The long wait is over, Koch Brothers Exposed is here

Get the DVD

Dear Friend,

Last month we had the World Premiere of our Koch Brothers Exposed documentary in New York City just a few miles from one of the Kochs many homes. Instead of keeping this film in theatres, we are making it available immediately on DVD with an Action Guide so that you can watch with family and friends then do something to make a difference.

Get the DVD now featuring expert interviews, investigative exposés, and extras about what these billionaire brothers are doing to our democracy. After you get the DVD please download the Action Guide which we have created with our partnersGreenpeace, Campaign for America’s Future, NAACP, Democracy for America andAdvancement Project.

We are up against a mega-rich foe with an elitist attitude. Charles Koch is credited as saying, “I just want my fair share, and that’s all of it”. We need your help to combat these billionaires' actions. Sign up to hold a House Screening or go to the Screening page to attend one in your neighborhood. After watching, we encourage you to discuss the film with your family and friends then look through the Action Guide to decide on which actions you can agree to do. With your help we can start to reverse the damage that has been done.

Thank you for being a part of this movement. Together we can make sure that the 1% is not controlling our democracy.

Best,
Robert Greenwald

I invite you to join Koch Brothers Exposed on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Hedges: No way in US system to vote against banks

Between Occupy Wall Street, in New York, and the other cities it's spread to, as well as the October 2011 movement that just began here in D.C, something seems to be happening in this country. Earlier at Freedom Plaza Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author, tells us what this could lead to. 

Inside the Koch Brothers 2011 Summer Seminar: Part 1 of 2

Friday, 9 September 2011, 10:58 am Column: Bradblog.Com

'Inside the Koch Brothers 2011 Summer Seminar': Part 1 of My 2-Part Exclusive at MOTHER JONES

[Now UPDATED with comment from the Kochs, finally, as given to ABC News & more...]

By Brad Friedman
6 September 2011

Those of you who follow The BRAD BLOG closely may know that I've been working in the background, for a number of weeks, on an exclusive series concerning the billionaire Koch Brothers, the co-owners of the nation's second largest private corporation, the oil and chemical conglomerate Koch Industries. They are also massive funders behind much of the Rightwing political disinformation machine. The articles, as I can now reveal, cover audio I've obtained as recorded from inside their super-secret, super-confidential, invitation-only Summer Seminar held in late June at the tony Ritz-Carlton Beaver Creek Resort near Vail, CO.

Among this year's attendees, in addition to hundreds of corporate baron billionaires and millionaires, were GOP public officials such as current Republican Presidential front-runner Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) and Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL).

It appears the brothers went to extraordinary measures, particularly on the first night of the event, to assure that none of the uninvited would ever know what went on inside or even who the first night's keynote speaker actually was.

Nonetheless, a few of their closely guarded secrets are about to spill out.

The first of my two articles in the series is finally published at Mother Jones today.

Part 1 focuses on the opening and closing remarks, as heard on tape, by billionaire brother Charles as he raises still more undisclosed political money and rallies his troops in advance of the 2012 Presidential election --- or "the mother of all wars" as he's heard describing it. On the first night, Charles welcomes his "great partners" to the event, alludes to President Obama as "Saddam Hussein" and proceeds to list --- by name --- those "partners" who have donated more than a million dollars to the Koch Foundation political causes over the past year. So much for the post-Citizens United "anonymity" that Koch exec Kevin Gentry, the emcee for both evening's dinners, informs patrons they can "help protect."

The full audio and text transcript of Charles' opening and closing remarks are posted here.

Today's article also details remarks, several rather noteworthy I think, made by the Kochs' closing night speaker, Judge Andrew Napolitano of Fox "News." The Fox host tells the crowd of corporate titans, among other things: how he got his job at Fox (it had to do with the FL 2000 Presidential election debacle, he claims); how he "sometimes" gets in "a little bit of trouble at Fox" when he's too tough on Republicans, and; what he believes the Second Amendment to the Constitution is really for. You'll have to read the article and/or the Napolitano transcript excerpts for the full details.

Finally, today's report at Mother Jones describes some of the extraordinary security measures taken by the Kochs to try and ensure that nobody outside the dinner pavilion at the Beaver Creek Resort in Bachelor Gulch would ever know the identity of the GOP public official who delivered the keynote address on opening night. To this day, neither the official's own constituents nor his own local media seem to have any idea that he'd ever even left the state to pal around with the Kochs, much less offer their opening night's headline address.

In tomorrow's report, we'll reveal the identity of that headliner and detail his stem-winder of a keynote! But for now...

• Part 1 of my exclusive report at Mother Jones...• Complete audio & transcripts of Charles Koch's opening & closing remarks...

• Transcript excerpts from Judge Andrew Napolitano's closing night speech...

Enjoy!

