Did You Know...

If it’s Monday, it’s ACORN Watch! William Amos is watching Oakland’s Democrat Rep. Barbara Lee leading foreclosure tours in her district organized by…ACORN. Watch your wallets, people:

Berta Berrayo is trying to hang on to the quaint East Oakland home that represents her American dream.

Sitting on her front porch Saturday, decorated with a U.S. flag and a statue of the Virgin Mary, Berrayo shared with Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and a crowd of others her plight as a working mother and recent foreclosure victim.

“We have to find a solution to the foreclosure crisis,” said Berrayo, who was a first-time home buyer when she made the purchase four years ago. “The banks don’t want to negotiate with us or our community.”

Lee was in her district this weekend to take a bus foreclosure tour around Oakland, which is among the 20 U.S. cities with the most number of houses in foreclosure.

She was joined by City Council members Desley Brooks, Eastmont-Seminary, and Larry Reid, Elmhurst-East Oakland. Their districts have about 400 bank-owned homes and are at the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis.

The tour was organized by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, which advocates for low- and moderate-income families. Representatives from the Urban Strategies Council and the Department of Housing and Urban Development also participated in the event. Junious Williams, CEO of the Urban Strategies Council, said the foreclosure crisis is the “tipping point” for neighborhoods that already have a lot of problems.

“The American dream is turning into a nightmare, and unfortunately the federal government hasn’t done enough to help,” Lee said. “The impact extends beyond the personal tragedies of families “…there’s massive suffering in our country and our communities.”

If you’re wondering how many of these first-time homebuyers are illegal aliens, you’re not alone.

Huffpo has ACORN’s back. Of course.

The NYPost keeps up the pressure.

So should you.

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Clarice Feldman e-mails a course of action for public officials on the ball:

I think Governors or Secretaries of States which have been forced to expend a great deal of money because of ACORN’s fraud, should sue to block further federal payments to that outfit and Points of Light, arguing that in the face of repeated, egregious conduct which affects the validity of elections and forces states to expend large sume of money in a vain effort to protect the election process, continuing to fund these outfits violates the due process rights of the citizens of the effected states.

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More red flags. Danger, danger, red alert:

Martha Carranza has lived in Denver for the past 27 years, but this is the first year she is going to vote.

She’s not alone.

Members of Ya Es Hora Coalition, We Are America Alliance Coalition of Colorado, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, and Latina Initiative last week held a news conference to mark the launch of an effort to help more immigrants apply for citizenship and become a part of the civic process.

This year, volunteers hope to register 500,000 new Latino, Asian and immigrant voters in 13 states as well as encourage 1 million registered voters to go to the polls, said Rachel Hamrick with We Are America Alliance.