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“The Koch Brothers’ Right-Wing Conspiracy to Undermine the PATRIOT Act” [UPDATE]

Reason’s Radley Balko finds Jonathan Chait’s sin of omission and bitch slaps him with it.

Liberty. So very shadowy and right wing.

****
update: So long as we’re talking about the Kochs, liberty, and individualism, see also here.

57 Replies to ““The Koch Brothers’ Right-Wing Conspiracy to Undermine the PATRIOT Act” [UPDATE]”

  1. Abe Froman says:

    Sometimes I have trouble differentiating between the people who manufacture narratives because they’re lying scumbags and the people who advance them because they’re fucking lazy and stupid. I find it easier to just hate them all.

  2. newrouter says:

    i don’t look too closely to the cabal of commies to your left

  3. newrouter says:

    -i above

  4. SDN says:

    Liberals are liars. Quelle surprise!

  5. Ernst Schreiber says:

    And liars are liberals. Hey, Orwell was right! This language stuff is reflexive!

  6. dicentra says:

    Steyn is on the case:

    The Kochs’ money is irrelevant to the future of Wisconsin. The unions’ money, on the other hand, is an existential crisis for the state. Last year, The Times of London reported:

    The President of Greece warned last night that his country stood on the brink of the abyss after three people were killed when an anti-government mob set ?re to the Athens bank where they worked.

    The Times managed to get the salient feature of the story entirely wrong. They were not an “anti-government” mob, but a government mob, a mob of “public servants” objecting to austerity measures that would end, for example, the tradition of 14 monthly paychecks per annum. You read that right: the Greek public sector cannot be bound by anything so humdrum as temporal reality. So, when it was mooted that the “workers” might henceforth receive a mere 12 monthly paychecks per annum, they rioted. Their hapless victims – a man and two women – were a trio of clerks trapped in a bank when the mob set it alight and then obstructed emergency crews attempting to rescue them.…

    That’s what “collective bargaining” is about: It enables unions rather than citizens to set the price of government. It is, thus, a direct assault on republican democracy, and it needs to be destroyed. Unlovely as they are, the Greek rioters and the snarling thugs of Madison are the logical end point of the advanced social democratic state: not an oppressed underclass, but a spoiled overclass, rioting in defense of its privileges and insisting on more subsidy, more benefits, more featherbedding, more government.

    Big Unions fund Big Government. The union slices off two per cent of the workers’ pay and sluices it to the Democratic Party, which uses it to grow government, which also grows unions, which thereby grows the number of two-per-cent contributions, which thereby grows the Democratic Party, which thereby grows government… Repeat until bankruptcy. Or bailout.

    In his pithiest maxim, John Maynard Keynes, the most influential economist of the 20th century social-democratic state and the patron saint of “stimulus”, offered a characteristically offhand dismissal of any obligation to the future: “In the long run we are all dead.” The Greek and Wisconsin bullies are Keynesians to a man: The mob is demanding the right to carry on suspending reality until they’re all dead. After that, who cares?

  7. JD says:

    They might have passed Rush and Fox as the most evil people in the world.

  8. newrouter says:

    Our audio captures the restaurant staff talking about how they have to take down the blog posting because people are starting to call about it, you can actually hear them logging into the blog and deleting it. Too late.

    We confirm with Governor Walker’s staff that the Governor has never been to that restaurant, this was an attempted “punking” by employees of The Merchant Restaurant, but look who got punked… In the words of Joe Wilson, You Lie!

    You can listen to our audio, and judge for yourself. Do not turn it off after the hang-up, that’s when it gets good.

    link

  9. Mr B says:

    I calculate Ian will get Koch slapped before this is over with.

    Soemthing tells me David Koch will be happy to make an example of the young “F the troops” fellow with the efforts of his lawyer(s).

    http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2011/02/phony-david-koch-call-wasnt-just-prank.html

  10. guinsPen says:

    See also there.

