Hello Miquel

What are super PACs?

I take it that Bernie Sanders is a Democrat???

Helen

Quote:
Hi Myrna,

As the saying goes: "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known."

US Senator Bernie Sanders Exposes 26 Billionaires Manipulating Election

2012 JULY 27

Posted by Stephen Cook

US Senator Bernie Sanders Exposes 26 Billionaires Manipulating Election

Stephen: While we don’t run stories on actual election campaigns in any country per se, this story offers a glimpse into the cabal/political machinations that apply to possibly every country in the world.

Here, US Senator Bernie Sanders continues his ‘outing’ of truths, as he again displays a brand of political courage that is in line with the new paradigm. Gotta love this man.

Interestingly, not one woman among this list. Thanks to John Smallman.

Bernie Sanders Exposes the 26 Billionaires Who are Buying the 2012 Election

By Jason Easley, Politics USA – July 24, 2012

http://www.politicususa.com/bernie-sanders-exposes-26-billionaires-buying-2012-election.html

In his new report, America For Sale: A Report on Billionaires Buying the 2012 Election, Sen. Bernie Sanders named names and called out the billionaires who using Citizens United to buy our democracy.

In front of a Senate panel today, Sen. Bernie Sanders outed the 26 billionaires who are members of 23 billionaire families that are using Citizens United to buy elections. Sen. Sanders estimated that these 26 billionaires are the tip of the iceberg.

“My guess is that number is really much greater because many of these contributions are made in secret. In other words, not content to own our economy, the 1 percent want to own our government as well.”

Sanders explained how the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision put the government up for sale, “What the Supreme Court did in Citizens United is to say to these same billionaires and the corporations they control: ‘You own and control the economy, you own Wall Street, you own the coal companies, you own the oil companies. Now, for a very small percentage of your wealth, we’re going to give you the opportunity to own the United States government.’”

Sen. Sanders also did the last thing the billionaires wanted. He called them out by name.

According to the report, America for Sale: A Report on Billionaires Buying the 2012 Election, here are the 26 billionaires who are trying to buy your government:

1. Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands Casino, is worth nearly $25 billion, making him the 14th wealthiest person in the world and the 7th richest person in America. While median family income plummeted by nearly 40% from 2007-2010, Mr. Adelson has experienced a nearly eightfold increase in his wealth over the past three years (from $3.4 billion to $24.9 billion). Forbes recently reported that Adelson is willing to spend a “limitless” amount of money or more than $100 million to help defeat President Obama in November.

2,3,4. The Kochs (David, Charles, and William) are worth a combined $103 billion, according to Forbes. They have pledged to spend about $400 million during the 2012 election season. The Kochs own more wealth than the bottom 41.7 percent of American households or more than 49 million Americans.

5. Jim Walton is worth $23.7 billion. He has donated $300,000 to super PACs in 2012.

6. Harold Simmons is worth $9 billion. He has donated $15.2 million to super PACs this year.

7. Peter Thiel is worth $1.5 billion. He has donated $6.7 million to Super PACs this year.

8. Jerrold Perenchio is worth $2.3 billion. He has donated $2.6 million to super PACs this year.

9. Kenneth Griffin is worth $3 billion and he has given $2.08 million to super PACs in 2012.

10. James Simons is worth $10.7 billion and he has given $1.5 million to super Pacs this year.

11. Julian Robertson is worth $2.5 billion and he has given $1.25 million to super PACs this year.

12. Robert Rowling is worth $4.8 billion and he has given $1.1 million to super PACs.

13. John Paulson, the hedge fund manager who made his fortune betting that the sub-prime mortgage market would collapse, is worth $12.5 billion. He has donated $1 million to super PACs.

14,15. Richard and J.W. Marriott are worth a combined $3.1 billion and they have donated $2 million to super PACs this year.

