ihollywoodchina.com

In 1794, President George Washington sent Federal troops into western Pennsylvania to deal with an uprising known as the Whiskey Rebellion. The significance of President Washington’s action is that it

1.strengthened the power of local and state governments
2.forced Congress to pass the Bill of Rights
3.showed the strength of the Federal Government under the Constitution
4.weakened the power of the Federal Government to collect sales taxes

As Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton was most noted for

1.devising a plan to pay off the nation’s debts
2.beginning a system to tax exports
3.arranging necessary loans from European nations
4.raising revenue from the sale of western lands

When John Marshall was Chief Justice, the Supreme Court’s interpretations of the Constitution gave power to the

1.Congress to override a Presidential veto
2.Supreme Court to declare acts of Congress and state laws unconstitutional
3.House of Representatives to impeach the President
4.President to veto a bill

question 1
3 using federal troops is a show of force

Q2
I am not sure I think he was all about making a national bank
so 1 he paid off the national debt by creating national bank

Q3
2

No daily Viagra dose, no peace! Philly transit workers Rise Up in protest

The striking union of transit workers in Philadelphia are angry that they’re not getting daily doses of Viagra. And amazingly, their bosses apparently caved on their demands after the union turned down a generous offer — and threatened to embarrass the city during the World Series.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has agreed to cover almost all of its rising health-care costs, and to increase coverage for Pfizer’s (PFE) Viagra and other erectile dysfunction treatments, the Philadelphia Daily News reports. Workers are unhappy that their health insurance plan only covers about 10 pills a month.

With the exception of Playboy (PLA) founder Hugh Hefner — who must be buying his little blue pills wholesale — most patients are prescribed a hand full of erectile dysfunction pills at a time. Doctors — legitimate ones, with offices and licenses — know that these pills are almost as popular on the Internet as Paris Hilton’s sex tape, and most don’t encourage patients to make a few extra bucks by dealing it.

Many customers do deal it, of course. In 2006, a SEPTA employee was caught trying to illegally obtain nearly 40 Viagra prescriptions. This new benefit will no doubt renew that entrepreneurial spirit among some employees.

The Viagra issue may seem silly, but the SEPTA strike is not. The authority serves a metropolitan region with 325 million riders a year. Fiscal 2009 revenue was $456.6 million. Like many public transit services, it’s pretty lousy, but it’s a vital link for residents throughout the Philadelphia area, and the strike has paralyzed the Delaware Valley for four days.

Last night, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Rep. Bob Brady announced a tentative agreement in the four-day old strike. It’s a sweet deal. The five-year pact would provide for a $1,250 bonus upon ratification — which may come tonight — a 2.5% raise in the second year, and a 3% raise in each of the final three years. Workers’ health-insurance contributions will remain at 1% of base pay, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Given the terms granted to the pharmaceutically emboldened employees, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Karen Heller dryly noted that commuters should be worried that "every bus, trolley, and subway route has the potential to turn into an express, particularly during those problematic four-hour peaks in service." ¡Viva Viagra!

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/07/no-viagra-no-peace-philly-transit-workers-rise-up-in-protest/
Thanks. You have to admit those benifits are hard to beat.

Horny Goat Weed is cheaper and safer.

Lets hear it for the great state of Pennsylvania……They are working on figuring out how to tax the air we breathe! No seriously, yesterday, Department of Revenue sited 100 flea market vendors for not paying sales taxes! Can you believe that? When will this ever end.

They stated that yard sales are not taxable as there is no competition. But flea market vendors, you know the ones outside with tables selling household goods and clothing they no longer need, can be taxed. Now, we need a license to be a vendor and pay taxes to the almighty department of revenue.

You know, most vendors are just general individuals. We are not rich. Just trying to make a couple extra bucks to help our kid in college, pay our electric bill or even put gas in our vehicle. Major money is never made at these flea markets by your general vendor.

I have been a vendor a couple times, just clearing out a room when my kids moved out and had all this extra stuff I didnt need, but thought someone else might use it. Nothing on the table was over $5.00 and I never sold out. But now, unless I have a license to sell my used stuff, I am at risk to be fined, as agents sited vendors on the spot this past week.

