A Fight for the Heart & Soul of America

[Z06PDQ]

By Staff Reporter | January 31, 2011 12:22 PM EST

Twenty-five people have been arrested for trespassing during a protest demonstration outside of a retreat where the secretive billionaire Koch brothers held an assembly for conservative elected officials, political donors and strategists.


Hundreds of liberal activists, environmentalists and union members protested outside the Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage, California to protest against what they view as the heavy financial influence of the Koch brothers in conservative causes.

Koch spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer said the closed-door meeting "brings together some of America's greatest philanthropists and job creators … who share a common belief that the current level of government spending in our nation is simply unsustainable."

Widely associated with the Tea Party fringe of the Republican Party, the Koch brothers have come under unprecedented media scrutiny in recent years.


Protesters hold a banner during a demonstration in Cairo January 30, 2011. How to overcome Internet shutdown in Egypt

Protestors carried placards condemning "corporate greed," chanted slogans and moved toward a barricaded police officers at the entrance of the a resort.

The two brothers control Koch Industries, the second-biggest privately held company in the country, and have financed endeavors agitating for limited-government and also contributed $1-million to failed initiative to suspend California's law to reduce greenhouse gases.

In decades past, the Koch family has supported conservative organizations and campaigns, including significant funding for the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

According to media reports, Cathy Riddle, a Temecula, Calif. website developer who held a sign reading "Corporations are not people” at the rally, said "We cannot have democracy unless everyone has a voice.”

Donors like the Koch brothers are "drowning us out. Their voices are louder," she added.

One group that one of the brothers, David Koch, helped form, Americans for Prosperity, was cited by President Obama as an example of special-interest money that went into last year's mid-term elections.

Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause and a former Democratic congressman, warned the rally that the Koch brothers "are at the center of a hard-core conservative political network" that wants to erode consumer protections and compromise fair elections.

"This is a fight for nothing short of the heart and soul of America," he said.

“This is a critical moment for us,” Mary Boyle, vice president for communications at Common Cause, told the New York Times. “The Koch brothers embody this ability to tap vast corporate profits and influence policies that undermine the public welfare.”

However, conservatives defend the Koch brothers.

Grover Norquist, president of the conservative Americans for Tax Reform, who has attended Koch meetings in the past, said "Common Cause pretends to be in favor of political engagement and free speech, and now they are shouting down a group that wants to be engaged.”

The Koch brothers "encourage people to get involved in politics, support think tanks, to start think tanks. It's important work," he added.

[thkauffman]

Funny that they don't protest outside of Soros' place, too.

[Z06PDQ]

Originally Posted by thkauffman

Funny that they don't protest outside of Soros' place, too.

is he polluting our nation for profit?

[thkauffman]

Originally Posted by Z06PDQ

is he polluting our nation for profit?

Yes, with his socialist bullshit.

[Z06PDQ]

Originally Posted by thkauffman

Yes, with his socialist bullshit.

nice dodge. I thought you were a Chebby man. [shrug]

[thkauffman]

Originally Posted by Z06PDQ

nice dodge. I thought you were a Chebby man. [shrug]

There was no dodge at all. He is a rich man who is bent on using media to destroy the country and bent on using markets to destroy the markets and the country.

[Z06PDQ]

Originally Posted by thkauffman

There was no dodge at all. He is a rich man who is bent on using media to destroy the country and bent on using markets to destroy the markets and the country.

you & a bunch of ignorant & paranoid misinformed people's opinion...nothing more.

[Z06PDQ]

Soros has personally donated some $3.5 million to political campaigns since 1999.
George Soros Biography - Money,Politics, George Soros Biography, Campaign Contributions

He also spent some $25.5 million in political campaigning in 2003/4 for the 2004 election, and some $23.5 in donations to 527 groups, though I'm not sure how much those two figures overlap. He also donated $1 million to Drug Policy Alliance to fund Prop 19 in '09, and started a couple fund-raising groups, though I don't have quick data on how much he's funded through them.

Soros has donated some $7 billion, but most of it has been philanthropic donations, such as $35 million to the State of New York for under-privileged children, and 240 million euros to the Central European University, and not political donations.


