Posts
David Letterman: "Hookers in Times Square, God bless 'em, are offering a Mitt Romney Special. For an extra $20 they'll change positions."
"People say that Rick Perry may have been drunk at an appearance. Well, take a look at those poll numbers. I'd be drunk too."
"When Herman Cain was in charge of the National Restaurant Association, there were allegations of sexual harassment. They have revealed one came from Sara Lee."
"President Obama had his physical today. His cholesterol is down, blood pressure down, approval rating down. He's fit and eats healthy food, and Fox News says that proves he's not an American."
Jay Leno: "President Obama invited trick-or-treaters to the White House Saturday night and they had a very scary party. They sat in a circle, turned off all the lights and the kids read the president his poll numbers."
"Earlier tonight, a bunch of rich kids came to my door, took all my candy and the other 99 percent of the kids in the neighborhood are now occupying my lawn."
"The economy is still hurting. Thirty percent of Americans are so disillusioned, they are thinking of moving back to Mexico."
"Two women have accused Herman Cain of sexually suggestive behavior in the '90s. He said no. He was just explaining to them his 69-9-9 plan."
"Herman Cain told a group of Occupy Wall Street protesters to go home, get a job, and get a life. That's the Republican version of hope and change, ladies and gentlemen."
Friday, November 04, 2011
Friday Funnies: Nothing Special Edition
Occupy The Koch Brothers—And Stop The American Nightmare
by ijpoole Thu Nov 03, 2011
The very name of a Washington conservative conference this weekend is the height of subterfuge. It's called the "Defending the American Dream" conference, which is not about defending the actual American dreams of most Americans (the focus of our own "Take Back the American Dream" conference), sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, which is not an organization that promotes what is needed for broad American prosperity.
This actually is the latest effort by the billionaire Koch brothers, founders and key funders of Americans for Prosperity, and their corporate and political allies to hijack our democracy and pillage our economy. It's their attempt to perpetuate an American nightmare of continued income inequality and a government held hostage to the whims of elites. It is thus a perfect target for the latest Occupy-style protest.
The Other 98% and Health Care for America Now are sponsoring a "Koch Brothers Guerrilla Drive-In" Friday evening at the Washington Convention Center, where the conference is being held. The plan is to have an outdoor showing of a documentary on how the Kochs are using their fortune to pursue their grotesque mangling of American democracy.
The conference itself brings together many of the players in and elements of their grand scheme. For example, there is James O'Keefe, the person who dressed up as a pimp in a scheme to get damaging video footage for his scurrilous slander of the group ACORN, doing a lecture on "investigative journalism." There's Grover Norquist on a panel on "pro-growth tax reform." (He's lately been championing Texas Gov. Rick Perry's "flat tax" plan, which would allow the wealthy to slash their tax payments and would explode the federal deficit, forcing Norquist's longtime shrink-government-and-drown-it-in-the-bathtub objective.) There's Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on a panel on the Environmental Protection Agency's "job-crushing regulatory assault"; he will be speaking on behalf of the Koch brothers, his leading campaign contributor, and the oil and gas industry, his biggest source of campaign cash. At least two Republican presidential candidates, Mitt Romney and Herman Cain, are also scheduled to appear.
No conservative conference is complete without the deification of Ronald Reagan, and there will be plenty of that going on at the Friday night "Tribute to Ronald Reagan" dinner, which will be followed by a screening of "Atlas Shrugged." (No, I am not making this up.)
But what makes this conference significant is not the tired repetition of right-wing bumper-sticker slogans, the over-the-top characterizations of Obama administration policy or the pathetic preening of presidential candidates to show off how extreme they can be. It is the very real damage that the Koch brothers and the forces that this conference is assembling are doing to our economy and to the 99 percent of us for whom the American dream of economic security is becoming increasingly out of reach.
