Current law prohibits the community organization ACORN and its associated groups from receiving any federal funds from any federal law currently on the books, (P.L 111-68 Sec. 163). However, the Eric Holder Justice Department has interpreted the law’s phraseology in such a way that permits federal agencies to pay ACORN for “binding contractual obligations” the government made before the current prohibition was enacted.

This interpretation may go a long way toward effectively neutralizing ACORN’s funding prohibition, and it is a questionable interpretation at best. The actual ban reads as follows:

None of the funds made available from this joint resolution or any other prior Act may be provided to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries or allied organizations. H.R. 2918

The Justice Department has decided that the phrase “provided to” is unclear and “has no established meaning in appropriations law.” They cite terms more frequently used, such as “obligate” and “expend,” that have widely accepted meaning in spending legislation. They go on to arduously defend their point by exhaustively listing the many definitions of “provide” given in Websters, Oxford and American Heritage dictionaries and even Roget’s Thesaurus. Like Bill Clinton, they probably could have found as many definitions for the word “is…”

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Maurice Clemmons, the alleged shooter in the Sunday murder of four Lakewood, Washington police officers, was killed early this morning by a Seattle police officer.

The blogsite Fire Andrea Mitchell reported that a Nation of Islam offshoot called National Black Foot Soldiers held a protest today outside the Parkland, Washington coffee shop where the murders occurred. The protesters allegedly gathered to celebrate Clemmons as a “Crowned BOW (Black on White) Martyr,” calling his attack a “preemptive strike on terrorists…”

The substance of this story was originally announced by a blog called the Last Crusade, which has also claimed that Clemmons converted to Islam while imprisoned in Arkansas. Gateway Pundit picked up the story as well, noting however, that Last Crusade’s claim of Clemmons’ conversion is unsubstantiated.

A black militant site called “Black Male Felon” seemingly described the protest:

The rally came after a reported emergency meeting held by the [Black Foot Soldiers] movement to to map out plans for a street penitentiary protest and street party that will be held to disrespect tributes, memorials and funerals whites are expected to have for the terrorists.

Whatever the Black Foot Soldiers may be planning, there actually was no “rally.”

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WASHINGTON: George Soros is positioning himself to set a new record in profits, thanks to the Obama administration. Due to the profligate spending of congress the US is well on its way to defaulting on its current obligations, possibly within the next 12 months. How is that possible, you say? Let’s take a look at it.

For example, let’s say you are running a household burdened by credit card debt, and that your monthly income is not adequate to pay your bills. Your next course of action? Bankruptcy. Same thing with countries, only it is called default. We saw that just last week in Dubai:

Dubai shook investor confidence across the Persian Gulf after its proposal to delay debt payments risked triggering the biggest sovereign default since Argentina in 2001. November 26, 2009. Bloomberg News

How can that happen to a country? By not having sufficient reserves to cover its short term obligations. Read more…