Courtesy of the fantastic folks at Common Cause, we are pleased to be able to present a live feed of the panel discussion and the pro-democracy rally being held in Rancho Mirage today, literally right across the street from where the Kochs and their cronies are simultaneously plotting to further undermine our democracy and economy.
The live broadcast of the panel is scheduled to begin at 11:00 am and run until 12:45 pm. Speakers at the panel will include:
- Robert Reich – the former Labor Secretary
- Erwin Chemerinsky – UC Irvine Law Dean
- Lee Fang – Center for American Progress blogger and Koch Brothers expert
- Van Jones – Founder and Former President of Green for All,
- DeAnn McKewan – California Nurses Association Co-President
After the panel, there will be a rally featuring a performance by The Billionaires and an introduction by Jim Hightower of activist leaders and regular citizens who will share stories that expose the real world harm done by the Koch brothers and their cabal.
I will be at the event and live blogging here at The Planet so here’s hoping everything works as it should!
PRETTY GOOD COVERAGE!
New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/us/politics/31koch.html?src=twr
Seattle:
Protesters take on conservatives’ retreat
http://o.seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014086185_politicalretreat31.html
Cleveland:
25 Arrested at California Conservative Meeting
http://www2.wnct.com/news/2011/jan/30/25-arrested-at-california-conservative-meeting-ar-740048/
Politico:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48464.html
Forbes:
http://billionaires.forbes.com/article/05ud0dZ6tbd3b?q=billionaire+OR+billionaires+OR+billionaire%27s
Washington Examiner (gets #s wrong)
http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/01/kochs-vs-soros-free-markets-vs-state-coercion
Minneapolis:
http://www.startribune.com/business/114910119.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUoD3aPc:_2yc:a_ncyD_MDCiU
Yahoo:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110131/ap_on_bi_ge/us_conservative_conclave_protest
Guardian (UK)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/30/greenpeace-protests-koch-brothers-rally
San Francisco:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fn%2Fa%2F2011%2F01%2F30%2Fstate%2Fn173028S25.DTL
Miami:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/30/2042594/25-arrested-at-california-conservative.html
The Nation:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/158146/koch-brothers-v-left-palm-springs
Philadelphia:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/114904509.html
Washington Monthly:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_01/027764.php
And thousands of blogs!
Great job yesterday, Cher and great job on all these links!
Hi Gang! Just got home, but it was awesome. Hubster took lots of great pics and I will upload them tomorrow afternoon.
Can’t wait to see ’em, Cher! Rest well.
Hi kes. I hope I can figure out how. AdLib gave me a quick tutorial, but those margaritas kinda interfered. 😉
😆 Sounds like you had fun!
Hey, if you could get those bullfighting pix into your article, you can do anything! I still struggle with images. b’ito had to supply the image for his own anniversary tribute! 😀 How’s that for incompetent?
And without the help of margaritas, either!
A short video of the rally from USStream
Video streaming by Ustream
From Raw Story:
Greenpeace blimp buzzes Koch brothers’ strategy meeting
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/greenpeace-blimp-koch-meeting/
This is the report from the local TV station on the rally
Nearly One Thousand People Protest Republican Meeting in Rancho Mirage
http://www.kpsplocal2.com/Content/Feature/story/Nearly-One-Thousand-People-Protest-Republican/S2ytlrCA_kudGA5ajh5HeQ.cspx
Hi!
Choicelady was there, too – and I dispute the numbers! We KNOW there were 1500 people on the various buses, so add in the rest of us who drove and flew in, it had to be at least 2000, not 1000. Then add in local folks, and…
The panel was really solid, the rally was, well, spectacular. Why? We were so damned CIVILIZED, unlike the Kochs. There were flower gardens on either side of the driveway, manned (all male so this is appropriate terminology) by some local sheriffs and police. They smiled (they’d have laughed, but it’s not allowed) as we all cautioned one another, “Oh! Don’t step on the flower!” And we did not. Not property values, values for how pretty nature – even cultivated nature – was. Not one flower got squished.
Hats off to the several dozen utterly non-violent folks doing civil disobedience. They took good care of the police – they walked up, turned around, put their hands behind them, got busted with NO hardship for the cops. Yeah – the observers from the retreat laughed at us. Don’t they know that we are Americans and that we did this to liberate THEM as well as ourselves?
The price that is paid for total control lies in what is happening in Egypt. The cost to the oppressor is HUGE – it takes a powerful lot of money to keep yourself on top. It means paying for protection, and losing the support of all the people. In all of history, no autocracy has ever survived. Don’t these folks get it? We know if Marie Antoniette had been there (and who’s to say she wasn’t, in modern garb) she’d have dismissed the folks with the “let them eat cake” lingo. The cluelessness of the temporary occupants of the top. But we’re the people, and we say “NO!” to their lies and scrabbling to have it all. Not just 90% – ALL.
Back in the days of feudalism, a time that is not held in high esteem for it’s fairness, there were nonetheless checks on the degree to which lords could exploit their serfs. Why? If the serfs produced the food and bounty by which the Lord survived, there was only so much the Lord could extract, only so much oppression he could inflict, before he started cannibalizing his own sources of bounty. There is always a limit, no matter what the Kochs think.
