World News: Feb 5, 2012

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Re: Koch Brothers Convene Super-Secret Billionaires' Meeting for 2012 Elections

Bear, You are not a MoonBat "journalist" with an agenda... Little Tommy won't listen...or believe. You are correct though.

On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 10:33 AM, Bear Bear <thatbearguy@gmail.com> wrote:

Don't worry Tommy

Nothing gets decided until the Super-Duper Secret Billionaires meeting.
Hosted by C. Montgomery Burns in Springfield, XXX, U.S.A.

For an invite. Just contact Mr. Smithers.

Bear

On 5 February 2012 09:38, Tommy News <tommysnews@gmail.com> wrote:

Koch Brothers Convene Super-Secret Billionaires' Meeting for 2012 Elections
By Lee Fang, Republic Report
Posted on February 4, 2012, Printed on February 4, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/story/153998/koch_brothers_convene_super-secret_billionaires%27_meeting_for_2012_elections
At a retreat last weekend, dozens of wealthy donors convened in a
large golf resort in Indian Wells, Calif. for a four day conference to
raise money and plot out election year strategy, the Republic Report
has confirmed. We traveled to the conference, and spoke to a few of
the attendees.
The summit, organized by the billionaire brothers Charles and David
Koch, was cloaked in secrecy. Helicopters, private security and police
officers from neighboring cities patrolled the area constantly. In
previous years, Supreme Court justices, some of the wealthiest
businessmen in the country and Republican politicians like Congressman
Paul Ryan have all gathered at these twice-annual events. The
Esmerelda Renaissance, the conference venue this year, was guarded
carefully with every entrance blocked and the entire 560-room resort
rented out. I arrived at the hotel the night before the event, but was
followed closely by security and asked to leave the next morning
before the Koch meeting guests arrived.
Though the donors will funnel tens of millions of dollars into the
election this year, they will not have to disclose a single cent.
Using an elaborate array of foundations, nonprofits and other legal
entities, the Koch network sponsored bus tours, attack ads, think
tanks, and hired Tea Party organizers to shape the midterm elections
two years ago. Now, they appear to be expanding their effort.
The most the public knows about these meetings has been culled from
leaked audio tapes, reporting from journalists like Ken Vogel, and
from an invitation I exclusively reported back in October 2010. The
document I posted over a year ago explained that during the meetings,
strategy is discussed, from legislative campaigns to judicial
elections, and money is raised from an assortment of executives from
the oil, banking, manufacturing, and real estate industries.
At the Palm Springs Airport last weekend, I ran into Phil Kerpen, the
vice president of Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party group
founded by David Koch. Kerpen, who was in a rush to make it to the
event, didn't say much about the agenda. Kerpen's group recently
purchased $6 million in undisclosed attack ads against President
Obama, the largest such buy of the entire campaign cycle so far.
Kerpen asked how I knew about the conference. "I thought they had
stopped all leaks," he muttered, as I walked with him through the
baggage claim. Eventually he relented a bit and told me that he hopes
to help achieve "aggressive cuts to government spending and to
regulation to allow robust economic growth" in January 2013.
At the last Koch meeting, in Vail, Colo., Charles Koch raised several
million dollars from his cohorts, while reffering to President Obama
as "Saddam Hussein" and this year's election as the "mother of all
wars." Kerpen disputed the reporting of Charles Koch's comments, but
did not elaborate on what the Koch Industries CEO really meant.
"Ask your leaker to post my speech, because it's very good," he added,
before getting in a car with two associates.
The added secrecy was apparent even to local reporters, who were
confused about why the multi-golf course Esmerelda Renaissance was
locked down and why the hotel staff couldn't talk to anyone about what
was going on.
The jets provided many clues into who was attending the event. A
private plane owned by wealthy mutual fund manager Foster Friess flew
to the area the morning of the conference, and left the day it ended.
Friess is a social conservative who has gained headlines recently for
his massive backing of a super-PAC supporting Rick Santorum. He has
also attended the Koch meeting in the past.
A plane belonging to billionaire investor Phil Anschutz, another
regular Koch attendee and major conservative financier, arrived at a
nearby airport during the event. We identified over half a dozen
private planes owned by major Republican donors that also arrived in
the Indian Wells area during the event, but none of their owners would
respond to requests for comment. Some, like Kenny Troutt, a financier
of a super-PAC that supported Rick Perry's bid for the presidency,
seem to suggest new participants to the Koch meetings.
A jet owned by Continental Resources, a large fracking company that
dominates the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota, arrived at the
event. The company, headed by Obama critic Harold Hamm, refused to
answer any questions about the Koch meeting.
About a day after our call, a Web site that tracks private jet flights
posted a note about Continental Resources: "This aircraft is not
available for tracking per request from the owner/operator."
Lee Fang is a freelance journalist and investigator with the United Republic.

View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/153998/
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

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Re: Koch Brothers Convene Super-Secret Billionaires' Meeting for 2012 Elections

Don't worry Tommy

Nothing gets decided until the Super-Duper Secret Billionaires meeting.
Hosted by C. Montgomery Burns in Springfield, XXX, U.S.A.

For an invite. Just contact Mr. Smithers.

