David Koch, one of the richest men in America and owner of the largest private energy company in the United States took to the stage over the Christmas holiday to receive praise for his $2.5 million sponsorship of the American Ballet Theatre's production of the Nutcracker... and a strange thing happened.
The oil tycoon was booed.
John Gapper on the Financial Times Business Blog has the story.
Gapper writes:
"... there were also boos from near where I sat in the balcony, followed by an angry debate in the row in front of me, with one of the booers declaring “he’s an evil man” and a couple next to her telling her to “shut up” and to leave the theatre. Mr Koch was venturing into the lion’s den in political terms, since Brooklyn is solidly liberal and Democrat, whereas he and his brother are right-wing libertarian and are alleged to have links to the Tea Party movement, which they deny.""Once Mr Koch had left the stage, the booing stopped and the ballet started."
In our report last year, Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine, Greenpeace outlined the millions of dollars that the Koch brothers have funneled into ideological and free-market activist organizations that have been fighting for more than a decade to confuse the scientific realities of climate and stall State and federal legislation to curb climate pollution.
The boos are rightfully earned.
What if he bought the American Ballet Theater and shut it down? Or worse drove it into the ground!
What if tea baggers made a point to be rude and shout down progressives that talked at every opportunity? What if this rudeness escalates? What if it becomes violent?
This is really no way to run a democracy! It is already escalating! Partisanship in the Senate and Congress have not been this bad since before the Civil War!
Is this what we want a war with the northeast and west coast against the center of the country?
We need to remember there is much more that unites us than separates us!
We need to remember we are Americans first progressives and conservatives second!
Shame them every time they show up in public. NEVER let them have a moment of peace. NEVER allow them to speak without calling them what they are - CRIMINALS.
i hope this starts a movement!
As will the crimes of our national media for not informing us about the huge problems ahead with Anthropogenic global warming.
Now the existing dams are full, the low areas are flooded, and the desalinization plants are "mothballed" as there is alternative natural water from the rivers and dams.
Now the opposition party leader is proposing a new dam building program, to protect the public, and to store the excess water.
The existing governments, national and local, will have to explain to the public the rationale for misallocating large amounts of funds, based on less than credible climate forecasts.
This is another example of governments getting in trouble due to blind acceptance of forecasts by supporters of dangerous, man-made global warming.