  11. guinsPen says:

    Had Mister Cohan been a Chicagoan, he would’ve titled it Over By There.

  12. Mr B says:

    OT for bh,

    Do you know anything about the pending layoffs in WI schools; if the bill does not pass here shortly? I posted this over at one of the Big’s when the idea popped into my head a bit ago.

    “As we march forward with education reform, I am curious. What if these layoffs are part of that plan? What are the terms of these layoffs? Are they permanent? Or do the teachers end up in a limbo, still collecting some kind of benefit?

    Because this could a great way to end the “dance of the lemons” with one fell swoop. Never let a crisis go to waste.

    * Dance of the lemons refers to bad teachers being shuffled around the district by each Principal. Each hopes the new lemon is better than the last.”

    Crazy conspiracy theory? Wishful thinking?

    Someone told me that my Senator is a “good guy”; someone I wouldn’t expect. Yet, he is one of the runaway 14. What if they stay away just long enough to allow these layoffs and then come back and pass it? I need more particulars on the layoffs. But, the idea is just crazy cool to me. It can’t be true though.

  13. newrouter says:

    “Because this could a great way to end the “dance of the lemons” with one fell swoop. Never let a crisis go to waste. ”

    one word: seniority

  14. serr8d says:

    “The Government’s too damn big!”

    What, Pawlenty’s gonna grow a face full of enigmatic whiskers next?

  15. newrouter says:

    Disgusting… MoveOn.org Protester Tells Black Tea Partier: “You’re on Koch’s Plantation” (Video)

    link

  16. Mr B says:

    Yeah, newrouter, I thought the idea too fantastical. Many of my idea balloons get popped like that. Despite my efforts to crush reason with enthusiasm.

  17. McGehee says:

    I’m the one with the whiskers, and I know I said “Government is too damn big” before Pawlenty did.

  18. newrouter says:

    “I thought the idea too fantastical. Many of my idea balloons get popped like that. ”

    well walker’s plan would let the school boards fire these idiots ’cause collectivist bargaining would only be for wages not working conditions.(they’ll still have civil service protection) so you’re not too far off.

  19. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Still, it’s got a nice ring to it. We’re taxed enough already and the government is too damn big.

  20. Pablo says:

    I’m somewhat surprised that there doesn’t seem to be much outrage over the fact that my Dad’s old school district has fired every last one of its teachers and they’re going to pick and choose which ones get rehired. They’re bitching about collective bargaining in WI, while 2000 teachers with a delightful union just got pink slipped.

    Oh, wait. I’m not at all surprised. The Mayor is a Democrat. The last mayor, the genius that built this heap of shit, is now my Congressman. What’s interesting, though, is that this happened almost on the first anniversary of the last time an uppity little RI berg did the same thing.

  21. serr8d says:

    Anonymous

    We are actively seeking vulnerabilities, but in the mean time we are calling for all supporters of true Democracy, and Freedom of The People, to boycott all Koch Industries’ paper products.

    We welcome unions across the globe to join us in this boycott to show that you will not allow big business to dictate your freedom.

    Shouldn’t those bastards be worried more about keeping Assange alive?

  22. newrouter says:

    “The Mayor is a Democrat”

    nixon goes to china

  23. serr8d says:

    Hang on. I’ve got to go wipe my ass with a Koch-brand paper product.

    Screw you, anonymous. May you use ‘John Wayne’ toilet paper…rough, tough, and don’t take shit off of nobody.

  24. newrouter says:

    “and Freedom of The People, to boycott all Koch Industries’ paper products. ”

    fight the power! use one sheet – sheryl crowe

  25. Abe Froman says:

    Have any lefties attempted to explain – even to their own dutiful sheep – why paper product potentates would have a financial interest in bringing down public sector unions?

  26. newrouter says:

    “why paper product potentates would have a financial interest in bringing down public sector unions?”

    no fight the power NOW

  27. newrouter says:

    hey hey ho ho koch has got to go. peace out

  28. Slartibartfast says:

    I think it’s kind of funny that Rick Ellensberg has put in an appearance on that Reason comments thread.

