The Sting, 2009

I have always been skeptical about sting operations. Do filmmakers,"the authorities," cops, FBI, CIA, etc. really have so much time on their hands they need to ensnare prospective drug dealers, hookers, and the like? I have always thought these activities better left to Chris Hansen of "Dateline's To Catch a Predator" or Newman and Redford in "The Sting." (At least they were ridiculously handsome but that's another story!)

So, when I read that Fox News was airing a video showing two ACORN employees on a hidden-camera apparently counseling a "pimp and ho" to lie about her involvement in "the oldest profession," my antennae went up! (Hey, get your mind out of the gutter!)

The video was the most recent in a series which led to the firing of four employees of the advocacy group ACORN in Baltimore and D.C. Self-identified activist filmmaker James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, the directors of this scenario posted on BigGovernment.com, presumably because they are so pained to see "government" helping the little guy?

ACORN spokesman Scott Levenson charges O'Keefe and Giles dubbed over the voices to make the interaction more objectionable. The employees have been suspended pending further investigation.

In the video, O'Keefe and Giles are seen explaining their "unique lifestyle situtation" to acquire housing help. An ACORN administrator answers, "Honesty is not going to get you the house. That's probably why you've been denied."

"Don't say you're a prostitute thing or whatever. ... You have to sit back and think and find another name for it," says the housing coordinator who also suggested burying a tinload of cash in the backyard. An uninvolved friend could transfer the dough as a gift to O'Keefe to pay for the house, the administrator advises. The housing coordinator did have the sense to question the legality of prostitution in the Empire State. Guess we'll have to ask Eliot Spitzer.

In her mentoring capacity, she counseled Giles to "start thinking, and when you're in this business you have to think fast."

"I can't tell you don't do it, because you won't listen to me. ... If you're going to do it, do it well, and start thinking for yourself ... and save for a rainy day."

That is the true American spirit!