Truth Justice and the American Way - in a post neo-con world.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Things you didn't know about the Koch's - Part II - funding the fakes
“My joke is that we’re the biggest company you’ve never heard of.”—David Koch
Koch is a master of misdirection and has managed to stay out of the public eye (at least until now) by finding a variety of groups and foundations that amount to little more than a web of propaganda machines. As pointed out in the first in the 60 minutes piece, he first creates a fony foundation or "grass roots" group and then sites the propaganda produced by that group in order to deceive people that what he wants is in their own interest.
All crooked pols like Walker and Ziegelbauer have to do is to take his outrageous positions and the support is pre-fabricated, washed and dried and ready for their use.
Here's a good example:
Walker has vowed to make it nearly impossible to create any more wind farms in this State. While a good portion of that stupidity is coming from the real estate lobby (2 real estate groups are in fact his top corporate contributors and lowered property values are his chief public argument) he actually uses psuedo environmental issues like bird and bat mortality around towers to negate the arguments of environmentalists in favor of wind.
"This is not the first time or place this has happened. An interesting expose' in The Atlanta Free Press documented a stunningly similar set of events in the South East.
The author Erik Curren describes a couple of supposed grass roots oppostion groups and lobbying organizations. One is the WLF (Washington Legal Foundation).
From the article:
"It's strange: Suddenly, some of the most unlikely people are losing sleep over what windmills might be
doing to birds," wrote David Case at TomPaine.com in 2001.
Case quotes an ad that the Washington Legal Foundation ran in The New York Times a few years ago:
"How many acres of land must be despoiled to erect enough windmills - and how many birds must be
shredded flying through their giant blades - to keep California from becoming a third-world country?"
Yet, the group's stated purpose is not wildlife advocacy, but opposing "activist" government. "Established
in 1977, WLF shapes public policy and fights activist lawyers, regulators, and intrusive government
agencies at the federal and state levels, in the courts and regulatory agencies across the country,"
according to its Web site. The group has received more than $750,000 from Phillip Morris (now known as
Altria Group) and more than $100,000 from the Tobacco Institute."
See http://wind-works.org/articles/AugustaFreePressBizarreDanceByErikCurren10July2006.pdf
Here is a little more on where WLF gets its funding. It seems that Mr. Curren missed one rather important source...
WLF publishes articles on the business threats posed by regulation of global warming pollution, such as vulnerability to tort claims.
But WLF is not the only fony front.
Koch's Funding of Climate Denial
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/Global/usa/binaries/2010/3/wanted-for-climate-crimes-cha.pdf
Time was that politicians would at least hold fat cats like the Koch's at arm's length. In one respect the fony activits and lobbying efforts are just that.
But hacks like Walker have openly demonstrated that that distance is no longer a required fig leaf. Walker's punking in the fake call from Koch clearly demonstrates the level of subservience he has to this - the biggest special interest of all.
The question is... are we going to buy what this man and his payed for minions are selling?
Koch is a master of misdirection and has managed to stay out of the public eye (at least until now) by finding a variety of groups and foundations that amount to little more than a web of propaganda machines. As pointed out in the first in the 60 minutes piece, he first creates a fony foundation or "grass roots" group and then sites the propaganda produced by that group in order to deceive people that what he wants is in their own interest.
All crooked pols like Walker and Ziegelbauer have to do is to take his outrageous positions and the support is pre-fabricated, washed and dried and ready for their use.
Here's a good example:
Walker has vowed to make it nearly impossible to create any more wind farms in this State. While a good portion of that stupidity is coming from the real estate lobby (2 real estate groups are in fact his top corporate contributors and lowered property values are his chief public argument) he actually uses psuedo environmental issues like bird and bat mortality around towers to negate the arguments of environmentalists in favor of wind.
"This is not the first time or place this has happened. An interesting expose' in The Atlanta Free Press documented a stunningly similar set of events in the South East.
The author Erik Curren describes a couple of supposed grass roots oppostion groups and lobbying organizations. One is the WLF (Washington Legal Foundation).
From the article:
"It's strange: Suddenly, some of the most unlikely people are losing sleep over what windmills might be
doing to birds," wrote David Case at TomPaine.com in 2001.
Case quotes an ad that the Washington Legal Foundation ran in The New York Times a few years ago:
"How many acres of land must be despoiled to erect enough windmills - and how many birds must be
shredded flying through their giant blades - to keep California from becoming a third-world country?"
Yet, the group's stated purpose is not wildlife advocacy, but opposing "activist" government. "Established
in 1977, WLF shapes public policy and fights activist lawyers, regulators, and intrusive government
agencies at the federal and state levels, in the courts and regulatory agencies across the country,"
according to its Web site. The group has received more than $750,000 from Phillip Morris (now known as
Altria Group) and more than $100,000 from the Tobacco Institute."
