Thanks to a reader tip, we have identified the three individuals in the march who we interviewed. In the photo below starting on the left is James Raines, a University of Memphis teacher (from reader tip), next to his right is Jordan Farrar (Young Communist League & Organizing for America), and next to him is Gabe Niechcial, another young communist.

According to the P/oed Patriot, Farrar, seen in the white C.P. USA shirt, is not only a Young Communist League leader, but he is also a member of Barack Obama’s Organizing for America and he organized a rally in 2009 for OFA to support President Obama’s health care bill. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) was featured guest at Farrar’s event as well.

Notice the host name on the screenshot of the event invitation.

Jordan is a self-described “militant anti-racist anti-fascist Marxist-Leninist skinhead.”

As found on his Facebook page:

“I am a writer for the People’s World, an organizer for the Young Communist League, USA, and a dedicated member of the Communist Party, USA. I am a militant anti-racist anti-fascist Marxist-Leninist skinhead. I fight along with my comrades for a better world through peace, equality, democracy and by creating a socialist America to put an end to the imperialist and capitalist aggression that has been carried out in the name of the American people.”

He also states:

“Another world is possible, another United States is necessary!”

In the photo below you can see James Raines, who we initially received reader information on, photographed spreading his message with the Marxist Student Union on campus at the University of Memphis.

And now we get to hear from all the “occupiers,” that video evidence of communists, socialists, anarchists, and such, showing up at their flea-infested freak shows, is not their fault. “It is an open protest,” they cry, “anyone can come.”

Well, it seems that is the point: they are coming, and they are being welcomed. They have organized for the Democratic Party and the President of the United States and now they are part of your pathetic “Obama-endorsed” marches. Accept it and love it for what it is, or go back to your parents’ oversized suburban homes, wash your hair, get a job and start helping the rest of America fix this country.

Cross Posted at: RebelPunditFollow @RebelPundit on Twitter

]]> http://biggovernment.com/rebelpundit/2011/10/17/update-communist-marching-with-occupychicago-identified-as-ofa-organizer-for-president-obama/feed/ 107 http://biggovernment.com/skruiser/2011/09/29/ofas-strange-definition-of-corporate-special-interests/ http://biggovernment.com/skruiser/2011/09/29/ofas-strange-definition-of-corporate-special-interests/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:06:57 +0000 Stephen Kruiser http://biggovernment.com/?p=340740

Another day, another desperate email from Team Lightbringer:

Stephen –

I’m the national finance director here at OFA.

I know we’ve been sending you a lot of email lately. That’s because we’re staring down a critical fundraising deadline tomorrow at midnight.

You know what that means for your inbox, but let me give you a sense of what that looks like around here.

The staff and I are working around the clock, powered by too much coffee. It’s been way too long since we called our moms. And we’ve all had more pizza and bad takeout in the past few weeks than anyone should have in a year.

No one’s complaining; that’s what we signed up for. And we’re not doing this just because it’s our job to make sure the campaign has the resources it needs. We’re doing this because it’s part of what defines this movement.

From the beginning, we’ve refused to take money from D.C. lobbyists and corporate special interests. Our operation is fueled by people inspiring each other to take ownership of this campaign.

That’s why we’ve been emailing this week, and that’s why I’m obligated to remind you once more that the deadline is coming up in a matter of hours.

If you’re able to, will you chip in just $3 today?

https://donate.barackobama.com/Friday-Deadline

For all of us here at HQ, and all of the staff and volunteers across the country counting on these resources, I really appreciate your help.

Rufus

Rufus Gifford
National Finance Director
Obama for America

The key line there is this:

From the beginning, we’ve refused to take money from D.C. lobbyists and corporate special interests.

They’re either using a very Bill Clinton-esque dictionary to define “from the beginning” and “corporate special interests” or they’re lying. Because, back in “the beginning”, this is what the top Obama donors list looked like.

Here on the reality side of things, Microsoft, Google, Time Warner and at least half of that list seem so very, very corporate.

