Archive for October 2010

Green Halloween Suggestions

October 30, 2010 Add Comment Edit

With more people than ever planning to participate in Halloween, it is increasingly important to celebrate the occasion in a more environmentally aware fashion.CostumesSecond hand costumes can be found at thrift stores. You can also trade in last year's ensemble for another second hand costume. This...

October 29, 2010 Add Comment Edit

One of the scariest parts of Halloween is the tons of non-biodegradable waste generated by wrappers, decorations and Halloween costumes.Halloween is the second biggest decorating holiday of the year, surpassed only by Christmas. Halloween is also a major retail event that has grown substantially in...

The Kochs' Mercatus Center and Environmental Deregulation

October 29, 2010 1 Comment Edit

In the mid-eighties, the Koch family foundations provided millions of dollars to George Mason University to set up a conservative think tank. Now known as the Mercatus Center, it fights environmental regulation, opposes clean energy legislation, and resists effort to curb industrial pollution.Koch...

The Kochs' Cato Institute's Climate Denial

October 29, 2010 Add Comment Edit

The Cato institute is a libertarian think tank that creates and disseminates propaganda designed to undermine environmental legislation and regulation.David and Charles Koch, the owners of Koch Industries, provided the funds to launch the Cato Institute. According to the Center for Public Integrity,...

October 28, 2010 Add Comment Edit

Koch Industries has been at war with the EPA for decades. Rather than accept the EPA's science based approach to managing climate change, Koch funds organizations that fabricate their own facts and publish propaganda papers that pose as credible academic information. Armed with a blatent disregard...

Supreme Court and the Koch Brothers Clandestine War

October 28, 2010 Add Comment Edit

A US Supreme Court ruling earlier this year is making it easier for large corporations like Koch Industries to influence political outcomes. The ruling is known as the Citizens United case, it struck down laws prohibiting direct corporate spending on campaigns.Brothers David and Charles Koch are amongst...

Video Linking the Kochs' and the Tea Party

October 28, 2010 Add Comment Edit

Koch Industries has tried to distance itself from the Tea Party, but despite the company's denials there is considerable evidence linking the two.In a carefully worded statement, Rich Fink, executive vice president of Koch Industries, said, “We have not provided funding to the tea party organizations...

The Koch Brothers' No Climate Tax Pledge

October 27, 2010 Add Comment Edit

Americans For Prosperity is the Koch founded and funded organization behind a misleading pledge known as the No Climate Tax Pledge. The pledge is designed to marry the unpopularity of tax hikes with efforts to find solutions to the climate change crisis.Many Senate, House and Gubernatorial candidates...

October 26, 2010 Add Comment Edit

The Koch brothers not only fund groups that resist environmental policy, they also work to discredit climate science. The Kochs fund organizations that promote climate science skepticism including the Heritage Foundation.Through coordinated campaigns of misinformation, denier organizations like the...

Koch Industries War on Industry Oversight and Environmental Regulation

October 26, 2010 Add Comment Edit

The Koch brothers are putting their immense resources to work in a clandestine push to realize their libertarian agenda. David Koch and his brother Charles are some of America's wealthiest people and Koch Industries is the second-largest private company in the country, earning approximately 100 billion...

The Kochs' Spending on Political Influence

October 25, 2010 Add Comment Edit

Through a wide range of groups and organizations, the Koch brothers have used their extraordinary wealth to influence the levers of power.In the third quarter of 2010, Koch Industries spent more than $2 million on federal lobbying efforts. Since January 2010, they have spent $6 million on lobbying....

Koch Industries and the Tea Party's Corporate "Grassroots"

October 25, 2010 Add Comment Edit

The Tea Party is an important part of the Koch brothers multi-pronged strategy to realize their self-serving version of social change.As quoted in the New Yorker, David Koch said, “To bring about social change, [requires a strategy that is] vertically and horizontally integrated, from idea creation...