Posted on 10/19/2004 5:59:37 PM PDT by Notch
Breaking News from NewsMax.com
Billionaires Secretly Met in Aspen to Defeat Bush
In the days following the Democratic National Convention in Boston this past August, several billionaire Democratic activists secretly met at the famed Aspen Institute in Colorado.
The purpose of their clandestine meeting was "to use their fortunes to engineer the defeat of President George W. Bush," The New Yorker magazine reports in its most recent edition.
Details of the meeting remain sketchy, but the magazine described the Aspen conference this way: "Five billionaires joined half a dozen liberal leaders in a lengthy conversation about the future of progressive politics in America."
For sure, there were differences of opinion in the group, but they all shared one goal: to get George Bush this November.
The Aspen meeting was supposed to have been a top secret within Democratic Party circles.
When The New Yorker inquired about the meeting, an assistant to one of the attendees was surprised by the call.
"No one was supposed to know about this," the aide told the magazine. "We don't want people thinking it's a cabal or some sort of Masonic plot!"
Apparently the leader of the secret cabal is billionaire Peter B. Lewis, chairman of the Cleveland, Ohio-based insurance company Progressive Corporation.
Like another attendee, wealthy financier George Soros, Lewis has poured millions into Democratic 527 groups, including Americans Coming Together and MoveOn.org.
One of Lewis' top agenda items has been the decriminalization of marijuana, a policy position also shared by Soros.
Another billionaire who attended was John Sperling, founder of the online University of Phoenix.
Also present were Herb and Marion Sandler from California. The couple founded Golden West Financial Corporation, a California bank reportedly worth $17 billion.
The key agenda items for the Sandlers has been "preserving progressive income taxes and inheritance taxes," the magazine reported.
The wealthiest and most notable of those attending the meeting was George Soros, the 74-year-old Hungarian immigrant who desperately wants to defeat George Bush and has even compared him to the likes of Adolf Hitler.
Apparently, all was not roses at the billionaire confab, according to The New Yorker.
"The billionaires spent much of the time moaning the superior powers of the GOP," the magazine said, and the group even needed some cheerleading from Harold Ickes, a former top aide to Bill Clinton who is involved in the 527 efforts.
There was disagreement about some of the issues and policy positions the group should take.
Sperling, for one, argued that the main target of their efforts should be Wal-Mart. He wants to push for unionizing the giant retailer.
That idea was apparently vetoed by George Soros, who reportedly told the group he had no desire to support union initiatives and that his only single goal at this point was "ousting Bush."
Though not the leader of the group, Soros holds the largest bank account and as such is the 800-pound gorilla, having given more than $18 million to the 527s in an effort to defeat Bush.
The magazine said Soros had planned to keep a low profile in the closing months of the election, but suddenly changed course this summer when he decided to "jettison the strategy in favor of waging his own media-grabbing political campaign."
Soros hired a publicist and began a 12-city, $3 million personal crusade to defeat George Bush.
According to the magazine, Soros has nothing but contempt for Bush, who he considers "an ignorant fool."
More than that, he sees Bush as the face man for a secret cabal. "Bush was just chosen as a figurehead, an acceptable face for a sinister group," Soros told The New Yorker, adding, "Cheney is the Capo."
Clearly, Soros knows a thing or two about secret cabals and capos.
How could this clown be a billionaire. Like a Online degree will get you anything. But, like PT Barnum said, noone ever went broke overestimating the stupidity of the American public
It's not just "his money". It is his money, the company money, investor money, worker money, etc.
It is company wide policy to support not just liberal, but over the top kooky agendas. They bother workers to donate money and time to all sorts of nonsense as well. Company emails make sure you support the "right causes" , "right candidates" and know the "right opinions".
If you throw a fit, which I occasionally witnessed, you are quickly ostracized from the club. Myself, I just laughed at these flakes.
We were constantly "asked" to donate or volunteer to numerous left wing causes. They never actually forced anyone, but people went along to get along.
If you don't support abortion, you are going against company policy.
If you don't support same-sex marriage and benefits, you are going against company policy.
If you favor school vouchers over government schools, you are going against company policy.
It was the most ideologically left wing place I've ever worked, and I've worked in public schools and State Universities, so that's really saying something! hehe
We didn't actually have commissars in the call centers, but I haven't worked there for 6 or so years, so they might have added that position in HR.
How many employees lost their jobs to support this scheme?
Dude, if Soros gets his way, we're all SOL. You're right about the mess in Europe! I was just reading how Holland, the country with the most liberal immigration policy for the last 20 years, is starting to bottom out from the massive influx of Muslims who immigrate and bring their families, then live on welfare because they are citizens of such a country that has this socialist take-care gov't. Guess who is at the top of this upside-down welfare triangle? The native Dutch, whose population continues to shrink with 1 birth for every 2 deaths (abortion perhaps?) and thus have few to work and pay into the system. To make matters worse, as with most European nations, you get a gov't. stipend for every child you have as incentive to make the population increase!!! Most of the EU countries are facing the same problem BTW.
Part of Rome's decline began when the soldiers and foreigners began to receive welfare and there weren't enough workers paying into the system. When are we gonna learn?!?!?
*Sugarplum*
In regards to Lewis' art collection:
In Business Week, Dec. 99 : http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/dec1999/nf91221c.htm
"As long as Peter Lewis is around, however, the collection is likely to keep growing and remain provocative. His ideal is "art that would start a fight in a bar." He likes to tell the story of how, in 1974, with the Vietnam War winding down, the company bought a series of Andy Warhol portraits of Mao Tse Tung and hung them up at headquarters. Nearly all of the company's 324 employees at the time demanded that the art be removed. The only employee who admitted liking the works, he recalls, was a janitor, an avowed Communist. Yet Peter Lewis refused to take them down.