*************

UPDATE 3:56pm PT: Has been a busy day over her for some reason. CNN's just aired a not-bad story on the above (including a quick appearance by yours truly), and I'll be on MSNBC's The Ed Show tonight, late in the 10p ET / 7p PT hour. Ironically, I've been on Fox and CNN many times in the past. This will be my first appearance ever on MSNBC. Go figure.

After trying for days to get comment from the Koch's on Charles' "We have Saddam Hussein, this is the Mother of All Wars we've got in the next 18 months" remark, they've finally decided to respond now that the story is out and not, um, reflecting very well on them, it seems...

Jake Tapper of ABC News was the first to publish a reply from the Kochs today:

Philip Ellender, President and COO, Government and Public Affairs for the Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC, said in a statement that “Koch was not referring to President Obama in his remarks. The ‘Mother of All Wars’ is a common phrase, frequently attributed to Saddam Hussein on the eve of the first Gulf War. Amid record U.S. unemployment, continued economic decline, and loss of liberty, the U.S. has been plunged into its own ’mother of all wars.’ Our nation’s future will be determined in the coming months by the choices Americans make to address the serious economic issues facing our country.”

Ellender goes on to say, according to Tapper, the "Saddam" comment was "taken out of context...As is typical by far-left groups, these reports attempt to make more false claims about Koch."

Not sure what "far-left group" he's referring to, nor what "false claims" are being made. As to the quote being "taken out of context," Charles Koch's complete, unedited welcoming and closing remarks (when he repeats the same meme of a "mother of all battles" meme) were posted in full --- both audioand transcript, along with the original story right here. You can decide for yourself if any of those remarks was taken out of context.

For the record, we contacted the Koch's several times, specifically asking about the "Saddam Hussein" and "mother of all wars" remark, seeking clarification. Instead of offering it, all they did was offer a link to a page at Koch Industries describing what the seminars are supposedly for. They did not reply to several follow-ups, as we continued to try and get clarification from them.

By the way, Tapper also reports that neither "the White House, nor the Obama 2012 campaign, nor Democratic National Committee had any immediate comment Tuesday when contacted by ABC News and asked about comments made by Koch referring to the 2012 campaign as a repeat of the Iraq War."

Besides that, there has been tons of coverage of this story today, all over the net. Some, though not all of it, pretty good. Happy to see it.

Oh, and tune in tomorrow. Part 2 of this report is likely to cause a few waves as well.

UPDATE 11:10pm PT: I've got a few more follow-ups now, including my appearances on CNN'sSituation Room today and MSNBC's The Ed Show tonight and even a response, of sorts, from the White House to the entire fine mess. All now posted here...

ENDS

Group Alleges University of Wisconsin's Diversity Policies are "Discriminatory;" Protesters Take Over Press Conference | Center for Media and Democracy

Group Alleges University of Wisconsin's Diversity Policies are "Discriminatory;" Protesters Take Over Press Conference | Center for Media and Democracy

Submitted by Brendan Fischer on September 13, 2011 - 3:28pm

MADISON -- The University of Wisconsin-Madison's race-conscious admissions policies amount to "severe racial discrimination," announced Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) president Roger Clegg at a press conference Tuesday. As the event concluded, supporters of the university's diversity policies took over the conference room, and beneficiaries of the diversity policies Clegg attacked shared their experiences.

Group Alleges Discrimination Against Whites

CEO's Roger CleggAt the press conference, Clegg announced the results of two CEO reports studying race-based data for undergraduate and law schools admissions at UW-Madison, Wisconsin's flagship public university. The organization has performed dozens of similar studies at other universities, and according to Clegg, UW-Madison's "admission discrimination" favoring minority students over white students is the "worst . . . of all schools" the organization has studied.

During the 2010-2011 school year, 30,977 white undergraduate students attended UW-Madison, alongside 1,079 African-American students and 1,586 Latino students.

Glegg said that, when Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker considers appointments to the university's Board of Regents, "the Governor should consider . . . whether [the candidate] supports this form of discrimination." Governor Walker took office in January of this year. The data used in the report was from 2007 and 2008; Gregg denied that the organization delayed the study's release until a school year began with a sympathetic governor in place.

CEO, which has received Koch funding, compared the test scores and class rank of admitted students by race, and developed an odds ratio which Clegg said favored African-American and Hispanic applicants over whites (576-to-1 and 504-to-1, respectively). "It is untenable for a public institution to sort people based on skin color or country of ancestry," he said.

Study's Methodology Called Into Question

When asked whether CEO took into account the "subjective criteria" universities consider in admissions to create a desirable academic environment, Clegg replied "it was certainly true that we did not consider that" in developing the odds ratio. He stated he had "no reason to believe" that students of color would score better on subjective criteria than white students.

