Apparently, $21.5 billion each for brothers Charles and David Koch, plus owning hundreds of new tea party politicians and the odd school board here and there, isn't enough to make them care less about criticism.A "conservative source" told Politico that the bros. were "rattled" by the new scrutiny they're under. "They somehow thought that they could run tens of millions of dollars in ads, but fly under the radar screen and that nobody was going to find out," said the source. "So they're scrambling now because they weren't nearly as prepared for the fallout as they should have been."
Politico's source chose to remain anonymous because the bros. "are known for retaliating against allies and former allies deemed insufficiently loyal. For instance, the source cited the company's investigation to determine who leaked a packet of Koch literature that included a list of the attendees of the previous donor meeting, held in June in Aspen, Colo., and an invitation from Charles Koch inviting potential participants to the Rancho Mirage meeting."
What's scarier to the Koch Bros. than Democratic government? Sign-waving liberals outside their posh resort and media reporters inside:
Inside the resort at the beginning of the conference, "there was an atmosphere almost of paranoia," said Gary Ferdman, a Common Cause official.
Ferdman had reservations at the resort and stayed there Thursday and Friday night. He said he was told Saturday that his lunch reservations at the resort restaurant had been canceled and was urged to check out and leave promptly by a member of Koch's large security detail.
Security manned every doorway and stairwell near the ballrooms where Koch events were held, and threatened to jail this POLITICO reporter while he waited in line at the resort's café, after he stopped by a Koch conference registration table.
The resort grounds were "closed for a private function," the resort's head of security, James Foster told POLITICO, ushering the reporter outside, where private security guards, wearing gold lapel pins bearing Koch's "K" logo, threatened "a citizen's arrest" and a "night in the Riverside County jail" if the reporter continued asking questions and taking photographs.
Hmm! Seems like they have a lot of allies among Mubarak's Egyptian elite and mimic their behavior. It is quite likely that they actually do business with them.
ReplyDeleteCould the security concern have anything to do with:
ReplyDelete1) the leftist activist just arrested for making death threats against a conservative congressman in Florida?
2) Calls in leftwing publication The Nation for Greek style riots (i.e. masked anarchists throwing molotov cocktails)?
3) Signs at the protest that the Koch Brothers are Nazis and should be castrated?
Nah, everyone knows that only wingnuts would ever be uncivil. DailyKos says so, it must be true.
This is the kind of government we can expect if the Koch Brothers succeed in buying the rest of The United States Government.
ReplyDeleteThey bought the local NC Representative and Senate and Ms Foxx has been in their pocket for sometime.
These people like the word Freedom only in the form of a campaign slogan but never actually practiced.
"2) Calls in leftwing publication The Nation for Greek style riots (i.e. masked anarchists throwing molotov cocktails)"
ReplyDeleteRubicon,
Show me the quote that says that.
amjp,
ReplyDeleteSure. Always happy to argue with evidence instead of insults. :) Though I don't mind insults as long as they're not boring.**
To help us get in the mood, we'll start with her May 2, 1966 piece in The Nation, where she says: "Advocacy must be supplemented by organized demonstrations to create a climate of militancy that will overcome the invidious and immobilizing attitudes which many potential recipients hold toward being "on welfare." No Greece yet, but we need a climate of militancy to further the goal of internal disruption of local bureaucratic practices and the collapse of current financing arrangements.
Oddly enough, I actually agree with those goals, but the point is that she ain't no blushing violet when it comes to calling for action. But wait...isn't that climate of militancy exactly what lefties accuse the right of creating? Does that mean Piven is actually a crypto-rightist? A sleeper agent of the VRWC put in place during the 1960s? Hmm...
But you wanted to know about Greece, so we must turn to her 1/17/2011 article in The Nation, where she says An effective movement of the unemployed will have to look something like the strikes and riots that have spread across Greece in response to the austerity measures forced on the Greek government by the European Union, or like the student protests that recently spread with lightning speed across England in response to the prospect of greatly increased school fees. Ah. An effective movement for economic justice will look like...wait for it...riots that spread across Greece. Okay, you got me, I said "Greek Riots" and she said "riots across Greece." Mea culpa.
If you don't read the news and need help figuring out how many innocent people the rioters have killed, or whether they've been playing with fire, report back and I'll try to provide some citations.
But wait, I hear you protest feebly. She didn't really mean the "bad" sort of riots. It's never fun to reduce the amount of idealism in this world, but I'm going to have to point you to the last paragraph in her article, where she says she hopes for demonstrations like the angry street mobs in Athens.
Allow me to summarize. Angry. Street Mob. Riots.
Any questions?
I'm sure you will want to check my quotations, so here are the URLs.
1966 article: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/24-4
2011 article: http://www.thenation.com/article/157292/mobilizing-jobless
**Kudos for "Rubicon." I kinda like that, actually.
Geez Rubicon,
ReplyDeleteWay to kill a debate with the perfect post.
Liberal POV, the US government has already been bought off and hijacked.
ReplyDeleteThis process began in earnest by the early twentieth century.
Leftwing mobs can be quite uncivil as the French aristocracy learned in 1789. Rightwing mobs can also be deadly as many black Americans learned during the pre-civil rights era. Roiling up the mob is a dangerous business and that's why rule of law and reason is a much safer alternative. Try telling that to Coulter, Beck,Limbaugh, and all the other rightwing roilers. The delicious irony is that the Koch brothers and others at the meeting are the main funders and backers of the rightwing fear and smear-mongers who are so expert at rousing blind passions.
ReplyDelete" Rightwing mobs can also be deadly as many black Americans learned during the pre-civil rights era"
ReplyDeleteBrushfire, lest you forget Republicans freed the slaves, and the late Senator Byrd from West Virginia was a grand dragon in the KKK. Republicans have far fewer "mobs" than Democrats.
Mike - Do you claim that the Republican party of Lincoln in 1865 is the same as the Republican party of Limbaugh today?
ReplyDeleteReally?
I do not know who has posted under my name, but the above post is definitely not mine. It doesn't even sound like me. I would not use a word combination like "lest you forget", and I would not have inserted superfluous quotation marks around the word "mobs" (here, however, quotation marks are more useful). Hehe.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason the above post is not mine and should not be attributed to me:
ReplyDeleteI do not get bogged down by the Republican good, Democrat bad / Democrat good, Republican bad bickering of the partisan politics that consumes this forum.
I discuss ideas, not platforms.
So, any ideas who posted as me?
It is not a Democrat good/Republican bad that consumes this forum, only a search for what is right and just. Mike D, the above commentary seems like something you said, so take responsiblity for it. What you say about Senator Byrd does have some merit so entertain us and tell us your ideas on that point.
ReplyDeleteOatz,
ReplyDeleteLol. I swear, it was not I who posted that. I do not even know what a "grand dragon" is!
What I do know is this: In every photograph I have seen from every Tea Party protest, I have not seen a single individual who conceals his or her face. It is a common occurrence to see covered faces at leftist protests. If you are ashamed or worried that your protesting might involve illegal behavior, perhaps you should take a look at your entire movement, and try to figure out how it can be so badly flawed.