Consider what the Koch brothers have actually been "defending":
• Their $45 million effort to buy control of Congress. That's the amount of money Forbes magazine says Americans for Prosperity spent in the 2010 elections. That money helped Republicans control the House with the most extreme group of conservatives elected in modern history. With this group firmly in control, every effort by the Obama administration to move legislation to revive the economy has been thwarted and previous successes in health care and financial reform have come under unrelenting attack. The stream of anti-regulation, anti-labor legislation passed by the Tea Party-besotted House is pretty much lifted straight from the Koch brothers legislative agenda.
• The destructive efforts of the American Legislative Exchange Council to co-opt state and local governments. Rather than promoting state and local governments as entities that are particularly equipped to respond to the public interest because of their proximity to the people, ALEC mounts campaigns that leave state and local governments facilitating private greed rather than serving the public good. In August The Nation's Lisa Graves explained that "of all the Kochs’ investments in right-wing organizations, ALEC provides some of the best returns: it gives the Kochs a way to make their brand of free-market fundamentalism legally binding." Examples include legislation that allows energy companies to avoid fines for polluting, that push privatization of public education, and that prevent states and localities from regulating the rogue behavior of financial institutions.
• ALEC's efforts to suppress voter turnout. The Koch brothers' fingerprints are all over the efforts by various Republican governors and legislatures to pass voter ID laws that use trumped-up allegations of voter fraud to deliberately disenfranchise voters most likely to oppose their agenda. "It was ALEC’s draft legislation that inspired a spate of recently passed voter ID laws that, if allowed to stand, are expected to marginalize the impact of students and people of color at the polls in Texas, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Kansas," Adele Stan reported for the AFL-CIO blog. Patrick Caldwell at the American Prospect wrote that "the rules are often configured specifically to favor the Republican base at the expense of excluding likely Democrats."
• Their assault on public workers. Scott Walker won the governorship of Wisconsin and the ability to execute his attack on public workers there with the help of $43,000 in direct contributions from the Koch Industries political action committee and indirectly through the $1 million that Koch's PAC gave to the Republican Governors Association. The Kochs are also major supporters of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who earlier this year credited "the strong support" of Americans for Prosperity for his now faltering attempt to strip Ohio state workers of their bargaining rights.
• The dominance of extremist candidates in the 2012 presidential race. Koch bothers money can be found in the pockets of at least three of the most extreme Republican presidential candidates: Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and, especially, Herman Cain.Rachel Maddow reported that the Cain connections include a campaign manager from the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a now ex-spokesperson from another Americans for Prosperity affiliate, and the economic advisor who came up with Cain's infamous "9-9-9" tax plan, who was a member of Americans for Prosperity's advisory board. This is no surprise, because, as the Associated Press has reported, Cain has historically been a shill for the Americans for Prosperity legislative agenda. The Kochs have said they will pour at least $200,000 into the 2012 presidential campaign. "At least" is the operative phrase; expect the Kochs to funnel millions of dollars into the 2012 campaign through a variety of channels, most of which—thanks in part to the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling—will be unrestricted and largely untraceable.
• Their ability to violate the law with impunity, and to punish those who hold them accountable. A Bloomberg Markets magazine investigation published in October calls it "the Koch method," in which employees of the brothers' oil and gas companies "were shown by their managers how to steal and cheat." The stealing and cheating, according to Bloomberg, ranged from not paying royalties for oil extracted from federal land to bribing foreign officials to win contracts—and firing the company compliance officer who discovered the bribes and called them to the attention of top corporate officials. "For six decades around the world, Koch Industries has blazed a path to riches -- in part, by making illicit payments to win contracts, trading with a terrorist state, fixing prices, neglecting safety and ignoring environmental regulations. At the same time, Charles and David Koch have promoted a form of government that interferes less with company actions," the magazine wrote.
Unregulated, unaccountable corporations. Extremist elected officials who disdain the concept of a government serving the common good. Workers stripped of the ability to negotiate collectively for fair pay, working conditions and benefits. Hundreds of millions of corporate dollars drowning out the voices of working-class and middle-class people. Voters forced to jump over ever-higher obstacles to vote for candidates who represent them, assuming those candidates can even get on ballots. This is the Koch brothers' dystopia. What they are defending is indefensible.