Bear

On 5 February 2012 09:38, Tommy News <tommysnews@gmail.com> wrote:

Koch Brothers Convene Super-Secret Billionaires' Meeting for 2012 Elections
By Lee Fang, Republic Report
Posted on February 4, 2012, Printed on February 4, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/story/153998/koch_brothers_convene_super-secret_billionaires%27_meeting_for_2012_elections
At a retreat last weekend, dozens of wealthy donors convened in a
large golf resort in Indian Wells, Calif. for a four day conference to
raise money and plot out election year strategy, the Republic Report
has confirmed. We traveled to the conference, and spoke to a few of
the attendees.
The summit, organized by the billionaire brothers Charles and David
Koch, was cloaked in secrecy. Helicopters, private security and police
officers from neighboring cities patrolled the area constantly. In
previous years, Supreme Court justices, some of the wealthiest
businessmen in the country and Republican politicians like Congressman
Paul Ryan have all gathered at these twice-annual events. The
Esmerelda Renaissance, the conference venue this year, was guarded
carefully with every entrance blocked and the entire 560-room resort
rented out. I arrived at the hotel the night before the event, but was
followed closely by security and asked to leave the next morning
before the Koch meeting guests arrived.
Though the donors will funnel tens of millions of dollars into the
election this year, they will not have to disclose a single cent.
Using an elaborate array of foundations, nonprofits and other legal
entities, the Koch network sponsored bus tours, attack ads, think
tanks, and hired Tea Party organizers to shape the midterm elections
two years ago. Now, they appear to be expanding their effort.
The most the public knows about these meetings has been culled from
leaked audio tapes, reporting from journalists like Ken Vogel, and
from an invitation I exclusively reported back in October 2010. The
document I posted over a year ago explained that during the meetings,
strategy is discussed, from legislative campaigns to judicial
elections, and money is raised from an assortment of executives from
the oil, banking, manufacturing, and real estate industries.
At the Palm Springs Airport last weekend, I ran into Phil Kerpen, the
vice president of Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party group
founded by David Koch. Kerpen, who was in a rush to make it to the
event, didn't say much about the agenda. Kerpen's group recently
purchased $6 million in undisclosed attack ads against President
Obama, the largest such buy of the entire campaign cycle so far.
Kerpen asked how I knew about the conference. "I thought they had
stopped all leaks," he muttered, as I walked with him through the
baggage claim. Eventually he relented a bit and told me that he hopes
to help achieve "aggressive cuts to government spending and to
regulation to allow robust economic growth" in January 2013.
At the last Koch meeting, in Vail, Colo., Charles Koch raised several
million dollars from his cohorts, while reffering to President Obama
as "Saddam Hussein" and this year's election as the "mother of all
wars." Kerpen disputed the reporting of Charles Koch's comments, but
did not elaborate on what the Koch Industries CEO really meant.
"Ask your leaker to post my speech, because it's very good," he added,
before getting in a car with two associates.
The added secrecy was apparent even to local reporters, who were
confused about why the multi-golf course Esmerelda Renaissance was
locked down and why the hotel staff couldn't talk to anyone about what
was going on.
The jets provided many clues into who was attending the event. A
private plane owned by wealthy mutual fund manager Foster Friess flew
to the area the morning of the conference, and left the day it ended.
Friess is a social conservative who has gained headlines recently for
his massive backing of a super-PAC supporting Rick Santorum. He has
also attended the Koch meeting in the past.
A plane belonging to billionaire investor Phil Anschutz, another
regular Koch attendee and major conservative financier, arrived at a
nearby airport during the event. We identified over half a dozen
private planes owned by major Republican donors that also arrived in
the Indian Wells area during the event, but none of their owners would
respond to requests for comment. Some, like Kenny Troutt, a financier
of a super-PAC that supported Rick Perry's bid for the presidency,
seem to suggest new participants to the Koch meetings.
A jet owned by Continental Resources, a large fracking company that
dominates the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota, arrived at the
event. The company, headed by Obama critic Harold Hamm, refused to
answer any questions about the Koch meeting.
About a day after our call, a Web site that tracks private jet flights
posted a note about Continental Resources: "This aircraft is not
available for tracking per request from the owner/operator."
Lee Fang is a freelance journalist and investigator with the United Republic.

View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/153998/
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum

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Re: Koch Brothers Convene Super-Secret Billionaires' Meeting for 2012 Elections

Yep, Tommy, This is such a "SUPER SECRET" that it is an annual event
regardless of who is in or out or running for office. I don't know of
anyone that actually follows business trends that doesn't know about
the annual event.

