Barack Obama’s Involvement with ACORN Unearthed, Missing Articles Recovered
Barack Obama’s Involvement with ACORN Unearthed, Missing Articles Recovered
While Barack Obama’s connection with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has not gone entirely unreported, it has not been fully explained. Most media background pieces simply note Obama’s involvement in a 1995 lawsuit on behalf of ACORN. Obama’s own website, as well as most major media, fail to reveal the full depth and extent of his relationship with the organization.
Attempts to hide evidence of Obama’s involvement with ACORN have included wiping the web clean of potentially damaging articles that had appeared, and were previously publicly accessible. Unfortunately, those behind the attempted cover-up failed to realize that in today’s day and age, nothing disappears forever. There also exists another layer of the web, the hidden web, which is full of information included in proprietary scholarly databases where these very same “missing” articles can be easily uncovered.
Obama’s campaign website states:
Fact: Barack was never an ACORN trainer and never worked for ACORN in any other capacity.
Is that really a FACT, or just another lie? Let’s take a look at a quote from a 2004 article - Case Study: Chicago- The Barack Obama Campaign - written Toni Foulkes, a Chicago ACORN Leader, which was published in the journal Social Policy. Did we mention that Social Policy recently pulled this particular article from their website, while leaving links to all articles up?
“Obama took the case, known as ACORN vs. Edgar (the name of the Republican governor at the time) and we won. Obama then went on to run a voter registration project with Project VOTE in 1992 that made it possible for Carol Moseley Braun to win the Senate that year. Project VOTE delivered 50,000 newly registered voters in that campaign (ACORN delivered about 5,000 of them).
Since then, we have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year, and, as a result, many of our newly developing leaders got to know him before he ever ran for office. Thus it was natural for many of us to be active volunteers in his first campaign for STate Senate and then his failed bid for U.S. Congress in 1996. By the time he ran for U.S. Senate, we were old friends.“
Not only does Foulkes boast of Obama’s ACORN leadership training, but also makes it clear that Obama’s post-law school organizing of “Project VOTE” in 1992 was undertaken in direct partnership with ACORN. The tie between Project VOTE and ACORN is also something that Obama and others have attempted to disprove in recent weeks as ACORN has come under fire for allegations of voter registration fraud.
As recently as March 2008, the Los Angeles Times also made reference to Barack Obama’s involvement with ACORN:
“At the time, Talbot worked at the social action group ACORN and initially considered Obama a competitor. But she became so impressed with his work that she invited him to help train her staff.” (LA Times, March 2, 2008)
All this information was easily pulled up with minimal time investment. It took less than thirty minutes to find, despite attempts by some to bury the truth. If I could find this with little effort, imagine what could be dug up with a serious, in-depth investigation. Scary, isn’t it?
Nevertheless, Barack Obama’s campaign website continues to lie and deny the truth about his involvement and association with ACORN. No matter how many times you say it, it does not make it true. The facts do not lie, Senator Obama. It’s time to come clean and tell the truth, and it’s time for the American people to demand it.
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Comments
I have been following blog postings on Acorn. The information in this post undeniably completes the record.
Obama and Acorn - missing info found, Audacity of Deception, photos
Great article. Amazing though, that liberals are in total denial of the truth. Either they refuse to believe or their insane desire for ultimate presidential power overshadows all reasoning. This and all other truthful info on Obama needs to be continually put before the general public. PLEASE!!!
Have you seen what mypetjawa.mu.nu has found:
How a Young Chicago Litigator Helped Create the Subprime Housing Crisis
Barack H. Obama is running around telling everyone that the housing mortgage market collapsed primarily because of some vaguely described “deregulation” that took place sometime under George Bush–or maybe under Clinton; I’m not clear on that. I’m not sure he is.
Whatever his claim is, it’s a lie.
The reality is that the housing market collapsed in large part because a coalition of race-baiting bullies brought very heavy pressure to bear on the banks to make more subprime loans on properties in low-income communities. Those who didn’t approve the risky subprime loans were accused of “redlining”–i.e., refusing to make loans on properties in those neighborhoods.
Read more on there site. Fascinating.
Obama lie? You have to be kidding.
I seem to recall that Obama said he did not see Rezko often but the FBI noted his coming and going from Rezko’s office frequently when they were investigating Rezko? Obama also said he had no clue that Rezko was a crook when he got Tony to help him buy that mansion. Guess he didn’t read the Chicago papers or watch the news cause it was widely reported that the Feds were investigating Rezko. And of course, Obama did not know that Rezko was a slum lord. After all there were none of his falling down properties next door to where Obama lived, just nearby in his district. How could he be expectected to know?
