After I sent you my message, I thought of additional information I should have presented.
[Truncated for space] I just think it is important to understand that our current political climate is responsible for hyperbolic attacks which seek to link the Koch family to the JBS as if the principles, values, and beliefs of Fred and Charles Koch are indistinguishable from the principles, values and beliefs of the JBS as an organization. My point is that we do not currently know with any degree of confidence the degree to which Fred and Charles Koch accepted some of Welch's most lunatic-fringe ideas. We do know, however, that many JBS members supported politicians, public figures, or political objectives which Welch did NOT agree with. In some cases, the disagreements are rather stark -- such as when some Birchers were supporting Governor Orval Faubus for President and Welch was writing that Faubus was a Communist!
To bring this into contemporary times --- significantly, the current CEO of the JBS has written highly critical articles regarding individuals who are highly respected and admired by the Tea Party Movement -- including, for example, Sarah Palin and Cong. Paul Ryan. And the annual "Freedom Index" compiled by the JBS which scores the voting behavior of members of Congress gives "poor" or "fail" scores to many members of Congress whom the left-wing thinks are indistinguishable from the JBS!
Lisa: the original message I posted was very similar to the one I am re-posting below. I should add, however, that I certainly respect the research which Jane Mayer has done. She is one of the very few people whom have sought to discover new primary source documentation.
My point continues to be that we do not really know a lot (for certain) about the reasons why Fred or Charles Koch joined the JBS. It appears that Charles has never discussed this although one of his former friends (Gus diZerega), gave Jane Mayer some details which Jane summarized in her August 2010 article "Covert Operations" published in The New Yorker magazine. [truncated for space]
Lisa: My comments are not directed to what you have presented thus far. I am just offering my 2-cents about the general tenor of what I have seen online regarding the Koch family and the JBS -- some of which is maliciously absurd and ridiculous. On several occasions, I attempted to get Charles Koch to respond to questions regarding his reasons for joining the JBS (and questions regarding his disagreements with Welch) -- but he never responded.
I'm sure that, in time, fair-minded researchers will uncover more verifiable factual information about Fred and Charles Koch -- and about the JBS. Jane Mayer has begun that process with her work.
Ernie--
We have correspondence between Fred Koch and Welch before 1960 about Birch. We have a number of materials that we will be releasing about Fred's views on JBS many positions. And, we have more materials on the Kochs and Birch and more.
I appreciate your taking the time to write, but I don't think our writing about this has been hyperbolic, and I know it in fact to be well documented, because we possess numerous documents about these issues. We have additional stories in the queue that further document a variety of extreme positions the Kochs have taken, despite some of the claims that appear to minimize their views or role.
The current JBS is a separate matter.
Please send me an email so we can discuss this further. Thank you, Ernie.
To address other peoples' comments, I understand that doctors bill way high to get the money they should from insurance. My dad is a doctor and when he worked in a hospital, they often billed really high for things they knew they could get covered by one person's insurance to make up for what they lost treating people who didn't have insurance and would never pay. Now, he has a private practice and does not accept insurance for the reasons others have already explained. Yes, it's a broken system, but doctors spend 8 years in med school and are clearly smarter than me, so they deserve to be paid. That being said, I don't get why doctors can't just tell you something is going to cost more?!! My doctor growing up was so great about this - I switched birth control pills a few times trying to find one I liked and every time she would say "we can try this one, but it is more expensive." I got my flu shots for free (which they offered) and my cholesterol checked (high cholesterol runs in my family) all included in my primary care visits. I just had blood work done with a new doctor and just got a bill for $1200. I mean.... if you're going to do something that costs freaking TWELVE HUNDRED DOLLARS don't you think you should freaking mention it??? It was a bunch of tests that had to be run by a lab, but how was I to guess that it would be so different from a cholesterol check. Seriously that much money can really affect peoples' lives. Why is it just not common practice to be like "I think we should run these tests, but they will cost you one month's rent" It should be my decision whether or not I want to pay that much for a precautionary test. So from here on out I will be that annoying patient asking "how much will that cost" every time the doctor mentions doing anything. It just seems unethical to me to not make patients aware of cost. No doctor can pretend they don't know that's important.
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