Crane and the Kochs - the Fascist State Eats Its Own

What does Anna Nicole Smith (Left) have in common with Kathryn Washburn Niskanen(Right)? You might ask.

On March 1^st the Koch Brothers filed a law suit against Widow Niskanen in an attempt to force her to sell her inherited interest in Cato Institute to them. The holding of one quarter of the shares of Cato, held until his death by her late husband, was left as one third to his widow, one third to Cato, and a third to the Institute For Justice, according to TPM Muckraker.

But there is far more story here than meets the eye, part of which is the lingering image of Anna Nicole Smith, the gorgeous, blond, nubile woman who married creaky, aged billionaire Howard Marshall, II, and so laid claim to an unimaginably valuable slug of stock in Koch Industries, the only shares in the very privately held company not owned by family members. The stock amounted to 16% of Koch Industries. The case went to the Supreme Court, firing the imaginations of Americans, enticed by the provocative form and story of Anna Nicole. But Americans did not understand what was really at issue.

Today, with the parallel revelations of manipulation funded by the Kochs in covert manipulations of the initiative process across the country and intrusions into local self-determination, this may began to dawn.

In 2006 I was contacted by Hart Williams, who had begun to investigate the Kochs and the denizens of Cato. Today, you can benefit from his detailed and accurate insights at HartWilliams.com. We know more than we did, but not enough.

Despite diligent research, the corporate books for Koch Industries still hold secrets thought to reveal cost plus contracts, unusual treatment by courts and government agencies that normally are charged with protecting the public, and other information lending insights to their relations with the Bush administration. Today, given the present, very political trajectory of the Brothers Koch, these events are well worth revisiting.

The bottom line of the Koch's profits include a string of offenses against public decency and safety of monumental proportions which were 'forgiven' by the Bushes, then in power.

In late 2000 it seemed some of these corporate policies might be catching up with Koch; they were hit with a 97-count indictment related to a cover up of discharge of more than 15 times the legal limit of benzene, a carcinogen, from a refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. Koch faced penalties of $350, 000,000.00, according to the Center for Public Integrity.

Four Koch employees were also charged individually, facing up to 35 years in prison according to the same source. The lawsuits were settled three months into the Bush Administration. Koch plead guilty to one count of concealment, agreed to pay 20,000,000. All criminal charges were dropped by the Justice Department.

According to Greg Palast, published on BBC.com, in May of 2001, Koch Industries was then the third largest industry donor to the Bush Campaign.

In another case, Koch was sued by the government in 1995 and 1997 over a reported 300 oil spills at pipelines owned and operated by the company. Those lawsuits sought from $71 million to $214 million in penalties for the spills, which dumped an estimated three million gallons of oil into lakes and streams in six states.

On January 13, 2000, the Justice Department settled that case for $35 million in fines, according again to the Center for Public Integrity.

Brad Goldstein
Corporate Communications Director
(561) 640-8822
brad_goldstein@oxbow.com

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/11/27/60II/main252545.shtml

But the back story is even deeper. Politico writes, “The group (Cato) had four shareholders until last year: Charles Koch; David Koch; Edward H. Crane III, Cato’s president; and William A. Niskanen,” what is left out is the curious exclusion of the founding shareholder left unnamed.

Murray Rothbard, the voice of the Austrian Economics in the last half of the 20^th Century, is the shareholder who goes unmentioned. Murray was a founding member of the board for Cato until kicked off in 1981 for the hideous crime of disagreeing with Ed Crane.

The bi-Monthly Newsletter for The Libertarian Forum for January – April of 1981 ran on its front page an article headlined as, “Purged from Cato! It Usually Ends With Ed Crane.” Sounding entirely like Murray the article begins, “On Black Friday, March 27^th, 1981, at 9:00 A. M. in San Francisco, the “libertarian” power elite of the Cato Institute, consisting of President Edward H. Crane, III and Other Shareholder Charles G. Koch, revealed its true nature and its cloven hoof. Crane, aided and abetted by Koch, ordered me to leave Cato's regular quarterly board meeting, even though I am a shareholder and a founding board member of the Cato Institute. The Crane/Koch action was not only iniquitous and high-handed but also illegal, as my attorneys informed them before and during the meeting. They didn't care. What's more, as will be explained shortly, in order to accomplish this foul deed to their own satisfaction, Crane/Koch literally appropriated and confiscated the shares which I have naively left in the Cato Witchita office for “safekeeping”, an act clearly in violation of our agreement as well as contrary to every tenet of libertarian principle.”