He also did not know that Reverend Wright made inflammatory statements, even though Wright was his spiritual mentor. And of course, Bill Ayers was just a passing acquaintance when he launched Obama’s political career in his home. That happens all the time.
A reminder of the association between Obama, Rezko and Auchi. Thanks for your outstanding work.
Rezko Witness Leaves New Questions about Obama Real Estate Deal Unanswered
Obama’s connection to a shady Iraqi-born British businessman was confirmed in bombshell Rezko trial testimony on Monday. Who is Nadhmi Auchi and why might Obama be back in hot water over the real estate deal on his house?
April 15, 2008 - by Rick Moran
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The star witness at the Tony Rezko fraud trial in Chicago may have gotten Barack Obama in hot water again over his long term relationship with the Chicago “fixer,” as well as his connection to a shady billionaire who may have played a key role in the real estate deal involving Obama’s home.
Stuart Levine testified that Senator Obama and his wife were guests at Tony Rezko’s house at a party honoring Iraqi-born British billionaire Nadhmi Auchi in early April 2004, according to press reports. This was the second event attended by Obama where Auchi, convicted of fraud in Europe, was the guest of honor. Earlier that month on April 3, Obama met with a group of “Middle East bankers” including Auchi at a reception sponsored by Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.
The problem for Obama is that he first said, through campaign spokesman Bill Burton in an email to the news site Raw Story back in January, that “[h]e has no recollection of ever meeting him [Auchi].” Then, in an interview with the Chicago Sun Times, Obama let on that he “may” have met Auchi at the Four Seasons reception sponsored by Blagojevich.
The question will almost certainly be asked how Obama could forget meeting his longtime friend’s very important business partner twice in such a short period of time.
This is especially true since Auchi apparently attended at least one Obama fundraiser. Joseph Cacciatore, whose family once owned a 62-acre plot of land bought by Rezko and was in the process of developing with Auchi, says he met Auchi a few years ago:
Cacciatore can’t suppress at least a touch of admiration for the dapper, sophisticated Auchi. He said they met at an Obama fundraising party that Rezko gave at his home several years ago.
“He was well dressed,” Cacciatore said. “He seemed distinguished.”
Both men say they don’t know each other.
And Obama isn’t the only one who wished to downplay this relationship with Auchi. Raw Story reported that shortly after rumors began circulating that Obama met with Auchi, two websites connected to Auchi’s holding company, General Mediterranean Holding, were scrubbed of any mention of his trip to Illinois.
Obama himself has been extraordinarily vague about any possible meetings, saying that while he very well may have met Auchi, he doesn’t recall it.
Why is this so important? Establishing a previous relationship between Obama and Auchi opens a fresh line of questions about the real estate deal on his home involving Rezko and Obama –questions about the source of money that Rezko used to buy a side lot to Obama’s mansion at a time when he told a court he was flat broke and heavily in debt.
According to a story in the TimesOnline, another holding company belonging to Auchi, Fintrade Services SA, loaned Mr. Rezko $3.5 million dollars just three weeks before Obama and Rezko closed the sale on the property simultaneously –a stipulation by the previous owners that both the lot and house be sold at the same time– thus allowing Obama to purchase his dream house.
Over the years, Auchi loaned Rezko a considerable amount of money: more than $27 million, according to prosecutors. To pay off the debt, Rezko gave Auchi a bigger stake in that showpiece 62-acre land development on the south side of Chicago. In return, Auchi kept Rezko’s head above water as his numerous business ventures including real estate, pizza resturants, and property management were in various stages of failure. There is also the fact that Rezko was facing several lawsuits in connection with these enterprises.
It was another $3.5 million loan from Auchi late last year that caused a federal judge to revoke Rezko’s bail and send him to jail. Given Rezko’s numerous contacts in the Middle East, including his friendship with the Emir of Qatar, it worried the judge that Rezko might leave Chicago for friendlier climes and not return.
Auchi has a reputation in Great Britain of collecting politicians “the way that other people collect stamps.” The list of current and former British politicians working for one of Mr. Auchi’s numerous enterprises is an eye opener.
Norman Lamont retired from government to a seat on the board of the financial arm of General Mediterranean Holding, which runs Auchi’s many businesses. Lord Steel, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats and the current presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament, is also on the board. Lady Falkender, Harold Wilson’s former secretary, has worked for Auchi, as has Gerald Malone, a former Tory Minister you’ve probably forgotten about. Keith Vaz, the former New Labour Foreign Office Minister once accepted a directorship from Auchi.
