The baggers remain in denial about how much they are being manipulated by the brothers Koch. Now a report from Bloomberg News has tied the Kochs to a number of criminal activities.
So far the only right-wing outlet that has reacted to this story is Breitbart, wherein someone has creatively re-written the Bloomberg story to make it sound as if the poor Kochs are just being picked on and Bloomberg News is part of the world Communist conspiracy.
Someone should investigate how much funding Breitbart is getting from the Koch brothers. Not that such information would make a dent in the true faith of the baggers, but I’d be interested.
Update: BTW, I forgot to mention,
The most visible part of Koch Industries is its consumer brands, including Lycra fiber and Stainmaster carpet. Georgia- Pacific LLC, which Koch owns, makes Dixie cups, Brawny paper towels and Quilted Northern bath tissue.
Boycott.
Update: see also “The Koch Brothers Vast Right-Wing Media Conspiracy” and a news items about Breitbart’s presence at a “strategic gathering” hosted by the Koch Brothers.
Update: The Randbots libertarians at Hit and Run have picked up the “Kochs are innocent victims of a liberal smear” meme and are running with it. Their creative reading of the Bloomberg piece is that yes, some unethical activity was uncovered, but the company discovered it and dealt with it. That does hold any water held up against the Bloomberg article, but I assume most of the baggers will never read the Bloomberg article. That would require, you know, reading.
David Koch sits on the board of Reason magazine, which is home to Hit and Run.
Georgia-Pacific also makes Vanity Fair paper plates. At my local grocery store last week, shoppers had almost cleaned the shelves of VF products while ignoring Dixie. It may have been because there was a sale on VF, making it temporarily cheaper than Dixie. But I suspect at least some were boycotting Dixie while failing to notice that VF is another Georgia-Pacific brand. Be an informed boycotter — read the fine print on the package to find out which corporation makes the brand.
I didn’t know the Kochs owned Georgia-Pacific, but that makes sense. George-Pacific was involved up to its eyeballs in the 2000 Florida election fiasco, with the “hanging chads” and all that. There was a 60 minutes investigative report on it, but sorry I can’t find a link (I just Goggled – sorry, no sign of it).
Anyway, employees of the one company that supplies every paper ballot punch card that we used to use (before Diebold days) said that their reliable supplier of paper stock was suddenly axed by management, and they were forced to buy from Georgia-Pacific even though their quality-control people said the paper was no good and would likely not punch cleanly in many machines.
Even worse, when they printed the ballots, they found that the ones for Florida were printed “out of register” which means that the punchout holes weren’t lined up properly. They reported this to management, and were told to shut up.
This set the stage for many ruined ballots, which for some strange reason were highest in counties that were traditionally Democratic, which resulted in thousands of lost votes for Gore.
But other than that one 60 Minutes report, I have never seen any other references to this story. The MSM has made it disappear down the memory hole.
“The company tells all of its employees around the world that its top two values, which it calls Guiding Principles, are integrity and compliance.”
Now that them there’s some pure comedy GOLD!
These brothers, and their company, should be the poster children for why we needs laws and regulations.
And I loved the comments, where some nitwit automatically called for an investigation into that great Liberal boogy-man, George Soros.
I see that you liked the comments, too, maha. Nice “Soylent Green” mention!
I know this is low-brow but I still like it: Castrate the Kochs!
Candide, are sure it wasn’t Sequoia Pacific?
http://election-reform.org/dan_rather.html#bad_paper
Yeah, the company that hung the chads was Sequoia Pacific Voting Equipment Inc. I don’t know if they’re an affiliate of anything.
Koch Products & Companies Include:
– Angel Soft
– Angel Soft Ultra
– Brawny paper towels
– Dixie cups (& napkins & plates)
– Insulair cups
– Perfect Touch cups, paper products
– Quilted Northern
– Sparkle paper towels
– Stainmaster
– Vanity Fair napkins & paper towels
– Mardis Gras napkins
– Zee Napkins
– Georgia Pacific products
Home/Office papers:
– Advantage
– Image Plus
– Spectrum
Other:
– Stainmaster
– Lycra
– Teflon
I knew there was some reason the Brawny lumberjack always bothered me.
