Schools are closed, people are starting to arrive. They are everywhere. I see a few Whitewater purple. So what is this mess really about? Ever heard of the Koch bros? These two dudes are some bad mothers in Republican circles. They got the juice to make it happen.
Wisconsin Is a Battleground Against the Billionaire Kochs' Plan to Break Labor's Back.
The war on Wisconsin employees isn't just about the budget or Wisconsin: Koch toady Gov. Walker is just one soldier in the billionaire's offensive to kill labor.
Make no mistake about it, the right wing billionaire Koch bros are running this show.
Exerts from the piece on AlterNet on the Koch brothers and Scott Walker. Read the full story and make up your own mind.
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The fact is, Walker is carrying out the wishes of his corporate master, David Koch, who calls the tune these days for Wisconsin Republicans. Walker is just one among many Wisconsin Republicans supported by Koch Industries -- run by David Koch and his brother, Charles -- and Americans For Prosperity, the astroturf group founded and funded by David Koch. The Koch brothers are hell-bent on destroying the labor movement once and for all.
During his election campaign, Walker received the maximum $15,000 contribution from Koch Industries, according to Think Progress, and support worth untold hundreds of thousands from the Koch-funded astroturf group, Americans For Prosperity. AlterNet recently reported the role of Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and Americans For Prosperity in a vote-caging scheme apparently designed to suppress the votes of African-Americans and college students in Milwaukee. In 2008, Walker served as emcee for an awards ceremony held by Americans For Prosperity. There, he conferred the "Defender of the American Dream" award on Rep. Paul Ryan, now chairman of the House Budget Committee.
Although headquartered in Kansas, Koch Industries has at least 17 facilities and offices in Wisconsin (by my rough count of facilities and companies noted on the Koch Industries "Wisconsin Facts" page), and operates "nearly 4,000 miles of pipeline" through its Koch Pipeline Company, L.P. Which may account for Wisconsin's evolution into the Midwest Frontier Province of Kochistan. The conglomerate boasts "four terminals and strategically located pipelines" through its Flint Hills Resources, LLC, which it describes as "a leading refining and chemicals company" that markets "gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, ethanol, olefins, polymers and intermediate chemicals, as well as base oils and asphalt."
By the way, another darling of the Koch Bros is Paul Ryan from Janesville.
Another piece on the fake budget crisis.
I have been attending the rallies, watching the coverage, reading the blogs and comments and come to the conclusion that most people don't know the true horror of this bill. I have come to set the record straight particularly when I saw a Front Page Diary here on Daily Kos that, again, talks about this bill only affecting state workers.
There is no fiscal crisis in Wisconsin. Governor Walker reports a nearly 130 million dollar deficit, but doesn't report that he caused it by giving a 140 million dollar tax break to large multinational corporations here in Wisconsin (e.g. WalMart). However, this cover story gives him an excuse to do the unthinkable.
From a blog...
ReplyDelete**"Mother Jones" explores Wisconsin Governor Scott Brown's relationship with the notorious conservative billionaire Koch brothers:
According to Wisconsin campaign finance filings, Walker's gubernatorial campaign received $43,000 from the Koch Industries PAC during the 2010 election. That donation was his campaign's second-highest, behind $43,125 in contributions from housing and realtor groups in Wisconsin. The Koch's PAC also helped Walker via a familiar and much-used politicial maneuver designed to allow donors to skirt campaign finance limits. The PAC gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, which in turn spent $65,000 on independent expenditures to support Walker. The RGA also spent a whopping $3.4 million on TV ads and mailers attacking Walker's opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Walker ended up beating Barrett by 5 points. The Koch money, no doubt, helped greatly.**
The shit is on now. The Koch Bros are in Madison. This is a fight to the finish. The gloves are off. This is Ali Frazier, the Trilla in Manila. Don't believe me, then read the following story in the State Journal. The Koch Bros are here:
ReplyDeleteThe billionaire brothers whose political action committee gave Gov. Scott Walker $43,000 and helped fund a multi-million-dollar attack ad campaign against his opponent during the 2010 gubernatorial election have quietly opened a lobbying office in Madison just off the Capitol Square.
