A Tea Party rally! WOW! You remember what Senator Moynihan said, “Everybody has a right to his opinion, but not to his own facts.” Truer words were never spoken. Those tea partiers say they want to take their country back, and they portray themselves as poor, humble everyday citizens. Perhaps they really believe they are, and that their tea party is also. But, I wonder if they and John Q. Public really know who runs their organization.
Actually, the three biggest funders are Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers, David and Charles. Among Americans, their combined wealth is exceeded only by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Last week, Jane Mayer wrote an article in the New Yorker magazine about the Koch brothers. People in NYC were said to be surprised to learn David was not just a wealthy philanthropist.
David started “Americans for Prosperity” and has worked with the Tea Party since its inception. Another major sponsor of the Tea Party is “Freedom Works,” which was started by former Congressman Dick Armey (who left Congress in the midst of the Jack Abramoff scandal). Freedom Works, using its previous name, “Citizens for a Sound Economy,” received twelve million dollars from Koch Family foundations. Koch-controlled foundations gave $196 million from 1998 to 2008, mostly to conservative causes. In addition, according to records, they spent $50 million on lobbying and $4.8 million in campaign contributions by its political action committee.
And what is their secret history? David Koch ran for vice president of the United States on the Libertarian ticket in 1980. His campaign then called for abolition of Social Security, federal regulatory agencies, the FBI, the CIA and the public schools! This is the guy bankrolling Americans for Prosperity and the Tea Party! These are the people who say they oppose deficit spending but do not hesitate to running up trillions of dollars of red ink to provide tax cuts to billionaires and to corporations.
This might all be merely ludicrous, except they seem to find it necessary to throw in religion to add to their righteous indignation. They insist that President Obama is actually a Muslim in disguise. How unimaginative can you get? The Koch brothers’ father, Fred Koch, was a member of the John Birch Society’s governing body in the early days of that group. Mayer points out that there is a 1963 speech of Fred Koch, which can still be found in the archives of the University of Michigan, wherein he warns of a Communist takeover of the American government. He says it occurs by commies infiltrating our highest government offices until finally a Communist becomes President of the United States without any of us knowing his true allegiance.
Look at that statement. If you replaced the word “Communist” with the word “Muslim,” you would have the exact same story they are hurling at Obama today. They didn’t even have the ingenuity to think up a new story! And the Tea Party folks are blindly repeating it!
One last point: If the Kochs and Rupert Murdoch are so shocked by Muslim influence, why do they not acknowledge that a Muslim named Walid bin Talal owns 7 percent of the shares of News Corporation, which is the parent company of Fox News? His shares are exceeded only by Rupert Murdoch himself. Fox News is the agency that is feeding all this so-called information to John Q. Public and the Tea Party.
If you want to verify the details of what I have written, you can get last week’s New Yorker magazine and read the article by Jane Mayer. She quotes and notes, so you can check out her sources. Or you can read the op-ed page of the New York Times for August 29th, where there is a column by Frank Rich entitled “Billionaires Bank-Rolling the Tea Party.”
Think about it before the next Tea Party rally. Even more important, think about it before you vote in November. One point they and I agree on is: This will be an important election! Do your homework.
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A Tea Party rally! WOW! You remember what Senator Moynihan said, “Everybody has a right to his opinion, but not to his own facts.” Truer words were never spoken. Those tea partiers say they want to take their country back, and they portray themselves as poor, humble everyday citizens. Perhaps they really believe they are, and that their tea party is also. But, I wonder if they and John Q. Public really know who runs their organization.
Actually, the three biggest funders are Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers, David and Charles. Among Americans, their combined wealth is exceeded only by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Last week, Jane Mayer wrote an article in the New Yorker magazine about the Koch brothers. People in NYC were said to be surprised to learn David was not just a wealthy philanthropist.
David started “Americans for Prosperity” and has worked with the Tea Party since its inception. Another major sponsor of the Tea Party is “Freedom Works,” which was started by former Congressman Dick Armey (who left Congress in the midst of the Jack Abramoff scandal). Freedom Works, using its previous name, “Citizens for a Sound Economy,” received twelve million dollars from Koch Family foundations. Koch-controlled foundations gave $196 million from 1998 to 2008, mostly to conservative causes. In addition, according to records, they spent $50 million on lobbying and $4.8 million in campaign contributions by its political action committee.
And what is their secret history? David Koch ran for vice president of the United States on the Libertarian ticket in 1980. His campaign then called for abolition of Social Security, federal regulatory agencies, the FBI, the CIA and the public schools! This is the guy bankrolling Americans for Prosperity and the Tea Party! These are the people who say they oppose deficit spending but do not hesitate to running up trillions of dollars of red ink to provide tax cuts to billionaires and to corporations.
This might all be merely ludicrous, except they seem to find it necessary to throw in religion to add to their righteous indignation. They insist that President Obama is actually a Muslim in disguise. How unimaginative can you get? The Koch brothers’ father, Fred Koch, was a member of the John Birch Society’s governing body in the early days of that group. Mayer points out that there is a 1963 speech of Fred Koch, which can still be found in the archives of the University of Michigan, wherein he warns of a Communist takeover of the American government. He says it occurs by commies infiltrating our highest government offices until finally a Communist becomes President of the United States without any of us knowing his true allegiance.
Look at that statement. If you replaced the word “Communist” with the word “Muslim,” you would have the exact same story they are hurling at Obama today. They didn’t even have the ingenuity to think up a new story! And the Tea Party folks are blindly repeating it!
One last point: If the Kochs and Rupert Murdoch are so shocked by Muslim influence, why do they not acknowledge that a Muslim named Walid bin Talal owns 7 percent of the shares of News Corporation, which is the parent company of Fox News? His shares are exceeded only by Rupert Murdoch himself. Fox News is the agency that is feeding all this so-called information to John Q. Public and the Tea Party.
If you want to verify the details of what I have written, you can get last week’s New Yorker magazine and read the article by Jane Mayer. She quotes and notes, so you can check out her sources. Or you can read the op-ed page of the New York Times for August 29th, where there is a column by Frank Rich entitled “Billionaires Bank-Rolling the Tea Party.”
Think about it before the next Tea Party rally. Even more important, think about it before you vote in November. One point they and I agree on is: This will be an important election! Do your homework.
