ACORN: Closed for Business!

Andrew Breitbart is the man!

From Politico, "ACORN 'Dissolved as a National Structure'." And from Allahpundit, "ACORN Dissolving National Structure Due to 'Damage to the Brand'." (Via Memeorandum.)

And check out some of my previous coverage of the story:

And my piece last summer, one of the very first local reports on this nationwide, "Orange County ACORN Office Shuts Down!":

Leftists Allege Breitbart Behind Landrieu Office Arrests

Andrew Breitbart has issued a statement on the James O'Keefe arrest at Senator Mary Landrieu's office, "James O’Keefe Arrested in New Orleans" (via):

Statement from Andrew Breitbart:

“We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O’Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office. We only just learned about the alleged incident this afternoon. We have no information other than what has been reported publicly by the press. Accordingly, we simply are not in a position to make any further comment.”

But the radical leftists are wasting no time concocting theories of Big Government's direct involvement:

Nothing like the presumption of innocence!

Davie Weigel's report is here, "Andrew Breitbart: ‘No Knowledge About or Connection to’ O’Keefe Scandal."

Nice Deb has a roundup of conservative reaction, "ACORN Sting Videographer, James O’Keefe Arrested!"

ACORN Thrilled at O'Keefe Bust

The full story is at the New York Times, "4 Arrested in Phone Tampering at Landrieu Office." And Michelle Malkin expresses the surprise on the conservative right, "Ugh: ACORN-Buster Busted at Sen. Landrieu’s Office in Alleged Bugging Plot; Affidavit Link Added":

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that James O’Keefe, half of the ACORN-busting duo that conducted undercover stings across the country last summer, was arrested today in an alleged wiretapping plot at the New Orleans office of Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu. O’Keefe and three other young men were arrested by the FBI. One of the men is the son of the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana.

The Times-Picayune has not posted the full FBI affidavit, but the details they have are damning. This is neither a time to joke nor a time to recklessly accuse Democrats/liberals of setting this up — nor a time to whine about media coverage double standards. Deal with what’s on the table ....

Obviously, the ACORN thugs are thrilled at the news:

And be sure to read the rest of Michelle's post on "knowing your limits."

Census Launches $340 Million Ad Blitz

I saw the second half of this advertisement on Fox News this morning. I can't believe how damned pathetic this is, especially the second half featuring the dumb blonde-betty with acrylic nails getting the "correct address" from a well-spoken black brother. Are U.S. tax dollars going to "hide the decline" of inner city America? It don't look like this, and I'd be surprised if the two convassers here are even close to the mean worker hired by the Census.

Perhaps I'd think otherwise had ACORN and other leftist shakedown groups not been so quickly rehabilitated after last year's scandals. Matthew Vadum hammered House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers for whitewashing ACORN in December ("CRS Report On ACORN Is Nonsense), but left-wing extremists are ramping up attacks against "right-wing crazies" supposedly "fanning paranoia." The federal courts have already ruled that Washington can't "defund" ACORN, so with congressional Democrats beating the ACORN's-been-cleared drums, it won't be long before Bertha Lewis and pals will be "shuckin an jivin" for that down-home Census bureau undercount outreach scam. See, for example, "Government to launch $340 million ad campaign touting the 2010 Census":

... civil rights groups have long said that minorities have been under-counted because they say the Census is inaccessible to non-English speakers and the economically disadvantaged.

$80 million will be spent on ads targeted toward racial and ethnic minorities and non-English speakers. Some ads will appear in foreign languages such as Spanish, Arabic and Yiddish, according to USA Today.

Yo, got that right, mofo! The USA Today piece is here: "$340 million blitz launches 2010 Census." See also, "Census Bureau Launches 2010 Census Road Tour Across Nation."

John Fund has more at the video. Notice especially the proliferation of ACORN front groups:

RELATED: "Americans Still Need to Know the Whole Truth About ACORN and Obama."

**********

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin links with, "The Census boondoggle: $340 million ad campaign."

Obama's Halloween Horrors!

Happy Halloween!

It's "The Children of ACORN" (from America is an Obamanation)!

Check the blog for the whole "horror show, "The Halloween 2009 Cavalcade of Horror!"

