[net-gold] UNITED STATES: POLITICS: Covert Operations: The Billionaire Brothers Who Are Waging a War Against Obama
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Net-Gold -- Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Net-Gold <Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K-12ADMINLIFE <K12ADMIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K12AdminLIFE <K12AdminLIFE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, MediaMentor <mediamentor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Digital Divide Diversity MLS <mls-digitaldivide@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Platinum <net-platinum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Sean Grigsby <myarchives1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <NetGold_general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple Gold Discussion Group <TEMPLE-GOLD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple University Net-Gold Archive <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Health Lists -- Health Diet Fitness Recreation Sports Tourism <healthrecsport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Health Diet Fitness Recreation Sports <healthrecsport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, HEALTH-RECREATION-SPORTS-TOURISM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:58:36 -0400 (EDT)
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UNITED STATES: POLITICS:
Covert Operations: The Billionaire Brothers
Who Are Waging a War Against Obama
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Covert Operations: The Billionaire Brothers
Who Are Waging a War Against Obama
by Jane Mayer
August 30, 2010
The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
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With his brother Charles, who is seventy-four, David Koch owns virtually
all of Koch Industries, a conglomerate, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas,
whose annual revenues are estimated to be a hundred billion dollars. The
company has grown spectacularly since their father, Fred, died, in 1967,
and the brothers took charge. The Kochs operate oil refineries in Alaska,
Texas, and Minnesota, and control some four thousand miles of pipeline.
Koch Industries owns Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific
lumber, Stainmaster carpet, and Lycra, among other products. Forbes ranks
it as the second-largest private company in the country, after Cargill,
and its consistent profitability has made David and Charles Kochwho, years
ago, bought out two other brothersamong the richest men in America. Their
combined fortune of thirty-five billion dollars is exceeded only by those
of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
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The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower
personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and
much less oversight of industryespecially environmental regulation. These
views dovetail with the brothers corporate interests. In a study released
this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amhersts Political Economy
Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters
in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the
company as a kingpin of climate science denial. The report showed that,
from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to
organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting
a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups.
Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many
Obama Administration policiesfrom health-care reform to the
economic-stimulus programthat, in political circles, their ideological
network is known as the Kochtopus.
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snip
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Charles Lewis, the founder of the Center for Public Integrity, a
nonpartisan watchdog group, said, The Kochs are on a whole different
level. Theres no one else who has spent this much money. The sheer
dimension of it is what sets them apart. They have a pattern of
lawbreaking, political manipulation, and obfuscation. Ive been in
Washington since Watergate, and Ive never seen anything like it. They are
the Standard Oil of our times.
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snip
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In April, 2009, Melissa Cohlmia, a company spokesperson, denied that the
Kochs had direct links to the Tea Party, saying that Americans for
Prosperity is an independent organization and Koch companies do not in any
way direct their activities. Later, she issued a statement: No funding has
been provided by Koch companies, the Koch foundations, or Charles Koch or
David Koch specifically to support the tea parties. David Koch told New
York, Ive never been to a tea-party event. No one representing the tea
party has ever even approached me.
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At the lectern in Austin, however, Venablea longtime political operative
who draws a salary from Americans for Prosperity, and who has worked for
Koch-funded political groups since 1994spoke less warily. We love what the
Tea Parties are doing, because thats how were going to take back America!
she declared, as the crowd cheered. In a subsequent interview, she
described herself as an early member of the movement, joking, I was part
of the Tea Party before it was cool! She explained that the role of
Americans for Prosperity was to help educate Tea Party activists on policy
details, and to give them next-step training after their rallies, so that
their political energy could be channelled more effectively. And she noted
that Americans for Prosperity had provided Tea Party activists with lists
of elected officials to target. She said of the Kochs, Theyre certainly
our people. Davids the chairman of our board. Ive certainly met with them,
and Im very appreciative of what they do.
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snip
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The anti-government fervor infusing the 2010 elections represents a
political triumph for the Kochs. By giving money to educate, fund, and
organize Tea Party protesters, they have helped turn their private agenda
into a mass movement. Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist and a
historian, who once worked at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a
Dallas-based think tank that the Kochs fund, said, The problem with the
whole libertarian movement is that its been all chiefs and no Indians.
There havent been any actual people, like voters, who give a crap about
it. So the problem for the Kochs has been trying to create a movement.
With the emergence of the Tea Party, he said, everyone suddenly sees that
for the first time there are Indians out therepeople who can provide real
ideological power. The Kochs, he said, are trying to shape and control and
channel the populist uprising into their own policies.
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The complete article may be read at the URL above.
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Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxx
http://daviddillard.businesscard2.com
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