Apr 25 2008
Obama Camp and R68, One Degree of Separation
with Gregory Chang,
First a disclaimer. In nothing that follows are we suggesting that any individuals we name, are planning to toss molotovs at the Pepsi Center come August. I have already described Unconventional Action (UA) and its preparations for Conflict, and adumbrated the troublesome nature of R68’s Denver “statement of peace.”
But the individuals we identified in the subsequent text as linking the Obama camp with R68 organizers, have no identifiably violent plans for Denver. They may be active in UA and enthusiastically promote Protests at the Democratic Convention in August, but we do not know their individual take on “hard” vs “soft” tactics and protest actions.
Considering R68’s and UA’s intentions of being confrontational, it would always be wise for participants who are peaceful, to specify what kind of tactics they intend on condoning when partaking in R68 undertakings; as far as this post is concerned, we don’t really care. We are interested in specific individual relationships between R68 and Obama supporters, and that’s the only kind of info we could access.
Note, that I speak of “Obama supporters”, not the “Obama camp”. We have not found any evidence of instructions or communications between R68 and the Obama camp, originating from either side on the subject of Denver, or any other subject.
What we have found, is that among R68 protesters, at least 30% can be identified as pro-Obama partisans, with a further contingent identifiably anti-Clinton. R68 claims neutrality in the Democratic Primary, but 1/3 of its supporters are openly pro-Obama, while another 2/3 plainly hate Clinton. What “neutrality” I found on R68’s official communication’s page (RedPill), amounted to no more than disliking or being neutral on Obama. R68 is not being upfront, about its membership’s clear preferences for Obama over Clinton, not to mention the presence of pro-Obama, and anti-Clinton elements accounting for 1/3 of its membership.
Naturally, this inequality present in R68 ranks, is reflected in the ranks of Obama’s supporters. A minority of Obama lovers, actively promote R68 and enjoy close ties with the its most radical elements, while boasting links to some of the most active Obama camp volunteers in the World.
Again, not to suggest that these people want riots or violence, but readers should note, that all it takes to transform a peaceful rally into a violent confrontation may be an active, and militant minority. Such a minority obtains its support and legitimacy, gradually, and through a meandering process - a nod here, a wink there. Next comes a few roadblocks, unwitting masses get caught between a few militants and the police, and before you know it, panic transforms an orderly crowd into a mob run amok. But enough fear-mongering.
We cannot possibly perform exhaustive name searches, comparing R68 activists on Facebook and Myspace, with 560,000 Obama activists on MyBarackObam.com (henceforth “MyBarack.com”) There are no membership lists for R68 coalition members, Social Networking sites offer anonymity, and MyBarack.com invites volunteers who while not anonymous, choose to operate under monikers and pseudonyms, which make establishing a relationship to a real individual, almost impossible.
What we have succeeded in doing so far, is identifying a few weak, but potentially important links between the Obama camp, and R68.
Basically, there are four sources of information we combed-
1) R68, and its coalition members like Code Pink, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Unconventional Action (UA) , the International Action Center, and the All Nations Alliance.
2) The websites and homepages these organizations provide on the internet.
3) Publicly accessible Social Networks for some of these organizations on Facebook and Myspace, which permitted us to map relationships among its members.
4) MyBarack.com, the Obama Camp’s electronic attempt to coordinate and organize all Grassroots activity necessary to secure Obama’s ability to get to the White House.
We started with 1 and 2, looking for relationships between R68 coalition members based on hyperlinks between their homepages. Next, we identified group leaders, as presented on their Facebook and Myspace pages. Finally, we searched for these leaders on MyBarack.com, and studied their relationship to other general members of MyBarack.com.
This is a very primitive and limited way of testing for linkages; not one which we expected to yield results. Considering the limited number of names of R68 leaders we could find, of which only 20 were not pseudonyms, we were surprised to find any links.
But we found them. It is up to readers, to the Obama and Clinton camps, and the individuals identified, to explore their full implications; while patently thin, they have big potential.
***
The most transparent organizations planning for R68 , is the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). SDS is a resurrection of a 60ties movement, dedicated to radical student politics. It boasts hundreds of chapters world wide, and thousands of members. It is as radical as its predecessor five decades ago, with most of its members identifying as Anarchists, Communists, and Socialists. (From our own Marxist point of view, their communism and socialism amount to wishful petit-bourgeois wet-dreams, but that’s bickering we will save readers for another day).
SDS was founded in 2006 by Jessica Rapchik of Antioch College of New York, and Pat Korte of the New School University of New York. As with almost everything we came across in relation to R68, New York is the wellspring of most activity, with two universities particularly dominant: CUNY Hunter, and the New School. Virtually all of SDS and its organizational offsprings, hail from these two universities.
Jessica Rapchik and Pat Korte still run SDS, and along with fellow New School activist who goes by the name of “Alexx” Cline, control the following groups: SDS , SDS at the RNC/DNC ‘08!, Protest DNC 2008, and, surprise surprise: Unconventional Action!
Student R68 organizations not directly under their control, are run by their lieutenants and friends, further reinforcing their centrality. The overlap of membership among their organizations, is intense, and eventually bears out a distinct pattern of control over all Student R68 elements - control squarely in the hands of Rapchik, Korte, and Cline. Here is a graphic (designed by one of our readers) of the relationship among a few core R68 organizations (red: Anti-Clinton; Blue: Pro-Obama)
One person, who is a direct and indirect friend of these Cline, Korte, and Rapchik, happens to be a gay, vegetarian, anti-consumption Brooklyn artist, who keeps all information about his personal networks very private; which didn’t stop us from discovering his friendship with with Pat Korte, and sharing plenty of Anarchist friends with Rapchik and Cline. I am speaking of a certain Michael Oman-Reagan, who leaves traces about himself everywhere, while trying so hard to keep low.