Murray was the spokesman for free market economics. Additionally, he had challenged the hold of Ayn Rand on the minds of Libertarians. Simultaneously, his voice was muted and replaced by Milton Friedman, who has never been a proponent of free market economics but is, rather, an adherent of the Chicago School of Economics. The difference between the two is significant. Friedman was entirely open to government intervention. As a proponent of the free market Rothbard opposed the use of legislation in human action and was a stalwart voice for individual rights, speaking out for unity between right and left. Retrospectively, this and not a 'personal conflict' was the source of Murray's ejection from Cato.

Koch Industries might have been free market during the life time of its founder, Fred C. Koch, the father of Charles and David, but, today, it is a solidly entrenched member of the Military Industrial Complex, or Greedville, as I call the constellation of banking, oil, war contracting, pharmaceutical, and other interests.

The Kochs, arguably, masterminded the conversion of the term, 'free market' into something very different, a justification of governmental subsidies which continue to fatten their bottom line, the antitheses of the direction intended by the original libertarian movement. In this, they had the eager assistance of Ed Crane, who is remembered in song, and with bitterness, by many.

“ Ed Crane is Cato's president, he keeps his standards high

He says he runs a trim, taut ship – just like Captain Bly.

The similarity is really nothing but a joke.

For there'll be no mutiny on the bounty of Billionaire Charles Koch.”

Lyrics by an obscure songster named A C Franklin, 1979

But the libertarian movement, suppressed by the actions of the Kochs and Cato, remained small. Today the mainstream believes the positions of Cato and Koch are Libertarian when nothing could be further from the truth.

It cost the Kochs to start Cato but the conversion of ideas, from freedom to those which supported the tenets of fascism, has paid off – for them. Solidifying their control of Cato was, and remains, all about the money.

The predatory strategies of the Koch Brothers were not popular, even in their own family. The Koch family came into enormous conflict on how the fortunes would be handled that reflect some of the questionable strategies that founded those fortunes, continuing to actively divide those involved.

Koch Brother, Bill, interviewed on 60 minutes August 21, 2001, said, "It was – was my family company. I was out of it," he says. "But that’s what appalled me so much... I did not want my family, my legacy, my father’s legacy to be based upon organized crime."

Of the four brothers who inherited control of Rock Island Oil & Refining Co., at the death of their father, Fred Koch, in 1967, Charles and David managed to get a lock on control, renaming the megacorporation Koch Industries. The other two brothers, Fred, Jr. and William, retreated, having lost what seems to be an attempt to change the direction of the corporation.

The guy inside Koch who orchestrates their PR and political strategy is named.....you will not believe this but I could not make it up......Rich Fink. Their money, how they get in and what they will do to lower their costs and hang onto that money are some of the things they want to keep private.

Koch Industries was hit by the largest judgment for personal liability in history over the incineration of Danielle Smalley and a friend on Aug. 24, 1996. The cause was a defective high-pressure gas pipeline that exploded, taking the lives of the two teenagers. Both were 17. The amount named by the jury was 296 million dollars. Punitive damage awards exist to make it possible to hit those with money and power who act with blatant disregard of others. This, although Koch Industries admitted in court it had not properly maintained the lines and had failed to tell the public, according to the site of the attorney representing the Smalleys, Jim Arnold and Associates. Conveniently enough for Koch Industries, the Texas court forced a reduction in the award that meant that Danielle's father had to sign a nondisclosure agreement on the amount awarded.

The Smalley case was only one of three hundred spills caused over six states in the 90s for which Koch Industries was fined according to Planet Ark.

