Here are snippets of the documentary on the grip the Kochs have on policy. It’s truly heartening what happened in Wake County, a southern area, and how they were not willing to go backward.
Also, this documentary leaves out the Gates Foundation and Eli Broad and the Walton family’s influence on destroying public education…just wanted to note that important piece of this pie.
…you will ever see is here.
It is just mindboggling how the Koch brothers have their tentacles in every aspect of society: union busting, voting rights, livable wages, social security, corporate taxes, healthcare, etc….
Not only that, but equally troubling is how easily Congress and politicians can be bought.
They are more than willing to endorse the racist ideas of the Kochs by a stealth way of re-segregating schools, interfering with one’s right to vote, and dumping toxins in poor and black neighborhoods. The only thing missing from this documentary is how BP is right there with Koch and will most likely accept the petcoke byproduct of tar sands at the Whiting, Indiana refineries. Indiana always seems to get lost in the concerns of pollution.
Another troubling aspect of this documentary is how Ed Shultz is featured as being against the Kochs, but he is for XL pipeline….which the Kochs are behind! One can only wonder how much the Kochs have paid to MSNBC or to Shultz (which I would find it hard to believe, but Kochs seem to go on the belief that everyone has a price…and they only need to find out what that price tag is…) since Ed has changed his tune, and the Kochs are known for greasing palms to buy people’s silence or worse, it’s not without merit to question if they have paid somebody off to get Ed to promote the pipeline.
I’m glad, however, to say that some of us care about the environment and our health and our children’s health and are resistant to this dirty money…
Anne Clair, an Elsipogtog mother, wrote this about her son being jailed while protesting SWN trespassing on the native owned land.
Again, I ask– If most of the taxpayers are against fracking and tar sands, then why are the oil companies allowed on that land? Why were the police there and who are they working for if the taxpayers do not want this?
Protestors in Venezuela were blocked on twitter from posting images of the protests.
PBS, which is supposed to be free from corporate influence, is now under fire for airing an anti-Pension series sponsored by John Arnold. David Sirota’s article on it here.
In recent years, Arnold has been using massive contributions to politicians, Super PACs, ballot initiative efforts, think tanks and local front groups to finance a nationwide political campaign aimed at slashing public employees’ retirement benefits. His foundation which backs his efforts employs top Republican political operatives, including the former chief of staff to GOP House Majority Leader Dick Armey (TX). According to its own promotional materials, the Arnold Foundation is pushing lawmakers in states across the country “to stop promising a (retirement) benefit” to public employees.
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…both PBS’s “Pension Peril” correspondent and the AP reporter did not mention that according to budget data, pension shortfalls in Illinois are far smaller than the amount the state is spending on expensive taxpayer subsidies to corporations.
[…]
The state is just choosing to spend that money on huge subsidies to corporations like Sears and Google rather than paying its bills or making its required pension payments.
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See…the money is there…but it’s going into the pockets of the 1%, see? Note the $4 billion per year in subsidies in New York! OMG talk about greedy, greedy, greedy!
And here we have the smoking gun of executives knowing who was funding it and refusing to disclose it:
“We were sitting in a meeting talking about another issue and (PBS officials) were drawing examples of how they were working with other campaigns, and one of their executives said they’ve got a series called pension peril coming up talking about the threat of pensions at the state and local level,” said the source. “I asked who was funding that project, and the executive said that at this point they are not disclosing who their funders are, and everybody sitting around the room kind of paused.”
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Link to Jane Meyer’s article in the New Yorker here.
In 1997, he [David Koch] began serving as a trustee of Boston’s public-broadcasting operation, WGBH, and in 2006 he joined the board of New York’s public-television outlet, WNET. Recent news reports have suggested that the Koch brothers are considering buying eight daily newspapers owned by the Tribune Company, one of the country’s largest media empires, raising concerns that its publications—which include the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times—might slant news coverage to serve the interests of their new owners, either through executive mandates or through self-censorship. Clarence Page, a liberal Tribune columnist, recently said that the Kochs appeared intent on using a media company “as a vehicle for their political voice.”
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$50 for Christmas bonus? Are you kidding me? So much for trickle down economics, eh?
Meyer’s piece brings up the ABC News story on Disney hiring pedophiles being cancelled…because Disney owns ABC. If I recall correctly, the reporter of the story was asked if he was crazy for investigating it….
