Spreme Beings as the Powers that Be.

For decades, it seemed we could rely on these nine judges to do pretty much the right thing. However, since the Warren Commission, the "Powers that Be" seem to have been heading south on some very important decisions. In 2000, we allowed them to elect our president. In 2010, we allowed them to pass a decision that says, in effect, that corporations are people, too, otherwise known as the "Citizens United" (CU) decision.

These corporations can give millions of dollars without any limits to back the candidate of their choice and we weren't even sure who these "people" were. However, thanks to "Common Cause"* and "The Hightower Lowdown"** we now know the names of these big spenders.

Here's the list of the nine megabucks' masters:

1. Sheldon Adelson, (worth $21.5 million) built his fortune on gaming. He runs the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.

2. Harold Simmons, (worth 5.2 million) owns Waste Control Specialists, who build nuclear waste dumps.

3. Bob Perry, (worth $4.1million) made his money in homebuilding.

4. Peter Thief (billionaire) is the CEO of PayPal Inc.

5. William Dore (near billionaire) is chief of Dore Energy, an oil and gas corporation.

6. Foster Friess (a multimillionaire) made his money in stock speculation ie.Brandywine Fund.

7. Steven Lund, a former president of Nu-Skin (a Utah-based vitamin-supplement-ointment direct marketer.)

AND finally:

8. Charles Koch (a billionaire) is half owner of Koch Industries.

9. David Koch (a billionaire) is the other half owner of Koch Industries.

So, in 2012, we will probably be thanking or cursing these nine billionaires for electing our president with the "outstanding" help of our Supreme Court and especially Justice Anthony Kennedy, who cast the deciding vote for the 2000 election and the (CU) vote in 2010.

*Common Clause is helping to draw attention to the unprecedented amount of corporate and special interest spending on influencing election outcomes. They are pushing the cause called Amend 2012 to rally public support for an urgently needed constitutional amendment in your state and nationwide. Go to www.commoncause.org to learn more about Amend 2012.