Guess who was governor in Texas at the time? George W. Bush.

In 1992 a wedding took place at Camp David between Doro Bush and Robert Koch. When you notice the names and wonder about the relationship there you find, despite the visibility of the families, you cannot discover if Robert Koch is related to the Koch's who founded Koch Industries unless you really dig.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_Industries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Howard_Marshall_II

http://www.smalleyfnd.org/danielle/accident.html

That is a small part of the real story. You can't get it all in an article and someday I will get around to writing the book.

The Primaries and the Ron Paul Revolution.

The Truth, Transparency, and Freedom.
The contest between the Corporate Candidates, Republican and Democratic Divisions, and the one non-Corporate Republican contender continue to remake the play book of politics in America this campaign season. The action needs to be considered differently than ever before because of the bifurcated campaign of Republican Ron Paul.

Ron is the only candidate with two campaigns; one driven by the grass roots, who raise the money and do the work; the other by the Official Head Quarters in Arlington, Virginia. Both are funded by that same grass roots. Look long and hard; This Revolution is a campaign of the people in every way.

Poised between primaries, with Iowa having taken place on the 3rd and the Primary in New Hampshire on the 8th , the Ron Paul Revolution continues to remake the landscape of corporate politics and media.

South Carolina will take place tomorrow. Then, we are looking towards Super Tuesday, three weeks from now. Normally, that date would mark the end of real campaigning. This time the probability of a brokered convention, at least for the GOP, rises every day. You can measure the likelihood by the signs of panic in the major media as they clutch at reasons for excluding the GOP candidate with the most money and most grass roots support, Ron Paul.

Nothing is business as usual in this primary season.

In most campaigns the voter lists are sort of like the piles of literature; just there, ordinary, easily acquired tools that are used and then shelved. That was different in Iowa, at least for the Official Campaign for Ron Paul. That list, acquired sometime before October, never functioned. Weeks of wages and time were poured into trying to get it to work and then another list to work with it. While that waiting was going on a volunteer in California bought a list from the Iowa Secretary of State for $1,000 for calling to take place from Los Angeles. It worked fine, by all reports.

In most campaigns that routinely employ professionals, getting the list is like ordering the toilet paper. But this campaign is different.

New Hampshire was also different.

Normally, after its Primary New Hampshire would return to a condition of less excitement. But early this week first Dennis Kucinich asked for a recount of the Democratic Primary followed, after threats and excitement, by Al Howard of Ann Arbor, Michigan for the Republican Primary.
Let's be clear about why this happened; Kucinich does not for a moment think that a recount is going to prove he received more votes. But Dennis has always been committed to transparency.

This was a gift he could give to Americans. His name has been floated as a possible vice-presidential candidate – for Ron Paul, another unusual event since they are from different parties.

The GOP recount in New Hampshire is a little more complicated.

Outraged at the low vote totals received by Ron Paul in the Live Free or Die State the Granny Warriors, an activist group of older women, set up a fund to pay for a recount. They squeaked out the money, $55,600, by the due date, though New Hampshire had moved that date forward 24 hours. Then PayPal froze their entire account, refusing to give them access so they could pay for the recount to start.

That was when the Revolution kicked in, flooding PayPal with complaints; PayPal released the funds. It seems that a prominent Mitt Romney supporter, Meg Whitman, was in the chain of command.

The funds were broken out of their clutches, barely in time, and the Republican recount also began Linda Hunnicutt, the founder of Granny Warriors, got three calls of apology; three additional letters of apology were issued afterwards.
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Meanwhile, Black Box Voting, Election Defense Alliance, and others remain up in New Hampshire working to ensure that the recount is honest.

In South Carolina Ron Paul's name was excluded from an official poll which showed a vote of 'undecided' of 12%; the corporate media are increasingly cutting Paul although they include Guiliani and Thompson, who he is beating handily. The issue of whether or not an election held using voting machines is legal is under consideration in South Carolina and law suits are being considered.