Click Obama's ACORN for more information.

RELATED: At Big Government, from Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, "These Are the Times That Try Men’s Blogging Souls."

Plus, the obligatory disclaimer: THIS POST IS HUMOR!

Peter Dreier, Hardline Activist and Radical Professor, Decries Conservatives' 'War on ACORN'

Peter Dreier, a radical professor of public policy at Occidental College, offers a pathetic defense of ACORN at this morning's Los Angeles Times, "The War on ACORN."

Dreier's essay is comedy gold in its weasely dismissal of ACORN'S long history of corruption. Brushing off recent evidence of voter fraud, facilitation of tax evasion, and subornation of criminal prostitution, Dreier writes:

The attack on ACORN is not really about bogus names on voter forms or about staffers encouraging people to lie on their tax forms. Rather, it is part of a broader conservative effort to attack progressive organizations and discredit President Obama and his liberal agenda.

You think?

Hello.

ACORN is a socialist filth outfit of lying community shakedown artists. Big Government's done the nation a massive favor in not only outing ACORN, but in totally discrediting the Obama-Media Complex that's working in tandem with radical socialist factions to destroy America.

You have to read Dreier's essay to believe the depths of this man's postmodern denial.

At one point he claims, "Did ACORN engage in election fraud? Absolutely not." Such categorical dismissal of ACORN's blatant and criminal pattern of fraud is at least intellectually dishonest, if not morally bankrupt, since there's a preponderance of evidence of ACORN voter fraud (see, for starters, John Fund, "A Victory Against Voter Fraud").

But check out Dreier on the Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe ACORN sting:

And what about the prostitute-and-pimp video? It also isn't quite what Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly would have you believe. Two "gotcha" right-wing activists showed up at about 10 ACORN offices hoping to entice low-level staff to provide tax advice for an illegal prostitution ring. In most ACORN offices, the staff kicked the pair out. In a few cities, staffers called the police. In two offices, however, the staff listened and offered to help. That was wrong. But ACORN immediately fired the errant staffers.

Unbelievable, really.

Just yesterday we saw Big Government's release of the Philly video that once again catches the lying ACORN corruption machine red-handed. See, "ACORN Video: Prostitution Scandal in Philadelphia, PA Part I." Plus, see also, "The Media’s Complicity: Analysis of ACORN Coverage."

Professor Dreier is a huge backer of President Obama, and thus he has a natural incentive to try to repudiate the evidence of ACORN's criminal activities and radical socialist programs.

Unfortunately for him, the good professor's own reputation is going down with the criminal outfit he's hopelessly attempting to save.

See also, "Reds, Radicals, Terrorists and Traitors -- Progressives For Obama."

Caught on Tape! Media Matters Totally PWNED - Truth Deficit for ACORN's Katherine Conway Russell!

Once again, the crew at Big Government has totally pwned ACORN and their despicable media enablers. See," **BREAKING** ACORN Video: Prostitution Scandal in Philadelphia, PA Part I."

But what's especially indescribably delicious is Big G's decimation of Media Matters', "Philadelphia ACORN Office Says it Called Police After O'Keefe Asked Suspicious Questions." That post features this video of pathetic liar Katherine Conway Russell, of ACORN's Philadelphia office:

Added Bonus: David Weigel widens his credibility gap even further. See Weigel's "Breitbart, ACORN Foes Release Strange Video of Philadelphia Sting." Actually, the only thing "strange" here is Weigel's pathetic defense of the criminal ACORN enterprise.

More at Memeorandum.

RELATED: Fox News, "Filmmakers Show Video of ACORN 'Sting' in Philadelphia."

Added: Doug Ross, "ACORN and Media Matters Ensnared in Breitbart's Roach Motel."

Anita MonCrief: 'My Conversion From the Far Left to the Conservative Movement'

From the Green Room, "How This Ex-Liberal Found Fortitude and Her Way Home":

Often in interviews I am asked about my conversion from the far left liberal (radical) to the conservative movement and I always think back to first grade. While I had been Catholic all my life, I did not realize it until I went to school. I felt a little lost and very scared. That’s how I feel about blacks and conservatism. I left the church as a young woman, the church never changed but my desire not to live by its rules led me to break free.

