The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : ACORN Rent-A-Mob Thugs to Harass Lenders in 14 Cities Tuesday

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The Spectacle Blog

ACORN Rent-A-Mob Thugs to Harass Lenders in 14 Cities Tuesday

By Matthew Vadum on 6.29.09 @ 11:05PM

ACORN, which played a starring role in creating the subprime mortgage crisis, plans to add insult to injury by harassing lenders across the nation with protests tomorrow in an effort to coerce them into supporting President Obama's Making Home Affordable foreclosure-avoidance program.

Austin King, director of ACORN Financial Justice, sent out a press release today advising of the demonstrations that are planned as part of its "Homewrecker 4" campaign. The four financial companies targeted are Goldman Sachs, HomEq Servicing, American Home Mortgage, and OneWest. Read the whole document here.

ACORN plans to hit Dallas, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St. Louis, New York City, Wilmington (Del.), Columbus (Ohio), Houston, Little Rock, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, and Seattle.

But let's not forget that ACORN helped to cause the mortgage bubble by strongarming banks into making loans they shouldn't have. And cheering them on was ACORN's lawyer, Barack Obama, who contributed to the increasingly hostile environment for banks when he represented plaintiffs in the 1995 class action lawsuit Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank. The suit demanded that Citibank grant mortgages to an equal percentage of minority and non-minority mortgage applicants. The bank settled the case three years later and reportedly agreed to beef up its lending to unqualified applicants.

ACORN refuses to acknowledge the role that it and the CRA played in the current crisis on Wall Street, and President Obama continues to support stronger enforcement of the disastrous law.

The final paragraph of the press release is unintentionally hilarious:

Because millions of Americans are losing their homes, neighborhoods and the economy are in ruins, and while the "Home Wrecker 4" are taking tax dollars and giving away huge bonuses, they refuse to do even the bare minimum for American homeowners by signing up for the Obama foreclosure plan.

Millions of Americans are losing their homes and neighborhoods and the economy are in ruins because of groups like ACORN that interfere with markets and force banks to do stupid things.

And ACORN too has taken in millions of dollars in taxpayer funding and is utterly unaccountable. The group even covered up a million dollar embezzlement for eight years.

As I've said before, ACORN lies, lies, and then lies so more. No lie is too big or outrageous for the criminal group now charged in Nevada with voter registration fraud.

View all comments (41) | Leave a comment

Joshua| 6.29.09 @ 11:23PM

CRA loans accounted for 0.7% of all defaulted loans during the crisis. It's just a right-wing meme to say that CRA and ACORN had anything to do with the defaulted loans.

oldblue| 6.29.09 @ 11:29PM

cite your source. this is more mis information to a reality of organized crime in the elite class. thugs known for voter fraud in the banana republic!

Bearly| 6.29.09 @ 11:34PM

The American Spectator
About Us
"for young conservatives"
Now I get it.
Thanks.

KevlarKevin| 6.29.09 @ 11:42PM

Joshua is an Axelrod paid troll. I've seen his work before.

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Deborah D| 6.30.09 @ 9:23AM

It's amazing how the trolls and the spam appear whenever Matthew Vadum posts anything about ACORN. Hmmm...apparently you're hitting a nerve, Mr. Vadum. Keep up the good work.

Once again the stupidity in Washington is just so obvious...why are we still doing the same things that caused the mortgage mess in the first place? Oh, because the leftists don't care about money or the taxpayers or the normal Americans who pay their bills ... they just think we're a massive piggy bank for them to rob every which way they can. Economy, what economy? As long as they get theirs, nothing else matters.

Thanks for shining the light in this disgusting dark hole ... I hope we can watch the bugs run every which way soon.

William| 6.30.09 @ 9:27AM

Intreresting which AS articles get buried with troll and spam comments.

The leftists are all Pol Pot, down deep in their malevolent, tyrannical little hearts.

