Koch Overthrow of America - Did Scott Walker and the Kochs overplay their hand in Wisconsin?

Did Scott Walker and the Kochs overplay their hand in Wisconsin?

By DOUG THOMPSON

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Angry voters rally in Wisconsin (Reuters)

With 100,000 protesters rallying in Madison, Wisconsin this past Saturday to protest the union-busting tactics of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, the cracks may already be showing in the great tea party takeover of government.

Public opinion polls show a majority of Americans didn’t like Walker’s tactics in Wisconsin. Sarah Palin‘s popularity is dropping while nutcases from the rabid right like Michelle Bachmann makes voters who fell for their “we’re gonna change things in Washington” line regret their decision last November.

Which creates a fascinating politicial conundrum: Voters aren’t happy with Obama and the Demorats, they don’t care much for Republicans and now they are having second thoughts about all those tea party “reformers” they voted into office.

Oh, the fickle American voter.

The problem, of course, is that the typical American voter is just plain fed up with government, politics and the people they elect to office.. The dissatisfaction crosses party lines. Democrats aren’t happy with Obama, Republicans wonder what happened to their party and the tea baggers realized they drank a witch’s brew.

Meanwhile, the Koch brothers sit in their palatial offices back in Wichita, high-fiving each other because all they disarray appears to be playing right into their hands to seize control of the American government for their own profiteering.

But the Kochs and the conservatives and the tea baggers may have overplayed their hand. With a growing number of voters already starting to show signs of buyer’s remorse and excesses like Scott Walker re-energizing the Democratic union base, the voter anger in 2012 just might be directed at them.

When a governor’s action brings 100,000 protesters to a state capital, those who deal in using voter anger to their advantage start to take notice.

The Kochs are used to operating in secret but their involvement in the tea party movement and debacles like Wisconsin have brought them into the public eye and they can’t stand public scrutiny.

As owners of one of the largest privately-held conglomerates in the world, they aren’t used to having to answer to anyone but themselves. That could change because of Wisconsin and — if it does — it is change that is long overdue.

Their involvement and agenda are out in the open now and a growing number of Americans realize that the phony grassroots operation called the tea party is nothing more than a sham organization fronting for two billionaires who are nothing more than modern-day robber barons who want absolute control of the American government.

I know this because I once worked for the Washington consulting concern — The Eddie Mahe Company — that created Citizens for a Sound Economy, the phony grassroots group that morphed into Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks and — ultimately — the Tea Party. I created newsletters for Citizens for a Sound Economy.

I helped create other phony grassroots efforts, like Citizens for Rural Broadband Internet Access — a front group for Corning designed to help get funding so rural telephone coops could buy fiber-optic cable from the company.

I’m not proud of that period of my life. I was in it for the money and the money was good but creation of such sham outfits subverts Democracy and we’re seeing the results of the Koch brothers subversion now in Wisconsin and other states where similar attempts are underway to take away the collective bargaining rights of public employees.

It’s just the beginning of a master plan by the Kochs and other corporate fat cats to control government and it won’t stop until they are stopped.

Related articles

• Is the Scott Walker Story Just the Tip of the Koch Brothers’ Political Iceberg? (jonathanturley.org)
• David Koch and Rupert Murdoch have plenty of water boys like Scott Walker (iflizwerequeen.com)
• How the Koch Brothers Remade Wisconsin Politics by Billy Wharton (dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)
• The Future of America (pinkbananaworld.com)
• “The Shock Doctrine in Wisconsin (and America)” and related posts (vagabondscholar.blogspot.com)

Koch Overthrow of America - Tea party plan: Enrich the rich

Tea party plan: Enrich the rich

By Jason T. Eastman - Tuesday, Mar. 15, 2011

The protests in Wisconsin illustrate just how quickly tea party politicians and "activists" readily abandon their ideals to undermine their political opponents and regressive agenda through any means necessary. We now see that despite popular perception, this conservative movement was never about populist interests; rather it is simply a clever public relations campaign coordinated by corporate ideologues like the Koch brothers who wanted nothing more than to further consolidate their wealth and power under the guise of a grassroots movement.

Initially, real populist groups like unions were willing to stay quiet as tea party politicians pushed through their anti-tax, deregulatory agenda. We assumed that another stimulus package would not happen, and thought anything to stimulate the economy was better than nothing. Many workers also held some remote hope that the tax breaks and regulatory relief given to corporations would be used to invest and create jobs, rather than outsource more labor overseas so CEOs could give themselves bonuses that are tucked away in offshore accounts to avoid paying even the reduced Bush tax rates they fought so hard to sustain.

