Unpacking Mr. Global, Part One" with Catherine Austin Fitts. Derivatives exposure of Bank of America and the FDIC; corruption at the Department of Housing and Urban Development; prosecution of Hamilton Securities; Community Wizard; 9/11; collateral fraud. 

Guns and Butter - October 26, 2011 at 1:00pm

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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

'Fresh Air' Explores The Nation's 'ALEC Exposed' Investigation

NPR

July 22, 2011  

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It is no cruel coincidence that Republican state legislatures have in the past few decades introduced the same conservative legislation at the same time. In fact, ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), a “nonprofit” organization that brings corporations and state law makers together to draft model legislation, was a driving force radical bills covering everything from school reform to the environment to voting regulations. Recently, The Nationand the Center for Media and Democracy came into possession of some of ALEC’s legislative proposals, and the group’s behind-the-scenes work is now public for the first time as a result of the ALEC Exposed series. 

The Nation’s John Nichols joined NPR’s Fresh Air this morning to explain how ALEC has driven conservative policy for years.

—Anna Lekas Miller

John Nichols was on NPR - to discuss ALEC.

John Nichols was on NPR - to discuss ALEC.
This is an excellent interview.

Grab your favorite beverage - sit back and enjoy this 32 minute interview.

Listen to it here.

Please forward this link to anyone and everyone you know - it is that good!

Mary Bottari on ALEC Exposed, Marjorie Cohn on prison hunger strike

Mary Bottari on ALEC Exposed, Marjorie Cohn on prison hunger strike

CounterSpin (7/22/11-7/28/11)

Listen: [mp3] [RealAudio not avalailable]

Note: Please feel free to download the mp3 by right-clicking the mp3 link and choose the "Save Target As" function.

This week on CounterSpin: You've probably never heard of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. So why do they have so much sway over the laws affecting your life? We may get some sunlight on the actions of this influential "public/private membership organization" with the release of a cache of previously secret documents on their work. We'll hear from Mary Bottari of the Center for Media and Democracy about the ALEC Exposed project, and what it all means.

Also on the show: A hunger strike by California prisoners against what they say are torturous and abusive conditions has gotten little national coverage despite the grave charges, which have gained some support from independent experts. We'll talk to Marjorie Cohn, a professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego and a past president of the National Lawyers Guild.

Stream this week's show:

Austerity Psychosis Gripts Washington DC: Webster Tarpley

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/webster-tarpley-austerity-psychosis-grips-washington-d-c/

with Webster Tarpley
Bonnie Faulkner
Guns and Butter
April 20, 2011
Obama’s budget speech at George Washington University on April 13th, 2011; the Fiscal 2011 Budget Resolution causes a revolt in Washington, D.C.; the Independent Payment Advisory Board as a death panel; House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s genocidal Budget Resolution for the year 2012; Medicare and Medicaid under bipartisan attack; PIMCO sells the US short; and speculators drive up the price of oil.


Guns and Butter
The link will take you there

April 20, 2011
see
What You Need To Know To Save Your Ass – Part 2 by Mark A. Goldman
Who Really Benefits from the “American Dream”? by Marie Owens
Stripmining America-Unpatriotically by Ralph Nader
What You Need to Know to Save Your Ass by Mark A. Goldman
Inflation Hits Money and Lies by Joel S. Hirschhorn
The Economy Sucks and or Collapse 2
Inequality on Dandelion Salad
http://vodpod.com/dandelionsalad/tag/economy
Obama Delivers Republican Arguments