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http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2010/10/30/business/doc4cc8f41a358da650419218.txt
"Business.Elections expose underwriters of the oil agenda
Published: Saturday, October 30, 2010
Election campaigns live on even after the votes are cast.
One of the campaign issues sure to linger on long after the votes are counted this coming Tuesday is the role that David and Charles Koch, the oil barons out of Wichita, Kansas, have played in shaping the outcome of 2010 elections.
It hasn’t exactly been a secret in the past that the Koch brothers have supported conservative organizations such as Americans for Tax Reform, and think-tanks such as the Cato Institute. But this year, the role of Koch interests has come under fresh scrutiny, which isn’t going to stop once the campaign signs have been swept up.
The scrutiny of the Koch brothers and their influence on the debate over climate change and energy policy is likely to intensify.
The climate change issue has been shaped currently by a debate over data tainted by global warming advocates too eager to score points in the press, leaving the Koch brothers with an impressive victory. Even if the oil industry loses a key vote out in California that seeks to reverse the state’s aggressive plans for curbing greenhouse gases, the Koch brothers have been handed a substantial victory.
Energy policy, however, is a bit trickier of a subject for the Koch interests to corral. Over the past 30 years, suddenly rising oil prices have upended the American economy while suddenly declining prices have undermined investments in new energy-saving technology, conservation and even new sources of oil and gas.
Nevertheless, the Koch brothers have emerged from this election cycle as one of the principal opponents of the creation of an energy policy that could help stabilize the economy and begin to help ease the dependence on foreign oil, which has set in motion a steady transfer of substantial sums of wealth from the U.S. to the nation’s enemies in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Terror and oil have been inextricably linked for more than 30 years and the U.S. has expended more than a trillion dollars and thousands of lives over the past two decades to try and stabilize the region around the Middle East.
The region still isn’t stabilized and the next round of conflict across the region could very well be even more terrible.
Simple common sense would dictate that the U.S. has to find a way to free the U.S. economy from its dependence on oil and there are plenty of Americans, including plenty of political conservatives, who want to make the effort. If you go back to the 2000 presidential campaign, Dick Cheney said the U.S. needed a comprehensive energy policy.
Continued..."
"Business.Elections expose underwriters of the oil agenda
Published: Saturday, October 30, 2010
Election campaigns live on even after the votes are cast.
One of the campaign issues sure to linger on long after the votes are counted this coming Tuesday is the role that David and Charles Koch, the oil barons out of Wichita, Kansas, have played in shaping the outcome of 2010 elections.
It hasn’t exactly been a secret in the past that the Koch brothers have supported conservative organizations such as Americans for Tax Reform, and think-tanks such as the Cato Institute. But this year, the role of Koch interests has come under fresh scrutiny, which isn’t going to stop once the campaign signs have been swept up.
The scrutiny of the Koch brothers and their influence on the debate over climate change and energy policy is likely to intensify.
The climate change issue has been shaped currently by a debate over data tainted by global warming advocates too eager to score points in the press, leaving the Koch brothers with an impressive victory. Even if the oil industry loses a key vote out in California that seeks to reverse the state’s aggressive plans for curbing greenhouse gases, the Koch brothers have been handed a substantial victory.
Energy policy, however, is a bit trickier of a subject for the Koch interests to corral. Over the past 30 years, suddenly rising oil prices have upended the American economy while suddenly declining prices have undermined investments in new energy-saving technology, conservation and even new sources of oil and gas.
Nevertheless, the Koch brothers have emerged from this election cycle as one of the principal opponents of the creation of an energy policy that could help stabilize the economy and begin to help ease the dependence on foreign oil, which has set in motion a steady transfer of substantial sums of wealth from the U.S. to the nation’s enemies in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Terror and oil have been inextricably linked for more than 30 years and the U.S. has expended more than a trillion dollars and thousands of lives over the past two decades to try and stabilize the region around the Middle East.
The region still isn’t stabilized and the next round of conflict across the region could very well be even more terrible.
Simple common sense would dictate that the U.S. has to find a way to free the U.S. economy from its dependence on oil and there are plenty of Americans, including plenty of political conservatives, who want to make the effort. If you go back to the 2000 presidential campaign, Dick Cheney said the U.S. needed a comprehensive energy policy.
Continued..."
:smack