Blondehussy| 6.30.09 @ 9:39AM

Joshua, I am a realtor in the Washington DC area and trust me, the beginning of the mortgage problems were when CONGRESS mandated the lowering of the Banks' underwriting guidelines and this was done with CRA 1997. When banks were told that they had to go along with this or be punished by fines, then they went along with it and then they got GREEDY. But the lowering of the underwriting guidelines contributed greatly to this mess. No one should be allowed to pay 50% of your income to a mortgage payment. By the same token, the people who did this also should have known better.

TC| 6.30.09 @ 9:53AM

I guess I don't quite understand the legality of this. They millions in federal subsidies, and then turn around and schill for the governement? There attached at the hip to a crooked, corrupt president, yet there are no laws apparently to prevent this. All these non profits that receive government money have to remain non - political, but somehow this group is different?

Pete| 6.30.09 @ 10:12AM

Well, with a complicit media, they are allowed to get away with saying they are a "non-partisan" group and are not subjected to real scrutiny. How's that for a joke? It's like the Messiah saying that 95% of Americans won't experience a tax increase - a flat out lie.

Reilly| 6.30.09 @ 10:26AM

This is good. With the incompetent community organizer in the white house throwing the U.S. into a deeper recession, the American public will have little tolerance for a bunch of thugs harrassing banks to make more bad loans. Put these rabble rousers ((who couldn't pass a third grade civics test) and their criminal organization front and center in the spotlight.

Heather| 6.30.09 @ 10:27AM

Joshua,
The problem with CRA was that it precipitated the current crisis. It was the legislation which drove the mortgage industry to governmentalized doom. It was permission for 1. government to be (more) involved in business 2. the government to dictate 'equality' 3. a means by which special interest groups (such as ACORN) could bully banks into turning an industry into a federal subsidy. Hasn't worked out too well, huh? It has long been the goal of socialists and totalitarians to control control control the private sector. CRA was a huge stepping stone. We can flat out blame government for our problems - CRA, Fannie Mae/FM, and everyone including el Presidente who bullied financial institutions into submission. Hitler did it too.

jcoff| 6.30.09 @ 11:14AM

When the economy collapses, and it will, anyone coming to take my stuff will end up DEAD. America is headed for a revolution, but not the one expected. Start stocking up on non-perishable food, water, etc.
I am ready, so bring it on thugboy.

Grzmlyk| 6.30.09 @ 11:43AM

Jcoff:

I hope you are right. Not about the economy collapsing - although that is a certainty.

No, I hope you are right that we're headed for another revolution. Whether the collapse will be a sufficient tipping point, however, is anyone's guess.

I fear that the liberal elites of this country - the fools and the knaves, the members of the mainstream media, the movers and shakers, the cultural icons, the White Guilt-riddled - have already, with great self-satisfaction and a smug self-righteousness worthy of the medieval flagellants, willingly yoked this country to the chains of serfdom.

It would not surprise me if there were legislation in Congress proposing "reparations" to blacks in the form of enslaving all European-descended White Males (those not receiving government paychecks, of course) for 200 years - you know, to make it all even.

We have lost our collective mind in this country. Insanity has us in its twisted grip. The planet has a fever, alright; but it's not Al Gore's Global Warming that's infecting it. No, it is the affluence-caused disease of neo-Marxism in the form of transnationalism, social justice, feminism, environmentalism and every other "cause" propounded by the mad left.

The fact that Obama's "a trillion here, a trillion there" utterly phantasmagorical budget hasn't elicited pervasive howls of derision from all corners shows that there might not be enough sane people left in this country to foment revolution.

But if there is one, I will stand side by side with you come what may.

The irony is rich: In the name of social justice, both society and justice have been expunged, along with the Constitution, from America. We are now all cogs in the machine of state. All Hail the State. Obama is the State. All Hail Obama.