This has always been part of the Obama administration’s political genius. It pretends to be all about the little guy while being so in bed with corporate money that it gets turndown service every night. For several weeks now, the president has been walking a tightrope between all-out class warfare speeches that take place immediately prior to fundraising dinners with the very rich people he was just so vehemently excoriating.

The illusion is, of course, maintained with the help of a press corps that rarely asks questions that reveal anything other than how the president is feeling that day. With support cracking in places President Obama probably thought he could count on, there may be a real chance that this “double life” will finally be acknowledged by the progressive base that so loathes all things corporate.

The campaign has just released a new video, “How Wall St. Reform is working for you”, that tells a nice story which, none too coincidentally, dovetails perfectly with the president’s caterwauling about “THE RICH!” during the debt ceiling negotiations.

The tale begins by detailing the lead-up to the meltdown that we’re all-too-familiar with at this point. Well, many of us are, anyway. On the other side of the political aisle many of the overwhelming contributing factors have all but been ignored. The video completely forgets to mention the roles that Fannie and Freddie played because honesty doesn’t fit the narrative here. And what, you ask, is that narrative?

That the government is here for you and your lives would be miserable without it, of course.

Even when it’s the government that helped bring the pain in the first place.

The video proclaims the sheer awesomeness of government regulations and their ability to protect you all the while ignoring the fact that it was regulations put in place during the Carter administration that were the original foot on the gas to get the problem going.

The free pass given to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the 2008 campaign was so thorough that Barney Frank was allowed to remain in charge of the House Financial Services committee, despite having been romantically involved with an executive at Fannie Mae while the agency was lobbying to ease lending restrictions.

Many on the Left contend that Fannie and Freddie were bit players in the debacle. In an article posted this week, unapologetic liberal Roger Ebert begs to differ.

It is obvious to anyone who cares that the housing crisis and market collapse were brought about by greedy and dishonest actions by the big banks, Wall Street trading firms, and their unholy co-defendants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

But we’re talking about an OFA video here and the government can only be seen as a benevolent savior. In this telling, only “Wall Street” played a part (and yes, it did). Its companions on the four-headed monster in this horror story are “banks”, “lobbyists” and (queue ominous music) “The New Republican Congress”!

The happy ending assures us all that President Obama just wants to help Americans build “their own secure financial future” with all of this super government help.

Some jobs might help with that.

It is true that the Democrats have out-messaged Republicans on the Medicare issue [it is, apparently, far more effective showing grandma being pushed over a cliff than kids eating cat food because the country is broke--grandmas vote and kids don't, after all]. However, there was more to losing NY 26 than mere messaging.

For example, there was the third-party candidate, faux Tea Party guy Jack Davis, that sucked some of the votes from Jane Corwin. However, beyond the messaging and third-party candidate, as is often the case, it was the Left’s ground game left the Right’s in the dust and, quite frankly, it is the ground game that will make or break 2012 for Republican candidates—if the GOP, or individuals who do not want to see America overrun by Marxist union bosses, can learn from the NY-26 loss.

Here’s the first evidence that the GOP was asleep at the switch in its ground game:

OFA-NY hosted 22 phone banks in the district and in other parts of the state over the 12 days leading up to Tuesday’s election – logging a total of 23,520 calls since May 12; and about 20 percent of the campaign’s GOTV 77,000 calls – from Thursday to Tuesday –originated from OFA phone banks, according to internal campaign records.

The group also made 3,402 in-person contacts with voters out of a 53,000-contact door-knocking efforts led by local Democrats, unions and Hochul’s own field organizers.

And OFA used its vaunted email list to recruit volunteers, text likely voters and push blog posts and news stories favorable to Hochul – and whacking Republican Jane Corwin, who lost by a slim four points in a tight three-way race to replace shirtless and seat-less former GOP Rep. Chris Lee.

In a press release last week, the Teamsters gave some indication of what they did on the ground in NY-26.

“Many of our local unions supported Hochul by going door-to-door, phone banking, direct-mail activities and participating in a Labor Walk earlier this month,” said Gene Delorme, President of Teamsters Joint Council 46 in Albany.