  29. Pablo says:

    Have any lefties attempted to explain – even to their own dutiful sheep – why paper product potentates would have a financial interest in bringing down public sector unions?

    They own the Governor. You can tell by the way he said the same shit he says in public to someone pretending to be one of them on the phone. In fact, he’s probably a felon because of that. TRVTH.

  30. newrouter says:

    “Have any lefties attempted to explain – even to their own dutiful sheep – why paper product potentates would have a financial interest in bringing down public sector unions?”

    the suck koch walker is selling epa shitty power plants for cheap. ax a troll.

  31. serr8d says:

    Huh. I checked in at Reason, because of Slart’s observation, and I noticed they’ve got the nice orangey-colored links, just like pw.

    DEEP HIGH-LEVEL CONSPIRACY ALERT~!

  32. Slartibartfast says:

    Yep, the deal is this:

    There are 32 state-owned power plants, none of them big enough to make the state’s list of power plants.

    Of those 32, 15 are currently in being investigated by the EPA for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. One was planned to be renovated, roughly doubling its power output from 9 MW to (IIRC) about 20 MW, at a cost of $250M.

  33. Slartibartfast says:

    I wouldn’t be much surprised if these “no-bid” contracts were, in effect, permission for the governor to swap the cost of demolition and disposal of the facilities in question for their scrap value.

  34. dicentra says:

    Finally finished what I’ve been working on for several weeks.

  35. serr8d says:

    Huh. First puzzle I ever worked that I fondly recall was a circular thing, with all the American Presidents around the edge, and the Great Seal (eagle side) in the middle. Through LBJ, I think.

  36. newrouter says:

    “Of those 32, 15 are currently in being investigated by the EPA for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act”

    and that’s epa’s gig not wisconsin’s? epa – env. patdown authority.

  37. newrouter says:

    “I wouldn’t be much surprised if these “no-bid” contracts were, in effect, permission for the governor to swap the cost of demolition and disposal of the facilities in question for their scrap value.”

    junk let us argue over junk. and bait fish.

  38. newrouter says:

    modo is CONerned about the incompatibility of wind and solar and reality.
    f**k proggs(no don’t pleasure them).

  39. LBascom says:

    “and bait fish.”

    Say what you want about bait fish, but the Delta Smelt has done more to combat illegal immigration than any politician in DC.

  40. LBascom says:

    Krauthammer

    We have heard everyone — from Obama’s own debt commission to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — call the looming debt a mortal threat to the nation. We have watched Greece self-immolate. We can see the future. The only question has been: When will the country finally rouse itself?

    Amazingly, the answer is now. Led by famously progressive Wisconsin — Scott Walker at the state level and Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan at the congressional level — a new generation of Republicans has looked at the debt and is crossing the Rubicon. Recklessly principled, they are putting the question to the nation: Are we a serious people?

    Recklessly principled? Recklessly principled.

    I don’t know, oxymoron?

  41. Abe Froman says:

    It’s an oxymoron in the same way that rain on your wedding day is ironic.

  42. Spiny Norman says:

    I think it’s kind of funny that Rick Ellensberg has put in an appearance on that Reason comments thread.

    He didn’t! No, it can’t be!

    {o_o}

    BTW, I gave up trying to find it after I got distracted by the mind-numbingly stupid lefty troll comments there. Over the last few days, I’ve come to realize that as dumb as some of the trolls we’ve seen at PW were, they were intellectual giants compared to nearly all the rest I’ve seen elsewhere.

    Dayum…

  43. Slartibartfast says:

    I left this over at Obsidian Wings, where I am mostly a janitor:

    Ok, so just to wrap this up:

    According to TPM:

    The state of Wisconsin owns several dozen power plants, most of which are used to power government facilities and the University of Wisconsin infrastructure. And while some have raised questions about the general language of the provision, and the no-bid aspect, no one reached by TPM suggested anyone stood to make very much money by buying these plants.

