ACORN hearts hookers (allegedly), how Brett Favre is like an STD and the dubious combination of Amtrak and firearms

- How great is it that ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which calls itself the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities, is at the center of an alleged scandal involving its staffers helping pimps and hookers obtain housing for their business? In the past few weeks, secret videos showing ACORN workers engaging in this illegal behavior have begun popping up and this week, a fourth such video surfaced. Filmmaker James O'Keefe and his partner Hannah Giles, who posed as a prostitute named "Eden," set up their little sting operation against Tresa Kaelke, a staffer at ACORN's office in San Bernardino, Calif. Just as in their three previous videos - set at the group's offices in Baltimore, Washington and Brooklyn, N.Y. - O’Keefe and Giles are able to get Kaelke on screen, offering to assist the couple in their efforts to establish an illegal sex business. They lay out their plan to bring in 12 girls from El Salvador to work in a home they hope to acquire via the community organization. "We're bringing these girls from overseas, but we are going to take a cut of the profit and intend to use the profit from the tricks the girls perform to fund my political campaign and the advertising," O'Keefe tells Kaelke. He goes on to explain that the prostitution business will fund at least 50 percent of his planned run as a Democratic congressional candidate. Surprisingly, Kaelke admits to O’Keefe and Giles that she once turned tricks herself. However, she’s initially skeptical of the plan and does caution O'Keefe and Giles that they are doing some very illegal things if they follow through on their plan. "You know you are breaking the law if you have these girls in your care and they're minors," Kaelke said on the tape. “If I didn't know better, and I don't, but I would think this is a total setup." In spite of that, she didn’t report O’Keefe and Giles to the police, which would technically be the right move. In fact, being in the position she’s in, Kaelke was obligated to do so and failing to fulfill that obligation is tantamount to condoning the prostitution ring in the eyes of many. But leave it to the good folks at ACORN to insist that Kaelke knew she was being set up and only responded as she did to play along with the ruse. "She matched their false scenario with her own false scenarios," ACORN said in its written statement. Sure thing, ACORN. Just one question: Why would Kaelke play along at all? She wasn’t some undercover cop on a sting operation, looking to take down a wanted criminal. Even if she knew the whole situation was a setup, playing along gave O’Keefe a damning video to use against ACORN and put anyone viewing it in a position to judge and condemn the organization that they would not have been in if she had merely done the right thing and shut O’Keefe and Giles down right away. Instead, she told the couple, "As far as getting a place, I don't know why you don't go out and rent a place," adding that the couple could classify it as a "group home" to avert detection. When O’Keefe tells her that he and Giles have been unable to get financing from other places, Kaelke didn’t exactly tell him that ACORN wouldn’t be helping set up their prostitution business either. "ACORN will tell you the same thing, they will," Kaelke said. "You might get an old-timer like myself who really knows what's up and who could care less." Now I can't say for sure what Kaelke was thinking and what her intentions were, but what I can tell you is that she looks bad, ACORN looks bad and it wouldn’t have been this way if she’d played this scenario the right way from the beginning………….