Given Auchi’s checkered past, it’s amazing that politicians with any integrity would have anything to do with him. First, there is Auchi’s conviction in the notorious Elf case in France, where company directors and officers of the state owned oil company used the firm as “a private bank for executives who spent £200 million on political favors, mistresses, jewelery, fine art, villas and apartments.”
Beyond Elf, there is Auchi’s involvement in the Oil-for-Food scandal through his ownership of the the PNB Paribas bank, where the money for the program was held in an escrow account. BNP Paribas “was the sole bank administering the $64 billion UN programme. An investigation by the US House Committee on International Relations found that BNP Paribas made payments without proof that goods were delivered and sanctioned payments to third parties not identified as authorized recipients.”
The scheme earned BNP and Auchi $700 million in fees. It also earned his old friend Saddam Hussein more than $10 billion. Auchi acted as a conduit for arms during the Saddam years and was also involved in several oil deals with western nations at that time and bribing several Iraqi officials in the process, according to a court in Milan. “The name Nadhmi Auchi was just another name for Saddam’s intelligence service, or so we thought,” said Nibras Kazimi, a former Iraqi dissident who is now a visiting scholar at the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C.
So Auchi –friend of Saddam, international fraudster, and business partner to one of Chicago’s premiere fixers– gave Rezko the money that allowed Obama to purchase his house. Without the loan, Rezko would not have been able to afford the $125,000 downpayment on the lot and Obama would not have been able to meet the terms set by the sellers.
Did Auchi know that part of that money would be used to help Obama purchase his house? Did Obama know where Rezko’s money came from?
This is important to know because about the time of the loan to Rezko, Auchi was put on the State Department’s “undesirable alien” list and was prevented from getting a visa to the United States. Rezko told prosecutors that he tried to intervene on Auchi’s behalf with the State Department to get the ban lifted. Running into a stone wall at State, the prosecutors say that Rezko turned to “certain Illinois politicians to do the same.” Who would Rezko have turned to except Obama (and probably Governor Blagojevich)?
The fact that Obama knew Auchi from his trip to Chicago a year before alters what we had previously known about the billionaire’s visa problems. The question arises if any quid pro quo was given with regard to the Rezko loan, involving Obama’s possible intercession with the State Department on Auchi’s behalf. Going to bat for your patron’s business partner to solve a little thing like a visa problem is not a mortal sin. But connecting it to a loan that made it possible for Obama to purchase his house would be a little more serious and could involve the Senate Ethics Committee.
Obama denies helping Auchi in any way with his visa but can’t vouch for his staff:
Q: Did you ever help Auchi enter the country?
A: No
Q: Or your office?
A: “Not that I know of.”
That would seem to leave an “out” for the lawyerly senator but is inconclusive otherwise.
There will be many who say this just doesn’t matter: that Obama’s relationship with Auchi, like his relationship with bigoted preacher Jeremiah Wright, like his relationship with Pentagon bombers and domestic terrorists William Ayers and Bernadine Dorhn, like his relationship with some of the more unsavory elements of the Chicago political machine including Tony Rezko, is all guilt by association and an unfair attack on the candidate.
But the average voter might be asking right about now where does “guilt by association” end and the candidate being guilty of having monumentally bad judgment in picking his associates begin?
Rick Moran is PJM Chicago editor; his own blog is Right Wing Nut House.
Your work is outstanding. I read your articles every day. Thanks to your great work I feel well- informed about Obama’s shady past.
Thank you for your hard work. I read your website just about every day and freely refer other people to come here and look around.
Great work! Now wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could get this information published to Wikipedia? When people are looking for information they use search engines or Wikipedia and if they look at search engine results they’re going to see a Wikipedia link near the top of the first page of results.
I am sure it comes as no surprise to you that Obama/ACORN people are watching the ACORN page at Wikipedia like hawks and preventing anyone from adding to the article. The article was evidently written a long time ago by an ACORN worker and that’s how it stands.
Repeated attempts to introduce a special section on the controversies are removed within seconds of posting. A mention of Representative Boehner’s statement yesterday in Congress was removed.
The final audacity is to keep this article unlocked so as to give the appearance of it being low key - as in “nothing here folks, move along”. But attempt to introduce anything from the other side of the fence and it is removed within minutes if not seconds.
There are only two external references allowed and they are both to the ACORN site. Articles from Michelle Malkin, Fox News, other sources are systematically removed within seconds.
I say this is important and not only because these thugs are stifling free speech but because other concerned citizens are being denied the truth. I would encourage anyone who has sense for what is right to take a stand against what is going on at Wikipedia and attempt to get a more fair approach to that article so the truth finally wins out.
Thank you.
