David Koch

Mon, 2010-11-01 18:28Brendan DeMelle
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Koch Brothers Are Kings of Alberta Oil Sands Too

The Tyee notes today that billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch and their company Koch Industries are a major player in Alberta's dirty oil sands, a fuel source far more polluting than even regular oil.  Leave it to the Koch brothers to gravitate towards (and profit from) the dirtiest sources of energy on the planet - while ignoring investments in cleaner alternatives that could help rescue and stabilize the U.S. economy - and collect love letters from the Tea Party's "patriots" for their efforts. 

Tyee reporter Geoff Dembicki notes the Kochtopus's role in spawning the fake 'grassroots' Tea Party movement, especially through the Koch-filled coffers of Americans For Prosperity, and points to the Kochs' role in funding the climate denial machine as a key indicator of why the TeaOP is overrun with anti-science sentiment. 

The looming threat of a TeaOP takeover in Washington - even if exaggerated in its scope - is bad news for science-based policy, particularly in the arena of climate change policy.  With a fresh crop of climate deniers set to assume seats formerly held by moderate Republicans and Democrats, the silly season antics that typically crop up during election time appear to be stuck on auto-repeat for the foreseeable future.

Dembicki details Koch Industries' role in sponsoring the Tea Party rise, but also probes Koch's extensive control over Alberta's filthy oil sands, including this excerpt:

Read more: Koch Brothers Are Kings of Alberta Oil Sands Too
Wed, 2010-10-13 13:01Brendan DeMelle
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David Koch Has Direct Contact With Tea Party Astroturf Organizers At Americans For Prosperity Event

The billionaire Koch brothers have long claimed that they have no direct connection to the Tea Party, denying that their vast oil wealth is directly funding corporate front groups like Americans For Prosperity, the key organizers of the fake grassroots Tea Party movement. 

David Koch told New York magazine earlier this year, “I’ve never been to a tea-party event. No one representing the tea party has ever even approached me.” 

But the Guardian's Suzanne Goldenberg reports today that footage has emerged showing David Koch at the podium during an Americans For Prosperity gala receiving direct and detailed reports from his astroturf AFP army on their efforts to organize tea parties around the nation.  

Watch the clip from the new documentary (Astro)Turf Wars: How Corporate America Faked a Grassroots Revolution:

 

Read more: David Koch Has Direct Contact With Tea Party Astroturf Organizers At Americans For Prosperity Event
Mon, 2010-08-30 11:09Kevin Grandia
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The Koch Industry and Americans for Prosperity Machine Exposed

The fallout continues from a very comprehensive New Yorker report exposing Koch Industries massive ideological machine with an opinion piece in the Sunday New York Times by columnist Frank Rich called: The Billionaires Bankrolling the Tea Party.

Out in front of this controversy is a group called the Americans for Prosperity that has recieved millions from Koch Industries and has been touring the United States spreading misinformation about the realities of climate change and organizing local tea party protests.

Here is the background research we have put together over the years on the Americans for Prosperity and Koch Industries:

Background on Americans for Prosperity (AFP)

Background on Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity

Comprehensive background and history of Koch Industries

Background on Koch Industries - company holdings and investments

Background on Koch Industries and lobbying in Washington, DC

Background on Koch Industries and George Mason University

Read more: The Koch Industry and Americans for Prosperity Machine Exposed
Mon, 2010-08-23 14:15Brendan DeMelle
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The New Yorker Exposes Koch Industries "Kochtopus" Behind Tea Party and Climate Denial Machine

The New Yorker has published a must-read article exposing the long reach of the "Kochtopus" network set up by Koch Industries to fuel the Tea Party and fund the climate denial machine.  

Written by investigative journalist Jane Mayer, the piece titled "Covert Operations: The billionaire brothers who are waging war against Obama" explores the decades-long efforts of brothers David and Charles Koch to manipulate and deceive the public on issues ranging from climate change to cancer-causing chemicals. 

Koch Industries has done far more than even ExxonMobil to fund the climate denial machine in recent years, and media coverage about numerous Tea Party and GOP candidates who deny the science of climate change confirm that the Kochs' reach has infected national politics in unprecedented ways.

The lengthy New Yorker article covers many interesting new angles about the Kochs' influence-peddling empire, and adds to a growing body of research about Koch Industries' anti-science, anti-democratic activities.

Building upon the research from Greenpeace's excellent Koch report earlier this year, Jane Mayer expands on Koch's role in funding climate deniers and anti-science think tanks, not to mention the Tea Party. 

Head over to The New Yorker to read the slimy details.  

Read more: The New Yorker Exposes Koch Industries "Kochtopus" Behind Tea Party and Climate Denial Machine
Fri, 2010-03-19 06:17Kevin Grandia
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Wanted: David and Charles Koch, Climate Criminals [video]

If you've never heard of Charles or David Koch, I wouldn't blame. While they do run the second largest private company in the US, they don't spend much money advertising the fact.

These oil barons do however spend a lot of money every year on organizations like Americans for Prosperity who attack the science of climate change and deny that it is happening.

Here's a backgrounder on Koch just released yesterday by Climate Science Watch.

And here's Greenpeace's "Climate Crime Unit" on the hunt for Charles and David Koch:

Read more: Wanted: David and Charles Koch, Climate Criminals [video]

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