Koch brothers: secretive billionaires with eye on 2012 creating vast database

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

The secretive oil billionaires the Koch brothers are close to launching a nationwide database connecting millions of Americans who share their anti-government and libertarian views, a move that will further enhance the tycoons' political influence and that could prove significant in next year's presidential election.

The database will give concrete form to the vast network of alliances that David and Charles Koch have cultivated over the past 20 years on the right of US politics. The brothers, whose personal wealth has been put at $25bn each, were a major force behind the creation of the tea party movement and enjoy close ties to leading conservative politicians, financiers, business people, media figures and US supreme court judges.

The voter file was set up by the Kochs 18 months ago with $2.5m of their seed money, and is being developed by a hand-picked team of the brothers' advisers. It has been given the name Themis, after the Greek goddess who imposes divine order on human affairs.

In classic Koch style, the project is being conducted in great secrecy. Karl Crow, a Washington-based lawyer and Koch adviser who is leading the development, did not respond to requests for comment. Nor did media representatives for Koch Industries, the brothers' global energy company based in Wichita, Kansas.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/07/koch-brothers-database-2012-election

---

Good to see the Guardian consistently shining a bright light on what the demonic Kochs are scheming in the shadows for 2012 (even if it does make one shudder when reading it in full).

It's a real shame the US MSM aren't doing the same thing.

[Initech]

1. Gross. Last thing we need is for the tea party to network.

[L. Coyote]

22. The Tea Party is just a Big Oil sideshow, entertainment to distract and Bush rebranding, by the net-

work already in place on the far right. These are the people who can steal an election in Alabama for revenge, and imprison the former Democratic governor for spite. Look back on their actions and you realize the past tense prevails on being networked, and the Tea Prty is just their ruse to distance their identity from their major liability, their very own history in power from 2000-2008.

[wordpix]

61. +1 the tea party is just King CONG (coal, oil, nuclear, gas) & BushCo in disguise

[hue]

2. Koch Bros. are a cancer & will spread & stop at nothing! n/t

[bikebloke]

3. A target for Anonymous

Hopefully Anonymous will zero in on Themis.

[Tippy]

4. We think alike....

[tawadi]

7. Exactly. Whats good for the goose.. Right? eom

[AC_Mem]

12. I was thinking the same thing!

If they weren't "anonymous" I would donate to help fun the take down of the evil twins...

[KamaAina]

17. And 4chan

:evilgrin:

[silverweb]

29. My first reaction, too.

:D

[wordpix]

62. great minds think alike, I'm with you

[otohara]

5. Sign Me Up

oh wait, I'm not a paranoid billionaire or low info voter.

[valerief]

6. Well, they need to know who to bribe 250K, I mean, donate 250K.

They have all the money in the world, so they can buy whoever they want.

[IDemo]

8. Stay tuned for CheetohNet™

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

73. After voting you hold up your orange stained fingers proudly, ala Iraq.

[KansDem]

9. This says it all...

The brothers, whose personal wealth has been put at $25bn each, were a major force behind the creation of the tea party movement and enjoy close ties to leading conservative politicians, financiers, business people, media figures and US supreme court judges.

I wonder what influence they had in Bush v. Gore...

[kestrel91316]

25. No wondering necessary. It's glaringly obvious.

[wordpix]

63. $25 BILLION each? And what taxes are they paying? Calling IRS audit dept!

[HereSince1628]

10. The Koch's, pretenders to democracy, chief among American boyars

apologists to neo-feudalism, will have the distinction of being among the few who killed the American experiment.

[TBF]

11. About what you'd expect from a family of Nazis ...

[louis-t]

21. Wow, the eyes. Look at the eyes.

Then look at David Koch's eyes.

[TBF]

37. Yup -

business ties have been documented between the family here & over there around WWII, but that is all I've been able to find. But the photos make a case (the 3rd is a photo of Ilse smiling - these are hard to come by) -



Blog that lays out the oil connections, but again I haven't seen definite proof of familial relationship: http://unknownjournal.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/%E2%96%BC-report-the-kochs-their-nazi-past-american-oil-the-foundation-of-republican-ideology/

[midnight]

40. The family was in charge of forced labor.... No wonder they have been destroying the unions...

"On September 1, Koch became Reichskommissar of Reichskommissariat Ukraine with control of the Gestapo and the police. His domain was extended from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea; he captured ethnic German, Polish, Belarus and Ukrainian’s declaring that “Ukraine children need no schools. What they’ll have to learn will be taught them by their German masters” and “If I meet a Ukrainian worthy of being seated at my table, I must have him shot..”.

Koch worked together with the General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment, providing the Reich with forced labor. Due to his brutal actions, Nazi rule in Ukraine was disturbed by a growing number. Before once more getting away himself, by escaping through this Baltic Sea port on April 23, 1945, on the icebreaker Ostpreußen. He faced charges of war crimes for the extermination of 400,000 Poles, but was never indicted for his crimes in Ukraine. He was sentenced to death on March 9, 1959 by the district court in Warsaw for having planned, prepared and organised the mass murder of civilians. Russians thought he possessed information about art looted by the Nazis during the war."

