Report: ACORN is Behind the #Occupy Movement

Surprised? Neither am I. In fact, very little of the #Occupy noise has surprised me. It’s the 60’s all over again, but with inferior music and no military draft to focus the mind.

The former director of New York ACORN, Jon Kest, and his top aides are now busy working at protest events for New York Communities for Change (NYCC). That organization was created in late 2009 when some ACORN offices disbanded and reorganized under new names after undercover video exposes prompted Congress to cut off federal funds.

NYCC’s connection to ACORN isn’t a tenuous one: It works from the former ACORN offices in Brooklyn, uses old ACORN office stationery, employs much of the old ACORN staff and, according to several sources, engages in some of the old organization’s controversial techniques to raise money, interest and awareness for the protests.

Sources said NYCC has hired about 100 former ACORN-affiliated staff members from other cities – paying some of them $100 a day – to attend and support Occupy Wall Street. Dozens of New York homeless people recruited from shelters are also being paid to support the protests, at the rate of $10 an hour, the sources said.

At least some of those hired are being used as door-to-door canvassers to collect money that’s used to support the protests.

Sources said cash donations collected by NYCC on behalf of some unions and various causes are being pooled and spent on Occupy Wall Street. The money is used to buy supplies, pay staff and cover travel expenses for the ex-ACORN members brought to New York for the protests.

Ten bucks an hour. Not exactly a living wage in Manhattan, but at least Obama is finally creating some jobs.

God bless ’em — the occupiers just keep proving me right on the whole “arc of history” thing. When you gather a whole lot of soft-bred people together in one place, throw out the police and send the message that sexual assault might be tolerated, don’t be surprised when thugs swoop in and test that particular part of your message.

And the Democrats were sooo wise to put their names to supporting this.