Soros vs. Koch= FIRE vs. TECI

[lektrode]

Re: Soros vs. Koch= FIRE vs. TECI

I'm pretty sure Soros dumped money in to Colorado on the marijuana issue.

http://rt.com/usa/soros-mpp-times-marijuana-189/

Soros spends a lot of money on anti gun propaganda as well.

well - considering some of the... uhhhh... 'tourism marketing' that happens in CO - thats not all that surprising, is it?
(not that that is a bad thing...)

Soros declined to be interviewed for the Times’ article published this week, but he’s more than likely enthused about the approval of pro-weed laws in Colorado and Washington carried out after Prop 19 was defeated in the polls. And with regards to initiatives up for vote during the 2014 election, Riddell wrote that Soros is once again playing a substantial role.


“In Florida, Mr. Soros has teamed up with multimillionaire and Democratic fundraiser John Morgan to donate more than 80 percent of the money to get medical marijuana legalization on the ballot through its initiative ‘United for Care, People United for Medical Marijuana,’” Riddell wrote, and the MPP is “focusing a lot of time and resources passing bills” in Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, according to her report.


“It’s only a matter of time before marijuana is legalized under federal law,” Tom Angell, founder and chairman of the Marijuana Majority advocacy group, told the Times. “We now have 20 states plus the District of Columbia considering legalization efforts, two states have already legalized it for all adults over the age of 21 — politicians will have to follow the will of the people on this.”

hahahahaha.... shur they will - only if the WOD of cash comin in from the feds starts to dwindle - will 'the will of the people' ever mean a GD thing to the political class...

but one wonders why soros and his 'multimillionaire' buddies are backing this - anti-gun stuff eye see is flat-out simple - when the SHTF and the pitchforks come out, they wanna make sure its ONLY pitchforks, seeing as 'the people' wont be able to use em to pole-vault over the razor-wire-topped gated communities he and his pals have themselves hole-up in - but maybe their plan is to get us all.... uhhhh... into.... ummmm.... 'a happy place' ??

next thing we'll hear about is that he and the rest of the limo-lib bankster-backers are doing an LBO on frito-lay....

;)

[Shakespear]

Re: Soros vs. Koch= FIRE vs. TECI

they wanna make sure its ONLY pitchforks,

He will be sitting in one of these

[vt]

Re: Soros vs. Koch= FIRE vs. TECI

http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/27/li...bashing-kochs/

[LorenS]

Re: Soros vs. Koch= FIRE vs. TECI

How about Gates and Zuckerberg? They are techies, but are left leaning and politically active.

I think the big thing about the Koch brothers is that they seem to be able to swing election results. Most of the other money dumped into elections just seems to evaporate. Bloomberg spent huge money to influence recall elections in Colorado and failed miserably.

Maybe, liberals vote pretty much the way they vote regardless of the $$ in the election, but conservatives only get off the couch and vote if there is some advertising letting them know that there is something at stake in the election???

[dcarrigg]

Re: Soros vs. Koch= FIRE vs. TECI

Eh, don't give Bloomberg to a side. Nobody wants him. He went from Dem to running as a Rep to Independent. Anything for power. Control freak.

I think there are two halfs to the Dems. Maybe team Rubin and team Reich? Or maybe team Booker and team Warren? However you want to slice it, the Dems are pretty split, even though all the focus the last few years is on the Tea Party vs. Business Conservatives idea.

Zuck and company go out of their way to rain money into privatizing public schools and bringing Ivy League kids in on an internship year instead of hiring local neighborhood teachers. The result was chaos and pandemonium in Newark. Booker barely hopped up to the Senate with his skin before the whole thing blew up. Zuck's huge "liberal" investment in privatizing public schools failed miserably and angered the whole town.

When Mark Zuckerberg announced on Oprah almost four years ago that he would give $100 million over five years to reform Newark's persistently failing schools, the news was electric. But today the picture there is still bleak for reasons that serve as a cautionary tale ("Schooled," The New Yorker, May 13).If there's one overall lesson that can be drawn, it's that the best intentions are not enough. It's what I call the philanthropic paradox. Education reform too often is seen as something done to people, rather than something done with people. It's the reason that 77 members of the clergy signed a letter in mid-April urging Gov. Chris Christie to put a moratorium on the school reform plan. It's also seen in the election of Ras Baraka as the new mayor of Newark ("Newark's Voters Choose New Mayor and New Path," The New York Times, May 14). His victory is being interpreted as an expression of voter resentment toward outsiders, particularly Wall Streeters promoting school privatization ("Ras Baraka's Victory in Newark Could Revitalize New Jersey Progressives," The Nation, May 14).

Gates is sometimes up to similar things and facing similar pushback.

It turns out there's a strain of Libs who don't take kindly to huge chunks of outside money coming in and dictating local democratic decisions. Something about it offends old Yankee sensibilities. Town meeting democracy still thrives in parts of the Northeast like it did in Tocqueville's day and before the Republic. Top-down command doesn't sit well with a certain brand of lefty, or righty.

And I think that suspicion is healthy. Both "sides" should have it. Like I said before, these billionaires don't care about you, your family, your friends, or your best interests. To think that they're on anyone's "team" or looking out for anyone other than numero uno is probably a mistake. And as far as I'm concerned, if you want to dump out of state billionaire money to change politics in my state/town, you're the enemy. Left, right, or center. I don't care. You're getting involved in local issues that don't concern you. And I want you out.

