Don't worry about terrorists...the most dangerous people live right here in America

[Chris James]

The Koch (pronounced coke) brothers, those fanatical billionaires, are out to do more damage to America than any unit of terrorists. A long article but well worth reading as it pulls no punches and is filled with facts.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-02/koch-brothers-flout-law-getting-richer-with-secret-iran-sales.html

Remember the line from the film Wall Street? "Greed is good." The Koch brothers define the word greed since it implies any tactics used to grow their business is a good thing. To do this their worldwide business interests seem to be capable of doing just about anything for a profit, legal or not.

Here in America the Koch factor has supported dozens of enterprises set against government regulation, and no wonder. It seems okay with them to pollute and poison both the landscape and the people who live on it. They have lied to government oversight agencies and fought any regulations that might catch them in that lie.

Their latest effort is backing the Tea Party and political candidates that would do their bidding. We can only imagine what kind of backroom deals are being made to dismantle the rights of American citizens in favor of big business. Fortunately most people who have joined the Tea Party seem to be less than intelligent and politically unstable. But they will vote and that makes them more dangerous than the Taliban.

A word for the Canadians....maybe you better start building a wall. Just ask the Chinese how effective theirs was to keep out the evil hordes.

[DesDownunder]

The barbarians are at the gates, but this time the barbarians are inside and holding the rest of us hostage to their greed. Of course, you can argue that things are not all that much better on the other side of the gate, either.

[Grant Bentley]

You might find this headline interesting. Canada more at risk from environmentalists than religiously inspired terrorists: RCMP

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/canada-more-risk-environmentalists-religiously-inspired-terrorists-rcmp

Our Nazi fundamentalist PM, Steven Harper, the worst prime minister Canada has ever had, and the Harper (not Canadian) government, place oil and gas development and financial gain above any and all other issues. In particular, environmental issues. We have gone from about 2.5 million protected rivers and lakes to 159. Don't want any environmental issues slowing down our pipeline building. Besides, what's a couple of ruptured pipelines here or there? The rivers will carry the oil away. Also, assuming floating a dozen or more huge oil tankers filled with diluted bitumen from the tars sands, through very narrow rocky waterways or the St. Lawrence River every day isn't an issue, we have 3 protected oceans. Not sure which 3 because the Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic sure as hell aren't included. And, lets not forget the contribution to global climate change, one of the worst greenhouse gas producers in the world, the tar sands development itself.

Just for interest's sake, organizations under watch by the RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) include Idle No More, ForestEthics, Sierra Club, EcoSociety, LeadNow, Dogwood Initiative, Council of Canadians and the People's Summit, the Vancouver Observer reported in 2013. Since I belong to and support Idle No More, LeadNow, Dogwood Initiative, Council of Canadians, Greenpeace, and SumofUs, should I assume I'm being investigated by the RCMP and CSIS?

It's funny how I once used to be proud to be a Canadian...not any more.

[Chris James]

With the Republican takeover in our government we will once again be faced with their fervor to benefit big business, and there is no bigger business than oil. There is already talk of restoring the push to build the Keystone pipeline, that long hose which will suck oil down from Canada and the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico.

Negative environmental issues abound for such a long pipeline, but we are promised thousands of jobs associated with the project. If you research the facts it seems the premise behind the Big Giant Hose is false. The oil will not be refined into gasoline for use in this or any other country, we lack the refining capacity. In fact, there have been no new refineries built in the US for decades....so where will it go?

The oil industry has already admitted they will load the oil on tankers and sell it abroad. This means any tax dollars used to build the hose will not benefit our economy, just the pockets of Big Oil. When I drive to the gas station and see the prices falling I wonder why we need such an expensive hose in the first place. But the Keystone project has been on the books since the Bush/Cheney years...do I have to say more?

[JamesSavik]

Speaking of creepy ex-Nazi billionaires...

Top 10 Reasons George Soros is Dangerous http://humanevents.com/2011/04/02/top-10-reasons-george-soros-is-dangerous/

Why can't this prick go back to Europe and try to create the perfect People's Republic WHERE HE CAME FROM?

The Koch brothers aren't the only billionaires out to purchase the goverenment.

[Cole Parker]

The takeover of Congress is indeed disappointing, but we have to remember, the President still has veto powers, and the takeover didn't make it possible for the veto to be overridden unless a lot of Democrats cave in. It think these powers will be exercised more and more in the coming months.

What's the saying -- all things come to he who waits. Now it's Obama's turn.

C

[Graeme]

Don't forget that the Democrats in the senate still have the ability to filibuster legislation, too. At least until the filibuster is reformed/changed/removed.

[JamesSavik]

Actually- no they don't Graeme. The democrats changed the rules so republicans couldn't use the filibuster.

An object lesson in why you shouldn't change the rules because eventually you might have to live with them.

[Graeme]

Not quite. The change to the filibuster was very carefully constrained. Of course, there's now the precedence and the Republicans could take that and expand it to cover more things, but they would need to explicitly do that. As the rules currently stand, the Democrats can still filibuster a lot of things.

Having said that, I agree with your last comment

[FreeThinker]

I am hesitant to post in political threads, but I feel very motivated by this one.

A recent article listed the 16 top donors to Super PACs and other campaign organizations. 13 of them were Republican and the totals received by Republican organizations were greater than Democratic organizations and campaign. When you are talking about an advantage of hundreds of millions of dollars--and this is not an exaggeration, this isn't democracy. This is plutocracy. And money is NOT speech, despite what the Republican puppets on the Supreme Court may say.

Also, anytime a progressive mentions the billionaires who fund the Republicans, conservatives always mention George Soros. Gee, so we have Tom Steyer and George Soros. And yet no conservatives are offended by the following list of THEIR oligarchs (source- the communists at Forbes magazine )

Sheldon Adelson
Harold Simmons

Peter Thiel

Richard DeVos

Charles Schwab

Steve Wynn

Ken Griffin

Vince and Linda McMahon

Paul Singer

James Simons

Philip Anschutz

Charles and David Koch

Art Post

Richard Mellon Scaiffe

And these are just the ones we know. What about the secret donors of dark money in the so called "social welfare" organizations that don't have to report their donors. Whine and moan and bitch about George Soros all you want. The amount he donates to progressives is a pittance compared to the enormous, galactic donations the Republicans receive.