Activists in the Ron Paul Revolution have moved from politically naive to savvy in just weeks on the issue of vote fraud, a transition that bodes well for the coming primaries and the general election and will make a cross-party coalition work.

To stave off further problems with the vote a Ron Paul Revolutionary, Jade Torres, wrote this letter, which is now winging its way across the Etherworld of Paulists.
“Southern Patriots, I encourage you to take action given the likelihood of "issues" with the New Hampshire vote count, and probably that of other states as well. The affidavit will document any discrepancies between the "official" tally and our records. A signed and notarized affidavit, is legally binding evidence, and could be direct confirmation of vote stealing if it occurs. Attached are the forms needed to carry out this mission. Modify them according to your precinct and county. When mailing the affidavit be discrete Do Not use Ron Paul’s name or vote count we do not want the affidavits intercepted. We desperately need people to set up a table at their precinct and post a sign. Example: Ron Paul affidavit information. In addition, please use registration form to collect contact information in order to verify Ron Paul supporters. For those of you sending affidavits please enclose all contact information i.e. name, address, telephone number, and email address. I appreciate you If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me. Contact Information: Jade Torres”

The Ron Paul Revolution has a learning curve that makes all of us proud.. A few weeks ago the same activists believed the Official Campaign when they were told that monitoring the vote was not necessary.

And while that excitement goes on the Nevada GOP has been scampering about trying to short sheet Paulists there. Their governing body decided to demand affidavits affirming that only GOP voters who have been registered for a substantial period will be able to cast a vote for president. This is an obvious move to keep Ron Paul voters out. Since primary elections in Nevada are run by the parties the State will not interfere and it is probably useless to file a law suit. However, GOP voters are considering the fact that it would be embarrassing for the GOP, badly imploded due to the failed policies of the Bush Administration, to, in effect, sue them for reversing the direction of their growth to a positive.

Imagine how it would look in court.

So we have an election where the most principled Democrat has endorsed the Republican who has been characterized as, “The Champion of the Constitution”; where individuals of all political viewpoints are coming together to work for clean elections, and where the iron lock of the media and the political establishment is feeling the heat and making mistakes.

Ron Paul is a contender, coming out of the back field with cheers roaring across the turf.

And the Official Ron Paul Campaign continues Amateur Hour.

Forward the Revolution!

The Enemy Within: Cato and its Covert Agenda

No one at Cato does anything without an agenda. Over the last 30 years Cato has positioned itself as a major 'think-tank' in DC, becoming a proponent for policies that further the agenda for federalization when all is said and done. For months the institution behind the white marble walls in Washington DC has remained mostly silent on the Ron Paul Campaign, discussing the 'real' candidates and ignoring Dr. Paul.

Ask yourself why all of a sudden David Boaz at Cato and the gang at Reason would suddenly discover that there is a lot of support for Ron Paul's candidacy? Earlier this year Boaz went out of his way to say in a comment written on 04.17.07 @ 9:46 pm,“And apparently, the most notable contributor to Ron Paul is . . . Rob Kampia, director of the Marijuana Policy Project. It’s going to be a long campaign.”

It could be that a continued silence would prove to be embarrassing, hence, this new comment from October 4^th, 2007 by Boaz on the Cato Dispatch? Or are there other reasons as well?

David Boaz, a long time Cato employee said of the 3^rd Quarter fundraising numbers, “Ron Paul's amazing fundraising success -- with no support from the Republican establishment and little attention from the mainstream media -- is an indication of the wide appeal of his message of Constitutionalism, reduced spending, and an end to the Iraq war. In some ways Ron Paul is the antidote for every problem that plagued Republicans in 2006: Voters were tired of Republican corruption, and Ron Paul has never succumbed to the temptations of Washington. They were fed up with overspending, and he's the original anti-spender. They're disillusioned by the seemingly endless war in Iraq, and Ron Paul opposed that war from the beginning. He's appealing to fed-up traditional Republicans and to younger voters who haven't yet been Republicans.”

But what follows is actually more interesting. In another location, conveniently located at the bottom of the page comes this from "The Libertarian Vote. The Cato crowd have been watching developments for a long time, long enough to ensure their background positioning.

