Sedition

Se·di·tion

Actions or words intended to provoke or incite rebellion against government authority, or actual rebellion against government authority

Does this rise to the definition?

We need to figure out in a much more through direct action more concrete way how we are really trying to disrupt and create uncertainty for capital for how corporations operate
The thing about a boom and bust economy is it is actually incredibly fragile.

There are actually extraordinary things we could do right now to start to destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement.

For example, 10% of homeowners are underwater right their home they are paying more for it then its worth 10% of those people are in strategic default, meaning they are refusing to pay but they are staying in their home that's totally spontaneous they figured out it takes a year to kick me out of my home because foreclosure is backed up

If you could double that number you would you could put banks at the edge of insolvency again.

Students have a trillion dollar debt

We have an entire economy that is built on debt and banks so the question would be what would happen if we organized homeowners in mass to do a mortgage strike if we get half a million people to agree it would literally cause a new finical crisis for the banks not for us we would be doing quite well we wouldn't be paying anything.

Government is being strangled by debt

The four things we could do that could really upset wall street

One is if city and state and other government entities demanded to renegotiate their debt and you might say why would the banks ever do it - because city and counties could say we won’t do business with you in the future if you won’t renegotiate the debt now

So we could leverage the power we have of government and say two things we won’t do business with you JP Morgan Chase anymore unless you do two things: you reduce the price of our interest and second you rewrite the mortgages for everybody in the communities

We could make them do that

The second thing is there is a whole question in Europe about students’ rates in debt structure. What would happen if students said we are not going to pay? Its a trillion dollars. Think about republicans screaming about debt a trillion dollars in student debt

There is a third thing we can think about what if public employee unions instead of just being on the defensive put on the collective bargaining table when they negotiate they say we demand as a condition of negotiation that the government renegotiate - it’s crazy that you’re paying too much interest to your buddies the bankers it’s a strike issue - we will strike unless you force the banks to renegotiate/

Then if you add on top of that if we really thought about moving the kind of disruption in Madison but moving that to Wall Street and moving that to other cities around the country

We basically said you stole seventeen trillion dollars - you've improvised us and we are going to make it impossible for you to operate

The speaker is former SEIU official Steven Lerner, talking at a closed session at Pace University last weekend. He is advocating for bringing down the government via a total collapse of the entire financial market. His plan is simple-don’t pay your debt. Don’t pay your mortgage, don’t pay your student loans, car loans, credit cards. Just stop paying and the market will collapse, the banks will fail and the government will fall. In one fell swoop your 401K and bank accounts-gone. Nice little doomsday scenario he’s got going there.

Once the collapse is complete, and the government has been brought to its knees, Mr. Lerner, and those of his ilk, will ride in like knights in shining armor and redistribute the wealth. No, you won’t have anything. Having is not for the little people. But the new government will provide for you the lifestyle that they think you should become accustomed to.

I think it is the absolute vanity of socialists that bugs me the most. They believe that individuals just don’t have the brains to make the important decisions in life. They believe that they, the smart people need to Nudge us along:

Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. The reason, the authors explain, is that, being human, we all are susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. Our mistakes make us poorer and less healthy; we often make bad decisions involving education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, the family, and even the planet itself.

Thaler and Sunstein invite us to enter an alternative world, one that takes our humanness as a given. They show that by knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society. Using colorful examples from the most important aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how thoughtful “choice architecture” can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice….

Gee, who is this “we” they speak of? Certainly not you or me.

I do not think we will see Mr. Lerner’s plan come to fruition. I simply don’t think we have that many sheeple who desire to be led through life. Our friends on the Left are quick to throw around the word “sedition” when talking about Hutaree and other militia groups who basically just want to be left alone. Doesn’t the word apply at least as equally to the Liberal elite who would remake our country in their own image?

Who is Ellie Light and is there a Goebbels in the Obama Administration?

A couple of days ago the Cleveland Plain Dealer broke the story of Ellie Light.  Ms. Light managed to get nearly identical letters published in four dozen different newspapers in over two dozen states while claiming to be a resident in each area that published s letter.  No small feat, unless of course "she" had help.

The story was picked up by Patterico's Pontifications and it was off to the races.  Dan Riehl, working off a tip from The Left Coast Rebel has found a possible connection between Ellie Light and the White House.  Why am I not shocked?

