Scalia, Thomas & the Kochtopus

[Octafish]

Just-us: Flushbo, Slappy Thomas and a Heritage Foundation fellah.

What Role Have Scalia And Thomas Played In The Koch Money Machine?

By Ian Millhiser on Oct 20th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
ThinkProgress.org

Earlier today, ThinkProgress’ Lee Fang revealed several documents outlining the details of one of right-wing billionaire Charles Koch’s secret convenings of corporate political donors. As Koch revealed to the Wall Street Journal in 2006, the purpose of these meetings is to recruit “captains of industry” to fund the conservative infrastructure of front groups, political campaigns, think tanks and media outlets. Buried in this document, however, is a surprising revelation about the role two supposedly impartial jurists have played in these extended fundraising solicitations: “Past meetings have featured such notable leaders as Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.”

A Supreme Court justice lending a hand to a political fundraising event would be a clear violation of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, if it wasn’t for the fact that the nine justices have exempted themselves from much of the ethical rules governing all other federal judges. Nevertheless, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court tells ThinkProgress that “he Justices look to the Code of Conduct for guidance” in determining when they may participate in fundraising activities. Under that Code:

Fund Raising. A judge may assist nonprofit law-related, civic, charitable, educational, religious, or social organizations in planning fund-raising activities and may be listed as an officer, director, or trustee. A judge may solicit funds for such an organization from judges over whom the judge does not exercise supervisory or appellate authority and from members of the judge’s family. Otherwise, a judge should not personally participate in fund-raising activities, solicit funds for any organization, or use or permit the use of the prestige of judicial office for that purpose. A judge should not personally participate in membership solicitation if the solicitation might reasonably be perceived as coercive or is essentially a fund-raising mechanism.

Scalia and Thomas’ participation in these fundraising gatherings also call into question whether they can be impartial in any number of cases brought by Koch-aligned groups seeking immunity to the law. Most significantly, the Koch brothers have contributed significantly to efforts to stop the Affordable Care Act from going into effect, and a number of attendees at the Koch’s secret meetings include health industry moguls with a direct financial stake in the litigation challenging health reform (Justice Thomas’ wife, of course, actively lobbied against the Affordable Care Act).

Court observers hoping that Scalia and Thomas will recuse themselves from cases backed by the “Kochtopus” shouldn’t hold their breath, however. During the Bush Administration, Justice Scalia infamously refused to recuse himself from a suit against Vice President Dick Cheney even after it was revealed that Scalia and Cheney went on a duck hunting trip together during the pendancy of Cheney’s case. Scalia also came under ethical fire when he skipped Chief Justice Roberts’ swearing in ceremony to attend a junket to a Ritz-Carlton resort funded by the right-wing Federalist Society; and Thomas accepted more than $42,000 in free gifts in just six years on the Supreme Court.

CONTINUED with LOTS o' LINKS...

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/20/scalia-thomas-koch/

Ju$tice, a Division of the Kochtopus. Like Demo¢racy.

[Richard Steele]

1. K&R

[Octafish]

2. More Tentacles Surface at Rightwing Front Group: The Koch Empire and Americans for Prosperity

Such comedians, these kleptocrats.

More Tentacles Surface at Rightwing Front Group

The Koch Empire and Americans for Prosperity

By PAM MARTENS
October 19, 2010
A CounterPunch Investigation

Lily Tomlin said it best: “No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.” Despite two solid years of progressive media tracking the billionaire Koch brothers’ funding of right wing front groups, new details have emerged which show a more sophisticated and ominous network than previously understood.

One of the key organizations funded by a Koch-controlled foundation is Americans for Prosperity (AFP). While it has been widely documented and publicized that the group is orchestrating the Tea Party, AFP is also a veritable smorgasbord of other “grassroots” personalities. The AFP or the AFP Foundation have spawned the following identities:

DefendingtheDream.org (August 27-28 D.C. summit for right wing strategizing and rally);

SayNoCapandTrade.org (kill tax on production of greenhouse gases);

NoInternetTakeover.com (attacks on the Federal Communications Commission);

SickofSpending.com (“…how to recruit, educate, organize, and mobilize fed up Americans to stop the radical left-wing agenda…”);

RegulationReality.com (“…educate citizens about the EPA’s attempt to implement radical global warming regulations…”);

NovemberIsComing.com (phone bank; go door to door to beat back those liberals);

TaxCutsForAll.com (don’t raise taxes on the rich);

SpendingCrisis.org (shrink the Federal government);

CaliforniaSoS.com (cut spending in California);

United4NoOn4.com (kill Amendment 4 in Florida that would give voters more say in local legislative decisions; an ironic position for people who say they want to promote more liberty).

Americans for Prosperity also created PatientsUnitedNow.com and orchestrated hundreds of rallies to help kill the public option in health care reform.

