Keystone XL Pipeline to be Fast-Tracked by Congress - Both Sides Seeking Credit

I really wish somebody could explain this to me. The Keystone XL pipeline is loathed by environmentalists, and some climatologists. If successful, the oil extracted from the sands it will move is allegedly "game over" for the environment. And if it should leak, it could endanger a major aquifer that supplies water to a huge portion of the American populace. It will move oil that isn't ours, and will not be ours when it is sold either. It will employ lots of people for the time it takes to build it, but won't have many long-term jobs at all.

So, why does Right Wing World have a hard on for it, exactly? I know this is a major political football, so much so that both sides of Congress--particularly Louisiana Senate candidates looking at a runoff--are seeking to fast-track it, and try to take credit for it. But why? Why is this priority #1?

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Keystone XL Pipeline: Lame-Duck Congress Fast-Tracks Legislation

The tortuous six-year fight over a controversial proposal to funnel oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast took another turn this week after both houses of the lame-duck Congress moved to vote on the Keystone XL pipeline. As the legislation barrels through Congress and heads to the Oval Office, President Barack Obama may soon settle one of the most politically charged debates of the decade. The White House appeared to downplay the congressional maneuvering Wednesday, saying it takes a "dim view of these kinds of legislative proposals. . ."

Read more at: NBC News

The Difference Between Conservative and Liberal Rich Donors

Well, I've had a combination of a busy week, and a general malaise over current events. You probably can tell, if you scroll through my recent posts that there aren't very many. Sorry about that, I'll try to get inspired. In the meantime, here's a great piece on a subject I've written a lot about: Rich donors, and the difference between right and left wing versions of them.

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What’s The Difference Between Wealthy (Koch) Republicans And (Soros) Democrats?
 
The billionaire Koch brothers have been corrupting democracy for decades. Their labyrinthine web of front groups toil 24/7 to distort the facts on issues like climate change, voter suppression, gun control, and taxes. And if that collection of topics sounds familiar, it’s because the Kochs almost single-handedly created the Tea Party (with PR help from Fox News) to push their views on those subjects unto a gullible sector of the American populace. . .

Read more at: NewsCorpse

FOX "News" Uses Biased (Koch Brothers) Source in "Voter Fraud" Story

For years, conservatives have used George Soros, a liberal billionaire, as an all-purpose bogeyman, who is supposedly secretly funding myriad and varied progressive groups. Virtually every well-known liberal voice has been alleged to have Soros as a backer. But the right has a real sugar daddy. And if you follow the money, they really are behind a whole lot of seemingly "grass roots" and independent-sounding groups, like "Americans for Prosperity" and "FreedomWorks." The difference is, the Kochs--two of the richest people in the world--do all of this to further enrich themselves. And they don't stop with these groups, they've apparently inserted themselves into Right Wing World itself, at its hub: FOX "News."

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Koch Brothers Front Group Feeds Fox News Phony Figures On Voter Fraud
 
A report by Fox News alleges that “Over 40,000 voters are registered in both Virginia and Maryland.” It’s a shocking statistic that stirs fears of massive election fraud that could sway the results of pivotal campaigns and upset the balance of power in Congress. . .

Read more at: NewsCorpse

Chemical Spill in West Virginia Water May Have Started Weeks Ago

Mmmmm, licorice! Image from source, ThinkProgress

The chemical spill into the water supply in Charleston, West Virginia is lending credence to criticism of the "get rid of government regulations" crowd. It's always struck me as an overly simplistic, knee-jerk kind of mantra anyway. Sure, get rid of any regulations that are antiquated or that don't work as intended. But getting rid of regulations for the sake of it? It's preposterous. Regulations exist for a reason, and in this case it is quite obvious that more regulation (and enforcement of regulations) was needed. And how perfect is it that this company is called "Freedom Industries" and that the chemical was apparently a Koch Industries product?

Of course, this isn't over. Rivers flow into other rivers, and on from state to state, affecting poor and rich people alike. And what do you bet they're already formulating an odorless version of this chemical without the tell-tale licorice smell?

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Water Contamination In West Virginia May Have Started Weeks Ago, Residents Believe
 
When Rich McGervey first heard about the major chemical spill into his water supply, he immediately thought of his five-year-old daughter. “My mind starts running in reverse,” McGervey, a Charleston-based attorney, said. “She had taken a bath Tuesday night, and Wednesday night. And Wednesday night as we were going to bed, she rips up her shirt and starts scratching all over and she says ‘my whole body is itching!’ And she’s never done that before. . .”

Read more at: Think Progress

Koch Brothers Behind Huge Anti-ObamaCare Effort

One of the weirder ironies of today's politics is the fact that conservatives hate "ObamaCare," have done everything they could to sabotage it, kill it, disparage it. . .and yet they continue to pretend they're upset that it has been beset with problems as it ramps up. And they're not finished yet, oh no! The Koch Brothers--the right's version of George Soros, except there are two of them, and they work against Americans' best interests--are putting big money into fighting the ACA behind the scenes.