As it has been since the beginning of civilization, this makes the elites very, very happy. There is no better reflected glory to these fools than a good bout of tyranny in the name of "caring."

It is past time for us to reclaim our rights, our individual liberties and our dignity.

John Victor| 6.30.09 @ 12:02PM

Its fine time we take on these bullies. Acorn thugs who would rather loot than prtest i.e. LA. For one who has been asleep through it all has suddenly awaken. As what I am hearing in the masses. As youll see a sweeping crackdown of cheats and thugs who strive on political gain. Those suitless bodies will line the mass graves in the years to come. For the old saying goes you never want to kick a good dog when he is down.

Looner| 6.30.09 @ 12:09PM

Grzmlyk,

Wow, what an articulate summation of my exact thoughts. Is there a network of like minded individuals? I'd like to know who my friends are if the shooting starts.

Grzmlyk| 6.30.09 @ 12:51PM

Hi Looner:

Thank you. I don't know if there is a network - but it's high time we forge a coalition and that the rivulets of individual protesters come together to form a river, and then a torrent, and then a tidal wave.

Obalma's even making it hard to leave the country - a classic totalitarian move. So our backs will soon be against the wall. We need to take this country back.

I know there are organizations out there - Glenn Beck's 9/12 group (not sure exactly what their raison detre is) and some others. And the tea parties will, I think, gain tremendous momentum - particularly if Cap and Trade is passed by the treasonous Senate.

But by all means, the time to band together and pool resources is now.

Pete| 6.30.09 @ 1:00PM

NRA is a good start for like minded individuals.

We're There!| 6.30.09 @ 1:05PM

Hubby called ACORN's Columbus, Ohio headquarters and found that they were going to be rallying in front of the State House at 2 PM. We're there! They tried to get him to identify himself and he wouldn't. Told them it was none of their busines. He called 610 WTVN Radio to let them know and WCMH TV (Channel 4) already knew...they are on the NE corner of the State House...I want to see who they've hired to come out and rally...hahaha

NoStats| 6.30.09 @ 1:14PM

I love when people cite statistics and don't bother to mention a source.

Oldefarte| 6.30.09 @ 1:24PM

This is typical of this EXTORTION POLITICS that groups like Acorn [and Jackson's Rainbow Push] have been playing for years. Jackson would threaten a racial discrimination lawsuit against banks/corporations; the entities would settle out of court to avoid the resultant bad publicity from a lawsuit; and Jackson/Rainbow would laugh all the way to the bank. It is way past time that this excrement ceased, and that groups like Acorn [and individuals like Jackson] be told to GTH and to stay there!!!!

Mike| 6.30.09 @ 2:54PM

I work with FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and have to correct this article's premise that housing groups or the Community Reinvestment Act somehow contributed to the subprime mortgage crisis.

I see some coded racism in this allegation, because on its face, it's not true. The vast majority of defaulted loans were by private companies, not CRA loans. I think there is a rush by my fellow conservatives to pick out a scapegoat, which in this case seems to be the poor, blacks, and Hispanics.

It's convenient, but not the truth.

Grzmlyk| 6.30.09 @ 3:40PM

Mike:

"My fellow conservatives."

Very amusing. You ain't fooling anybody.

I think Pete's right - I may join the NRA. It's a logical rallying ground.

As for Nostats: Everybody knows that 95% of statistics are lies anyway.

Grzmlyk| 6.30.09 @ 3:43PM

By the way, "MIKE,"

Enough with this phony "racism" crap.

The charge of "racism" is no longer kryptonite to conservatives because it is obvious that you LIBERALS are the racists. You view all of life through the prism of race. Just because many whtie people now hold the opinion that black people are the superior race bacause they are somehow "authentic," that doesn't mean it's not racism - it's merely a telltale overcompensation for the primitive tribalism you are trying to expunge from your diseased soul.