The Koch Bros., on the other hand, have spent at least as much personally, plus considerably more through the Koch Family Foundations (one of the largest single sources of conservative campaign donations in the U.S.), the Cato Institute (co-founded with Edward Crane), and Americans for Prosperity, plus millions more in indirect donations, including astroturf and puppet organizations that have provided tens of millions in direct and indirect funding for the Tea Party movement.


Soros is often played up as an evil demon funder of the left, but his political donations are paltry in comparison to the likes of the Koch brothers, and the Koch brothers are just one example among many, while Soros is one of only a few multi-billionaire businessmen who actively donate to liberal/'left-wing' political campaigns and organizations.

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by Z06PDQ

is he polluting our nation for profit?

YES, actually.....

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by Z06PDQ

Soros is often played up as an evil demon funder of the left, but his political donations are paltry in comparison to the likes of the Koch brothers, and the Koch brothers are just one example among many, while Soros is one of only a few multi-billionaire businessmen who actively donate to liberal/'left-wing' political campaigns and organizations.

Ya gotta trace the funding in and outta various Soros operations....

Beck outlines it all pretty good.....call him....



you can call Beck what you all WANT, but you can't refute his FACTS....

well maybe 3x in the two+ years he been on TV.....


much better track record than the other idiots on TV....FAR better....

[Z06PDQ]

Originally Posted by mrvette

Ya gotta trace the funding in and outta various Soros operations....

Beck outlines it all pretty good.....call him....



you can call Beck what you all WANT, but you can't refute his FACTS....

well maybe 3x in the two+ years he been on TV.....


much better track record than the other idiots on TV....FAR better....

Beck's an idiot with severe emotional problems & the single biggest purveyor of lies & misinformation in media today. hell, he even says if you listen to him you are crazy. I don't know WTF you've been but he's been proven wrong so many times it's really old news now.

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by Z06PDQ

Beck's an idiot with severe emotional problems & the single biggest purveyor of lies & misinformation in media today. hell, he even says if you listen to him you are crazy. I don't know WTF you've been but he's been proven wrong so many times it's really old news now.

READ, and then PROVE him rong.....come ON ......

PICK your major POINT, see what he says.....UNEDITED and NOT OUTTA CONTEXT.....

and then refute the FACTS......

U Kant do it mrphilOsoaper.......

[ChasC5]

Originally Posted by Z06PDQ

nice dodge. I thought you were a Chebby man. [shrug]

Socialist is code;

[thkauffman]

Originally Posted by ChasC5

Socialist is code;

Uh, no. He even calls himself that. Please come back with facts instead of cuteisms.

[ChasC5]

Originally Posted by thkauffman

Uh, no. He even calls himself that. Please come back with facts instead of cuteisms.

Link:

[Z06PDQ]

Originally Posted by mrvette

READ, and then PROVE him rong.....come ON ......

PICK your major POINT, see what he says.....UNEDITED and NOT OUTTA CONTEXT.....

and then refute the FACTS......

U Kant do it mrphilOsoaper.......

"I've been trying to disprove these FEMA camps, but I just can't." or BEFORE his 'rhoid operation: "we have the best health care in the world." AFTER: "I have just seen that we have the worst health care there is." not to mention all the other lies he has been caught red handed in that anyone but a stupid Beckerhead would deny

[Z06PDQ]

YouTube - Head Of Fox News Busted On Glenn Beck Lies & More By Huffington/Krugman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=083BhxViKxY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm7NrKtXANI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGcXHt-QEZg

[ChasC5]

Originally Posted by Z06PDQ

YouTube - Head Of Fox News Busted On Glenn Beck Lies & More By Huffington/Krugman YouTube - Beck LIES about Soros & the Holocaust - Countdown YouTube - Glenn Beck proves Glenn Beck LIES - Oops!!! Rachel Maddow YouTube - GLENN BECK LIES ABOUT 9/11 TRUTHERS & CALLS FOR MORE TAXES

Ooops

[leec4ce]

Originally Posted by Z06PDQ

"I've been trying to disprove these FEMA camps, but I just can't." or BEFORE his 'rhoid operation: "we have the best health care in the world." AFTER: "I have just seen that we have the worst health care there is." not to mention all the other lies he has been caught red handed in that anyone but a stupid Beckerhead would deny