# Billionaire Koch Brothers: Tea Party Puppetmasters



## Political Junky (Aug 24, 2010)

*So much for the Tea Party being grassroots.
*
The billionaire Koch brothers: Tea Party puppetmasters? - The Week

The New Yorker's Jane Mayer has investigated the political funding networks of Charles and David Koch, two of the wealthiest people in America and generous donors to conservative political causes. In her 6,000-word story, Mayer makes a case that the billionaire brothers have funded and fostered the Tea Party movement as a well-disguised means to pursue their private political agenda. The brothers vehemently deny the claim, and Mayer's story has been written off by conservative bloggers as a "coordinated character assassination." Here are some of the key assertions in the article: 

*The family has a complicated relationship with Communism*
The family business, Koch Industries, was built up by their brothers' father Fred, an "arch-conservative" and member of of the staunchly anti-Communist (some might say "paranoid") John Birch Society. But, ironically enough, the firm's financial success was built on the back of work done in collaboration with the Soviet government under Stalin in the 1930s, according to Mayer. By the 1950s and 60s, Koch Sr. was raising the alarm about Communists infiltrating U.S. society and government. In addition to a vast fortune, says Mayer, the Koch boys also inherited their father's "distrust of the U.S. government."
<more>


----------



## uscitizen (Aug 24, 2010)

Interesting, thanks for the post.


----------



## bigrebnc1775 (Aug 24, 2010)

So just because they contribute to conservative causes they are the puppet masters of the tea party? The tea party is not made up of just Conservatives. The tea party is more of a grass roots movement then acorn is or any democratic or liberal pushed movement.


----------



## uscitizen (Aug 24, 2010)

The tea party is not just made up of republicans, but it is mostly made up of republicans.  I would say that 80% of teapartiers voted for bush in 2000 and 2004.


----------



## bigrebnc1775 (Aug 24, 2010)

bigrebnc1775 said:


> So just because they contribute to conservative causes they are the puppet masters of the tea party? The tea party is not made up of just Conservatives. The tea party is more of a grass roots movement then acorn is or any democratic or liberal pushed movement.



Jane Mayer the author of this story is not an investigative reporter she is a liberal attack dog that only goes after anything that isn't liberal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Mayer


----------



## bigrebnc1775 (Aug 24, 2010)

uscitizen said:


> The tea party is not just made up of republicans, but it is mostly made up of republicans.  I would say that 80% of teapartiers voted for bush in 2000 and 2004.



Failed, not all Republicans are conservatives.


----------



## uscitizen (Aug 24, 2010)

bigrebnc1775 said:


> uscitizen said:
> 
> 
> > The tea party is not just made up of republicans, but it is mostly made up of republicans.  I would say that 80% of teapartiers voted for bush in 2000 and 2004.
> ...



correct why I said most of them voted for bush and specifically used republicans instead of conservatives.  Plain has a conservative record?  no pork, etc?

Very few of the tea partiers are conservatives when it comes to voting either.
they will mostly vote republican whether the candidate is conservative or not.


----------



## Guerrilla (Aug 24, 2010)

I think our resident "constitutional watchdog" is just struggling with a crisis of confidence, realizing his "grassroots" movement is simply a byproduct of more corporate interests.

Enjoy!


----------



## RetiredGySgt (Aug 24, 2010)

bigrebnc1775 said:


> So just because they contribute to conservative causes they are the puppet masters of the tea party? The tea party is not made up of just Conservatives. The tea party is more of a grass roots movement then acorn is or any democratic or liberal pushed movement.



Notice the same people that trumpet this NEVER mention people like Soros? There is a reason for that.


----------



## Political Junky (Aug 24, 2010)

The Tea Party claims to be grassroots. It's not.


----------



## Dont Taz Me Bro (Aug 24, 2010)

Political Junky said:


> The Tea Party claims to be grassroots. It's not.



People all over the country who have never taken the time to get out and actually do anything political and in some cases not even having voted before, have come out to these tea party rallies and they didn't do it because the Koch brothers called them up on the phone and asked them too.  It sure sounds like grassroots to me.  You can sit there and poo-poo it all you want if that's what helps you sleep at night, but the bottom line is the people you voted for in the last two election cycles are going to get their asses handed to them in a little over two months whether you like it or not and that's just the way it is.  The GOP may turn out to not be any better, but there is at least some shred of hope that the new Republicans who will be taking their place will have learned some type of lesson from the past four years.  Time will tell, I guess.  Sweet dreams.


----------



## midcan5 (Aug 25, 2010)

"The modern conservative [libertarian] is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."  John Kenneth Galbraith


Common foes bring together losers, 'David H. Koch and his brother Charles are lifelong libertarians and have quietly given more than a hundred million dollars to right-wing causes.'  And money has great power. It is fascinating that the tea party is seen for what it is: tools for the corporation, tools for power, tools against our democratically elected president, just whiners and complainers. Too funny but also too predictable. In the final analysis, the 'contented' hate America values, they want theirs and fluck everyone else. 