On its website, the Communication Workers of America stated:

CWA members in Buffalo and surrounding Erie County made phone calls and knocked on doors for winner Kathy Hochul, helping voters understand what was at stake. Local 1122 President Jim Wagner said that by Tuesday night, “We were feeling pretty confident.”

“Our local, all of CWA in western New York and the rest of the labor community stepped up big time,” Wagner said. “We had volunteers in here many nights working the phone bank, we did a labor walk last Saturday, and last week, on the 50th anniversary of our local, we had President Cohen here firing everyone up about the race and how important it was.”

The SEIU, not unexpectedly, also had a hand at defeating Jane Corwin.

Corwin, for her part, did have phone banks—one of which was manned by her Green Party opponent (and anti-Walker phone hoaxer), Ian Murphy.

However, GOP efforts to get out the vote were no match for the Union/OFA/Democrat machine. As ColdWarrior notes:

Corwin’s vote total of 45,500 divided by the approximately 170,000 Republican and Conservative registered voters times 100 equals a pathetic less than 27 per cent vote turnout. In other words, over 73 per cent of the registered Republicans and Conservatives were just too dang busy to vote.

By contrast, Hochul’s 50,888 vote total divided by the 135,088 Democrat and Working Families registered voters times 100 equals a 37.6 per cent vote turnout.

[snip]

Corwin had 5,388 fewer votes than the winner, Hochul. And ignoring the Independents, and assuming Corwin got all of her 45,500 votes from registered Republicans and Conservatives, 125,500 Republican and Conservative too-damn-lazy-to-vote-in-a-special-election voters, who could have easily given her the 5,389 she needed to beat Hochul, lost the election for Corwin. Maybe those 5,389 needed to win would have voted if the Republican Party had done a better job at GOTV. [Emphasis added.]

With 2012 right around the corner, unless people want to see the country fall to the Left permanently, it is time for people inside and outside the GOP to start working harder and smarter.

Those on the Left are masters at taking the offensive by any means necessary (the ends justify the means, see Saul Alinsky).

The Right, on the other hand (with few exceptions), are masters at playing defense and ceding ground where none should be ceded.

On messaging, the Right needs to get much bolder. Sure, the Left can run an ad and use grandma being pushed off a cliff due to Medicare reform. However, the Left is also driving Medicare (and the country) into bankruptcy and the Democrats do not have a plan except fear tactics (solely relying on eating the rich won’t work to solve the problem). The fact is, if our nation does not wean itself from the crack-habit of spending soon, grandma won’t likely have a wheelchair from which to push her anyway and she will be relegated to eating cat dog food (as will her kids and grandkids). [Actually, Dog Food Democrats does have a nice ring to it.] Moreover, there are already a few examples of what happens when over promising meets reality (see Central Falls, RI and Prichard, AL), with more most assuredly on the way.

Creating the Constant Campaign. Democrats run a non-stop campaign of attacking the Right. As they’re doing now with Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, they did for almost eight years of the Bush presidency, and will do through 2012 and beyond. Republicans do not seem to understand this Alinsky tactic. Or, if they do, they either do not how to use it themselves, or are afraid to.

On a smaller scale, as Wisconsin clearly demonstrated, Scott Walker did little to sell his needed reforms prior to igniting a firestorm of criticism. Walker failed in what the Left does constantly—build support for change. Further, and just as importantly, once he launched his reform efforts, he (and Republican lawmakers) appeared (at least to those of us outside of Wisconsin) to lock themselves away, giving the Left much needed time to marshal their troops and steal the message.

Wars Are Won By the Boots on the Ground (and superior firepower, of course). To paraphrase an old quote: You cannot win a war if you’re not on the battlefield. The Left, primarily through the unions, have a continual source of boots on the ground during election season. In addition to their full-time staffers, under many union contracts, unions’ ability to have members sign out of work for “union business,” gives them a ready made army of soldiers for the Left to do phone banking and GOTV. The Right, for the most part, has to rely on volunteers.

