Yes, I know how callous that sounds given that, I suppose, David Koch couldn't have been all bad. He must have done something good beyond greasing the path for America's descent into oligarchy. However, one half of the legendary 'Koch Brothers' is no more.
Oh yeah, he donated $100 million USD to fund cancer research, which is what got him in the end, prostate cancer. Still they kept Dave going for 20 years which is a lot more than the plebs tend to get.
In 2010 Grist called him a 'billionaire polluter' who claimed that global warming is a good thing.
One of the wealthiest men in the world, Koch has used his billions for decades to promote the extremist, anti-regulatory, right-wing political groups like Americans for Prosperity that now organize under the Tea Party banner. “I’ve never been to a tea-party event,” Koch told reporter Andrew Goldman, even though he hosted AFP’s “Defending the American Dream” tea-party hooplain Washington, D.C., last year.
Fueled by his fear that the greenhouse gas pollution generated by Koch Industries might be limited by government regulation, Koch promotes a fantasy about benefits of a changing climate:The Koch Bros. were, in fact, the four sons of Fred Koch who feared that they might tear themselves apart over their inheritance - and so they did. Those feral pups, eh?
Koch says he’s not sure if global warming is caused by human activities, and at any rate, he sees the heating up of the planet as good news. Lengthened growing seasons in the northern hemisphere, he says, will make up for any trauma caused by the slow migration of people away from disappearing coastlines. “The Earth will be able to support enormously more people because a far greater land area will be available to produce food,” he says.
5 comments:
I feel the same about this demise as I did about Maggie Thatcher - ecstatic. There is nothing wrong with gloating over the death of a despot or nasty person, despite all the calls for decorum - in this case fuck decorum!
Don't sugar coat it Ben.
At first I was worried about the funeral. With telephone booths gone they would have no place for the event. Then I figured a cell phone case would hold all the attendees.
Rumley, I hereby deputize you to monitor the funeral and return with a list of the rich and powerful who turn up to mourn David's passing.
I was koch-a-hoop when I heard this earlier today. Too bad the less bad one of the Bros Dross croaked first. Not that it's saying much.
"David Koch, conservative donor and philanthropist, has died at age 79 David Koch was less involved in politics than his brother (Chuck) and more known for his philanthropy to education and the arts..."
"David Koch was a major philanthropist in the arts world; if you live in New York, you will see his name plastered all over the place in cultural citadels like the Metropolitan Museum of Art."
Who knew and who cared except for all-a-twitter out-of-touch curators? He got his four score years in and never missed a plate of beans once at mealtimes, I'd bet. While leaving the world a far worse place than he found it. A rare and noteworthy accomplishment normally the secure province of sociopathic politicians with delusions of grandeur and an inability to tolerate opposing views.
Pastor Sub-Pope Emperor Jason 1 of Alberta will lead the Canadian delegation of right wing nutbar mourners and Conservative provincial premiers without a clue at the streaming video funeral ceremony featured at the Saddledome. "I was sorry to see the Koch Bros leave the environmentally-friendly present-day dig-up-the-bitumen Colossus of Rhodes monument to human accomplishment right here in Alberta! I refer of course to the picturesque millions of hectares of tailing ponds stretching as far as the eye can see. These are in fact the training and development areas for a new kind of genetically-modified Northern Alberta pike that lives on petrochemicals and farts pure oxygen. We intend to feed the world and miss David's energy, enthusiasm and philanthropic funds he devoted to mankind's future well-being. It broke his heart for his company to leave his beloved Alberta. Indeed, Albertans can blame this disaster on the incompetence of Liberals who drove the Koch Bros from our land with carbon taxes."
BM
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