See http://wind-works.org/articles/AugustaFreePressBizarreDanceByErikCurren10July2006.pdf
Here is a little more on where WLF gets its funding. It seems that Mr. Curren missed one rather important source...
Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) - Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group
$655,000 received from Koch foundations 2005-2008[Total Koch foundation grants 1997-2008: $1,255,000]
| Year | David H. Koch Foundation | Charles G. Koch Foundation | Claude R. Lambe Foundation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | - | - | - | |
| 1998 | - | - | $150,000 | |
| 1999 | - | - | - | |
| 2000 | - | - | - | |
| 2001 | - | - | $100,000 | |
| 2002 | - | - | $100,000 | |
| 2003 | - | - | $100,000 | |
| 2004 | - | - | $150,000 | |
| 2005 | - | - | $150,000 | |
| 2006 | - | - | $205,000 | |
| 2007 | - | - | $150,000 | |
| 2008 | - | - | $150,000 | |
| Total | - | - | $1,255,000 | |
| Total received by Washington Legal Foundation from 2005-2008: $655,000 | ||||
| Total received by Washington Legal Foundation from 1997-2008: $1,255,000 | ||||
But WLF is not the only fony front.
Koch's Funding of Climate Denial
- From 2005 to 2008, the Koch Foundations provided over $24.8 million in funding to climate denial groups (see spreadsheet below); ExxonMobil provided about $9.1 million to similar organizations over the same period.
- Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFP), founded and chaired by David H. Koch, received over $5 million from Koch foundations since 2005. AFP is known for its "Hot Air Tour" campaign that spreads misinformation about climate science.
- Multiple Koch-funded organizations have repeatedly rebroadcast the November 2009 story dubbed "ClimateGate," referring to stolen personal emails of climate experts. These organizations claim the emails prove a "conspiracy" of scientists and casts doubt on the scientific consensus regarding climate change.
- In 2007, several prominent climate denial scientists published a non-peer reviewed article, funded by a Koch foundation, that concluded polar bears were not threatened by global warming. Multiple Koch-funded groups reiterated the article's conclusions through their websites and other media outlets.
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/Global/usa/binaries/2010/3/wanted-for-climate-crimes-cha.pdf
Time was that politicians would at least hold fat cats like the Koch's at arm's length. In one respect the fony activits and lobbying efforts are just that.
But hacks like Walker have openly demonstrated that that distance is no longer a required fig leaf. Walker's punking in the fake call from Koch clearly demonstrates the level of subservience he has to this - the biggest special interest of all.
The question is... are we going to buy what this man and his payed for minions are selling?
What you didn't know about the Kochs - Blood and Oil - 1st in a series
Well, it seems that there is a 3rd Koch brother and his opinion of the other two is not as good as little Scotties!
It seems that David and Charles have a brother named Bill who blew the whistle on them on CBS 60 minutes back in 2000.
November 27, 2000
"What Koch was doing was taking all these measurements and then falsifying them on the run sheets," says Bill Koch. "If the dipstick measured five feet 10 inches and one half inch, they would write down five feet nine and one half inches."
Bill Koch filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that much of the oil collected by Koch Industries was stolen from federal lands. At the trial, 50 former Koch gaugers testified against the company, some in video depositions. They said Koch employees had a name for cheating on the measurements.
"We in the company referred to it as the "Koch Method" because it was a system for cheating the producer out of oil," said one of these gaugers, Mark Wilson.
"I believe that what I was stealing oil and I don't feel good about it," said another, James Jurgens.
See the whole sordid story here...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/11/27/60II/main252545.shtml
It seems that David and Charles have a brother named Bill who blew the whistle on them on CBS 60 minutes back in 2000.
November 27, 2000
Blood And Oil
And Environmental Negligence
"What Koch was doing was taking all these measurements and then falsifying them on the run sheets," says Bill Koch. "If the dipstick measured five feet 10 inches and one half inch, they would write down five feet nine and one half inches."
Bill Koch filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that much of the oil collected by Koch Industries was stolen from federal lands. At the trial, 50 former Koch gaugers testified against the company, some in video depositions. They said Koch employees had a name for cheating on the measurements.
"We in the company referred to it as the "Koch Method" because it was a system for cheating the producer out of oil," said one of these gaugers, Mark Wilson.
"I believe that what I was stealing oil and I don't feel good about it," said another, James Jurgens.
See the whole sordid story here...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/11/27/60II/main252545.shtml
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