What he likes best about the story is its kicker. Gradually, the Warhols became classics. One set of the Mao prints now hangs in his office, another in Progressive's boardroom. "No one bats an eye at them now," he says. The lesson? As controversial art becomes familiar, it becomes acceptable. And for the Lewises, that's just another incentive to keep buying new works on the cutting edge."
Who is Peter Lewis?
By Arne Steinberg, In "Accuracy in Media, aim.org | December 3, 2003 Lewis, who proudly describes himself as "half screwball, half businessman," showed up at a meeting with a Cleveland City Council president wearing a Lone Ranger outfit.
Billionaires Peter Lewis and George Soros have each pledged $10 million to America Coming Together, a newly formed political organization designed to defeat President Bush in the next presidential election. But who is Peter Lewis, the less well known of these two money men?
A billionaire, Lewis is the chairman and chief executive officer of Progressive Corporation, the fourth-largest U.S. personal auto insurer, which insures high-risk motorists who can't get insurance anywhere else. Stories in the media depict Lewis as a philanthropist who has given $50 million to the Guggenheim Museum in New York and $55 million to his alma mater, Princeton University. But what are they leaving out? A leading U. S. business reference manual, Hoover's Handbook of American Business l999, actually described Lewis in print as "a functioning pot-head."
Lewis, who proudly describes himself as "half screwball, half businessman," showed up at a meeting with a Cleveland City Council president wearing a Lone Ranger outfit. His house features an elaborate series of paintings of Chinese communist Mao Tse-tung by Andy Warhol. But most significant is the fact that this self-described "screwball" has tried to change America to suit his own tastes. The anti-drug group, National Families in Action, says that Lewis has "contributed heavily to the destruction of thousands of America's children" by promoting the medical marijuana hoax and leading kids to believe that "pot is OK."
That's a reference to the fact that Soros and Lewis have helped bankroll the campaign to legalize pot, featuring a slick public relations effort that falsifies the dangerous nature of marijuana and presents it as "medicine." Since 1991, Lewis has contributed $5 million to the ACLU to fight drug laws, and he has made large contributions to drug "legalization" campaigns in Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Utah, Florida, Maine, and Massachusetts.
Not one of the recent news reports on Lewis mentioned that on a trip to New Zealand three years he was arrested and admitted to three charges of importing drugs after customs officers found two ounces of hashish and 1.7 ounces of marijuana in his luggage. Of course, Lewis said he was carrying the drugs for "medicinal purposes." The Washington Times reported that the incident "sparked a political furor after the charges were dropped and his identity was suppressed by a court in New Zealand." New Zealand Judge David Harvey dropped the charges and invited Lewis to watch the challenger rounds for the America's Cup yacht race while in New Zealand and to "enjoy the fresh air." The judge had issued a suppression order against the release of Lewis' name, stating, "The consequences of publication would far outweigh the crime."
Lewis has been heavily involved in U.S. Democratic Party politics for years. He started by working as the Ohio finance chairman for George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign. "I did it essentially because I hated Richard Nixon," Lewis said. He is a close friend of Senator Ted Kennedy, who uses Lewis' accommodations to "relax" when in Cleveland.
reference: http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/A80_0_2_0_C/
Our office in Ca. was very marijuana friendly. It wasn't even odd to see numerous folks, worker bees to management ,out talking and smoking J's in the parking lot during their lunch hour. I was new to the area, so I figured it was a California thing. They were quite open about it. And the parking lot always gave me a contact high, so I always hit the snack machines by 2:00...hehe
The gay thing is obvious. Progressive is a queer mecca in the business world. There are rainbow flags on every third desk or cubicle. It was actually a good thing, as most of the guys who work there are very, very gay. These guys would embarass Charles Nelson Riley and Andy Dick. In this environment even a unkempt guy like me could meet gals at work."He's not really cute, he's opinionated and offensive......but at least He's not gay"
They actually announce coming out parties in the company and celebrate "queer-birthdays". A sample email:
"Hey Progressive People! Regional Salesman Brad Smith is celebrating his 3rd year OUT and PROUD! today, so be sure to give him a big smile and a big hug! Brad has been with the company for 2 years, is simply amazing in business sales and is quite an asset to the company. Brad and his life-partner Grant relocated to Sacramento from Georgia, and they enjoy soft jazz, hiking, shopping and quite times at home. Brad and Grant, you are Progressive People!"
This was in the late 90's and I was new to California, so I was a little taken aback with this atmosphere...hehe. In Kansas we comment on a salesman's numbers, not lovers. But California is different.....
A MUST READ: (Horowitz and Poe)
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=15392
Read link on post 106,
I Repeat post 108.
"No one was supposed to know about this," the aide told the magazine. "We don't want people thinking it's a cabal or some sort of Masonic plot!" >>>>>>>>
Too funny that the aide supposedly made that statement of all things.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
Nothing better than a pukin punkin!
....desperately wants to defeat George Bush and has even compared him to the likes of Adolf Hitler.
Soros is slipping. He forgot to include Stalin in the comparison. The crying shame is that either of these convenient tyrants would have silenced him long ago. What an ass. </expletivedeleted>
Fritz Kohn?
Chim-chim-cherrie,
Chim-chim-cherrie,
Chim-chim-cherroo.
For a pipe full of crack
I will get votes for you!
Kohn
One "n"
Worships on Saturday
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