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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009

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Texas Accidentally Bans Straight Marriage

Law designed to forbid gay civil unions actually bars any unions

Nov 19, 09 7:28 AM CST
The Decade's Best Quotes

Nov 21, 09 5:48 AM CST
College Threatens to Fail Students for Obesity

Twenty-five seniors must prove they've lost weight to graduate

Nov 21, 09 11:25 AM CST
who let the paranoids out?

46 Years After Kennedy, the Virus of Hate Is Back

Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert panders to dangerous paranoids

Nov 21, 09 9:08 AM CST
Suck it, Plymouth

Provincetown: Pilgrims
Landed Here First

Plymouth rivalry heats up as P-town seeks rightful place in history

Nov 22, 09 12:26 PM CST
Judge Orders
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Ft. Hood suspect likely to move from hospital to jail

Nov 22, 09 6:34 AM CST
Billboard Links Obama to Jihad

Colo. car dealership wants this opinion heard

Nov 20, 09 8:42 PM CST
Fla. Man to Smoke
115,000th Joint

Feat earns him world record for cannabis consumption

Nov 20, 09 10:32 AM CST
US Backs
Afghan Militias
Against Taliban

Supporting local resistance, as in Iraq, is a delicate equation

Nov 22, 09 9:38 AM CST
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Nov 20, 09 5:04 PM CST
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BIG BROTHER

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Nov 19, 09 6:19 PM CST
Iraqi Prisoners Taunt Wis. Soldiers Over Favre Defection

Detainees get into the Packers-Vikings rivalry

Nov 20, 09 9:30 PM CST

|NEXT STORY »

ACORN Sues Creators of Sting Video

Recordings made without two-party consent, group says

Posted Sep 23, 09 6:21 PM CDT|

(AP) – ACORN is suing the makers of a hidden-camera video that showed employees of its Baltimore office giving tax advice to a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute. The liberal group contends that the audio portion of the video was obtained illegally because Maryland requires two-party consent to create sound recordings.

The two employees seen in the video, Tonja Thompson and Shera Williams, were fired after it was posted online. The lawsuit says they suffered "extreme emotional distress." The multimillion-dollar lawsuit seeks damages from the actors, James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, and from conservative columnist Andrew Breitbart, who posted the video, and others like it, on his website.

This image made from undated hidden-camera shows Hannah Giles posing as a prostitute. (AP Photo/Biggovernment.com)

ACORN employee Tonja Thompson in the hidden-camera video. (AP Photo/Biggovernment.com)

ACORN employee Shera Williams in the hidden-camera video. (AP Photo/Biggovernment.com)

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50 comments

VIEWING:

Fondue
Sep 23, 09 6:25 PM CDT

Can't wait to see how this pans out. Anyone else thing the employees should sue also? Reply

-5

IN RESPONSE:

godawgs
Sep 23, 09 6:31 PM CDT

you can say they should sue Fox if you want, it's okay, i know you want to.

IN RESPONSE:

armywife
Sep 23, 09 6:31 PM CDT

just because they could sue, does not mean that they should. thats the sort of bullshit technicality that makes a mockery of the law. sure, they were entrapped, but that really doesnt matter - they are guilty and the damage is done. say they sue and win..then what? will everything be hunky dory then? OJ was acquitted and we all knew he was probably guilty as hell, so it's not like he just got to go back to his old life, you know? ACORN wont be able to go back to the good old days either. they got caught and no one will be able to forget that. what they need to do is accept the punishment and then institute a thorough cleaning of house, and then conduct themselves impeccably to reestablish some level of trust.

IN RESPONSE:

aces08
Sep 23, 09 7:57 PM CDT

Conservatives are in favor of privacy and freedom yet when some of their own INFRINGE on another persons freedom of privacy (law states two party knowledge in Maryland in order to protect peoples privacy) it's okay. What kind of crap is this anyway? It's not okay for the government to spy on people but its okay for Fox to spy on you? Seems like conservatives are very hypocritical of themselves.

IN RESPONSE:

proud_prude
Sep 23, 09 10:15 PM CDT

Why is everyone picking on the Fondude? He's just askin ...