Micheal Oman-Regan has a Facebook page called “Recreate 68 - Denver DNC 2008.” The group boasts 118 members, many who are also members of Korte’s, Cline’s, and Rapchik’s varied networks, and links to a certain MySpace “Recreate-68″ page, vocally pro-Obama, and vehemently anti-Clinton. Oman-Regan’s Facebook groups takes its introductory paragraphs directly off the MySpace R68 page, and an email is provided “Recreate68@gmail.com.” Here is a summary collage of the MySpace R68 page content:
This page has been endorsed by a slew of “friends” which include CopWatch Denver, Michael Moore, various IWW chapters, Code Pink Colorado (actively promoting R68 on its page), by Fuck the Police State, Anarchists, and by countless Obama State campaigns, including the National one. There are a few varied “friends” links from SDS, links from a slew of standard R68 members such as UA, and DNC Disruption, and the media outlet for all R68 activities, GNN with Grand Juncture Productions. In short, the MySpace Recreate-68 page is a list of mainstream R68 colation members and endorsers, distinctly anti-Clinton and pro-Obama.
The page features a disclaimer, that it is not representative of the “official” R68 organization, which has protested the site’s monopoly over the “Recreate-68″ name. Even Oman-Reagan’s Facebook page includes questions from irate Facebook users, as to why Oman-Reagan chooses to link to MySpace, rather than the official R68 page.
Some in R68 have tried to distance themselves from Oman-Reagan’s MySpace link. Anyone buying into such apologetics has to ignore, the voluminous endorsements from mainstream organizations, which have openly (except Obama of course) expressed interest in R68, and either confused Oman-Regan’s site with the real thing, or like Code Pink of Colorado, are simply affirming their biased, pro-Obama participation in R68 which the “official R68″ in which Code Pink participates, will not allow them to “officially” express.
It’s not just Oman-Regan’s link to an “unofficial” R68 page which raises flags though. His close ties with Korte of SDS who basically runs all the “official” student R68 promotions, and his own posts on some of Korte’s Facebook pages, indicates that the “official” R68 organization’s problem lies with Oman-Reagan’s clear pro-Obama bias. While R68 is desperately trying to hide its own bias by disavowing ties to R68 MySpace, Oman-Reagan’s ties to Korte and Ilk, reveal the true nature of R68.
There are two other Facebook pages, which raise flags about R68’s neutrality.
There is “ReCreate ‘68″ on Facebook, which links to the “official” R68 page, and even includes the official R68 email as its email; the page’s content is entirely derived from the official R68 page. While this Facebook group only boasts five members, as it is very new (R68 has a very low internet profile, relying on its affiliates to make noise) its Related Groups includes “Stop Hillary Clinton One Million Strong AGAINST Hillary”. According to Facebook:
The related groups section is a list of groups that have the most group members in common with the group that you are viewing.
What does this imply, for the five founders of a Facebook page which appears to be an official R68 Facebook representative? It means at least 3 of them are members of Anti-Clinton groups. A comment, left by the group’s administrator, on Oman-Reagan’s pro-Obama Facebook group, reads “is there going to be a riot if so cool” refering to R68 protest action in Denver.
Granted such a comment hardly comes across as official, its message isn’t too far removed from Glenn Spagnuolo’s (the official R68’s top guy) most recent answer to the question:
“Are you guys planning any confrontations?” -
-”[it’s] Something I wouldn’t talk about with someone I don’t know.” [source]
Then there is the far more important, and undoubtedly official Facebook page of the Unconventioneer, a project headed by Colorado’s Grand Junction Independent Media, in collaboration with the Guerrilla News Network, to provide all DNC demonstators with a daily publication called the RedPill - covering protest developments in Denver on the ground, as they happen.
Nearly all pages across the web, dedicated to R68, link to the “Unconventioneer” project page, and/or to the its present manifestation. (it is here that MoveOn maintains advertisement whose message echoes that of R68).
The Unconventioneer Facebook page, with 35 members (about the size of a decent local newspaper), links to UA, SDS at the RNC, and Barack Obama One Million Strong! This indicates that all 35 members are somehow members in these three organizations. Considering the central role of the Unconventioneer in the R68 plans for DNC protests, “the Barack Obama” is as good a condemnation of R68’s pro-Obama bias.
But getting back to Oman-Regan.
Nothing indicates he is the founder of the MySpace Recreate-68 page, which so many official organizations and R68 participants endorse, while Spagnuolo himself prefers to keep away (kind of funny, he keeps distance, his coalition members do not - because they find themselves more in agreement with the MySpace than Spagnuolo).
Although Oman-Regan is from Brooklyn, and Brooklyn unions and organizations are overrepresented on the MySpace page, the page was opened at about the same time as UA’s homepage, and R68’s official page. That “Myspace 68″ looks like a virtual copy of the Myspace Unconventioneer Page- is inexplicable. Oman-Reagan left a comment, sometime in January, on the MySpace Recreate-68 page, indicating that while he is among its biggest promoters, he may not be its founder; which is almost irrelevant, were it not for some of Oman-Regan’s other activity, that he undertook in mid- January, along with his friend Gregory Donovan -a confidant who helps him administer his Facebook R68 page.
In mid January both he and Donovan joined Obama’s MyBarack.com, and enrolled in 20 or so various groups. Oman-Regan even founded his own group,dedicated to “New York Union Members for Obama,” where he how boasts 20 members. At present, he has a total of 19 friends on MyBarack.com
Curiously, these are not the kind of friends one would expect of someone who did not join MyBarack.com prior to 2008. MyBarack.com has over half a million members, all ranked according to their degree of influence and activity on the site. It is impossible for users to know, who is the highest ranked, but I have managed numbers 1, 2, 6, and 8.
No, I did not spend nights looking for these Obama-freaks. I merely browsed Oman-Reagan’s “New York Union…” where all four of these top ranked individuals, are members! Among Oman-Reagan’s friends, two of them are to be found (6 and 8 respectively), along with six other individuals who rank among the top 1000. For half a million users, this is statistically a bit strange- half of Reagan’s friends compose .001% of MyObama.com leadership, and all four are each other’s friends.