16. James Davis is worth $1.9 billion and he has given $1 million to super PACs this year.

17. Harold Hamm is worth $11 billion and he has given $985,000 to super PACs this year.

18. Kenny Trout is worth more than $1.2 billion and he has given $900,000 to super PACs this year.

19. Louis Bacon is worth $1.4 billion and he has given $500,000 to super PACs this year.

20. Bruce Kovner is worth $4.5 billion and he has given $500,000 to super PACs this year.

21. Warren Stephens is worth $2.7 billion and he has given $500,000 to super PACs this year.

22. David Tepper is worth $5.1 billion and he has given $375,000 to super PACs this year.

23. Samuel Zell is worth $4.9 billion and he has given $270,000 to super PACs this year.

24. Leslie Wexner is worth $4.3 billion and he has given $250,000 to super PACs this year.

25. Charles Schwab is worth $3.5 billion and he has given $250,000 to super PACs this year.

26. Kelcy Warren is worth $2.3 billion and he has given $250,000 to super PACs this year.

The thing that these billionaires love most about Citizens United it is that it allows them to operate in total darkness. The American people couldn’t fight back because the billionaires were giving their money anonymously. This same cloak of invisibility is what made ALEC so effective for years. The conservative billionaire cabal works best in private, behind closed doors, far away from curious eyes.

With his report today, Sen. Sanders has made it more difficult for thieves of liberty to keep operating in the night. We now have a list of names and we know what they are trying to do to our government. Sen. Sanders is one of the few federally elected officials who has the courage to talk about these people in public.

Most of the members of the House and Senate are too afraid to speak of, much less take on, the billionaires. Even those decent members of Congress who might speak out against them have been terrified into silence by threats of multimillion dollar negative ad buys that will run against the incumbent back home.

Bernie Sanders is displaying a brand of political courage that is sorely lacking in American politics today, and he needs you to stand with him to protect our liberties, our freedoms, and to battle to return the government back to the American people.

Quote:


Hello Miquel

What are super PACs?

I take it that Bernie Sanders is a Democrat???

Helen

Quote:
Hi Myrna,

As the saying goes: "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known."

US Senator Bernie Sanders Exposes 26 Billionaires Manipulating Election

2012 JULY 27

Posted by Stephen Cook

US Senator Bernie Sanders Exposes 26 Billionaires Manipulating Election

Stephen: While we don’t run stories on actual election campaigns in any country per se, this story offers a glimpse into the cabal/political machinations that apply to possibly every country in the world.

Here, US Senator Bernie Sanders continues his ‘outing’ of truths, as he again displays a brand of political courage that is in line with the new paradigm. Gotta love this man.

Interestingly, not one woman among this list. Thanks to John Smallman.

Bernie Sanders Exposes the 26 Billionaires Who are Buying the 2012 Election

By Jason Easley, Politics USA – July 24, 2012

http://www.politicususa.com/bernie-sanders-exposes-26-billionaires-buying-2012-election.html

In his new report, America For Sale: A Report on Billionaires Buying the 2012 Election, Sen. Bernie Sanders named names and called out the billionaires who using Citizens United to buy our democracy.

In front of a Senate panel today, Sen. Bernie Sanders outed the 26 billionaires who are members of 23 billionaire families that are using Citizens United to buy elections. Sen. Sanders estimated that these 26 billionaires are the tip of the iceberg.

“My guess is that number is really much greater because many of these contributions are made in secret. In other words, not content to own our economy, the 1 percent want to own our government as well.”

Sanders explained how the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision put the government up for sale, “What the Supreme Court did in Citizens United is to say to these same billionaires and the corporations they control: ‘You own and control the economy, you own Wall Street, you own the coal companies, you own the oil companies. Now, for a very small percentage of your wealth, we’re going to give you the opportunity to own the United States government.’”

Sen. Sanders also did the last thing the billionaires wanted. He called them out by name.

According to the report, America for Sale: A Report on Billionaires Buying the 2012 Election, here are the 26 billionaires who are trying to buy your government:

1. Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands Casino, is worth nearly $25 billion, making him the 14th wealthiest person in the world and the 7th richest person in America. While median family income plummeted by nearly 40% from 2007-2010, Mr. Adelson has experienced a nearly eightfold increase in his wealth over the past three years (from $3.4 billion to $24.9 billion). Forbes recently reported that Adelson is willing to spend a “limitless” amount of money or more than $100 million to help defeat President Obama in November.

2,3,4. The Kochs (David, Charles, and William) are worth a combined $103 billion, according to Forbes. They have pledged to spend about $400 million during the 2012 election season. The Kochs own more wealth than the bottom 41.7 percent of American households or more than 49 million Americans.

