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61 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
when reading the headline..
lol
not fox news specifically...
but rather..
'wait, theres a ban on propaganda?!'
definitely coulda fooled me 
I 
Chomsky!
...is beyond absurd.
http://www.salon.com/2010/01/15/sunstein_2/singleton/
Cass Sunstein has long been one of Barack Obama’s closest confidants. Often mentioned as a likely Obama nominee to the Supreme Court, Sunstein is currently Obama’s head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/regulatory_affairs/default/ where, among other things, he is responsible for “overseeing policies relating to privacy, information quality, and statistical programs.” In 2008, while at Harvard Law School, Sunstein co-wrote a truly pernicious paper proposing that the U.S. Government employ teams of covert agents and pseudo-”independent” advocates to “cognitively infiltrate” online groups and websites — as well as other activist groups — which advocate views that Sunstein deems “false conspiracy theories” about the Government. This would be designed to increase citizens’ faith in government officials and undermine the credibility of conspiracists. The paper’s abstract can be read, and the full paper downloaded, here. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1084585
Sunstein advocates that the Government’s stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into “chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups.” He also proposes that the Government make secret payments to so-called “independent” credible voices to bolster the Government’s messaging (on the ground that those who don’t believe government sources will be more inclined to listen to those who appear independent while secretly acting on behalf of the Government). This program would target those advocating false “conspiracy theories,” which they define to mean: “an attempt to explain an event or practice by reference to the machinations of powerful people, who have also managed to conceal their role.” Sunstein’s 2008 paper was flagged by this blogger http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/got-fascism-obama-advisor-promotes.html , and then amplified in an excellent report by Raw Story‘s Daniel Tencer. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/01/13/obama-staffer-infiltration-911-groups/
There’s no evidence that the Obama administration has actually implemented a program exactly of the type advocated by Sunstein, though in light of this paper and the fact that Sunstein’s position would include exactly such policies, that question certainly ought to be asked. Regardless, Sunstein’s closeness to the President, as well as the highly influential position he occupies, merits an examination of the mentality behind what he wrote. This isn’t an instance where some government official wrote a bizarre paper in college 30 years ago about matters unrelated to his official powers; this was written 18 months ago, at a time when the ascendancy of Sunstein’s close friend to the Presidency looked likely, in exactly the area he now oversees. Additionally, the government-controlled messaging that Sunstein desires has been a prominent feature of U.S. Government actions over the last decade, including in some recently revealed practices of the current administration, and the mindset in which it is grounded explains a great deal about our political class. All of that makes Sunstein’s paper worth examining in greater detail.
Initially, note how similar Sunstein’s proposal is to multiple, controversial stealth efforts by the Bush administration to secretly influence and shape our political debates. The Bush Pentagon employed teams of former Generals to pose as “independent analysts” in the media while secretly coordinating their talking points and messaging about wars and detention policies with the Pentagon. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/05/10/analysts/index.html Bush officials secretly paid supposedly “independent” voices, such as Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher, http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0204-31.htm to advocate pro-Bush policies while failing to disclose their contracts. In Iraq, the Bush Pentagon hired a company, Lincoln Park, which paid newspapers to plant pro-U.S. articles while pretending it came from Iraqi citizens. http://www.democracynow.org/2006/8/21/i_was_a_propaganda_intern_in In response to all of this, Democrats typically accused the Bush administration http://utdocuments.blogspot.com/2008/04/letters-from-rep-rosa-delauro-to.html of engaging in government-sponsored propaganda — and when it was done domestically, suggested this was illegal propaganda. Indeed, there is a very strong case to make that what Sunstein is advocating is itself illegal http://www.prwatch.org/node/7261 under long-standing statutes prohibiting government ”propaganda” within the U.S., aimed at American citizens:
snip
-----------------------------------------
Sunstein's wife, btw is the horrid Samantha Power, who is one of the architects of the NATO butchery and subsequent ongoing disaster in Libya. She was recently appointed as the head of the new Atrocities Prevention Board, which codifies http://warisacrime.org/content/obama%E2%80%99s-new-%E2%80%9Catrocity-prevention-board%E2%80%9D-reasons-skepticism that empiric wars of aggression will continue on. Quite the busy little couple they are.