On Feb 5, 8:38 am, Tommy News <tommysn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Koch Brothers Convene Super-Secret Billionaires' Meeting for 2012 Elections
> By Lee Fang, Republic Report
> Posted on February 4, 2012, Printed on February 4, 2012http://www.alternet.org/story/153998/koch_brothers_convene_super-secr...
> At a retreat last weekend, dozens of wealthy donors convened in a
> large golf resort in Indian Wells, Calif. for a four day conference to
> raise money and plot out election year strategy, the Republic Report
> has confirmed. We traveled to the conference, and spoke to a few of
> the attendees.
> The summit, organized by the billionaire brothers Charles and David
> Koch, was cloaked in secrecy. Helicopters, private security and police
> officers from neighboring cities patrolled the area constantly. In
> previous years, Supreme Court justices, some of the wealthiest
> businessmen in the country and Republican politicians like Congressman
> Paul Ryan have all gathered at these twice-annual events. The
> Esmerelda Renaissance, the conference venue this year, was guarded
> carefully with every entrance blocked and the entire 560-room resort
> rented out. I arrived at the hotel the night before the event, but was
> followed closely by security and asked to leave the next morning
> before the Koch meeting guests arrived.
> Though the donors will funnel tens of millions of dollars into the
> election this year, they will not have to disclose a single cent.
> Using an elaborate array of foundations, nonprofits and other legal
> entities, the Koch network sponsored bus tours, attack ads, think
> tanks, and hired Tea Party organizers to shape the midterm elections
> two years ago. Now, they appear to be expanding their effort.
> The most the public knows about these meetings has been culled from
> leaked audio tapes, reporting from journalists like Ken Vogel, and
> from an invitation I exclusively reported back in October 2010. The
> document I posted over a year ago explained that during the meetings,
> strategy is discussed, from legislative campaigns to judicial
> elections, and money is raised from an assortment of executives from
> the oil, banking, manufacturing, and real estate industries.
> At the Palm Springs Airport last weekend, I ran into Phil Kerpen, the
> vice president of Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party group
> founded by David Koch. Kerpen, who was in a rush to make it to the
> event, didn't say much about the agenda. Kerpen's group recently
> purchased $6 million in undisclosed attack ads against President
> Obama, the largest such buy of the entire campaign cycle so far.
> Kerpen asked how I knew about the conference. "I thought they had
> stopped all leaks," he muttered, as I walked with him through the
> baggage claim. Eventually he relented a bit and told me that he hopes
> to help achieve "aggressive cuts to government spending and to
> regulation to allow robust economic growth" in January 2013.
> At the last Koch meeting, in Vail, Colo., Charles Koch raised several
> million dollars from his cohorts, while reffering to President Obama
> as "Saddam Hussein" and this year's election as the "mother of all
> wars." Kerpen disputed the reporting of Charles Koch's comments, but
> did not elaborate on what the Koch Industries CEO really meant.
> "Ask your leaker to post my speech, because it's very good," he added,
> before getting in a car with two associates.
> The added secrecy was apparent even to local reporters, who were
> confused about why the multi-golf course Esmerelda Renaissance was
> locked down and why the hotel staff couldn't talk to anyone about what
> was going on.
> The jets provided many clues into who was attending the event. A
> private plane owned by wealthy mutual fund manager Foster Friess flew
> to the area the morning of the conference, and left the day it ended.
> Friess is a social conservative who has gained headlines recently for
> his massive backing of a super-PAC supporting Rick Santorum. He has
> also attended the Koch meeting in the past.
> A plane belonging to billionaire investor Phil Anschutz, another
> regular Koch attendee and major conservative financier, arrived at a
> nearby airport during the event. We identified over half a dozen
> private planes owned by major Republican donors that also arrived in
> the Indian Wells area during the event, but none of their owners would
> respond to requests for comment. Some, like Kenny Troutt, a financier
> of a super-PAC that supported Rick Perry's bid for the presidency,
> seem to suggest new participants to the Koch meetings.
> A jet owned by Continental Resources, a large fracking company that
> dominates the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota, arrived at the
> event. The company, headed by Obama critic Harold Hamm, refused to
> answer any questions about the Koch meeting.
> About a day after our call, a Web site that tracks private jet flights
> posted a note about Continental Resources: "This aircraft is not
> available for tracking per request from the owner/operator."
> Lee Fang is a freelance journalist and investigator with the United Republic.
>
> View this story online at:http://www.alternet.org/story/153998/
> --
> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
> Have a great day,
> Tommy
>
> --
> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
> Have a great day,
> Tommy

--
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SOUTH KOREA: Appeal against a lawyer providing legal assistance should be withdrawn

Dear Mr. Han Sang-Dea,

SOUTH KOREA: Appeal against a lawyer providing legal assistance should be withdrawn

Name of victim: Mr. Kwon Young-Gook, a chair of labour committee from MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society, non-governmental organization; original case no.: 2009KODAN1660: Article 136 of Criminal Act (Obstruction of Performance of Official Duties); found not guilty by the Suwon District Court on October 24, 2011
Officers involved: Mr. Yu Dong-hyuk; the company commander of auxiliary police attached to the Pyeongtaek police station
Case No. at Court of Appeal: 2011NO5044 (Obstruction of Performance of Official Duties etc.)
Date of appeal: November 17, 2011

I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding the appeal by the prosecutor's office on the case of Mr. Kwon who was found not guilty by the Suwon District Court on October 24, 2011. Mr. Kwon was originally charged with the obstruction of performance of official duties on providing legal assistance to the workers of Ssang yong motor company to attend a press conference on June 26, 2009.

According to the judgment obtained, the court freed Mr. Kwon with regards to the obstruction of official duties, which can be read, "The obstruction of performance of official duties should not be established if the official duties are unlawful and the performance of official duties should fall into not only abstract authority but also legal requirement and its procedures."

In case of Mr. Kwon, his involvement in defending those who were illegally arrested and detained by force without being informed the gist of fact of crime and the reason of arrest, and the suspect of the right to counsel by the police is justifiable and should not be interpreted as obstruction of performance of official duties.

I regret to note, however, that the prosecutor brought this case to the court of appeal on November 17, 2011 despite the fact that with regards to the obstruction of performance of official duties are already set up not only by the Criminal Act but also by the numerous precedent cases by the Supreme Court.

Under this circumstance, it appears to have been interpreted that the prosecutor's appeal was made not with the intention to arguing the judgment of the district court on legal perspectives but punishing Mr. Kwon by taking in pursuit of his case as long as possible though legal proceedings or politically oriented. There is no reason left to the prosecutor's office to pursue this case.