When will this ever end folks. So, any comments on whether or not they should be taxed or not.
Yeah, I know those vendors that have those "knock off" products. I walk right past them at flea markets, because frankly, I see the same items at the same price at my local store.

I do not make a living at this at all. Just getting rid of things in my house I no longer need. When I walk around I see many other vendors just like me. Getting rid of what they dont need. Not making a living, just having a good time talking to people as they walk by and many times I give little stuffed animals to the children that are with parents that are customers. Now, I gotta get a license or get fined. The government ruines everything.

No, vendors such as you describe should not be taxed. Our liberal friends never met a tax they didn’t like. Ever seen one lowered or abolished? Me neither. Until we get rid of the tax-spend individuals in all levels of government, they will continue to steal, misspend, and tax us just as much as we will permit. We can make a difference through voting. Bottom line is, as a society, we get the government we deserve.

Federal authorities say the temp agency that supplied an East Stroudsburg factory with undocumented workers in 2007 is involved in an extensive and complicated web of fraud.

They say, in court papers, that H&T Staffing Services, operating under that and other, similar names in Pennsylvania, fraudulently raked in nearly $2.5 million in one year.

Links
Pocono Record: Coverage of the Iridium Illegal Immigrant Raid People involved in the staffing company have been brought through United States Middle District Court of Pennsylvania ever since the June 2007 raid of Iridium Industries in East Stroudsburg.

During the raid at the plastic-container plant, 81 illegal immigrants were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Iridium was not charged in connection with the raid.

The court is currently considering the case of Can Thach. Thach was indicted in September through a joint investigation by ICE, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Pennsylvania State Police.

According to the indictment:

•Thach and others owned, managed and operated labor-leasing or temporary employment companies in Pennsylvania using the name H&T Staffing Services and variations of that name.
•H&T supplied workers to various companies, although Iridium Industries’ Artube division is the only business named in court papers. Iridium paid H&T for the workers provided, and then H&T paid themselves and the workers. At least some of the Iridium workers came through a Wilkes-Barre office of H&T.
•Thach and others cashed checks from Iridum and other companies at check-cashing businesses in Philadelphia. Workers were paid in cash, under the table.
•H&T filed false unemployment compensation and Internal Revenue Service forms to hide that the business employed illegal aliens. "This resulted in significant loss to both the Pennsylvania unemployment compensation fund and the United States Medicare Trust Fund," the indictment said.
•Thach and others are accused of omitting the names of illegals on quarterly forms required by the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Program. Instead, they used names of family members and friends who did not work for the business, in order to give the business the air of legitimacy, according to the indictment.

Through the unemployment scheme, H&T defrauded the program out of more than $100,000 in taxes, interests and penalties.

Five tax forms were sent to the IRS with false statements, claiming H&T had a small number of employees. The business failed to pay the required Medicare withholdings contributions for employees, resulting in $67,000 in loss to Medicare.

Thach will go on trial in December for conspiracy to commit money laundering and fraud, false statements related to health care matters and transporting illegal aliens.

H&T was more involved in workers’ lives than typical employment agencies. The company transported workers to and from the job. Using profits from the scheme, H&T purchased properties, at least one in Stroudsburg, then harbored illegals in some of the properties, charging them rent.

In November 2008, H&T Staffing owner Jimmy Nguyen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud state and local governments. Nguyen was sentenced to 70 months in prison. When he gets out, he must repay the nearly $214,000 he owed to the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Program and $345,000 to the U.S. Medicare Trust Fund.

Sufini Alisaito, Hardy Ko and Hew Deng Kong pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport illegal aliens in connection to the immigration raid. They were each sentenced to two years supervised release.

Details on the accused in the case are sparse because many of the documents are sealed.
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091024/NEWS/910240348

yep, cant tax them if you dont know they are here

Federal authorities say the temp agency that supplied an East Stroudsburg factory with undocumented workers in 2007 is involved in an extensive and complicated web of fraud.

They say, in court papers, that H&T Staffing Services, operating under that and other, similar names in Pennsylvania, fraudulently raked in nearly $2.5 million in one year.

