Article Archives by Subject:  ACORN

10-13-2009

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serve.gov
Subject: Woo Hoo!  This Decision is a Win for the Volunteer Sector

From a serve.gov (AKA: United We Serve) service brief:
    Starting next week, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) will no longer invite individuals and organizations to post their volunteer opportunities directly through Serve.gov, a federally operated Web site.

    According to an email from Nicola Goren, CNCS's acting CEO, after October 14, organizations and individuals will be referred to a list of independent organizations, both for-profit and not-for-profit, competing to provide these services.

    As Goren explains:
      Over the course of the summer and in the last month, the Corporation has reviewed our role in the volunteer registry function to apply lessons learned during its first months of operation. We have concluded that the most appropriate role for us is to promote service and offer tools that make it easier for Americans to find volunteer opportunities, but not to be in the direct business of operating a volunteer project registry, given the fact that there are a number of existing non-governmental volunteer matching websites that already provide these services.   [Emphasis added]

Hmmm... Do you think those "lessons" could have anything to do with the ACORN scandal?

    This decision is a win for the volunteer sector.

Yea!!! A WIN for the volunteer sector!!!!! Of course, it's so obvious!! This, of course, is the pre-packaged tag line for the Main Stream Media when reporting on this story. And being a good citizen, I knew I was supposed to lead with this for my report as well.

But seriously, take a look at the original notice. This statement, in all its enbolded glory, sits on the page like an out of place pimple on the nose tip of your prom date. I guess its true that the people in government do really believe that if they just "say it", then it must be true!
    As a federally-chartered, Congressionally-funded agency, CNCS is subject to both political and budgetary pressure that independent services are not. In operating its own database, CNCS was spending federal time and dollars to duplicate services already available to the field while creating unnecessary political and legal liability for itself.

In other words, we got caught with our hands in the cookie jar! We're not sorry we did it. But we are sorry we got caught.
    Ultimately, the thoughtful reconsideration of its policies shows that government can listen, learn and adapt. We applaud Ms. Goren's decision and see it as a very positive sign for those of us committed to the pursuit of smart government.

Now isn't that sweet. The government is listening to us after all! And they're smart too!

I'm just so thankful that I got my service project registered at serve.gov before it was too late!

P.S.: I'm awarding myself the Nobel Prize for best overuse of exclamation marks in a single article! Gosh darn it, I deserve one too!!
10-07-2009

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Dana Loesch
Subject: Chipping Away at Big Brother

Here is an interesting tidbit from Andrew Breitbart's Big Government website.

According to poster Dana Loesch, the United We Serve website serve.gov has apparently removed all references to the ACORN organization. So it seems as though the actions of the investigators, blog reporters and activist protesters had some direct and measurable effect upon our government. In itself, this is a small victory, but more and more we seem to have the politicians adopting a defensive posture rather than the smug, dismissive, offensive that they were leading with just a few short months ago.

Now this is a freedom-loving community service that I can support!
09-23-2009

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Subject: Community Service Is Not What Made America Great

I discovered an excellent article by C. Edmund Wright at American Thinker, entitled "Community Service Is Not What Made America Great, which I would encourage everyone to read. Here are a few excerpts:
    "Dare we say that the planners of the 9-11 attacks understand more about the greatness of America than our current President and some in Congress?

    [T]he 9-11 attacks had nothing to do with Medicare, the Junior League or Earth Day or working in a soup kitchen, let alone registering voters or pushing for sub prime lending on behalf of ACORN.

    The 9-11 masterminds understood what it is that makes America great, and it was precisely some obvious icons of that greatness they attacked. It is our government-limiting Constitution -- creating an environment conducive to free enterprise, innovation, opportunity and military might, used for the good of all freedom loving peoples -- that has made America great.

    In short, it is our freedom.

    In stark contrast to our president and others, I say what we need now is a lot of self-interested financially motivated pursuits taking place. On the anniversary week of 9-11, it's a good time to champion that which the terrorists were trying to destroy -- that which makes America great. And for the record, they were not trying to destroy candle light vigils for death row inmates or the "Adopt a Highway" program.

    All of that is fine, but they were trying to destroy free economies and opportunity. They were trying to destroy the brain trust of a military whose history is that of conquering dictators and asking only enough real estate in return to bury their dead. They were trying to destroy our way of life. The American way of life. You know, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

    They were trying to destroy what made us who we were before Obama came to save us from our own greatness. They did not succeed. But if we can't tell the truth about what it is that made this country great, then we will do it to ourselves.

