Koch Brothers and US Chamber: Polluting Our Earth and Our Democracies

[marmar]

via AlterNet:




GreenBiz.com / By Bill McKibben

Koch Brothers and US Chamber: Polluting Our Earth and Our Democracies
The Kochs are right up there now with the great plutocrats of American history, a 21st century version of the robber barons.

March 13, 2011 |


Among other truths made completely clear by the showdown in Wisconsin: the outsized role of the Koch brothers in American politics.

Charles and David, the third and fourth richest men in America, first gained notoriety in the fall, when a remarkable expose by Jane Mayer in the New Yorker showed how they'd funded not only the Tea Party but also the hydra-headed campaign to undermine the science of global warming, all in the service of even more profit for their oil and gas business.

But it was in Wisconsin that the down-and-dirty details of their operation began to emerge -- they'd not only funded the election campaigns of the governor and the new GOP legislature, but also an advertising effort attacking the state's teachers. They'd helped pay for buses to ferry in counter-protesters. We were even treated to the sight of new Governor Scott Walker fawning over them in what turned out to be a hoax phone call. The Kochs are right up there now with the great plutocrats of American history, a 21st century version of the robber barons.

The trouble is, they don't care. And they don't really have to care. Their business is privately held and answers to no one. Last week their spokesman said they would "not step back at all ... This is a big part of our life's work. We are not going to stop." So those of us who care about things like the climate will need to go on tracking them. But we'll also need to pay attention to their ideological twin, the Pepsi to their Koch. It's the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/150231/koch_brothers_and_us_chamber%3A_polluting_our_earth_and_our_democracies/

[PA Democrat]

1. The Kochs claim that they don't care, but I think they DO care.

These are people with enormous egos and they want people to admire them. David Koch at the opening the cancer research center at M.I.T. (which of course bears his name) made this remark:

“I read stuff about me and I say, ‘God, I’m a terrible guy,’ ” he said. “And then I come here and everybody treats me like I’m a wonderful fellow, and I say, ‘Well, maybe I’m not so bad after all.’ ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/us/05koch.html?_r=1

[old mark]

2. One of the main objectives of the teabaggers in congress now is to end the EPA...

I will never understand how they think or can justify their beliefs or actions...or if they even bother to do so.
K&R
mark

[pscot]

3. Sucking up to money

is as Amerikan as apple pie.