So a conservertard makes a heavily edited video smearing an organisation which helps the poor and as a result it loses funding and is forced to close. I most probably wouldn't have remembered this, but I was holidaying in the US at the time and I remember this being on the news.In 2009, a series of videos were released in which workers at several offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) appeared to advise a young couple on how to hide prostitution activities and avoid taxes, resulting in news media and political uproar. The videos, which were recorded secretly by conservative activists Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe (the "young couple"), were released on Fox News and the website BigGovernment.com from September into November 2009. They quickly generated widespread, negative publicity for ACORN, a non-profit organization involved in voter registration, community organizing and advocacy for low- and moderate-income people for nearly 40 years. O'Keefe explained in September 2009 that he "targeted ACORN for the same reasons that the political right does: its massive voter registration drives".[1] The U.S. Census Bureau and the IRS ended contracts with the organization, and the U.S. Congress voted to suspend its funding to ACORN. Soon ACORN also lost most of its private funding, despite several independent investigations that by December 2009 began to reveal no criminal activity by ACORN staff had taken place. ACORN filed for Chapter 7 liquidation on November 2, 2010, effectively closing the organization.[2]
Independent investigations were made by state attorneys general of Massachusetts and California, and the U.S. Attorney of Brooklyn, New York; their reports were released beginning in December 2009 and extending through April 2010. The attorney general's office in Massachusetts and the U.S. Attorney for Brooklyn concluded that the ACORN workers had committed no criminal activity and that the videos were "heavily edited" to present material out of context and create a misleading impression of activities.
The California Attorney General granted immunity to O'Keefe and Giles in exchange for their raw videos shot at three California ACORN offices. Its comparison of the raw videos with the released versions found that the published videos had been heavily edited to misrepresent the workers and the situations so as to suggest criminal intent and activity.[10][11][12][13] The California report was followed by one by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which reported there was no evidence that ACORN workers had misused government funds or participated in the criminal activities represented in the videos.[14][15] But, ACORN was effectively destroyed by then.[
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2 ... dia-yawns/
An article about conservatives lying is about the same as an article about the sky being blue. However an article where at least some of them have to pay for their slander at least shows that some justice is prevailing. Hopefully this guy gets hit with more civil lawsuits.OP/ED | 3/08/2013 @ 3:32PM |5,127 views
James O'Keefe Pays $100,000 To ACORN Employee He Smeared-Conservative Media Yawns
Remember James O’Keefe?
That would be the same James O’Keefe who brought down community organizing and voter registration organization ACORN in his march to becoming a conservative icon for his alleged ‘good works’.
Matthew Phelan and Liz Farkas over at Wonkette have broken the story about the first bit of blowback resulting from O’Keefe’s brand of ‘journalism’.
It seems that the master of the cleverly edited—if highly deceptive—video reel is now being required to pay the sum of $100,000 to Juan Carlos Vera, a one time California employee of ACORN. Mr. Vera had been portrayed by O’Keefe as being a willing participant when O’Keefe and his accomplice, Hanna Giles, proposed smuggling young women into the United States to work as prostitutes.
While Mr. Vera had no idea he was being surreptitiously video taped—which is not surprising given that California law expressly bars the secret recording of one’s voice or image—there was also something Mr. O’Keefe did not know until after he released the damaging video of his conversation with Vera for broadcast.
As soon as O’Keefe and his partner-in-crime left the ACORN location, Mr. Vera called the police to report the entire incident. It turns out that Vera had been playing along with O’Keefe in an effort to ensnare O’Keefe and Giles whom Vera believed were in the act of breaking the law by proposing to engage in the importing of young women to become prostitutes.
Oops.
As part of the settlement, Mr. O’Keefe was required to say that he “regrets any pain” he caused Mr. Vera—although I have some doubts as to whether O’Keefe has been losing any sleep over his illegal behavior and the harm he did to Mr. Vera.
Why might I feel that way?
Because Mr. O’Keefe’s lawyer—Los Angeles attorney Michael Madigan—wasted no time in characterizing the $100,000 payment as a “nuisance settlement.” Apparently, when releasing videos smearing an innocent man by suggesting he is willing to participate in the flesh trade turns out to do that individual serious damage, it counts as nothing more than a nuisance to Mr. O’Keefe and his attorney.
A report issued by the California Attorney General in 2010 revealed that O’Keefe and Giles were given immunity from prosecution (a serious mistake in my opinion) in exchange for turning over the complete and unedited tapes that O’Keefe shot in Los Angeles, San Francisco and National City where O’Keefe worked his magic on Juan Carlos Vera.
The AG’s report highlighted how Mr. O’Keefe edited his videos to appear as if he was engaging in his ACORN hi-jinks wearing “stereotypical 1970’s pimp garb”, the intent being to suggest that ACORN employees would willingly do business with someone dressed in this manner. However, it turns out that O’Keefe was actually wearing a coat and tie when he entered the ACORN offices. The report also stated that ACORN employees “may be able to bring a private suit against O’Keefe and Giles for recording a confidential conversation.”
Here’s hoping that Mr. Vera is but the first of many to take advantage of the opportunity to bring such a legal action.
Oddly, a Google scan revealed no coverage of the settlement in Breitbart.com or any of the other conservative media who so enjoyed Mr. O’Keefe’s exploits.
Go figure.