[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Contentment-Penguin-economics-Galbraith/dp/0140173668/ref=sr_1_17?s=books&ie=UTF8]Amazon.com: Culture of Contentment, the (Penguin economics) (9780140173666): John Kenneth Galbraith: Books[/ame]


New Yorker piece below:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?printable=true


and more investigative reporting:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tea_Party_movement_funding

>


----------



## California Girl (Aug 25, 2010)

And yet.... it is absolutely fine for Soros to be the puppetmaster behind the POTUS. 

Personally, I find that far more important - and far less likely to be acknowledged by the lefties.


----------



## jillian (Aug 25, 2010)

California Girl said:


> And yet.... it is absolutely fine for Soros to be the puppetmaster behind the POTUS.
> 
> Personally, I find that far more important - and far less likely to be acknowledged by the lefties.



It's not a good compairson. What personal business agenda does soros advance by giving money to dem candidates?

don't you even want to know who's pulling the tea party strings?


----------



## midcan5 (Aug 25, 2010)

Whiners of the world unite, you only need a few billionaires to pull your strings.

Grassroots, yea sure! LMAO

"Koch&#8217;s detractors also like to point out the irony of the so-called grassroots tea-party movement&#8217;s being funded by a billionaire. Koch&#8217;s real motives, they say, are self-serving. In April,* Fang posted a dossier on Koch that attributes to his groups a decades-long pattern of &#8220;Astroturfing&#8221;&#8212;funding movements designed to look grassroots, but which in fact represent corporate interests.* Richard Fink insists that Koch&#8217;s political activity is about principles, not money. &#8220;I view David as a courageous American who has a set of beliefs that he&#8217;s willing to support consistently over time despite all the flak he gets,&#8221; Fink says. &#8220;Very few people would do that.&#8221;"  How Oil Heir and New York Arts Patron David Koch Became the Tea Party's Wallet -- New York Magazine


----------



## RetiredGySgt (Aug 25, 2010)

jillian said:


> California Girl said:
> 
> 
> > And yet.... it is absolutely fine for Soros to be the puppetmaster behind the POTUS.
> ...



Ya, Soros just did it cause he cares. Get a life you Obama apologist. He drove gas over 100 dollars a barrel cause he cares, right? He gives away millions cause he cares, right?

Maybe if your buddies in the press spent as much time investigating him they would have an answer for you.


----------



## midcan5 (Aug 25, 2010)

RetiredGySgt said:


> Ya, Soros just did it cause he cares. Get a life you Obama apologist. He drove gas over 100 dollars a barrel cause he cares, right? He gives away millions cause he cares, right?
> 
> Maybe if your buddies in the press spent as much time investigating him they would have an answer for you.



The 'Moral Scale of Conservatives' could not have a better demonstration. If you can find a grain of sand, compare it to a mountain, and voila equivalency.  Morality truth justice and the America way only require this magical scale. It does not matter that something is wrong or just truthful, it only matters that you think something else is wrong. Ah, the comfort of emotion over thought. Must be nice to live in this fantasy world - the corporations thank you.


The Political Brain by Drew Westen


----------



## Chris (Aug 25, 2010)

The New Yorker's Jane Mayer has investigated the political funding networks of Charles and David Koch, two of the wealthiest people in America and generous donors to conservative political causes. In her 6,000-word story, Mayer makes a case that the billionaire brothers have funded and fostered the Tea Party movement as a well-disguised means to pursue their private political agenda.

The Kochs promote global warming skepticism
During the 1980s and 1990s, the brothers spent more than $100 million creating the "Kochtopus" &#8212; a term coined by critics to describe their "network" of ideologically motived organizations. In 2008, Mayer reveals, the three main Koch family foundations gave money to 34 political and policy organizations, many of which promote a skeptical view of global warming. The Kochs, for instance, funded the launch of the libertarian Cato Institute, which has been a fierce opponent of environmental reform. They also have given large sums to the Heritage Foundation and the Independent Women's Foundation, both doubters on the question of manmade climate change.

They are 'waging a war against Obama'
In 2004, David Koch helped found conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, which Mayer says has been "instrumental in disrupting the Obama Presidency." The Kochs' involvement, she writes, has been "intense"; one source even says it is "micromanaged" by the brothers &#8212; a charge they deny. "By giving money to 'educate,' fund and organize Tea Party protesters, [the Kochs] have helped turn their private agenda into a mass movement," says Mayer. FrumForum's Tim Mak is another conservative to treat this with skepticism. "Try telling a [Tea Party] activist that they're an agent of the Koch family!" he says. "The Tea Party just can't be seriously controlled, only educated." 