For at least a few hours on Friday evening, the Washington Convention Center should be the focus of Occupy movement and its allies, for the Koch brothers embody just about everything the Occupy movement is against—members of the 1 percent who act as if our economy and our democracy should be their personal servant, and that the 99 percent should feel satisfied with the crumbs off their table.
It is time for us to declare that we are the real Americans for prosperity, those of us who believe that workers should receive a fair wage for a fair day's work and be treated with dignity; that companies should be accountable for the harm that they do to people and the environment; that health care is a basic right for every person; that the education of our children shouldn't be turned into yet another corporate profit center; that government can and should work for all of the people, not the privileged few; that our democracy is the property of the people and cannot be owned by those with the most money.
We cannot allow the Koch brothers' so-called "American dream" to continue to be our national nightmare.
TAKE ACTION
Occupy the Kochs Guerrilla Drive-In
6 p.m. Friday, November 4
Washington Convention Center (Parking lot near 7th and L Street NW entrance)
Updates: Text @GuerrillaTeamDC to 23559
Sean McMartin contributed to this article. This originally appeared on OurFuture.org
Originally posted to Isaiah J. Poole on Thu Nov 03, 2011
Also republished by American Legislative Transparency Project and Community Spotlight.
The Koch Brothers And ALEC…
…. influence runs very deep throughout corporate America and the American system of government, including the United States Supreme Court. This “ cabal “ of conservative, right-wing influence even stretches across the Atlantic.
It is suggested that the following be spread around as much as possible to those who keep up with the political scene in the United States.
This post is a long read.
Koch/ALEC Cabal - a Smoking Gun for financial connections and control...
by Bob Sloan Wed Nov 02, 2011
Many have fought long and hard to prove connections between Charles and David Koch and the various Conservative Right Wing groups, organizations, foundations and Main Stream Media outlets. Hours and in some instances months of deep research has come away with bits and pieces of the involvement of Koch with the various suspect groups. The most that is usually found is a trace of periodic or sporadic funding from one of the numerous Koch held "Foundations" to the individual entities suspected of deeper connections to Koch.
The question of ties between the Conservative Right Wing think tanks, "grass root" activism and Koch money resulted in my coming at the subject from a different angle altogether. I was looking for not only some form of monetary support but control as well - a way in which Koch money not only funded activities of specific entities, but was able to maintain some form of controlling those activities and "keeping an eye" on their investments.
I believe I found the answers to these two key questions.
Many wonder how Davy Boy and Ol' Chucky ensure that they get their money's worth out of the organizations they fund and support. How do they control the work or dissemination of Conservative "messages"? I found their operation is much simpler and more effective than many would believe and done through a system that has virtually been ignored by media and most researchers. Going at it the way I did I also uncovered how they are able to have additional control over what is printed about them in corporate controlled media outlets - print, TV and other formats.
It begins with Koch's Institute For Humane Studies. IHS describes their mission as:
"Mission
The mission of IHS is to support the achievement of a freer society by discovering and facilitating the development of talented students, scholars, and other intellectuals who share an interest in liberty and in advancing the principles and practice of freedom."Each year IHS awards over $750,000 in scholarships to students from universities around the world. IHS also sponsors the attendance of hundreds of students at its summer seminars and provides various forms of career assistance, including sponsored internships, to students and recent graduates pursuing careers in academia, journalism, and public policy. Through its programs, the Institute promotes the study of liberty across a broad range of disciplines, encouraging understanding, open inquiry, rigorous scholarship, and creative problem-solving."
IHS lists 96 - that's right - 96! organizations that Koch provides "internships" to. They pay these interns $10.00 per hour each and that helps keep the payroll costs down for the organizations where they're placed. It also allows Koch to have direct inside information about the ongoing activities and efforts being conducted in each of those organizations, foundations and "charities".