Fantastic! Given all the problems we are dealing with these days, it is nice to be reminded of the underlying greatness of the USA which we are struggling to preserve—and I cannot thank Mr. Wright enough for having done this.

Mr. Wright also make the following astute observation:
    The point here is not that volunteering is bad. It is good. So is charitable giving. True community service -- not agitating or "organizing" -- is good also. But you cannot donate or serve or volunteer in a vacuum. In fact, you cannot really provide any "net volunteering" or "net giving" until you have taken care of all of your obligations first. So by definition, pursuits that enable you to "give back" are superior to the act of giving back.

Exactly! It is self-interested, self-responsible adults that get things accomplished and have created the great wealth and standard of living that we enjoy in this country. And you have to create something, whether it be money or free time, before you can "redistribute" or "volunteer" any surplus to causes that reach beyond the requirements of one's own life. This is the simple fact that almost everyone in government fails to understand—or willfully ignores.

Capitalism—free enterprise—is an economic system of creation. It allows wealth to be accumulated and leveraged over time, allowing us to continually improve our standing, generation after generation. It is a system that works precisely because it rewards the virtues of productivity, effort, intelligence and risk-taking. In contrast, socialism is a system of redistribution only. It does not understand or acknowledge the creative process. It sees our standard of living as a fixed pie, simply to be recut in a "fairer" manner so that all share equally. It penalizes the very virtues that capitalism rewards, and because of this, it ultimately becomes an engine of destruction as it drives out the good. And that is why Mr. Wright warns that, unchecked, the current administration may yet achieve what the terrorists were unable to do.
09-22-2009

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Indoctrination
Subject: It's Never Too Early To Indoctrinate

Today we look at how the idea of national service has infiltrated our schools. Soon it will be impossible to get an education anywhere without being forced to submit to a mandatory service requirement. And since education is also mandatory, the requirement for national service will have been imposed through this back door, instead of by a direct legislative act which would have faced scrutiny and vocal opposition by the public.

Let's start with a look at our friends at ACORN. Were you aware that some of your tax dollars were being given to this organization so that it could, in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, create two (and possibly three) high schools with a "community service" orientation?

The first of these is the ACORN Community High School which has the goal of "Developing Tomorrow's Leaders". This is done, in part, with Social Studies programs that "teach them the critical thinking skills necessary to challenge inequity and injustice." Nothing very specific there, but it does get you thinking about just how "inequity and injustice" might be defined by ACORN? While I was unable to locate any detailed descriptions of the various academic courses being offered, there was a very complete overview of the service program and its requirements.
    "Community Service
    'Give Your Best, Be the Best' The ACORN Community Service Program (ACSP) offers ACORN students experiences that cultivate leadership skills while they contribute services to their communities. Through placement in various agencies and service providers, ACSP encourages students to apply what they learned in and out of the classroom to solve real-life problems. In the process students learn efficient work habits, teamwork and self-confidence. They also learn about democracy, budgets and the benefits of active citizenship. Further, students in ACSP acquire technical and communication skills that are essential in critical thinking for designing and implementing solutions that build proud and prosperous communities. Participation in ACSP instills an ethic of lifelong community service where students are inspired to build proud and prosperous communities.    "

Aah yes, there it is in the last sentence — the real purpose of the program: "instills an ethic of lifelong community service". The community is the social unit of concern, with people as lifelong servants to its needs. And to prepare for this subservient position:
    "Each student must complete 50 ACSP points per year with a total of 200 ACSP points [i.e., 200 hours of service] by the end of the Senior year."

Unfortunately, babysitting will only earn you 0.5 ACSP points per hour. :-(   Probably because it take more work to acquire "communication skills" when talking to babies!

The second ACORN school let's you know where it's heading right in its title: ACORN High School for Social Justice. From their mission statement:
    "The school offers an opportunity for students to engage in a comprehensive academic program and to participate in citywide campaigns dealing with issues of social injustice which affect the Bushwick Community and the larger Brooklyn community. ACORN High School for Social Justice's mixture of academic and community involvement helps the students to become lifelong learners."

And what makes this school special? Selecting a few key bullet points:
  • We also include an additional course in Social Justice [...]

  • International Teachers Programs. We now also have a partnership with Columbia University as a site for Peace Corp Fellows to complete their teaching internships.