Over the years, I have tried and studied other religions but Catholicism is home, and nothing feels like home. As a liberal there was a certain part of me that fought against the world. It was never a fair fight though, because my opinions were set and no amount of proof could change that. As a liberal trying to find her way, I often felt like I was trying on religions again. I didn’t fit in, asked lots of questions and was uneasy about my path. Being lost will do that, only I did not know I was on the wrong path. I channeled that anger at the “system” into art work, I went home at night and tried not to think about the moms living on Section 8 in the “projects” who worried about their kids and still tried to look out for me too. I ignored the feelings of desperation when I talked to my young friends, so full of promise but without an adequate foundation to succeed.

The Democrats seemed to be the answer: social programs, better schools, and politicians who cared. I do think that if I had never seen the other side of community organizing that I would still be blindly following along that same path. Being a conservative gives me hope, and peace. While it has not been easy, I decided to start with what made me love America as a child - its history and Constitution- and go from there. Friends who are still radicals rail at me for loving a country that enslaved us, and I tell them I don’t. I love a country that had the guts to stand up time and time again and right a wrong. A country that is not afraid to pick itself up and start again.

Read the whole thing at the link.

For background, see Anita MonCrief, "ACORN and SEIU: Anatomy of a Shakedown." and the Wall Street Journal, "An Acorn Whistleblower Testifies in Court: The Group's Ties to Obama Are Extensive."

Convicts for Convassing: ACORN Hires Prisoners for Voter Registration Drives

From Weasel Zippers, "Nevada Sec. Of State (D) On ACORN: We Can Prove It's Not Just A Few Bad Apples...It Went Much Higher Up On The Food Chain ...":

See also, "ACORN May Face Trial for First Time as Nevada Prosecutors Allege 'Widespread' Criminal Policies":

When ACORN took to Las Vegas and started playing "Blackjack" and "21," the activist group was making a far bigger gamble than it ever guessed, according to Nevada prosecutors.

There's nothing wrong with playing the tables in Vegas, but authorities say ACORN was using the names of those casino games as a cover to illegally pay workers to sign up voters as part of an illegal quota system.

A preliminary hearing Tuesday in the downtown Clark County courthouse has put ACORN on trial for the first time as a criminal defendant.

Until now, prosecutions for voter registration fraud have focused on ACORN workers, and authorities have secured guilty pleas from several who admitted to falsifying voter registration forms.

But when investigators from Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller's office raided the ACORN Las Vegas office, Ross says they found a paper trail that implicated the ACORN organization itself.

"We came across policy manuals that outline their policy of creating a quota system, which is against the law," Miller told FOX News in an interview. "This, in fact, was something that was widespread and something the organization itself knew about, and it's important to hold the organization criminally accountable as opposed to the individual field directors."

These are not nice people.

New Orleans ACORN-SEIU Property for Sale

From Don Surber, "ACORN for Sale, $835,000":

The big news from Big Government is that the ACORN Headquarters in New Orleans is up for sale. The property was also the home of Local 100 of the SEIU, the union that pushed the presidential candidacy of former ACORN lawyer, Barack Obama.

The IRS and the state filed tax liens of $548,000 and $26,026 against ACORN in New Orleans, Sweetness and Light reported.

The asking price is $835,000. The listing is here.

I just like that campaign ad spot above, "No matter how many people rise to their defense, if ACORN becomes politically toxic … game over. "

Hat Tip: Big Government.

ACORN's Socialist Party Cadres

From Founding Bloggers, "ACORN’s Political Parties and Their Democratic Socialist Patron":

See also, Red State, "Inside The ACORN Rolodex: ACORN Has Its Own Political Party Other Than the Democrats."

Communists Mobilize 'Direct Action' for ObamaCare: 'Aetna is the Real Death Panel'

At the video: Demonstrators are wearing "Medicare for All" t-shirts. Check the website at Health Care for All. Here's the blurb from the YouTube:

The 19 participants, wearing T-shirts with slogans that read Medicare for All and chanting patients, not profits! linked arms and sat down in the lobby of the Aetna building, prompting Aetna employees to step around them on their way into their offices, where insurance claim reviewers are busy looking for ways to deny people the lifesaving treatment that they need. A crowd of supporters picketing outside the building held signs that said "Aetna is the real death panel," and "Single payer now."

