However dangerous & insidious you think the Koch Bros influence is, it's MUCH worse...

[ProfessionalLeftist]

. . .

The Themis Machine

As if their billions, their think tanks, lawyers, fronts and political action fund were not enough to scare the bejeezus out of politicians, there is Themis. Themis, created by the Kochs, is the nation’s most sophisticated, detailed database on every American living, surpassing the most demonic dreams of the FBI.

Themis, for example, knows the last time you, Jack, downloaded porn.

Given their power and their Themis, is it really possible for a few greenies and some fact-afflicted scientists to stop the Kochs from jamming their pipeline right up our aquifers?

Absolutely. Indeed, that’s the only way it will be stopped, because the Kochs have already put the politicians in their pipe and smoked them.

MUCH MORE from Greg Palast on the Kochs and the XL Pipeline...

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/only-you-can-stop-the-xl-keystone-pipeline

[MotherPetrie]

1. Gawd... I think I'm too sick to read the rest of the article

[ProfessionalLeftist]

3. MORE about "Themis" from November 2011...

The secretive oil billionaires the Koch brothers are close to launching a nationwide database connecting millions of Americans who share their anti-government and libertarian views, a move that will further enhance the tycoons' political influence and that could prove significant in next year's presidential election.

The database will give concrete form to the vast network of alliances that David and Charles Koch have cultivated over the past 20 years on the right of US politics. The brothers, whose personal wealth has been put at $25bn each, were a major force behind the creation of the tea party movement and enjoy close ties to leading conservative politicians, financiers, business people, media figures and US supreme court judges.

The voter file was set up by the Kochs 18 months ago with $2.5m of their seed money, and is being developed by a hand-picked team of the brothers' advisers. It has been given the name Themis, after the Greek goddess who imposes divine order on human affairs.

In classic Koch style, the project is being conducted in great secrecy. Karl Crow, a Washington-based lawyer and Koch adviser who is leading the development, did not respond to requests for comment. Nor did media representatives for Koch Industries, the brothers' global energy company based in Wichita, Kansas.

MORE...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/07/koch-brothers-database-2012-election

[Mojorabbit]

12. Wow! this is the first I have read of this! nt

[MuseRider]

2. They run our state.

Next time people want to hurt on Kansas remember, they are here and they are in charge. Do we have stupid people, yes. Do we have a lot of fundies? No more than anywhere else, about midway in the numbers. Do we have a constant ALEC, Koch brothers presence? Yes we do, everywhere in every office and up Brownbacks patootie.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

5. They mean to own, control, and run this entire country....

...unless they're stopped.

Then what do we have? A monarchy? A plutocracy? A fascist dictatorship? Maybe all of those. But what we don't have and won't have is anything resembling a Democratic Republic. Nowhere near it.

Somehow these guys slimy tentacles need trimming. Soon.

[MuseRider]

7. I could not agree more. n/t

[Initech]

4. The two single most disgusting excuses for human beings on the planet.

Their greed knows no boundaries. How have they not been arrested and investigated for treason yet?

[ProfessionalLeftist]

6. I agree.

They need to be STOPPED. Insidious bastard psychopaths.

[upaloopa]

8. I don't find Palast trust worthy.

He was a big hit in 2000 for his coverage of the selection but since then it has been one scare story after another.
He said we surely would lose the last election because of right wing dirty tricks.
There are others but I can't recall them off the top of my head.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

9. I've seen a good bit of this info from elsewhere on the Kochs.

They are dangerous, insidious, and they need to be exposed and stopped. A few years ago, I sent a huge packet of printed info on their influence to Obama and told him that "we the people" have no voice in our own government anymore due to their influence and the influence of others like them.

Nevermind Palast. The Kochs are the issue.

[upaloopa]

10. I agree about the Kochs

[ProfessionalLeftist]

11. Bunch of stuff . . .

From Rolling Stone's Julien Brooks:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/the-koch-brothers-exposed-20120420

From The Nation's Katrina Vanden Heuvel:

http://www.thenation.com/blog/167502/koch-brothers-exposed#

From Democracy Now:

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2012/12/18/video_kochtopus_map_of_the_billionaire_koch_brothers_influence

From the Center for American Progress (this is the document I sent to Obama):

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/regulation/report/2011/04/04/9399/the-koch-brothers/

Again from the Guardian.co.uk (separate report):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/08/koch-brothers-lobbying

Kochs were behind MI's "right to work for less" law:

http://tv.msnbc.com/2012/12/07/labor-leader-koch-brothers-are-behind-michigan-right-to-work-law/

and

http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/In-The-States/The-Shadowy-Trail-from-the-Koch-Brothers-to-Right-to-Work-for-Less-in-Michigan

From Mother Jones:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/charts-map-koch-brothers-2012-spending

From the LA Times - "Koch Bros are now at the heart of GOP power":

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/06/nation/la-na-koch-brothers-20110206

Greenpeace - Koch Bros secretly funding climate denial machine:

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/

and on and on....

So yea, not worried about Palast so much.