They're actively trying to prevent people from enrolling, down to the level of asking for pledges. This continuing sabotage works in multiple ways. The negative advertising continues to make the ACA seem like a bad thing, and if they're successful in preventing people from signing up, they can help ensure that it actually has a harder time shaping up. And yet, the Kochs still do all of this mostly from the shadows. The average American doesn't know that "Americans for Prosperity" or "FreedomWorks" exist, and if they do, they just think they're patriotic-sounding organizations.

It makes you wonder exactly what's in it for the Kochs if a bunch of Americans don't have affordable health care. What good does a bunch of sick, bankrupted Americans to the Kochs? Or is it enough to try to make the President look bad?  And there's a deeper question I keep coming back to, with the Kochs, Sheldon Adelson, Foster Friess, Rupert Murdoch and so many of these conservative billionaire benefactors: why do these impossibly rich old men care so much about being just a bit richer? You know what, at least George Soros contributes to causes that don't line his already stuffed pocketbook.
 

Billionaire Koch Brother Thinks Eliminating Minimum Wage Will Help the Poor

Here's my biggest stumbling block: the Koch brothers are already so ridiculously wealthy, they couldn't spend all of their money if the went on a Michael Jackson-sized shopping spree every day for the rest of their lives. And yet, they are on a mission, a constant battle to get more money, by getting the "right" kind of people elected, by influencing elections that result in policies that save them money, make them money, cut their taxes so that they can keep more of their money.

Good grief, what in the world for? These guys could earn an extra billion this year--or lose it--and they wouldn't feel a difference! At least Las Vegas' own troll garden gnome billionaire Sheldon Adelson has Israel as a prime motivating factor behind his political maneuverings. What in the world motivates these guys? And does anyone for even a minute think that the Kochs have any idea what it's like to struggle? What it's like to try to exist on minimum wage? I'm an atheist, but sometimes I wish for a little karma, a little kismet to bite these guys on the ass.

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Billionaire Koch Brother Says Eliminating The Minimum Wage Will Help The Poor

A conservative mogul worth $43 billion says he knows the secret to helping poor people. According to Charles Koch, the U.S. needs to get rid of the minimum wage, which he counts as a major obstacle to economic growth. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Ryan Plan Cuts Taxes for Rich, Raises Them for the Poor

Actually, that would be the rich tax.
Image from ThinkProgress.

Why oh why do they keep doing this? Over and over again, Republicans propose or enact policies that sting the poor, sick, elderly and infirm, while giving massive breaks to the richest. Why? The very rich in this country are actually very, very, very rich (and I'm probably missing a few verys). They don't need more money. They don't need more breaks.

I was thinking about this the other day. You've got your Foster Friess, your Sheldon Adelson, your Koch Brothers, all obscenely rich. I will not begrudge them their money, they earned it (one way or the other). But these guys have millions just to piss away on quixotic candidates like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. They fund think tanks and lobbyists, and cabals like ALEC, which ghost-writes legislation enacted later by Republicans. All of this money is spent with the prospect of making even more money. Much more money then they have to spend buying politicians. All of the guys above are in their seventies. What the frack are these guys saving up for? Are they buying a country (besides the one they're currently buying) to while away their eighties? Why do billionaires need to work so hard to make even more billions? For what?

But I digress.

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CHART: House GOP Budget Cuts Taxes For The Rich, Raises Taxes On The Poor


As ThinkProgress has detailed, the House Republican budget, authored by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), pays for massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans by cutting spending from programs that primarily benefit lower-income Americans. While giving an average of $187,000 to each millionaire, the budget finds 62 percent of its cuts from programs that benefit the lower- and middle-classes, kicking millions off of food stamps, gutting Pell Grants, and slashing Medicare and Medicaid. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

The Incredible Wealth of the Koch Brothers (And Their Shrinking Work Force)

Right now, the right-wing is charging President Obama with  "class warfare," for saying that the rich should be paying their fair share. The irony is, in the class war, only the rich are winning. Many on the right see any attack on the Koch brothers--the ridiculously wealthy oil barons--as a retort for the demonization of billionaire George Soros by the right. The difference of course, is that Soros uses his money to fight for things that are actually against his financial interests. And the Kochs usually do anything they can to make themselves even richer.

But so what, right? Should we be bagging on people for being successful? No, probably not. Not for that alone. But the Kochs are the lucky recipients of the genetic lottery. They got their money the old fashioned way: they inherited it. But I won't accuse them of not growing the money they got from pops. They've done that. But just check out the video below. Check out the graph that shows the ballooning billions in the Koch's wallets, and the amount of layoffs they've put into effect in their companies. And these guys are buying elections now to make their profit margin even larger. I am insanely curious as to why these two guys need even one more dollar with $50 billion between them.

 

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