A house at the intersection of technology and politics.

March 17, 2008 7:16 PM

So... I was doing some research online regarding the whole Obama/Rezko real estate issue re: Obama's house, the lot next door which Rezko bought, etc. As a result of my research, I have located Obama's house on Google Maps, which actually has overhead and *VERY* zoomable street-level views of the whole area. I've also checked Zillow, which shows all the nearby property prices. This information is new and very revealing, in that it suggests that Obama might have even slightly overpaid for his house, and that Rezko bought a potentially very profitable piece of real estate. But there are some issues involved, as you may have guessed...

I could link people to the various maps, street-level views, etc., but the images are very high detail... as in, you can read the nearby licence plates, determine the alarm company, make some determinations as to the nature of the security around the house, etc. I could also put screenshots of the images up on a free host I have access to, taken with the intent of not showing anything that would give away the house's location and potential security, but that might technically be seen as self-linking. I was also planning on adding supporting links and text from Barack Obama's very detailed 13 page Chicago Tribune interview on Rezko that he did over the weekend, but I don't want to be written off as newsfilter or Obamafilter.

Alternately, I could post the whole thing to my blog, and see whether anyone else wants to post about it, as I think there are some very revealing and important issues on this story that have to deal with technology, privacy, and the likely private motivations of some very public people.

So... what do you think would be the best way to post this original, quite interesting information on MeFi?

posted by markkraft to Etiquette/Policy at 7:16 PM (45 comments total)

I think you shouldn't, because I don't think it would make a good Metafilter post.
posted by Class Goat at 7:19 PM on March 17, 2008 [3 favorites]

Isn't there a blog you could post this on?
posted by Afroblanco at 7:20 PM on March 17, 2008 [2 favorites]

No. Don't do this on MetaFilter.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:22 PM on March 17, 2008 [2 favorites]

Also, you have your own blog, please post this there instead. If it's a big enough deal, post it to Projects.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:29 PM on March 17, 2008

Doesn't sound all that interesting but maybe I'm not seeing the sensational part of all this. The pictures sound a little invasive.
posted by purephase at 7:33 PM on March 17, 2008

Find someone to make a video about it, then have them post it on youtube. It will find its way here soon enough.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:47 PM on March 17, 2008 [4 favorites]

Alternately, I could post the whole thing to my blog

Yes! Good idea!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:47 PM on March 17, 2008 [2 favorites]

Yay, insomnia's back. And he brought his crazy with him!

"I was doing some research online regarding the whole Obama/Rezko real estate issue"

I have no idea what this is, but if you can phrase it this way (e.g. "the whole [political current event X] thing/issue/affair"), it's probably not for MetaFilter. You don't see many posts about the Kennedy assassination or Darfur or the Magna Carta or the military genius of Frederick the Great in the Seven Years War framed that way.
posted by Eideteker at 7:55 PM on March 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

I think this is a great use of metatalk, though. You have some dirty news/rumors about a political candidate, and so you post it to MeTa in the form of a question because you know that it would never fly on the Blue. Brilliant.
posted by Afroblanco at 8:22 PM on March 17, 2008 [2 favorites]

Is this about that real estate agent that was trying to sell a house next door to Obama's and offering it up as a paparazzi's wet dream? Or did I totally just make that up?
posted by puke & cry at 8:23 PM on March 17, 2008

I'd say post it on dailykos instead. They're built for this kind of stuff.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:24 PM on March 17, 2008 [2 favorites]

Aside from the merit of an eventual post, it's pretty much an open secret, isn't it? I found it on Google Maps too, which should be trivial once you know a) what Chicago neighbourhood it's in, b) that there was an architecture tour there which is being discussed on Flickr etc. and c) that the tour started at "[synagogue X] across the street from Obama's house".
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:26 PM on March 17, 2008

My comment came off meaner than I meant it. Sorry. I don't actually know anything about the poster.
posted by Afroblanco at 8:28 PM on March 17, 2008

Alternatively, if you think you have discovered something that really is "very revealing" in a way the previous exhaustive coverage of the issue has not been, you might want to forget about internet message boards and call or email a journalist with the resources of an actual news organization and outline the new information.
posted by Miko at 8:32 PM on March 17, 2008

Would another MeFite like to enlighten me as to who markkraft is? This seems to combine the worst sort of net-based surveillance nightmare (...make some determinations as to the nature of the security around the house...) with the cloudiest of motivations. I think something is wrong here.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 8:32 PM on March 17, 2008

Then again, give him a good ten months and he won't be living there anymore, anyway.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:33 PM on March 17, 2008 [2 favorites]

Wait, this is real?

I was convinced it was a carefully crafted joke, perhaps related to the Irish singer who posted his pro-Obama Irish song to the blue earlier today...

Metafilter, apparently you've broken my humor-detector.
posted by mrnutty at 8:43 PM on March 17, 2008

I've found out where George Clooney lives. And according to my binoculars, he's watching Dancing With The Stars right now. In his underwear.