We're There!| 6.30.09 @ 3:55PM

Well, my husband and I drove from Plain City, Ohio to downtown Columbus. We arrived around 2 pm with no ralliers in sight. Walked around the State House just to make sure we weren't missing them. As of 2:25 there were no Acorners. Just at 2:30 pm about 7 older black people and one younger black person who was waving the red Acorn flag showed up. So my husband starts taking pictures of all of them. They handed out flyers that said this: WANTED! For refusing to modify Loans and stop foreclosures (then a pic of Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein with the added statement that he was "one of the Homewrecker 4"...went on to say: Call the Goldman CEO: (212) 902-0300 Tell him that Goldman Sachs' Mortgage Company LITTON must sign up with the Obama foreclosure plan, modify loans, and save homes!" The last sentence was the funniest: "This important public safety announcement brought to you by ACORN; visit us at www.acorn.org"
We left after about 15 minutes because it just isn't any fun protesting against 8 people.:) Also, one gal was handing out these "WANTED" posters and when she saw that they were going to get thrown out by anyone she handed them to, she retrieved them...so I guess the big money from the 300 million that was in the generational theft bill hasn't reached the little ACORNs yet :(

Jack| 6.30.09 @ 4:16PM

"Blondehussy" I agree with you completely. When I was purchasing my home, the realtors were trying to push me into the home for which I was "qualified". Ignoring completely that I had researched the type of home (and cost) that I wanted. Those folks that think it's fine to dump half of their monthly income into a house payment should suffer the consequences, I shouldn't be forced to suffer for them.

karen| 6.30.09 @ 9:30PM

when is someone going to do something about this corrupt organization?

Samir| 7.1.09 @ 3:48AM

What do you mean "something"

Taylor McKenzie| 7.1.09 @ 12:52PM

You can get a free Homeowner's Handbook on President Obama's "Making Home Affordable" plan at http://MortgageCreditTrauma.com.

This plan outlines the rules and eligibility guidelines for 1st & 2nd loan modifications as well as giving a Loan Comparison Chart for Countrywide/BofA, CitiGroup/CitiMortgage, IndyMac Fed Bank and JP Morgan who is also accepting Washington Mutual and EMC Mortgage Corp customers.

Task Force 16| 7.1.09 @ 7:33PM

Adolph Hitler and the Nazi's had the SA (aka Brown Shirts, Storm Troopers)

Obama and the Democrats have ACORN.

History IS repeating itself.

ACORN needs to be met head on in the streets, given no quarter, and no where to hide.

itsme| 7.1.09 @ 11:58PM

Obama gestapo., Why is ACORN still around.
someone must have a G*&N or something hit the leaders of this Natzi organasation befor its to late

samir| 7.8.09 @ 1:49PM

ACORN and minority homeowners make good scapegoats.

j| 7.13.09 @ 10:30PM

there must be people close by to homes that are in trouble and buisnesses for that matter that are prohibiting communication, for everytime i try to leave messages for acorn the phone disconnects

David| 7.21.09 @ 9:38PM

Amazing - for those bloggers defending Acorn, all I can say is that Russia is now reinventing their history and Stalin is being deified. For the rest of us, let that be a lesson. Acorn is a corrupt, thug filled organization (just ask those that have been intimidated into putting up 'Obama' crap on their property during the election) hell bent on radically socializing America - not out of any kind of ideological basis, but because they are power grabbing, power worshipping, money stealing, election stealing fascists. I am an independent conservative, with great empathy for the under-priviledged, and I have no kind words for Acorn, or the Obama administration. The Obama administration, and its "brown shirts" including Acorn, are destroying America, and we (God loving, God fearing, freedom loving 'patriots') are letting them do it.

Radical Socialism is Tyranny.

Francis West| 8.27.09 @ 11:11PM

We as a Nation have turned our backs on God. Gentleman as he is,He said O.K. do it your way.That is why Satan ,the ruler and the father of lies has taken control.The results are what we have today. God help us all.