Links
Pocono Record: Coverage of the Iridium Illegal Immigrant Raid People involved in the staffing company have been brought through United States Middle District Court of Pennsylvania ever since the June 2007 raid of Iridium Industries in East Stroudsburg.

During the raid at the plastic-container plant, 81 illegal immigrants were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Iridium was not charged in connection with the raid.

The court is currently considering the case of Can Thach. Thach was indicted in September through a joint investigation by ICE, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Pennsylvania State Police.

According to the indictment:

•Thach and others owned, managed and operated labor-leasing or temporary employment companies in Pennsylvania using the name H&T Staffing Services and variations of that name.
•H&T supplied workers to various companies, although Iridium Industries’ Artube division is the only business named in court papers. Iridium paid H&T for the workers provided, and then H&T paid themselves and the workers. At least some of the Iridium workers came through a Wilkes-Barre office of H&T.
•Thach and others cashed checks from Iridum and other companies at check-cashing businesses in Philadelphia. Workers were paid in cash, under the table.
•H&T filed false unemployment compensation and Internal Revenue Service forms to hide that the business employed illegal aliens. "This resulted in significant loss to both the Pennsylvania unemployment compensation fund and the United States Medicare Trust Fund," the indictment said.
•Thach and others are accused of omitting the names of illegals on quarterly forms required by the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Program. Instead, they used names of family members and friends who did not work for the business, in order to give the business the air of legitimacy, according to the indictment.

Through the unemployment scheme, H&T defrauded the program out of more than $100,000 in taxes, interests and penalties.

Five tax forms were sent to the IRS with false statements, claiming H&T had a small number of employees. The business failed to pay the required Medicare withholdings contributions for employees, resulting in $67,000 in loss to Medicare.

Thach will go on trial in December for conspiracy to commit money laundering and fraud, false statements related to health care matters and transporting illegal aliens.

H&T was more involved in workers’ lives than typical employment agencies. The company transported workers to and from the job. Using profits from the scheme, H&T purchased properties, at least one in Stroudsburg, then harbored illegals in some of the properties, charging them rent.

In November 2008, H&T Staffing owner Jimmy Nguyen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud state and local governments. Nguyen was sentenced to 70 months in prison. When he gets out, he must repay the nearly $214,000 he owed to the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Program and $345,000 to the U.S. Medicare Trust Fund.

Sufini Alisaito, Hardy Ko and Hew Deng Kong pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport illegal aliens in connection to the immigration raid. They were each sentenced to two years supervised release.

Details on the accused in the case are sparse because many of the documents are sealed.
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091024/NEWS/910240348

yep, cant tax them if you dont know they are here

General James Wolfe-led the British in taking over Quebec; killed in the battle

Currency Act- banned the use of paper money as legal tender; forced colonists to use gold and silver which was in short supply

Sugar Act- raised price of molasses; improvement on molasses act; rejected by colonists

Navigation Acts- tightened up in 1762; forced colonists to sell goods through Britain; angered colonists

John Hancock- smuggled French molasses so he wouldn’t have to pay for the English kind

Stamp Act- British tax imposed on colonists to pay for the British soldiers in the colony; rejected by many colonists

Sam Adams- wrote a book against the stamp act; An American View of the Stamp Act

Daughters of Liberty- women who provided supplies when the colonists were boycotting English goods; knit clothing etc.

Patrick Henry-one of the most outspoken Patriots in Virginia; blamed George III for supporting the ministers who designed the stamp act

James Otis-Massachusetts; disputed legitimacy of a general search warrant; cited English legal precedent

Townshend Acts-imposed duties on paper, paint, glass, and tea; gave some money to American military but more was given to imperial officers to increase their power; also created Revenue Act of 1767 which created a board of American custom commissioners

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania- written by John Dickinson; said that the real issue was not whether tax was internal or external but the intention of the legislation; argued the Townshend duties were designed to raise the revenue of the imperial government

Lord North-became prime minister; took away all taxes except for tea tax; American merchants did not mind

