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circuit, and she was only too aware that she was this Sunday’s sacrificial Christian about to be tossed to the lions.
     
    An assistant producer led her out of the “green room”—the waiting room for guests about to go on-air, actually painted a dull industrial shade of beige—and into the studio, sitting her down across a large, Formica-topped desk opposite moderator Charles Wheatley. Wheatley, a one-time Congressional aide turned political operative turned TV talking head, had in eleven years as ringmaster of
In the Know
made the hour-long show a font of inside-the-Beltway punditry and faux wisdom. He was talking to the show’s producer over his lapel mike and didn’t bother to look up.
     
    AnnaLynn Conté didn’t mind. She could use the minutes of quiet time to gather her thoughts and boost her sagging energy. She’d gotten only a few hours’ sleep in her Washington D.C. hotel room, fielding a constant stream of updates about the sophisticated denial of service attack on the website of the organization she founded and led, SayNo.org. At one point she might have thought it coincidental the site was attacked on the eve of a national TV appearance sure to result in thousands of desperate inquiries. But after the burglary of her group’s offices, intermittent cyber attacks, and inexplicable and repeated telephone and power outages, she didn’t much believe in coincidence.
     
    Wheatley finished his conversation, turned to her and said curtly, “Thirty seconds.” She took a deep breath, put on her most composed, impassive “TV face” and waited for the show’s producer to count down the final ten seconds to open. At the magic “one,” the host’s normally dour countenance instantly transformed itself into a mask of avuncular munificence, the rich uncle passing out Christmas presents to his disadvantaged nieces and nephews, the little bastards.
     
    “Good Sunday morning, and welcome to
In the Know,”
he intoned gravely. “I am Charles Wheatley, and today the subject is middle class anger and what can be done about it.” His tone suggested a good whipping would suffice.
     
    “Our first guest is AnnaLynn Conté, founder and director of SayNo.org, a radical left-wing organization that advocates the overthrow of the government. The organization was in the news lately when it posted a video on its website of a group of armed citizens in Ohio, confronting police who were attempting to evict a woman who hadn’t paid her mortgage. No one was injured in the confrontation, but it has already spawned similar incidents in other cities, and Ms. Conté has taken credit for more than three million homeowners walking away from their financial obligations. Her organization is also claiming pledges from more than five million Americans not to pay any of their bills for the month of July, in what she calls ‘the People’s July Fourth celebration.’ Others call it an assault on the American way of life. Welcome to
In the Know,
Ms. Conté.”
     
    AnnaLynn Conté smiled sweetly. “Thank you, Chuck. I’m glad to be here. You don’t mind if I call you Chuck, do you?”
     
    Charles Wheatley grimaced and tried to look like he didn’t want to wrap his fingers around her throat.
     
    She spoke quickly, giving him no chance to interrupt. “Just to correct a couple of misstatements. As of yesterday we actually had
seven
million pledges. And
I
am not calling it ‘the People’s’ anything; it’s called ‘The New Declaration of Independence.’ As for the incident in Ohio, we don’t advise anyone to walk away from their mortgages; we lay out all the options and advise them to do what’s best in their particular situation. For some people that might mean a short sale, renegotiating terms with their bank or even continuing to make their payments. For others it might mean giving the keys back to the lender. But one thing we do advise everyone is not to do anything unless the bank can produce a legitimate note, real