And from the neo-Stalinist Democracy Now!, "As Senate Panel Debates Public Option, Groups Take Direct Action to Promote Single Payer" (via Memeorandum):

These are life and death decisions, and their profits should not be coming before patients.

But the overlying message of this is that the healthcare—health insurance industry should not be seen as a solution to our healthcare crisis. They are the cancer of the healthcare crisis. We need a single-payer system. And the band-aid, putting over the cancer, that President Obama and the Democrats are pursuing in Washington is not going to make the situation better. In fact, it’s going to make it worse, because they’re going to empower these insurance companies with hundreds of billions of dollars in annual new revenue by having working people, who can’t even afford to put food on the table in too many kinds, forced to buy private insurance that’s overpriced and a pretty lousy product. It’s amazing that we’re seeing the government forcing people to buy insurance, when the insurance industry is the cause of so much of the problems that we’re facing here.

So, people who want to get involved in this, we’re looking for people to sign up to protest, mobilizeforhealthcare.org, and come there and sign up, whether you’re a patient, whether you’re—want to get involved in this. We’ve had hundreds of people sign up already, and we want hundreds and hundreds more, because this is going to be a national campaign.

And here's the lineup of affiliated groups, at Healthcare for All:

INITIATING GROUPS: Healthcare-NOW!, Prosperity Agenda, Center for the Working Poor

ENDORSING GROUPS: Progressive Democrats of America, AfterDowningStreet.org

Socialists, communists, and union goons. These folks wanted death panels for Bush/Cheney.

And despite the disclaimer, they're totally in the tank for Barack Obama, demonizing everyday Americans who work hard, pay the bills, and support the system. Recall Gallup's survey out today, for example, "Gallup: 61 Percent Say Health Insurance is Personal Responsibility."

See also, the New York Times, "17 Held in Protest Outside Health Insurer’s Offices."

Gallup: 61 Percent Say Health Insurance is Personal Responsibility

Maybe this will put a damper on this week's spin that the public option is alive (here and here). From Gallup, "Many in U.S. See Health Insurance as Personal Responsibility":

In a recent Gallup survey, 89% of Republicans, 64% of independents, and 61% of Americans overall say Americans themselves -- rather than the government -- have the primary responsibility for ensuring that they have health insurance. Six in 10 Democrats say the government should be primarily responsible.

Read the whole thing (via Memeorandum). Importantly, the report notes that question wording significantly influences public support for a government-run insurance program. And mostly, folks aren't buying the hard left's moral case for a massive overhaul of America's healthcare system. As Jennifer Rubin notes, "Americans might like the government to help out, but the notion that government is defective in some regard unless it becomes their health-care provider is not catching on."

Patrick Gaspard's ACORN Connection: The Cover-Up Begins

Here's Ben Smith, at the Politico:

I hate to put a damper on the day's firestorm on the right over a White House staffer, but an American Spectator report making the rounds this morning that White House political director Patrick Gaspard used to work for ACORN in New York just isn't true.

But Matthew Vadum responds, "The Politico Gets Played By ACORN":

The Politico's Ben Smith is a living case study showing what happens when sincere, well-meaning journalists write about something they do not understand.

ACORN, quite predictably, claims Patrick Gaspard who is now an extremely close advisor to President Obama, didn't work for it.

Smith just got played by ACORN -- big time.

Read the whole thing, at the link.

The White House has denied that Gaspard worked for ACORN.

And conveniently, Wade Rathke, the ACORN founder, who was forced out following his brother Dale Rathke's embezzlement scandal, has updated a blog post to deny that Gaspard was employed by ACORN:

My “friends” on the right seem to be using me as a source for an attack at yet another new target: Patrick Gaspard, political director at the White House.

