PEOPLE & POWER: KOCH BROTHERS

KOCH BROTHERS & TEA PARTY

While expressing my frustrations with the lack of initiative from the Democrats in DC as they head toward the last few weeks in Majority, a friend of mine suggested I join in the Tea Party movement. Luckily I was not drinking anything at the time so I didn't force anything out through my nose.


I mentioned that there is a Coffee Party that has the same concerns of transparency and government waste as the Tea Party but without the dark un-American roots. He said what dark roots?

I proceeded to mention the astroturf history of what the original Tea Party had morphed into since its simple and identifiable beginnings. It's been bastardized by big money interests since then and those that spend that money have done a phenomenal job painting it as grass roots even with millions spent by a select handful of oil conglomerates.

I got the look of "I don't believe a word you're saying". So I asked if he'd heard of Dick Armey, Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers. Rove he knew, Armey...somewhat but Koch Brothers? Not at all.

Considering that the Koch Brothers, Charles and David, if combined as one: Koch Industries, rate as the third wealthiest being after Buffet and Gates. How is it that most of America doesn't know them?

Fred Koch, (pronounced Coke) appeared to have a dual personality where he was an active member of the John Birch Society and railed against Communism, while making his first millions working with Stalin's Russia developing oil refineries during the 30's. He and his sister were helpful in the rise of Hitler's dominance leading up to the US declaration of War. Sister Issa was later tried and sentenced to life in prison having been found guilty of making lamp shades from the skin of terminated Jews. 
(amazing what you'll find if you dig online)

Koch Industries relocated to Oklahoma where the boys took over the company in '67 when the old man died. Buying up numerous smaller oil companies, they've since become the second largest privately owned company in the US after Cargill.

So you ask, why did Koch Industries come up when talking about the Tea Party. Well, during the last election cycle, the Koch Brothers felt it was their duty to do whatever they could to stop any advanced form of energy and finance regulation heading into the 2010 elections. Hearing about the fledgling unorganized movement of discontent and seeing the opportunity to influence the outcome, they added financial support to what ended up being movement manipulated by Dick Armey and later Karl Rove.

Most of those who claim allegiance to the movement today have no idea how big energy, pharmaceutical, insurance and foreign interest groups have helped guide them. What started out as random groups of disgusted and exasperated citizens with genuine angst about where their tax dollars were going, soon became a body count for the special interests to rely on. I actually feel a little sad for them.

I looked up some of the company history available on the web. They've bought so many other companies engaged in oil and gas exploration and refineries as well as chemical research and development. But what I found most disturbing was the vast number of EPA violations they have either fought or paid out in the millions. It's extensive and shows a piss poor concern for environmental standards here in the US. I guess this would be another reason to try to diminish the reach of the White House heading into the 112th Congress.

The Koch Brothers allocated $96 Million during this last election cycle, much went to the US Chamber of Commerce which ended up supporting the candidates for Federal office who best served the interests of big business. What came out of the Rove and Armey fundraising organizations I do not know.

The Supreme Court decision in Citizen's United opened the door to unchecked and un-traceable donations by domestic and foreign corporations. With little hope of changing that before 2012, the Democrats have decided to create their own PACs to engage in the same shameful fundraising efforts heading into the Presidential race. 

Just think, I started out telling about the Coffee Party and the more noble virtues they espouse and ended up talking about one of the darkest aspects of our modern election system. Unless something changes in a drastic way in the near future, I think we are in for darker times ahead. My fear is that even after reading about the Koch Brothers and the astroturf base of the Tea Party, my friend will still just go off and hold on to the artificial image of what the movement means. But I forgive him.

HAVE A NICE DAY

VERMILION GAS EXPLOSION IN GULF

By now, everyone is well aware of the recent explosion on an off-shore oil platform in the Gulf Coast. Tell me you didn't cringe at the thought of yet another oil disaster killing everything that was left in the Bayou.

This rig was dormant and the Vermilion 380 as it's called, is NOT in 2500 feet of water like previously reported. It is a production platform that is in 350 feet of water.Hurricane Ike had caused significant damage and has not been in production since then. When such a rig sits idle like this one has, the space in the tieback pipes become full of Methane hydrates and paraffins.
From one Houston paper, the likely cause of the explosion was the result of attempts to “roto-rooter” the paraffins and methane hydrates out of the pipelines in order to bring the platform back into production.

The Mariner Energy brand platform had recently been purchased by Apache Corporation. Like all the other operating and dormant platforms in shallow and deep waters off American coast, they are held only to the lax safety guidelines that were watered down during the last administration. The reason I even make mention of this is the ironic timing of the explosion.

