Billionaire hedge fund manager – and primary contributor to Rick Santorum’s Red, White, and Blue SuperPAC – Foster Friess let the truth slip out about politics in this post-Citizens United age during an interview with Politico. Friess was among several billionaires who attended the Koch brothers secret meeting last month where over a hundred million dollars was pledged to beat President Obama.

Trying to get other oligarchs on the side of Rick Santorum – Friess said, “There isn’t a person at the Koch brothers events who would not get a good return on their investment by investing in [Santorum] as president, because of what they believe about the free enterprise system.” The key word there: investment. These aren’t campaign contributions – these are investments that millionaires and billionaires are making to keep their tax breaks, their subsidies, and their lax regulations in place.

We no longer have actual people running for President – we have a few very, very rich people like Friess and the Kochs investing in stooges to do their bidding – and hoping to see major returns in their bank accounts. So who will you vote for this year? Big Oil, Big Casinos, or Wall Street?

-Thom

(Who will you vote for this year? Tell us here.)

Read an excerpt here, and buy the book!

The Daily Stack

Hour One: the President's budget
- Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

Article: "Brown, In Letter to White House In Advance of Chinese Vice President Jinping's Visit, Calls for Stronger Enforcement of Trade Laws" by Sherrod Brown.

Article: "Sens. Urge Congressional Leadership To Expedite Legislation To Help Protect American Jobs".

Article: "Iraq Tariff Law is now enforced" by Rn, July 17, 2011.

Article: "Congressman Boehner: Senate Dems “Have Never Come to the Table” with Responsible Full-Year Payroll Tax Cut Plan" by John Boehner.

Article: "Senate passes China currency bill" by Scott Wong.

Petition: "Tell Speaker Boehner: Stop China from killing US manufacturing jobs" by Sherrod Brown.

Article: "Obama makes 'fair shot' budget pitch" by Jennifer Epstein.

Article: "NBC: Republicans 'Quick to Lash Out' at Obama Budget" by Kyle Drennen.

Article: "Foxconn to build 5 new Brazilian factories to help make Apple products" by Katie Marsal.

Book: "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "GOP leaders to propose payroll tax cut extension without funding offsets, as two sides trade blame".

Article: "Boehner: Senate Dems Have Never Come To The Table With Responsible Full-year Payroll Tax Cut Plan".

Article: "Widowed GOP Lawmaker: How Could I Deny Anyone The “Incredible Bond” Of Marriage I Had?" by David Badash.

Hour Two: Keystone XL pipeline / petition to collect 1 million signatures
- Bill McKibben, 350.org

Book: "Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet" by Bill McKibben.

Article: "On Valentine's Day, Sen. Schumer <3's New York" by Duncan Meisel.

Article: "Tell Your Senators: Reject the Pipeline!" by 350.org.

Article: "McKibben Talks Keystone XL on Colbert Report: “We Blew By Half a Million” Messages to Congress in 6 Hours" by Stephen Lacey.

Article: "Keystone’s Thousands of Jobs Fall to 20 When Pipeline Opens" by Jim Efstathiou Jr.

Site: callcongress.org.

Article: "Oil industry: 'Huge political consequences' if pipeline rejected" by Andrew Restuccia.

Article: "Ex-Shell president sees $5 gas in 2012" by Laurie Segall.

Article: "Global Warming Could Significantly Impact World Economy, Study Says" by PBS, October 30, 2006.

Article: "Grover Norquist At CPAC: ‘The Left Is Made Up… Of Competing Parasites’" by Frances Martel.

Article: "Windfall profits tax" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Bill aims to censor Ariz. teachers' speech" by Alia Beard Rau.

Article: "Romney Thinks Mandatory Drug Testing For Welfare Recipients Is ‘An Excellent Idea’" by Adam Peck.

Article: "Rick Scott’s Drug Law Isn’t Saving Florida Much Money" by Travis Waldron.

Article: "Fareed Zakaria GPS" by CNN (George Soros clip about taxes on wealthy).

Article: "TN lawmakers to take up bill to evict Occupy Nashville" by Chas Sisk.

Article: "China welcome to boost investment in Canada oil: Joe Oliver" by Theophilos Argitis.

Book: "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations", Adam Smith, 1776.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Victoria Jones, White House Correspondent

Article: "‘Dogs against Romney’ protest planned for dog show in New York today" by Shira Schoenberg.

Article: "‘Dogs Against Romney’ Protester Gets Pulled Over For Suspicion Of Animal Abuse" by Wendy Gittleson.

Article: "White House Welcomes Chinese VP" by TRNS.

Article: "Protesters rally against Chinese vice president's White House visit" by Geneva Sands-Sadowitz.

Article: "Senate Dems hit back against Lieberman's postal reform bill" by Alexander Bolton.

Hour Three: AZ bill would ban all books containing profanity
- Dr. Alex McFarland, North Greenville University

Book: "George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation" by George Washington.

Book: "Why We Can't Wait" by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Article: "Declaration of Independence" (image) .

Article: "The Jefferson Bible" by Thomas Jefferson.

Article: "The Founders Confront Judge Moore" by Thom Hartmann.

The good: "Noah Lamaide, 12-Year-Old Wisconsin Boy, Saves Grandma's Home From Foreclosure".

The bad: "Arizona Bill Would Likely Prohibit Teachers And Professors From Teaching Any Book With ‘Profanity’" by Adam Peck.

The very, very ugly: "Fox's Liz Trotta On Sexual Assault In Military: "What Did They Expect? These People Are In Close Contact"" by Andy Newbold.

Article: "Did Mitt Romney’s Dog Seek Asylum In Canada?" by Hunter Walker.

Documentary: "Sick Around the World" by T R Reid.

Documentary: "Sick Around America" by T R Reid.

Book: "The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care" by T R Reid.

Article: "Warren Buffett Exposed: The Oracle of Omaha and the Tar Sands" by Steve Horn.

Article: "Super PACs echo parodies" by Kenneth P. Vogel.

Article: "Senate minority leader: President's budget is 'dead on arrival'" by Josiah Ryan.

Article: "ACLU Offers $1,000 Reward for Proof of Voter-Impersonation Fraud in Minnesota" by Martha Neil.

Article: "Moody's cuts Italy, Spain and Portugal's credit ratings" by BBC.

And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

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