The list begins here: http://www.theihs.org/.... You'll notice that all the usual suspects we've come to know and expect listed here - plus a few that have so far slipped under everyone's radar. Fourth on the list is ALEC:
"American Legislative Exchange Council
(Washington, DC) The mission of the American Legislative Exchange Council is to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty, through a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America's state legislators, members of the private sector, the federal government, and general public. The council works with state legislators from all parties and members of the private sector who share ALEC's mission. The council conducts a policy making program that unites members of the public and private sectors in a dynamic partnership to support research, policy development, and dissemination activities. The council also prepares the next generation of political leadership through educational programs that promote the principles of Jeffersonian democracy. www.alec.org"
There are page after page of these "affiliates" Koch provides intern staffing to annually. This is bad enough - but as with so much else, it gets so much worse...
Many - including myself - have complained for years about our main stream media refusing to report on Koch activities, ALEC's pro-corporate legislation and in general ignoring anything negative to the Conservative far right groups. Perhaps the second "Scholarship" program of the IHS helps shed some well needed sunlight on why this problem with the MSM exists. IHS scholarships include placement in newspaper, broadcast, digital and investigative media outlets.
IHS also funds "scholarships" (there's the same term used by ALEC to excuse their funding of travel and meeting attendance expenses for legislators, indicating "education" rather than programming) for what they term their "Journalism Internship Program": http://www.theihs.org/.... Have you ever written a letter to the editor, sent a query about ALEC to your local newspaper or TV affiliate? And when you got no response or were ignored and wondered if your letter got to the Editor, producer or other executive, did you ever wonder who actually opened your email or letter? That's right, interns. Journalism interns receive an additional $3,000 + stipend along with per travel and other expenses.
Realizing that this is not some intern program that just began...was started last year, or in 2000...but rather has been ongoing through IHS since 1961 when it was founded, helps explain how conservatives have been able to work their way through the media and insinuate themselves throughout our media. Graduates of the internship program also now have jobs as legislative assistants, aides to lawmakers, hold key positions throughout the U.S. and state government agencies and departments. These men and women have been trained, indoctrinated and groomed to go out and take their places as the next - and next - generations of Conservative Right Wingers.
At first blush, some may think how widespread could such influence possibly be? How can a simple "intern" program be used to disseminate a Conservative Right Wing agenda across the country and throughout various businesses, organizations, and our media?
When researching IHS on Muckety I found their description of IHS as:
Muckety metrics:
Connections: Institute for Humane Studies has direct or once-removed relationships with 51 people, organizations or other entities in our database of the most influential people in America. Under a scoring system that gives more weight to direct links, this score is higher than 62% of all entries.People related to Institute for Humane Studies:
Richard H. Fink - director
Other current Institute for Humane Studies relationships:
Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation - funder
George Mason University - programMuckety connection score: 62
Here is a link to the basic view of the IHS chart:
An extended or exploded view of the connections to everyone and every organization affiliated with IHS through Charles G. Koch:
At the Muckety map link you can scroll down and all the individuals, organizations, foundations and connections are listed. Mouse over each entry on this huge list of connections and it will provide the affiliations for that person, group, foundation etc. This is a HUGE data base compiled just from the Koch affiliations through the Institute for Humane Studies. Many will be surprised to see the links and named individuals connected.
Lots of connections through Ol' Chucky and his foundations. Let's take a closer look at how widespread his influence is. Again using the Muckety data base I clicked on Charles Koch Charitable foundation and got this return:
Muckety metrics:
Connections: Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation has direct or once-removed relationships with 398 people, organizations or other entities in our database of the most influential people in America. Under a scoring system that gives more weight to direct links, this score is higher than 98% of all entries.Muckety connection score: 98
Those interested can follow this link and click on the interactive map and become overwhelmed - I did that and the expanded map with named affiliations won't fit on this page. I did do some one by one:
CATO Institute (Muckety rating 97%:
Federalist Society (Muckety rating 99%!!