5. Jim Walton is worth $23.7 billion. He has donated $300,000 to super PACs in 2012.

6. Harold Simmons is worth $9 billion. He has donated $15.2 million to super PACs this year.

7. Peter Thiel is worth $1.5 billion. He has donated $6.7 million to Super PACs this year.

8. Jerrold Perenchio is worth $2.3 billion. He has donated $2.6 million to super PACs this year.

9. Kenneth Griffin is worth $3 billion and he has given $2.08 million to super PACs in 2012.

10. James Simons is worth $10.7 billion and he has given $1.5 million to super Pacs this year.

11. Julian Robertson is worth $2.5 billion and he has given $1.25 million to super PACs this year.

12. Robert Rowling is worth $4.8 billion and he has given $1.1 million to super PACs.

13. John Paulson, the hedge fund manager who made his fortune betting that the sub-prime mortgage market would collapse, is worth $12.5 billion. He has donated $1 million to super PACs.

14,15. Richard and J.W. Marriott are worth a combined $3.1 billion and they have donated $2 million to super PACs this year.

16. James Davis is worth $1.9 billion and he has given $1 million to super PACs this year.

17. Harold Hamm is worth $11 billion and he has given $985,000 to super PACs this year.

18. Kenny Trout is worth more than $1.2 billion and he has given $900,000 to super PACs this year.

19. Louis Bacon is worth $1.4 billion and he has given $500,000 to super PACs this year.

20. Bruce Kovner is worth $4.5 billion and he has given $500,000 to super PACs this year.

21. Warren Stephens is worth $2.7 billion and he has given $500,000 to super PACs this year.

22. David Tepper is worth $5.1 billion and he has given $375,000 to super PACs this year.

23. Samuel Zell is worth $4.9 billion and he has given $270,000 to super PACs this year.

24. Leslie Wexner is worth $4.3 billion and he has given $250,000 to super PACs this year.

25. Charles Schwab is worth $3.5 billion and he has given $250,000 to super PACs this year.

26. Kelcy Warren is worth $2.3 billion and he has given $250,000 to super PACs this year.

The thing that these billionaires love most about Citizens United it is that it allows them to operate in total darkness. The American people couldn’t fight back because the billionaires were giving their money anonymously. This same cloak of invisibility is what made ALEC so effective for years. The conservative billionaire cabal works best in private, behind closed doors, far away from curious eyes.

With his report today, Sen. Sanders has made it more difficult for thieves of liberty to keep operating in the night. We now have a list of names and we know what they are trying to do to our government. Sen. Sanders is one of the few federally elected officials who has the courage to talk about these people in public.

Most of the members of the House and Senate are too afraid to speak of, much less take on, the billionaires. Even those decent members of Congress who might speak out against them have been terrified into silence by threats of multimillion dollar negative ad buys that will run against the incumbent back home.

Bernie Sanders is displaying a brand of political courage that is sorely lacking in American politics today, and he needs you to stand with him to protect our liberties, our freedoms, and to battle to return the government back to the American people.

Hello Miquel

Thank you for your explanation.

Whether Bernie Sanders is a Democrat does matter especially since he tells who gave money but did not say who received that money.

I will assume then that he is a Democrat. If so, I will also assume that the money given to super PACs in the article were all Republicans and they are recipients of this money.

I have to wonder then, why he did not include in that list all the rich movie stars who have contributed large amounts of money to the Democrats. For example, I understand Bill Meyer contributed 1 million dollars. How much did others give to the Democrats, like Ella FitzGerald et al?

If Bernie had simply put a list out there of who was contributing to whom in a non-partisan way, then whether he is Democrat or not wouldn't matter. But he didn't do that.

This is just another example of why the political parties should be outlawed. Bernie Sanders may have wanted to include Democrats on his list but because he's a Democrat he would have been restricted... by his party! As an independent he would have been free to put on his list anyone he wished.

If there were no political parties, it would be a lot harder for mega corporations to buy off every representative. The USA should have taken Ralph Nadar while they had the chance.

Helen

Hi Helen,

It doesn't matter if Bernie Sanders is a Democrat what I want is truth. And that is what he is putting. out. Things are changing for the good of all man kind. More true is coming out each day, I just will be glad when it reaches the news waves in full force. Now we are being told things they want us to know, very little is truth. But soon that will change. Maybe Bernie Sanders is the start of the real truth coming forward, but I know it is coming and it can not be stopped.