Clegg was also questioned about whether the study might be made more accurate by comparing the scores and grades of those students who were "displaced" with those of the minority students who were admitted, rather than comparing the numbers for admitted students of color with the white student body as a whole. "Isn't this a better comparison?," he was asked.

"I think the numbers speak for themselves," Clegg replied, as he moved on to the next question.

For some, Clegg's allegations were personal.

"I've busted my ass to get here," an African-American student told Clegg, choking back tears. "I've done everything right. . . You're acting as if these policies are a national epidemic," she said, when there are more pressing issues to worry about. "Can't you spend your time doing something else?"

Protesters Enter Conference Room

As the press conference wound down, the chants of protesters outside the room grew louder. "We're more than our scores!" and "power to the people" could be heard. As press conference attendees departed, a multi-racial group of student protesters entered. Clegg quickly left the room.

"As long as we're here, we may as well hold our own press conference," said UW-Madison student C.J. Terrell as he stepped behind the podium. "I feel like a professor. And hopefully, if I do become a professor one day, my class will look a lot like this," he said, motioning to the diverse group of student protesters who had taken seats in front of him.

One-by-one, students took the podium to share their stories and to denounce what they perceived as Clegg's attack on students of color.

African-American student Daylon Cunningham cited the importance of diversity policies for the next generation, saying he knows his "thirteen nieces and nephews need extra support, because I know they live in a society that discriminates against them. . . would [Clegg] look [them] in the eye and tell them not to dream to become a doctor or a lawyer?"

First They Came for the Labor Unions ...

"Everyone is getting attacked at once," said Terrell, citing Governor Walker's effort earlier this year to limit collective bargaining rights for public employees.

The connection between the attack on unions and the attack on diversity policies may not be remote. CEO Chair Linda Chavez, nominated in 2001 by President George W. Bush to be Secretary of Labor, has written favorably about Walker's union-busting plans. CEO is also funded by many of the same organizations bankrolling anti-union forces: it was founded with a grant from the Olin Foundation, and in addition to Koch funding, has received grants from the Bradley Foundation and the Sarah Scaife Foundation.

Clegg is scheduled to speak at Union South's Varsity Hall at 7pm this evening, and students are planning aprotest starting at 6pm on the University's Bascom Hill.

A student who identified himself as Marcelo said "today at 6pm I'll be there . . . but now I have to go to class."

Exclusive: The Koch Brothers' Million-Dollar Donor Club

Exclusive: The Koch Brothers' Million-Dollar Donor Club - Mother Jones

—By Gavin Aronsen

| Tue Sep. 6, 2011 3:00 AM PDT

 

Illustration: Parker Brothers

 

Read our inside account of the Koch brothers' Vail seminar, and listen to the exclusive audio.
Twice a year, the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch host secretive retreats for an exclusive list of corporate America's rich and powerful to strategize and raise money for their right-wing political agenda. Mother Jones has obtained exclusive audio recordings that shed some light on the brothers' latest retreat, held at a resort near Vail, Colorado, in late June.
In a speech that is part of these recordings, Charles Koch thanks donors who gave more than $1 million to the cause. We checked the audio against a list of participants at the Kochs' 2010 seminar in Aspen that was obtained by ThinkProgress.org and did additional research on these individuals. Below are the names Koch read that appeared on the previous guest list.
John Childs: Childs is the founder and CEO of private equity firm JW Childs Associates. In 2006, Boston Magazine placed the "notoriously media-shy" magnate—a.k.a. "the Republican ATM"—among the city's wealthiest residents, reportedly worth $1.2 billion. Childs donated $750,000 to outside political expenditure groups in 2010. He's also been involved in Florida wetlands conservation efforts.
The Cortopassis: Dean "Dino" Cortopassi and his wife, Joan, hail from Stockton, California. This article, which identifies the pair as philanthroposts, calls Dino a "wealthy self-made agribusinessman who is Stocktonian of the Year for 2005." He is suing the state of California for its failure to dredge streams in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Joe Craft: Joseph Craft is president, CEO, and chairman of Alliance Resource Partners, a coal company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that gave $2.4 million to outside political expenditure groups in 2010. His family is reportedly worth $1.9 billion.
Richard DeVosThe DeVoses: Rich and Helen DeVos hail from Michigan. The cofounder of Amway and owner of the NBA's Orlando Magic, Rich DeVos is reportedly worth in the ballpark of $4.2 billion. The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation funds conservative Christian groups such as Focus on the Family. The DeVoses are big enough political donors to have their own profile at OpenSecrets.org.
The Farmers: Dick Farmer is from Ohio. The founder and former CEO of the Cintas Corporation, his story is literally rags-to-riches: He turned his father's Depression-era rag-cleaning business into a $3.5 billion enterprise. Farmer and his wife, Joyce, are longtime Republican boosters; during the 2002 election cycle the couple gave about $1 million to the party.