The billionaire Koch brothers: Tea Party puppetmasters? - The Week threads merged


----------



## Chris (Aug 25, 2010)

The founder and chairman of Americans for Prosperity is oil baron David Koch, who is one of the richest men in the world because of his oil, chemicals, and manufacturing conglomerate Koch Industries. Koch Industries is a major polluter with an atrocious record of sloppy operations. According to the EPA, Koch Industries is responsible for over 300 oil spills in the US and has leaked three million gallons of crude oil into fisheries and drinking waters. They were fined a record $35 million dollars and an additional $8 million in Minnesota for discharging into streams. But AFP&#8217;s recent crusade against the EPA is just the latest in Koch&#8217;s twenty-year campaign to have unrestricted power to pollute. Below is a timeline with snapshots of Koch&#8217;s long running campaign to distort science, orchestrate fake grassroots campaigns, and defeat environmental protections. Click for the timeline:

Wonk Room  From Promoting Acid Rain To Climate Denial: Over 20 Years Of David Koch&#8217;s Polluter Front Groups


----------



## CrusaderFrank (Aug 25, 2010)

Thread merge on aisle 2

Yeah Koch sends us all a check to pretend we want limited government.

Moron.


----------



## Lonestar_logic (Aug 25, 2010)

Chris said:


> The New Yorker's Jane Mayer has investigated the political funding networks of Charles and David Koch, two of the wealthiest people in America and generous donors to conservative political causes. In her 6,000-word story, Mayer makes a case that the billionaire brothers have funded and fostered the Tea Party movement as a well-disguised means to pursue their private political agenda.
> 
> The Kochs promote global warming skepticism
> During the 1980s and 1990s, the brothers spent more than $100 million creating the "Kochtopus"  a term coined by critics to describe their "network" of ideologically motived organizations. In 2008, Mayer reveals, the three main Koch family foundations gave money to 34 political and policy organizations, many of which promote a skeptical view of global warming. The Kochs, for instance, funded the launch of the libertarian Cato Institute, which has been a fierce opponent of environmental reform. They also have given large sums to the Heritage Foundation and the Independent Women's Foundation, both doubters on the question of manmade climate change.
> ...



So?


----------



## teapartysamurai (Aug 25, 2010)

Global Warming skeptics, give money to the Tea Party!!!!!!!!!! 

Waging a war against Obama, aka GEORGE SOROS AGAINST BUSH??????????  

IT'S A CONSPIRACY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Egad liberals are such hypocrites!


----------



## Mr. H. (Aug 25, 2010)

Koch are hardly "big oil". Nice try.


----------



## Barb (Aug 25, 2010)

We knew it was really astro-turf.


----------



## CrusaderFrank (Aug 25, 2010)

Gunny, they're onto us. Should you tell them or should I that Koch pays me $14.95/ per post?


----------



## CrusaderFrank (Aug 25, 2010)

From the unread article, because Progressives never bother to read the articles and I'm convinced they harldy ever read their own posts

"*They funded a proto-Tea Party movement*
The brothers' first step into the political arena came in 1980, when they were the key backers of libertarian candidate Ed Clark's run for president against Ronald Reagan..."

What? I thought the Tea Party movement start because Obama's a ******?! What the fucking fuck? Why am I only finding this out now? They ran against Reagan!  OMG! They're Commies too!


----------



## Chris (Aug 25, 2010)

The oil money flows to the "conservative movements" so they can keep polluting without regulation.

The Republican base is being manipulated like puppets on a string, and they don't even know it.


----------



## CrusaderFrank (Aug 25, 2010)

Chris said:


> The oil money flows to the "conservative movements" so they can keep polluting without regulation.
> 
> The Republican base is being manipulated like puppets on a string, and they don't even know it.



Just read my post about Marxists body snatching the Dems, didya?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOKK8mAkiUI]YouTube - Wizard of Oz-- If I Only Had A Brain[/ame]


----------



## CrusaderFrank (Aug 25, 2010)

Er, the Koch Brothers pay all the Conservatives here $14.95/per post, right? I'm not the only one getting daily PayPal payments from "KochFundingTeaParty" am I?


----------



## California Girl (Aug 25, 2010)

uscitizen said:


> The tea party is not just made up of republicans, but it is mostly made up of republicans.  I would say that 80% of teapartiers voted for bush in 2000 and 2004.



I would say 80% of rdeans posts make sense. Wouldn't make it true.


----------



## Truthmatters (Aug 25, 2010)

California Girl said:


> And yet.... it is absolutely fine for Soros to be the puppetmaster behind the POTUS.
> 
> Personally, I find that far more important - and far less likely to be acknowledged by the lefties.



heres your problem , where is your proof of what you claim.

No you cant jsut say my daddy told me so.


----------



## Barb (Aug 25, 2010)

California Girl said:


> uscitizen said:
> 
> 
> > The tea party is not just made up of republicans, but it is mostly made up of republicans.  I would say that 80% of teapartiers voted for bush in 2000 and 2004.
> ...



You're right, it would more likely be 95%.


----------



## California Girl (Aug 25, 2010)

Political Junky said:


> The Tea Party claims to be grassroots. It's not.



You wish it wasn't. 

Stop taking your opinions from the borg and learn to research, analyze and think critically.


----------



## California Girl (Aug 25, 2010)

Truthmatters said:


> California Girl said:
> 
> 
> > And yet.... it is absolutely fine for Soros to be the puppetmaster behind the POTUS.
> ...