Here are their names and rank:
1- KaldownimByze (Escalon CA)
2- Robert Braggs III (OH)
6- Aly Baba Faye (Italy)
8- Swimmer (IL)
These four Obama activists, command several key administrative positions, and are the founders of very important Obama online groups, all related to the Democratic Convention in Denver. One group in particular, catches my eye.
While all correspondences between Oman-Reagan, and these leading Obama supporters are private, and we have no way of knowing what information is exchanged, the group “Denver Convention Out-of-State Volunteers” was founded in March by numbers 1, 2, and 8, and has stayed largely limited to their participation. This is two months after Oman-Reagan appeared on MyBarack.com. The group proclaims:
it is a forum for those who will be volunteering/working at the Denver Convention to coordinate travel, housing, and to exchange tips and contact information.
It only has four members, that I just mentioned, along with a certain “Diane Valerie” from Mountain View California. Valerie is a bit odd, as she only has six friends, but they are all in the top 100 for Obama’s site! A curious individual, clearly brought onto the website, due to some kind of favorable assets.
With Gregory Chang, we have put together a graph, of the key Denver- related (and three unrelated) groups where Oman-Reagan’s top ranked friends are prominent members. We have highlited those groups in red, where membership is very low, or exclusively limited to these few individuals, and gives them greater influence. In Blue, are groups where all four can meet Christopher Hughes, an official Obama campaign employee.
Since these individuals are leading group administrators and Obama supporters on MyBarack.com, there can be little doubt, that they are in direct correspondances with Christopher Hughes, the man hired by Axelrod to make MyBarack.com, who sits as the top administrator of the most important groups where these Obama leaders congregate: The Action Center, Group Administrators, and Rapid Response Groups. We cannot possibly scan all of Hughes’ private list of friends, but there can be little doubt he figures in the personal friends list of either KaldownimByze or Swimmer.
Here is a picture of the relationships between all the actors we’ve mentioned for MyBarack.com so far.
***
So what does all of this mean?
Gregory and I are amused by the membership of all top Obama supporters in Oman-Reagan’s “Brookly Union” along with their immediate friendship with Oman-Reagan. Swimmer is a particularly disturbing Obama supporter, as she sits on virtually every organizations related to Denver and the Democratic Convention, while counting Oman-Reagan as her friend.
While Swimmer is ranked 8th, she has a peculiar relationship with Braggs III and KaldownimByze in an exclusive club reserved for the Top 100 on MyBarack.com. It remains entirely private, and so far, has only these three for its members.
All four top ranked Oman-Reagan friends, are members of “From Contra-Costa to Denver formerly C10 Membership” which
Enthusiastic Campaign Leaders, Volunteers, Supporters, Voters from Contra Costa County. Join us as we press on to the Denver Nomination and the General Election.
Three of them command a group calling on Obama supporters to email the DNC to prevent MI and FL from counting. KaldownimByze recently (the timing is odd) became a member of another crucial group, called “Convention Talk,” where he joined Aly Baba Faye, with only six other members to exclusively discuss Denver:
This group is for discussing ideas, events, strategies, etc. for the Democratic National Convention. If someone has a question about what to expect at the convention this will be a good place to ask it. I encourage all delegates (past and present), volunteers, and watchers to join. Let’s share the knowledge.
Again, the reason we discovered KaldownimByze, Robert Braggs III, Aly Baba Faye, and Swimmer in the first place, is not accidental. We still cannot find others ranked in the top 10 for MyBarack.com and found these four only thanks to Oman-Reagan.
I suppose, that had we diligently gone through the 100 or so members of the “members of MoveON group, ” we would have eventually found these four individuals, as all four are the leading members of this group. This implies they are also MoveOn members.
Although Aly Baba Faye is clearly of Somali origin residing in Italy, and cannot vote in US elections (he is just one of many top ranked foreigners we found on Obama’s site) he is perhaps a member of MoveOn’s international version, called Avaaz.
There are 21 groups on MyBarack.com boasting 1,354members all in some way related to Denver. Of these, only 6 are significant because they are national scale. On all six, either all, or at least two of the four leading Obama activists, are members.
It is an odd pattern, considering the virtual absence from such groups of other activists who place in the top 100. Could these four, whose membership is often of very recent vintage, be understood through their relationship to Oman-Reagan, and/or Christopher Hughes- a paid Obama camp employee?
We can’t know. What we do know, is that there is one degree of separation between the Obama camp, and pro-Obama R68 protesters. We provide this visual summary, as food for thought.
***
We are not suggesting Michael Oman-Reagan, and Gregory Donovan, are intent on stirring up riots in Denver. By the same token, we are not suggesting that these two individuals represent those R68 coalition members, who really are neutral in their hatred for both Obama and Clinton.
Everything indicates, that truly “neutral” R68 participants will be few and scarce. If our review of the R68 student networks is anything to go by, R68 is more Anti-Clinton and Pro-Obama than most Rowdy Anarchists who will end up in Denver, care to acknowledge.
From our limited exploration of the links between Obama supporters and R68, we’ve found that
1) the media outlet of R68 (Unconventioneer, RedPill) is in pro-Obama hands, while enjoying solid ties to Korto, Rapchik, Cline, and even Oman-Reagan.
2) Korte himself, enjoys a direct and a handful of indirect, but very close relationships with Oman-Reagan.
3) Oman-Reagan, promotes the pro-Obama position in R68. While R68 “officially” disavows Oman-Reagan, he is nevertheless endorsed by Code Pink of Colorado, various Obama state campaigns, a few Anarchist factions, and best of all, Unconventional Action (UA)!
4) UA in turn, is run by Jessica Rapchik, who together with Korte control the Students for a Democratic Society, which as an organization promises to deliver to Denver in August, the largest radical student contingent possible. Korte and Rapchik’s relationship to Oman-Reagan is a virtual endorsement of the pro-Obama R68 position.
