What’s worse – fake pimps or real sexual assault?
Last week, Fox News zombi… er, viewers were treated to an apparent expose of workers at ACORN giving advice and assistance to conservative activists claiming to be a pimp and prostitute. Of course, Fox took liberties with the facts, claiming the pair was never kicked out of the ACORN offices they visited (they were, police reports were filed, too) and pushing an allegation that one of the ACORN workers killed her husband (she didn’t).
Beck, Hannity, Fox and Friends, and the usual cast of conservatives immediately started the drum-beat to strip federal funding for ACORN, and right on cue, Congress approved a measure to deny federal funding to the group. Of course, Wisconsin’s resident right-wing bloviators jumped on the chance to score cheap political points ‘ Sen. Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield, but wishes it were Texas) and Rep. Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha) demanded state agencies report about any state contracts with ACORN. Then this morning, the Wisconsin State Journal skewered US Rep. Tammy Baldwin for voting against the bill to de-fund ACORN. They cite ACORN’s IRS problems and the alleged voter registration fraud (which doesn’t matter ‘cause Mickey Mouse doesn’t vote!!) as reasons why the organization should be stripped of its paltry $53 million in federal funding since 1994 ‘ that’s a whopping $3.5 million a year.
Sigh.
What about $5.73 billion? — that’s 1449 times as much, just fyi — That’s how much Halliburton and its subsidiary KBR took from US taxpayers from 2003-2006 for reconstruction in Iraq. Yet when it was revealed that a contractor for KBR in Iraq was gang raped by her co-workers in Iraq, did the Wisconsin State Journal or Fox News or Glenn Beck or conservatives leaders fall all over themselves to stop the taxpayer-financed gravy train to Halliburton? No.
What about $5.73 billion? — that’s 1449 times as much, just fyi — That’s how much Halliburton and its subsidiary KBR took from US taxpayers from 2003-2006 for reconstruction in Iraq. Yet when it was revealed that a contractor for KBR in Iraq was gang raped by her co-workers in Iraq, did the Wisconsin State Journal or Fox News or Glenn Beck or conservatives leaders fall all over themselves to stop the taxpayer-financed gravy train to Halliburton? No.
When literally pallets full of cash totaling $9 billion of taxpayer dollars for private contractors went ‘missing’ in Iraq, did Halliburton become ‘too risky for taxpayer dollars,’ as the State Journal described ACORN? No.
When US troops were getting electrocuted by the shoddy electrical work done by KBR in Iraq, where was Glenn Beck’s frothing call for the scalps of Halliburton executives? Nowhere.
When US Sens. Carl Levin and Byron Dorgan released a GAO report in 2004 that revealed Halliburton had 17 subsidiary companies in tax haven countries, did Fox News lead the charge in demanding an investigation and Congressional action? Once again, no.
Where was the outrage when real crimes were being committed on the taxpayers dime? Fake pimps don’t rape or put our troops in danger or flat-out steal from the taxpayers, Halliburton does. But fake pimps that entrap ACORN workers validate the years-long jihad the right has been waging against ACORN, so that’s what makes news. Pathetic.