- Brett Favre is like the worst STD; a gift that keeps on giving…..and giving…..and giving pain, suffering agony. Not only does he come to your team after hijacking the entire NFL news scene with his retire/unretire bullsh*t, scammed his way out of having to participate in training camp and offseason workouts and stroked his massive ego in the process while lying to everyone in sight about his intentions, he then doesn’t bother to learn his new teammates’ names, often isolates himself from the team and oh yeah, puts himself smack dab in the middle of injury cover-ups that result in fines for a team and its former coach after Favre is long gone. Even for Favre, this is something new, as he is at the center of a controversy involving his lone season played with the New York Jets, the 2008 campaign. Basically, Favre played the year with a torn biceps tendon and with that injury, he should have appeared on the Jets’ injury report. Teams must list all injured players on their injury report based on the probability that they will play in that week’s game, ranging from probable (75 percent chance to play) to doubtful (25 percent chance to play). With his injury, Favre should have been on that injury report in some form. However, the Jets failed to list him on the injury report at any point and more than likely that fact would have simply gone by the wayside - if not for Favre’s big mouth. Speaking with the media after practice for the team whose season and spotlight he is currently commandeering to feed his massive ego, Favre “inadvertently” let it slip that he thought he was hurting the Jets because of the injury and had discussed it with the coaches and the front office. He then tried to paint himself as noble and unselfish (both lies) by saying that he would have been willing to sit out, even though that would have ended his NFL-quarterback-record streak of consecutive starts, which now stands at 270 games. That revelation led the NFL to investigate and before the league could even reach a decision, Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum admitted the Jets should have listed Favre as "probable" on their injury reports. The NFL seems to agree, because on Wednesday the league assessed a total of $125,000 in fines to the New York Jets and former coach Eric Mangini for violating the league's rules on injury reporting. The team was hit with a $75,000 fine and Tannenbaum and Mangini each received $25,000 penalties. So why is the league so vigilant about ensuring that teams are truthful with their injury reporting? Well, because gambling is such an essential part of the sport, er, um, because hiding injuries could affect an opponent's preparation, that’s why. Commissioner Roger Goodell clearly viewed this case as an opportunity for the league to show teams how serious it is about enforcing these rules and he said as much earlier this week. What cracks me up about this (and doesn’t surprise me one bit) is that while Tannenbaum and the Jets have somewhat owned their mistake, Mangini continues to profess his innocence, saying he has always abided by the league's guidelines for injury reports. "That was true there [in New York]. It's true here," Mangini said. "It'll be true every week of the season and that's how we approach it." Highly unlikely, E. I know you like to consider yourself something of a covert CIA operative, trying to keep the secret identity of your Week 1 starting quarterback like the United States keeps its nuclear secrets, but it’s pretty clear you knew what was going on. No way your starting quarterback is hurting and he talks about it with the coaching staff but you don’t know. All in all, Favre comes across as disingenuous here for saying what he said, knowing full well the sort of problems it would create. He just doesn’t care, but don’t buy the good ol’ boy, aw shucks routine he’s selling. Dude is cunning, conniving and calculated and he threw the Jets under the bus big time. The only one who comes off nearly as bad as Favre here is Mangini because he simply won't own his dishonesty and stop the lying…………

- Guns on Amtrak trains, what could be better? You’re already putting your life in serious jeopardy by setting foot on an Amtrak train to begin with, so why not add a little firearms fun to the mix? What makes this story so much better is that it’s the freaking federal government that is demanding Amtrak allow guns on its trains or else the company would lose its federal subsidies. A bill passed by both the House and Senate mandates that unless Amtrak puts a system in place by early next year to check and track firearms so that passengers can legally put the weapons in their checked baggage, those subsidies will be ripped from them. The House passed its version of the bill back in July, but the Senate didn’t pass its version until this week, approving it by a 68-30 vote. The measure, which is technically an amendment to the transportation and housing appropriations bill, passed Monday but because the House version of the bill does not include the provision, the bill must now go to a conference committee to resolve all differences between the two versions before it can land on President Obama’s desk. At this point, Amtrak's policy prohibits passengers from carrying "any type of gun, firearm, ammunition, explosives or weapon" in carry-on or checked baggage. According to Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm, firearms were allowed in checked baggage before the September 11 attacks, but the policy changed after that. What’s funny is that Amtrak has no real, detailed procedure for searching for firearms; it merely says they are not allowed. Fact is, the railroad has no secure loading areas, and trains make multiple stops, so keeping guns off of trains is already virtually impossible. In spite of that, National Railroad Passenger Corp. (Amtrak) claims that putting a screening system in place would require money and time that the railroad simply doesn’t have. However, Kulm warned that if Amtrak were to lose federal funds, it would result in the "cessation of all Amtrak service nationwide." If put in place as spelled out in the Senate version of the bill, the new measure would require the following: 1) before checking the bag or boarding the train, the passenger must declare that the firearm or pistol is in his or her bag and is unloaded, 2) the firearm or pistol must be carried in a hard-sided container and 3) the hard-sided container must be locked, and only the passenger has the combination or key. The man responsible for the vice grip in which Amtrak currently finds its balls is none other than Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi. Wicker sponsored the gun measure in August as part of the budget resolution. His reasoning for the idea, other than being a gun-toting Southerner (just kidding, Southerners) actually pretty convoluted. "Under current practices, all of the American domestic airlines permit firearms in their checked luggage. Other American passenger railroads also allow checked firearms," Wicker said on the Senate floor Wednesday. "Only the federally subsidized Amtrak prohibits law-abiding American citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights in checked baggage.” The new federally-mandated rules for carrying firearms would ostensibly work hand in hand with what Amtrak terms on its Web site as "a range of behind-the-scenes and front-line security measures" that include random passenger and carry-on baggage screening; checked baggage screening; K-9 units; onboard security checks; and identification checks. " Bottom line here: In order to receive any federal funding under this amendment, Amtrak would have six months to build a process for checking and tracking firearms. Based on its less-than-inspiring record of keeping its trains on tracks nationwide, color me less than optimistic about the railroad’s chances for success in that endeavor………