The Friesses: Foster Friess founded the investment firm Friess Associates in 1974 with his wife, Lynn; in 2001, he sold a majority share for $247 million. Friess is a champion of conservative Christian causes and one of Wyoming's richest men. His son, Steve Friess, helps him run the family's philanthropic foundation. (Steve's wife, Polly, was also on the list of Aspen Koch participants.)
The Fullinwiders: Jerry and Leah Fullinwider hail from Dallas. Jerry has pursued oil exploration and development in the United States, Canada, and Russia. He now serves under Ross Perot's son as vice chairman of Hillwood International Energy, which has operations in Iraq and Jordan as well as the United States and Russia. He also has ties to Hilarion Alfeyev, an anti-abortion Russian Orthodox bishop.
The Gilliams: Richard Gilliam and wife, Leslie, are natives of southwest Virginia. Richard founded the Cumberland Resources Corporation, which was one of the nation's largest private coal mining companies when Massey Energy bought it for nearly $1 billion in March 2010. He's now a director with the Vancouver-based mining corporation Endurance Gold.
The Griffins: Ken and Anne Dias Griffin are a hedge fund power couple from Chicago who wed in 2003. Ken is the founder and CEO of Citadel and is reportedly worth $2.3 billion. Anne founded one of the nation's largest woman-run hedge funds, Aragon Global Management. Ken bundled money for both President Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain during the 2008 election.
The Haworths: Richard "Dick" Haworth is the former CEO and chairman emeritus of Haworth, an international office-interiors manufacturer based in Holland, Michigan, that he took over from his father in 1975. The company reported sales of $1.4 billion in 2005, the year he retired. He is married to Ethie Haworth and has donated more than $100,000 to Republican causes, according to OpenSecrets.org.
Diane Hendricks: Hendricks is the billionaire former head of the ABC Supply roofing company, which she took over from her husband Kenneth after he died in a construction site accident in 2007. Reportedly worth $2.2 billion, she is the richest businesswoman in Wisconsin and a big Republican Party donor. She recently gave her state's embattled Republican governor, Scott Walker, $10,000 in advance of a potential recall vote next year.
The Humphreys family: Ethelmae Humphreys is the chair of the board of Tamko Building Products, one of the country's largest independent roofing manufacturers. She also serves on the board of directors of the Cato Institute, a Koch-funded think tank. Her son David is Tamko's CEO. The two have doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates. That includes David's $25,000 donation to the successful recount effort this year of conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, who came under fire recently for allegations that he choked a fellow justice. (He wasn't charged.)
The Levys: Kenneth Levy of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, cofounded the Jacobs Levy equity management firm and has donated about $85,000 to conservative causes, according to FEC records. His wife, Frayda Levin, is a national director at the Koch brothers' advocacy group Americans for Prosperity and sits on the board of the Club for Growth. She also cofounded the Motion Picture Institute, which "promotes liberty through film," according to her AFP bio. FEC records show that she has given well over $100,000 to conservative causes.
The Marshall family: Elaine Marshall of Dallas is the widow of E. Pierce Marshall, a son of oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall who served on the board of Koch Industries before his death. Elaine was involved in a successful effort to prevent the late Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith, who married Howard when he was 89, from inheriting the family's wealth. Before Smith's death, she was investigated by the FBI but never prosecuted in a murder-for-hire plot against Pierce. In the end, Pierce inherited the bulk of his father's wealth because he and his father had previously helped Charles and David Koch thwart a takeover of Koch Industries; Howard's eldest son—also named Howard—sided against his father and was disinherited as a result. Meanwhile, Elaine's son, E. Pierce Marshall Jr., is senior vice president and general counsel at oil exploration company MarOpCo. Another son, Preston Marshall of Houston, is the president of MarOpCo.
The Popes: Art Pope is a millionaire Republican booster from Raleigh, North Carolina, who inherited his retail fortune from a family business. According to this article, he’s "one of the most trusted members of the Koch's elite circle" and a regular at the Kochs' secret seminars, as well as a "valuable junior partner in many key Koch operations." He's another national director at Americans for Prosperity and is married to Kathy Pope.
The Robertsons: Corbin Robertson is CEO and chairman of the board of Natural Resource Partners, a Houston-based fossil fuels company. He's also been involved with a number of other energy organizations and was listed as the richest US small-business owner in 2007 by CNNMoney. He and wife Barbara have donated to the Baylor College of Medicine and both Democratic and Republican politicians.
Karen Wright: Wright is the founder and CEO of the Ariel Foundation, a private philanthropy group based in Mount Vernon, Ohio. She's also CEO of the Ariel Corporation, a natural-gas compression company, and on the American Petroleum Institute's board of directors. She has donated more than $100,000 to Republican causes, according to OpenSecrets.org.