I have huge admiration for Patrick and have enjoyed my dealings with him over the years. In almost 1400 blogs I’ve done, sometimes I don’t get it right, call it a senior moment or whatever it might be, but reading the blogsphere with me as a source took me back searching for whether or not I could be causing a problem here inadvertently. Patrick was never on the staff of ACORN. I double checked with people I still know there, and it appears that I dropped a stitch there. Hopefully my misstatement won’t lead to the White House throwing him in front of the bus in this rush to neo-McCarthyism that has become so prominent. In this case, my memory tricked me. I’m glad to carry the weight and simply say I made a mistake, and damned if I’m not sorry and hope no damage is done to a good man doing a hard job.

Hmm. "Dropped a stitch"? That's a good one.

But notice this damning revision, from Rathke's May 16th post "SEIU's Good Obama Bet":

Furthermore this is big time stuff not just petty backroom deals and the Obama administration is getting way more than a bang for its buck in the partnership as well. The big news this week at the centerpiece of saving the Obama health care reform initiative was the announcement by some of the big healthcare operators that they would deliver MEGA-SAVINGS to help make the health care reform happen. Not surprisingly Andy Stern was there along with Dennis Rivera, head of SEIU’s health care division, and they were the only labor leaders there for good reason. Buried in the story in the New York Times lead report that day was the following sentence: “Dennis Rivera, coordinator of the health care campaign of the Service Employees International Union, led efforts to bring the industry groups together, with help from Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform.” Dennis delivered for SEIU and the White House in only the way that he can. Tell me that 1199’s former political director, Patrick Gaspard (EDIT: This line used to contain a reference to Patrick Gaspard working for NY ACORN. This is untrue, he never worked for ACORN. To see Wade’s correction: http://tinyurl.com/y9bscr8) didn’t reach out from the White House and help make that happen, and I’ll tell you to take some remedial classes in “politics 101.”

That tiny url (in italics) takes you back to the post cited above with the italicized block quote, as seen originally at Rathke's page ("Getting Leveraged on Heath Care"). The "1199" is SEIU Local 1199. It is cited by CEO Bertha Lewis, in a letter to the Nation co-authored with Patrick Gaspard, as an ACORN-affiliated local union. See, "Run WFP Run! Run WFP Run!":

Doug Ireland's offhand comments about the Working Families Party's role in the upcoming municipal elections in New York City were inaccurate and hurtful ....

Speaking for two affiliates of the WFP -- ACORN and SEIU/1199 -- I say that this is dead wrong.

Matthew Vadum has quoted the entire letter at his piece, "The Politico Gets Played By ACORN" (in case of some memory-hole action).

See also Stanley Kurtz's post from yesterday, "Patrick Gaspard, ACORN, and Obama":

There’s been a good deal of attention to ACORN of late, and deservedly so. Yet for all the fuss, what is arguably the most important Obama-ACORN tie of all has gotten short shrift. During the 2008 election, Obama’s close links to the far-left New Party were revealed and explored (although not by the mainstream press). Yet many seem to have forgotten that the New Party, particularly in Chicago, was dominated by ACORN (and by an ACORN-controlled SEIU union local). During the campaign, I detailed Obama’s New Party ties in two pieces, "Something New Here," and "Life of the New Party." Important evidence of Obama’s pursuit of the New Party endorsement can also be found in the September-October 1995 issue of "New Ground," newsletter of the Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Obama’s New Party ties matter because they show that his links to ACORN went far beyond shared on-the-ground organizing, legal representation, training, or even funding (although all of those ties existed and were important). By running for office with the New Party, Obama was effectively indicating that he shared ACORN’s radical political goals.

So it’s of interest that in late 1995, just as Obama was seeking New Party endorsement in Chicago, Patrick Gaspard was working as a New Party organizer in New Jersey. (This was reported in "Jersey Man Hopes to Create Third Political Party," NPR, "Morning Edition, " September 28, 1995). Then, in the July 2, 2001 issue of "The Nation," Gaspard and Bertha Lewis jointly published a reply to a June 4 Nation article by Doug Ireland which had been critical of the New York’s Working Families Party (a successor to the New Party, led by New Party co-founder Dan Cantor, and largely controlled by ACORN and the SEIU). In the course of their letter, Gaspard and Lewis describe their extensive joint involvement in Working Families Party activities. The letter is signed: "Bertha Lewis, ACORN, WFP; Patrick Gaspard, SEIU State Council, WFP." This does seem to confirm and extend the new evidence of a close political tie between Patrick Gaspard and ACORN’s Bertha Lewis.