- Attention dudes everywhere: She may be married, she might not speak to or associate with you in any other way, but a rare opportunity has presented itself for you to hang with none other than the über-hot Scarlett Johansson. Johansson is auctioning off two movie premiere tickets, as well as a meet-and-greet session, for next spring's "Iron Man 2" premiere. Granted, she’s only doing it for charity, but does it really matter why you get to hang out with Scarlett Johannson? The prize will be auctioned off on eBay beginning Thursday at 10 p.m. EST at eBay.com/Oxfam, with all proceeds benefiting Oxfam America, an organization long dedicated to finding lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and social injustice around the world. And I’m sure that’s exactly why thousands of men ages 18 to 49 will be bidding the heck out of this auction, because of philanthropic motives. The auction will run through September 24, so you don’t have a ton of time to get in on the action. "I'm so thrilled to be a part of this eBay charity opportunity, again raising funds for Oxfam," Johansson said in a statement. "Oxfam is an incredibly worthy organization that I'm most passionate about.” If you win, you and a guest will attend the Los Angeles, California premiere and receive a complimentary session at the Cristophe Salon in Beverly Hills, California to prepare for the red carpet. I’m personally rooting for a guy with a wife, fiancée or steady girlfriend to win and take that lady to the premiere so she can spend the entire night glaring at her significant other while her drools and obsesses over Johannson. Should you be too poor or value your marriage/relationship too much to put it on thin ice by bidding on a night hanging with Scarlett Johannson, you could always settle for her chair from the set of her hit movie "He's Just Not That Into You" or signed LPs of Johansson's latest single "Realtor" (a duet with Pete Yorn), both of which are also up for auction and should be markedly cheaper than the night at the movie premiere. And for the ladies out there who may be asking what there is for you to bid on, rest assured that Oxfam America has not forgotten about you. You can bid on a Hollywood-style experience featuring the hunky Colin Firth if you so choose. Whatever you bid on, keep in mind that it’s all for a great cause…………

- Taking over health care isn't the only sector where the federal government is looking to mirror the private sector. Just as Apple and Microsoft have their own app stores for applications to be used on smart phones, the Obama administration has unveiled a government "app store" designed to push the government into the era of cloud computing. It’s a decision designed to save money and cut budgets, as it will have some federal employees using services like YouTube, Gmail and WordPress to store data on private Internet servers instead of on those paid for with public money. Vivek Kundra, the U.S. chief information officer and the No. 1 pick in my government bureaucracy fantasy draft last month, made the announcement Monday. "Our policies lag beind new trends, causing unnecessary restrictions on the use of new technology," Kundra wrote on WhiteHouse.gov. "We are dedicated to addressing these barriers and to improving the way government leverages new technology." The Obama app store will be exclusively for federal employees doing official government business and not available for use by the public. In a related development, Google announced the creation of a "government cloud," in which public data will be stored on Google computer servers by 2010 to meet the needs of federal, state and local governments. For those not familiar with the concept of "cloud computing," its fundamental principle if allowing users to access applications that exist online instead of ones taking up space on their computers' hard drives. In tandem, these two projects should help the government save money, although how much money depends on what figures and statistics you believe. According to Kundra, the federal government spends $75 billion per year on data storage and other information technology costs. He also contends that the new arrangement will give government employees access to tools sometimes used in the private sector. The app store, located at apps.gov, will bring together Web programs, tools and services available to some government employees. Some apps will be free, but many will be for sale. “With more rapid access to innovative IT solutions, agencies can spend less time and taxpayer dollars on procedural items and focus more on using technology to achieve their missions," writes Kundra. One concern that everyone, government personnel or the public, would seem to be the security of the app store and the data stored there. And while everyone involved is adamant that security won't be a problem, any time data is stored online, there is no way to be 100 percent sure that a hacker won't find a way in…………