Galt's Gulch

Column opinion piece on Reid’s and Pelosi’s continual focus on the Koch brothers

Posted by $ Mimi 10 years, 6 months ago to Politics
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I thought this was an interesting opinion piece presented from a left-leaning local source. It shows that even liberals are having a difficult time justifying the amount of time Reid is wasting on bashing the Koch brothers.
Sidenote: I ask in the thread about Michelle Obama’s planned graduation speech being held in Kansas: "was it my imagination or was the DNC spending a great deal of time and money in Kansas this election?" Why the focus? Then it dawned on me today; that’s where the headquarters of Koch Industries is. The Republicans, or the Tea Party crowd better start paying attention to the Kansas races. Maybe this could effect the money flow for 2016? It definitely could have an effect nationally to turn that state’s representative primarily blue. What legislation is coming down the pike if they do? How could that effect us nationally? The left is definitely up to something in Kansas.
SOURCE URL: http://freebeacon.com/blog/ellisons-must-read-of-the-day-pelosi-reid-koch/

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  • Posted by Wanderer 10 years, 6 months ago
    Mimi;

    A long time ago I spent a few months on a Koch Industries project. They ran it in an efficient manner, allowed me almost free hand and almost all the responsibility. Had anything gone wrong, my head was on the line. It was great! I had no idea at the time, but producing oil and gas comprise a tiny part of Koch Industries. Koch makes most of its money from Georgia Pacific, Molex, Flint, Zinc, and dozens of other nonoilfield enterprises, providing products we all recognize as essential to our daily lives.

    The Koch brothers should put more effort into their public relations. If the greater public were aware of the things Koch does Ried and Pelosi would find it much harder to attack them.
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    • Posted by $ Mimi 10 years, 6 months ago
      I think that the Koch brothers have benefitted by not putting their face out into the public in a PR campaign. It’s easier to see them as private citizens when they behave...well...private
      But if they change their minds and need someone to man the phones to inform the public what a nutcase Reid is --I’m their gal.:)
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  • Posted by wmiranda 10 years, 6 months ago
    Term limits folks. Serve 1-2 terms max and get back to work. We've allowed a political royalty class to develop in our country. Having a term at the National level should be an achievement in your resume, not a lifetime career. I can see long careers at the State level, but never at the National level politics. Some say you can't accomplish anything in 1-2 terms. I say- Then get the hell out and let someone else that can!
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  • Posted by NealS 10 years, 6 months ago
    Harry Reid's accomplishments are what his opposition needs to concentrate on while informing the public. We should not talk negative against Harry or anyone else, but talk about the positive things they've been accomplishing, like spending a full congressional session on nothing but bashing private citizens. Sort of like talking about Hillary's accomplishments, effectively none that I see that are positive. What's better today besides the personal wealth they have created for themselves? Why do they need more personal wealth? Why don't they retire and get some new blood in those positions? Should we not allow our youth to help form their own future?
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    • Posted by $ Mimi 10 years, 6 months ago
      You can tell when Harry speaks his lungs are getting weak.He is leaning over more which also could be an indicator he is having trouble breathing. Still, it would be better to have him voted out of office then for him to resign or collapse his way out. Senator’s Kennedy’s death was the emotional linchpin for the Affordable Health Care Act. It’s too bad he isn’t up for reelection this year.The Tea Party really blew it with Sharon Angle as a candidate. (Was that her name?) She was such a nutcase.
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    • Posted by airfredd22 10 years, 6 months ago
      Re: NealS,

      What is your real point. the Koch Brothers still run their companies because they are healthy in both body and mind. they employ hundreds of thousands of people including many young ones. Their many companies have management that handle the day to day executive duties while they themselves handle the strategic management. Could they just retire and live off their wealth, of course they could, but people who reach the heights of the business world that they inhabit live ling lives because they don't let their minds atrophy. I notice you didn't write about warren buffet, the acknowledged greatest investor in the u.S. who is even older than these brothers. frankly it's none of anyone's business what they do with their companies or their money as long as it's legal.

      Fred speckmann
      commonsenseforamericans@yahoo.com
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      • Posted by NealS 10 years, 6 months ago
        Ah, I see where you totally mistook my msg. I was talking about Harry and his kind, they are the one's that need to move on and it's up to us (well actually the people of Nevada) to see that they do. I have no qualms with what the Koch Brothers do. My real point is why is Harry still representing his State? I'm against public officials creating extreme wealth for themselves at the expense of taxpayers. I don't care how much private individuals make, in fact the more the merrier.
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  • Posted by richrobinson 10 years, 6 months ago
    Great article Mimi and I like your analysis. Wish Harry would spend more time just doing his job.
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    • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years, 6 months ago
      Dirty Harry Reid views bashing Koch Industries as his job. Given his political contributions, he is undoubtedly rewarding those who "cronyed" up to him. As Obama said, "We will reward our friends and punish our enemies". We need to start viewing them as enemies instead of fellow citizens.
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  • Posted by $ KahnQuest 10 years, 6 months ago
    One of NM's gubernatorial candidates (Alan Webber, D) is running on a platform of bashing the Koch Brothers as well. One of his ads accuses our incumbent (Susana Martinez, R) of taking orders from them and helping spread their "radical agenda." His agenda? 1. Early childhood education (i.e. indoctrination); 2. End tax breaks to out-of-state corporations (i.e. chasing jobs away); 3. Raise the minimum wage (i.e. punish in-state job creators). You can see the ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR7o9SDPn...

    As a fun addendum, the Ds all cried foul when Martinez ended the tax breaks for out-of-state film producers. Fun!
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    • Posted by $ Mimi 10 years, 6 months ago
      I don’t understand the bashing. Is this the excuse they are going to use when they kill the pipeline. “We had to do it to stop the Koch brothers.” How’s Martinez looking in the polls?
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      • Posted by $ KahnQuest 10 years, 6 months ago
        Perhaps; it wouldn't surprise me if they were grasping at such straws to kill the pipeline, since even the unions seem to want it. Martinez seems to be on top at the moment (though I'm no expert at reading poll info - seems like Greek to me). She's up against seven Ds all trying to unseat her. Not sure whether that hurts or helps her, but there is no R running against her.
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    • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years, 6 months ago
      The Koch brothers have done much to keep unemployment as low as it is. One of the more entertaining times in my former business was making a sales pitch to Koch Foods to convert chicken poop into energy for their chicken farm. If we had won that contract, we probably would not have sold the company off when Obama got elected.
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      • Posted by Fountainhead24 10 years, 6 months ago
        So it was Obama's fault?
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        • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years, 6 months ago
          We did not get the contract from Koch Foods because we didn't have enough of a track record yet, and that was entirely reasonable for them to conclude.

          Selling off the company was not that hard when most of the people buying our technology had been environmentalists trying to absolve their guilt. When they went with Obama toward solar energy, it was not hard for us to sell the company.
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          • Posted by Fountainhead24 10 years, 6 months ago
            Non sequitur.
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            • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years, 6 months ago
              No, it's not. There were two different reasons for two different actions, both of which were relevant to the prior question. Granted, I should have worded things slightly differently. Our company had solved all of the technical issues and had begun to make sales of various forms of waste-to-energy, but had a very short track record when we made our pitch to Koch Foods. They were one of our earlier potential clients in early 2008.

              By late 2008, we had discovered that trash-to-energy was not making us money. Only trash-to-chemicals was making money. When biofuels went out of favor with the election of Obama, our potential customers followed him toward solar energy, which has way too high a capital cost. With solar, the only people who make money are the looters and moochers. Solar energy cannot be profitable for customer or manufacturer without government subsidy.
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