No 159 Posted by fw, April 21, 2011
Why are Charles and David Koch smiling? (Pronounced “coke” as in “coal”)
Perhaps it’s because Alberta’s lobbyist registry reveals that on March 15, Koch Industries signed up to lobby the province on energy and resource development policy issues, as well as taxation and economic development.
According to a story in the Edmonton Journal, Billionaire Tea Party financiers to lobby the Alberta government, a Koch Industries spokeswoman released this one-sentence statement about the lobbying registration: “Koch companies want to add value by providing quality services and products our customers desire and value in a way that is compliant with all laws and regulations.” But it remains a mystery what the company hopes to achieve by lobbying the Alberta government.
The article goes on to point out some, shall we say, “iffy” details about the brothers Koch. Here are the salient ones:
On another news front, The Nation magazine has just published a story right out of Orwell’s 1984: Big Brothers: Thought Control at Koch. Here is the opening paragraph:
The Nation obtained the Koch Industries election packet for Washington State—which included a cover letter from its president and COO, David Robertson; a list of Koch-endorsed state and federal candidates; and an issue of the company newsletter, Discovery, full of alarmist right-wing propaganda. Legal experts interviewed for this story called the blatant corporate politicking highly unusual, although no longer skirting the edge of legality, thanks to last year’s Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which granted free speech rights to corporations.
See any parallels between the bullying, controlling Koch brothers and the bullying, controlling Harper regime?
Won’t Sun News, the new conservative channel, also known as Fox News North — the final cog in the right-wing media machine — be pleased to have the Koch brothers here to glorify.
Had enough yet — of the Harper government, that is? If you’re not worried about a Conservative majority, you should be.