5) Oman-Reagan, although unwelcome officially by R68, is the leading promoter of the pro-Obama faction in R68! He is an active participant on MyBarack.com, where he has forged links with the four most influential Obama supporters. He has done this indirectly through his own group, and directly through his friendship ties. He is one step away from paid Obama staff such as Christopher Hughes.
Based on such evidence, is it reasonable to suppose, that influential Obama internet activists, are aware of Oman-Reagan’s links to R68.
While we do not have more concrete evidence, the ties speak for themselves. Oman-Reagan does not appear to be a organizer of R68, but when one recalls Code Pink’s openly pro-Obama R68 position, along with what I wrote in my last post about UA intentions of conflict, Oman-Reagan’s presence on MyBarack.com, cannot be accidental.
I believe, we have established that a clear relationship between Obama fans, and R68, exists. It is one of great potential, although we cannot measure its present usage.
22 responses so far
And you know Kevin Bacon….. Everyone networks with everyone or they are just preaching to the choir.
I have been a non-affiliated PROGRESSIVE/POPULIST voter and don’t like John McCain. I voted for Nader in 2000 and Kerry in 2004. I am sick of starving under Republican/corporate rule and will be voting as a Democrat for the first time in 2008.
Perhaps there is real information here and I believe in giving others a chance to prove who they really are. At first impression the tone of this site seems much like the Clinton campaign, petty and nasty with little substance. Obama is attacked for the words of his Pastor. I belong to the same denomination as Obama. It is a Church of peaceniks that feeds the hungry and supports the disenfranchised. No mention is made of Hillary’s affiliation with a group of rightwing religious fanatics, The Fellowship. Obama is attacked for his associations with former revolutionaries. Perhaps I missed the part of this site where bloggers inform the readers that Hillary was a Young Republican. I did not change my party affiliation to vote for a Republican, not even a Goldwater Republican.
I have no interest in sites engaging in name-calling or over-generalizations. Nor am I interested in discussions of agent provocateurs and their plans for death and destruction at the conventions. I have seen first hand the destruction caused by police riots at peaceful assemblies (and right wingers don’t riot - ha). If there are no brownshirts in the crowd, the police will break a window or two as an excuse to use violence. I remember when the Chicago 8 were on trial for less than what recreate68.net is promoting. Bloggers here seem to think Obama is behind the planned “riots in Denver.” Why do the jackboots at Homeland Security allow them to exist? How does Glenn Spagnulolo afford to eat and hang out with the college kids? For young Googlers and those with short memories, the answer is spelled “cointellpro.” What image does the name EarthFirst! bring to mind? I saw EarthFirst! portrayed as a violent terrorist group by the timber corporations and the FBI after uniting the timber/lumber workers with the environmental movement (how long does it usually take for the FBI to show up after a car bomb explosion?). Imagine the word “Democrat” in twenty years if this bickering is allowed to overshadow the reality at hand. The reason that Newt Gingerich was able to put out his Contract on America was not poor planning and in-party fighting.
How about posting some reasons to vote for Hillary instead of why not to vote for Obama? I have been to see Obama and Mr. Clinton when they came to town a few weeks back. I really liked what Obama said in his speech and the answers he had to questions from the crowd. Mr. Clinton only impressed me because of his former job.
I have to ask these questions somewhere, since I hear little of substance in the “debates.” I see Hillary all over the MSM but she doesn’t say anything except that she will win. Hillary and Obama voted very similarly in the Senate. Why should I vote for her over Obama? I have heard Obama credibly address the issues that concern me. The answers that I have heard from Hillary don’t really impress me as anything other than the corporate status quo. Why should I vote for Hillary over McCain? She seems to be just a light version of a Neocon. Ask Hillary a hard question and the response is the same as from the C student currently in the Whitehouse, “Heh, heh, heh, heh,” just in a different octave. I expect more from a President than that.
So tell me, please, what will Hillary do for this country? How will Hillary make my life better?
Will Hillary hold her acquaintances and peers accountable to the law or are laws just for those of us that are not correctly politically connected? Will she revitalize the Department of Justice? Will Hillary stop the militarization of the civilian police? Roe v Wade was never about abortion. It was about privacy. What are Hillary’s plans for the telecom companies that cooperated with the Bush Whitehouse in subverting the FISA laws? Will she begin investigations into the crimes of the Bush/Cheney regime or just move on? What are her plans for the Federal prosecutors and Federal judges that have violated the public trust, at a minimum, or are blatantly criminals in suits and robes - in Alabama, for example?
The Iraq war is over and we should not be occupying and oppressing other nations (if common sense does not tell you this, read the CONSTITUTION). Is she willing to admit that she voted us into this war because of the Bush/Cheney lie machine and it is time to end the madness? Will she get US out of Iraq in just a few months before we are bankrupted like the USSR in Afghanistan?
My fulfilling, well paying job writing software is now outsourced to Malaysia after being outsourced to India. Will Hillary break away from Bill’s legacy of exporting jobs with NAFTA and GATT/WTO? Or is favoring multinational corporations over “Joe Lunchbox” just the way the system works and there is no need to have jobs or a working economy in this country?
My Congresspersons and Senators have to raise about $20,000 per day to compete in the next election. Will Hillary support public funding of elections so that my representatives in Washington, DC are not beholden to large campaign donors and can concentrate on the issues of running the Country instead of begging daily? Or is selling votes to corporations just the way that Washington works and there is no use trying to change?
I could barely afford to drive to work the past year. Will she work to lower the price of fuel by reregulating the commodities trading that Bill deregulated?
My neighbors are losing their houses to the mortgage companies or selling below market value because they cannot pay their mortgages. Will she reregulate the banking and home mortgage industry?
My electricity has almost doubled in the past 7 years. Will she reimpose regulations on the energy corporations? Will she enforce the Sherman antitrust acts? Will she insist that the consumer protection agencies enforce the laws?