“"The main theme of political commentary in this decade is polarization. Since the battles over the impeachment of President Clinton and the Florida vote in 2000, pundits have been telling us that we're a country split down the middle, red vs. blue, liberal vs. conservative. Political analysts talk about base motivation and the shrinking of the swing vote. But the evidence says they are wrong.

Not all Americans can be classified as liberal or conservative. For those on the trail of the elusive swing voter, it may be most notable that the libertarian vote shifted sharply in 2004. ... If that trend continues into 2006 and 2008, Republicans will lose elections they would otherwise win. The libertarian vote is in play. At some 13 percent of the electorate, it is sizable enough to swing elections. Pollsters, political strategists, candidates, and the media should take note of it."”

Cato knows all about polarization because for the last thirty years marginalizing and polarizing the electorate has been at the core of their own prosperity. Cato was founded by three people. Edward H. Crane, III, an eager financial adviser from Los Angeles with big ideas not matched with personal or professional ethics, Murray Rothbard, the honored but often volatile proponent for the free market, and Charles Koch, the CEO of a privately owned petroleum company that was profiting in Vietnam with Halliburton and is now profiting in Iraq with the same partners and receiving cost plus contracts in unlikely places. The links between the Kochs and Bushes are well known to insiders. One of the first acts of the Bush Administration in 2001 was to quash the nearly 400 major EPA violations enforced against Koch Industries.

Murray was ousted for asking questions at their first board meeting in 1981. His comments were loud. Murray was like that. At the time most of us thought the conflict was personalities. Today, the real explanation is more prosaic. Murray would be glad to know that he was right about the 'cloven hoof' exhibited by Crane and Cato.

Murray was clearly going to be a problem for Cato when they started positioning themselves as 'free market.' What was really happening was a broad sweep of corporatization coming in with the onslaught of the Reagan Administration. In case you had not heard Reagan was a NeoCon. The warning had gone out from United Republicans of California in 1975 with this Resolution, accompanied by three pages of documentation in 8 point type.

Some of the Cato donations still come from committed freedom activists and not major GRID corporations. But don't imagine for a moment that those bare mentions are without further agenda. Events out of sight of most Ron Paul Activists have continued to develop.

The third quarter fundraising reports showed Paul's official campaign bringing in slightly over $5 million from 127,000 small contributors. That is major because those involved know that means a mainstream breakout that cannot be accounted for by old line libertarians or even the whole of the previous freedom movement.

The remarks made by the arrogant Catoites are still snarky and positioned to marginalize Paul but provide a repositioning for them that doubtless presaged a further move towards safe ground. Those who have profited through the Cato strategy so useful to the NeoCons knew perfectly well they are between a rock and a hard place.

Cato, Crane, and the Howie Cogs need to reposition themselves desperately. They might have been useful to the GRID corporations but there is no sign they will be protected in the conflict now coming. Better to have a foot in both camps. For months now there have been signs they want to move back into the now burgeoning movement and bring their wealth and centrist attitudes with them. They have a beachhead right there in DC.

The Paul campaign is not really the badly run, self aggrandizing office staff in Arlington Virginia, heavily weighted to either incompetent retread Libertarians or Cato graduates, the REAL campaign is out in the hinterland taking the ideas into the mainstream through sheer grit and determination, despite those at Head Quarters. Early 'build out' in the HQ tried diligently to control those elements, but failed. Now they settle for taking credit for work they had no positive role in creating.

This unpalatable truth is widely under discussion among local activists. Those who know Ron report that he is very trusting but the question of why there is no steering committee must be taken up. Such a committee should be made up of old time, trusted friends who have no links to Cato.

Most of the new, committed, activists were never previously political but report the same problems of arrogant, incompetent 'directors' sent from the DC office. Typical of those local activists is Linda Hunnicutt, a grandma from North Carolina who, although she is fighting lung cancer, still painted her RV Red, White and Blue, slathered it with Ron Paul signs and took to the road for Paul. Linda founded the Warrior Grannies to take America back.