Tea Act-took away taxes on tea for East India Company; making it cheaper than the Dutch tea; when Americans began buying this tea Patriots thought it was a British scheme; directly leads to the civil war

Coercive Act-made to force Massachusetts in to submission; just after Boston Tea party; Boston Harbor was to be closed until the tea was paid for; local town meetings were prohibited; barracks were to built for the British soldiers or they were to be quartered in people’s houses; and all trials would be done in England

Excise levies-essentially sales taxes on goods such as salt beer and distilled spirits, once again passion on the costs of the war to the kind’s ordinary subjects (Pg. 136)
Rotten Boroughs-tiny districts whose voters were controlled by wealthy aristocrats and merchants. (Pg. 136)
Vice-admiralty courts-maritime tribunals composed only of a judge and not by a local common law jury. (Pg.137)
Radical Whigs-The emergence of a big and expensive government confirmed the predictions of the British opposition parties. (Pg.136)
Virtually represented- in the home legislature by the merchants who sat in parliament and by other members with interests in America. (Pg.139)
Sons of Liberty- led by men, the mobs demanded the resignation of newly appointed stamp tax collectors, most of whom were native born colonists. (Pg.141)
Common Law- the centuries old body of legal rules and procedures that protected the king’s subjects against arbitrary acts by the government. (Pg.143)
Homespun- American women ordinarily excluded from public affairs became their to the non importation movement through their production. (Pg.146)
Minutemen-The concord town meeting voted to raise a defensive force to stand at a minutes warning in case of alarm.

General James Wolfe-led the British in taking over Quebec; killed in the battle

Currency Act- banned the use of paper money as legal tender; forced colonists to use gold and silver which was in short supply

Sugar Act- raised price of molasses; improvement on molasses act; rejected by colonists

Navigation Acts- tightened up in 1762; forced colonists to sell goods through Britain; angered colonists

John Hancock- smuggled French molasses so he wouldn’t have to pay for the English kind

Stamp Act- British tax imposed on colonists to pay for the British soldiers in the colony; rejected by many colonists

Sam Adams- wrote a book against the stamp act; An American View of the Stamp Act

Daughters of Liberty- women who provided supplies when the colonists were boycotting English goods; knit clothing etc.

Patrick Henry-one of the most outspoken Patriots in Virginia; blamed George III for supporting the ministers who designed the stamp act

James Otis-Massachusetts; disputed legitimacy of a general search warrant; cited English legal precedent

Townshend Acts-imposed duties on paper, paint, glass, and tea; gave some money to American military but more was given to imperial officers to increase their power; also created Revenue Act of 1767 which created a board of American custom commissioners

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania- written by John Dickinson; said that the real issue was not whether tax was internal or external but the intention of the legislation; argued the Townshend duties were designed to raise the revenue of the imperial government

Lord North-became prime minister; took away all taxes except for tea tax; American merchants did not mind

Tea Act-took away taxes on tea for East India Company; making it cheaper than the Dutch tea; when Americans began buying this tea Patriots thought it was a British scheme; directly leads to the civil war

Coercive Act-made to force Massachusetts in to submission; just after Boston Tea party; Boston Harbor was to be closed until the tea was paid for; local town meetings were prohibited; barracks were to built for the British soldiers or they were to be quartered in people’s houses; and all trials would be done in England

Excise levies-essentially sales taxes on goods such as salt beer and distilled spirits, once again passion on the costs of the war to the kind’s ordinary subjects (Pg. 136)
Rotten Boroughs-tiny districts whose voters were controlled by wealthy aristocrats and merchants. (Pg. 136)
Vice-admiralty courts-maritime tribunals composed only of a judge and not by a local common law jury. (Pg.137)
Radical Whigs-The emergence of a big and expensive government confirmed the predictions of the British opposition parties. (Pg.136)
Virtually represented- in the home legislature by the merchants who sat in parliament and by other members with interests in America. (Pg.139)
Sons of Liberty- led by men, the mobs demanded the resignation of newly appointed stamp tax collectors, most of whom were native born colonists. (Pg.141)
Common Law- the centuries old body of legal rules and procedures that protected the king’s subjects against arbitrary acts by the government. (Pg.143)
Homespun- American women ordinarily excluded from public affairs became their to the non importation movement through their production. (Pg.146)
Minutemen-The concord town meeting voted to raise a defensive force to stand at a minutes warning in case of alarm.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Videos Jeopardize ACORN’s Funding

S.A. Miller

The liberal activist group ACORN rakes in millions of dollars in federal taxpayer dollars a year – at least $53 million since 1994 for its housing programs alone – but that largess is in jeopardy after a hidden-camera video showed one of its workers advising a supposed prostitute how to cheat on taxes and mortgage applications.