After going without for several years, I have great health insurance now and want to keep it just as it is. I remember the day when I was not a criminal if I didn’t buy auto insurance from a corporation. Will Hillary further increase the level of fascism in this country by appeasing the masses clambering for health insurance and placate the insurance industry by forcing me by law to pay a private corporation for health insurance?
Will Hillary work to appoint progressive judges to the Supreme Court or just rubberstamp more corporate/Federalist Society anti-freedom hacks?
Is Hillary different than the current Administration or will she use political influence to rewrite the rules to suit her? Tell me about Florida and Michigan again please.
These are some of the pressing questions that I have for the current crop of presidential hopefuls. This is not a troll post. I am not a rabid Obama supporter. I am hoping for some real information instead of flames and propaganda from sock puppets.
I need to read your post at least three more times. So much informaton.
Great detective work! That’s quite the little trail of mouse clicks.
Well, all I see is a lot of questions about Hillary, while we still don’t much of anything about Obama, except what his handlers want us to know. Obama has yet to be vetted and Hillary has been vetted up the ass by the republicans throughout the entire time of her husband’s administration.
I would suggest that the person posing these questions stop by hillaryclinton.com and view all of her positions, which are specifically laid out and then return with any further questions after that.
In the meantime, I’d like a “viable” and “rationale” explanation for why there is no paper trail of Obama’s great works as a state senator or any record proving that was truly responsible for the legislation he claims to have passed while there. Doesn’t this seem highly questionable to everyone? I don’t know of any politician who would not document their good works (particularly one who thinks as highly of himself as Obama apparently does). This kind of information is absolutely necessary when one is running for president. Just words won’t do.
In every job interview, actions, not words, are the necessary qualifers for someone to “get the job”. The interviewer doesn’t care to hear what you plan to do, they want to know everything that you have done and they want references that prove that you aren’t making it up.
I had a more difficult job landing a job in a law firm than Obama has in vying for the most powerful and the most difficult job in the world.
Doesn’t this sound like we are getting another front man, like GW, shoved down our throats (another uniter) to cover for the frat party that’s been going on for decades over their in D.C.?
As GW once tried to say: “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
I won’t be fooled again.
How can anybody write so many words as “public land owner” and still sound so stupid? I mean that took some effort to string together all of that tripe. My favorite part, “I really like what Obama had to say.”
Now that is a persuasive argument. Gosh, really? I’m thinking you also don’t own an acre of public land, clown.
As for you incredible, dedicated reporters of stop-obama, I am once again in awe of your work. Jessica Rapchik (and I’m just guessing
that’d be short for Rap- Chick. But I don’t know…Might just be a funny coincidence. But if not, doesn’t it just make you want to send her to bed without her dinner and her Weather Underground videos?),
Jessica Rapchik and “Swimmer” wow–what a waste. They both have shades of Dohrn wanna-bes. I’ve watched parents bring up brats now for decades. The parents who let their kids get away with any and all offensive behavior and act like they’re cute when they’re being obnoxious beyond all standards. These are what those kids grow into.
These kids have no self-esteem and no sense of inner worth. They take their self-hatred and project it out onto the world thinking that the world is going to treat them just like their parents have- with blind, stupid acquiescence. Well, the rest of the world doesn’t think they’re cute. The rest of the democrats don’t think they’re cute, either. Real democrats care about human rights, having jobs, ending the war in Iraq, and universal health care. All issues on which Clinton is the only candidate who cares. Obama is an issue coward who can’t even remember what lie he is supposed to tell on what day. He can’t even have a debate with turning tail and running away. Fearless Leader.
Even the bad guy in Rocky and Bullwinkle is tougher than he is. How’s he going to do with Putin. Obama is unelectable and doesn’t care about the Democratic party. He obviously condones tactics that would make Rove wince. He is unsuitable for any office in this country. Perhaps he would be happier somewhere else and his band of
domestic terrorists could follow him… after all none of them are capable of independent thought— other than how to get mom and dad to pay the bills. I am proud (maybe I’m channeling Michelle–maybe I’ll go take a 40 minute hot shower after I write this), but I am proud that we have a homeland security department. If ever we needed one it is now — to upset the apple cart of the children hell-bent on destroying the Democratic party and any hope of moving this country away from the Draconian politics of the Republicans. If Obama had a soul he would withdraw now… But of course that’s the whole problem… he has no soul…
Thanks George Clooney… Thanks for giving us another lousy actor like you and like Reagan to try and pretend they can guide America to a better place.
Off topic..
You guys are some of the best investigative reporters out there. I know you are busy following leads in all sorts of stories… But I’m wondering when someone is going to cover the “primary election”
that happened in Illinois. Especially Cook County. It seems by the numbers that an awful lot of dead Democrats were voting in Chicago again. I’d be awfully interested to know what really happened there.
I grew up outside of Chicago. It was common knowledge that Chicago politics were fixed. Mike Royko we certainly miss you now! Of course we have Rezko, but election fraud is always interesting too.
[…] « Obama Camp and R68, One Degree of Separation […]
Brilliant, as usual.
I read somewhere that the majority of Obama supporters (the younger ones) are the Emo kids. Pretty much spoiled and raging against everything that feeds them and puts them through school. They want what they want and they want it now…and if they don’t get it, they will just be fucking miserable and make everyone else miserable, too.
Sadly, even more seasoned individuals are playing along because it makes them feel special…baby-boomer anarchists! That’s scary, because my parents are baby boomers and I cant imagine them behaving like some of the older Obama supporters. They are just pathetic.
Grow up, idiots! We have important things happening in the world. There is a lot to rage against: The Bush Administration would be a good place to start.
Thanks for all of your work.
Public Land Owner
I agree that the questions you raise ought to be asked of our candidates. Especially off-shoring, in-sourcing and all the other labor arbitrage weapons used against the middle and working class.