In Don't worry, it's for your own good I quoted Glenn Greenwald:

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.

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, and then amplified in an excellent report by Raw Story's Daniel Tencer.

 So, is Cass Sunstein Obama's Joseph Goebbels?  And what does this say about the publications who published the "Ellie Light" letters?

Don't worry, it's for your own good

A recurring theme within the Obama administration is that the American populace doesn't know what is in it bet interest and therefore, must be nudged along by benevolent, enlightened betters.  Obama has been pressuring Congress to pass health care reform by claiming that we don't know what is good for us but once passed we will see our folly and be forever grateful.  None is more representative of this elitist attitude in the administration than Cass Sunstein, Obama's  Regulatory Czar, and co-author of the book, Nudge.

Glenn Greenwald writing in Salon:

Obama confidant's spine-chilling proposal

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.

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, and then amplified in an excellent report by Raw Story's Daniel Tencer.

How does Sunstein, and presumably Obama, justify secretly infiltrating groups and the dissemination of propaganda?  It is for our own good.

These people are scary.

Read the whole piece.  "Spine chilling" is an understatement.

Oh, I'm Sorry. Were You Still Using That Liver?

Via The Daley Gator:

Cass Sunstein, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), has advocated a policy under which the government would “presume” someone has consented to having his or her organs removed for transplantation into someone else when they die unless that person has explicitly indicated that his or her organs should not be taken.

Under such a policy, hospitals would harvest organs from people who never gave permission for this to be done.

I came across this story earlier at work and to put it mildly, the ensuing discussion with my co-workers degenerated in to a "snicklefest" pretty quickly. Example: I was voted as the person least likely to have their liver harvested. I have no idea what they were alluding to but I'll drink to the honor proudly and profusely.

Now, I think Sunstein is a raving nut boy with a bit of "I know better than you" fascist tendencies stirred in for good measure. I have a problem on principal with anyone who believes that the government has the right to "nudge" me to do what some group of busybodies has decreed to be "good" or "necessary" or whatever is fashionable for busybodies at any given moment. That being said, my driver's license notes that I have agreed to donate my organs at the time of my passing. My family is aware of my decision, as I am of their's.

Listening to people in the Obama administration, you would think that families like mine are a rarity and if not for the government none of us would know what the other's wishes are. Maybe we are an oddity, I don't know, but I was always raised to believe that if you've been born, sooner or later you're going to die. My parents have always talked openly with me on such matters, as I have with my own children.

Being open with each other doesn't take all the guesswork out in every situation, but it does provide each of us with a strong basis for decision making if we find ourselves in a situation where decisions have to be made. In other words, back off Mr. Government with a Capitol G man, we have it covered.

Instapundit has a video that illustrates organ donation under the "Sunstein Plan". The accents are slightly off, but think of it as UK medicine for the ObamaCare masses:

Was Sarah Palin Wrong About "Death Panels"?

Via Legal Insurrection:

Sarah Palin kicked up a fire storm when she stated that ObamaCare would result in "Death Panels." Palin took aim at Dr. Ezekial Emanual, brother of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and a top advisor to Obama on health care. Palin wrote on her Facebook page:

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Those criticizing Palin are ignoring Emanuel's own words. Prof. Jacobson writes:

While Emanuel does not use the term "death panel," Palin put that term in quotation marks to signify the concept of medical decisions based on the perceived societal worth of an individual, not literally a "death panel." And in so doing, Palin was true to Dr. Emanuel's concept of a system which

considers prognosis, since its aim is to achieve complete lives. A young person with

a poor prognosis has had a few life-years but lacks the potential to live a complete life. Considering prognosis forestalls the concern the disproportionately large amounts of resources will be directed to young people with poor prognoses. When the worst-off can benefit only slightly while better-off people could benefit greatly, allocating to the better-off is often justifiable....

When implemented, the complete lives system produces a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated.

To any reasonable person it would seem that Emanuel is saying that health care's limited resources should be reserved for those segments of society that the administration deems "most productive" to society. Emanuel is not the only White House advisor who advocates rationing based on an individual's "worth" to society as a whole. As I wrote in Obama Is Still Surrounding Himself With Shady Characters, Obama czars John Holdren and Cass Sunstein have both written extensively, ala their buddy Peter Singer, that health care should be rationed. Either Obama is surrounding himself with whom he disagrees, which is highly unlikely, or he is surrounding himself with advisers who would institute a "Death Panel".

