Rachel Maddow: Billionaire Koch Bankrolls & Propagandizes Climate Denial

[Hissyspit]

Run time: 04:07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZBps7wfuwc   Posted on YouTube: April 01, 2010 By YouTube Member: firedoglake Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: April 01, 2010 By DU Member: Hissyspit Views on DU: 1188

 
MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show - 31 March 2010: Energy giant Koch Industries' lock on health care AstroTurf™ outfit AFP.

[Octafish]

1. Koch's an oil man.

A general concensus on Climate Change might lead to litigation against the person or persons responsible. Big Oil can't have that.

http://projects.publicintegrity.org/oil/report.aspx?aid=347

[Hissyspit]

5. Too bad it's not the whole segment. The interview was with a guy who says they learned their

propaganda techniques from the tobacco industry.

[graywarrior]

2. Birchers

[Grassy Knoll]

3. Buying the world........

[chill_wind]

4. This. Teabaggers. What DON'T they bankroll? Seriously- look at the money:

1) Cato Institute $8,450,000
2) Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation $6,025,375
3) George Mason University $2,311,149
4) George Mason University Foundation, Inc. $2,074,893
6) Heritage Foundation, The $1,004,000
7) Institute for Justice $1,000,000
8) Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment $810,000
9) Reason Foundation, The $642,000
10) Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, The $504,000
12) Institute for Humane Studies $455,000
13) Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy $385,000
14) Washington Legal Foundation $350,000
15) Capital Research Center $340,000
16) Competitive Enterprise Institute $254,460
20) Ethics and Public Policy Center, Inc. $190,000
22) National Center for Policy Analysis $175,000
23) Citizens for Congressional Reform Foundation $175,000
24) Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc. $125,000
25) American Legislative Exchange Council $120,000
26) Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty $115,000
28) Political Economy Research Center, Inc. $80,000
29) Media Institute $60,000
30) National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship $60,000
31) University of Chicago $59,000
32) Defenders of Property Rights $55,000
33) University of Kansas Endowment Assocation $50,000
36) Texas Public Policy Foundation $44,500
37) Center for Individual Rights, The $40,000
38) Heartland Institute $40,000
39) Texas Justice Foundation $40,000
40) Institute for Policy Innovation $35,000
42) Center of the American Experiment $31,500
43) Atlas Economic Research Foundation $28,500
44) Young America's Foundation $25,000
45) Henry Hazlitt Foundation $25,000
47) Atlantic Legal Foundation $20,000
48) National Taxpayers Union Foundation $20,000
49) Families Against Mandatory Minimums $20,000
50) Philanthropy Roundtable $19,200
51) Free Enterprise Institute $15,000
52) John Locke Foundation $15,000
53) Hudson Institute, Inc. $12,650
54) Alexis de Tocqueville Institution $12,500
55) National Environmental Policy Institute $12,500
56) Washington University $11,500
57) Pacific Legal Foundation $10,000
58) American Council for Capital Formation $10,000
60) Institute for Political Economy $8,000
62) State Policy Network $6,500
64) Fraser Institute, The $5,000
65) Mackinac Center, The $5,000
66) Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation $5,000
68) Institute for Objectivist Studies $5,000

Some additional recipients by amount granted by the Charles G. Koch Foundation http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientsoffunder.php?funderID=9

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

[Rage Inc.]

6. The Pause That Scalds Your Throat!

Koch is it!

[Overseas]

7. K&R. I hadn't realized Koch spent $50 million on climate change denial, even more than Exxon Mobil.

And I'm glad she pointed out the mechanism whereby investing your $50 million in 40 different groups makes it seem like climate change skepticism is more commonplace in the scientific community than it really is. Never mind that most of those groups didn't have climate scientists in them. Wow, look, there's still lots of skepticism, lines can be played because you can use press releases and quotes from 40 different groups. And they've been wildly successful in the USA at pumping up that impression, getting people to ignore visible climatic destabilization all around them. It doesn't hurt to have hundreds of right wing radio and TV hosts trumpeting their propaganda. To be followed up with a press release from a more neutral-sounding one of those 40 groups Koch funded for the conservative TV media like AOL/Time Warner (CNN), Walt Disney Company (ABC), General Electric (NBC) and Viacom (CBS) to talk about.

Sad but not surprising to see that Koch has also funded "Americans for Prosperity" , as they worked their magic to enrage desperate citizens to fight against using their tax dollars for national health security instead of war profiteering.

I thought Exxon Mobil had been very successful with their $18 million anti-science campaigning. Now I know it is because they had allies like Koch. The League of Professional Anti-Compassion. Sophisticated Plutocracy Protection.

Americans for Prosperity for Koch Industries.

Astroturf rallies dutifully written up in the conservative owned mass media as "genuine, spontaneous, grass roots sentiment." Even though the manner in which millions of PR dollars are applied very broadly to shape, push and simulate public opinion is a much more interesting story, as Rachel has shown time and again.



((Big Ten Media Ownership Chart http://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.html)