As I have said, many times, I research, analyze and THINK for myself. I expect others to do likewise. Your version of 'proof' is to link to some media where you got your 'facts' and 'opinions' from... half the time, you don't recognize the difference between a fact and an opinion. 

I learned - from my father... and certainly from my University professors (both in the US and in the UK) to develop the skill of critical thinking. It is by far the most valuable skill I have. Pity you cannot say likewise. Idiot.


----------



## Mr. H. (Aug 25, 2010)

Chris said:


> The oil money flows to the "conservative movements" so they can keep polluting without regulation.
> 
> The Republican base is being manipulated like puppets on a string, and they don't even know it.




That's rediculous. Oil and gas operations are one of the most heavily regulated industries in this country. It's one of the reasons that major ("big oil") companies have very few onshore operations in the lower 48. You can keep pretending to be knowledgable on such issues or you can make regular visits to sites like these:

RIGZONE - Your Gateway to the Oil & Gas Industry

World Oil: News for Oil and Gas Energy Companies, Industry, Drilling, Production

Oil &amp; Gas Journal Online: News for Oil and Gas Industry. Oil drilling; oil exploration and oil production


----------



## midcan5 (Aug 25, 2010)

Whiners and losers of the world unite, you only need a few billionaires to pull your strings.

Grassroots, yea sure! LMAO - corporate power LOL  


"Koch&#8217;s detractors also like to point out the irony of the so-called grassroots tea-party movement&#8217;s being funded by a billionaire. Koch&#8217;s real motives, they say, are self-serving. In April,* Fang posted a dossier on Koch that attributes to his groups a decades-long pattern of &#8220;Astroturfing&#8221;&#8212;funding movements designed to look grassroots, but which in fact represent corporate interests.* Richard Fink insists that Koch&#8217;s political activity is about principles, not money. &#8220;I view David as a courageous American who has a set of beliefs that he&#8217;s willing to support consistently over time despite all the flak he gets,&#8221; Fink says. &#8220;Very few people would do that.&#8221;"  How Oil Heir and New York Arts Patron David Koch Became the Tea Party's Wallet -- New York Magazine


----------



## uscitizen (Aug 25, 2010)

Yeah Koch bros is several billion into Formaldahyde manufacturing and trying to get a seat on the National Cancer Society with contributions.


----------



## Chris (Aug 26, 2010)

Charles Lewis, the founder of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said, &#8220;The Kochs are on a whole different level. There&#8217;s 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. I&#8217;ve been in Washington since Watergate, and I&#8217;ve never seen anything like it. They are the Standard Oil of our times.&#8221;

The billionaire Koch brothers : The New Yorker


----------



## uscitizen (Aug 26, 2010)

Now they are buying the tea Party


----------



## loosecannon (Aug 26, 2010)

The billionaire Koch brothers&#8217; war against Obama : The New Yorker

The article is too long and detailed to capture it's message in a few short soundbytes.

But suffice it to say that these guys manufactured the political opinions of half the folks on this board. 

A must read if you can read.


----------



## Oddball (Aug 26, 2010)

*snert*...A libertarian conspiracy....*chortle*


----------



## Kevin_Kennedy (Aug 26, 2010)

The Kochtopus vs. Murray N. Rothbard by David Gordon

Koch is not behind libertarianism in the U.S.


----------



## loosecannon (Aug 26, 2010)

read the article lest you look like a pair of drooling fools.


----------



## Kevin_Kennedy (Aug 26, 2010)

loosecannon said:


> read the article lest you look like a pair of drooling fools.



I suggest you read the article I posted lest you look like you know nothing of libertarianism or the history of the libertarian movement.


----------



## Oddball (Aug 26, 2010)

loosecannon said:


> read the article lest you look like a pair of drooling fools.


I read the article...It's chock full of all the usual leftist boogermen, ad hominems and cliches usually reserved for republicans.

Between the freaked out reaction by the neocons/Hannitoids to Ron Paul from the right and breathless paranoia like that piece from the left, I'm becoming more and more confident that the libertarian message and mindset is starting to gain some traction.

Thanks for sharing.


----------



## Samson (Aug 26, 2010)

loosecannon said:


> The billionaire Koch brothers war against Obama : The New Yorker
> 
> The article is too long and detailed to capture it's message in a few short soundbytes.
> 
> ...



"manufactured the political opinions?"

WTF is that supposed to mean????

NEWSFLASH, IDIOT:

No one had to "Manufacture" people's demand for responsible government.


----------



## Political Junky (Aug 26, 2010)

Pappy Koch was involved in the founding of the John Birch Society.
That organization was so right wingnut they claimed Eisenhower was a Communist.


----------



## Political Junky (Aug 26, 2010)

bigrebnc1775 said:


> bigrebnc1775 said:
> 
> 
> > So just because they contribute to conservative causes they are the puppet masters of the tea party? The tea party is not made up of just Conservatives. The tea party is more of a grass roots movement then acorn is or any democratic or liberal pushed movement.
> ...