Cass Sunstein has long been one of Barack Obama’s closest confidants. Often mentioned as a likely Obama nominee to the Supreme Court, Sunstein is currently Obama’s head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/regulatory_affairs/default/ where, among other things, he is responsible for “overseeing policies relating to privacy, information quality, and statistical programs.” In 2008, while at Harvard Law School, Sunstein co-wrote a truly pernicious paper proposing that the U.S. Government employ teams of covert agents and pseudo-”independent” advocates to “cognitively infiltrate” online groups and websites — as well as other activist groups — which advocate views that Sunstein deems “false conspiracy theories” about the Government. This would be designed to increase citizens’ faith in government officials and undermine the credibility of conspiracists. The paper’s abstract can be read, and the full paper downloaded, here. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1084585
Sunstein advocates that the Government’s stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into “chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups.” He also proposes that the Government make secret payments to so-called “independent” credible voices to bolster the Government’s messaging (on the ground that those who don’t believe government sources will be more inclined to listen to those who appear independent while secretly acting on behalf of the Government). This program would target those advocating false “conspiracy theories,” which they define to mean: “an attempt to explain an event or practice by reference to the machinations of powerful people, who have also managed to conceal their role.” Sunstein’s 2008 paper was flagged by this blogger http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/got-fascism-obama-advisor-promotes.html , and then amplified in an excellent report by Raw Story‘s Daniel Tencer. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/01/13/obama-staffer-infiltration-911-groups/
There’s no evidence that the Obama administration has actually implemented a program exactly of the type advocated by Sunstein, though in light of this paper and the fact that Sunstein’s position would include exactly such policies, that question certainly ought to be asked. Regardless, Sunstein’s closeness to the President, as well as the highly influential position he occupies, merits an examination of the mentality behind what he wrote. This isn’t an instance where some government official wrote a bizarre paper in college 30 years ago about matters unrelated to his official powers; this was written 18 months ago, at a time when the ascendancy of Sunstein’s close friend to the Presidency looked likely, in exactly the area he now oversees. Additionally, the government-controlled messaging that Sunstein desires has been a prominent feature of U.S. Government actions over the last decade, including in some recently revealed practices of the current administration, and the mindset in which it is grounded explains a great deal about our political class. All of that makes Sunstein’s paper worth examining in greater detail.
Initially, note how similar Sunstein’s proposal is to multiple, controversial stealth efforts by the Bush administration to secretly influence and shape our political debates. The Bush Pentagon employed teams of former Generals to pose as “independent analysts” in the media while secretly coordinating their talking points and messaging about wars and detention policies with the Pentagon. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/05/10/analysts/index.html Bush officials secretly paid supposedly “independent” voices, such as Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher, http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0204-31.htm to advocate pro-Bush policies while failing to disclose their contracts. In Iraq, the Bush Pentagon hired a company, Lincoln Park, which paid newspapers to plant pro-U.S. articles while pretending it came from Iraqi citizens. http://www.democracynow.org/2006/8/21/i_was_a_propaganda_intern_in In response to all of this, Democrats typically accused the Bush administration http://utdocuments.blogspot.com/2008/04/letters-from-rep-rosa-delauro-to.html of engaging in government-sponsored propaganda — and when it was done domestically, suggested this was illegal propaganda. Indeed, there is a very strong case to make that what Sunstein is advocating is itself illegal http://www.prwatch.org/node/7261 under long-standing statutes prohibiting government ”propaganda” within the U.S., aimed at American citizens:
snip
-----------------------------------------
Sunstein's wife, btw is the horrid Samantha Power, who is one of the architects of the NATO butchery and subsequent ongoing disaster in Libya. She was recently appointed as the head of the new Atrocities Prevention Board, which codifies http://warisacrime.org/content/obama%E2%80%99s-new-%E2%80%9Catrocity-prevention-board%E2%80%9D-reasons-skepticism that empiric wars of aggression will continue on. Quite the busy little couple they are.
and have already been accused there of promoting a third party. 
This is how they win. *Anything goes* - lying to Americans, indefinite detention, targeted assassination - as long as someone with a D after the name supports it.
The one percent, by buying into both parties, have figured out how to break a unified opposition, even to fascism. This is how they win.
Sorry I misunderstood. 