The big question – and only one rather strange woman asked it – is how do the Kochs tie in with the Dominionists of “The Family”. The woman had a sign equating the two: Kochs = Dominionists. I wanted to ask her how she knew, but I never got the chance. And she was holding a rubber chicken which kinda put me off with its oddness. But yes – are they part of “The Family”? I would not be surprised if they were and are.Then they are pseudo-Christians, who actually don’t believe in anything, who use religion to justify their domination. How pathetic. And how scary.
What got accomplished? The end of secrecy. Never again will these new feudal Lords have their meetings without somone “outing” them and their paid-for political running dog lackeys. We KNOW there were federal people there – we saw the federal marshalls who provide protection for only federal folks.
But unlike the real feudal lords, the Kochs have not yet figured out that you cannot dominate the serfs forever. They will either stop producing or will revolt. I think yesterday was the beginning of the latter. The Kochs had better re-think their roles here. The whole world is looking at their respective oppressors and saying, loudly and clearly – NO MORE!
When the people talk, the whole world listens. WE started the push back yesterday. Let’s keep the momentum for truth alive!
This is the report from FDL
Thousands Converge on Koch Brothers Billionaire’s Caucus; 25 Arrested
http://news.firedoglake.com/?p=15733&akst_post_id=15733&akst_action=success
Good Lord, what a cheap media whore, and doing what “Brightspark” does best, lying through his teeth.
“In addition, conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart, resplendent in shorts and roller skates, mulled around the crowd with a couple lackeys and a small video camera, talking to (and arguing with) attendees. I asked Breitbart exactly who necessitated the riot police, the lady with the papier-maché puppet or the Code Pink lady’s umbrella, and he claimed to have seen unspecified “internal emails” proving the potential for violence and the need for security. Surely that will come out in the next few days. I didn’t want to keep him from his workout, so I wrapped up the interview.”
This is the first report I have seen on the rally. Not exactly the NYT, but this their report.
1,500 People Against the Koch’s Dirty Money, Dirty Energy
Is this where AdLib, C’Lady and Cher are sipping drinks?
[img]http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/1/28/1296227258419/Pool-view-of-The-Lodge-at-007.jpg[/img]
Cushy job if they are. 😉
I’ve just checked the weather there, gives rain and 16C, they won’t be shinny-dipping in that pool I think.
NO – nothing quite that sybaritic! We were at a lovely but vastly more middle-of-the-road Mexican restaurant. We are but modest people, after all. Food was VERY good though, I must say. And by the time we left the rally, it was getting freaking COLD. No lounging by the still waters. Sorry!
C’Lady, 😆 that photo was from the “Guardian” telling about the rally and it was of the resort where the Koch meeting was held, beyond what you guys got to see, I’m sure. You guys did great yesterday, my many thanks!!
Yes bito – I finally saw a photo of the BACK of the spa resort, and I guess that’s their pool. We were on the street side, much less impressive I must say.
The lines of folks who came out of the conference to watch us picketing them were pretty unimpressive, although there were a few (fairly overweight) older men who might have been “somebody”. Hard to tell. We never saw Cantor and the other Rich and Famous among the scattering of younger men and women, the sycophants of the day.
I guess I saw Breitbart and did not know it was he. Too bad. LOL!!! If he was the only skater, I chalked him up as a part of the GLBT crowd!!! Bet that would have had his knickers in a twist!!! The RWers always say they have “inside information” about violence, etc., but it’s because they dream it up, so of COURSE it’s “inside” because it did not come from outside. Have to give him points for creative lying I guess. He must be sorely disappointed that nothing violent at ALL occurred. It wasn’t MOSTLY peaceful. It was ENTIRELY peaceful.
“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”
Mohandas Gandhi
They said at the conference that they were planning on having these gatherings around the country. I hope it does snowball into something bigger.
Me too bito, I just hope the trouble causers stay home the next time, if it turns out that they really were a tad too aggressive. Peaceful demos means peaceful demos. Once something happens, it just spoils it for the others who are more committed to a cause.
Kalima, This on the arrests at the rally.
Thanks bito. Well that was rather stupid, those suits could have concealed anything, and I presume that the driveway was the private property of the “Ugly Brothers” or someone connected, right?
More pics in from the rally
http://plixi.com/p/73650956
Hard to figure out who is who, the signs are so dark. How many idiots turned up against “democracy?”
Kalima, I didn’t hear of any Teaparty people showing up. I think they would have been out numbered if they had shown up.
So much for their “core” beliefs bito.
shannynmoore Shannyn Moore
The #Koch Bros own Flint Hills Refinery in Fairbanks AK. Palin tried to bail them out once. http://bit.ly/f4xuPW #uncloakkoch
derekjjohnson Derek Johnson
@shannynmoore I heard Glenn Beck was in the bathroom snorting #Koch before his speech.
😆
25 people arrested today at Quarantine the Kochs. PLEASE donate to help bail them out of jail. http://bit.ly/hW0qY1 #koch…
I can’t get this to play, but it shows all the police guarding the Koch’s confab.
http://www.twitvid.com/DSQLH
I got it to play, Wow, bunch of police.
Thanks bito, it could be anywhere where protests are viewed as trouble making, but not America. It made me feel woozy.
shannynmoore Shannyn Moore
Weird how corporate news is worried about fuel prices due to #Egypt, but not what the #Koch Bros do to prices. #UnCloakKoch #fok