However, working Americans fed up with suffering the brunt of the recession only to watch the wealthy further prosper are now waking up to the tea party master plan. We know now cutting taxes, especially those for the corporate class, was just the first phase of a larger plan. While Republicans ran on a balanced budget the last election cycle, their tax cuts for the rich actually put the federal government deeper into the red. At the same time many conservative governors, including Scott Walker in Wisconsin, squandered small budget surpluses with tax policies that overwhelmingly benefit the corporate rich.

While some politicians seem sincere in their efforts to reduce costs while protecting workers, governors like Scott Walker or New Jersey's Chris Christie are using the budget shortfall that is mostly of their party's making as a rationale for class warfare. In fact, Walker has rejected compromises with unions who offered to make economic concessions so long as workers keep their collective bargaining rights. This, along with the strategy session Governor Walker had with a prank caller pretending to be the billionaire tea party founder David Koch, shows conservatives are more intent to union bust than either balance their budgets, or put people back to work.

Since the Reagan era, public employees have accepted wages that are not competitive with the private sector in exchange for the generous benefit packages states were able to cheaply negotiate with providers because of the large size of government work forces. But now that the private sector has chipped away at the benefits of their workers, the corporate elite are trying to use their fabricated, tea party populist outrage to undo public employee's affordable access to health care and a comfortable retirement instead of using their power to secure access to doctors and dignity in later life for their employees.

After 30 years of assaults, Wisconsin workers are fighting back, and we can see the double standards of the tea party in the face of a real populist effort to protect the middle class. While the tea party spent years protesting democratic legislation like the health care bill, they now call the Wisconsin protestors trouble-makers and slobs. While they endlessly fought the democratic majorities of the last two congresses with every and any means available, tea partyers now claim elections have consequences and everyone should submit to the will of ultra-conservative governors like Scott Walker.

Wisconsin is showing America what a true populist movement looks like; and union members across the country stand poised to protect the basic rights and social contract we have spent over a century fighting, and even dying for.

The writer is with the Department of Psychology & Sociology at Coastal Carolina University.

Koch Watch: Hearing set on Koch lawsuit over Internet hoax

Hearing set on Koch lawsuit over Internet hoax

WICHITA, Kan.

A federal judge will hear arguments next month on whether to quash subpoenas filed by Koch Industries seeking the identities of the environmental pranksters behind a media hoax and bogus website.

Wichita-based Koch sued an anonymous group behind a bogus website and fake new release issued in December that falsely announced the company was going to fund more environmentally friendly groups.

A docket notation posted Monday in U.S. District Court for Utah gives notice of an April 28 hearing in Salt Lake City over a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Koch.

The Washington-based Public Citizen Litigation Group contends Koch's trademark infringement lawsuit would have a chilling effect on anonymous Internet communications and First Amendment rights.

The advocacy group represents the anonymous members of Youth for Climate Truth.

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Koch Watch: Illinois Manufacturers' Association/Utah conservative group meddle in Wisconsin politics

Illinois Manufacturers' Association/Utah conservative group meddle in Wisconsin politics

Post by Brandon Leahy on 2/26/2011 9:00am

It's probably a good sign for opponents to Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining rights stripping bill that their biggest opponents aren't even from Wisconsin. Ads currently running on television calling for support of the Governor's bill are produced by the Economic Freedom Alliance which is essentially a non-profit arm of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association. Probably a safe bet to assume IMA is the Illinois equivalent of our beloved Wisconsin Manufacturer's & Commerce.

Of course, it hardly seems worth reporting anymore because everyone and their mother should know by now, other ads being run on behalf of the Governor are being funded by the Washington, DC based outfit, Americans for Prosperity - Koch Brothers, Tea Party, ya da, ya da, ya da...

A Utah anti-immigration group called "Americans Against Immigration Amnesty" has filed paperwork in Wisconsin to begin the recall process for eight of the 14 Democratic Senators that are currently hanging out in Illinois. AAIA has filed under the name American Recall Coalition and based on the group's website...eh...yeah...I thought Yahoo had shutdown GeoCities?

While on the topic of recalls, the demonstrators probably have a head start on recall efforts. Tuesday through Friday of last week a table was set up in front of the State Street side steps collecting signatures to recall eight Republican Senators in the event Walker's rights stripping bill passes. The recall effort for Sen. Alberta Darling appears to have the most steam.

For the record, I personally think recall efforts are a waste of resources for either side and a distraction from the business of governing, but if we're going to do it anyway wouldn't it be hilarious if all eight Democrats and all eight Republicans were recalled? Eye for an eye, baby! Forward!