(np) (political) the Big O institutes a new Cointelpro?

[Joseph Tracy]

I cant find the paper. It seems to have been removed from the  
internet. Can someone send me a copy?
On Jan 25, 2010, at 1:38 PM, Robert Mahnke wrote:

> I don't understand why the paper is "truly pernicious."  From a  
> first glance (thanks for the pointer), it's kinda fun, and doesn't  
> bear much resemblance to the description below (in the sentence  
> that starts, "In 2008").  While the phrase "cognitive infiltration"  
> sounds sinister, the explanation of what it means (on page 14) --  
> counterspeech, either by the government or by formally hiring  
> credible private parties, and informally enlisting private parties  
> -- is something else entirely.  Maybe the phrase itself is bait for  
> conspiracy theorists?
>
> On 1/22/10, Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:  
> http://www.alternet.org/story/145229/obama_confidant%27s_spine- 
> chilling_proposal_to_%27cognitively_infiltrate% 
> 27_conspiracy_theorist_groups
>
> "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 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
>
> ....
>
> "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.
>
>
>
> sheesh - do we really need to spend tax money to quash rumors of
> government malfeasance???
>
> while it's still legal, let me just say this:      Tuskegee  
> Experiment,
> Cointelpro, Downing Street Memo, Gulf of Tonkin, the Maine,
> BCCI, Election 2000, Salvador Allende, Mohammad Mossadegh,
> Watergate, Operation Paperclip, Iran-freakin'-Contra, Whitewater,  
> Troopergate,
> Monicagate, Monkeygate (monkey can subvert Diebold voting machine),
> Coingate (Ohio scandal)...
>
> ...the Business Plot (attempted coup in 1931), Enron, General Motors
> Streetcar Conspiracy, Yellowcake forgery...
> (okay, now I'm just quoting wikipedia:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conspiracies_(political) )
>
> and, aw, heck:  Chemtrails!  Area 51!  Shakespeare's plays weren't
> written by Shakespeare at all, but by another man with the same
> name...
>
>
>
> OTOH, maybe I could get a job infiltrating those groups...hmmm, I
> could be the Hector Zuniga of the 9-11 truthiness movement...
> something to consider - I hear the benefits are pretty okay...
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> - "Releasing all we can, protecting what we must" - slogan of the
> National Declassification Center
>