Forbes estimates that Tea Party petrochemical scions Charles and David Koch have a fortune of $25 billion each...
And by working the energy markets:
the Koch brothers accumulated $15 billion in wealth since March 2010, a 43 percent increase.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the GOP presidential front-runner, may be leading the pack in the money game as well, as a new "super PAC" supporting him gears up to raise $55 million or more — a potential game changer for the 2012 race. The new pro-Perry political action committee, Make Us Great Again, is one of the emerging "super PACs" that started springing up after last year's groundbreaking Supreme Court ruling in Citizen's United v. FEC, which allowed unlimited cash from individuals and corporations for PACs that are separate from a candidate's campaign.
The new pro-Perry political action committee, Make Us Great Again, is one of the emerging "super PACs" that started springing up after last year's groundbreaking Supreme Court ruling in Citizen's United v. FEC, which allowed unlimited cash from individuals and corporations for PACs that are separate from a candidate's campaign.
Given that Perry already lags against President Obama, and that his numbers are not likely to improve as people get to know him, it would be more useful to build a mound of cash and light it on fire. At least people could make s'mores.
A municipal judge in southern Alabama is giving folks who commit misdemeanors a choice: either go to church, or go to jail.
The CIA has abruptly yanked all its advertisements from metro Detroit’s largest Arab-American newspaper because it ran an Associated Press story that said the intelligence agency was helping spy on Muslim-Americans, according to publisher Osama Siblani. “I am shocked,” said Siblani, who has published the Arab American News since 1984 and is a community leader. “When a government agency that uses tax dollars tries to muzzle people, stifle debate, or control the press, I have a problem with it.” After being contacted by the Free Press, CIA spokesman Preston Golson said today the agency regrets what happened and has resubmitted the ads.
“I am shocked,” said Siblani, who has published the Arab American News since 1984 and is a community leader. “When a government agency that uses tax dollars tries to muzzle people, stifle debate, or control the press, I have a problem with it.”
After being contacted by the Free Press, CIA spokesman Preston Golson said today the agency regrets what happened and has resubmitted the ads.
Egypt's caretaker military government announced Wednesday that the emergency law that allows it to jail people without charges and try civilians before military courts will not be lifted until the middle of next year. The announcement angered political activists and human rights advocates, who warned that continuation of emergency rule ran counter to the goals of the movement that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February and could threaten campaigning for parliamentary elections, now expected to be held in November. "Deciding not to lift the state of emergency is proof that there is an ongoing war against the revolution and that the government does not believe in the revolution," said Ahmed Maher, the head of the April 6 Youth movement, which was at the forefront of the anti-Mubarak demonstrations.
The announcement angered political activists and human rights advocates, who warned that continuation of emergency rule ran counter to the goals of the movement that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February and could threaten campaigning for parliamentary elections, now expected to be held in November.
"Deciding not to lift the state of emergency is proof that there is an ongoing war against the revolution and that the government does not believe in the revolution," said Ahmed Maher, the head of the April 6 Youth movement, which was at the forefront of the anti-Mubarak demonstrations.
“We look like a joke,” he continued. “You can’t win the nomination of one of our parties if you admit that the scientists are right. It’s really tragic. We need the debate between people who are a little bit to the left and a little bit to the right what’s the best way is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. We can’t have this conversation because we’ve got to deny it?”
If global warming continues as expected, it is estimated that almost a third of all flora and fauna species worldwide could become extinct. Scientists from the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (Biodiversität und Klima Forschungszentrum, BiK-F) and the SENCKENBERG Gesellschaft für Naturkunde discovered that the proportion of actual biodiversity loss should quite clearly be revised upwards: by 2080, more than 80 % of genetic diversity within species may disappear in certain groups of organisms, according to researchers in the title story of the journal Nature Climate Change. The study is the first world-wide to quantify the loss of biological diversity on the basis of genetic diversity.