The ACORN Conspiracy, Continued

[Emit]

I recently posted about Sociologist Frances Fox Piven, co-author of a 1966 article entitled "A Strategy to End Poverty," which has become the centerpiece of a right-wing conspiracy theory. Right wingers call it The Cloward-Piven Strategy and they think it is the 'blueprint for a radical takeover of American society' ~ the left's long-standing plan of the destruction of Capitalism through orchestrated crisis and redistribution of wealth.

I noted how I would love to sit and chat with her and remarked how she is likely appalled about all that has been done to warp her and her late husband's important work on women and poverty issues.

Little did I know that Ms. Piven was recently subjected to the devious actions of yet another punk right wing operative when he interviewed her under false pretenses. I am shocked to have just read this article excerpted below today in The American Prospect.

Words cannot express the anger and contempt I feel for these people who have distorted Ms. Piven's and her late husband's works and who have destroyed ACORN with their hate and deception.

It is truly painful to watch the video clips (at link below) of this fine woman in this context.

The ACORN Conspiracy, Continued

Right-wingers remain convinced that ACORN is part of a nefarious plot to destroy America, and they'll use any means they can to prove it.

Peter Dreier | March 23, 2010 |

Sociologist Frances Fox Piven often gets requests from students who want to interview her about her political theories and activism. So when Kyle Olson phoned her in January and told her he was a college student in Michigan who wanted to videotape an interview with her about her recent book Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America, Piven agreed. Temporarily housebound and recovering from a car accident, the 77-year-old Piven invited Olson to her New York apartment. On Feb. 1, Olson and a friend arrived from Michigan with a video camera. She offered them something to drink. Then, for about an hour, Piven and Olson sat around her dining room table and talked about everything from the Founding Fathers to Fox News while the friend taped them.

Two weeks later, Piven, a professor at the City University of New York and former president of the American Sociological Association, learned that about eight minutes of the taped interview had appeared in three segments on Big Government, Andrew Breitbart's conservative news Web site. The outlet achieved national prominence when it published James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles' highly edited but hugely destructive hidden-camera recordings of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) employees. ... Now, Olson has employed these same "gotcha" tactics on Piven, all while advancing a damaging mythology of Barack Obama that depends on a strained interpretation of an article Piven co-authored decades ago.

Olson is not a college student. He is a 31-year-old Republican Party operative and commentator. He runs a Michigan-based conservative advocacy organization, the Education Action Group, which primarily attacks teachers' unions. Olson has also paid for billboards in Michigan that attack pro-choice candidates, developed an anti-ACORN Web site, and written articles blasting liberal leaders like Obama and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern.

The real reason for Olson's interview with Piven was a 1966 Nation article she co-authored with Richard Cloward. "A Strategy to End Poverty" has become the centerpiece of a right-wing conspiracy theory -- the blueprint for a radical takeover of American society. The 6,327-word piece proposed organizing the poor to demand the welfare benefits for which they were eligible in order to pressure the federal government to expand the nation's social safety net and establish a guaranteed national income. To that end, Cloward and Piven helped create the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), which had some success in increasing participation in the federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children program through organized protests and political advocacy.

~snip~

Piven admits to being "unnerved" by Olson's alleged misrepresentation in order to get her to agree to the interview.

"He interviewed me under false pretenses," Piven says. "If I'd known he was a right-wing operative, I wouldn't have let him into my apartment. I might have talked to him in my office or over the phone."

Contacted by phone at his Michigan office, Olson hung up as soon as he was asked about his interview with Piven. When called again for comment, his colleague, Steve Gunn, answered for him. "He doesn't have any interest in talking with you. He doesn't care anything about you," Gunn said. "If you call again, I'll call 911. You have a miserable day."

http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_acorn_conspiracy_continued

[EFerrari]

1. We should all be very aware of how ACORN was destroyed.

Their claws are out. Thank you for posting this, Emit. :grr:

[hootinholler]

7. There really needs to be an accounting for the whole ACORN attack

It's unreal. How can we do the same to the AEI?

-Hoot

[Emit]

13. I have long thought that progressives should infiltrate the 'think tanks' on the right

and expose them for what they are.

Sheesh, there are enough of them to target!

FreedomWorks and the Leadership Institute are good places to start, imho.

[arcadian]

22. I'll do it.

I need a support team though.

[Emit]

25. What kind of support team do you need?

And to what degree can efforts be made?

I am suddenly reminded of that journalist who went under cover to expose The Family. Do you recall that story? That takes a great deal of effort and commitment, but what a story and great info that has rendered.

On edit, when I first discovered this 'Cloward-Piven Strategy' that they have manufactured: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=7661727

I contacted Bill Moyers via email asking him to cover it. I suggested that meeting with Ms. Piven would make an excellent show. It was back in February, near the time the 'baggers had already shown their true colors and Maddow had exposed the astroturf.