I therefore, urge you to withdraw the appeal of the case of Mr. Kwon. If you keep pursuing this case with recognizing the fact that Mr. Kwon's act is not guilty, your refusal of withdrawal will only show that the prosecutor troubles him through your unnecessary or excessive appeal with malicious intent to it whereas no disciplinary action has been made against the law enforcement agent.

Yours sincerely,

William Nicholas Gomes
William's Desk
www.williamgomes.org

http://www.williamgomes.org/?p=406

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Frank Bruni: Mitt’s Muffled Soul

Mitt's Muffled Soul
By FRANK BRUNI
Published: February 4, 2012
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CloseDiggRedditTumblrPermalink LAST week he did it again, wading into
a discussion of money — or, rather, of the "very poor" who lack it —
and succumbing to yet another pink slip of the tongue. Mitt Romney is
forever being tripped up this election cycle by the topic of wealth.

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Ben Wiseman

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The Long Run: For Romney, a Role of Faith and Authority (October 16, 2011)
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Room for Debate: What Is It About Mormons? (January 30, 2012)
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Not, interestingly, religion. That was the angst last time around, and
the extent to which the dynamic has changed, with mammon supplanting
Mormon as the bejeweled albatross around his neck, was reflected in
another recent comment of his, one that prompted less notice and was
interpreted in a particular and highly revealing way.

At one of the debates just before the Florida primary, as he and Newt
Gingrich jousted over the Latino vote, he answered Gingrich's charges
that he was anti-immigrant by calling them "repulsive" and declaiming,
"My father was born in Mexico." Many news reports mentioned the
moment, casting it as an example of his newfound readiness to take the
fight back to Gingrich.

But only a few of those reports recognized what an odd line of defense
Romney had employed, given why his father was born there. The family
lived south of the border because Miles Park Romney, Mitt's
great-grandfather, had fled the United States after the passage of an
1882 law that explicitly banned polygamy, which he practiced. He was
reputedly instructed to till a polygamous Mormon colony on foreign
soil.

When Romney first ran for president in 2008, there was so much
discussion about the potential impact of his Mormonism, and his own
concern about it was deep enough, that he delivered a set-piece speech
designed to rebut any lingering impression of the religion as an
exotic, even loopy sect. In that painstakingly calibrated address, he
said the word Mormon all of once. Christ or Christianity came up
repeatedly.

Four years later, he still avoids the word, trumpeting his
faithfulness without specifying the faith. What's surprising is that
no one around him — not reporters, not rivals — talks about it all
that much, either. The Romney-Gingrich showdowns in South Carolina and
Florida got plenty nasty: at one point the Gingrich camp, flashing
back to Romney's term as Massachusetts governor, falsely accused him
of pretty much wresting kosher food from the mouths of Holocaust
survivors. But neither Gingrich nor his allies played the Mormon card,
even though nearly 20 percent of the Republicans and independents
surveyed by Gallup last year said they wouldn't support a Mormon
presidential candidate.

Steve Schmidt, who managed John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign,
said there was a simple, good reason to let Romney's Mormonism be.

"It's baked into the cake," he said, explaining that at this point,
voters are well aware of it, have already decided if it matters to
them, and that's that. Anyone trying to use it against Romney, even
obliquely, might succeed only in being branded a religious bigot,
especially in a country "that becomes more tolerant of difference all
the time," Schmidt said.

His assessment is borne out by what happened when Politico, in a
report last August, said that President Obama's tacticians were
contemplating a general-election strategy that would underscore ways
in which Romney seemed "weird." The adjective sounded suspiciously
like a stand-in for Mormon, as Romney's enraged lieutenants noted, and
the White House hastily denounced the Politico report as dead wrong.
Two months later, a prominent Baptist pastor at the Values Voter
Summit in Washington called Mormonism a cult and encountered an
instant — and warranted — backlash.

Will that be the end of it? One longtime Republican strategist I
talked with predicted that Gingrich would broach Romney's Mormonism
yet, with the aim of mobilizing the Mormon-wary evangelicals who vote
in southern primaries on March 6, "Super Tuesday."

That's a regrettable motive. But there are valid reasons for the rest
of us to home in on Romney's religion, not in terms of its historical
eccentricities but in terms of its cultural, psychological and
emotional imprint on him.

His aloofness, guardedness and sporadic defensiveness: are these
entwined with the experience of belonging to a minority tribe that has
often been maligned and has operated in secret? Do his stamina and
resilience as a candidate reflect his years of Mormon missionary work
in France, during which he learned not to be daunted in the face of so
much resistance that he won a mere 10 to 20 converts, according to
"The Real Romney," a biography published last month?

And what of his sometimes huffy expectation that voters accept his
current stances against abortion and gun control, to name two flips,
and stop fussing over so many contrary positions in the past? Does
that track with Mormonism's blithe reluctance, according to its
critics, to explain controversial tenets that it has jettisoned, like
a ban on black clergy members that was in place until 1978?

A tactful desire to avoid any sensationalizing of Romney's faith has
created a tendency not to give it appropriate due. To read "The Real
Romney," which represents an exception, is to realize the utter
centrality of religion in his life. One of the book's most arresting
passages describes a moment when Ann, his wife-to-be and then a
Protestant, asks him what Mormons believe. His detailed explanation
moves her to tears, perhaps because it's so heartfelt, perhaps also
because he's so nervous about her reaction.

The news media's caution about focusing on Romney's religion mirrors
his own reticence, which, as Frank Rich pointed out in New York
magazine last week, may be a big reason he can't connect with voters
in a visceral, intimate way. He's editing out the core of his
identity. He's muffling his soul.