You should prove her wrong.


----------



## Oddball (Aug 26, 2010)

Man, the moonbat conspiracy theories are coming fast and furious these days.


----------



## geauxtohell (Aug 26, 2010)

jillian said:


> California Girl said:
> 
> 
> > And yet.... it is absolutely fine for Soros to be the puppetmaster behind the POTUS.
> ...



Of course they don't.


----------



## Samson (Aug 27, 2010)

jillian said:


> California Girl said:
> 
> 
> > And yet.... it is absolutely fine for Soros to be the puppetmaster behind the POTUS.
> ...



It's "not a good comparison?" Because?:

1. Soros has NO personal agenda?

2. Only Soros is allowed to have a personal agenda?

3. The New Yorker Magazine hasn't written an article speculating Soro's personal agenda?

4. Obama hasn't expressed any public outrage regarding Soro's personal agenda?


----------



## CrusaderFrank (Aug 27, 2010)

No, seriously, am I the only one getting $24.95/per post deposits to my PayPal account from "Koch4TeaParty"?


----------



## editec (Aug 27, 2010)

bigrebnc1775 said:


> So just because they contribute to conservative causes they are the puppet masters of the tea party? The tea party is not made up of just Conservatives. The tea party is more of a grass roots movement then acorn is or any democratic or liberal pushed movement.


 
They didn't "just contribute", they are the authors of this movement.

_But hey_! ~ let's not let reality get in the way of your cherished beliefs, shall we?

Fake think tanks, fake populist movments, fake citizens organizations are tools the powerful create to galvanize the public.

Both powerbases create and use this fake movements.

I ought to know, I sat on the board of one of them.


----------



## Samson (Aug 27, 2010)

editec said:


> bigrebnc1775 said:
> 
> 
> > So just because they contribute to conservative causes they are the puppet masters of the tea party? The tea party is not made up of just Conservatives. The tea party is more of a grass roots movement then acorn is or any democratic or liberal pushed movement.
> ...



"Authors of this movement?"

You mean, like Adams, Hamilton, and Jefferson?

Or like Marx, and Lenin?

I'm not surprised that *any* political movement has "tools that the powerful create to galvanise the public." It's been going on before Nero paid for public spectacles in the colloseum.  

But I am surprised that the New Yorker, through quoting Obama, would have such a naive readership that they could be astonished, and outraged to discover thay THEY didn't have a monopoly on creating "REAL" movements......and all other movements must therefore be "fake."


----------



## Chris (Aug 27, 2010)

In 1958, Fred Koch became one of the original members of the John Birch Society, the arch-conservative group known, in part, for a highly skeptical view of governance and for spreading fears of a Communist takeover. Members considered President Dwight D. Eisenhower to be a Communist agent. In a self-published broadside, Koch claimed that &#8220;the Communists have infiltrated both the Democrat and Republican Parties.&#8221; He wrote admiringly of Benito Mussolini&#8217;s suppression of Communists in Italy, and disparagingly of the American civil-rights movement. &#8220;The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America,&#8221; he warned. 

The billionaire Koch brothers&#8217; war against Obama : The New Yorker


----------



## CrusaderFrank (Aug 27, 2010)

Chris said:


> In 1958, Fred Koch became one of the original members of the John Birch Society, the arch-conservative group known, in part, for a highly skeptical view of governance and for spreading fears of a Communist takeover. Members considered President Dwight D. Eisenhower to be a Communist agent. In a self-published broadside, Koch claimed that &#8220;the Communists have infiltrated both the Democrat and Republican Parties.&#8221; He wrote admiringly of Benito Mussolini&#8217;s suppression of Communists in Italy, and disparagingly of the American civil-rights movement. &#8220;The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America,&#8221; he warned.
> 
> The billionaire Koch brothers&#8217; war against Obama : The New Yorker



'll have them ******* voting Democratic for two hundred years" -- Dem Civil Rights Hero LBJ

"These Negroes, they're getting pretty uppity..."  Dem Civil Rights Hero LBJ

Also, feel free to check in on the McCarthy thread to how much Joe understated the Communist infiltration of the US government


----------



## Chris (Aug 27, 2010)

editec said:


> bigrebnc1775 said:
> 
> 
> > So just because they contribute to conservative causes they are the puppet masters of the tea party? The tea party is not made up of just Conservatives. The tea party is more of a grass roots movement then acorn is or any democratic or liberal pushed movement.
> ...



Corporate greed destroyed the economy, spilled 2 million barrels of oil in the Gulf, and funds most of the evil in America including the "Tea Party."

Fortunately there are a handful of people who shine a light on this dirty little corner of America. 

Go to The Center for Public Integrity


----------



## Samson (Aug 27, 2010)

Chris said:


> editec said:
> 
> 
> > bigrebnc1775 said:
> ...



