Koch Brothers Meet Again to Prep for "Mother of All Wars"

[xchrom]

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/02/koch-brothers-meeting-palm-springs

Last week, the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers held their latest get-together with wealthy conservative political donors. At these meetings, held twice a year under a veil of secrecy, Republican all-stars discuss election strategy and vet potential presidential candidates like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Last September, Mother Jones obtained exclusive audio recordings from a Koch seminar held outside Vail, Colorado, where Charles Koch had declared that the 2012 election would be "the mother of all wars" and thanked dozens of million-dollar donors who'd pledged to the cause.

According to a Huffington Post source, 250 to 300 guests attended the most recent event, which was held in Palm Springs, California. They included Citadel CEO Ken Griffin and casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who along with his wife has given a staggering $10 million to a pro-Newt Gingrich super-PAC. Guests reportedly pledged a total of $40 million to the effort to oust Obama, with Charles and David Koch promising an additional $60 million. But it wasn't all fun and games, the source said, as guests complained that recent meetings had focused more on "alpha male" anti-Obama chest-pounding than the strategy sessions for which they'd been known.

Former ThinkProgress.org blogger Lee Fang also got a peek at the Palm Springs event, which was dubbed "Defending Free Enterprise." Fang, who first reported on the Koch seminars before the 2010 midterms, caught wind that someone had booked all 560 rooms at the Rennaisance Esmeralda Resort & Spa for three nights in late January and decided to investigate. "I arrived at the hotel the night before the event," Fang wrote, "but was followed closely by security and asked to leave the next morning before the Koch meeting guests arrived." During the seminar, "helicopters, private security, and police officers from neighboring cities patrolled the area constantly."

[Faygo Kid]

1. They are out of control. They will stop at nothing.

They have unlimited resources, and thanks to Citizens United, they will unleash them.

More than that, they will also own Diebold. If even that doesn't work, they will take the next step.

[NAO]

2. Where is the "Smedley Butler" of today...

who would expose and destroy this 21st century coup by corporate elites?

The Planned Coup to Overthrow FDR
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot

General Smedley Butler, USMC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

[awoke_in_2003]

8. and, when talking of Gen. Butler...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket

[Jester Messiah]

3. It's a travesty of justice that these bastards walk free.

Honestly Obama... you're the freakin' President of the United States of America. Surely you have some... means... at your disposal?

[Iliyah]

11. how?

Voters allowed this.

[Zoeisright]

4. Those two pricks are just plain evil.

Their "friends" are pure evil too. They all need something more to worry about, since they're currently hell-bent on destroying the country.

And yes, I am wishing evil and problems on them.

[Peregrine Took]

5. Every time I think of them I think of those two brothers from "Trading Places." n/t

[JohnWxy]

6. Thank you for this critical information re the sinking into Corporate Feudalism in America

The story of the subversion of our democracy get's virtually NO COVERAGE in corporate media. Mother Jones is a national treasure.

Recommended.

[Bill USA]

7. " 'alpha male' anti-Obama chest-pounding", i.e. Twit tantrums.

recommended.

[TomClash]

9. Ultimately, I think they mean

"lock and load."

[Jackpine Radical]

10. Right.

As in "Well, I s'pose that's one way to make 'em bring the troops home."

[TomClash]

16. Ha!

That's good.

[annabanana]

12. "helicopters, private security, and police officers from neighboring cities patrolled the area"

A brief window into the future of America under the Oligarchs. We have to stop them.

[marmar]

13. A pic from the meeting:

[xchrom]

14. ...

[LeftOnTheRight]

15. Ian Fleming couldn't have written a better script.

Sounds like pretty standard-fare Fascist-state behavior to me.

Gov't, military and local police under one umbrella: some fat, pasty rich guy holding his fat little pinky finger out, making racist jokes and making his chin-fat shake in a room full of people all too scared to not laugh with him.

In this case though, it is TWO fat, pasty, rich brothers who have decided that they prefer to stick their little fingers in each other and smell it all weekend, and make other people smell it too.

These are some really sick, pus-filled doughnuts.

You can be sure they are thinking of one thing, and one thing ONLY: How to rig it so their fat, pus-filled newt can win, and in a way that no one will question it like they did when they rigged it for baby georgie, back when HE came to sniff their fingers.