ACORN started the New Party
http://web.archive.org/web/20010605162654/www.wandererforum.org/Focus25.htm
ACORN convinces Fannie Mae to take first sub prime loan
ACORN autobiograpgy from 1990’s
excert:
The latest agreement between Fannie Mae and ACORN opened the secondary market for below market interest rate loans. Fannie Mae will bundle ACORN-counseled loans and securitize them. With Fannie Mae’s AAA credit rating, the resultant ACORN Mortgage Backed Securities become attractive to socially motivated investors. The first one for $10 million of loans originated by NationsBank was purchased by Allstate Insurance.
http://web.archive.org/web/20010428122414/www.acorn.org/25-anniversary/community-reinvestment.html
AYERS, REZKO, ALINSKY, AUCHI, ACORN, WRIGHT, FARRICAN, FLAGER, ETC. COME ON AMERICA, OPEN YOUR EYES. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO WHERE FARRICAN TELLS CHILDREN THAT OBAMA IS THE MESSIAH! DON’T TAKE A CHANCE WITH OUR COUNTRY PLEASE!!!
What I cannot understand is why the mainstream media has not tried to follow up on ANY of the rather slimy aspects of Obama’s associations. These associations plus the fact that there is no real evidence that Obama is indeed an American citizen blow my mind. It looks like Obama is going to defeat McCain but who is looking after the real interests of this country?
I have wondered since the primary elect. ended why Hillary didnt fight the outcome, She Won, but the nomination was handed to him on a silver platter! I hope and pray that Phil Berg wins his lawsuit and the eligibility question is addressed! We are in trouble as a country because of this “FARCE”of an election!! All of the voter fraud being commited in so many different states should be a call to AMERICANS TO WAKE UP,AND KNOW WHO YOU’RE VOTING FOR!! SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE!! I,ve felt it since the primaries started! Whatever it is,i pray to God to stop obama from winning the G.E.!
Donna, I was at the convention and her delegates especially female ones from swing states were bullied in the most disgraceful manner. Word was Hillary had to play ball or be black balled in the Senate…she did file a lawsuit during her campaign about the caucus fraud and cheating. The D.N.C. is complicit in this and we now think they never intended to allow her the nomination. This is because Soros bought the party and Obama was HIS candidate..the D.N.C. wanted Obama starting all the way back to 2004. More is coming to light on this all the time. A RICO case is being looked into now for the cheating that ACORN and Obama have done in the General election and TWO films are coming out documenting the caucus fraud in EVERY caucus state. One is called “We Will Not Be Silenced” by Gigi Gaston and a preview is now available of it. The other is called “The Audacity of Democracy” documenting the same said cheating and it is being produced by Brad Mays and a preview is also available of it.
These are going to be used to establish a pattern of behavior by the Obama campaign showing intent to defraud the voters right into the G.E. and leaders in the D.N.C. WILL be implicated.
PUMA is joining forces with anyone wanting to help in the effort to expose this fraud.
I can’t figure out why the nbc’s, cbs’s and abc’s haven’t even bother to air any of Obama dirt. What is up with the unbiased media of the day of yesterday ! This is sick. The American people need to make an educated decision.
Great site!
Would you like a Link Exchange with our new blog COMMON CENTS where we blog about the issues of the day??
Weak! Weak as piss, watered down piss!
Note a number of key language distortions:
“we have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year, and, as a result, many of our newly developing leaders got to know him before he ever ran for office.”
We have INVITED, but absolutely no mention of his having attended. This is not a lie, but a cleverly written article attempting to tap into the historical candidacy of Obama. It’s called political pandering and you guys are being spun out of control here. Ever think of yourselves as pawns to a media machine much more intelligent than yourself? Well this should clear it up.
Will the govenor of Ill. And mr. Obama are hook togather. Since He was dealing with the Mess Up A-Corn Corp. Will it be His Water Gate?
Fact: Obama lied about his involvement with ACORN so he was forced to scrub his website. This attempt to mislead the American people proves that the lie is intentional:
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/09/breaking-acorn-bombshell-4-due-from.html
Joe was right & ACORN is reaping its just reward.
This was a historic lie!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW: Hedgey is a good name for the commentator above. Here is the full quote which he or she mischievously omitted:
“Since then, we have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year”
“EVERY YEAR” means that Obama ran the session at ACORN’s invitation EVERY YEAR.
Hedge, it is dishonest to intentionally attempt to mislead like you have done. Shame on you!!! As a consolation, that would at least qualify you to work for the Obama Administration!
Oops Hedgy did include the full quote, he or she just ignored the rest of the sentence.
How ignorant!!!
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