So far the connections demonstrate a vast wealth of business, corporate and legislative affiliations and influence - from think tanks, to media and wealthy and powerful individuals within society and business. This is the circle within which the interns selected by IHS begin to become acclimated. First they work for these organizations and individuals, then many go on to become clerks for legislators, judges and aides to others. As IHS advertises, the careers and career path of many chosen as interns begin with that internship. Many possibly find their way to invitations to the various groups and organizations affiliated with Koch - such as the Federalist Society.
The Federalist Society - where all the big boys of Conservativism meet, hang out and discuss advancing their ideologies and agenda. Koch supported and funded. Of late we've read several articles about the membership of SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas in the Federalist Society:
"Charlottesville - Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke at a banquet last night sponsored by the conservative Federalist Society lambasting critics who accuse him of impartiality because of his attendance at a meeting with the Koch brothers."Thomas' membership in the Federalist Society is confirmed by Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/...
At Muckety the chart shows no direct link between Thomas and the FS, but provides his relations hip rating as 96% and his influence rating as 92%. Here is his basic chart:
But when you expand the chart through his current and ongoing relationship with Clerks and his good friend, Harlan R. Crow, that changes dramatically. For instance several of his clerks shown in the above chart were also George Mason University Professors and/or Federalist Society members like Steven G. Bradbury (FS member), Michael E. O'Neill (GMU Law Professor) and Neomi Rao (GMU Law Professor) was a Republican witness against Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice.
Here is Ms. Rao's Muckety chart:
When I looked at the Harlan R. Crow chart from Muckety I had an OMG moment. Knowing Thomas' wife worked for the Heritage Foundation, was heavily funded by Conservatives and especially Harlan Crow:
I began to get a more complete, and truly frightening picture. There at the center surrounding Harlan Crow and Clarence Thomas were all the foundations: Castle Rock, Charles Koch, Scaife, Searle and Bradley. Most of the Conservative think tanks and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (remember what the did to Kerry?), American Enterprise Institute, National Center for Policy Analysis and Progress for America Voter Fund! Alongside the funders were all the names associated with Conservative influence in America - and some internationally.
Additionally, we have SCOTUS Justice Antonin Scalia who is also a member of the Federalist Society: http://www.fed-soc.org/... along with Samuel Alito: http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/....
Who would believe that this trail from lowly interns would lead all the way to our Supreme Court and into the heart of the Conservative Cabal like never before.
For those who have not seen or don't remember the ALEC connections to all this, here it is expanded and found at: http://my.muckety.com/...
ALEC is the "legislative" arm of the cabal, writing the pro-corporate pro-conservative legislation that become the law of our states and nation. George Mason University is the center of influence upon our Judiciary; seminars, internship programs such as the IHS and their Law Education Center used to "educate" judges. Kansas University named in the IHS chart has a "Shook, Hardy & Bacon Center for Excellence in Advocacy". Most who have studied ALEC know that Shook, Hardy and Bacon's two top lobbyists and partners, Victor Schwartz and Mark Behrens represent ALEC in the filing of briefs, Schwartz is the Chairman of the Civil Justice Task Force and Behrens serves as the "Advisor" on that same ALEC task force. Behrens is one of two SHB lobbyists who got caught lobbying for ALEC in ND in 2009 on Asbestos legislation proposed by ALEC and under consideration in that state at the time.
So we have an intricately and well organized web stretching from the Koch brothers HQ in Kansas all the way through our state legislators, to the U.S. Congress and beyond that right into the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court...and to add insult to injury that influential web crosses the Atlantic in the form of the recently closed Atlantic Bridge Charity operated by/with ALEC. This "Charity" was just closed down and the UK with the Minister of Defense resigning in the midst of a scandal that continues to widen and encompass more of Britain's top government officials, ALEC and some of their corporate members.