This stuff is killing us and until about two months ago it wasn’t even a discussion item with both candidates. Its downright shameful. The debates are pretty much beauty contests with no real substantive debate of issues.
The main problem is, is that neither candidate IMO has any sort of populist track record we can refer too and that most activists supporting both candidates don’t care about crooked “free” trade deals, or about Americans losing their jobs to some H1-B visa worker or factory in China.
Personally though I will not vote for Obama because of his record on trade and support of increasing H1-B guest workers and using our colleges and universities as green card factories - giving any foreign student who graduates with a BS an automatic green card. The fact that he called a American worker racist for complaining about him losing his job to a H1-B visa worker and his shafting of the Maytag workers were the final nails in the coffin for my vote.
The Wright stuff and his elitist comments about the white working class in PA just re-affirmed my reasons not to vote for him.
As for Hillary, her financial ties to the Indian out-sourcer TATA and her johnny come lately on NAFTA don’t make her a champion of working class people. Basically she’s no Durbin or Sanders when it comes to standing up for working class Americans.
That said, I’ll probably vote Hillary not because I like her, but because thats the only choice left to me.(FWIW I used to be a Edwards supporter).
What a fine web Obama’s team is weaving.
Ripe for analysis now are the connections between R68 and Chicago’s Daley-machine.
Reason is, the “Election 2000 debacle,” the tawdry vandalism of the White-House’s key-boards in 2000 (the “W” keys were removed), and Chicago’s grievance-ridden, ghetto-ized polity are all of a part with R68’s plans for civil-misconduct in Denver.
I say you should cast a wider net. Link the R68 rabble to Howard Dean and Clinton’s current campaign manager, Terry McCullough, to the Dem’s Daley-machine and you’ll catch Hillary and Obama in one single trawl.
Talk about screwing the Pooch: can any Democrat coherently say the words, “Global Crossing,” “Enron,” “Walmart,” “Free Trade,” and “Corporate Barons” in the same speech? No. But that won’t stop them from trying.
Cheers.
This is one of the funniest things I think I’ve ever read on the internet.
First, you make the bizarre mistake of assuming that “friend” status on social networking web sites actually reflects a condition that exists between two parties in the real world.
The truth of the matter is that I know perhaps only 3 or 4 of the people with whom I am “friends” on any given social networking site, facebook and myspace included.
As far as “endorsements” go, that’s the same story - when someone friend requests you on myspace, you accept it - the same is true on facebook - you don’t discriminate - I accept 99% of all friend requests I receive on both sites. It’s easier to just click “select all” and “accept” than worry about who these people are…
And, as you can imagine, I have never spoken or even emailed with 98% of those people. I mean, really, who do you know that actually socializes with or talks to the people they meet online?
In fact, I don’t know a single person who is actually involved in the Denver Recreate 68 group.
The same is true with the social network element of the Obama web site, I don’t know any of those people, they are just ‘online’ friends - you could call them ‘pretend’ friends.
In the end, the funniest part, is that you don’t know this. You’ve tried to analyze relationships by looking at online social networking, but failed to understand or even question the value these online associations made through “friend requests”.
As a scholar of Religion and Technology and a professional information technology specialist - I would be happy to explain or discuss any of this with you and your readers. Feel free to contact me or to forward questions to me.
Thanks for the laughs - it was truly amusing to find this.
Kind regards,
Michael
The amusement in mutual Mr. Regan-Oman,
Consider this though. You can say whatever you want about your networks, but short of evidence, your statements amount to claims. Jeff and Greg dug up networks, and you played a central role.
You may not discriminate your networks, but I know people who do. Our group, for example, does. We don’t like to Haters or Bashers - and we wont link to them. You are wrong to assume everyone approaches soacial networks as you do, nor do you understand what the nature of your place in a network says about the network.
We can’t profit, nor can you, from what you claim about your network activity. But let me ask you this:
1) Your “site” would be Facebook?
You are opaque about your friends on Facebook and Myspace. Why? Jeff found your links through SDS members, not yours.
2) Or are you admitting the unofficial R68 site on MySpace is yours?
3) SUNY connections.
4) Are you saying Freddy Bastone is not somoene you know personally, or associate with?
5) Korte. Don’t know him, havent been in touch?
6) Your activity on MyObama. You have not been asked about R68? Why is your network above average?
7) Your buddy on Facebook and BarackObama. Not in R68? You seem to have started R68 at same time as your activity on MyObama.
9) You know what R68 is about Mr. Oman? So why are you linking to it? Are you condoning the violence and methods being advocated?
10) Are you doing so as an Obama supporter?
More importantly Mr. Oman. You are wrong about the value of your network. In as much as you link to R68, you are a direct bridge between R68 and the Obama camp. Maybe people don’t care who you are, but the R68 site you link to, is a veritable connection of Obama R68 participants. I think that should be obvious. Also, I am sure you keep your friends opague because you are not too comfortable to reveal just how carelessly you select them.
I suppose this may be the start of a rich exchange, especially if you are not inhibited.
Jamal McCoy with input from Jeff Gold.
LOL - these incoherent ramblings are a good example of why Hillary lost this race.
Look, if any of this were true, I’d be proud to admit it. I’d love to be the important person you’ve made me out to be, If I worked for the Obama campaign, R68 or SDS I would proudly display that on all my online profiles.
I don’t hide anything about my political beliefs or associations. And regarding SDS, SDS and SNCC are the only reason that segregation ended in this country - you’ve got a lot of history to learn. I’d suggest you start by reading “The Port Huron Statement” by Tom Hayden and Martin Luther King’s great book “Why We Can’t Wait.”
Since the primary is over, and Obama is now the democratic nominee, you might want to find another hobby. : )
But again, this was great entertainment - I can’t thank you enough for making me out to be so important - I love it….