No doubt, some will dismiss the newly revealed connections between the Obama administration, Patrick Gaspard, Bertha Lewis, and ACORN as "guilt by association." Yet it seems to me that the evidence points to something more significant than that. We are talking about a persistent and shared political-ideological alliance between President Obama and the complex of community, labor, and party organizations controlled by ACORN.

More at the link.

Image Credit: The People's Cube, "ACORN: Honesty is Not Going to Get You the House." See also, Michelle Malkin, "ACORN Watch: “Honesty is Not Going to Get You the House”."

Deliver Us Obama: Community Organizers Pray to President

From World Net Daily, a retrospective look at the ObamaMessiah: "Community Organizers 'Pray' to President: 'Hear Our Cry. Hear Our Cry. Deliver Us'." This creepshow is totally predictable. Recall the Oliphant cartoon from the campaign. The video's below, via Nice Deb. See also, Michelle Malkin, "Creepy O-cult Video of the Day: “Deliver Us, Obama!."

See also: Atlas Shrugs, The Blog Prof, Gateway Pundit, HotAirPundit, RedState, and Sundries Shack. (Via Memeorandum.)

Added: The Snooper Report, "Why Are the DEMOCRAT "Christians" Allowed to Combine Church and State?"

Patrick Gaspard: ACORN's Man in the White House

From Matthew Vadum, "ACORN's Man in the White House":

Newly discovered evidence shows the radical advocacy group ACORN has a man in the Obama White House.

This power behind the throne is longtime ACORN operative Patrick Gaspard. He holds the title of White House political affairs director, the same title Karl Rove held in President Bush's White House.

Evidence shows that years before he joined the Obama administration, Gaspard was ACORN boss Bertha Lewis's political director in New York.

Lewis, the current "chief organizer" or CEO of ACORN, was head of New York ACORN from at least 1994 through 2008, when she took over as national leader of ACORN. With Gaspard at work in the White House, Lewis might as well be speaking to President Obama through an earpiece as he goes about his daily business ruining the country.

Erick Erickson of the website RedState recently did an excellent job explaining the relationship of Gaspard to Lewis and President Obama so I won't take up space here recalling all his valuable insights. Suffice it to say Erickson reported that Gaspard figures prominently in Lewis's rolodex, which Erickson has in his possession.

Skeptics among you may ask, How do we actually know the low-profile Gaspard, who prefers to work outside the public spotlight and who can hardly be found in Nexis searches at all, was Lewis's right hand man?

Because Gaspard's employment with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is acknowledged by no less an authority than ACORN founder Wade Rathke himself. Rathke writes at his blog:

Tell me that 1199's former political director, Patrick Gaspard (who was ACORN New York's political director before that) didn't reach out from the White House and help make that happen, and I'll tell you to take some remedial classes in "politics 101."

The "before that" time period Rathke is referring to is 2003 when Gaspard was executive vice president for political and legislative affairs for 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. According to publicly available disclosure documents, Gaspard registered as a federal lobbyist for SEIU on Oct. 22, 2007. The registration and subsequent disclosures indicate he lobbied Congress on SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Incidentally, the lines between ACORN and radical left-wing SEIU, whose acronym stands for Service Employees International Union, become fuzzy in places.

SEIU Locals 100 and 880 are part of the ACORN network of organizations. Local 100 in New Orleans is headed by Rathke. SEIU Local 880 in Chicago is headed by longtime ACORN insider Keith Kelleher.

You'd never know about the SEIU connection from visiting ACORN's website, www.acorn.org. That's because the website has been receiving a thorough scrubbing in recent months. On ACORN's affiliated organizations page, references to the two SEIU locals mysteriously disappeared.

It's worth noting that Gaspard's ties to ACORN, SEIU, and Lewis go way back.

Read the whole thing, at the link.

Also, at the Wall Street Journal, "Bank Pulls Back From Acorn Work" (via Memeorandum).

Canadians Push for 'Private Option'

A great report at today's Los Angeles Times, "In Canada, a Move Toward a Private Healthcare Option":

When the pain in Christina Woodkey's legs became so severe that she could no long hike or cross-country ski, she went to her local health clinic. The Calgary, Canada, resident was told she'd need to see a hip specialist. Because the problem was not life-threatening, however, she'd have to wait about a year.