Thanks Miguel for answering Helen on the PAC's. You always give the best answers. It takes a guy from Peru to answer an American question. That doesn't say much for me as an American, because I would have had to look it up I didn't know what it was either.

Hello Myrna

This post is more about 'telling the truth' than it is about Bernie's list.

I believe what Bernie Sanders gave was the biased 'truth'. No matter who you are, Democrat or Republican or Joe Bloe, you can deceive people by omission. By that I mean, I can deceive you by omitting the part of the truth I don't want you to know.

I can deceive you by steering your thinking in one direction and leading you away from the full truth. If I am trying to make someone look bad, I can give you a list of all his faults leaving out any good points about him. Politicians do this to each other all the time. It's deceitful and they ought to be ashamed.

If Bernie had given a list that included Democrats and Republicans, then I would be impressed. I don't think his list included any Democrats. What does that make him?

It's not right when Republicans do it either.

You keep saying you want the truth. There is only one truth, that is God's truth.

I don't think most of us want the truth ...we just want the truth as we see it. Or another way ...we can't bear the truth so we create our own 'truth'. Let me give you an example.

People sometimes are interviewed on TV or on YouTube and asked if they believe there is a heaven and hell. Most of these people say, "Yes, I believe there is a heaven" but when asked about whether there is a hell, they say things like, "Hell is here on earth" or "Hell is what you make it" or "I don't believe there is a hell". They cannot bear the idea of a terrible hell so they make up their own idea of hell. It doesn't change the truth. The Bible is very clear about hell being an awful place and many will go there to spend eternity.

By the way, while I am on the subject of hell, God does not throw us into hell. He throws the Devil there but people have a choice.

The point I am trying to make is that people believe what they want to believe. They don't necessarily want the real truth. I am no different than other people. I constantly have to ask myself if I am being completely honest with myself or am I believing what I want to hear.

Another thing.....

People can, it seems, take any story and spin it in a way that they believe and they can make others believe it, too. They can make it look different than the way it first appeared. Often they show some very convincing evidence. Conspiracy theorists are very good at this.

Do you know that they are already spinning conspiracy theories around the Aurora shooting? When Gifford, the lady in Texas was shot, I ran across 3 conspiracy theories each completely different from the other.

I have my own theory on why Holmes did what he did. He was taking prescribed psychiatric drugs or pain killers which cause people to be psychotic and homicidal and cause people to do the most awful things imaginable. He was taking LEGALLY prescribed drugs. That's what I believe and yes, it is what I want to believe because I want people to see how awful these drugs really are. However, I will esquiesce if they can prove otherwise.

That reminds me of another deceitful group, the news media. They lie to us all the time by leaving out the truth. I never once heard about whether James Holmes might have been taking drugs on any story about Aurora except one where they finally admitted Holmes was on an addictive pain killer called Vicondin (may be spelled a bit differently). They did not discuss the side effects of this drug but I would be willing to bet that homicide is one of the side effects and if that is NOT true, then he was taking other prescribed drugs. Do you know that some of these LEGAL drugs cause amnesia. James Holmes is saying he doesn't remember doing the shootings. He could be lying, of course, but it may have been the drug or drugs he was taking.

It might be an honest mistake with some reporters to completely overlook the possibilities of the involvement of prescribed drugs but even if they knew, without a doubt, it had to be the drugs and could prove it, they would not be allowed to report on it because these TV stations take their advertising dollars from pharmaceutical companies. Would you bite the hand that feeds you? I think in the case of homicidal drugs, the moral thing to do is tell the truth about them in order to save others the horrors such as Aurora.

Have a great day, Myrna

Helen

Quote:
Hi Helen,

It doesn't matter if Bernie Sanders is a Democrat what I want is truth. And that is what he is putting. out. Things are changing for the good of all man kind. More true is coming out each day, I just will be glad when it reaches the news waves in full force. Now we are being told things they want us to know, very little is truth. But soon that will change. Maybe Bernie Sanders is the start of the real truth coming forward, but I know it is coming and it can not be stopped.

Thanks Miguel for answering Helen on the PAC's. You always give the best answers. It takes a guy from Peru to answer an American question. That doesn't say much for me as an American, because I would have had to look it up I didn't know what it was either.