Beck credits oil magnate Charles Koch during rant parodying An Inconvenient Truth
June 29, 2010 8:06 pm ET by Oliver Willis
During Beck's latest bizarre parody/rant today about GDP and Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, you may have missed him acknowledging the source of his information.
Beck said, "I want to thank Charles Koch for this information." Who is Charles Koch? Beck never said, but Charles Koch is the CEO and president of Koch Industries. Koch is also a co-founder of the conservative Cato Institute (Cato Institute representatives have appeared earlier this year on Beck advocating the privatization of Social Security and Medicare).
Koch Industries is in the manufacturing industry and is heavily involved in the petroleum, chemicals and energy sectors. Forbes magazine currently ranks Koch as the second largest private company in America. In 2000, Koch Industries was ordered to pay a "record fine" by the EPA and the Justice Department for claims resulting from "more than 300 oil spills from its pipelines and oil facilities in six states." In 2001 Koch paid a legal settlement of $25 million for "improperly taking more oil than it paid for from federal and Indian lands." In 2009, Koch broke their own record when a subsidiary had to pay "a $1.7 million civil penalty and spend up to an estimated $500 million to correct self-reported environmental violations discovered at facilities in seven states."
Suddenly it becomes quite clear what sort of people are providing Glenn Beck with research in order to parody work about climate change research.
To actually mention his name on air is...indescrete.
Keep digging on the Koch brothers, Charles & David, you've only scratched the surface. They are major funding sources for a wide range of reactionary public policy issues designed to sustain their positions as oligarchs by cloaking them behind a veil of "freedom."
As an entrepreneur, when I hear a rich guy use the words innovation and freedom I immediately look over my shoulder. These guys generally don't want small competitors to innovate on a level playing field, relying upon captive regulatory agencies staffed with their past and future employees to clamp down on innovation and gain special treatment. It's difficult to reach $100 billion a year in cashflow without becoming predatory.
I should note that David Koch is more focused in scientific and medical philanthropy, although he also sits on the Boards of Cato, Reason and Americans for Prosperity (sic).