So wait she did.

In January, the hip doctor told her that a narrowing of the spine was compressing her nerves and causing the pain. She needed a back specialist. The appointment was set for Sept. 30. "When I was given that date, I asked when could I expect to have surgery," said Woodkey, 72. "They said it would be a year and a half after I had seen this doctor."

So this month, she drove across the border into Montana and got the $50,000 surgery done in two days.

"I don't have insurance. We're not allowed to have private health insurance in Canada," Woodkey said. "It's not going to be easy to come up with the money. But I'm happy to say the pain is almost all gone."

Whereas U.S. healthcare is predominantly a private system paid for by private insurers, things in Canada tend toward the other end of the spectrum: A universal, government-funded health system is only beginning to flirt with private-sector medicine.

Hoping to capitalize on patients who might otherwise go to the U.S. for speedier care, a network of technically illegal private clinics and surgical centers has sprung up in British Columbia, echoing a trend in Quebec. In October, the courts will be asked to decide whether the budding system should be sanctioned.

More than 70 private health providers in British Columbia now schedule simple surgeries and tests such as MRIs with waits as short as a week or two, compared with the months it takes for a public surgical suite to become available for nonessential operations.

"What we have in Canada is access to a government, state-mandated wait list," said Brian Day, a former Canadian Medical Assn. director who runs a private surgical center in Vancouver. "You cannot force a citizen in a free and democratic society to simply wait for healthcare, and outlaw their ability to extricate themselves from a wait list."

Read the whole thing, here.

I'm surprised, frankly, that the Times' editors even ran this piece. The paper's been one of the country's biggest journalistic shills for ObamaCare. When I reported on the massive Adam Schiff town hall in August - which was the lead story on that night's local ABC News broadcast - the Times competely ignored the story in the next day's paper. Instead, we saw a tearjerker piece on the massive free healthcare clinic at the L.A. Forum. I'm putting the Los Angeles Times practically in the same category as its New York Times counterpart. See, "The New York Times ACORN Cover-Up; or, How the Right-Roots Brings Down the Old Grey Lady." Once in a while, some fair-minded journalism gets through, like today's piece on Canada above. Otherwise, it's pretty frustrating reading the newspaper in the mornings.

The New York Times ACORN Cover-Up; or, How the Right-Roots Brings Down the Old Grey Lady

After reading Michelle Malkin's post, it just occurred to me that the utter hugeness of the ACORN scandal - which is turning into nothing less than Obama's Nixonian cover-up extravaganza - may well mean that the rightroots blogosphere will ultimately bring down the New York Times. Michelle's responding to Clark Hoyt's explanatory mea culpa for the Times' utter cluelessness, "Tuning In Too Late." See the responses at Memeorandum as well. The New York Times is still often referred to as America's "unofficial newspaper of record." But for most people, the partisan bias there is just intolerable. I wrote about this last fall during the campaign. We no longer have an independent press. See, "Obama's Media: The Return of the Partisan Press." Michelle also posts her article from last fall, and it's worth citing here just for the power of posterity: "What's Missing From the New York Times Coverage of ACORN."

Also, Anita MonCrief, who is discussed by Michelle above, has a new piece up at Big Government. See, "ACORN and SEIU: Anatomy of a Shakedown." Plus, check Memeorandum for the latest developments.

Breitbart's Rules for Radicals

Kathryn Jean Lopez is a little late to this party, but her essay gives me an excuse to run this Hannah Giles interview with Sean Hannity at the same time. Here's this from K-Lo, "Rules for Counter-Radicals: Andrew Breitbart, Internet Juggernaut":

Something happened as folks on the right sat around waiting for Sarah Palin’s next Facebook post, wondering who the next Ronald Reagan would be. Something happened while folks debated death panels, what Rush Limbaugh said at noon that MSNBC or Rahm Emanuel is up in arms about. Something happened while the president of the United States planned his strategy for getting a Washington his party runs to sign up for his health-care revolution.

The stuff of which media revolutions are made happened.