I love my life.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:56 PM on March 17, 2008

Oh, wow, I totally missed who this post was by. That certainly explains that familiar self-important tone. Go back to inventing Livejournal, Mark Kraft!!!!
posted by 1 at 9:08 PM on March 17, 2008

Oh my god, you [moderator] for seriously deleted my link to a months old blog entry containing the totally public information of where Obama lives? It took about a minute of Googling to find and is probably public record. Good grief.
posted by 1 at 9:32 PM on March 17, 2008

-for
posted by 1 at 9:32 PM on March 17, 2008

1, if you think hyperlinking crap with megahyperbolic murder references is a good idea, it's not. Feel free to relink to the blog post and leave out the part about killing any high ranking political officials.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:34 PM on March 17, 2008

Oh, sorry. I was just making fun of the hyperbolic "I hold in my hands the life of Barack Obama!" tone of this silly-ass post.

Basically I got this from googling "obama rezko lot address." Presumably one can use Google Maps for the high rez pictures, but I didn't check.
posted by 1 at 9:37 PM on March 17, 2008

Only if you have been in a hot tub with Obama and he is into polyamory.
posted by LarryC at 9:50 PM on March 17, 2008

I'm going to bed now. I expect this to be much more interesting tomorrow.
posted by slogger at 11:10 PM on March 17, 2008

So... what do you think would be the best way to post this original, quite interesting information on MeFi?

Use lemon juice.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:18 PM on March 17, 2008

This isn't the same guy as insomnia_lj, is he?
posted by puke & cry at 11:56 PM on March 17, 2008

So... what do you think would be the best way to post this original, quite interesting information on MeFi?

With a second account.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:03 AM on March 18, 2008

Please post it to your blog. The promise of very revealing and important issues interests me strangely, because so far I'm yawning. Really: Obama might have slightly overpaid for his property? Google can show you the alarm company sign in the flowerbed? I am aquiver at the implications.
posted by mumkin at 12:15 AM on March 18, 2008

p&c - yes, it's insomnia_lj, back with a brand new account.
posted by ooga_booga at 12:26 AM on March 18, 2008

Nice research, but I think the Rezko issue is mostly dead at this point. It pretty much had its last gasps in the Trib editorial board meeting. I'd just let it go, here and elsewhere.
posted by ignignokt at 12:40 AM on March 18, 2008

ooga_booga said: "p&c - yes, it's insomnia_lj, back with a brand new account."

Alanis-ironically, here's me with real insomnia, noting that he would appear to be back with what eBay would call "New Old Stock," since markkraft is weighing in at user #4898, and insomnia_lj was #3118.

For the rest of you who didn't remember anything to do with the original username, or missed it the first time around, like me, I helpfully dug up the banhammer. The whole thread was interesting to me, kind of a snapshot of MetaFilter-two-years-ago. Mostly SSDD.
posted by pineapple at 2:06 AM on March 18, 2008

So... what do you think would be the best way to post this original, quite interesting information on MeFi?

Don't?

Dude, weren't you banned or didn't you quit or something?
posted by loquacious at 2:19 AM on March 18, 2008

Brand new day, brand new day...
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:41 AM on March 18, 2008

Hm. I'm for Brand New Day, but shouldn't the person at least be attempting to demonstrate a clean break from the drama past? Seems to me that Mark Kraft is clearly a banned user who has returned via a second account made before the ban... and not attempting at all to hide his identity from TPTB. It seems different to me, that this isn't the same as the brand new day option that has been recommended in the recent past -- for users who were not banned for violation of site policy, but carry so much baggage that it would likely improve their user experience to return to the site with a fresh ID.

I'm not being snarky, BP -- I'm curious as to opinion, yours and others'.
posted by pineapple at 3:32 AM on March 18, 2008

This post needs more summary quotes.
posted by dersins at 4:18 AM on March 18, 2008

Shrug we all have issues, just wish most of them were comic book issues.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:42 AM on March 18, 2008

this thread is useless without pantsfish.
posted by quonsar at 5:07 AM on March 18, 2008

Brand new day, brand new day...

But, in this case, same old shit. What's the point of coming back with a different username if you're just going to be the same annoying user?

On the other hand, I got a chuckle out of the idea that "Obama might have even slightly overpaid for his house" is a revelation that must be shared with the world, so there's that.
posted by languagehat at 6:44 AM on March 18, 2008

There's a chance he'll do the same in Nov., only this house will be the White House lol
posted by Eideteker at 6:51 AM on March 18, 2008

Shouldn't there be summary quotes in there somewhere?
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:54 AM on March 18, 2008 [2 favorites]

Obama might have even slightly overpaid for his house

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD
posted by quonsar at 7:07 AM on March 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

SLIGHTLY OVERPAID!!
posted by Mister_A at 7:24 AM on March 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

Why is this thread even open? Shouldn't the third overall response, "No" from Jessamyn been sufficient?
posted by JohnnyGunn at 7:24 AM on March 18, 2008

Yeah, I think you're right.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:38 AM on March 18, 2008