Posted on 08/27/2004 11:48:17 AM PDT by Shermy
Aug. 27, 2004 — The Republican National Convention hasn't started yet, but both opponents and supporters are already engaging in treachery and double-dealing worthy of Spy vs. Spy.
Don Hajicek, a 36-year-old graphic artist from Wyoming, was planning to travel 2,000 miles to New York City to join the anti-GOP protests and stay at an apartment belonging to a sympathetic New Yorker.
But then he learned that the person who had offered him accommodation had tricked him, and the shelter he had been promised was a lie.
When planning his trip, Hajicek found an offer of housing on an Internet bulletin board for would-be protesters, CounterConvention.org.
The host — describing himself as "an architect who specializes in low income housing" — was so accommodating that Hajicek became suspicious. "I'm originally from Chicago, so I didn't just fall off the turnip truck," Hajicek told ABCNEWS.com by telephone.
With a few Google searches, he found a posting by someone with the same Web name as his host on FreeRepublic.com, a conservative discussion forum. The posting suggested giving fake offers of accommodation to anti-Republican protesters, and gave the Web address for the bulletin board Hajicek had consulted. "Anyone interested in providing housing for lice-ridden protesters?," it read.
Another member of the forum apparently took up the suggestion, writing a few minutes later: "Offered space in an existing building. Of course, the building in question is a bar, but they won't know that until they get there. Hope I can make this work."
Hajicek said he thought the scam was "kinda sorta funny," but it also left him angry enough to draw attention to it. He turned to DailyKos.com, a progressive political forum, to warn "others out there who are depending on the kindness of strangers." He said the fake offer had ruined his plans to go to New York, but added "it certainly would have been worse if we'd actually gone there expecting a place to stay."
Both Sides Guilty
Double-dealing isn't limited to one side of the political debate though. For weeks, opponents of the convention have been threatening to stage a "Shadow Protest" — signing up en masse as volunteers and disappearing when they're most needed.
The protest Web site RNCnotwelcome.org contains a "tactics" section with headlines asking "Why not sign up now to volunteer to work for the convention and then miss your shift!" and touting, "Activists infiltrate RNC events".
The Web site contains a caveat: "Listing of tactical resources does not imply an endorsement of said tactics for any or all circumstances. They are here for informational and historical reasons."
But other left-wing sites have posted proud accounts of infiltration. On Indymedia.org, one article headlined "Protesters Get Into Two RNC Events … (So Can You)," was a protester's account of crashing a Republican event.
"After covering the bathroom with our own agit-prop, we cleared the table of their Bush crap and replaced it with our own," the protester wrote.
Republican officials and convention organizers said they were aware of the threats, but are not convinced that they will have much of an impact. "We are extremely happy with the overwhelming response to our call for volunteers," Ethan Davidson of NYC Host Committee 2004 said.
Ruining Their Image
Meanwhile, protesters suspect they might be infiltrated themselves. The Patriot Act, passed in reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, broadened the government's domestic spying powers and some protest organizations believe they are routinely infiltrated.
"Infiltration was understood once we applied for a permit," said Louie Jones, an organizer for Still We Rise Coalition, a group of 35 local community organizations holding a march on the first day of the GOP convention. Jones said he believed infiltrators were mainly there to collect intelligence, and said his organization had nothing to hide.
However, other protesters fear that certain infiltrators might do more than just keep watch. Some may be agents provocateurs — double agents that will incite violence and ruin the prostesters' public image.
Protesters say the spectacle of riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and later, during the World Trade Organization talks in Seattle in 1999, distracted the public from any calls for change.
"Since Seattle, every protest in the U.S. has been marred by this image of broken Starbucks windows," said Angela Coppola of No RNC Clearinghouse, a protest organization.
Trend Apparent?
After Hajicek posted his warning on DailyKos.com, one respondent said, "This sort of sabotage isn't new." The respondent recounted signing up for a locally-organized screening of the anti-Fox News film Outfoxed in Washington, D.C. "When I arrived, there was a crowd of people on the sidewalk and the address didn't exist."
Some discussion members expressed fears that a coordinated effort was under way to disrupt the protesters.
Mark Libkuman, a developer at CounterConvention.org, says the site's organizers have removed 30 to 40 listings they suspected were fake offers for accommodation in New York. "Some were very witty," he said, "but they didn't do much for the usefulness of our site."