IN RESPONSE:

shonangreg
Sep 23, 09 11:02 PM CDT

armywife is right. The damage done to Acorn will not be diminished even if they do show the video sting violated the law. Everyone saw how the Acorn employees reacted -- period. The only thing that will save their asses is a more in-depth unbiased investigation into Acorn's policies and enforcement mechanisms. The reaction of their employees has to be made to appear unrepresentative of Acorn as a whole (which I think might be true . . . mostly) . . . or they have to show that their employees knew it was fake and just played along. If Acorn can do this, and rationalize their management, then reasonable people will come around and harbor no ill will toward Acorn. The Malkin/Beck/FOX News retards aren't gonna change their mind even if Jesus himself told them Acorn was a good, though flawed organization trying to help the poor and under-represented. ................. And my apologies to any developmentally disabled people out there who are offended by being compared to FOX News fans ;-)

IN RESPONSE:

SilenceDogood
Sep 24, 09 2:53 AM CDT

ACORN has been shown to the world for what it is, they should cut their losses and stop this nonsense. As an old master once taught me, the more you poke at a pile of shit, the more it stinks.

-2

IN RESPONSE:

DJM420
Sep 24, 09 10:13 AM CDT

would someone stop poking silenceD please?

| 0 minutes ago

armywife
Sep 23, 09 6:27 PM CDT

ACORN, ACORN, ACORN, you are not helping yourself here.... Reply

IN RESPONSE:

Worthingtons-Law
Sep 23, 09 10:22 PM CDT

Indeed, way to play 'liberal stereotype.'

-2

| 0 minutes ago

godawgs
Sep 23, 09 6:30 PM CDT

So is ACORN suing or the former employee's? Reply

IN RESPONSE:

armywife
Sep 23, 09 6:34 PM CDT

well the article says ACORN is, not the employees.

IN RESPONSE:

godawgs
Sep 23, 09 6:38 PM CDT

@army but the summary mentions that the former employee's suffered severe emotional damage. I guess that is what they are suing on. So it's a personal suit and not the organization, which makes it a little different I guess, unless I am wrong.

-1

IN RESPONSE:

OWLWOMANXXXX
Sep 23, 09 8:07 PM CDT

Acorn should be suing the two employee's...they did a lot to bring the organization down

| 0 minutes ago

pj4311
Sep 23, 09 6:42 PM CDT

Great! Discovery allows O'Keefe and Giles to demand all sorts of ACORN internal documents. Go for it! Smart move ACORN. Reply

IN RESPONSE:

super_soft_wizard
Sep 24, 09 2:22 PM CDT

I'm not sure any judge would allow discovery into acorn docs unless they're somehow legally relevant to the invasion of privacy.

IN RESPONSE:

Fondue
Sep 24, 09 5:24 PM CDT

The only docs that would be allowed would be the ones related to the case, of which there are none.

IN RESPONSE:

super_soft_wizard
Sep 24, 09 2:22 PM CDT

You are obviously unfamiliar with privacy law.

IN RESPONSE:

IndependentThinker
Sep 24, 09 4:02 PM CDT

You are obviously unfamiliar with the Patriot Act.

| 0 minutes ago

doingtherightthing
Sep 23, 09 7:13 PM CDT

How much you want to bet the Scumbag lawyers in this case work for ACORN.......this is why we need Tort reform......unjust lawsuits....... Reply

IN RESPONSE:

Bryanw55
Sep 23, 09 7:57 PM CDT

Yep, tort reform, that wonderful conservative idea that keeps the penalties low enough for large corporations to abuse their power with impunity. Hell Yeah!!! We can now sell you anything and no matter how harmful or how misleading we are in selling it to you, and the penalties for doing it will be a pittance-meaningless in its effect on our bottom line. Hell Yeah DTRT!!!!! you patriot you. American corporations should definitely have the right to bend you over at will with no real consequences.

-1

IN RESPONSE:

Wills
Sep 23, 09 11:13 PM CDT

Yes, keeping people from seeking high putative damages sure will prevent community organizations who were videotaped giving tax advice to pimps from trying to win back some reputation in a court. I doubt this is a good idea on ACORN's part, but how did you get tort reform out of all that? We're you playing crazy-conservative-connect-a-concept? Despite the fact that they really did what they were videotaped doing, it may have been illegal to videotape them without their consent. Which, I think, is actually how the law works, so no unjust lawsuit here.

