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Anthony Gregory(Lew Rockwell.com)is a writer and musician who lives in Berkeley, California. He is a research analyst at the Independent Institute.

The Independent Institute (TII) is a think tank that was founded in 1986 by David J. Theroux, who is also the president of the think tank.

TII has been a vocal opponent of the "war on drugs", immigration restrictions, corporate welfare, censorship, the neoconservative ("Bush Doctrine") of pre-emptive war, restrictions on reproductive rights, and the death penalty. It also contests the dominant view of scientists of the need for urgent action to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Funding
On its website the Institute states that it "receives no government funding. Instead, it draws its support from a diverse range of foundations, businesses and individuals, and the sale of its publications and other services." [9] The Institute does not list which foundations or corporations it receives funding from on its website.

However, some funders of the Institute have been identified. These include:

Philip Morris contributed a donation of $10,000 in 1997 [10] and a donation of $25,000 in 1998. [11]

Exxon donated $10,000 in 1998 [12]; $5,000 in 2000 and 2001, $10,000 as Exxon Mobil in 2002 [13]; $10,000 in 2003 and $30,000 in 2005. [14]

The San Francisco Foundation contributed $10,000 in fiscal year 2000 (July 1, 1999-June 30, 2000) ([15])

According to Media Transparency, TII has received $678,000 (unadjusted for inflation) between 1995 and 2005. [16] Grants have included those from:

The John M. Olin Foundation gave in 1996 to The Independent Institute $40,000 for "The promotion of two books: The Diversity Myth, by David O. Sacks and Peter a Thiel; and The Melting Pot, by Richard K. Vedder and Lowell E. Gallaway" and in 1998 another $25,000 for "The Institute's book program".

The David H. Koch Charitable Foundation gave in 1995 - 2001 in total $160,000 for "General Operating Support".
The Earhart Foundation gave in 1998 - 2001 in total $46,095 to support editor Dr. Robert Higgs.

The Castle Rock Foundation gave in 2002 for "General operating support" $25,000.

Board of Advisors (includes)

Paul Craig Roberts, Chairman, Institute of Political Economy; former Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury; Co-Author, The Tyranny of Good Intentions: How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice

http://tinyurl.com/y6anzm

One possible reason for the gentle media coverage of Soros is the influence that Soros exercises over media groups through his money. Our report noted Soros' contributions to the Project on Media Ownership, the Independent Media Institute, the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Fund for Investigative Journalism, Investigative Reporters & Editors, and MediaChannel.org.

Soros has always exercised influence over so-called campaign finance reform groups. Those groups were behind the McCain-Feingold bill to reform campaign spending that also put limits on the ability of independent groups to influence political races. The law included a loophole that allowed Soros to spend more than $20 million to defeat Bush.

Now, Senator John McCain's Reform Institute has been exposed for taking $150,000 from Soros' Open Society Institute. Journalist and author Richard Poe says the McCain group "has long served as a nerve center for the so-called 'campaign finance reform' movement-a movement which has done nothing to clean up campaign finance, but has done a great deal to empower federal judges and government bureaucrats to regulate political speech, in defiance of the Bill of Rights."

http://tinyurl.com/wrtf9

George Soros' $30M Welfare Check
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com | April 26, 2005

The Open Society Institute, a private foundation controlled by liberal billionaire and political activist George Soros, received more than $30 million from U.S. government agencies between 1998 and 2003. Last year, Soros donated at least $20 million of his own money to such liberal groups as Moveon.org, in a failed attempt to block the re-election of President George W. Bush.

Tax records the Open Society Institute (OSI) is required to file with the Internal Revenue Service list "FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES" as "Contributors" of amounts between $4.6 million and $8.9 million over a six year period:

http://tinyurl.com/y4umxn