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TRILATERAL COMMISSION
Famous Members: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Walter Mondale, Dick Cheney, John McCain, Henry Kissinger, Alan Greenspan, Paul Wolfowitz, Dianne Feinstein, Katharine Graham
Founded: 1973

The Trilateral Commission was founded in 1973 by David Rockefeller, and is, according to the organization's website, a "policy-oriented discussion group of about 350 distinguished citizens from Western Europe, North America and Pacific Asia formed to encourage mutual understanding and closer cooperation among these three regions on common problems." Admission to these annual discussions, known by cheeky detractors as the TLC, is by invitation only (the most recent was in late April in Washington). The TLC membership is public, it holds press conferences, and its task force reports are widely available.

Sounds on the up and up, so why is the TLC so often accused of conspiracies, from trying to create a single government that controls the world to running the international drug trade? It's mainly because of the high stature of the TLC's member list and the closed-door nature of its meetings. Conspiracy theorists had a field day when Jimmy Carter, who was a member of the TLC before he was president—elected officials are barred from meetings—hired more than a dozen TLC attendees (including current TLC executive committee member Zbigniew Brzezinski) to his administration.

According to a 1992 Washington Post article about the TLC, fringe political candidate and professional yahoo Lyndon LaRouche claimed, "With the takeover by the Trilateral Commission of the United States government, through Jimmy Carter, there was an explosion of the drug culture and related degeneracy throughout the country."

Even some famous fans of hyperbole have come out against the TLC. In 1989, Public Enemy's Professor Griff asked a D.C. audience, "Who runs this world?" and then answered himself, "The Trilateral Commission." Griff also linked the TLC to a global Jewish cabal in a later interview, says the WaPo. Screw him. Everyone knows that Flavor Flav has the best conspiracy theories.