House Republicans on Tuesday introduced the Defund ACORN Act that would sever all ties between the government and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a day after the Senate voted overwhelmingly to prohibit funding the group in the 2010 housing appropriations bill.

House Republican leaders also sent a letter Tuesday to the Internal Revenue Service asking the agency to end its partnership with ACORN for providing free tax preparation services to low- and middle-income Americans.

"It is alarming to think that one the IRS’ largest and rapidly growing partners in a tax-preparation program allegedly employs individuals who encourage tax fraud," said the letter signed by House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio, Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia and Rep. David Camp of Michigan, ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee.

ACORN apparently is not compensated for its work with the IRS.

Despite most Senate Democrats turning on ACORN in the vote Monday, House Democratic leaders have remained mum about the troubles confronting their longtime ally and likely will resist bringing the Defund ACORN Act to the floor.

The vote would put many Democrats in a perilous position.

Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, New York Democrat, who is considered vulnerable in the 2010 elections, found that out when she voted against the bill Monday. The National Republican Senatorial Committee quickly criticized her for breaking with her fellow New Yorker, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a member of the Democratic leadership team, who supported the measure.

It is difficult to determine exactly how much federal funding ACORN collects because the organization and its more than 300 affiliated groups, which often use the same accounting firm and the same address in New Orleans, can vie for myriad federal grants.

For instance, ACORN and its affiliates are eligible for millions of dollars in economic stimulus funds.

"It’s not very transparent. That’s the problem," said Cleta Mitchell, national co-chairman of the Republican National Lawyers Association, which has called for a Justice Department investigation of ACORN and its funding.

The ACORN Housing Corp. last year took in about $27.8 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That same year, ACORN Institute got more than $486,000 from the same agency, according to data compiled by Mr. Boehner’s office.

The data showed ACORN got more than $53.6 million from HUD since 1994. That does not include money from other agencies or money to affiliated groups, such as Citizen Services Inc., which beyond taxpayer money took in more than $800,000 performing get-out-the-vote work for President Obama’s 2008 campaign for the White House.

ACORN has long been a target for conservatives who say it skirts tax laws and commits other crimes while helping to elect Democratic candidates and promote liberal causes. Until now, those criticism failed to hobble ACORN with its close ties to Mr. Obama and decades of support from Democrats.

The videos that surfaced last week, however, proved a turning point.

The Obama administration canceled plans for ACORN to help with the 2010 census and the Senate voted 83-7 to refuse the group housing grants in upcoming appropriation bills for fiscal 2010.

ACORN officials did not return several calls inquiring what effect losing federal funding would have on the organization.

The group touts itself as the nation’s largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, campaigning since 1970 on issues such as homeownership, living wages and better public schools.

Still, it came under fire during the presidential campaign after investigations of voter fraud in several battleground states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Mexico and Nevada.

The group and its affiliates are currently the target of at least 14 lawsuits related to voter fraud in the 2008 election and a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act complaint filed by former ACORN members.

ACORN leaders have consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Last week, authorities in Florida’s Miami-Dade County accused 11 ACORN workers of falsifying hundreds of voter-registration cards prior to the 2008 presidential election, though ACORN officials took credit for alerting authorities to the potential illegal activity by its hired canvassers.

The video that put ACORN’s federal funding at risk was shot by conservative activist James O’Keefe, who appeared

Typical government funded organization: Full of graft and corruption:
.
Now just think about what is going to happen to health care it becomes another typical government organization.