Americans for Prosperity now has chapters in 30 states, including those with the largest number of voters. As part of the focus on state level efforts, key right wing foundations are funding another nonprofit, the State Policy Network, which says it has free market think tanks in every state. The work of most of the groups is to push for privatization of public services and public schools. The State Policy Network is fueling a new, rapidly growing movement: right wing funded groups posing as independent investigative media outlets. So far, there is West Virginia Watchdog, Old Dominion Watchdog in Virginia, Texas Watchdog, Illinois Statehouse News, Missouri News Horizon, Capital Report New Mexico, Idaho Reporter, the Commonwealth Foundation’s Pennsylvania Independent, TNReport of Tennessee, the Pelican Institute’s Capital Reporter in Louisiana, Pacific Research Institute’s Cal Watch Dog in California, Idaho Freedom Foundation’s Idaho Reporter, the Cowboy State Free Press in Wyoming, and others in various stages of getting up and running.

Doing the recruiting for investigative reporters for a number of these right wing news sites is Claire Kittle, the former Program Officer for Leadership and Talent Development at the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. The State Policy Network publishes strategic planning articles on how these newly anointed investigative reporters can network with each other and get stories they pen to dominate the internet and be picked up by mainstream media.

CONTINUED...

http://www.counterpunch.org/martens10192010.html

Such comedians, these kleptocrats. Thanks, Rickster, for giving a damn.

[defendandprotect]

3. Great point .... grounds for impeachment ... censure ... ???

Otherwise, a judge should not personally participate in fund-raising activities, solicit funds for any organization, or use or permit the use of the prestige of judicial office for that purpose. A judge should not personally participate in membership solicitation if the solicitation might reasonably be perceived as coercive or is essentially a fund-raising mechanism.

[Octafish]

10. Three Cheers For Institutional Corruption

Comments from Left Field's matttbastard puts things into words:

Three Cheers For Institutional Corruption

EXCERPT...

But, as per usual, the Gray Lady buries the lede:

To encourage new participants, Mr. Koch offers to waive the $1,500 registration fee. And he notes that previous guests have included Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court, Gov. Haley Barbour and Gov. Bobby Jindal, Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, and Representatives Mike Pence, Tom Price and Paul D. Ryan.

They are more than corrupt. They are traitors. And they've been busted. Thanks, defendandprotect, for giving a damn.

[defendandprotect]

11. Agree, they are traitors --- and I think we should hang Scalia by his toes until

all the ducks come flying out and there is a complete release of the

Cheney energy meetings in WH -- !!

[blue sky at night]

4. wow, what a post...

this needs to go viral....K AND R!!

[Octafish]

14. Koch: Even More Powerful and Well-Connected Than (We) Thought

Koch: Even More Powerful and Well-Connected Than You Thought



Thank you, blue sky at night, for giving a damn. Our nation has a serious problem when the "top judges" are the playthings of the Tea Party's main backers.

[scarletwoman]

5. K&R. Thank you for all the amazing work you do. Excellent stuff.

Please forgive me for not commenting further, I'm sort of speechless about the outrageousness of it all.

:nuke:
sw

[defendandprotect]

12. +1000% ...!!

[Octafish]

16. Infinite thanks, defendandprotect!

Thanks to you and yours there's reason to cheer: The satanic bastards who think they are entitled to lord it over us are running scared. NGU.

[Octafish]

15. Feel the same way about you, scarletwoman.

Your wisdom, compassion and friendship are lights in this world.

[blm]

18. hmmmm....ok...let's make this a threeway patriot fest

; )

[johnaries]

6. This is CLEARLY a conflict of interest.

The secision needs to be re-visited and Scalia and Thomas should recuse themselves or face impeachment proceedings.

[Octafish]

26. The fact they didn't recuse themselves the first time demonstrates their guilt.

Impeachment is the least We the People should do to them. Unfortunately, our elected representatives are busy getting re-elected at the moment. Perhaps in the next Congress, they'll find time between meetings with lobbyists and attending fundraisers to consider what at least two Supreme Court justices in the pockets of crooked businessmen means to democracy.

[Recursion]

29. Um... what decision?

Were the Kochs party to a case before SCOTUS?

[glitch]

7. So are the Kochs buds with the Bushes, or competitors for the most rabid right title.

I'm sure if they're competitors it's all in fun.

And what about Roberts and Alito, Bushie boys, how do they get along with the Koch sniffers? Are there nuances to their shared ideology?

[Octafish]

27. Koch Bros got rich in the Texas oil bidnis.

It appears there's lots of overlapping between the BFEE and the Koch brothers.

From Oil Watchdog

“The Kochs are on a whole different level. There’s no one else who has spent this much money. The sheer dimension of it is what sets them apart. They have a pattern of lawbreaking, political manipulation, and obfuscation. I’ve been in Washington since Watergate, and I’ve never seen anything like it. They are the Standard Oil of our times.”

-- Charles Lewis, founder of the Center for Public Integrity

EXCERPT...

◦A jury found Koch Industries guilty in 1999 of stealing millions of gallons of oil from public and Indian lands through fraudulent mismeasuring. This concluded a 20-year long legal battle between Charles and David Koch and their estranged brother, Bill Koch, who revealed the scheme and spearheaded the lawsuit. See the 60 Minutes story about the case.

CONTINUED w LINKS: http://www.oilwatchdog.org/meet-koch-industries/

As they run in the same circles and worship the same golden things, Scalito and Raygunesque Johnny come in somewhere.

