Have a Koch and a Smile

[acmejack]

Free Markets and Property Rights Trump Humanity and the Environment!

So long as the markets are free and the rich stay that way, human suffering and environmental devastation are irrelevant. Beneath the “feel good” facade of baseball, apple-pie, mom, and Chevrolet lurks this sinister reality of the American Way.

Much of humanity is shackled by poverty and besieged by the violence of war. Earth is experiencing a slow, agonizing death. Animal and plant species are disappearing at an alarming rate. Despite these tragic and inevitable consequences, the United States persists in spreading the cancers of Americanized Capitalism and Democracy.


Here's to Saint Charles

America’s wealthiest owe a significant debt of gratitude to their patron saint, Charles G. Koch. Mr. Koch’s Herculean efforts have virtually ensured that the United States’ plutocracy and its complimentary corporatocracy will continue their reign in America’s highly dysfunctional democracy. Blessed with a significant number of Americans still rendered somnambulant by a mass media machine, Koch and his fellow patricians are riding high.

Mr. Koch has virtually endless resources at his disposal to keep “his people” in power. Charles owns 40% of the shares of the largest privately held company in the world. Koch Enterprises generated revenues of $40 billion in 2004. Koch recently acquired gargantuan lumber and paper producer Georgia Pacific, which significantly expands his empire of oil, pipeline, fiber, and chemical enterprises. By shunning public sale of Koch Enterprise stock, Charles Koch has maintained a tight-fisted grip on his company while cloaking its finances behind a veil of secrecy.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jason_mi_060426_have_a_koch_and_a_sm.htm

[stillcool]

1. some more histroy...

http://www.ecosyn.us/adti/Koctopus_01.html

Koch Industries is nation's largest privately held energy company, with annual revenues of more than $25 billion. ... Koch Industries is now the second largest family-owned business in the U.S., with annual sales of over $20 billion
Papa founded the John Birch Society, and sons David and Charles followed suit w/
Americans for Prosperity
Cato Institute
Citizens for a Sound Economy
Institute for Humane Studies,
Alexis de Tocqueville Institution,
Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment.
Institute for Justice,
Reason Foundation.
Dorothy(Doro)Bush Koch married Robert(Bobby)Koch in 1992 at Camp David
They have four children, two from Doro's first marriage to William LeBlond
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Koch
http://www.publicintegrity.org/oil/report.aspx?aid...
The largest recipient of the Koch's policy influence grants is George Mason University, which has received more than $23 million from the family's foundations between 1985 and 2002, according to the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
a small aside;
Charles Koch found himself under investigation by the U.S. Senate for his alleged role in funding so-called "issue ads" that helped conservative Republican congressional candidates in 1996.
There is a slew of law-suits the Koch family businesses have been involved in mostly environmental in nature. This was a neat little tid-bit:
John G. Roberts Jr. argues the cause for petitioner Koch Pipeline Co.
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/Federal/judicial/dc/o...
Thats our new supreme court justice...small world.
Some unpleasant side-effects of the Koch family business include;
1.MINNEAPOLIS - Koch Petroleum Group LP was fined $6 million at a formal sentencing after pleading guilty to violating the Oil Pollution Act and the Clean Water Act by negligently discharging oil and wastewater at its Rosemount refinery.
2.US District Judge Ann Montgomery handed Koch, a subsidiary of Koch Industries Inc. in Wichita, KS, the largest federal environmental fine in Minnesota history, according to The Associated Press. The judge also ordered the company to pay $2 million to the Dakota County Park System as restitution for the pollution, which occurred from 1992 to 1997.
3.The U.S. Department of Justice charged Koch Industries with 97 counts of defying federal hazardous waste and clean air-acts when it knowingly emitted benzene fumes and then lied about its actions when questioned. In 2001, Koch Industries agreed to a $20 million settlement, a drastically smaller sum than it would have paid if convicted
4.$30 Million Settlement Approved - US v Koch U. S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore approved the Department of Justice and State of Texas' settlement with Koch Industries for $30 million in civil penalties and an additional $5 million in supplemental environmental projects to be funded by Koch. This is the largest penalty imposed on a company under federal environmental laws, and is based upon spills of at least 41,000 barrels of oil and other petroleum, resulting in over three hundred violations of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 in six states. The largest single spill was approximately100,000 gallons of crude oil which caused a 12-mile oil slick on Nueces Bay and Corpus Christi BayEroded and broken pipelines caused the spills. Six of the spills were into ponds, lakes and rivers." (http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txs/newsletter/pdf/2000m...
5.A year after a pipeline rupture resulted in the biggest spill-related fish kill in Iowa history, the company responsible hasn't paid a dime for wiping wildlife from 48 miles of streams.
State lawyers and Koch Pipeline Co. representatives are negotiating how the firm should pay for damaging Lotts Creek and the East Fork of the Des Moines River in the Algona area
www.stb.dot.gov
6.SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD FINDS CERTAIN KOCH PIPELINE CO. RATE INCREASES UNREASONABLY HIGH, ORDERS RATE ROLLBACK & REPARATIONS
The Clinton Administration charged Koch Industries with $352 millionin pollution and hazardous waste violations. The Bush Administration dropped the charges when Koch Industries agreed to settle for $332 million less. Shortly after that, the Bush Justice Department settled the lease-cheating case for $20 million, saving Koch Industries another $194 million

The US Senate is set to vote to confirm George M. Gray as the second-in-command at the EPA Office of Research and Development.The ORD studies the science, costs and benefits behind proposed EPA rules
According to information compiled by the Center for Media and Democracy, Gray is affiliated with several pro-business organizations, including the Environmental Literacy Council (ELC), a nonprofit funded by a number of groups with ties to the energy, chemical and defense industries. Among the ELC’s backers are conservative operations such as the John M. Olin Foundation, Sarah Scaife Foundation and the Koch Family Foundations

[AX10]

2. Thanks. The Koch's are pigs.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. And don't forget that Koch Indutries is...

one of the larger contractors in Iraq.