Following the 2010 mid-terms, some have noticed the tapering off of attendance at rallies and meetings. Though not unexpected (people do have other lives outside of politics), activist and GOP leaders must work twice as hard as to keep their base motivated and, more importantly, engaged…Which is where technology (superior firepower) comes in:

In 2008, the Right was blown away by the machine that Barack Obama built. While his supporters’ were buoyed by their enthusiasm for “hope” and “change,” it took a technological system to coordinate what became known as Obama for America, a campaign tool that integrated a variety of systems (for example, go here) to keep supporters engaged and mobilized.

The Democratic’s winning technology is a massively powerful, yet easy to use, web based campaign system by Voter Activation Network (VAN) called “VoteBuilder“. With its “Catalist” database, this national Software / System is used by more than 700,000 liberals, and has often been referred to as “Obama’s Secret Weapon.”

Obviously, conservatives are kept far away from this guarded technology. The RNC’s pride and joy, “Voter Vault 3″ system is like an old DOS relic next to this system. No other system comes close to the power found in VoteBuilder This is why it has been chosen as the national technology platform for ALL Democrats in the US and several other English speaking countries.

Despite the Right’s disadvantage in election technology for the last few years, the Right has held its own. Now, however, thanks to the expiration of an non-compete agreement, the technological barrier has been broken.

As of January 2010, the system that powered OFA has become available to conservatives through rVotes. [For background, go here.] According to its website, as well as those who have spent hours researching and demo-ing the product, rVotes is something that conservative groups (be it the GOP or Tea Parties) must have in their arsenal for 2012. Without it, there will be races, like NY-26, that should be won, but won’t be.

Last week’s loss in NY-26 was one that gave the Left some talking points for the next few months. However, given the superior ground game that the Left ran, it should be kept in perspective. The only question is, will the Right learn from their own ineffectiveness to counter and beat the Left in 2012?

_________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Cross-posted.

Nowhere is the fight the loudest than in Wisconsin, where over 10,000 union supporters protested Madison’s Capitol Square on Tuesday and about 1,000 protesters demonstrated outside Governor Scott Walker’s private home Tuesday night. Hundreds of union protesters also packed Ohio’s statehouse on Tuesday to condemn Governor Kasich’s efforts to stem the union bosses’ power and reign in out of control spending. In Indiana, hundreds of Steelworkers descended on the Hoosier’ statehouse to protest unemployment reform as well. Even in New York, with a Democrat governor, unions are spending millions on fighting reform.

Make no mistake, this is a battle for America’s economic future. It is one that will ultimately decide whether Americans will be enslaved by debt created by a government beholden to public-sector union bosses, or whether some sort of fiscal sanity can be restored before the system collapses due to the weight from years of cronyism.

As labor activists strategize for “class war,” Leftist union bosses also know they may be losing their grip on taxpayers’ throats and they are desperate to keep it there. They’re not going to let go easily either. They’re organized and they have millions to spend on marches, sickouts, protests, candlelight vigils, and advertising.

So, the question becomes, what are YOU going to do about it?

The answer to that question is simple: Get Connected. Get Engaged. Then…Get Active.

Last weekend, at CPAC, Freedomworks rolled out a new tool for Americans interested in preserving their liberty to use. It’s called FreedomConnector and it is a powerful tool for getting connected, getting engaged and getting active.

Similar to a ning site, FreedomConnector is more than that. It is a platform to put activists together with other activists; groups together with other groups, as well as a way to coordinate events and activities across the country.

Freedomworks has obviously put a lot of resources into building FreedomConnector, as FreedomWorks’ Chairman Dick Armey stated in a note to activists:

…developing an online tool to outpace progressive web-giants like MoveOn.org and MyBarackObama.com was downright expensive.

While its greatest potential may be for GOTV coordination in 2012, FreedomConnector can be used today to plan meetings, and, most importantly, to engage in precinct activism now.