"His church experience is, I think, one of the great humanizing
influences in Mitt Romney's life," said Patrick Mason, a professor of
Mormon studies at Claremont Graduate University. Mason noted that if
Romney would embrace that side of himself, he could beat the rap that
he's never been exposed to hardship by recounting his missionary
experience. "That's usually a very spartan lifestyle, and by
definition most of the people you're talking to are going to be poor."

Romney's even longer period as a Mormon lay leader in Boston involved
counseling and consoling people dealing with marriage problems,
addiction, unemployment: some of life's messiest, scariest stuff. He
must have gained a fluency in human frailty. But when The Times's
Sheryl Gay Stolberg was researching an article about that time, Romney
predictably declined her interview request.

He has released tax returns, putting his Swiss accounts in the
foreground. But he still cloaks his church duties, consigning his
French proselytizing to the background.

Is it the right political calculation? I'm not sure. But I know it
makes for a woefully incomplete portrait, denying voters something
that they deserve — and that might well cut his way.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/bruni-mitts-muffled-soul.html?ref=opinion

--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
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Re: Koch Brothers Convene Super-Secret Billionaires' Meeting for 2012 Elections

On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 9:38 AM, Tommy News <tommysnews@gmail.com> wrote:

Koch Brothers Convene Super-Secret Billionaires' Meeting for 2012 Elections
By Lee Fang, Republic Report
Posted on February 4, 2012, Printed on February 4, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/story/153998/koch_brothers_convene_super-secret_billionaires%27_meeting_for_2012_elections
At a retreat last weekend, dozens of wealthy donors convened in a
large golf resort in Indian Wells, Calif. for a four day conference to
raise money and plot out election year strategy, the Republic Report
has confirmed. We traveled to the conference, and spoke to a few of
the attendees.
The summit, organized by the billionaire brothers Charles and David
Koch, was cloaked in secrecy. Helicopters, private security and police
officers from neighboring cities patrolled the area constantly. In
previous years, Supreme Court justices, some of the wealthiest
businessmen in the country and Republican politicians like Congressman
Paul Ryan have all gathered at these twice-annual events. The
Esmerelda Renaissance, the conference venue this year, was guarded
carefully with every entrance blocked and the entire 560-room resort
rented out. I arrived at the hotel the night before the event, but was
followed closely by security and asked to leave the next morning
before the Koch meeting guests arrived.
Though the donors will funnel tens of millions of dollars into the
election this year, they will not have to disclose a single cent.
Using an elaborate array of foundations, nonprofits and other legal
entities, the Koch network sponsored bus tours, attack ads, think
tanks, and hired Tea Party organizers to shape the midterm elections
two years ago. Now, they appear to be expanding their effort.
The most the public knows about these meetings has been culled from
leaked audio tapes, reporting from journalists like Ken Vogel, and
from an invitation I exclusively reported back in October 2010. The
document I posted over a year ago explained that during the meetings,
strategy is discussed, from legislative campaigns to judicial
elections, and money is raised from an assortment of executives from
the oil, banking, manufacturing, and real estate industries.
At the Palm Springs Airport last weekend, I ran into Phil Kerpen, the
vice president of Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party group
founded by David Koch. Kerpen, who was in a rush to make it to the
event, didn't say much about the agenda. Kerpen's group recently
purchased $6 million in undisclosed attack ads against President
Obama, the largest such buy of the entire campaign cycle so far.
Kerpen asked how I knew about the conference. "I thought they had
stopped all leaks," he muttered, as I walked with him through the
baggage claim. Eventually he relented a bit and told me that he hopes
to help achieve "aggressive cuts to government spending and to
regulation to allow robust economic growth" in January 2013.
At the last Koch meeting, in Vail, Colo., Charles Koch raised several
million dollars from his cohorts, while reffering to President Obama
as "Saddam Hussein" and this year's election as the "mother of all
wars." Kerpen disputed the reporting of Charles Koch's comments, but
did not elaborate on what the Koch Industries CEO really meant.
"Ask your leaker to post my speech, because it's very good," he added,
before getting in a car with two associates.
The added secrecy was apparent even to local reporters, who were
confused about why the multi-golf course Esmerelda Renaissance was
locked down and why the hotel staff couldn't talk to anyone about what
was going on.
The jets provided many clues into who was attending the event. A
private plane owned by wealthy mutual fund manager Foster Friess flew
to the area the morning of the conference, and left the day it ended.
Friess is a social conservative who has gained headlines recently for
his massive backing of a super-PAC supporting Rick Santorum. He has
also attended the Koch meeting in the past.
A plane belonging to billionaire investor Phil Anschutz, another
regular Koch attendee and major conservative financier, arrived at a
nearby airport during the event. We identified over half a dozen
private planes owned by major Republican donors that also arrived in
the Indian Wells area during the event, but none of their owners would
respond to requests for comment. Some, like Kenny Troutt, a financier
of a super-PAC that supported Rick Perry's bid for the presidency,
seem to suggest new participants to the Koch meetings.
A jet owned by Continental Resources, a large fracking company that
dominates the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota, arrived at the
event. The company, headed by Obama critic Harold Hamm, refused to
answer any questions about the Koch meeting.
About a day after our call, a Web site that tracks private jet flights
posted a note about Continental Resources: "This aircraft is not
available for tracking per request from the owner/operator."
Lee Fang is a freelance journalist and investigator with the United Republic.