[arcadian]

27. It doesn't take that much effort.

Just cajones.

[Emit]

28. Well,

those, too! :rofl:

[arcadian]

30. It depends on what action you want to take.

These videos are highly effective at getting a message out. You should definitely have a plan, you can't just go in and shout obscenities. Need a camera, acces to internet and preferably a staging area for pre and post production for editing and uploading onto the internet. Once up on the web, a network of places to distribute your material is essential otherwise it's kind of useless.

[Emit]

35. If I were a few years younger

and know what I know now, I would love to sit in a class at the Leadership Institute and hear what they are saying to these college kids.

[Emit]

10. This discovery that they had 'punked' Ms. Piven angers me to no end

The destruction of ACORN has significant implications that far surpass what is on the surface.

It is significant because it goes to the heart of the right's (i.e., Dick Armey, Clarence Thomas' wife Virginia, Newt Gingrich, Morton Blackwell, Grover Norquist) longstanding efforts to defund the left.

Defund the left is a term used in America to describe efforts by conservative activists to eliminate government financial support for non-profit groups deemed to be 'liberal'.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Defund_the_left#cite_note-5


It is by no coincidence that the Tea 'Baggers had handed to them a wild conspiracy:

According to the Tea Party ‘Patriots,’ Obama is an evil Socialist who wants to destroy Capitalism through orchestrated crisis and redistribute your wealth. He has connections to militant black organizers and other radicals who want to destroy America, and there is a huge continuing conspiracy on the left, first resurrected by Socialists in the ‘60s, to hasten the fall of capitalism through crisis strategy in an effort to usher in Socialism. This is what is driving the Tea Partiers, and why the Tea Party ‘Patriots’ believe Obama is a danger to our country. This is why they are so motivated to “take our country back.”

Words cannot describe my anger. Punks like O'Keefe and Olson and Breitbart, trained, funded and encouraged by likes of misogynist Dick Armey at FW, Morton Blackwell at the LI, etc. are their new ignorant, fanatical foot soldiers.

[arcadian]

23. Now is the time to push them over the edge.

[Emit]

20. Oh, and just in case anyone is interested, here is a diagram of the commies' (read: our) grand plan

It's the biggest grand conspiracy on the left of which most people on the left are unaware. :rofl:

I don't think they left anything out, except I am certain Glenn Beck could find a few more things to throw into the mix.

[EFerrari]

24. I'm too busy taking undocumented workers to get their food stamps

ahead of their free plastic surgery. But, marking to read later!

[Emit]

32. ...

:spray:

[Hannah Bell]

2. That is totally creepy.

"He doesn't have any interest in talking with you."

neither would fox piven have been interested in talking to *you*, creepster, had you not lied about who you were.

wingers = creepy, stalker liars

[Emit]

11. "...He doesn't care anything about you..." Speaks volumes.

Creepy as hell. They are twisted. The depth of their hatred for the left, the poor and minorities is palpable. This is the new generation of Karl Roves, and again, they are creepy as hell.

[Hannah Bell]

31. psychopathic. the ted bundys of politics.

[sabrina 1]

3. They are scum ~

The best thing that could come out of all of this is to rebuild ACORN and make it bigger and more far-reaching by demanding more funds from Congress.

The Right supports organizations that they view as furthering their nefarious goals.

The Left abandoned ACORN when they most needed support. I can't print the words I would like to to describe my opinion of the 172 cowardly Democrats in Congress who are really the most responsible for what happened. Their votes validated a scam and brought down ACORN who for 40 years has been a target of the rabid rightwing.

I don't know how it could be done, but to just let them win seems unconscionable to me.

I know we cannot depend on the so-called Liberal Organizations we all helped to build up with donations and other support as they've all mostly sold out.

So, the timing is bad for ACORN with no leadership worth anything on the progressive side. We will have to start building all over again. I remember thinking that orgs like Moveon would be the answer to the rightwing Think Tanks. But money and access apparently seduced them.

Meantime, what they did to that woman is despicable. To be able to betray someone's trust like that, you have to be a truly vile individual.

And cowards that they are, just like O'Keefe and Breitbart, and Giles, once caught they hide. Maybe we should all call them? Lol, they will call for protection from a few phone calls. Typical rightwing cowards. They just can't handle the results or their own actions. O'Keefe is living with his mommy and daddy probably in the basement as a result of the judge's order. Talk about being a charicature of a freeper.

[Emit]

14. What the Dems in Congress did was a disgusting display of political expediency

They threw ACORN under the bus because it was too messy to sort out, too big to tackle, too difficult to refute in the midst of other, seemingly more important goals. Unfortunately, what they failed to realize is that the ACORN issue runs much deeper than any impropriety that appeared in a few slyly edited video clips ~ in reality, it should be at the heart of their mission. Their failure to realize this will be marked in history as a massive success on the right to defund the left, with ramifications for years to come.