The Left rules, you could still argue. But that’s in spite of being Left. Barack Obama ran for president downplaying his left-wing ideology and record, instead talking vaguely about “hope” and “change” and even invoking Ronald Reagan.

You’ve seen the tea parties. You saw the march. Now you’ve seen inside the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).

Andrew Breitbart, born and raised online, has been a longtime collaborator with web wonder Matt Drudge. Always a behind-the-scenes mover, he’s come out of the shadows a bit with his own websites, Breitbart, Big Hollywood, and Big Government— taking the Rules for Radicals and Radical Change and running with them.For as long as I can remember, the Right — most notably the Capital Research Center — has been writing about ACORN. And, for as long as I can remember, ACORN has gotten government funding anyway.

For as long as I can remember, churches naively gave them money anyway. As recently as this summer, we exposed the ties of the Democratic party and its nominee to this community-organizing organization, its radical anti-capitalism and its voter fraud.

But what it really took was a cartoonish pimp-and-prostitute sting operation. A guy and a gal with a hidden camera and a website willing to publish. By now you know the story. When asked how to skirt the law and establish a brothel, representatives of ACORN offered them advice — a gift to the Right that for so long has wanted to take them down. Want to know how to get on welfare? James O’Keefe III, portraying a pimp who sought to traffic in foreign children, got advice, with Hannah Giles, portraying a prostitute, by his side. Want to cheat the tax system? ACORN provided this advice, too. Public housing? ACORN helped! And always make sure to have a tin for hiding the profit, they added.

More at the link (via Memeorandum).

See my earlier reports as well, "American Power: ACORN, NEA, and Andrew Breitbart's PWNING of MSM," and "Two Cheers for Andrew Breitbart."

Related: "ACORN Circles the Wagons: Our Staffers 'Are Victims'."

Dr. Denise King, N.J. School Principal and Long-Time Obama Supporter, Won't Apologize for Student Indoctrination

From Fox News, "N.J. Principal Unapologetic for Videotape of Kids Praising Obama, Parents Say":

The principal of a New Jersey elementary school where young students were videotaped singing the praises of President Obama is making no apologies for the videotape and says she would allow the performance again if she could, according to parents who spoke with her Thursday night.

Three parents told FOXNews.com that Dr. Denise King, principal of B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, N.J., defended the controversial performance, which was videotaped and posted on YouTube, when they approached her during a "Back to School" event.

Parent Jim Angelillo said King told him the lesson was merely part of Black History month, and not an attempt to indoctrinate students, as critics have charged. He said he believes teachers have the freedom to express their political views, but not in the classroom.

"Freedom of speech, not freedom to teach," Angelillo told FOXNews.com.

King has long been a fan of Obama, hanging pictures of the president in her school's hallways and touting her trip to his inauguration in the school yearbook.

Included in the full-page yearbook spread were Obama campaign slogans ("Yes we can! Yes we did!") and photos King took in Washington on Jan. 20, when she attended the inauguration.

There also were photos taken at the school depicting students doing Obama-themed activities about their "hopes for the future," featuring posters of Obama. According to the yearbook, students watched the inauguration in class.

Parents said Elvira James, the teacher of the class that was videotaped, also seemed to be promoting Obama.

"She praised him, she put pictures on the walls," said Jim Pronchick, whose 8-year-old son, Jimmy, was in James' class last year. "When he won (the election) they really went off."

Leslie Gibson, who has two children at the school, said she was "shocked" at the videotape, adding that political beliefs, like religious views, should be kept at home. She also said King made a "big deal" about her attendance at the inauguration.

"Throughout the school, there were signs posted supporting Barack Obama quite a bit," Gibson told FOXNews.com. "I understand it's a historical event, but on the same token, I like politics to be left at home and I think she should follow that as well."

Attempts to reach King on Friday were unsuccessful. A recording at the school said its mailbox was full and could not accept new messages.

For the "student praise" YouTube, see Snooper Report, "Czars. Big Government. ACORN. Big Labor. Treasury Dept. Schools." Also, Right Wing Fanatic, "Elementary School Students Taught to Sing Praises of President Obama."

Image Credit: Left Coast Rebel, "Principal at Bernice Young Elementary Not Apologizing - Says she Would do it Again."