Even more depressing is the upcoming PBS pieces by Chitester on the “evils of the welfare system” I can hardly wait. What a bully this guy is…pick on the ones who are least likely to fight back. Creep.
…meanwhile *crickets* from the corporate owned media…
…which is why we should be alarmed at even more consolidation by the media with this deal which most certainly violates the Sherman Act of antitrust law.
I read a couple of reviews which were light and not really addressing the seriousness of the deal. Our democracy depends on a robust press that is diversified.
Let’s start with the beginning of the country–when a publisher printed unflattering things about the King of England, he had the publisher thrown in jail and the printing presses destroyed. No matter that the publisher was printing the truth. If I recall correctly, the newspaper had printed a story that the King had syphilis. He in fact did have syphilis (which there was no cure and led to madness), but the presses were still destroyed anyway.
So…if you didn’t want your printing presses destroyed (therefore, your means of income), you printed only nice things about the King. The King could accuse you of Sedition (treason, basically), and that was that.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the King of England that resorted to this:
Related — Book Burnings History
So, with Reagan and Clinton, our media has been more and more consolidated, meaning you, the American public, does not get the coverage and opposing views necessary to make an informed decision about what is happening in your country and the world, such as TPP. If it weren’t for Ed Shultz on MSNBC, you would not hear about it at all.
1987The Fairness Doctrine — the rule held since the founding of the FCC that mandated time for opposing viewpoints on significant issues of the day — is eliminated. This paves the way for the existence of entire networks (Fox and Sinclair) that proudly proclaim a one-side point of view. Thus “fair and balanced” becomes a trademarked phrase, instead of a principled and regulated way of presenting opinion. While the congress voted to extend the Fairness Doctrine, it was vetoed by President Reagan.
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The Fairness Doctrine explained here.
Only alternate sources such as commondreams, democracynow.org, and alternet.org have you heard about TPP….and even then, you’re not really informed because the White House has not been forthcoming with what is in it or allowing the press to examine it.
Additionally, more concentrated media means you don’t get fair coverage of whistleblowers like Edward Snowdon, Brad Birkenfeld, Thomas Drake, et al.
President Jefferson or perhaps it was President Madison said,”Information is Power.” when referring to the Freedom of the Press. This is why the NSA is doing all it can to gather information that it does not deserve….gathering more power.
And we all know too much power concentrated in a few hands leads to corruption.
Power corrupts. Absolute Power corrupts absolutely.
We’re dangerously close to absolute power.
Incidentally, in case you didn’t know, the American public owns the airwaves. Here’s a group explaining ways to hold the media accountable.
Well, those of us following the Education fiasco already knew this, but perhaps the doubters will finally realize the school profiteers have wanted to close public schools all along.
“For the next several years, 5% of public schools must be named as failing – even if those schools weren’t failing by current standards. With few exceptions, schools that failed for three years would be required to close or be operated by an independent private charter management company with a minimum five-year contract. Local school boards would have little authority over this company for five years. For Milwaukee, this change would apply to schools that failed for just one year.”
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Well, I’m glad that these folks have come out against the XL Pipeline.
This is, essentially, a rebellion by 22 progressive congressional Democrats against the Clinton-Obama effort to provide a market for the Kochs’ oil. The letter was actually written by Representative Henry Waxman and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and co-signed by senators Barbara Boxer, Ed Markey, Dick Durbin, Jeff Merkley, and Elizabeth Warren; and Representatives John Conyers, Jr., Barbara Lee, Raúl M. Grijalva, Rush Holt, Louise M. Slaughter, Jerrold Nadler, Judy Chu, Peter DeFazio, Anna G. Eshoo, Sam Farr, Peter Welch, Alan Lowenthal, Mark Pocan, and Steve Cohen.
Note how deeply involved Hillary Clinton is in XL– how Paul Elliott, a former staff member, is a lobbyist for TransCanada, along with David Goldwyn.
Secretary Clinton’s State Department allowed the environmental impact statement on the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline to be performed by a petroleum industry contractor that was chosen by the company that was proposing to build and own the pipeline, TransCanada. That contractor had no climatologist, and the resulting report failed even at its basic job of estimating the number of degrees by which the Earth’s climate would be additionally heated if the pipeline is built and operated. Its report ignored that question and instead evaluated the impact that climate change would have on the pipeline, which was estimated to be none.