Fortunately, I have read that several ACORN offices have branched out, changing their names and distancing themselves from ACORN as a whole ~ a necessary, and I hope successful, attempt to rebrand themselves. The right wing nut websites are tracking their very move, however, determined to continue to take them down.

I, too, hope that progressives can rebuild grass roots organizations that are focused on empowering the poor and disenfranchised, lending power to the progressive left. God knows, with the direction things are heading, and the build up on the right, with their astroturfing tea 'baggers and zealous religious right fanatics, the left will need to find ways to counter their efforts! The sooner the better, too.

[sabrina 1]

19. I agree completely that this is about more than ACORN.

The reason ACORN was targeted initially was pure racism. When the CRA was passed making it illegal to refuse to give a mortgage to qualified minorites, ACORN worked with those borrowers to make sure the law was abided by.

Bankers were against this law fearing they would lose money but that didn't happen. The real reason for the right's attempts to stop ACORN's efforts, was pure racism and still is.

Every stunt pulled by O'Keefe, has had racial overtones, including his 'pimp and prostitute' scam. His assumption that prostitution and pimping would be something minorities would recognize, was blatant racism. His lies that no one threw him out, even after being revealed, were never corrected by the media.

Defunding the left, yes, that has been a main goal of the right for decades. To destroy all social programs.

I cannot imagine that Democrats are not aware of this. There is simply no excuse for them not coming out and condemning these people and apologizing, based on the judge's ruling for their own actions.

O'Keefe never presented himself as a pimp. No investigation was ever done of those ridiculous videos at least two of which, after close observation were clearly so edited anyone should have demanded an investigation, let alone Congress.

I blame the 'liberal media' too and wish there was a way to force them to do as much coverage correcting their own coverage as they they gave to spreading the lies. But look how reluctant the NYT has been even after being asked to do so.

I'm glad to hear their work will continue, but the left better start becoming more active in going after these vultures for as you say, it is more than just what happens to ACORN.

[hootinholler]

36. While the Acorn was attacked, while there is a racist component, was about suppressing votes

ACORN was far too successful registering the segments of the population that tend Democratic. If it could be tied back into a RICO case maybe we could do something about this.

What liberal media? The way the ACORN story have been portrayed on all the TV news with the possible exception of Rachael Maddow, is that the fake allegations are fact. I find this infuriating.

-Hoot

[arcadian]

26. This is some fucked up shit. I just tried calling him for an explanation.

The number I have for Kyle Olson, says it's his work number and has the number listed as Education Action Group. However the answering machine at that number says the organization is called "Three Oaks Public Schools Academy" A charter school.

http://www.threeoaksschool.com/

What is the connection? This doesn't seem legal.

[Emit]

33. With just a cursory look

seems there are groups that are already working to expose EAG:

http://www.eagtruth.com/fivethings.htm#Fourth

Still finding no connection b/w that specific Charter School and EAG

[sabrina 1]

34. That's interesting.

Let's hope that the public school money being funneled to Charter Schools is not being used to pay for these Rovian 'journalists' nefarious, and in the case of O'Keefe, Giles and Breitbart, illegal activities.

[Emit]

37. I think it's interesting, too

[dmr]

4. Despicable. No morals, no sense of decency. n/t

[Emit]

18. And yet they proclaim their morality [sic] as the purpose in their attempt to destroy the left.

They are sick and misguided, indicative of right wing authoritarianism that lacks the ability to discern anything in the grayness of the broad-shaded spectrum that truly lies between and beyond black and white. They are fools.

[deminks]

5. Breitbart again.

[xchrom]

6. Recommend

[Echo In Light]

8. "If I'd known he was a right-wing operative, I wouldn't have let him into my apartment."

k/r

[democracy1st]

9. K & R

[EFerrari]

12. .

[DemoTex]

15. Just spotted on new "Inglis for Congress" billboard in upstate SC:

NO ACORNS

[Emit]

16. I am surprised they haven't patented that slogan yet

and others like it. They will get a lot of mileage out of it for years to come, as it will become a great symbol of their recent accomplishments to defund the 'evil commie leftists, the immoral poor and the welfare queens.'

How the less affluent members of the right can work so hard against their best interests with such ignorance and contempt is beyond me.

[DemoTex]

17. It's an overt racist meme that works very well here in atavistic South Carolina.

And they think it is so fucking clever and opaque. Stupid racist crackers.

[bobthedrummer]

21. K&R. There are no domestic black ops in a democracy, anyone suggesting that is wack...

:sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

29. A former teacher of mine told Amy this week that "democracies"

are the worst global offenders re war, death and destruction and human rights abuses.

I don't think "democracy" means what we think it means. :(

[Emit]

38. I'm gonna kick this once more

because it pisses me off so much that they punked Dr. Piven and because I want others to see how crazy their conspiracy theory is, and on edit, who started it!