Dixie, eh?
Why is it I’m not surprised?
HuffPo today linked to this New Yorker article
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer
which is about a smaller-scale but vital mirror image in NC, a buyer of ads with tons of cash and, I think, a poisonous agenda. Since NC is vital for 2012, this is something serious.
Boycotts are in order. Years ago many of us boycotted beef – unfortunately I can’t remember why – the result of which is still felt today. Prior to the boycott, beef was the principle meat consumed by Americans. After the boycott it wasn’t, and it still isn’t.
Off topic here, but, maha, as to the recent assassination of the alQaeda member, in the light of the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism, would Obama have any justification for ordering it and/or would we have any justification for supporting him in his decision. Even though I’m not a Buddhist, I often reflect on his Noble Path when acting or deciding on something.
Felicity — The question of whether it’s OK to kill one person in order to save many has been debated in Buddhism for 25 centuries now, and I don’t think there’s a clear agreement. There is a school of thought that no unfortunate karma is created if someone is killed to save the lives of others. There’s another school of thought that says, yeah, unfortunate karma is created, but a truly selfless person would accept the karma and kill the perpetrator anyway. However, in the case of assassination neither argument really works, I don’t think. Killing someone just because he is really, really bad is unjustified on several levels.
Yeah, the company that hung the chads was Sequoia Pacific Voting Equipment Inc. I don’t know if they’re an affiliate of anything.
OK, I have to eat crow. The company that made the equipment was Sequoia Pacific. The crooked paper manufacturer was Boise Cascade. Sorry, it’s been years since I saw that 60 Minutes episode, and I still can’t find it online.
Here’s part of an article from the St.Pete Times about GOP candidates campaign stumping sites in Florida. I’m sure the purpose of making a campaign stop is to assail the liberals who are killing American jobs with their insistence on overburdening government regulation.
Boycotting Spandex has an enormous aesthetic upside in addition to the political benefits.
We changed our TP a few months back when we learned it was a Koch brand. Otherwise, I’ve been pretty well able to avoid Koch products.
re the justified killing debate – it is central to the Bhagavad Gita, the great scripture of India:
It’s often seen as an allegory, the evil cousins that Arjuna must defeat are seen as our own bad habits. Nonetheless, Krishna encourages the uncertain Arjuna to take up battle and defeat evil.
In more recent years, Yogananda said that fighting fascism in Europe during World War 2, was completely justified, along the same reasoning as the Gita.
Too Rich For Jail
(TRFJ)
Well, they did jail
MurdochMadoff, but he mostly ripped off other rich people. Can’t have that. If he had ripped off poor people, the GOP probably would be talking him up as a presidential candidate now.The end of ‘Atlas Shrugged’ happens when the lights go out in NYC, signalling the collapse of the socialist USA, the beginning of riots, starvation and disease – which is the just reward for the for the masses who imposed their tyranny on the rich – who are the real producers of wealth. (Labor and consumers are barely incidental in comparison to the genius of billionaires whose creativity is always directly proportional to their bank balance.) The fat cats abandon the US to rebuild a true America from the masses – presumably without democracy. This IS the vision of the Randian libertarian, and you need to understand it is totally comfortable with anarchy, and total social collapse because it’s an article of faith that the true believers will pick up the chips.
As I watch the Tea Party (Including those in the US House), I am convinced that the Koch brothers ARE comfortable with bringing the US to total collapse, while most republicans on Wall Street are mere parasites who understand the folly of killing off the host. Unfortunately, they can’t comprehend that the Koch brothers will happily reduce Wall Street to rubble because 20 Billion insulates you completely from disaster – or so they think.
The history of complete economic and social collapse records no happy endings. The Russian Revolution and the French Revolution show how bloody and ugly the results of a revolt by the starving masses can be. Mobs, by definition, are not reasonable.