You sad little naive fellow

The Center for Public Integrity "remains independent by:"



> building a strong and sustainable financial base of support, including a community of committed individuals and foundations



The executive director, Bill Buzenberg was 



> Vice President of News for National Public Radio, as well as an NPR foreign affairs correspondent and London bureau chief from 1978-1997. He was responsible for launching Talk of the Nation, as well as the expansion of All Things Considered and the extension of NPRs newscasts services to 24 hours a day.



Are you saying Buzenberg doesn't have an agenda?


----------



## Political Junky (Aug 27, 2010)

Chris said:


> In 1958, Fred Koch became one of the original members of the John Birch Society, the arch-conservative group known, in part, for a highly skeptical view of governance and for spreading fears of a Communist takeover. Members considered President Dwight D. Eisenhower to be a Communist agent. In a self-published broadside, Koch claimed that &#8220;the Communists have infiltrated both the Democrat and Republican Parties.&#8221; *He wrote admiringly of Benito Mussolini&#8217;s suppression of Communists in Italy*, *and disparagingly of the American civil-rights movement. &#8220;The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America,&#8221; he warned.
> *
> The billionaire Koch brothers&#8217; war against Obama : The New Yorker


Many Conservatives at that time admired Mussolini, and Hitler as well.


----------



## Samson (Aug 27, 2010)

Political Junky said:


> Chris said:
> 
> 
> > In 1958, Fred Koch became one of the original members of the John Birch Society, the arch-conservative group known, in part, for a highly skeptical view of governance and for spreading fears of a Communist takeover. Members considered President Dwight D. Eisenhower to be a Communist agent. In a self-published broadside, Koch claimed that the Communists have infiltrated both the Democrat and Republican Parties. *He wrote admiringly of Benito Mussolinis suppression of Communists in Italy*, *and disparagingly of the American civil-rights movement. The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America, he warned.
> ...



"MANY?"

How many?

Apparently, not that "many."



> zenith of the Bund's history occurred on President's Day, February 20, 1939 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Some _20,000 people _attended and heard Kuhn criticize President Franklin D. Roosevelt.



The US population in 1939 was about _132 million_


----------



## Political Junky (Aug 28, 2010)

Business Plot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## Zona (Aug 28, 2010)

bigrebnc1775 said:


> bigrebnc1775 said:
> 
> 
> > So just because they contribute to conservative causes they are the puppet masters of the tea party? The tea party is not made up of just Conservatives. The tea party is more of a grass roots movement then acorn is or any democratic or liberal pushed movement.
> ...



So?  What wasnt factual in that story?


Fail on your part.  If you can break down something that wasnt factual, then fail on your part.


----------



## Chris (Aug 28, 2010)

The pussy mods on this board put this thread into "conspiracy theories."

There is nothing untrue about this story at all, but the truth puts fear into the hearts of Republicans.


----------



## CrusaderFrank (Aug 28, 2010)

Chris said:


> The pussy mods on this board put this thread into "conspiracy theories."
> 
> There is nothing untrue about this story at all, but the truth puts fear into the hearts of Republicans.




*USMB Loves Chris's stand up comedy routine*


----------



## Chris (Aug 28, 2010)

It's amazing how easily people are manipulated by corporate money.

Thanks to FoxLies and those of their ilk.


----------



## CrusaderFrank (Aug 28, 2010)

CF made 18 posts yesterday and at his new rate per post of $34.95, today he received $629.10 in his PayPal account from KochBros4TeaParty


----------



## johnrocks (Aug 28, 2010)

Truth is, you gotta fight fire with fire, it takes massive amounts of money to fight the established parties and candidates, I'm glad that the libertarian movement has a couple of billionaires on their side, liberals don't seem to mind corporate money when it supports their causes,  if they do where is the thread knocking Warren Buffett ?


----------



## Bfgrn (Aug 28, 2010)

California Girl said:


> And yet.... it is absolutely fine for Soros to be the puppetmaster behind the POTUS.
> 
> Personally, I find that far more important - and far less likely to be acknowledged by the lefties.



George Soros is not one of the biggest polluters in America...the Koch brothers ARE. And they are spending millions to KEEP ON polluting.

WHY are you right wing pea brains so fucking stupid. You constantly support the people who are poisoning you.

It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.
Albert Camus

Koch Industries
*
Pollution*
Koch Industries is also a major polluter. During the 1990s, its faulty pipelines were responsible for more than 300 oil spills in five states, prompting a landmark penalty of $35 million from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In Minnesota, it was fined an additional $8 million for discharging oil into streams. During the months leading up to the 2000 presidential elections, the company faced even more liability, in the form of a 97-count federal indictment charging it with concealing illegal releases of 91 metric tons of benzene, a known carcinogen, from its refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. Koch Industries was ranked number 10 on the list of Toxic 100 Air Polluters by the Political Economy Research Institute in March, 2010.

In a study released in the spring of 2010, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst&#8217;s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the United States' top ten air polluters. 

*Republican Ties*
If convicted, the company faced fines of up to $352 million, plus possible jail time for company executives. After George W. Bush became president, however, the U.S. Justice Department dropped 88 of the charges. Two days before the trial, John Ashcroft settled for a plea bargain, in which Koch pled guilty to falsifying documents. All major charges were dropped, and Koch and Ashcroft settled the lawsuit for a fraction of that amount.

