Saturday, August 18, 2012

The Koch - Bradley Sheeple Training Academy

The following email was forwarded to me by one of my closest and dearest friends. The email is intact with only my friend's name and the links redacted:
We are announcing a new opportunity for you to gain more tools in your fight for the principles we all hold dear, AFP Foundation Academy.

We will be traveling the state talking about the important fundamentals that we all believe in; using town hall’s to engage the public in these discussions. You will be able to learn about a topic and how you can help spread the message of its importance to friends and family.

The first topic for our program will be Economic Freedom. It is a concept that we all believe in but it can be a difficult concept to quantify. To talk about the subject we are bringing in John Fund - Senior Editor of the American Spectator, Tony Katz – Nationally syndicated talk show host and Brett Healy – President of the MacIver Institute.

We will be kicking off this project on Tuesday, August 28th in Waukesha and Wednesday, August 29th in Sheboygan. Click on the links to register for the events and find more information. And stay tuned as we will be adding dates in cities around the state.

I hope you will be able to join us and learn more about what economic freedom means to you and your friends and family. Become one of the first graduates of AFP Foundation Academy and get the tools to spread the message yourself.

Hope to see you there.

Yours in Liberty,

Luke Hilgemann
State Director
AFP Foundation - Wisconsin
Well, well. The Koch Boys' front group is again teaming up with the Bradley Foundation's front group to help try sway the electorate in believing that their austerity plans will restore our state.

Keep in mind that, as this brilliant freelance reporter for the Shepherd Express pointed out, that these two groups are already being investigated for violating their tax exempt status by overtly trying to way the voters:
In March, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC) announced that it had filed a complaint with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service against the MacIver Institute, the Heartland Institute and Americans for Prosperity (AFP), another group that has received funding from the Koch brothers and the Bradley Foundation. In its complaint, WDC accuses AFP and MacIver of violating their 501(c)(3) status by creating their "It's Working Wisconsin" project, which spent $1.2 million on advertising alone, urging people not to sign the recall petitions. In addition, WDC accused these groups of holding public meetings and other activities to try to influence the outcome of the recalls. WDC also alleged that the Chicago-based Heartland Institute's planned "Operation Angry Badger"—a public relations effort to support Walker in the recall—would violate the group's tax-exempt status.
But think about what they might be trying to get the gullible to believe.

Their first topic will be about "Economic Freedom." In practical terms, they will be probably teaching the attending sheeples how to constantly repeat, "Taxes bad! Corporate welfare good!"

But break it down for a minute.

Obviously ,the referral to economic is about money, which is the only thing that the Kochs and Bradley Foundation types really care about. They can never have enough money. They are greed personified.

And for the word "freedom," I believe they are referring to a phrase in the song by the late, great Janis Joplin:
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose
In other words, their definition of "Economic Freedom" is that they want to make sure you have no money.

And given the current circumstances in Fitzwalkerstan, where they are able to enact their policies and work towards their goals, I don't think I'm off base with that observation. We have an ever-increasing number of people who have either taken a massive pay cut or have lost their jobs altogether, all in order to pay for the massive tax breaks and giveaways Scott Walker is giving the corporations and their wealthy owners.

On a side note, when my friend forwarded the AFP, they quipped that in response to the AFP Foundation Academy, we should start a "capper academy."

Well, in reality, the Institute for Cognitive Dissidence has been open for more than four years now. The best part, we don't charge tuition fees (but donations are always welcome). And now with a growing staff of professors, school is always open.

6 comments:

  1. Kind of like Tommy's claim in one of his ads that he has reformed welfare and 'freed people from dependence on gov't'. I thought it was just a stunning claim, and hope the Baldwin campaign can use it. Slavery is Freedom, indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your comments on their view of "freedom" is right on the money, Capper.
    Besides funding things like AFP Foundation and the Atlas Network and the Heartland Institute, the Kochs and Bradleys actively participate in training people to be obedient slaves to their simpleton idea of economics--isn't training people to vote one way or another involving themselves in a politically partisan way, kind of a conflict with their 501c3 tax status?
    Atlas is all about deregulation of markets: that way, with no government overight of their economic activities, they can get away with pretty much whatever they want.
    This is what Alan Greenspan and Paul Ryan are all about.
    Trust them? No way!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I posted the 9:53 comment yesterday morning. Today I watched "Here & Now" @ 10:00, after watching "Meet the Press." In so many words, they reported on just what I spoke of about "freedom" and its relation to people and the role of government.
      Greenspan's policies led us to a financial meltdown: his critics wanted more oversight or regulation over derivatives--he wanted none, saying trust the banks to self-regulate.
      Ryan, another Ayn Rand groupie, also worships the Atlas model of reducing or eliminating rules and regulations that effect markets.
      Republicans say "the government is the problem," lets "get the government off our backs," now lets "take this country back."
      Ryan's plans include attacks on Medicare and Social Security--plans that will have disastrous results on the poor and middle class, with little result on the rich, and they already have most of the money.
      Trust Paul Ryan with ways to care for the poor and middle class--no way!
      Also, eliminating laws that police tax returns and 501c3 tax status would be another Ryan idea.
      Do not relent on letting Romney and Thompson get away with not revealing their financial records! They have a lot to do with the 2012 GOP platform.

      Delete
  3. I believe Tommy "stick it to'em" Thompson's welfare reforms actually created more fraud.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh yeah, and if one really thinks about his "stick it to'em" statement was intended for a tax increase benefiting a billion dollar corporation.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 9:53, your point about their allegedly "non-profit," tax status is "spot-on." They're "oligarchs are us," the anti-thesis of capitalism.

    ReplyDelete