[glitch]

30. Thanks for that. They sure are cut from the same cloth aren't they?

I'm surprised their families haven't intermarried.

[Octafish]

32. Too late.

Not certain of how or whom and from what branch, but he's a Democrat...

Dorothy Bush Koch, the sister of W.

PS: A mutual friend whom I trust says she's good people.

[glitch]

35. Wow. Well every family has their "black sheep"

Kudos to them for being theirs.

[spanone]

8. k&r...the picture alone scares the bejeezus out of me

[Octafish]

33. I know he's not the Walrus.

And I don't want to even think about what the not-Egg Man's doing.

[malaise]

9. K & R

for justice

[Octafish]

36. Did Clarence Thomas bring Ginni to the Koch Conspiracy Fest?

Ginny is a Big Time Tea Bagger, in addition to being a world-class nutjob.



Emptywheel's moving the story:

When Did Clarence Thomas Go to the Koch Conspiracy Fest? And Did He Bring Ginni?

By: emptywheel Friday October 22, 2010 10:24 am
Tweet40 Share113

As you’ve no doubt heard, the right wing conspiracy does exist. As the NYT reported the other day, the Koch brothers host semi-annual secret get-togethers to strategize with other rich conservatives and media people about how to advance their views.

The participants in Aspen dined under the stars at the top of the gondola run on Aspen Mountain, and listened to Glenn Beck of Fox News in a session titled, “Is America on the Road to Serfdom?” (The title refers to a classic of Austrian economic thought that informs libertarian ideology, popularized by Mr. Beck on his show.)The participants included some of the nation’s wealthiest families and biggest names in finance: private equity and hedge fund executives like John Childs, Cliff Asness, Steve Schwarzman and Ken Griffin; Phil Anschutz, the entertainment and media mogul ranked by Forbes as the 34th-richest person in the country; Rich DeVos, the co-founder of Amway; Steve Bechtel of the giant construction firm; and Kenneth Langone of Home Depot.

Sure, we’ve known that rich people work like this for a while; this report simply provides documentation of it.

CONTINUED...

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/10/22/when-did-clarence-thomas-and-scalia-go-to-the-koch-conspiracy-fest-and-did-he-bring-ginni/

No wonder SCOTUS loves the psychotic corporations, let alone fascism. Certainly reads like a Here's Who's Who Owns Dat type crowd.

Thanks, malaise, for caring.

[unkachuck]

13. "...Thomas accepted more than $42,000 in free gifts in just six years..."

....hey uncle thomas, you've sold your vote for way too little....I bet fat tony sucked-up ten times that in six years....

[Octafish]

37. Catherine Austin Fitts defined the thing.

"One of the things that is interesting about reading conspiracy theory is that much of what folks think is conspiracy is really many people acting in concert to make or protect their money." -- Catherine Austin Fitts.

A former government big wig, she's now an ethical investment guru. She also wrote an indictment of big money: Narco-Dollars for Beginners.

[Overseas]

17. K&R ! //nt

[bertman]

19. Thanks for the info, Octafish. How are the Koch brothers any different from

the Kings of days gone by? Moneyed aristocracy buying influence.

[felix_numinous]

20. K & R

[seafan]

21. This is turning out to be a memorable Kochtoberfest.

I see you've been sharpening your pickax, Octafish.

You're right. What we have here is institutionalized corruption.



Many thanks for peeling back the layers on these ba$tard$.


We've got no less than three candidates for impeachment from the High Court.

[Blue Owl]

24. I'll drink to that!

:toast:

:beer:

And if it were a fair and just world, this would BENEFIT the Democrats something HUGE!

[Blue Owl]

22. IMPEACH THEM

That shit ain't justice -- it's called BRIBERY.

[SpiralHawk]

23. Republicons have totally twisted morals & ethics

for sure...

[sabrina 1]

25. We are a lawless country now.

I remember Scalia refusing to recuse himself from the Cheney case. Scalia and his shadow, Thomas, are the worst thing to happen to this country for a long time.

I think they should be impeached for violating the trust placed in them. How can anyone have faith that this court will be fair and impartial so long as Scalia is on it?

Maybe they exempted themselves from this, but they are not exempt from the crime of treason they committed in 2000.

Everyone should read 'None Dare Call It Treason' by Bugliosi where he laws out the case against the 'felonious five'. As one of the best and most successful prosecutors in the country, I think more attention should have given to his opinion on what these criminals did to this country.

They truly think they are Kings, they have no fear at all of the 'little people' their 'subjects'. And that is the fault of the American people.

[me b zola]

28. K&R

[butterfly77]

31. K&R!

[glinda]

34. Conflict of interest in deciding "Person-hood". Hands down. Impeach please.

[MinM]

38. Expose these Judicial Activists/Political Apparatchiks...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4585012&mesg_id=4586378

K & R

[IScreamSundays]

39. Great thread, as always...

Found it interesting that your stalker hasn't made an appearance, dude.

[ProSense]

40. More:

Tea Party, Inc.

Koch meeting, attendance by sector

REPORT: 49 GOP Congressional Candidates Join Ginni Thomas-Led Assault On Education