The ACORN Obama knows
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008

If you don’t know what ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is all about, you better bone up. This left-wing group takes in 40 percent of its revenues from American taxpayers — you and me — and has leveraged nearly four decades of government subsidies to fund affiliates that promote the welfare state and undermine capitalism and self-reliance, some of which have been implicated in perpetuating illegal immigration and encouraging voter fraud. A new whistleblower report from the Consumer Rights League documents how Chicago-based ACORN has commingled public tax dollars with political projects.

Who in Washington will fight to ensure that your money isn’t being spent on these radical activities?

Don’t bother asking Barack Obama. He cut his ideological teeth working with ACORN as a “community organizer” and legal representative. Naturally, ACORN’s political action committee has warmly endorsed his presidential candidacy. According to ACORN, Obama trained its Chicago members in leadership seminars; in turn, ACORN volunteers worked on his campaigns. Obama also sat on the boards of the Woods Fund and Joyce Foundation, both of which poured money into ACORN’s coffers. ACORN head Maude Hurd gushes that Obama is the candidate who “best understands and can affect change on the issues ACORN cares about” — like ensuring their massive pipeline to your hard-earned money.

Let’s take a closer look at the ACORN Obama knows.

Last July, ACORN settled the largest case of voter fraud in the history of Washington State. Seven ACORN workers had submitted nearly 2,000 bogus voter registration forms. According to case records, they flipped through phone books for names to use on the forms, including “Leon Spinks,” “Frekkie Magoal” and “Fruto Boy Crispila.” Three ACORN election hoaxers pleaded guilty in October. A King County prosecutor called ACORN’s criminal sabotage “an act of vandalism upon the voter rolls.”

The group’s vandalism on electoral integrity is systemic. ACORN has been implicated in similar voter fraud schemes in Missouri, Ohio and at least 12 other states. The Wall Street Journal noted: “In Ohio in 2004, a worker for one affiliate was given crack cocaine in exchange for fraudulent registrations that included underage voters, dead voters and pillars of the community named Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive Turkey. During a congressional hearing in Ohio in the aftermath of the 2004 election, officials from several counties in the state explained ACORN’s practice of dumping thousands of registration forms in their lap on the submission deadline, even though the forms had been collected months earlier.”

In March, Philadelphia elections officials accused the nonprofit advocacy group of filing fraudulent voter registrations in advance of the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary. The charges have been forwarded to the city district attorney’s office.

Under the guise of “consumer advocacy,” ACORN has lined its pockets. The Department of Housing and Urban Development funds hundreds, if not thousands, of left-wing “anti-poverty” groups across the country led by ACORN. Last October, HUD announced more than $44 million in new housing counseling grants to over 400 state and local efforts. The White House has increased funding for housing counseling by 150 percent since taking office in 2001, despite the role most of these recipients play as activist satellites of the Democratic Party. The AARP scored nearly $400,000 for training; the National Council of La Raza (”The Race”) scooped up more than $1.3 million; the National Urban League raked in nearly $1 million; and the ACORN Housing Corporation received more than $1.6 million.

As the Consumer Rights League points out in its new expose, the ACORN Housing Corporation has worked to obtain mortgages for illegal aliens in partnership with Citibank. It relies on undocumented income, “under the table” money, which may not be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. Moreover, the group’s “financial justice” operations attack lenders for “exotic” loans, while recommending 10-year interest-only loans (which deny equity to the buyer) and risky reverse mortgages. Whistleblower documents reveal internal discussions among the group that blur the lines between its tax-exempt housing work and its aggressive electioneering activities. The group appears to shake down corporate interests with relentless PR attacks, and then enters “no lobby” agreements with targeted corporations after receiving payment.

Republicans have largely looked the other way as ACORN has expanded its government-funded empire. But finally, a few conservative voices in Congress have called for investigation of the group’s apparent extortion schemes. This week, GOP Reps. Tom Feeney, Jeb Hensarling and Ed Royce called on Democrat Barney Frank, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, to convene
a hearing to probe potential illegalities and abuse of taxpayer funds by ACORN’s management and minions alike.