IN RESPONSE:

lindamae
Sep 24, 09 2:56 AM CDT

The last time we had nation-wide vaccinations, more people died from their shots than the flu it was supposed to protect against. There were lawsuits. There will be NONE for the swine flu victims of the vaccine - the government - our government - Obama's government - has placed a safe harmless seal of approval on the vaccine for the makers so if you die - or get deathly sick from the vaccine - (which you have a greater chance of doing than to die from the flu) - then your family nor you can sue for damages. We know that Obama hates the idea of tort reform.

-2

| 0 minutes ago

RobN
Sep 23, 09 7:18 PM CDT

ACORN doesn't seem to grasp that nobody except George Soros cares about how the tapes were obtained. The general public doesn't care what Maryland law is. But suing will put them in the news over and over again, each time pissing off an entirely new group of people who somehow managed to miss them the first time. It's a First Amendment issue that will go all the way to the Supreme Court if they're found liable. Does ACORN really want that much coverage? If they had any brains they'd make a public statement thanking this group for letting them know that their procedures and training needs help and how they'll do better in the future. Reply

IN RESPONSE:

Wills
Sep 23, 09 11:16 PM CDT

Yeah I'm having trouble seeing their logic behind this one. Even if the courts ruled in their favor, dragged the videotapers out into the street by their ankles, and made the apologize on national TV, it won't change the fact that what was recorded on the videos really happened. And I'm pretty sure that's all the general public cares about in the end

IN RESPONSE:

Fondue
Sep 24, 09 8:27 AM CDT

Again Wills, the videotapers never received assistance from ACORN.

IN RESPONSE:

super_soft_wizard
Sep 24, 09 2:27 PM CDT

First Amendment will barely come up in this litigation. This is a state law issue that doubtlessly has been found not to violate freedom of speech. And fuck these tools with their secret video cam. I still don't get the hype on this story--a couple of obvious frauds went in their and the idiot acorn employees played their game. What they offered does not constitute legal advice and almost certainly isn't conspiracy in any legal sense. Further-- in the original video you NEVER see the pimp's face, and he's the ONLY one who mentions prostitution. The rest of the conversation only refers to housing immigrant girls who might be working. Much ado about some sleazy bullshit if you ask me. Invasion of privacy is wrong, regardless of your 'noble' political attack motives.

IN RESPONSE:

IndependentThinker
Sep 24, 09 4:07 PM CDT

It is just some more smoke screen to keep our blood hot for the wrong reason so when it comes time for us to be really riled up we wont have much fight left.

| 0 minutes ago

riffran
Sep 23, 09 7:23 PM CDT

thats like a suit by an arsonist for burning his hand at a fire he set..claiming "unsafe work enviroment"...lol... Reply

| 0 minutes ago

LibertyMan
Sep 23, 09 7:36 PM CDT

Suing on behalf of the former employees YOU fired? Huh? Say what? You want to investigate yourself, clean house, make sure it nevers happens again, etc. etc. BUT you want to sue the people who brought this to your attention because you had no internal controls of your own????? Reply

IN RESPONSE:

proud_prude
Sep 23, 09 10:17 PM CDT

The law is the law ... seems you've harped on that theme in the past.

IN RESPONSE:

Fondue
Sep 24, 09 5:29 PM CDT

LibMan, they are not suing on behalf of the fired employees. They are suing because the videographers broke the law.

-1

| 0 minutes ago

Jayster999
Sep 23, 09 8:14 PM CDT

Whatever. These peeps are so accustomed to "mo money" for free that all they know are lawsuits and the government dole. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

pkmac4
Sep 23, 09 8:34 PM CDT

This is so pathetic, I have to echo all of your comments. ACORN STOP. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

Zagama
Sep 23, 09 8:47 PM CDT

ACORN has been around since 1970...I wonder if Faux news is going to examine it under all the previous administrations or is it just this president they are after. Just curious. Reply

-4

IN RESPONSE:

MrsK
Sep 23, 09 9:11 PM CDT

You must be joking.