The foregoing is why I and many others have tried to convince Democrats - and especially Progessives in the Party to put aside their differences and pool resources and organize a defense against the cabal. As this shows, they are anything but disorganized or under funded in their activities. They may prevail unless we stop beating on them with twigs and begin finding 2" x 4"'s to hit back with. To continue to battle them separately on teachers fighting over their education legislation, unions fighting on collective bargaining, students fighting back over voter suppression is to fight their fight. This is what they anticipate and are prepared to overcome. This cabal has the money, influence and power all concentrated in the hands of Ol' Chucky and Davy Boy. They have gathered the major Conservative family foundations to their side to fund, have used that money to buy further influence within each state, our Congress, the state/federal judiciary and the Supreme Court.
To rebut our identifying all this power and influence the Conservatives rebut that by using George Soros' name as doing the same thing for the Liberals and Progressives...I only frigging wish he would!
If/when we come together and unify and take it to them on a national platform, that will be something they will have never anticipated - because Progressives can never quit quibbling amongst themselves and unify. If this is done, they will be caught flat footed and have to develop other initiatives and plans to prevail. Let's not fight their fight any longer...
5:18 PM PT: The poll question disappeared when I published it. Here is the question I posed: "Is the term "Cabal" an accurate description of the entire network put together by Koch and ALEC?"
Originally posted to Bob Sloan on Wed Nov 02, 2011
Also republished by American Legislative Transparency Project, Earthship Koch, In Support of Labor and Unions, Occupy Virtual America: Progressive State Groups Newsletter, Class Warfare Newsletter: WallStreet VS the Working Class Occupy movement., and Community Spotlight.
A Jobs Bill From The House Of Representatives?
The things that these frauds will do to kiss up to their “ Christian “ base and to avoid working on a jobs bill that makes any sense. I include the Democrats in the House also, since this bill was passed by a vote of 396 to 9 on Wednesday, November 3.
Kaili Joy Gray spells this bullshit bill out for you.
Vote affirming 'In God We Trust' motto is a jobs plan. Sort of.
No, this is not a story from The Onion. It is an actual bill, introduced by an actual member of the House, actually debated by other members of the House—for 35 minutes—and actually passed by a vote of 396 to 9 yesterday.
Thanks to the hardworking members of the House, "In God We Trust" is our official national motto. Still.
Of course, “In God We Trust” already is the national motto, guaranteed by an act of Congress in 1956.And “In God We Trust” had already been reaffirmed once before as the national motto, by another act of Congress in 2002.
No matter, because the country obviously needed a third act of Congress to make it really, really, really clear that this is our motto. And it allowed members of Congress to pontificate on some of the deeper philosophical issues that face every American:
“Is God God? Or is man God? In God do we trust, or in man do we trust?” said Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.). He was laying out the deeper meaning behind this debate — saying it was a chance for the House to reassert that it believes there is divine goodness and order in the universe.If there isn’t, Franks said, “we should just let anarchy prevail because, after all, we are just worm food. So indeed we have the time to reaffirm that God is God and in God do we trust.”
But spending time on this critical issue isn't just about God God. Or man God. Or completely redundant, symbolic, meaningless gestures intended to give members of Congress something—anything—to do other than focus on jobs. No, this reaffirmation of the reaffirmation of the national motto has real-life, very practical applications. After all, when the Republicans took control of the House, they promised to strictly adhere to the Cantor Rule:
“Each day, we will hold ourselves accountable by asking the following questions: Are our efforts addressing job creation and the economy; are they cutting spending; and are they shrinking the size of the federal government while protecting and expanding individual liberty?” Cantor said at the beginning of this term. “If not, why are we doing it?”
Cantor's office did not explain how the "In God We Trust" re-reaffirmation addresses job creation and the economy, but the bill's sponsor, Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) did:
Forbes, the bill’s sponsor, said it would inspire Americans in tough economic times. “Our citizens need that kind of hope,” he said, “and that kind of inspiration.”
So the next time you're applying for a job, or calculating whether you can afford rent and electricity, or hoping your health insurer will cover that new medication you need (if you're lucky enough to be insured), just think of God—that's God God, not man God—and trust in Him, and enjoy that hope and inspiration you now have to get you through the tough times, courtesy of the House of Representatives.
