Posted on 04/04/2014 8:59:36 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) on Wednesday criticized a Koch Industries subsidiary for allegedly circumventing sanctions on Iran even though Reid has accepted tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from companies that have done exactly that.
Reid also claimed that the Kochs support the recently introduced House Republican budget proposal. Neither the company nor its owners has taken a position on the legislation.
Reid’s claims were part of an ongoing offensive against libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch. Reid has accused them of being “un-American” for donating to groups that oppose the Democratic Party’s agenda.
A page on Reid’s Senate website is devoted entirely to attacking the Kochs. It initially cited former White House economist Austan Goolsbee, who falsely claimed in 2010 that Koch Industries does not pay any corporate taxes.
That claim remains on the website, with its text crossed out. Below is an “update” that claims the Kochs “have supported the Ryan budget, which provides tax cuts for the wealthy and protects taxpayer subsidies for big businesses and oil companies.”
The page links to a website from a left-wing nonprofit on the budget introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) this week, on which the Kochs have not taken a position.
Reid’s website goes on to quote from a heavily criticized Bloomberg article that accused Koch Industries of “sidestep[ping]” economic sanctions against Iran.
“The Kochs made improper payments to win contracts in Africa, India and the Middle East,” Reid claims. “And they sold millions of dollars of equipment to Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism.”
After evidence of the said improper payments came to light, Koch Industries commissioned an internal investigation and fired the responsible employees, according to Bloomberg.
Reid has accepted campaign contributions from companies that engage in even more widespread corruption abroad.
According to the Washington Examiner, Reid has accepted more than half a million dollars in contributions since 2009 from employees and political action committees of companies under investigation for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Reid has also taken tens of thousands of dollars from companies that, like Koch, have done business in Iran through foreign subsidiaries, including General Electric ($25,500 in PAC contributions), Hewlett-Packard ($14,500 in PAC contributions), and Sony ($14,500 in PAC contributions).
Reid has also taken $26,000 from Boeing’s PAC. The company is currently trying to reestablish its presence in Iran even though the country remains on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Funny too how he brought up the Koch brothers.
Whenever Libs on the blogs bring them up, the conversation is just a couple of seconds away from them losing all rationality and calling me names.
I already do, and so do the rats, unknowingly, as certainly much of this product ends up under house brands at grocery stores.
Yet another reason to hate the boeing co.
Rent free... and the space is at a premium in Harry’s pea brain. The Koch ‘ s are getting a good deal.
Harry’s red herrings. He’s ready for the rubber room.
1) Can't he be insane and still follow the DNC party line?
2) Doesn't following the DNC party line qualify one as insane.
While Harry Reid, Obama and Pelosi do everything in their power to obstruct American Businesses.
Passive-aggressive behavior, the “victim” as perpetrator, and in general, some only loosely focused paranoia, all rolled in one not-so-pretty package.
And just where are California billionaire and environmental activist Tom Steyer, and international money manager George Soros, in this universe of “big contributors”? Oh, that’s right, they are “unimportant” players, and only just barely manage to counterbalance the wholly unfair tactics of the Koch Brothers.
In 1984, Winston Smith’s tormentor, Obrian, was as crazy as a tick.
Defending a porous border, infanticide, profligate spending, corrupting our armed forces, kulack attacks, tearing down the Bill of Rights, dismantling federalism, while repping an exempt, privileged inner party ...
You can only do ‘doublethink’ and hateful class warfare—while holding yourself out as a leader of the ‘champions of the people’—for so long. Stick a fork in him. He’s done.
OH OKAY never mind LOL!
However, the Koch Brother Guide offered a puzzling observation.
Fred Koch was one of the founders for the radical right-wing political group "John Birch Society".
I am most curious when I ask if you could also share what makes the John Birch Society radical. I know they are conservative by the fact that they advocate constitutional government. I can tell they are right wing by their mission statement.
To bring about less government, more responsibility, and — with God's help — a better world by providing leadership, education, and organized volunteer action in accordance with moral and Constitutional principles.
Where is an example of radical?
I’m beginning to think that Dingy Harry’s closest advisors are closet conservatives. They have to be laughing their butts off when they tell him what he needs to talk about. AND THEN HE DOES IT! LOL!
Or, they are just as insane as he is.
Reid is a whore. It’s that simple. A whore that doesn’t like competition.
RE: John Birch Society, Where is an example of radical?
The organization claims to identify with Christian principles, seeks to limit governmental powers, and opposes wealth redistribution, and economic interventionism. It opposes collectivism, totalitarianism, and communism. It opposes socialism as well, which it asserts is infiltrating US governmental administration.
All well and good so far. However....
This society however, tolerated members who held kooky ideas like Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower being a dupe of the Kremlin. In fact, many members believed that Eisenhower knowingly receiving and abiding by Communist orders, and consciously serving the Communist conspiracy, for all his adult life.
Robert Welch, the founder of John Birch Society, later claimed that the Republican Party had been infiltrated by secret supporters of a communist conspiracy. He also wrote in his book that Franklin D. Roosevelt deliberately encouraged Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor. He described George Marshall as being a conscious, deliberate, and dedicated agent of the Soviet conspiracy.
They also suggested that John F. Kennedy and other leading members of the Democratic Party were part of this communist conspiracy.
eventually, William f. Buckley Jr. just couldn’t stand them anymore and refused to have anything to do with them.
Today, there is one man I know who still supports the society -— RON PAUL.
Suffice it to say that the John Birch Society was not that kooky in the beginning. It started to morph slowly into something even Fred Koch would not have recognized.
RE: Where is an example of radical?
Also, I edit to add that the image that I posted above is an ADVERTISEMENT made by those who oppose the Koch Brothers.
They put the ad to let supporters know what products the Koch’s make so that they can be boycotted.
Thank you. Everything you’ve shared fits into the bits and pieces of information I had heard but never verified.
I recall not approving of the John Birch Society as a young man but not really knowing why. I remained in that state of mind until I came across an Internet video that explained the different forms of world governments, the difference between a Republic and a Democracy, and why America is a Republic and not a Democracy, all in 10-minutes. The video’s source was the John Birch Society. That video is titled The America Form of Government and is still available on the Internet.
I am in agreement with the video and responded to a request for information on Free Republic with a 14-page paper I compiled from data available from the John Birch Society. I am response # 101 An Overview of America if you’d like to read it.
[Dingy Harry] on Wednesday criticized a Koch Industries subsidiary for allegedly circumventing sanctions on Iran even though Reid has accepted tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from companies that have done exactly that. Reid also claimed that the Kochs support the recently introduced House Republican budget proposal. Neither the company nor its owners has taken a position on the legislation.Demagogic Party ping.
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