View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/153998/
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

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Maureen Dowd: The First Third lady, The Great Man’s Wife

The Great Man's Wife
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: February 4, 2012
IF you want to figure out why Newt Gingrich is still out there
grasping for lost power, howling at the moon like King Lear, look to
Callista.

You can find her anytime standing statue-still on stage next to Newt
as he speaks, gazing at him with such frozen attentiveness that she
could give a master class to Nancy Reagan.

Ann Romney often introduces her husband, chatting warmly about his
uxorious virtues, and then disappears offstage or to the back of the
stage while he talks. But the 45-year-old Callista has created an
entirely new model for a spouse, standing mute in her primary color
suits and triple-strand pearls looking at the 68-year-old Newt for the
whole event, her platinum carapace inclined deferentially toward his
shaggy gray mane.

"She's a transformational wife," Alex Castellanos, the Republican
strategist, told me. "She's the wife who makes the candidate think he
is destiny's gift to mankind, born to greater things."

While a trophy wife is admired by her man, the admiring eyes of a
Transformational Wife are there to propel her man to the next level.
And when a woman who wants to be a Transformational Wife merges with a
man who calls himself a Transformational Figure, you can expect a
narcissistic blastoff.

Castellanos weaves the common tale of a "great but frustrated" man:
"The first wife, and often the second, do not grasp his brilliance or
grandeur. The starter wives try to confine him in their small world.
But his drive to fulfill his gargantuan potential is too powerful. He
rebelliously breaks conventions.

"Then he finds the muse who sees him as he sees himself. He is a man
of history and belongs to something larger. She agrees that his
rejections have been the fault of the audience. They cannot stare into
a light so bright. She directs and channels him, saying, 'This is what
you have to do to achieve your destiny.'

"Now he is unleashed. The best and worst of him have been fed and watered."

The Republican establishment is chasing Newt around the country with a
butterfly net. But when he looks into Callista's bright blue eyes,
he's reminded of his adolescent dreams of exploring galaxies and
saving civilization.

When Barack is cocky and looks at Michelle, he might see her thinking:
"You're no messiah. Pick up your socks." But when Newt is cocky and
looks at Callista, he sees her thinking: "You are the messiah. We'll
have your socks bronzed."

Where Michelle sees herself as the puncturer of delusions, "the
Department of 'Let's Get Real,' " as an aide called her, Callista
reinforces Newt's delusion that he can be president — even when the
staff quit en masse last June because he put pampering her above
campaigning.

In business, the Transformational Wife is less complicated. In
politics, she's a double-edged spouse. She feeds his ego like a goose
destined for pâté, but drains support among some women and some
evangelicals who disapprove of a man who keeps trading in wives, even
sick ones.

At the Texas meeting of evangelicals last month, one of the leaders,
James Dobson, questioned whether Callista, "a mistress for eight
years," as he put it, would make a good first lady.

Gingrich's plaint that his passion to save the country may have led
him to give in to more corporeal passions did not persuade the women
of Florida, who favored the Mitt-bot over him by a 24-point margin.
One indignant woman I interviewed at a church in Columbia, S.C., where
Newt was speaking, hurrumphed that Callista was "his Barbie."

Draped in Tiffany diamonds, Callista is the embodiment of the divide
between Gingrich's public piety and private immorality.

Gingrich's communications director, Joe DeSantis, has airbrushed
Callista's Wikipedia page 23 times since 2008, often to banish
unflattering details from the site, according to BuzzFeed's Andrew
Kaczynski.

DeSantis edited the introduction, taking out the fact that she is "the
third wife of," and excising the sentence, "She met her husband while
he was in the House, and had an affair while he was conducting the
impeachment investigation for President Bill Clinton."

As The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza reported, the top Google
search for Gingrich in Florida during the primary there was
"Callista," right up there with "Newt wives" and "Newt scandals."

That may be why she has a largely nonspeaking role in the campaign, as
silent as the slender heroine of "The Artist," even though Newt relays
that she has described herself as a hybrid of Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush
and Jackie Kennedy. The campaign does not want to remind voters that
the relationship, portrayed as so redemptive, was born in sin and
hypocrisy.

There's always a chance, of course, that Callista is not staring so
intently at Newt to make him feel more Napoleonic. Maybe she just
doesn't want to let him out of her sight.

As the maxim goes, "When a man marries his mistress, he creates a job opening."

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/dowd-the-great-mans-wife.html?ref=opinion

--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

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Koch Brothers Convene Super-Secret Billionaires' Meeting for 2012 Elections

