news-record.com

Thanks, Mick. That's a broad brush you're painting us with. Two kids with a camera can scoop anyone these days. That's really not anything to be ashamed of.

If that occurred here or nearby here, we'd care a lot more and give the story more prominence. Heck, didn't you read the disapproval on this blog for our not putting Sen. Kennedy's death on the front page?

They should be happy you're not doing in-depth reporting on this story, then they'd have to suffer through the allegations that the two activists were turned away from multiple offices, had the police called on then at least once, are being threatened with a lawsuit by ACORN, and that they allegedly violated wiretapping laws in the process of it all.

Doesn't quite look the same after that.

But hey, if you want to give me a blogging position outside of the paper proper, I'd be happy to cover national events here. Plenty of sample work available on request.

"Point and case, Wilson stoned! He told the truth, even though, I disagree with what he done!"

Not so much. This is from non-partisan Politifact.com:

Obama said, "The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally," which Wilson said was a "lie." Actually, Obama can make a pretty thorough case that reform doesn't apply to those here illegally. We don't find the public option argument enough to make the case that Obama "lied." We rate Wilson's statement False.

They went through it pretty thoroughly themselves, it's a good read: http://bit.ly/LOqZg

Pretty much everyone agrees that the illegal immigrant angle is a GOP scare tactic with absolutely no merit.

Wait a second, ah, yes, there's a heartbeat. Thank goodness. You had me worried there, for a moment.

Not sure what you mean about Jay Leno. I agree ACORN is more important than the ratings for his show. So, we ran a two-paragraph item about Leno on page A9 so it wasn't a huge amount of space that it took up.

Blackwater? Never heard of them. They must not be local. Were they in the Times?

Seriously, if you can't see that bias (on both sides) affects the way that Blackwater and ACORN are covered in the press, you're just not looking.

crenshaw, I agree with the way you framed the taxpayer concern regarding ACORN. Also, not to mention the that a sitting PRESIDENT has such close ties and roots in ACORN. This is by all means a BIG BIG story. Again, I would like to see N-R to at least check into where this group is operating in NC and what they are up to. No more, no less.

Since they aren't and weren't getting $8 billion from anything, anywhere, that answer would be a resounding no.

Mick,

Toast? ACORN has been around 39 years, it isn't going anywhere. I would be surprised in fact if the $1.2-1.5 million they got from the federal government each year isn't made up for by philanthropists by the end of the year. We're talking about an organization with nearly 400,000 members spread across five different countries that has been fighting predatory lending practices, advocating for higher wages, assisting poor and minorities register to vote (gee, what a shock that would make them an enemy of conservatives, who could have seen that one coming?), and assisting in disaster relief -- where were conservatives during Katrina? ACORN was there -- for decades.

It obviously has problems, but what organization with 400,000 members doesn't have a few bad apples? I'm not even sure I see why this is such a big deal. It's not like you can't go to any lawyer in the country and ask questions on how to evade taxes and bend the law and get all the help you could possibly want, should you be able to afford it.

For its few faults, ACORN is a credit to the American spirit of helping the disadvantaged through volunteerism -- yet another thing conservatives hate.

Cutting off their funding was the result of a bunch of cowards on the hill caving to the right so that the right will stop being mean to them, which makes sense because that always works out so well.

ACORN could use some reform, but overall it's a tribute to America that needs our support, not GOP hate and fear.

As for astroturfing, come on, do you even know what that means? Astroturfing is when you pretend to be a concerned supporter of something, pretend to represent a group or policy that you actually oppose, and then oppose it. An example of this are the fake clean energy companies that purport to support clean energy initiatives but are strongly concerned about the affect such legislation will have on regular Americans, and end up throwing up roadblocks.

Dig deep enough and you'll find they are funded by companies like Exxon Mobile that strongly oppose all clean energy recitatives, not because they care about America, but because it'll dent their hundreds of billions in profit.

That's astroturfing, and I don't see how it applies to ACORN in any form.

And finally, Van Jones left because he became a point of distraction. He fell on his sword for the President so that the President could push forward with his green job agenda. The guy, truther or not, should be given a freaking medal for his sacrifice. He should have stood up to the crazies who were attacking them, but his honor got the best of him and he put country first.

The right could learn a lot from what that guy did.

Why dont you inquire as to how readership is going? Do you think it is "up" recently. Perhaps some folks have already taken your advice.

Granted, there are inumerable and varied challenges facing the print media today. But to disallow ideological problems is ludicrous.