Obama Is Still Surrounding Himself With Shady Characters

During the campaign the Left went absolutely bat sh*t (moonbat sh*t?) when the subject of Obama's 'associations' came up. Ayers? Just a guy in the neighborhood. Wright? Obama wasn't listening. Rezko? See "Ayers." Move along, nothing to see here. But what about Obama's current associations? What does it say about Obama that he has chosen men like John Holdren and Cass Sunstein to serve as czars?

Michelle Malkin takes a close look at John Holdren, his associations and who influenced his bizarre and evil view point and finds:

Who is Holdren’s intellectual mentor, Harrison Brown? He was a “distinguished member” of the International Eugenics Society whom Holdren later worked with on a book about – you guessed it – world population and fertility. Brown advocated the same population control-freak measures Holdren put forth in Ecoscience. In “The Challenge to Man’s Future,” Brown envisioned a regime in which the “number of abortions and artificial inseminations permitted in a given year would be determined completely by the difference between the number of deaths and the number of births in the year previous.”

Brown exhorted readers to accept that “we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that artifical means must be applied to limit birth rates.” If we don’t, Brown warned, we faced a planet “with a writhing mass of human beings.” He likened the global population to a “pulsating mass of maggots.”

Birds of a feather. The next time Obama starts preaching compassion, remember, this is a man who chooses to associate with people who favor a culture of death.

Oh, so that is what an educated idiot looks like:

Krugman gushes:

I found Obama’s health care presentation so impressive — so much command of the issues — that it had me worried. If I really like a politician’s speech, isn’t that an indication that he lacks the popular touch? (A couple of points off for “incentivize” — what ever happened to “encourage”? — but never mind.)

Seriously, it’s really good to see how much he gets it.

Yeah, he gets it. He gets that the cost will crush the economy. He gets that health care will be rationed. Most important, he gets that ObamaCare confiscates power from the individual and transfers it to the government. Krugman and Obama think of themselves as the educated elite, who, by virtue of their superior intellect, should rule over the “regular” folks. Cass Sunstein, slated to be Obama’s “Regulatory Czar” put it this way:

People often make poor choices - and look back at them with bafflement! We do this because as human beings, we all are susceptible to a wide array of routine biases that can lead to an equally wide array of embarrassing blunders in education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, happiness, and even the planet itself.

Basically these people believe that we don't get it. They believe that we are not intellectually advanced enough to act or think for ourselves without their guidance. I would rather be free to make my own decisions, and mistakes, tahn surrender my choices to the government.

Via Memeorandum

Dear Cass

Dear Dr. Cass:

Yesterday I received a call that my elderly father was being rushed to the hospital because he had fallen and the paramedics believed that he may have broken his hip. Before leaving for the hospital I took my sweet baby Precious, an adorable Maltese, for a walk, made sure that she had food and water and explained to her how much I loved her and that Mommy would be home as possible. When I got to the hospital I learned that my father did break his hip and that he had suffered a major heart attack in route to the hospital. Obviously there was nothing I could do at the hospital so I immediately left and went home to my beautiful baby, Precious.

Precious was so upset that I had left her all alone that she number two’d on the floor and chewed my absolutely favorite to die for Jimmie Choo sling backs. I apologized repeatedly but this morning I was subpoenaed. My baby Precious is suing me for neglect and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. I am beside myself. Can a d. o. g. sue me? Precious is very special but I didn’t know even a d. o. g. as perfect and wonderful as my Princess Precious could do a thing like this.

Signed: Ashamed but Confused
Precious’ Mommy

Dear Wretched and Selfish Puppy Mommy:

You disgust me! You traumatized an innocent little Maltese just so you could rush off to the hospital to hang out with an elderly man who doesn’t deserve medical treatment to begin with? Can you be sued? If I have my way! As I’ve said before:

“[A]nimals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives, to prevent violations of current law … Any animals that are entitled to bring suit would be represented by (human) counsel, who would owe guardian like obligations and make decisions, subject to those obligations, on their clients’ behalf.”

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s choice for Regulatory Czar and a supporter of animal rights who favors bans on hunting and eating animal products.