Koch Brothers Convene Super-Secret Billionaires' Meeting for 2012 Elections
By Lee Fang, Republic Report
Posted on February 4, 2012, Printed on February 4, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/story/153998/koch_brothers_convene_super-secret_billionaires%27_meeting_for_2012_elections
At a retreat last weekend, dozens of wealthy donors convened in a
large golf resort in Indian Wells, Calif. for a four day conference to
raise money and plot out election year strategy, the Republic Report
has confirmed. We traveled to the conference, and spoke to a few of
the attendees.
The summit, organized by the billionaire brothers Charles and David
Koch, was cloaked in secrecy. Helicopters, private security and police
officers from neighboring cities patrolled the area constantly. In
previous years, Supreme Court justices, some of the wealthiest
businessmen in the country and Republican politicians like Congressman
Paul Ryan have all gathered at these twice-annual events. The
Esmerelda Renaissance, the conference venue this year, was guarded
carefully with every entrance blocked and the entire 560-room resort
rented out. I arrived at the hotel the night before the event, but was
followed closely by security and asked to leave the next morning
before the Koch meeting guests arrived.
Though the donors will funnel tens of millions of dollars into the
election this year, they will not have to disclose a single cent.
Using an elaborate array of foundations, nonprofits and other legal
entities, the Koch network sponsored bus tours, attack ads, think
tanks, and hired Tea Party organizers to shape the midterm elections
two years ago. Now, they appear to be expanding their effort.
The most the public knows about these meetings has been culled from
leaked audio tapes, reporting from journalists like Ken Vogel, and
from an invitation I exclusively reported back in October 2010. The
document I posted over a year ago explained that during the meetings,
strategy is discussed, from legislative campaigns to judicial
elections, and money is raised from an assortment of executives from
the oil, banking, manufacturing, and real estate industries.
At the Palm Springs Airport last weekend, I ran into Phil Kerpen, the
vice president of Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party group
founded by David Koch. Kerpen, who was in a rush to make it to the
event, didn't say much about the agenda. Kerpen's group recently
purchased $6 million in undisclosed attack ads against President
Obama, the largest such buy of the entire campaign cycle so far.
Kerpen asked how I knew about the conference. "I thought they had
stopped all leaks," he muttered, as I walked with him through the
baggage claim. Eventually he relented a bit and told me that he hopes
to help achieve "aggressive cuts to government spending and to
regulation to allow robust economic growth" in January 2013.
At the last Koch meeting, in Vail, Colo., Charles Koch raised several
million dollars from his cohorts, while reffering to President Obama
as "Saddam Hussein" and this year's election as the "mother of all
wars." Kerpen disputed the reporting of Charles Koch's comments, but
did not elaborate on what the Koch Industries CEO really meant.
"Ask your leaker to post my speech, because it's very good," he added,
before getting in a car with two associates.
The added secrecy was apparent even to local reporters, who were
confused about why the multi-golf course Esmerelda Renaissance was
locked down and why the hotel staff couldn't talk to anyone about what
was going on.
The jets provided many clues into who was attending the event. A
private plane owned by wealthy mutual fund manager Foster Friess flew
to the area the morning of the conference, and left the day it ended.
Friess is a social conservative who has gained headlines recently for
his massive backing of a super-PAC supporting Rick Santorum. He has
also attended the Koch meeting in the past.
A plane belonging to billionaire investor Phil Anschutz, another
regular Koch attendee and major conservative financier, arrived at a
nearby airport during the event. We identified over half a dozen
private planes owned by major Republican donors that also arrived in
the Indian Wells area during the event, but none of their owners would
respond to requests for comment. Some, like Kenny Troutt, a financier
of a super-PAC that supported Rick Perry's bid for the presidency,
seem to suggest new participants to the Koch meetings.
A jet owned by Continental Resources, a large fracking company that
dominates the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota, arrived at the
event. The company, headed by Obama critic Harold Hamm, refused to
answer any questions about the Koch meeting.
About a day after our call, a Web site that tracks private jet flights
posted a note about Continental Resources: "This aircraft is not
available for tracking per request from the owner/operator."
Lee Fang is a freelance journalist and investigator with the United Republic.

View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/153998/
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
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JP Fake Plastic Crowds You See in Movies

Fake Plastic Crowds You See in Movies

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Pics and toons 2/5/12 (3)

Pics and toons 2/5/12 (2)

Pics and toons 2/5/12 (1)

JP Letter to Editor - PTV Fees

Dear Join Pakistan

LETTER TO EDITOR

February 4^th, 2012

PTV Fees

Every domestic consumer of electricity is charged Rs. 35/= per month as the PTV Fees and the commercial consumers Rs. 50/= or even more. There are millions and millions of such electricity consumers throughout the country who are forced to pay the said fees which I am sure must be accruing billions to the PTV on this count only apart from the money it would be making from the commercials it airs. Where does all this money go? Apparently it is not reflected in the type, quality and standard of the programmes it telecasts? In this age of satellite communications and cable networks there are at least 80 TV channels available to everyone and each one of them offers better entertainment and information than the PTV. All those TV channels are making huge profits through the cable operators and need no direct subscriptions from the viewers. However, though the PTV is also viewed through the cable networks, for which it must be charging the cable operators, it also charges simultaneously fees from the hapless people through their electricity bills. Thus the PTV is charging twice for its programmes – once through the cable operator and second time through the electricity bills!! This is an unjustified mugging of the unwary gullible. Why can’t the PTV do as other TV channels do? Improve the quality of its programmes and earn huge profits from the commercials. And, if it can’t, I strongly suggest privatising it. I would love to try my hand at running it and running it much better for all.

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
30 Westridge 1
Rawalpindi 46000
Pakistan
Tel: (051) 5158033
E.mail: jafri@rifiela.com

Re: Texas Flashlight

That is so cool...I'll (seriously) take two.

On Feb 4, 11:03 am, Keith In Tampa <keithinta...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I wonder what the accuracy of this weapon is, with literally no
> barrel......Nevertheless, I want one.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 4, 2012 at 10:31 AM, Travis <baconl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > I think they could sell a lot of them. ****
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > Good for walking the dog, Girls night out, unruly neighbors, etc--- ****
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > Subject: TEXAS FLASHLIGHT ****
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > I do not think I would worry about walking in the dark with this flashlight. ****
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > This is a must see. Think you'll be amazed. The video is about ****
>
> > 1 1/2 minutes. WOW!!! ****
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > TEXAS FLASHLIGHT ****
>
> > ** **
>
> > * *
>
> > * *
>
> > *http://videos2view.net/texas-light.htm#.TpjYMP3QiMM.aolmail*<http://videos2view.net/texas-light.htm#.TpjYMP3QiMM.aolmail>* *
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > ** **
>
> > --
> > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
> > For options & help seehttp://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
>
> > * Visit our other community athttp://www.PoliticalForum.com/
> > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
> > * Read the latest breaking news, and more.