    “When you actually zero in on this particular issue, I can see where people who don’t like Walker and don’t like his budget ideas would probably say that,” David Hoopman, who works on regulatory affairs for the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association, told TPM. “But to take it the next step and say that this is a bonanza waiting to happen for private business, I think is a bit of stretch.”

    According to the Wisconsin Department of Administration (p 58), the total cost of all energy consumed by all government facilities, whether it’s generated by a state-owned power plant or not, is something less than $200M. Assuming all of that is generated onsite, and power-generation profit margins being what they are (WEC’s is about 9%), we’re talking less than $20M/yr that the Kochs could possibly expect to see from these facilities.

    Sure, they could come in, buy the plants for a song, and sell them at a tidy profit. They could possibly make a one-time profit of hundreds of millions of dollars, if Walker were stupid enough to just give them away, and assuming that laws in place really, truly do give him the power to do that.

    I think David Koch probably could rustle that up by cleaning out between his couch cushions. The guy owns 42% of a company whose revenues are $100B.

    I want to caveat the above by saying that not all of the information is easily accessible, so I might be missing a thing or two. But from what I can tell, this is somewhat like Ernst Stavro Blofeld hatching an insane plot, involving the usual machinations, to get a discount on his auto insurance

  44. Joe says:

    If anything I wish the Koch Bros. were a little more right wing. Like that $20 million to the ACLU could have funded a lot of Jeff Goldsteins on really fighting for liberty.

  45. LBascom says:

    “the same way that rain on your wedding day is ironic.”

    Geez, you don’t have to get personal!

  46. Spiny Norman says:

    Ernst Stavro Blofeld hatching an insane plot, involving the usual machinations, to get a discount on his auto insurance

    Do I see a future GEICO commercial here?

  47. newrouter says:

    “Like that $20 million to the ACLU could have funded a lot of Jeff Goldsteins on really fighting for liberty.”

    or funny leftists. poop in madison!

  48. LBascom says:

    I hope the national guard didn’t unionize…

  49. donald says:

    I officated a game yesterday in which the third baseman for one of the teams looked suspisciusly like a chick. It was, she had a sacrifice fly to deep center.

    Well, a butch lesbian chick, so there’s that.

    Make that third base person.

  50. alppuccino says:

    We are actively seeking vulnerabilities, but in the mean time we are calling for all supporters of true Democracy, and Freedom of The People, to boycott all Koch Industries’ paper products.

    Boycotting is a great idea. It separates those who can live without from those who are so weak of character that they cannot change their own behavior.

    So toilet paper boycotters, take your best shot. But what if there were a boycott of all products produced by unionized companies? Starting with the NFL? Movies? Television?

    Imagine people going outside on Sunday afternoons. Creating their own entertainment. Exercising their brains.

    No more royalty.

    Probably not possible.

  51. alppuccino says:

    By the way, I’m starting a business in Madison. It’s called Extra Cheese Pizza.

    I’ve lined up a bunch of porn stars and if you call to have a pizza delivered to the statehouse for those poor hungry protesting public workers, and you say the secret code in the exact words “Put the extra cheese on it”, someone like Ron Jeremy or Peter North will spritz the pizza with his boxer sauce.

    800-SPL00GE

  52. bh says:

    Sorry I missed that above, Mr. B.

    I tend to doubt that the layoffs are part of the plan. As alluded to by guins, there’s probably very little overlap between those who’d we’d drop (bad teachers) and those who will be dropped (last hired with the fewest useless Ed degrees).

    Pablo’s link at #22 is interesting in this context, btw. Because once the reduced state aid in the new budget is rolled out, many school boards might start looking at such “unthinkable” options. When the money isn’t there, the money isn’t there.

  53. bh says:

    Who, not who’d.

Comments are closed.