OFA has already begun ramping up its ground game for 2012. In order to defeat the Left-winged leviathan, Republicans, Tea Party activists, as well as independents, are going to have to collaborate and coordinate their strategies precinct-by-precinct nationwide.

By far, the most effective way to succeed in taking back the nation, than through the Precinct Committeeman Project. It’s a very simple strategy and FreedomConnector makes it even easier.

Over the last few days, a group of bloggers and activists have set up the Precinct Action Committeeman Strategy (PACS) group on FreedomConnector. If you’ve ever wondered about precinct activism, getting onto FreedomConnector and joining the PACS group is a great way for you to learn by connecting with other activists, engaging with them and sharing your stories or utilizing their expertise to help you get involved in precinct activism. The other side’s ground game is well-organized and well-financed. Using FreedomConnector as a way of beefing up precinct activism is a “force multiplier.” It’s that simple.

The Precinct Committeeman Project is “bottom-up politics” that enables the average citizen to not just figuratively take the Party over and take the Country back, but do it literally. FreedomConnector is a great tool for facilitating those efforts.

As you watch the events unfold at the state level, sitting on the sidelines in these battles will only ensure one thing: Victory for the Left. If you are not already connected, engaged and active, sign up to FreedomConnector and join the PACS group.

_________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

[A modified version of this post was posted at RedState.]

Illinois’ top League of Women Voters official said “phony patriotism” is driving criticism over a moderator’s reaction when she was asked if the Pledge of Allegiance would be recited before an 8th Congressional District debate this week.

Executive Director Jan Czarnik said what happened at Wednesday’s debate and subsequent criticism directed at moderator Kathy Tate-Bradish was an attempt by supporters of Republican candidate Joe Walsh of McHenry and tea party members to bully the organization.

Czarnik said someone is not a better American just by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

“It’s a phony patriotism issue is what it is,” she said. “They must think it helps their campaign.”

Brought in from the League of Women Voters Evanston branch because she doesn’t live in the 8th Congressional District, Tate-Bradish handled the event at Grayslake Central High School that featured Democratic U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean of Barrington, the Green Party’s Bill Scheurer and Walsh.

Tate-Bradish was asked whether the Pledge of Allegiance would be recited after she went over some ground rules and directed the candidates to make opening statements. The query came from a man in the audience.

As Tate-Bradish explained the debate was not scheduled to start with the pledge, almost all in the crowd of more than 300 stood and enthusiastically recited it anyway. Tate-Bradish, who joined in the pledge, issued a scolding when the crowd finished.

Walsh campaign manager Nick Provenzano said he still did not understand why Tate-Bradish did not appear to welcome the Pledge of Allegiance suggestion. He said it was spontaneous and not orchestrated by Walsh’s campaign.

“That neutral stance (by Tate-Bradish) toward the Pledge of Allegiance is troublesome,” he said.

Read the whole thing here. Of course, Ms. Tate-Bradish is a member of Obama’s Organizing for America. Nothing to see here, that’s just how the League of Women Voters rolls.

Last month in Illinois at the Right Nation event, bused-in SEIU hordes coordinated with social justice activist ministers and Obama’s vaunted Organizing for America (formerly Obama for America) waving American flags that had been distributed to them by their “Community Organizers.”  The well-trained mob chanted “Stop the Hate” and wielded uniform, hand-crafted placards defaming Glenn Beck as a “liar” and a “hater.” What we were able to discover in short order, and quite predictably, was this group was “astro-turf” and with the provocation of simple questions, such as: “What does your sign mean?”, “Why are you here?”, the “Stop the Hate” rally devolved into spitting and inflammatory name-calling.

Someone, somewhere has had a plan to dress the union thugs up as pious and deeply patriotic now that a progressive socialist is in the White House, and to frame non-progressives, non-socialists and critics of the Obama Administration as out-of-tune with Jesus’s “Social Justice” activism (history revisionism at its worst) and un-patriotic.