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Re: At Super Bowl, Antibullying PSAs Will Go On

To be a Bigot a person needs to have strong, unreasonable beliefs or
to be intolerant of other view points.

To hold the belief that Homosexuality is just plain wrong and yet are
civil towards gays is NOT considered unreasonable by the vast majority
of people on this earth... Therefore to have an anti-gay position is
NOT bigotry. However gays that can not see and understand this are
indeed BIGOTED..

On Feb 4, 2:12 pm, Tommy News <tommysn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> At Super Bowl, Antibullying PSAs Will Go On
> By Trudy Ring
>
> Antibullying messages sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight
> Education Network will still be shown on the Jumbotron at Lucas Oil
> Stadium during the Super Bowl Sunday, despite right-wing activist
> Linda Harvey's call to cancel them.
>
> Harvey (pictured, left), president of the conservative Christian group
> Mission America, had written in her online newsletter that GLSEN's
> ThinkB4YouSpeak campaign "seeks to instill the false idea that only by
> enthusiastically approving of homosexuality and gender confusion can
> we prevent bullying." She urged her supporters to pressure
> Toronto-based Grazie Media, which owns the Jumbotron at the stadium in
> Indianapolis, to withdraw its offer of space for "this shameful
> message."
>
> Grazie has not given in, however, and GLSEN is asking that messages of
> thanks be sent to the firm; to do so, click here. The GLSEN public
> service announcements feature NBA player Grant Hill and comedian Wanda
> Sykes warning against saying something is "gay" to mean it's stupid.
>
> "Grazie Media has stood against the pressure, and we want them to know
> they did the right thing and have the strongest gratitude of GLSEN
> supporters," reads an email from GLSEN. The company needs to hear from
> "fair-minded people" who "won't tolerate organized anti-LGBT bigotry,"
> GLSEN officials add.
>
> Watch the videos below.
>
> http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2012/02/03/At_Super_Bowl,_Ant...
>
> --
> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
> Have a great day,
> Tommy
>
> --
> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
> Have a great day,
> Tommy

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Re: Ninth Circuit Rules on Prop. 8 Trial Tapes, will not unseal the video record of the historic trial

This is a State issue over State permits.... the Feds are overstepping
again.

As with Greg I support gay unions... I do NOT support have this
option made available to me. Marriage is a permitted activity NOT a
right.

On Feb 4, 2:13 pm, Tommy News <tommysn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ninth Circuit Rules on Prop. 8 Trial Tapes, will not unseal the video
> record of the historic trial
>
> From Chad Griffin, American Foundation for Equal Rights
>
> In a court of law, where only truth and facts matter, the evidence was
> irrefutable. Witness after witness testified that marriage strengthens
> our society and that denying gay and lesbian couples their fundamental
> freedom to marry causes direct harm to them and their families. Even
> the star witness for the anti-marriage proponents admitted that we, as
> a nation, would be more American the moment gay and lesbian couples
> are able to marry.
>
> Regrettably, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided not to
> unseal the video record of the historic twelve-day public trial of
> Prop. 8.
>
> AFER will continue to do everything we can to make sure that the
> public sees the facts of what happened in that courtroom.
>
> Every day, our team works to educate the public by telling personal
> stories of gay and lesbian Americans and their families and actively
> corrects misinformation about the myths of allowing gay and lesbian
> couples to marry. In partnership with today's most effective issue
> leaders and organizational allies, AFER is changing the debate and
> changing public opinion.
>
> Our newest endeavor brings the issue of marriage equality to areas
> where we need it most. In partnership with Broadway Impact, community
> and college theaters across the country will perform Dustin Lance
> Black's new play, "8," to spark dialogue, understanding and action.
> Based on the actual court transcripts and moving interviews with
> AFER's plaintiffs, the play is an unprecedented account of what
> happened when discrimination was put on trial.
>
> It speaks volumes that the proponents of Proposition 8 spent millions
> on a political campaign to publicize their views, yet they have done
> everything they can to stop the public from seeing the weak case they
> put on at trial. They know the videotape would expose their baseless
> campaign of fear and let the public see the powerful evidence we
> submitted showing that Proposition 8 flatly violates the United States
> Constitution. That's why they fought so hard to keep the tapes
> secret.
>
> In the coming weeks, the Ninth Circuit will rule on the merits of our
> case that found Proposition 8 unconstitutional. It is my hope that
> the Court will uphold the District Court ruling and stand up for the
> freedom to marry.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Chad H. Griffin
> Board President
> American Foundation for Equal Rights
>
> See What Happened at the Prop. 8 Trial
>
> Based on the actual court transcripts of the historic Prop. 8 trial,
> Dustin Lance Black's play "8" shows the truth about marriage for gay
> and lesbian couples.
>
> See footage of the play and find a performance in your area.
>
> Visit
> http://www.8theplay.com/
>
> --
> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
> Have a great day,
> Tommy
>
> --
> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
> Have a great day,
> Tommy

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