Read the rest of the story at the Wis State Journal web site. The shit is on now. Mubarak is gone, Gadalfi is running for his life, and other tin horn dictators like Walker are trembling as the people move forward.
I SOOOO want Walker to fall flat.
ReplyDeleteThese bastards are not playing. They are moving fast to wipe unions out and pave the way for the rise of the Republican fascists. Read what the Koch Bros did next door:
ReplyDeleteRepublican Lawmakers Oust Union Leader From U. of Minnesota Board
Republican lawmakers in Minnesota, who seized control of both chambers of the state Legislature in last November’s elections, have flexed their muscle by ousting a state AFL-CIO official from a seat on the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents traditionally held by a labor representative, the Pioneer Press reports. The lawmakers also elected two former Republican state legislators to the board, leaving three of the board’s 12 seats held by former Minnesota lawmakers. (The third is a Democrat.) Some Democrats in the Legislature have complained that partisan political considerations are playing too big a role in determining the board’s makeup, but Republicans have argued that all of the board’s new members are highly qualified.
This shit is on now! Biddy "John Gotti" may one day regret getting n bed with Walker and the Koch Bros.
There will be no compromise. The Koch bros are in it for the duration. No retreat. No surrender. Score a victory for the Koch Bros. John Birch is not dead. He lives on in the Koch Bros.
ReplyDeleteFulfilling Father’s Campaign To Segregate Public Schools, Koch Groups End Successful Integration Program In NC
Today in the Washington Post, reporter Stephanie McCrummen detailed how a right-wing campaign in the Wake County area of North Carolina has taken over the school board with a pledge to end a very successful socio-economic integration plan. The integration plan, which created thriving schools in poor African-American parts of the school district along with achieving diversity in schools located in wealthy white enclaves, was a model for the nation. However, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the Tea Party group founded and funded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, worked with local right-wing financier (and AFP board member) Art Pope to fundamentally change Wake County’s school board:
In their quest to end the diversity policy, the frustrated parents have found some influential partners, among them retail magnate and Republican operative Art Pope. Following his guidance, the GOP fielded the victorious bloc of school board candidates who railed against “forced busing.” The nation’s largest tea party organizers, Americans for Prosperity – on whose national board Pope sits – cast the old school board members as arrogant “leftists.” Two libertarian think tanks, which Pope funds almost exclusively, have deployed experts on TV and radio.
In a way, the Koch brothers are simply fulfilling their father’s legacy. In 1958, Fred Koch — the founder of Koch Industries — joined a group of manufacturing executives and Robert Welch to found the John Birch Society, a virulent far-right group that dominated the civil rights debate. The John Birch Society organized an impeachment campaign against then-Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren for the Brown v. Board decision outlawing racial segregation, and mobilized its supporters to oppose integration of schools on the grounds that mixing black and white would lead to the “mongrelization” of the races. Fred supported the John Birch Society’s anti-civil rights campaign, and wrote a screed denouncing the civil rights movement as communist-inspired.
Charles and David did not only inherit an oil company, they inherited a political philosophy. The Tea Party movement, orchestrated by AFP and other Koch fronts, reflects the paranoid style of the movement started by their father, Fred. As Thom Hartmann has explained, corporate interests have long funded far-right, paranoid movements to continually shift the balance of politics in America. The radical right creates political space for corporate candidates like Richard Nixon or Mitt Romney to appear “moderate” in contrast. David Koch, it should be noted, actually supports Romney for president in 2012 even though David’s fronts have spent the last two years boosting reactionaries like Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC).
Sue Sturgis of Facing South has reported that the AFP campaign in Wake County was also aided by the private school industry, including a company called the Thales Academy. AFP has called for more charter and private schools, and now with its slate of Tea Party candidates controlling the system, they will have the power to continue their racially-segregated privatization scheme.