When you’ve got billions of dollars and have been surrounded by “yes men” your entire life, it isn’t difficult to lose touch with reality. And as Mike Papantonio points out on The Ed Schultz Show, that is exactly what has happened to the Koch Brothers.
Mike Papantonio and Ed Schultz discuss the far-reaching tentacles of the "Kochtopus" and the US Chamber of Commerce and how they are controlling Republican politicians from the local to federal level.
This important eight part video series exposes the Koch Brothers' control over your job, your life, and your well-being. Be listed as a Producer for the Koch Brothers Exposed video series and get a t-shirt featuring an exclusive Shepard Fairey design of the 'Koch-topus'. We've dedicated 4 months of hard work and we MUST get these finished and out to the world to educate the public. It's $40 billion of Koch money vs us! Please donate to become a Producer on this project with us: http://goo.gl/UMZ8
"David H. Koch, left, and Charles G. Koch have long used their wallets to promote fiscal conservatism and combat regulation."Among the thousands of demonstrators who jammed the Wisconsin State Capitol grounds this weekend was a well-financed advocate from Washington who was there to voice praise for cutting state spending by slashing union benefits and bargaining rights.
The visitor, Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, told a large group of counterprotesters who had gathered Saturday at one edge of what otherwise was a mostly union crowd that the cuts were not only necessary, but they also represented the start of a much-needed nationwide move to slash public-sector union benefits.
“We are going to bring fiscal sanity back to this great nation,” he said.
What Mr. Phillips did not mention was that his Virginia-based nonprofit group, whose budget surged to $40 million in 2010 from $7 million three years ago, was created and financed in part by the secretive billionaire brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch. MORE...
Mike Papantonio and Ed Schultz discuss the Koch brothers' stranglehold on the new Republican Congress, and how they managed to buy their way into power.
UPDATE III: "Koch Brothers v. the Left in Palm Springs" (Nancy Goldstein-The Nation):There’s a good chance that readers of this page already have some idea who David and Charles Koch are, and what’s happening [1] this weekend, as the sugar daddies of the Tea Party throw a little party of their own in Palm Springs. Invitees include a pack of their billionaire friends, plus prominent pundits, Republican Party officials [2] and lawmakers, a number of whom benefited from hefty Koch contributions [3] this last campaign cycle.Together they’ll strategize how to get rid of every regulation or politician that stands in the way of wealthy people becoming wealthier; namely, taxes, healthcare reform, environmental and financial protections, Obama and what little remains of the social safety net. Citizens United will undoubtedly energize the annual end-of-weekend ritual when all the donors—40 percent of them new [4]—whip out their checkbooks to underwrite these adventures in subverting democracy with an eye to their bottom line.
But there will also be, for the first time in the soiree’s eight year history, media attention [5], including a fair number of prominent bloggers, a panel discussion [6] including such luminaries as Robert Reich and Van Jones and a demonstration organized by Common Cause [7]. That’s actually pretty great, as Kert Davies [8], Director of Research for Greenpeace [9], reminded me. For years one of the Koch brothers’ greatest achievements was the fact that no one knew who they were or what influence they had in DC. MORE...
About 1,000 chanting protesters rallied on Sunday outside a California resort where conservative lawmakers and business executives met for a political strategy session hosted by billionaires Charles and David Koch.
About two dozen police officers in riot gear lined up in front of the Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa in the upscale desert town of Rancho Mirage to keep the protesters away from the gated entrance.
(SNIP)
Common Cause earlier this month asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate whether two U.S. Supreme Court justices who have attended past political retreats hosted by the Koch brothers should have recused themselves from a landmark campaign finance ruling last year by the high court.
The two justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, sided with the court's 5-4 majority in the Citizens United decision that lifted many of the restrictions once placed on campaign contributions by corporations and labor unions.
"The Kochs fund some of the sickness that has plagued our country, especially over the last 10 years," protester Diana Wu told Reuters. MORE...
Greenpeace today flew an airship with a banner reading "Koch Brothers: Dirty Money" over Rancho Mirage, California as oil billionaires David and Charles Koch convened their latest secret political strategy meeting. The aerial message to arriving attendees of the meeting highlighted the Koch Brothers' ongoing use of their vast oil profits to push a polluter agenda through campaign contributions, lobbying, and funding fronts groups and think tanks.
"Rightwingers, Wall Street chiefs and industrial magnates will discuss Barack Obama's 'anti-business' stance at Rancho Mirage, California." Photograph: AlamyAmid great secrecy, about 200 of America's wealthiest and most powerful individuals from the worlds of finance, big business and rightwing politics are expected to come together on Sunday in the sun-drenched California desert near Palm Springs for what has been billed as a gathering of the billionaires. They will have the chance to enjoy the Rancho Mirage resort's many pools, spa treatments and tennis courts, as well as walk in its 240 acres away from the prying eyes of TV cameras.
But the organisers have made clear that the two-day event is not just "fun in the sun". This will be a meeting of "doers", men and women willing to fight the Obama administration and its perceived attack on US free enterprise and unfettered wealth.
As the invitation says: "Our goal must be to beat back the unrelenting attacks and hold elected leaders accountable."
(SNIP)
But this year's reception will differ in one important regard: it will have an opposition. For the first time, a coalition of progressive and liberal groups has formed to try to counter the power of the Koch brothers.The anti-Koch gathering will be staged down the road from the Rancho Mirage. It will hold its own – open, as opposed to secretive – panel discussion and a rally designed to highlight what its organisers see as the pernicious impact of the Kochs on the democratic process.
"We want to raise public awareness of the harmful influence of corporate money. The Koch gathering embodies all that we consider damaging to our democracy," said Mary Boyle, of Common Cause, a campaign group that has spearheaded the opposition. MORE...
Eric Alterman (The Nation):Jane Mayer's New Yorker profile of Charles and David Koch reveals a decades-long investment of many hundreds of millions of dollars to achieve a single goal. The billionaire oilmen sought to "bring about social change" to advance what Charles Koch calls their "radical philosophy." To make this happen, they've adopted a "vertically and horizontally integrated" strategy "from idea creation to policy development to education to grassroots organizations to lobbying to litigation to political action."
(SNIP)
The primary obstacle Powell identified was not the remnants of the late-'60s antiwar and civil rights movements, which were both in the process of disintegration. Rather, they sought to undermine the "respectable elements of society" and replace them with people like themselves.
(SNIP)
The Kochs, after all, do not fund much media. Rather, they fund the politicians, "experts" and (frequently phony) citizen leaders who create the context for the content of media debate. And perhaps their greatest success has been their ability to turn the establishment media into the credulous carrier of the constant stream of propaganda their grantees have become so adept at producing. MORE...