The site has since instituted a registration process that deters would-be pranksters, and Libkuman and his colleagues screen the listings and spot most of the fake ones right away, he said. He said the listing that snared Hajicek was the only one he is aware of that stayed on the site and caused disruption.
On the other hand, members of the FreeRepublic.com discussion board discovered Hajicek's frustrated trip to New York and were buoyed by the account. One applauded the hoaxer: "If you did this on purpose, this is truly 'Hall of Fame' material. Beautiful!"
A Poorly Conceived Prank
For Hajicek though, taking an early bullet in this secret war hasn't turned out so badly.
After ABCNEWS.com sent an e-mail to Hajicek's purported host asking to speak to him, Hajicek's purported host sent a contrite e-mail to Hajicek to "profusely apologize for any inconvenience."
"It was a poorly conceived bad prank gone way too far," the hoaxer wrote in the e-mail, which Hajicek provided to ABCNEWS.com. The hoaxer did not respond directly to ABCNEWS.com's e-mails. A woman who answered the phone at the number he provided to Hajicek denied any knowledge of the prank.
As a result of his warning, Hajicek says he received dozens of offers of places to stay, and is planning to go to New York after all. He even received some money as a measure of sympathy. He now has a reservation at a hotel off Times Square, just blocks from the Republican Convention.
One comment: "Well, they may be ass****s, but they're truly masters of web design.
A similar story and board:
Freepers, Nazis, Godwin's law is now revoked
One comment: "Typical of these mental midgets. How the f**k are these guys kicking our asses?
pING
thats hilarious. Some ass-clown gets a joke pulled on him and he is the big victim, what a granola eating loser. Get a hotel if you want to stay somewhere, better yet, be a good demonrat and stay on the street and eat out of a dumpster.
These protesters are already setting up their after violence reports. In the grand tradition of John Kerry, there will be hidden enemies which will incite them to violence. They will blame someone else for their treason.
They will disavow their previous comments encouraging violence and other disreputable tactics to disrupt NYC as an unfortunate choice of words.
They have been studying their anti-hero and they have learned well.
Not without using other peoples money. Are you nuts?
Even broken clocks are right twice a day ... =)
"Republicans have a peaceful, joyful convention planned. They're kind, respectable people. Republicans supported Kerry's right to speak, as any good Americans would. Republicans are the people of peace."
"Patriots for Bush/Cheney 2004"
"These protesting, violent kooks are all Kerry's people. Vote Kerry, and these are the people that represent you. If you see violence, you see John Kerry."
"Anarchist for Kerry/Edwards 2004"
He probably planned to fly in the wheel well of the plane.
Headline from next week:
Maggot encrusted body found in NJ field. Police unsure if this was a pre-existing condition.
""I'm originally from Chicago, so I didn't just fall off the turnip truck," "
No, you just have your head up your @$$.
LOL! What's good for the goose is good for the gander. I don't have much doubt which side will take things beyond the pranks stage, however. I think some of the "progressives" will demonstrate a propensity for things more malicious than fake addresses and cancelled reservations.
You're all pshycotic a_holes!
This just proves how easy it is to fool them. kerry is doing it now and klinton did it for 8 years.
So.. here's more lefty logic..
If you hook a sucker with a flip gest that makes you an as**le. If you publicize plans to thwart security forces and engage in cruelty and tricks against law-enforcement animals, thereby endangering lives, that makes you a hero.
he found a posting by someone with the same Web name as his host on FreeRepublic.com
I find that boast humorous given how the dead "get away" with voting Dem to continue this admirable "Chicago"s one party rule...
Ping!
I need a room.
He He He.
The RNC hasn't even started yet. Hold on to your hats. The minions are raging!
Hey hoaxer! Did you send that email? Or did Haji-whatsis send it to himself?
However, other protesters fear that certain infiltrators might do more than just keep watch. Some may be agents provocateurs — double agents that will incite violence and ruin the prostesters' public image.Here's a call for change -- stop advocates of a single party state; stop permitting partisan shills to file stories and edit news; stop courts from rewriting laws crafted by elected officials; stop elected officials from blocking judicial appointments by the one, the only, lawfully elected president (even the shill sheet, the Grand Rapids Press, chastised Carl Levin and Deb Stabenow for participating in that brownshirt tactic); amend the Constitution to impose term limits, protect the Flag, protect national sovereignty (IOW, no more creeping loss to the UN), and reform the tax system.
Protesters say the spectacle of riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and later, during the World Trade Organization talks in Seattle in 1999, distracted the public from any calls for change.
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