Doug,
Stop it.
You’re making me optimistic! 😉
And if revolution comes, and these people think they can hide behind gated walls/communities, with private security forces, and the latest weapons to use against mobs, they might want to think again. That’s never succeeded if people were serious about revolution. The French and Russian royalty and aristocracy had some pretty good walls and elite troops to protect them. To no avail.
What’s going to power your Microwave Crowd Zapper when the power lines have been cut down?
Your generators will only last so long – and then, “SO LONG!”
And somehow I don’t think Europe/China/Russia will welcome you with open arms. Well, maybe to take your money. But do you seriously think they want people who ruined their own nation’s economy in their country? I don’t think so.
maha,
Do you mean Madoff?
We could only hope that Murdoch goes to jail.
But for what?
Giving stupid people what they want?
And there’s no payoff at the end, except for them having an echo chamber reinforce what they believe and want to hear in the first place.
Maybe the Brit’s will put old Murder-och in jail.
c u n d gulag — you’re right, I meant Madoff. Too many hoodlums to keep straight.
Believe me, I understand.
I call it OOS – Outrage Overload Syndrome.
Nicholas II (last czar) and Marie Anointed thought they were pretty safe. A lot of modern dictators in the Mid-east have found out that a brutal army isn’t enough protection. I don’t predict the Koch brothers will fall – but a host of ‘self-made’ millionares who don’t have a private jet and villa in a safe country WILL fall to the mob. I don’t suggest this is a good thing – if they understood the danger that the Tea Party posed to their little fief, they would not support candidates likely to bring down the system that allowed them to get rich.
I really love this site!!! Thanks for your imputs, maha and moonbat. Catholicism, at least at my level, leaves little or no room, and in fact discourages any discussions which may end up challenging Church doctrine or dogma.
However, I know a priest who when I said that I didn’t believe there was such a thing as (Catholic) hell replied that of course there was a Hell, but of course no one was there. Another priest/friend when I asked him if it didn’t seem reasonable that Jesus had brothers and sisters replied that of course it was reasonable and he probably did at which point he looked me straight in the eye and said in a booming voice, “AND THAT’S HERESY.”
Doug – I recently read that Rand believed and preached that altruism was an ‘illness’ and the sooner people quit practicing it, the better off we’d all be. Do those who purport to be her followers really want to live in a society based on Randism?
Felicity – I don’t believe many people have truly extended Any Rand’s philosophy into the real world. (I don’t believe many ‘Christians’ have extended the philosophy of Jesus into their real lives. He was a pure pacifist in all secular matters, to the extent he tolerated his own torture and murder. I am an ex- catholic – I managed to divorce the dogma of the Church from the teachings of Christ but I don’t agree with JC in all areas.) But I digress.
Rand believed in capitalism and free markets, practically without restraint. In the area of regulation the government now functions as the guys in the striped shirts, throwing a flag when a player tries for an illegal and unfair advantage. How long would pro football survive if the officials were banned and the dirtiest players and most brutal teams prevailed? It would be the end of the game. So it would be without environmental restrictions – and if the banks were unrestricted. This is the world the man behind the curtain wants.
Regarding altruism. I think Rand expected that people with almost nothing would help people with nothing. She was completely opposed to people of value to society (measured by wealth) being forced to assist worthless people – also evaluated by wealth. Nowhere have I seen libertarian philosophy address wealth acquired by fraud or deceit.
Common sense will tell you that wealth is no measure of honesty – or a real measure of the contribution to society. Try to explain it to a libertarian.
Doug – it wasn’t that long ago when wealth was equated with virtue – a person’s wealth was a measure of how much he was loved by God. The richer one was, the more he was loved by God. Conclusion? He was a virtuous, good, true child of God.
I’m not so sure that that belief isn’t still with us.
My private, I don’t talk about it, belief is that most libertarians are closet sociopaths, that is, they have antisocial personalities.