Tom Rastin: Rastin shares a Mount Vernon, Ohio, address with Karen Wright. He serves on the board of directors at the Ariel Foundation and is vice president of marketing and engineering at the Ariel Corporation. Last year, he gave $2,400 to the failed congressional campaign of former Democratic Louisiana House Speaker Hunt Downer, who switched to the Republican Party after endorsing the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2000.
The principals with the Services Group of America: SGA is a billion-dollar food services wholesaler; its CEO, Peter Smith of Scottsdale, Arizona, appears on the list of 2010 Koch attendees. Smith took over as CEO last year after its former head, GOP heavyweight Thomas J. Stewart, died in a helicopter crash. According to FEC records, Smith has donated $12,500 to Republican congressional candidates. SGA's political action committee donates heavily to Republicans.
At the event, Charles Koch also read off names that did not appear on the 2010 attendees list, but that mirrored those of well-known GOP donors for whom giving $1 million or more to the Kochs would not seem out of character. You'll find these names below. We chose not to offer any details on the handful of names for which we could find no association with Koch business interests or conservative political giving. (Listen to Charles Koch reading the donor list.)
The Camerons: Ron Cameron of Little Rock, Arkansas, runs agribusiness giant Mountaire Corporation, which generated $1.22 billion in revenue in 2009. He has donated at least $175,000 to Republicans in recent years, including $5,000 to Sarah Palin's PAC, according to FEC records. The company itself has given at least $125,000 to outside spending groups over the past decade, according to OpenSecrets.org.
The Hamms: Self-made magnate Harold Hamm of Oklahoma City is reportedly worth $8.2 billion. The son of sharecroppers, Hamm soared up the corporate ladder from gas station attendant to CEO of "America's Oil Champion," Oklahoma-based Continental Resources. According to OpenSecrets.org, he's doled out more than $100,000 to political causes and candidates, mostly Republican. Stricken with diabetes, he and wife Sue Ann founded a center at the Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center to help combat the disease.
The Haydens: Jerry and Marilyn Hayden of Barrington, Illinois, doled out $400,000 to conservative-leaning outside spending groups in 2010 and about $250,000 to Republicans in 2008. Before retirement, Jerry ran Peacock Engineering, a packaging company. As of September 2008, he served on the board of directors at the United Republican Fund of Illinois. The Haydens recently donated $2.5 million toward an alumni center at their alma matter, Bradley University.
Virginia James: James is an investor from New Jersey. She has donated handsomely to right-wing causes, including a $750,000 gift to the Club for Growth in 2008 and another $350,000 last year. This year, she donated $25,000 to the successful recount of Wisconsin's Justice Prosser.
The Menards: John Menard of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is the founder of Menards, the country's third-largest hardware company. He's worth a reported $5.2 billion and has donated about $80,000 to his state's Republican Party and federal candidates, mostly Republicans, according to FEC records. His company backed a recent anti-union program that was linked to the Kochs' Americans for Prosperity and supported by Gov. Scott Walker.
John Moran: Hailing from Palm Springs, Florida, Moran is the former chairman of the Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corporation, an international holding company based in New York City. He also chaired the Republican National Finance Committee from 1993 to 1995. Moran has given more than $900,000 to Republican causes since 1991, according to OpenSecrets.org, and he bundled between $250,000 and $500,000 more for McCain's 2008 presidential bid. In 1997, he warned that the religious right was putting his party's future "in jeopardy."
Charles SchwabThe Schwabs: Charles Schwab of San Francisco is founder and chairman of the Charles Schwab Corporation, the country's largest independent brokerage firm. He is reportedly worth $4.7 billion. Since 1989, Schwab has donated more than $1.6 million to political causes, mostly Republican, according to OpenSecrets.org. Part of that went to his company's lobbying arm, which has given away millions more.
Paul Singer: While Singer is not on the list of Aspen participants, the New York Times noted that "Annie Dickerson, who also runs a foundation for Paul Singer, a hedge fund executive who like the Kochs is active in promoting libertarian causes," showed up at that seminar. Singer founded the $17 billion hedge fund Elliott Management and recently issued an economic manifesto slamming the Federal Reserve as a "group of inbred academics."
The Templetons: John "Jack" Templeton Jr. and his wife, Josephine, of Pennsylvania, gave $50,000 apiece to Wisconsin Justice Prosser's recount effort this year. Jack has donated more than $1 million to Republicans, according to state and federal records. He heads the conservative John Templeton Foundation, which aims to merge evangelical Christianity with "science" and "health." The foundation was started by Jack's father, Sir John the mutual fund billionaire, and in 2009 reportedly had $1.7 billion in assets.
Be sure to Read Part 1 of our two-part series: "Exclusive: The Secret Koch Brothers Tapes."
And check back tomorrow for Part 2, on the GOP superstar who rocked the Koch crowd on opening night.