Koch had contributed $800,000 to the Bush election campaign and other Republican candidates.

*Climate Change Denial
*According to the 2010 report by Greenpeace, Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine, Koch has out-spent ExxonMobil in funding climate change denial. From 2005 to 2008, ExxonMobil spent $8.9 million, while the Koch Industries-controlled foundations contributed $24.9 million in funding to organizations of climate change skeptics. Efforts include:

    * ClimateGate Echo Chamber&#8212;At least twenty Koch-funded organizations have repeatedly rebroadcast, referenced and appeared as media spokespeople in the story, dubbed &#8220;ClimateGate,&#8221; of supposed malfeasance by climate scientists from stolen emails from the University of East Anglia in November 2009. These organizations claim the emails prove a &#8220;conspiracy&#8221; of scientists and "proves" climate change is a hoax.

 * More than $5 million to Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFP) for its nationwide  &#8220;Hot Air Tour&#8221; campaign to spreading misinformation about climate science and opposing clean energy and climate legislation.

    * More than $1 million to the Heritage Foundation, a mainstay of misinformation on climate and environmental policy issues.

    * Over $1 million to the Cato Institute, which disputes the scientific evidence behind global warming, questions the rationale for taking climate action, and has been heavily involved in spinning the recent ClimateGate story.

    * $800,000 to the Manhattan Institute, which has hosted Bjorn Lomborg twice in the last two years, a prominent media spokesperson who challenges and attacks policy measures to address climate change.

    * $365,000 to Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE), which advocates against taking action on climate change because warming is &#8220;inevitable&#8221; and expensive to address.

    * $360,000 to Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy (PRIPP) which supported and funded An Inconvenient Truth...or Convenient Fiction, a film attacking the science of global warming and intended as a rebuttal to former Vice-President Al Gore&#8217;s documentary An Inconvenient Truth. PRIPP also threatened to sue the U.S. Government for listing the polar bear as an endangered species.

    * $325,000 to the Tax Foundation, which issued a misleading study on the costs of proposed climate legislation.

The reports says such contributions are only part of the picture, because the full scope of direct contributions to organizations is not disclosed by individual Koch family members, executives, or from the company itself. But contributions through Koch&#8217;s political action committee (PAC) are a matter of public record. Since the beginning of the 2006 election cycle, Koch&#8217;s PAC spent more on contributions to federal candidates than any other oil-and-gas sector PAC. For that period, Koch Industries and its executives spent $2.51 million compared to next three biggest contributors: Exxon ($1.71 million), Valero ($1.68 million), and Chevron ($1.22 million).

Koch executives and their families wield political influence on climate change in other ways too, including direct federal lobbying and campaign contributions. Over the last few years, Koch Industries, Koch employees, and Koch family members:

    * Spent $37.9 million from 2006 to 2009 for direct lobbying on oil and energy issues, outspent only by ExxonMobil ($87.8 million) and Chevron Corporation ($50 million).

    * Spent $5.74 million in PAC money for candidates, committees, and campaign expenditures since the 2006 election cycle.

    * Contributed at least $270,800 to federal political party committees since the 2006 election cycle.

    * Gave $10,000 to Senator Lisa Murkowski in 2010, who, in January, proposed stripping the EPA of its ability to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, and lamented that BP's Deepwater Horizon oil disaster has temporarily halted exploratory offshore drilling in the arctic planned by Shell Oil for summer 2010, a topic that even many conservative opponents of climate action have remained silent on in the face of the unfolding historic despoiling of the gulf.


----------



## Samson (Aug 28, 2010)

Bfgrn said:


> California Girl said:
> 
> 
> > And yet.... it is absolutely fine for Soros to be the puppetmaster behind the POTUS.
> ...



Perhaps you haven't heard of the Environmental Protection Agency?

If they're not doing their job, then perhaps you need to petition to EPA, or their boss, Barak Hussein Obama.


----------



## Chris (Aug 28, 2010)

Bfgrn said:


> California Girl said:
> 
> 
> > And yet.... it is absolutely fine for Soros to be the puppetmaster behind the POTUS.
> ...



This post outlines quite well the nuts and bolts of it.


----------



## Political Junky (Aug 28, 2010)

Samson said:


> Bfgrn said:
> 
> 
> > California Girl said:
> ...


The Kochs want to abolish the EPA. Huge surprise.


----------



## Samson (Aug 28, 2010)

Political Junky said:


> Samson said:
> 
> 
> > Bfgrn said:
> ...



The EPA would like to abolish Koch.

But this has nothing to do with the OP.


----------



## georgephillip (Aug 29, 2010)

"Gus diZerga, the former friend, suggested that the Kochs' youthful idealism about libertarianism had largely devolved into a rationale for corporate self-interest.

"He said of Charles, 'Perhaps he has confused making money with freedom."