“Linda Hunnicutt, the Granny Warrior, met Ron Paul for the first time in 2005 when she was on a personal crusade to stop the busibodiness of government. Linda had become aware that the U. S. Department of Agriculture was interfering with the right of individuals to own exotic animals and become active on the issue.”

But positioning itself to avoid the problem of being on the wrong side is only one motivation for the Cato Crew. Also worrying them is the indictment, with more to come, of one of their most trusted and central members. Paul Jacob was indicted in Oklahoma. Paul is a long time associate of the Crane Machine, working through the Howie Cogs in New York, now spread out across the country.

That story, which has long legs, and will eventually result in more indictments, began with a blogger, Hart Williams, of Oregon. Williams, a local activist who had been a working journalist for 30 years with various prestigious magazines and papers, noticed that the initiatives that would take control away from local people were coming from out of state sources who obviously did not want to be identified.

He started digging.

Eventually, he had the whole story which others, associated with more formal institutions, used to bring the Crane-Howie conspiracy to light. He was featured in a segment from PBS's NOW early in the process.

The story that came to light involved a long time courtship of John Walton, who at his death donated $300,000,000.00 to the excited and ambitious Howie Cogs to further their profitable work on behalf of GRID Corporations. The original corporate structure and its assets were donated by the Kochs for the use of Howie and Cogs. That became Americans for Limited Government. That transaction took place in the early 90s. The 'branch office' near Walton's home was immediately closed, its purpose fulfilled.

The issue that concerns those who are working for freedom is that of defederalizing government to bring it back into alignment with the Constitution and ensure transparency. Despite the following attempt to reposition himself Jacobs' work had nothing to do with freedom. The bald fact is that GRID corporations such as Koch Industries are not heroes in the Objectivist model; they are the problem. It is local residents of states who have the Constitutional right to determine their form of government. Reason promptly weighed in with support for Jacobs this morning, running this self-serving interview. Reason has also ignored the Paul Campaign until now.

“The difficulty of keeping a free country is involved in both cases. I’ve got a 7-year-old, I’ve got a 15-year-old, and a 23-year-old with an almost two-year-old son, and a wife who I like to think needs me. I don’t want to be going through this, but we have got to stop government from rolling over us. I didn’t choose this fight, but I’m going to fight these guys and we have to band together as a people. I have been moved in the last two days by the amount of good wishes and help pouring out from people left, right, and in between. I’m not going to let this politician in Oklahoma roll over our initiative rights, so I plan to fight with everything I got. I hope in the end we win and I think we will.”

The money that Jacobs and such other activists as Eric Dondaro, Leslie Keyes, and others have been 'making' was fed through the hands of Howie Cogs in lavish stipends and on to 'initiatives' that all work to the advantage of GRID corporations and to the detriment of ordinary people at the local level. That has always been the strategy they followed. The campaign to get ballot status for the Libertarian Party in California to benefit Crane candidate Ed Clark was known by activists to be using phony registrations but managed, barely, to avoid prosecution.

This was carefully concealed from Clark, who became alienated from the Crane Machine in the aftermath of the 1980 campaign as did most Libertarians.

Ron Paul is an honest, straight forward man, very unlike those associated with Cato. The Ron Paul Campaign is about getting local communities out of the grasp of federal control. Ironically, it was just yesterday that the Browns, IRS resisters in New Hampshire, were arrested by agents that the local sheriff could have told to get out. Sheriff Richard Mack, one of the proponents for the Mack – Printz Decision that in 1997 affirmed the sheriff of a county as having standing to order the Feds out has taken up the work of educating sheriffs across the country. That is an essential in the campaign for renewing local control.

Ron Paul Activists know that they in parallel with their Paul Campaign work need to provide local solutions in their own communities; a lack of transparency and control from GRID corporations only makes that more difficult.

Understanding how corporate money has worked to corrupt the Constitution, the rights of individuals and erase the borders between Federal control and local government that should be in the hands of the people needs to continue. The enemy you face is all too often someone you thought you could trust.