”

The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked – in an interview and in a follow-up phone call — that the image, taken by an embedded photographer, not be published.

The AP reported in a story that it decided to make the image public anyway because it “conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it.”

…

I love this guy, just for having the brass to say this:

Perry fires up anti-tax crowd

I have to pause and note that the editor slanted the headlinew by calling these rallys “anti Tax” when they are more than that, they are anto waste. anto stupid spending, and most importantly pro responsiblity.

Not that it surpises me.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax “tea party” Wednesday with his stance against the federal government and for states’ rights as some in his U.S. flag-waving audience shouted, “Secede!”

An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall — one of three tea parties he was attending across the state — that officials in Washington have abandoned the country’s founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and debt.

Perry repeated his running theme that Texas’ economy is in relatively good shape compared with other states and with the “federal budget mess.” Many in the crowd held signs deriding President Barack Obama and the $786 billion federal economic stimulus package.

I make no effort to hide the fact that I loath Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s Hardball.  The man is a political hack who pretends to be tough.  He has been so far in the tank for Obama it is pathetic.  And his open hostility and utter lack of objectivity of Bush is frankly the embodiment of BDS.

But not only that, like many other pundits, he is just plain rude.  He will invite a guest on, and then hammer them with accusations and bullying tactics, while refusing to allow them to answer his loaded question.

So when he has on Ari Fleischer who is defending the positives of the Bush ;legacy, it was sure to be an ugly show.  Matthews is at his worst behavior, rude, accusing, misrepresenting, flat out lying and utterly nauseating.

And in the the face of his bloviating, Ari was calm, cool, collected and utterly in control.  It was a truly amazing performance as Fleischer parried every attack and accusation, chided his host for his rudeness to the chuckles of the crew (around 8 minutes into it) and never really lost his composure, even as he loses patience about 4 minutes in.

CNN provides this clip of their poster child for mortgage reform.

On the surface she seems sincere and sympathetic, but the more you watch the more questions this raises.

To start, why are they in foreclosure?

Yes, I get that her property equity is upside down, but that does not affect the loan payment.

So why are they behind?  Was she laid off?  I could support that.  Was her husband?   Same. 

Granted, even she admits that they bought more than they can afford, but without explaining why they are in foreclosure, this appears to be a couple whining that there house is upside down value wise.

And that addresses the people I am the least sympathetic to:  People, and she is made to seem this way in the video, whose only problem is that their investment is not working out so well.

The CNN article milks the heart strings.  She will lose everything…the house is at risk.

Everything is there but the simple raw facts as to why.  This is journalistic malpractice.

Imagine, if you will, sitting down to your morning coffee, turning on your home computer to see the day’s newspaper. Well, it’s not as far-fetched as it may seem.”

Hat Tip Hot Air

To me personally, the inauguration glut is just par for the course.  But even in my overt cynicism, it seems that Obama has really gone over the top in lavish extravagance.

And now, even though I first mentioned this days ago, it is starting to make national headlines:

Obama hosting pricey party in a dicey economy

Unemployment is up. The stock market is down. Let’s party.

The price tag for President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration gala is expected to break records, with some estimates reaching as high as $150 million.

Lately the estimates range from 170-250 million.

Despite the bleak economy, however, Democrats who called on President George W. Bush to be frugal four years ago are issuing no such demands now that an inaugural weekend of rock concerts and star-studded parties has begun.

Obama’s inaugural committee has raised more than $41 million to cover events ranging from a Philadelphia-to-Washington train ride to a megastar concert with Beyonce, U2 and Bruce Springsteen to 10 official inaugural balls. Add to that the massive costs of security and transportation — costs absorbed by U.S. taxpayers — and the historic inauguration will produce an equally historic bill.

If the previous blog did not show the truth of the NY Times editorial board’s complete lack of objectivity, here are a few follow on links.

First, consider they are publishing a book basking in his accomplishments, which is actually the least of their bias, as every liberal on earth is trying to do the same. 

(Far be it for me to accuse them of cashing in on the Obama money train….)

No, they show it by granting Bill Ayers editorial space for his lame and weak denials of any wrong doing in the terrorist attacks by his organization.

Feeling the need to rebut the lies, an FBI agent who had infiltrated the group penned a rebuttal Op Ed, only to have it, unsurprisingly, rejected.

Yes, allow a criminal terrorist to lie on your editorial page, but deny a law enforcement agent to speak of his actual crimes.

There you see the true bias of the Grey Lady.  So far in the tank for Obama and liberalism that they own the tank.

At lunch today, several coworkers and I were discussing the present crisis, and a couple of us had noted that for us, at least locally in Seattle, there doesn’t seem to be a huge impact.

Now, this is hardly anything substantive, being very anecdotal and narrow in scope, but I have seen other indicators that the problems seem to be limited in scope.

But not to hear the media, who continue to portray this is a depression in the wings.

It is undeniable that many people are feeling it, but at the same time, how much is a direct result and how much is a responsive result?

One friend today noted that many recreational sports were seeing impact, but I wondered, is that because people cannot afford to go do it, or because people concerned about their money are choosing to save their money and not do them?

In other words, are we reacting to the threat of a downturn and creating one in our caution.

It comes as no shock to learn that there is now a belief that the media is behind this created panic:

Last week, AP writer Seth Borenstein penned a story on Global Warming entitled “Obama left with little time to curb global warming“.  The story was an extremely over the top alarmist piece that Hot Air call a global-warming wet kiss (my vote for the coolest quip of the year).

For the record, our below-zero days usually come in January and February, not December.  It looks as though we will have a second long, cold winter in a row.  That’s what makes this report from the AP so ludicrous:

When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, global warming was a slow-moving environmental problem that was easy to ignore. Now it is a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can’t avoid. …

Mother Nature, of course, is oblivious to the federal government’s machinations. Ironically, 2008 is on pace to be a slightly cooler year in a steadily rising temperature trend line. Experts say it’s thanks to a La Nina weather variation. While skeptics are already using it as evidence of some kind of cooling trend, it actually illustrates how fast the world is warming.