When I was standing outside the News Corp. building Monday evening before my appearance on “Red Eye,” I saw a lone protester who looked not-unlike Scooby-Doo’s sidekick, Shaggy.  His name is Matt Sky.  He and his girlfriend are relatively infamous for being the most photographed supporters of the Ground Zero Mosque due to their constant, ubiquitous protests in front of the Cordoba House site.

In reading about Matt Sky, ubiquitous Manhattan protester, he’s been referred to as a math tutor and web programmer.  In what type of economy does a math tutor and web programmer have this amount of free time to do so much protesting?  In another less politically correct time, a reporter would start asking him whether or not he is actually employed or whether he is another statistic of the staggering unemployment brought on by the horrendous Obama economy.

In Matt Sky I noticed a now-familiar motif:  Leftist archetype (this time, a young hippie) holding a sign employing Alinski’s Rule 13 (Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it) in this case, Glenn Beck is the President and OFA’s #1 target, and Sky’s sign, like the ones we saw in Illinois, read “Glenn Beck Hates America.”  Also, Sky predictably employed the activist-left’s new favorite protest prop, the American flag.

Some highlights of my encounter:

• He comically and ironically calls for civility while proclaiming that Glenn Beck is an America hater, a nut job, and that Beck is scaring people.  Is it not uncivil to hold up a sign suggesting Beck is inspired by hatred of our country?

• He claims he’s neither politically left or right, but instead he’s for “civility,” but it’s all quickly revealed as a smokescreen.  “Civility” is not on the left/right political spectrum; civility is a tactic or a set of manners, not a political position.  He proves many on the left are ashamed to call themselves left or liberal. Or he thinks admitting his leftism will somehow diminish the effect of his protest. Later, he says liberals need to proudly proclaim their liberalism in a short interview when he sheepishly refuses to follow his own advice.

• Also, it’s worth pointing out that Beck and his supporters are provably more civil than the left; consider how those who attended the left-wing ONE NATION rally trashed the mall last weekend, while those who attended Beck’s rally left it pristine. Or the countless videos we have shown that have shown violence and hatred coming from Obama’s Organizing for America, the SEIU and MoveOn.Org.

President Obama, whose OFA helped organize the “anti-hate rally” in Chicago that devolved into his group hurling anti-gay epithets as they ran back onto their bus after being confronted with simple questions about the meaning of their protest, has shown he is petty enough to focus his presidential efforts by attacking his media critics.  One of his first acts as President was to go after Rush Limbaugh.  He has also shown a transparent disposition to re-invent and flaunt left-wing interpretations of Christian religiosity and American Patriotism.  He and the left are arrogantly trying to define patriotism as solely left-wing virtues.

I knew that when I confronted Sky that I would be met with an “Obama-bot”: Either a paid union thug, or, in this case, an ill-informed, cliché-spouting left-wing activist. The number of willing and able volunteers that were abundant during the 2008 Presidential campaign seem to be dwindling and our flag-waving progressive anti-Beckian, seems to be one of the last people to get the message that his savior is greatly to blame for our country’s doldrums and economic woes — and not the guy who appears on Direct TV Channel 360 at 5PM EDT (check your local cable listings for time and channel near you.)

Sky seemed like a nice enough guy, but his contradictory answers make for a humorous view into the sad state of Obama and Democrat support… there is very little these days.  There is only the predictable politics of personal destruction against those who are not in power, those who are not the Commander-in-Chief and those who are not the leader of the free world.  “Dissent is patriotic” has devolved into the most blatant attempts to shut-up and marginalize the other side of the debate.  How pathetically and predictably Left-Wing.  At least Hugo Chavez knows how to do it right.

Let this episode be instructive to all who witness it.  The noise and bluster we see from these pre-fab sign-holding, flag-waving malcontents is the beginning and end of their argument.  As soon as any intrepid citizen-journalist engages these pre-programmed agitators with a question or two, they reveal emptiness and contradictions as quickly as Sky did.

I’ll give this polite yet confused Obama supporter credit where credit is due:  At least he didn’t call me a homosexual like his peers in Chicago did.