Time to Hammer

(Photo: 365 Project, Day Nineteen, 9/23/09 - Owned.)

When it's all said and done, here what ACORN is to the American taxpayers, via Glenn Greenwald in a conversation with Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.):

Before being elected to Congress, Grayson worked extensively on uncovering and combating defense contractor fraud in Iraq, and I asked him to put into context ACORN's impact on the American taxpayer versus these corrupt defense contractors. His reply: "The amount of money that ACORN has received in the past 20 years altogether is roughly equal to what the taxpayer paid to Halliburton each day during the war in Iraq."

Wow. A pittance. And look at the Right vilify this poorly-run organization (at worst) and gloss over the cash and power showered on Dick Cheney's own Halliburton.

What's the point for this? Here's the back story, from Greenwald again:

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) -- my guest on Salon Radio today -- yesterday pointed out that the bill passed by both the Senate and House to de-fund ACORN is written so broadly that it literally compels the de-funding not only of that group, but also the de-funding of, and denial of all government contracts to, any corporation that "has filed a fraudulent form with any Federal or State regulatory agency." By definition, that includes virtually every large defense contractor, which -- unlike ACORN -- has actually been found guilty of fraud. As The Huffington Post's Ryan Grim put it: "the bill could plausibly defund the entire military-industrial complex. Whoops."

Okay, so we know the power structure in DC would never let anything critical happen to these defense contractors, unfortunately. I get it, nothing will really happen. BUT, not so fast. A Greenwald commenter has the key:

What can this episode truly gain us? How can we maximize that gain? And how many oxen can actually be gored before it is overwritten by another bill which declaws it?

If pushed the right way, I think it can definitely bring attention to how corrupt these contractors are; how ludicrous and hypocritical was the ACORN spectacle pushed by people pretending to safeguard taxpayer funds while serving the companies that burn trillions of it; and underscore how the Congress is owned by the most corrupt and powerful corporations in the country.

Will the Left step up?