-Michael
I join today to this page and remain deeply shocked on discorvering that I may be a dangerous and eventually violent. I apologize but you guy miss the point. I’m just an enthusiast dreamer who support Barack Obama, and hope he could be elected. I’m not an american citizen I couldn’t vote for Him I was born in Senegal not in Somali and I lived in Italy for almost 24 years. I’m a peace activist and got involved in public committement on intercultural dialogue. If you could read in Italian or in French maybe you’ d learn much more about my life and my committment before publishing this kinds of “investigation”. I hope you provide to give these informations to CIA o FBI in order to ensure what you’re suppose to have as element to a serious investigation. If you haven’t do it I ask to do that as soon as possible in oder to clear deeply what you know as true as you find necessary to put it on the net.
I support Obama for several reason but the main one is that he opposed to war. And I truly believe that his election as US president will be a boost for peace and dialogue. It fair to say that you get wrong about me. I never heard about Ua or r68 and don’t even know what it is. You’d learn about my story and investigate about the values I stand for then you’ll avoid suspicions and allegations that go wrong and may cause damage on my public reputation.
@Aly, FYI, I can do French.
I thank you for coming here. You can read all of our stuff, and tell us if you are still so idealistic. Never was it implied you nor Oman-Reagan were violent. The disclaimer I believe is on the first page. You are top in MyObama along with a few others. Not being an American, I don’t know how it is so many MyBarack people are outsources from France and Europe. What’s up with you guys? You gonna take your Barack and spread him on the rest of the world?
Anyway, no insult intented brother, but Please read our section devoted to the Iraq War and Obama.
Keep in mind, I also opposed the War and so did all of us at SO, it was based on a LIE. But how would Obama have known that!? He sure NEVER voted against any war- just as CLinton, in voting for authorizing force, never Voted for a War- plainly clear from her statement.
REmember friend, the road to hell is paved with good intentions - idealism, but you don’t know what you is cooking!
Read our stuff bro, and I’d like to hear your opinion.
@ Mr. Oman,
No. The Phony is not yet a Nominee. Don’t tell me you are so easily taken in by the media.
You didn’t answer a single question here, publicly. Your choice. Aint no inquisition man.
We are not assuming you are particularly important Mr. Oman, your a part of a network, which is part of R68. I see some linking here, don’t you? Its a link you helped us find, and we thank you for it.
And it sure don’t look blind to me. You got Aly Baba here in a second! If that’s blind, then I ask you blindly, with Aly AND Swimmer, you or your pall, exchanged anything in relation to Denver?
You promote both Obama and R68, and the pages you link up, reveal several nodes of Obama/R68 activity. That’s enough to get your Prophets attention, right?
Small fish or big, social networking statistics don’t lie Mr. Oman. There appear to be a few thousand of your kind bridging R68 and Obama. Zero, I mean Zer0, linking Clinton/McCain to R68.
Now I know my history sir. And aint no 2008 SDS - had shit to do with segregation ending in this or any other country in 1960s. I aint no hostage to ignorance as you imply. The SDS of yore aint the SDS of Pat Korte, and Freddy Bastone. It is an altogether different organization. That said, even in the 60s, SDS served as a cover for Dohrn and her terroris activities. Now don’t get me wrong, SDS of that time, did contribute to our history- but don’t forget your history Mr. Oman. Dohrn and Ayers are terrorists, just as Bin Laden is one (do you sympahtize with both?)
Mr. Oman, R68 has considerable Anarchists elements, aiming to do illegal shit, and ready to fight and riot in Denver. You is linking to the Central Internet Repository of pro-Obama elements in R68 with these Anarchist elements. You is a caught fish, now if you is small or big, we can’t know- and you’ll forgive us that- but let me remind you Mr. Oman-
Ayers and his spouse are active in Korte’s SDS. You are in the wrong company. We got what we got, and the links count, who is who, we can’t know.
PS. We’d appreciate you address Unconventional Action/Anarchist R68 tactics/strategy. Riots and violence. Do you distance yourself? You think its appropriate to extort the DNC if Your Prophet is not recognized?
Michael Oman-Reagan I suggest you have chosen bad company. We cannot possibly evaluate your role between R68 and Obama, but your descriptions of your social networking activity are misleading.
Your links on MyObama are not limited to Swimmer and Faye as Jamal mistakenly implies. But to all four identified top 10 members. Fact.
You and Donnovan promote R68 AND Obama. Fact.
You are the most active promoter of a pro-Obama R68 presence on Facebook. Fact.
R68 organizations reserve the right for violence, and its plans document an intent to provoke it. Fact.
If you don’t want your name connected to these groups, then why chose to be among them? Either you are a pro-Obama anarchist, promoting the rioting of R68, or you do not undertake the activity you have undertaken under the slogan of Recreating the National Democratic Convention of Chicago in 1968. Recreate-68 implies recreating Police Riots.
Your internet, R68 and Obama activity indicates that is the cause you support. Fact.
Questions,
1- who is behind MySpace R68? Donnovan, you? Who? Why are you liking to it? Official R68 has requested the Myspace R68 be ingored and treated as marginal. Are you not aware of this request?
2- Are you suggesting the Obama camp is unaware of your, and such, activity?
They are aware, and that’s what your presence proves. As I told Jamal, facebook stats don’t lie, except in your case? Since your stats are private, both on the R68 Facebook page, and your own.
@ Aly Baba Faye,
You are no idealist. Considering your MyObama activity, you are about as “idealistic” as Barack. Anyone as active as yourself, would have by now understood, that Obama’s Iraq stance was based on ignorance and prejudices, not any idealism. His reasons were indistinct from Jeremiah Wright’s reasons - conspiracy. He could not explain how he would have voted on the Senate resolution. Is that the kind of idealism you want to be associated with?
Your own idealism is highly questionable. Why do you want the DNC to deny Florida and Michigan the vote? And you do want just that. So much we know. Why are you a member of Obama’s delegates in Denver group? You are not a citizen, and shouldn’t be there. Why are you a MoveOn group member? the Title is clear, MoveON “members.” Why are you on Oman-Reagans NY Union gropu? Are you from New York, a Union Member?