The billionaire Koch brothers


----------



## johnrocks (Aug 29, 2010)

I'm more of a fan of Mises but the Cato Institute serves a good purpose, he may very well be guilty of polluting and if so, he needs to be prosecuted but that isn't the only thing that a person can do that is wrong, look at Soros, he may not have polluted but he sure as hell has used his wealth to manipulate and influence economies and has been fined for that so what is worse, polluting the air or helping to bring the entire British economy to it's knees?


----------



## California Girl (Sep 7, 2010)

uscitizen said:


> Now they are buying the tea Party



You mean like Soros bought the Democratic Party? 

The ''3 monkey" approach of the left is hysterical.


----------



## California Girl (Sep 7, 2010)

Chris said:


> Bfgrn said:
> 
> 
> > California Girl said:
> ...



George Soros tanked the economy of an entire country - for profit. He wiped out the pensions, savings, and lives of millions of ordinary people - just to make money for himself. Of course, these people were not American so I guess they don't count. 

Honestly, the hypocrisy of the left just amazes me. Y'all claim to be the party of the little guy... the worker, the poor, the immigrant, those who cannot take care of themselves. What a crock of shit.


----------



## georgephillip (Sep 7, 2010)

The Koch brothers and George Soros are all billionaires who have recently benefited from tanking the global economy.

Maybe the problem lies with too many billionaires and too few jobs?


----------



## California Girl (Sep 7, 2010)

georgephillip said:


> The Koch brothers and George Soros are all billionaires who have recently benefited from tanking the global economy.
> 
> Maybe the problem lies with too many billionaires and too few jobs?



I am not referring to this recession. I'm referring to the destruction of the UK Economy and Sterling back in the 1990s.... That was a deliberate and calculated event - for which Soros is responsible - which wiped billions of £s off the UK stock market, did massive damage to it currency, and millions of ordinary, hard working Brits lost their savings, investments and pensions. But, at least they weren't Americans. 

The left make me sick with their morals.... They screech like scalded cats about ordinary Americans attending political events, believe whatever jack shit they are fed by a clearly left wing media... they have no problem whatsoever with scum like Soros pulling their strings and have the barefaced cheek to criticize the right. 

Fuck 'em.


----------



## CrusaderFrank (Sep 7, 2010)

I thought Richard Melon Scaife owned the Tea Party? Was there a takeover? Tender offer?


----------



## Oddball (Sep 7, 2010)

Bfgrn said:


> California Girl said:
> 
> 
> > And yet.... it is absolutely fine for Soros to be the puppetmaster behind the POTUS.
> ...


Sweet...They're anti-environmentalist whacko/Mathusian declinist moonbat.

I like 'em better already...Where do I send the check?


----------



## jillian (Sep 7, 2010)

uscitizen said:


> Interesting, thanks for the post.



it was interesting. and it was true. so i'm wondering why it was incorrectly put in this section. 

ah well..


----------



## georgephillip (Sep 7, 2010)

California Girl said:


> georgephillip said:
> 
> 
> > The Koch brothers and George Soros are all billionaires who have recently benefited from tanking the global economy.
> ...


This recession has resulted in trillions of dollars of wealth being transferred to billionaires (and others) like Soros and the Koch brothers.

 George deserves to die in prison for what he did to the UK economy, and Charles and David Koch, along with thousands of other Americans, deserve the same fate for their looting of the US.


----------



## sparky (Sep 15, 2010)

STATEMENT BY ROBERT REICH
JANUARY 9, 1999



          The power influence and control of the Federal Reserve Board has evolved to the point that the Congress has become irrelevant.  On January 7, 1999, Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, was quoted in the USA Today as follows:



          "The dirty little secret is that both houses of Congress have become irrelevant in case you hadn't noticed, America's domestic policy is now being run by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve Board...Congress is out of the loop. Every so often, some senators or house members politely ask Greenspan to visit and talk about the economyThen he goes back down to the Fed and runs the countryAmerica's foreign policy is being run by the IMF (Int'l Monetary Fundand when the president decides to go to war, he no longer needs a declaration of war from Congress."


anyone care to ask why i think this fits here?

~S~


----------



## georgephillip (Sep 16, 2010)

I think it fits for pretty much the same reason Obama's $50 billion "infrastructure" conspiracy does.

"I can smell the newest giveaway looming a mile off. The Wall Street bailout, health-insurance giveaway and *support of real estate prices rather than mortgage-debt write-downs* were bad enough, not to mention the Oil War&#8217;s Afghan extension. 

"But now comes a topper: the $50 billion transportation infrastructure plan that  Obama proposed in Milwaukee &#8211; cynically enough, on Labor Day. It looks like the Thatcherite Public-Private Partnership, Britain&#8217;s notorious giveaway to the City of London underwriters. 

"The financial giveaway had the effect of increasing prices for basic infrastructure services by building in heavy financial fees &#8211; *guaranteed for the banks, who lent the money that banks and property owners used to pay in taxes in more progressive times."*

Apparently we don't tax the rich anymore.

We borrow from them through the Fed.

Michael Hudson: Obama's...


----------