[TBF]

42. It's fascinating reading isn't it -

and when you read what the Koch Bros. are doing there seem to be many parallels. I'd be very surprised if these 2 families aren't related.

[madrchsod]

41. ilse koch-"The Bitch of Buchenwald"

she collected stuff made from the skin of the jews.....http://www.auschwitz.dk/women/Koch.htm

[BlueIdaho]

43. You Know...

these guys are the worst kinds of scoundrels...

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

16. Succinctly put...

... "boyars", they are. We all know how daddy got to see them first hand.

[NashVegas]

13. Themis, Meet Eris

I can't wait.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[wordpix]

65. I say the IRS should take a look -

my guess is they are running a lot of "non-profits" that won't meet the standards and investing in places like Mitt R's Bain Capital to evade taxes.

[mazzarro]

15. Thank God for the Guardian shining light on this oncoming threat

My question now is how do counteract this nebulous effort of the Koch brothers. Can we start our own collaborative software/database development effort with volunteer efforts and who can set it up and coordinate it? I hate the fact that a lot of times liberals play catch up to counteract the shenanigans of the right-wings. I would prefer we are on the offensive a good number of the times.

[dipsydoodle]

51. Its actually an editorial

Its just that nobody has noticed.

[Crowman1979]

18. Hopefully Anonymous will do something about this.

[patrice]

19. What more proof does anyone need that "at will" employment is legalized DISCRIMINATION.

[classof56]

20. Recommended and thanks for posting.

Let us hope this evil is extinguished before the goal to totally destroy us is achieved.

Tired Old Cynic

[Bragi]

23. The Kochs are also behind the XL pipeline

Having quietly but successfully taken over the government of Canada in the past decade, the Kochs are now the biggest single buyer of Canada's dirty tarsands oil, and are major backers for the XL pipeline which Obama will hopefully refuse to approve.

[wordpix]

66. did not know this - I was out protesting on Sun., though, in DC

[Bragi]

71. Good for you! Pass on the word about the Koch involvement. /nt

[SleeplessinSoCal]

24. What a depressing way to start the week. Just watched "Les Miserables" and now this.

[SteveM]

26. All the more reason for OWS to quickly develop tactics and strategies...

based on the Internet and social networking. I suggest expanding the actions against B of A from the $5 fee flap, to pulling out of the bank because of their insistence on transferring trillions of dollars in uninsured derivitatives from Merrill Lynch to the Bank of America (the owner of M-L) where they can insured it through FDIC. Which means you; which means us.

(1) Keep it simple
(2) Keep it clear
(3) Keep it limited
(4) Find out if your social network strategy works
(5) Expand from there.

[patrice]

27. Koch/ChurchCo recruiting SHOULD be understood as a reaction to OccupyTogether.

[patrice]

30. IOW, using the same synergies, especially anything that appears to be justifiably anti-government.

[patrice]

32. Ergo, do not expect "Anonymous" to do anything about Koch/ChurchCo. nt

[patrice]

33. or at least nothing effective about their recruiting. nt

[Hubert Flottz]

28. K&R

[Puzzledtraveller]

31. Emmanuel Goldstein

[tcaudilllg]

34. WE NEED ONE OF THOSE.

[KoKo]

36. Good Question.... Why don't we? Or is OFA big enough to serve the same function? n/t

[eridani]

55. We do. It's called VoteBuilder, and DNC is not investing enough in maintaining it

BTW, the Koch whores seem to be displacing the Republican Party as the campaign management and GOTV apparatus. Wonder what will happen to the Repub VoterVault?

[patrice]

80. Not investing because they're afraid of the power it represents. "Let sleeping dogs lie."

Too late, the dogs are waking up.

[patrice]

48. Ding! Ding! Ding! Here's the thread winnah!!!!

[muriel_volestrangler]

35. This is either a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, or Big Brother intrusion on the subjects

of the database. If they've agreed to having their personal data used in this way, then this really is the VRWC that Hillary Clinton referred to so many years ago; or the Koch brothers are abusing people's personal data in a way that ought to scare these people who are so quick to complain about government intrusion.

[a simple pattern]

38. Perhaps they are building an anti-list as well.

The sum total of 1% and useful idiots is doubtless the smaller of the two.

[Maineman]

39. Is there any way to boycott the Koch's industries??

There lives are way too easy.

[beac]

64. Info on Koch products and companies to boycott here:

http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/want-to-boycott-the-koch-brothers-products-heres-where-to-start.html

[Downwinder]

44. Going to have to expand the DU membership to counter.

[barbtries]

45. how vast could it be?

most americans are more american than that.