I'm reading the Think Progress website and discover that less than 24 hours earlier, employees from Apache and Mariner, along with thousands of oil industry workers, rallied in Houston to protest the Obama administration’s offshore drilling moratorium that was designed as a safety precaution after the last disastrous Gulf oil spill.

The site included a quote from Mariner employee Barbara Hagood saying: “I have been in the oil and gas industry for 40 years, and this administration is trying to break us. The moratorium they imposed is going to be a financial disaster for the gulf coast, gulf coast employees and gulf coast residents.”

So is there any connection to BP? Maybe...Apache Corporation recently agreed to buy BP assets in order to help the British oil giant meet its financial obligations as a result of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill. In no articles can I find if this is one of those helpful purchases.

Unlike the previous disaster, no lives were lost and only one injury noted. For that, we can all be thankful. But this (and who knows how many more to come) are the result of massive deregulation of the oil industry in spite of the cost in human life, sea life, ecological and economical loss.

Some officials and news organizations are calling this an accident; Slack safety enforcement, greed & pressure from execs to get the damn oil flowing is likely much more accurate. Many of us, who react to disasters when they occur do so for only the short time that everyone is paying attention to the issue, then we go right back to filling our SUV and living our lives.

On a final note: I think the examples we have endured in the last six months should serve as a wake up call for those concerned with New Yorks watershed. The same corporate drive to achieve the highest profit for the least expense is going to happen if Hydro-Fraking is permitted in the region. Food for thought...

HINCHEY LAUGHS AT THE SPIN

So have you been following the “socialist” rants from the Republican Leadership against Hinchey?

It seems anything you say can be twisted around later for a campaign bombshell.

After all the years Maurice has been in either the NYS Assembly or in Congress, he would be ready for anything. Indeed he is.

Minority Leader John Boehner’s office sent out this little ditty: “Hinchey proposed a Washington takeover of the entire oil industry” to a huge list of Republican operatives in order to mobilize the fanatics. The statement described Hinchey’s remarks as a “bombshell.”

So what did Maurice do? He laughed it off. Stating that he was merely pointing out that if oil companies refuse to build more refineries, the government should consider building some of its own to boost the fuel supply and help bring down prices.

Many US citizens think the private corporations have had their time strangling the consumer, and that a new course is needed to provide energy sources, including refining more crude oil here in the homeland.

In the Ithaca Times, Hinchey was quoted: “No, of course we’re not trying to nationalize the oil industry, I’m just saying that if the oil companies choose not to build any more refineries, then they’ve got to be built in some way.”

In response to the Conservative rhetoric during this campaign season, Hinchey again quoted: “You’ll see a history on their part of falsification of information on this issue of energy, It’s so characteristic of the way they’ve been behaving.”

With 68 million acres of national land reserved for oil companies to tap, and several refinery start-ups given permission to build, the culprits responsible for the increase in fuel prices falls between the oil companies and energy stock speculators.

Drilling for oil here would require hiring US citizens at prevailing wage. Not what the oil industry had in mind. Without legislative intervention, I don’t see any willful change in the workings of the Corporetocracy. Maurice has it right, at least in the threat.

The four, five or six different conservative challengers have to keep in mind, what the citizens are feeling in their wallet, is a result of the Bush/Cheney Energy Policy.

Hinchey, a strong advocate for renewable energy development and local green job opportunities in the Hudson Valley, has a better grasp of the consumer needs within his district. Take heed my conservative friends, for the antiquated philosophies you cherish today will be the source of your eminent demise in November.

Maurice Hinchey For Congress

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/NEWS01/80619015

CORPORETOCRACY

After hearing an interview of John Perkins (pictured right) on NPR last year, I went out and bought his book CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HITMAN and did I get a wake-up call !

For years now, Perkins, Lindsey Williams, Scott Ritter and a host of others have spoken out about the hidden and not so favorable actions of our government and the third world countries that suffer as a result.

I had the opportunity to guest on a friend's local access show after reading Perkin's book. I ended up railing against the World Bank and the IMF for an hour with no warning to the host.

So when another friend sent me yet another link to a YouTube video on the energy crisis, by Lindsey Williams (pictured right) I had to pass them on through a blog posting.

Take your time, they are time consuming and unless you are making a killing in Exxon/Mobil stocks, you will be upset. Like the American consumer from California to New York, we mill around with our own small purpose, work, raise our kids, safe up for retirement.

These plans are threatened and here are a few links to explain why.

The Energy Non-Crisis 3 ten minute clips

YouTube - John Perkins - Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Go out and buy these books! They should be in paperback by now.