Or don’t words matter to idealists?
Gregory and I cannot possibly access the MyBarackObama hierarchy. But from the limited sample of top 100, we found about 5 to 7% are not Americans. It also appears that Kalmdownimbize is a Citizen of Georgia (the country) living in California. Why are you interfering in our elections? You don’t like when we do it to you. As a Clinton supporter, I don’t like it when you you do it to us. We decide as Americans what our interests are, and who serves us. Your interference is anti-Democratic by definition. You can limit your activism to Italy, Georgia, and Somalia. (we would appreciate a full list of Obama’s top 100, or top 1000, but none of you can seem to get it to us- Secret information right? ).
You sound far from an Idealist Mr Faye, you sound like someone who doesn’t understand basic Democratic concepts and thinks he can tell other peoples what to do. We the people of the United States of America decide our interests, not you the people of Italy or Somalia.
I suggest you read a bit of Oriana Fallaci Mr. Faye, and instruct yourself on some basics of the Democratic Culture. If anyone were allowed to vote everywhere, the vote would be meaningless.
Let me ask. Your idealism, is of what kind? The Third World anti-Western Idealism? You clearly don’t think highly of our democratic process. Is it Anti-Racism, which Obama enforces only against some, but not against others? And you condone as respectable? Is it Obama’s idealism of rejecting Western Culture as too White and hence not his, or yours? Is it his idealism in using Race to shut up legitimate questions and criticism?
I understand the sentiment Obama attracts internationally. He persistently sends a message, that he doesn’t care much for this country, unless it Becomes what he, and I presume people like yourself, want it to become.
Is this your sentiment? Do tell Mr. Faye. Your “idealism” needs a lot of explaining. You are too active on Obama’s site, to remain ignorant of these issues.
You still missing your point! If my ignorance of democratic principles may be proved it will be good the same if it suggest me as human being some accountablity in front of global challenges: our planet is in peril, the world is bending towards violence (Clush of civilsations!) and so on … I wonder if democratic principles may suggest to an non-iranian to disagree with Ahmedinejad? At least what does it mean to care about this, to hope for a better future for all mankind? Is it blind idealism? Maybe! But let tell you that I still prefer Hope to cinicism and this for me another good reason to support Obama and to spread his good words. In the end if you really think that I might be part of a big cospiracy for peace or/and a network of anarchists committed to create a peaceful world, then I haven’t possibility to get in explanations.
Fired up ready to go!
[…] Also see: Obama Camp and R68, One Degree of Separation […]
You are not part of a conspiracy Aly, you are part of the outsourcing of our politics to the ignorant of the Earth.
I can understand, that you could care less about sovereignty. Last I recall, Italians were not too happy, when operation Gladio was unleashed in Bologna and terrorist acts attriuted to the left, were carried out in the name of roling back Communism. Gladio, as you know, was accompanied by American financing of Italy’s center-right coalitions, and the State Department was used to channel these funds.
Were you and Italian communists happy about it? What was your cry back then? Can you please apply the same logic to our election. It makes no difference, if you are paid by the state department, or by yourself- what matters is, that you do not undersatnd this country, nor our interests. You come into this politics with your agenda, not that of americans.
We are all for peace and love brother, but you have to respect territory. You have to respect that your intentions, may do more harm to me, than good.
I would welcome your lobbying for Obama, in Italy or Somalia, but when it comes to America, your interference is no different from interference by America in Italian politics after the second world war up till the early nineties.
You do not understand what Obaam is about for us, and its because you are not here, you are not an American, and you do not know what our country is about. You pursue your goals, and you believe Obama represents them. But these are YOUR goals, not OURS. To us, people sitting here in America, we have different goals than you, and we feel entitled, and rightfully so, to prioritize our goals, over yours. That’s why you do not vote here. Just like foreigners cannot contribute money to our campaign, so I do not see, how you can contribute labor. Foreign governments, make it a point, of not declaring their preferences for the candidates of other democracy’s votes. There is a solid reason- which you apparently do not understand.
You represent, an innovation in campaigning - you are the outsourcing of it. Obama couldn’t get enough naive followers in America, so he got them from all over Italy, France, and the UK. Just as with foreign governments, and foreign capital, and the foreign vote, a country’s citizens, not its non-citizens, are privilidged to determine what that country’s interest is, and how it choses to pursue it.
Or would you prefer we all vote in each others politics? In that case sir, I would vote for tougher immigration laws in Italy, and I would vote in a reformist, pro-Western, Social-Democratic (market socialism) anti-Islamist government in Somalia. That way we could preserve peace, and increase wealth in the entire world.
I hope you would be ok with that. I think, we can all agree, on world peace is awesome - and for that reason, let us, the engligthened once, determine what happens in Italy and Somalia. Trust us, we know what’s better for you, more than you do.
Or isn’t that what you are implying when you suggest that you can interfere in our elections - that you know our interests better than we do?
You are I am afraid to say Aly Baba, one of those naive individuals, whose greatest asset is the extremism of their ignorance. You want to change the world, without any respect for what it is, or may be. You are a self-deluded demagogue, who listens only to himself, and to similar demagogues, without the slightest care for concrete basics. Ideas such as sovereignty, are inaccessible to yo.
HA HA HA HA! I don’t know what you guys have been smoking, but most of your conclusions about R68, UA, SDS, TheRedPill, and The Unconventioneer are so far in left field that the ball left the stadium and might be in orbit. None of these froups are pro-obama or anti-hillary. They are anti-buisness as usual in Washington. Not to mention that the command structure’s that you have created are incredibly bogus. Most of these groups are non-hierarchical grass roots organizations. They have consensus meetings in which hundreds of people show up to make decisions together. Wow, you gotta love yellow journalism, it can make you laugh harder than an old Chris Farley movie…