Blowing a Bottom Line of Koch

How’s this for an irony: an independent documentary about the pernicious influence of high-dollar donors gets canceled by PBS due to the influence that a high-dollar donor has on PBS?  The rich white man in this case is none other than David Koch, the multigajillionaire who along with his tycoon-harpooning brother, Charles, and their sprawling empire Koch Industries have brought you such popular hits as: cancer, climate denial, media conglomeration, fat cat plutocrats, conservative politics and tea party histrionics — not to mention mosquitoes, ticks, pestilence, boils, botulism, plagues, famine, flat tires, traffic jams, canker sores, migraines, Svengali-like manipulation, basic obfuscation, and general evil — all in the name of a shameless poweropoly the likes of which would make even Mr Burns envious.  The documentary in question is Citizen Koch, which showcases the effects of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision on the recall election of Scott Walker as well as the admirably quixotic presidential campaign of former Louisiana governor and congressman Buddy Roemer (whose central platform is campaign finance reform), all while following the lives of three Wisconsin state employees whose lifelong ties to the Republican Party are reconsidered in the aftermath of Act 10.  The film was to air on PBS sometime this year on behalf of Independent Television Service (ITVS), the funding and distributing tributary of public television for independent films.  But worried that there would be too much fallout — and lack of funding — ITVS backed out of its deal with the filmmakers, which unwittingly proves the whole point of what the film was about in the first place: the influence of money on public resources.

 

From Brown Bag to Dirtbag, Karma’s a bitch!

Do You Recall…?

It’s worth recollecting that Scott Walker became the County Executive of Milwaukee County eight years ago thanks to a recall election after then incumbent, Tom Ament, retired after a scandal over county pension funds.  Before that, Walker was still in the State Assembly.  Interestingly (re: incestuously), he won that seat after yet another “special election” — in this case to none other than the son of Tom Lament.  Walker deliberately moved to Wauwatosa to establish residence after an Assembly seat opened up there in 1993.  At the time, Scott was only 25 years old, selling warranties for IBM.  (He’d already dropped out of Marquette University).  He would go on to pitch his hat in the gubernatorial ring in 2006, but decided to back down (lack of cash; he was not then bankrolled by the Koch brothers) and deferred to Mark Green who then ran as the Republican candidate (unsuccessfully).  That was only four years after becoming county exec. of Milwaukee.  Now he’s governor, and he obviously has his eyes cast on national prizes.  (Remember the prank call wherein he happily confides his belief in this being his Reagan moment?  See excerpt below.)  The point I’m trying to establish is that not unlike being a true Teabagger who ran as a brown bagger Republican, Walker is a career politician blatantly masquerading as an average citizen who just happened to heed the call of duty.