ALEC on the National Scene: Dennis Kaiser

http://www.opednews.com/populum/print_friendly.php?p=ALEC-on-the-National-Scene-by-Dennis-Kaiser-110904-42.html&c=a


September 4, 2011
ALEC on the National Scene
By Dennis Kaiser

Although the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) was formed way back in the 70's by right-wingers in order to organize state legislatures, it has gained in power even on the federal level as they have backed many of its "alumni' in gaining seats within our national government.
Briefly, ALEC is the Koch-backed (and others) organization which has been instrumental in bringing the "Tea Party" uprising we have recently experienced.   In fact, that uprising has been amongst us for three decades, however not until recently, and the Citizens' United decision of the Supreme Court, they have become more vocal, both, in words and in financial areas.
ALEC, with its corporate members, has been writing legislation that it then gives to its legislative members, presently over 2000, who present it to their respective state legislatures under their own name to be voted on to become law. Being these are drawn up by corporate attorneys it is little wonder they enhance the corporate power while diminishing the power of the people, thus it is quite anti-Democracy and gives a primary reason we have not had a single piece of legislation that has favored the people over corporations in the past three decades.
While initially ALEC targeted the individual states, but through the years has been able to get members elected on the national scene.
At present we have 5 members of the U.S. Senate and 79 members of the U.S. House of Representatives who have been members of ALEC.
Is it any wonder we have the laws being presented in the respective chambers of Congress that are corporate favored? Wonder no longer as to why laws that are being passed favor corporations. Targeted by ALEC are such things as privatized schools (I prefer the term "profitized" over privatized as that term more accurately states what it is), no social safety net, profitized prisons, in general everything taxpayer dollars have built and paid for turned over to profiteers.
In fighting against the ALEC agenda people must get more involved in determining who they elect to defend them. In studying what ALEC stands for and what they have done in these past three decades it is safe to say they are not for the average citizen, therefore a vote for anyone connected with this subversive organization is not good for the future of our nation. While most of the members refer to themselves as "Republican' it is not there are no "Democrats' who are members.   Also, there are those who have not had official membership with ALEC, but have been "bought' by them and will toward carrying out their agenda as repayment.
Below is a listing of present members of Congress who make up the 60-member Tea Party Caucus. Three members who received Tea Party backing are Ron Johnson (WI), Pat Toomey (PA), and Marco Rubio (FL) declined to join this caucus, but will be "forced' to adhere to the agenda as they have already been "bought' in order to get elected:
60-Member Tea Party Caucus

• Sandy Adams , Florida
• Robert Aderholt , Alabama
• Todd Akin , Missouri
• Rodney Alexander , Louisiana (ALEC Alum)
• Michele Bachmann , Minnesota, Chair
• Roscoe Bartlett , Maryland
• Joe Barton , Texas
• Gus Bilirakis , Florida
• Rob Bishop , Utah
• Diane Black , Tennessee
• Michael C. Burgess , Texas
• Paul Broun , Georgia
• Dan Burton , Indiana (ALEC Alum)
• John Carter , Texas
• Bill Cassidy , Louisiana
• Howard Coble , North Carolina
• Mike Coffman , Colorado
• Chip Cravaack , Minnesota
• Ander Crenshaw , Florida
• John Culberson , Texas (ALEC Alum)
• Jeff Duncan , South Carolina
• Blake Farenthold , Texas
• Stephen Fincher , Tennessee
• John Fleming , Louisiana
• Trent Franks , Arizona
• Phil Gingrey , Georgia (ALEC Alum)
• Louie Gohmert , Texas
• Vicky Hartzler , Missouri
• Wally Herger , California
• Tim Huelskamp , Kansas
• Lynn Jenkins , Kansas
• Steve King , Iowa (ALEC Alum)
• Doug Lamborn , Colorado (ALEC Alum)
• Jeff Landry , Louisiana
• Blaine Luetkemeyer , Missouri
• Kenny Marchant , Texas (ALEC Alum)
• Tom McClintock , California
• David McKinley , West Virginia
• Gary Miller , California
• Mick Mulvaney , South Carolina
• Randy Neugebauer , Texas
• Rich Nugent , Florida
• Steve Pearce , New Mexico (ALEC Alum)
• Mike Pence , Indiana
• Ted Poe , Texas
• Tom Price , Georgia (ALEC Alum)
• Denny Rehberg , Montana
• Phil Roe , Tennessee
• Dennis Ross , Florida
• Ed Royce , California (ALEC Alum)
• Steve Scalise , Louisiana
• Tim Scott , South Carolina
• Pete Sessions , Texas
• Adrian Smith , Nebraska (ALEC Alum)
• Lamar Smith , Texas
• Cliff Stearns , Florida
• Tim Walberg , Michigan (ALEC Alum)
• Joe Walsh , Illinois (ALEC Alum)
• Allen West , Florida
• Lynn Westmoreland , Georgia
• Joe Wilson , South Carolina (ALEC Alum)