  • Implementation of an excellent library program that will bring community members, actors, singers, and leaders into the building to speak with students and to participate in events such as Black History Month, Hispanic History Month, Poetry Month and Women's History Month.

  • A diverse after school program, in collaboration with our Community Based Organization, Acorn, comprised of academics, sports, the arts, and community service experiences for our students.

This mixing of ACORN's political activism with education is appalling, and marks a new level of brazenness in the social indoctrination of children. That the New York City Department of Education engages in and promotes this sort of activity indicates that it is corrupt.

But this movement is not confined to ACORN and New York City. This Falls City Herald News article discusses how the Tiverton, RI high school has imposed a mandatory "Community Service-Learning" graduation requirement upon all of its students.
    "For the past 13 years, Tiverton High School has had a community service requirement for graduation. Students must complete 75 hours prior to the end of their senior year. Since the inception of the program, students have worked on a wide range of activities to complete their volunteer hours, everything from working at an animal shelter to serving as a mentor to an elementary school student." [emphasis added]

You simply have to admire the audacity of people who can use the word "volunteer" in describing an activity that is being forced upon every student. Community service coordinator Rebecca Elwell acknowledges:
    "while some students find their niche very easily, others struggle to find a suitable volunteer opportunity."

Remember, these students are not actually being asked to volunteer. They are not being persuaded to engage in actions of their own choosing, for reasons that they personally judge to be worthwhile. They are being required to perform these services in order to be allowed to progress with their lives. I wonder if it ever crosses the minds of these "educators" that one source of struggle for some of these high school students might be an internal one. Possibly the demand—the act of being forced—to participate in this, or any other type of activity, is the source of their struggle, as they attempt, as most adolescents do, to assert their independence in thought, action and spirit at this critical phase of their development. The potential psychological damage being done to certain types of individuals is enormous.

But is this phenomenon of community service limited to high school students. No! A report, once again from our friends at ACORN, tells us:
    Riverside students learn value of community service

    "Riverside School's third grade class will hold its third annual Community Service Day on Wednesday, Sept. 23. The event, which lasts from 9 to 10:30 a.m., introduces the students to people who help their community and ties in with the class civics unit.
    [...]
    Connected to this event, the students will be doing a community service project to help children at Kids in Crisis.    "

High school may be too late. By that time, some of these kids may have already developed thoughts of their own that could interfere with our "training", allowing them to rebel against the authority of their masters, The Community or The State. But if we can get them younger, say when they are only eight or nine, then fewer will have a chance to develop that independent, anti-social streak of learning to think for themselves. We must get to them early so that we can insure that they meet the goals that Barack Obama has laid out. They must be made to understand that it is their sacred responsibility to "not let their Country down!"

It's enough to make you sick.
09-18-2009

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Subject: Taxpayers Fund Activists for Obamacare at United We Serve

I just ran across a very interesting article by Dana Loesch entitled: Taxpayer Funded Serve.gov Filtering Activists to ACORN. What Dana found is that the government's web site is sponsoring listings for "national service" opportunities by ACORN. OK, that doesn't seem so strange, since ACORN is supposed to be a "community service" organization, and that fits right in with the mandate for that site. However, a closer look at the list of ACORN opportunities finds one titled "Healthcare Activist" with the following description:
    "Be a health care activist! Help us get the word out about an upcoming forum discussing the possibilities of health care reform! Contact us at 520-623-9389. You won't regret getting involved when you'll be able to say you played a roll in the creation of a public health insurance plan that was of quality and affordable to all!"

Dana points out that the question of reimbursement is unclear on this page, but she found ACORN advertisements on places such as Craigslist where activists were offered $90/day. Other ACORN service listings include such things as "community organizing internship", "neighborhood canvasser", and "tax preparer". After the recent video exposés, we can imaging the types of "services" provided by these volunteers.

Sinces ACORN operates with government funds, here is another shining example of how your own tax dollars are being directly used against you!

On a lighter note, you can go to serve.gov and type in the keywords "John Galt" and get about sixty listings for my Pledge initiative. It looks as though there is a listing for just about every state including Hawaii. However, I did notice on the Google map that they provide that Alaska is conspicuously absent. I guess Sarah Palin is still getting under their skins after all this time!

And by the way, with so many fantastic opportunities, why haven't any of you signed up? It's so sad to have zero volunteers. Where's your public spiritedness? [Yes, of course I'm kidding! :-)]