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Be sure to click on this link about the March, 2013, XL Pipeline “environmental report” as a hoax.
[…] Therefore, the reason no calculation was done of the XL pipeline’s global-warming impact appears to be that no one who was involved in the study had any climatological expertise or interest.
[…]
But be that as it may: it is by now clear that the State Department’s Draft “Environmental Impact Statement” on XL is neither by the State Department, nor does it address the pipeline’s impact on global warming, nor was anyone who had expertise on global warming even involved in its preparation. The report is thus a triple-hoax, so that to call it fraudulent would put the matter mildly.
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Note that the Obama Administration is trying to force the EU to purchase the Koch Brothers’ dirty oil. Unreal.
Additionally, I don’t see it mentioned in the article, but I have a huge concern about the petcoke byproduct of this dirty oil that will make its way to Whiting, Indiana. This is devastating to our environment and the people breathing this toxic garbage. It seems to me that Indiana has become the garbage can of the Kochs and others who have nowhere else to dump this stuff. Like I said before, they should start dumping this stuff on the Koch’s lawn, and see how long it takes them to change their minds about the petcoke (haha, I first typed “petchoke”…really, more accurately describes its affects on the lungs of people).
I had to watch this video (top) twice because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing–from a distance, it looks like a couple talking…he even has his arm around her like a good friend, and then *boom* he starts to haul her off. She showed no weapon, was not yelling or otherwise threatening anyone…I was just stunned.
Even more stunning? How everyone else just allowed it to happen. She had every right to be there and Harper and his goons had no right to interfere with that.
In the second video, she is saying that she wasn’t even tweeting–that she did not have her phone. So they’re lying on top of taking away her rights?
Tweeting is not a threat. Freedom of Speech is not a threat.
Idle No More has put up links to several folks speaking out against XL and Enbridge Pipelines:
Honor the Earth:
Rise Up Mother Earth:
Note how they characterize Mother Earth as crying–Earth isn’t a big ball of dirt, but a living, breathing organism.
Here’s a list of nationwide vigils.
The Black Snake will face mounting opposition.
What did Big Oil know and when did they know it. Jack Gerard, head of the American Petroleum Institute, thought the pipeline was dangerous to the environment…bwahahahahaha *snort* /just a little joke there, folks
Finally, Democracy Now! featured the XL in a debate with an industry insider and Friends of the Earth:
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/3/debate_state_dept_moves_keystone_xl
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/3/environmental_groups_shocked_by_reports_of
And this on Enbridge’s infamous 2010 Kalamazoo spill, with cleanup still not done.
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/3/michigan_activists_face_up_to_2
What a bombshell…the United States Department of Education is taking dirty money from Bill and Melinda Gates.
For a “collaboration conference” April 2012
Another “collaborative” effort to implement Common Core, December 2013
Note the “shared responsibility” white paper….and the focus is on labor collaboration…nothing about a well-rounded education as a robust part of democracy….the focus is on labor and business.
Note the paper states that the Dept. of Ed. is under “immense pressure” to implement labor-management collaborative…um, yeah, I don’t remember asking for more corporate involvement in public schools, have you…?
This sentence is telling:
To advance this collaborative theory of change the Department has been using both its convening andgrant making powers.
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(I have no idea why the font changed to smaller size…must be the pdf.)
…in other words, the Dept. of Ed. has been coercing schools to adopt the policy through grants and legislation…
n February 2012, the Department
announced the launch of the RESPECT Project.RESPECT stands for Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence, and Collaborative Teaching.The project’s purpose is to directly engage with teachers across America in a national conversation about transforming the teaching profession bydramatically changing the way teachers are recruited,credentialed, supported, compensated, promoted,and retained in the profession.The near-term aim of the RESPECT Project is to elevate teachers’ voices in shaping federal,state, and local policy, with a long-term goal of making teaching one of America’s most respected professions.
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This is such a joke. Respect means you pay teachers a decent wage that reflects their professional education and their experience. Respect means you do not bash teachers and teacher’s unions.
“…the…aim of RESPECT Project is to elevate teachers’ voices…” Unless, of course, those voices are in passionate disagreement with you:
Finally, I found this wonderful video that takes on “Waiting for Superman” and all the false claims made by the education profiteers and their allies:
Eagle 
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