Below is a listing of those present members who are ALEC Alums.   After knowing from whence they have come it makes it obvious why they appear to be nothing more than corporate lackeys:

U.S. Senate

 Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO)
 Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY)
 Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
 Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)
 Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)


U.S. House of Representatives

 Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
 Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO)
 Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL)
 Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
 Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA)
 Rep. John Linder (R-GA)
 Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
 Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ)
 Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)
 Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK)
 Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK)
 Rep. Ken Marchant (R-TX)
 Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
 Rep. John McHugh (R-NY)
 Rep. F.A. Boyd (D-FL)
 Rep. Cathy McMorris (R-WA)
 Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX)
 Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL)
 Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL)
 Rep. John Mica (R-FL)
 Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN)
 Rep. Jefferson Miller (R-FL)
 Rep. David Camp (R-MI)
 Rep. Jerry Moran (R-KS)
 Rep. John Campbell (R-CA)
 Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)
 Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
 Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
 Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC)
 Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO)
 Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK)
 Rep. John Peterson (R-PA)
 Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-WY)
 Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA)
 Rep. John Culberson (R-TX)
 Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA)
 Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-VA)
 Rep. Jon Porter (R-NV)
 Rep. David Davis (R-TN)
 Rep. Thomas Price (R-GA)
 Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA)
 Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL)
 Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
 Rep. Don Young (R-AK)
 Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA)
 Rep. Thomas Reynolds (R-NY)
 Rep. Thelma Drake (R-VA)
 Rep. Michael J. Rogers (R-AL)
 Rep. Mary Fallin (R-OK)
 Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI)
 Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)
 Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)
 Rep. John Randy Forbes (R-VA)
 Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)
 Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)
 Rep. Edward Royce (R-CA)
 Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ)
 Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
 Rep. James Gerlach (R-PA)
 Rep. Michael Simpson (R-ID)
 Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA)
 Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE)
 Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA)
 Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK)
 Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO)
 Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS)
 Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
 Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH)
 Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX)
 Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI)
 Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC)
 Rep. Gerald Weller (R-IL)
 Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)
 Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA)
 Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
 Rep. Roger Wicker (R-MS)
 Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA)
 Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)
 Rep. John Kuhl (R-NY)


Use this in order to be more watchful as to what these, and others in Congress are attempting to do in order to determine whether they are in your best interest, or in the interests of their corporate financiers. We must make our vote more important   than the corporate dollars.




Author's Bio: Dennis Kaiser is an author and consultant focusing on individual rights. As a US citizen Dennis is deeply concerned over how our nation has fallen from being productive and full of hope to one where that hope is being stripped from the majority as more and more "freedoms' are being taken along with economic burdens weighing more heavily on their shoulders. Visit his website at http://NotSeeAmerica.com to stay up on what is being done to steal your nation from you.

The Koch Spider Web

The Koch Spider Web

Virginia Democratic Congressman Rick Boucher was defeated last fall by Republican Morgan Griffith with the help of campaign ads paid for by Americans for Prosperity, a group with strong financial backing by the Koch brothers. (Photo: joebeone)

Allison Kilkenny, Truthout | News Analysis

An election took place last fall in Virginia that didn't garner national attention, but it should have - not for the candidates or issues - but for the giant pile of corporate cash manipulating events behind the scenes.

Rick Boucher, a then-28-year incumbent Democratic Congressman from the Ninth District - the longest-serving Congressman in that district since the Civil War - was surprisingly defeated by Republican Morgan Griffith. The upset came as a shock to many, since an early October poll showed Boucher ahead by double digits, including one measure earlier in the month that put him ahead by 10 percentage points.

The National Republican Congressional Committee spent around $600,000 in ads, and the media framed the defeat as a Blue Dog, Boucher losing due to his support for cap-and-trade policies.

Except, there was more to the story. A Democratic Party official from Virginia, who asked to remain anonymous because he is still serving in an official capacity, says the "Boucher is an enemy of coal" narrative is a lie and that actually far more sinister actions are at play in Virginia.

In fact, Boucher is the type of moderate Democrat that Progressives loathe. He is indeed a great friend of coal and went out of his way to preserve coals jobs in his district. Boucher did vote for cap and trade, but only because he feared the alternative was to leave regulation to the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), which he said would be devastating for companies that rely on coal and their employees. The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) actually praised Boucher for his commitment "to protect coal miners and the coal industry."

Griffith nonetheless seized upon the "Boucher is bad for coal" narrative and added it to his existing arsenal, accusing Boucher of being too cozy with President Obama (Boucher voted against both versions of the House health care bill, but refused to repeal the law).