[lektrode]

Re: Soros vs. Koch= FIRE vs. TECI

....think there are two halfs to the Dems. Maybe team Rubin and team Reich? Or maybe team Booker and team Warren? .....

it all appears to depend upon whom - as in: what sliver of the electorate - theyz aimin at that day...
its quite dr jeckyl/mr hyde-ish, dont you think? (and THEN there's the hil n bill show...)

or... as i've mentioned a few times - kind of like that scene in the exorcist movie...
where the priest is reciting his incantations at 'her' and the devil comes out and - spinning 'her' head around 360deg on its shoulders - spouts something about his mother and kinky stuff in H, E, double... you know where...

not that they/dem pols have a patent on that tactic, mind you...

turns out there's a strain of .... (fill-in the blank) who don't take kindly to huge chunks of outside money coming in and dictating local democratic decisions. Something about it offends old Yankee sensibilities. Town meeting democracy still thrives in parts of the Northeast like it did in Tocqueville's day and before the Republic. Top-down command doesn't sit well with a certain brand of lefty, or righty.

And I think that suspicion is healthy. Both "sides" should have it. Like I said before, these billionaires don't care about you, your family, your friends, or your best interests. To think that they're on anyone's "team" or looking out for anyone other than numero uno is probably a mistake. And as far as I'm concerned, if you want to dump out of state billionaire money to change politics in my state/town, you're the enemy. Left, right, or center. I don't care. You're getting involved in local issues that don't concern you. And I want you out.

while i generally agree with this POV, dc - there is unfortunately an 800pound gorilla - or maybe 'lektronic godzilla' would be a better metaphor - sitting right there in every living room in the US, that pukes out (mostly one particular team's) propaganda - in between all the car adverts - EVERY DAY/NIGHT OF THE WEEK.

and ever since the demise of the 'equal time doctrine' we have seen their power consolidate, to the extent that if it wasnt for those with the means to get an alternative viewpoint/message out there? (and never mind thanks for the blogosphere)

why should the US even bother with elections, when we could just have people like bloomberg, rupert, the zuckmeister and soros run the entire show?

with the op/ed dept of the newyork times to 'explain it all' so that it 'makes sense'...
since - after all - it would appear that they're The Source for practically every 'news' outlet, both print and broadcast - its like: 'if it didnt make the nyt, it didnt happen' ??

i mean, chrikie mate - just ONCE eye'd like to watch the evening news and NOT be 'informed' about what they've heard on the latest twit or faceboob post...

is all i'm trying to say, dc - but cant say i disagree with most of what you said here.

[dcarrigg]

Re: Soros vs. Koch= FIRE vs. TECI

No you're right. The Fairness Doctrine's downfall was a calamity. And now we get the corporate left and the corporate right arguing in the media about things that don't cost money, all the while the bread and butter stuff continues to screw the majority. No argument here, buddy. The game is the game.

[don]

Re: Soros vs. Koch= FIRE vs. TECI

speaking of the media, in Big Gaming news . . .

The next threat to the USA

“Three years ago, right after we finished Modern Warfare 3, we started thinking about how to change Call of Duty,” he says. “We brought in a lot of outside help – military advisers, futurologists - we got together with a scenario planner from the department of defense, who is active in the Pentagon. His job is to think about future threats and prepare ‘what if’ scenarios for the US government. So we asked him, what do you think will be the conflict of tomorrow?”

Apparently, the source quickly ruled out China (“he said it’s too big, it’ll eventually collapse under its own economic weight”), a resurgence of the Cold War with Russia, and a consolidation of emergent Islamic extremist states. Instead, the adviser predicted that the next threat to the security of the United States would come from a private military company. It may be some billion-dollar contract gone bad or a sudden tipping point in the ratio between national military and contracted forces.

“We thought that was fascinating and provocative,” says Condrey. “What happens when an organisation that’s built for profit has access to all the latest weapons and technology – an organisation that can operate outside of the Geneva Convention, that can be purchased by the highest bidder? What if that got out of control?

“This was around the time that Greece was collapsing economically, there were riots – and there was an understanding that, the reason PMCs have had such an opportunity to grow, is that funding a standing army is very expensive for a modern nation state. Why not outsource war? It’s better for PR – you don’t have to explain to parents why their kids are dying in battles on foreign soil.”

The team read up on modern PMCs. It studied the most well-known example, Blackwater, the controversial US company that won millions of dollars worth of contracts to provide security in post-war Iraq. The charismatic founder, Erik Prince, is surely a model for Jonathan Irons, especially after a series of congressional hearings over the activities of the company, and other wrangles with the US government.

[dcarrigg]

Re: Soros vs. Koch= FIRE vs. TECI

The next threat to the USA

the adviser predicted that the next threat to the security of the United States would come from a private military company. It may be some billion-dollar contract gone bad or a sudden tipping point in the ratio between national military and contracted forces.

How do you think the Oath will go, Don?

I can see two options.

Option 1, Idiocracy:

I, Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew® Herbert Camacho, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Profits of the Brondo Corporation against all enemies, commies and Powerade®; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation for profit, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully defend the bottom line of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me, Market.

...

or is it...

Option 2, Feudalism 2.0:

By the Market before whom this sanctuary is holy, I will to my CEO be true and faithful, and love all which he loves and shun all which he shuns, according to the laws of Market and the spontaneous order of the world. Nor will I ever with will or action, through word or deed, do anything which is unpleasing to him, on condition that he will hold to me as I shall deserve it, and that he will perform everything as it was in our agreement when I submitted myself to him and chose his will.


...

Either way, it's not like there's ever been an independently wealthy trust fund kid who used his hundreds of millions to buy a private army and cause massive death and destruction, right?

[don]

Re: Soros vs. Koch= FIRE vs. TECI

Does the president still swear to uphold the Constitution? Just checking

It does have a precedent. Germany in the 2nd WW had a host of competing agencies that offset one another. Perhaps another is the Praetorian Guard, which at first protected the Roman Emporer, than decided who he would be, and in the end weren't even Romans themselves. Mostly Germans.