Where does the candidate of Hope and Change — the candidate of Reform and New Politics — stand on the issue? Barack Obama, ACORN’s senator, is for more of the same old, same old subsidizing of far-left politics in the name of fighting for the poor while enriching ideological cronies. It’s the Chicago way.

Shame on you, don’t you know it’s a sin to bring up facts that make him look bad.

I am a college student who plans on starting a magazine sometime around next January.The magazine will deal with music and culture, specifically around my hometown in Pennsylvania, and to a lesser extent music and culture all around the whole state. I have already assembled a staff of writers and photographers. They are mainly my friends who know they may not be able to be compensated greatly but who are rather doing it to help me out. My question is how do I go about selling ads for the first issue. Should I just call local music stores and other businesses around the area and explain to them what I’m doing. And how to I find places to carry this magazine. It will be a free magazine with all profit coming from ad revenue. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve sold ads for a number of publications great and small, old and new. It might be smart to listen carefully.

Advertising can be a difficult sale, particularly in areas of slow economic activity (unless you’re a consummate expert.) Odds are very good that you just don’t know what you’re doing. No offense, it’s just the typical scenario; if your success is going to depend on selling advertising, though, you’d better regard it as the serious business it is.

If you hear nothing else, hear this: what you’re talking about is NOT a fun project. If you’re not careful, you’ll fall in love with it without knowing how to handle it, and lose every dollar you have trying to chase a dream without preparation to endure the run.

The first thing you will NEED to do is talk to someone who runs a similar publication in a different city, just tell them what you’re doing and ask with whom you can connect to talk about it a little (they’ll probably put you through to the owner or general manager.) This person knows firsthand EVERYTHING it takes to get off the ground. They will be overjoyed to talk with you for hours about every detail great and small. This guidance is priceless. Do everything you can to express your gratitude, how much they are helping, and what a difference their guidance makes.

The watchword is PREPARATION. With it, you will have ammunition to meet the challenges and questions that come your way, and possibly be able to do what you love for a living. Without it, you’re dead in the water. I cannot convey to you the severity of how hopeless you are if you don’t do your homework.

First, brainstorm at least two YEARS of thought-provoking content for your staff to write and cover. Doing so will give you credibility, establish the permanency of your operation, and show your professionalism. Not doing so will make you look like an unprepared clown who’s charging headlong into a daydream, and will leave your clients hanging. You’ll still cover timely things (remember to mention this, don’t leave it implicit) but when you’ve got something you can show people, you’ve got a future.

Record this content and sketch a brief outline, complete with tentative timeframe, and run copies of it (laid out nicely) as part of your selling proposition. The most important thing will be to look like you’re going to endure and you’ve got what it takes to back that commitment.

Dredge up some dog-and-pony presentation about readership. You will be AMAZED at how many ad buyers do not have an altruistic bone in their body when it comes to purchases. Pity will not get you far; you must deliver a really thrilling opportunity to advertisers or else you will get nowhere.

Speaking of advertisers, that’s the best place to start. More on that later. Step zero is, run through selling situations in your mind AND WITH PEOPLE- yes roleplay it, it sounds stupid but it *WORKS*- and develop twenty really smart questions to get people thinking about the future of their business and industry. Heck, if they seem smart, ASK about that future. This is a smarter move than you might think, for a number of psychological reasons. You don’t *need* to learn salesmanship to feed your publication, but someone on staff will need to. Run an ad on Craigslist for a salesperson, write about the PERSON you’re looking for, not the job, and good luck.

Also come up with twenty very smart, very thought-provoking, very non-argumentative answers to the "objections" you anticipate to buying ad space, and the objections you actually encounter versus the ones you anticipate. They will be two different populations; preparation for anything/everything is the ideal solution.

Twenty of each. Three is not twenty. This is hard, yes, but it will make business easy.

Have no illusions- you’ll spend most of your time and effort trying to sell what you write, rather than writing it. Maybe not you, personally, but someone will. Maybe everyone. If you’re not comfortable selling, get someone who is. I could go on for a long time about sales, but the involvement has been minimalized to try and make your life easier.

Truncated. Pt. 2 pending.