[pscot]

46. Most Americans aren't too bright

[AntiFascist]

47. I find it suspect that...

the Tea Party wants reduced taxes, but no Tea Bagger ever seems to call for reduced Pentagon spending, eventhough over 50% of taxes go to fund oil wars and overall Pentagon expenses. Obviously they are in favor of National Socialism. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a growing movement, being fostered by the Kochs, to replace our current republic with one that is more white supremacy oriented with more traditional Nazi values.

[wordpix]

67. Kochs are definitely supremacy oriented in terms of the environment

They could not care less about air, water and soil YOU need, as long as the pollutants don't touch them on their private islands and remote hideaways.

Good luck on that.

[Uben]

49. Following in Murdocks footsteps. The Kochs will be next.

Big money just can't keep their noses out of other people's business. The Kochs will wind up in the same tank the Murdocks are in. It's not a matter of if, but when.

[cyberpj]

53. Hoping for that. Ego does tend to push limits and then feel limitless until caught. nt

[certainot]

50. their biggest advantage is still 1000 coordinated radio stations, ignored by the left

it will continue to be the biggest blunder in political history that for 20 years, since reagan killed the fairness doctrine and built the talk radio monopoly, the left has has had no organized opposition to it while team limbaugh and the think tanks that feed the blowhard gods have been kicking left ass.

[unionworks]

81. unfortunately, it's not a "blunder"

The coprporate democrats are very happy with this status quo. What better way to keep the left from regaining a foothold?

[StarsInHerHair]

52. Them is EVIL!

[lumberjack_jeff]

54. "the Greek goddess who imposes divine order on human affairs"

That there's ambitious, I don't care who y'are.

[47of74]

56. I take comfort in this...

...when it comes to our rich :sarcasm: friends :sarcasm:

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you." (James 5:1-6)

[Turborama]

57. The Koch Brothers' Connections – An Interactive Guide

Available here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/nov/07/koch-brothers-connections-interactive-guide?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

[Little Tich]

58. SPECTRE is no longer a fictional organization.

Perhaps we should send agent 007 to the Koch Brothers' secret island base and blow it up.

Seriously, this can't be good in any shape or form.

[ck4829]

59. K&R

[ThoughtCriminal]

60. If I was a scam artist

I would kill to have their mailing list: "Most gullible people on Earth"

[moondust]

68. Public Enemies #1

Prosecute, incarcerate.

[DBoon]

69. I'm fearing the day they decide to finance their own private militia

or have they done that already?

[hue]

74. You mean like this??? This was Jan. 2011

and they have many compounds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBQjOfuDlRE&NR=1

[Kablooie]

70. Boy, sounds like they are preparing for an actual coup d'état.

If they succeed they will become heros, because they will control the government.

If they fail, I hope they are be exposed as the traitors they are and suffer the consequences.

We may be in for a real, I mean REAL, fourth turning like no one has experienced for hundreds of years.

[Mosaic]

72. We of the 99% are far more VAST

LOL at the 'millions' of idiots that would sign up for this. WE have Billions of people worldwide! It's called the internet, and all its vast resources!

[snot]

75. Catalyst. Does that explain all the mail I get from the DLC?

[nxylas]

76. The right's Soros obsession seems more and more like Rovian projection

We've long laughed at Gleen Beck's ability to link anything to George Soros by writing its name on a blackboard, writing "SOROS" and then drawing an arrow between the two. Bot the more you look at the far right's network, the more you find that it really does all come back to the Kochs.

[sulphurdunn]

77. The Kochs are proof

that some people need to pay more taxes before they go to prison and have their assets confiscated under the RICO ACT. These fascist rat bastards have decided to buy America and pass it on to their heirs like it was their personal property.

[Reptilublican]

78. It's going to be called fascistbook.com

[wordpix]

79. white paper on the Koch Bros - IRS should investigate "non-profit" status of orgs Kochs support

:eyes: I wonder if all the RW "non-profit" orgs the Kochs contribute millions to qualify as non-profits. Non-profits by definition are supposed to be non-partisan and non-political. It appears that many the Kochs contribute to do not meet the qualifications.

snip: "The real Koch brothers’ philosophy

Their profits over the middle class

The Koch brothers are a common thread financing the right-wing attack machine.
They are key players behind the Tea Party movement; the assault on health
reform, workers’ rights, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Wall Street
financial reform; and climate change deniers, to name just a few (see table).

The Koch brothers’ political and charitable donations do fund organizations
dedicated to their philosophy of limited government and deregulation but it is
hard not to notice that this is not purely philosophical. There’s no getting around
the fact that the Koch ideology also helps the Koch bottom line, often at the
expense of middle-class families. A 2004 report by the National Committee for
Responsive Philanthropy made this very same point, stating: “These foundations
give money to nonprofit organizations that do research and advocacy on issues
that impact the profit margin of Koch Industries.” Here are some examples of how
the Koch brothers use their ideology to put their profit margin over the well-being
of middle-class families. " snip

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2011/04/pdf/koch_brothers.pdf

[a simple pattern]

82. They're behind Keystone XL too

They are starting to build it like it doesn't matter what the government or the people say