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It was a total lockdown. As jet after jet swept in surreptitiously with top brass and political decision-makers on board, every entrance to the site of the super-secrete Coachella Valley planning summit was secured and patrolled by armed guards and helicopters.
This was not a clandestine gathering of America’s allies in Afghanistan, but a pow-wow of some 300 über-rich corporate plutocrats and their political hirelings – all intent on obliterating President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign with an unprecedented deluge of viciously-negative attack ads. Hosted by the billionaire Koch brothers at the posh Renaissance Esmeralda golf resort in California’s Palm Springs desert in early February, the confabulees were mobilizing and monetizing what Charles Koch called the “mother of all wars.” That would be their self-proclaimed war to enthrone their ilk over workers, consumers, the environment, and democracy itself.
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Who are these “warriors?” Billionaire casino baron Sheldon Adelson, Newt Gingrich’s sugar daddy, jetted in – as did Rick Santorum’s main money squeeze, Foster Friess, a hedge fund richie, and an extremist evangelical, as well as Mitt Romney donor Ken Griffin, a Wall Street speculator. How much monetizing of their “war” against you and me did these elites pledge? More than $100 million, including $40 million promised by Charles Koch and $20 million from David.
We can thank five corporatists on the Supreme Court for enabling this elite few to put up unlimited, secret, corporate dollars to buy our democracy out from under us. They are the wealthiest .0000063 percent of Americans who – so far – have poured at least $100,000 each into SuperPACs to pervert our elections.
To help fight this corruption, go to www.United4ThePeople.org.
“Koch Brothers Convene Super-Secret Billionaires’ Meeting for 2012 Elections,” www.alternet.org, February 4, 2012.
“Koch Brothers, Allies Pledge $100 Million At Private Meeting To Beat Obama,” www.huffingtonpost.com, February 6, 2012.
“How a Filthy Rich 196 People Will Buy Our Election,” www.alternet.org, February 16, 2012.