These kinds of campaign smears aren't unusual, save for the fact that the "Boucher Betrayed Coal" ads that played in Virginia and that were so effective they eventually cost Boucher his seat, were paid for by the Americans for Prosperity, a special-interest group founded with the support of David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch of Koch Industries, and the same group that was so instrumental during the now infamous health care town hall debacles.

Boucher survived the Republican Revolution of 1994, but he could not survive propaganda funded by two of the wealthiest men in the world.

That wouldn't be the last time Virginia heard from the Kochs.

In January, a special election was held to fill the vacated seat of now-Congressman Griffith in the House of Delegates. The Republicans ran the former Chair of the Salem Democratic Committee, Greg Habeeb.

The Democratic nominee was Ginger Mumpower of Roanoke. Before the election, Mumpower held a press conference in December in front of a state-owned liquor store to publicize her opposition to Governor McDonnell's ill-fated plan to privatize such stores. The public was against the plan and the opposition was gaining momentum. That same day, Habeeb quicklyreversed, leaving him vulnerable to the most-dreaded political accusation: being a "flip-flopper."

The Roanoke Free Press called it a "holiday hallelujah" moment for the Mumpower campaign, and Habeeb's swift reversal seemed like a gift that would help Mumpower secure victory.

Then, my source received a voicemail from Paige Winfield Cunningham, a reporter with virginia.watchdog.org and also a contributor for The Washington Times, as did the Mumpower campaign. Before returning the call, the official briefly viewed the web site and quickly dismissed it as a "right-wing misinformation site." He didn't return Cunningham's phone call.

Later in the week, Cunningham left another message on the official's voicemail, which he also didn't return.

Soon after, the official visited virginia.watchdog.org and saw that Cunningham had run a story in which she stated the country club to which Mumpower used to belong stated that she had not paid her past dues and that her home had been sold in a foreclosure auction. Obviously, the story caused a lot of embarrassment for Mumpower during an already chaotic political season.

Meanwhile, Habeeb raised over $138,000 for his campaign, more than five times what the Mumpowercamp had in their reserves, and he secured the tentative support of the Roanoke Tea Party, though they did express concern that perhaps the anti-choice, anti-gay marriage, pro-gun Habeeb wasn't conservative enough.

Ultimately, he won 64 percent of the vote, defeating Mumford.

The whole experience left my source feeling uneasy. Who had fed the reporter that information and what was the deal with that web site?

As it turns out, the [insert your state here].watchdog.org web sites are a franchise. Tailor the brand with a state, though not all states are represented, and a whole list of anti-union, anti-regulation, right-wing misinformation articles springs up in one's browser.

Plug in "newjersey.watchdog.org" and the web site will regale one with tales of greedy pensioners and the evils of the EPA. Type "washington.watchdog.org," and anti-union propaganda, helpfully tailored for the state of Washington, pop up.

According to the hub web site, watchdog.org is the brainchild of the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, a 5o1(c)3 non-profit organization "dedicated to promoting new media journalism."

However, those "journalism" credentials have been called into question by groups like the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, which rates watchdog.org as being "highly ideological" and "somewhat transparent." The site has one editor, Steven Allen Adams, a stringer for Reuters and a contributor to a West Virginia entertainment news web site called Kanawha Valley Live that, sadly, closed operations in April.

The Franklin Center has well-established ties to right-wing groups, including the Sam Adams Alliance (SAA), which originally funded the organization. In addition to running partisan web sites, Franklin Center also funds partisan polls.

SAA, a non-profit organization based in Chicago, also has a litany of tries to the Kochs to the extent that the two groups function with a singular purpose. CEO Eric O'Keefe helped create American Majority, a Tea Party-candidate training organization. O'Keefe has attempted to take credit for being the architect of the entire Tea Party movement, and he once worked for Citizens for Congressional Reform, a project of David Koch's Citizens for a Sound Economy.

The group has always been wary of publicly displaying connections to their wealthy donors and even went so far as to scrub an internship recruitment page that originally connected it to Koch Industries:

"Interested parties can apply for a Sam Adams Alliance internship through the Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow Program administered by the Institute for Humane Studies and the State Policy Network."

The internship is still posted. Charles Koch is still funding it. However, the Koch reference is now suspiciously absent from the redesigned SAA web site.

Examined from above, the range of the Koch brother spider web is enormously impressive. Here, we have a gigantic cash machine disseminating funding to a litany of Astroturf groups and nonprofits (doesn't that always sound so innocent?) that then splinter off to fund other nonprofits, which set up openly partisan web sites staffed with an army of hack reporters charged with destroying the credibility of Democratic candidates.

Truly, it's a wonder to behold.