IN RESPONSE:

lindamae
Sep 24, 09 3:04 AM CDT

Hopefully they will step in at the point it stopped being what it was supposed to be and became what it is today - thuggery, graft, corruption, you name it. Sadly, there must be people it has helped but the harm it is now doing has wiped all that away. When did one of the founders steal the thousands? Remember that some animals are more equal than others and that some members of ACORN are more disgraceful than others. Most agencies have an unwritten agenda. We have 5 examples of Acorns - plus the voter registration fraud. Plus the WorkingFamilies Party fraud. It just goes on and on even though the press tries to surpress it.

| 0 minutes ago

jamerican
Sep 23, 09 9:26 PM CDT

Acorn should be shut down because it is a liberal dem abortion meant to steal tax dollars and falsify voting records. It should be open to public inspection at all times because it is funded wtih our money. It is a leach on the people of America and needs to be stepped on hard and fast. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

paul123
Sep 23, 09 9:26 PM CDT

Suing isn't going to help their case here. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

NewserScooter
Sep 23, 09 9:44 PM CDT

The Gotti family wants to know if they can sue for the recording of the tapes that put them all in jail. Reply

IN RESPONSE:

DJM420
Sep 24, 09 10:18 AM CDT

something tells me those recordings weren't warrent-less. apples to oranges

| 0 minutes ago

So_Cal_Larry
Sep 23, 09 10:11 PM CDT

Wasn't it Maryland law that caught up with Linda Tripp in the Monica Lewinsky scandal with President Clinton? What I've learned in life is that you should believe none of what you hear, and only half of what you see. I suspect we will see a right-wing conspiracy to destroy an organization which provides loads of services to poor people. We don't like poor people getting anything for free in this country. Although it's perfectly OK to give trillions to the money pigs of Wall Street who bring the world economy to its knees, the require bailouts. Any lies and deceptions on Wall Street? I'm still waiting to see anything done to those criminals as we quickly defund services to poor people. Reply

IN RESPONSE:

Jayster999
Sep 23, 09 10:35 PM CDT

We shouldn't be bailing out Wall Street, nor should we be funding seedy little scam operations like ACORN. Neither of them have a right to public funding.

-1

IN RESPONSE:

lindamae
Sep 24, 09 3:11 AM CDT

"Although it's perfectly OK to give trillions to the money pigs of Wall Street who bring the world economy to its knees" It was those "pigs" who ran companies which employed the rest of us - giving us very good livings. The unemployment number is a result of your attitude and ignorance. Study economics - the trickle down theory. The government does not make money - they take our tax monies and use them to provide services for its citizens. To stop companies from making a profit reduces the amount of taxes collected and the amount of services which can be paid for. Of course, now we have borrowed 50 cents on the dollar from the Chinese and printed a little extra money - but the bottom line is that we are in danger of collapsing if we don't support capitalism and profit. Oh - there's a great picture of Obama being introduced to the Wall Street movers and shakers by George Soros. Obama is descending a stairwell - coming down from the heavens, and George is sitting at the foot of the stairs looking adoringly into his face. What a prophecy it was.

-1

IN RESPONSE:

IndependentThinker
Sep 24, 09 4:12 PM CDT

The trickle down theory is bullshit. I cant believe anyone in this day still buys that. You know how the economy recovers? By the middle class spending, not the big companies giving us jobs. See what is happening right now? The economy is recovering but job losses are still going up. Trickle down my ass, the top 5% keep letting less and less though making it harder on the rest of the world and brainless dunderheads like you keep buying the bull.

-1

| 0 minutes ago

lindamae
Sep 24, 09 2:51 AM CDT

So? Reply

| 0 minutes ago

Ucantusethatname
Sep 24, 09 4:51 AM CDT

I feel so sorry for the ACORN scumbags who suffered "extreme emotional distress." A corrupt organization, ACORN should be sued for a wide range of illegal actions. Reply

-1

| 0 minutes ago

Fondue
Sep 24, 09 8:24 AM CDT

The point of suing would not be to regain a previous status. Rather put the criminals out of commission. Reply

IN RESPONSE:

super_soft_wizard
Sep 24, 09 2:31 PM CDT

It's sad that the general feeling on this forum is that when one's motives are to perpetrate a political attack, then 'all is fair' and the right to privacy can be trampled on. In the video I saw these employees seem to be in on the joke.

| 0 minutes ago

Darrelln99
Sep 28, 09 11:22 AM CDT

Acorn suing those two reporters is like a RAPIST SUING TO GET HIS SEMAN BACK! Reply

| 0 minutes ago

View all 50 comments »

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ACORN Sues Creators of Sting Video

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Blogger Foe Confronts ACORN
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conservative • Los Angeles • website • undercover video • political protest • Acorn • Andrew Breitbart

Stingers Release Philly
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