I just finshed watching "Capitol Crimes" by Bill Moyers

[Warpy]

and I am astounded. I'd heard small pieces of the puzzle, all of them, but didn't quite know how they interconnected. I have now had my shower and can post about it.

The good news is that the country has been through this before in the Gilded Age of naked bribes and corruption throughout government and has self corrected. The bad news is that it is as bad as it's ever been and that the laws we have now aren't being fully utilized to snare the whole filthy bunch of them and make sure they never come back into government or business.

I missed it last night, spaced it completely. I'm glad, because I'd have been far too upset to sleep if I'd seen it.

It's done in chapters and will play with either Real or WMP or any of the alternatives. PLEASE watch it if you haven't already, even if you can do only one chapter a night on dialup. It's that important.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/capitol/index.html

[MethuenProgressive]

1. And that's why the Repugs hate PBS

I saw it too, and thought - "With the Bush Crime Family in office, this could be a weekly series."

[JuniperLea]

2. The X household watched in awe last night

Staying up way past our bedtime to do so... and it was worth all the yawning and scattered brains today.

Yes, we knew all that stuff, but to see it put together in a historical time-line, in its natural flow, it became all the more disgusting.

How did you like the emails presented in spoken and written word? We found them to be quite adolescent.

I fear this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Goddess bless and protect Bill Moyers. I bet he's on the no-fly list for sure.

[Duer 157099]

3. I watched it late last night

I was so infuriated and disgusted. I also didn't know how all the pieces fit together.

The discussion at the end was good too. I'm glad to hear that this wasn't exactly "business as usual" and was worse than these guys had ever seen.

I now see that their (or at least some of them, eg Norquist) agenda truly is to destroy government from the inside out, to make us so disgusted with them that we (that we what?) ... They are doing the job well.

Eww, I can't even talk about it any more, I'm getting angry and upset again.

(and yes, that voice-over reading of emails was bad form, imho)

[babylonsister]

4. Eye-opening, wasn't it, and Moyers did a great job of

connecting all the dots. It multiplied my disgust for these crooks, and I didn't think that was possible.

[Change has come]

5. I just finished watching too

Delay's phony Christian persona is repulsive. When we take back Congress, we need to shine a spotlight on the College Repuke organizations. This piece will be a great resource when it comes to lobbyist reform as well.

[Pharaoh]

6. K&R

Just watched the first part,

I may need drugs and alcohol to get through it........:puke:

[thingfisher]

7. MBA mentality

What do you think happened in this country?
Well, two important things, and each one of them has only three letters: One was LSD, a chemical which is capable of turning a hippie into a yuppie, one of the most dangerous chemicals known to mankind. And the other is MBA. When people started taking MBA seriously, that was the beginning of the ruination of the American industrial society. When all decisions are based on an MBA's concept of numerical reality, you're in deep shit, because the only thing that can be judged as real is that which can be proved by a column of figures. And when all aesthetic decisions are turned over to these kinds of people, who use these criteria to make steering decisions for a company with no regard for people and no regard for what the product really is, and the only thing that matters is maximizing your profit, you have a problem. Because you can't have quality then; you cannot have excellence. Quality's expensive. I think most of these people that come from business schools have the desire to make sure everything is cheesy. That's what happens when you do things that way.

Well, thanks to democracy, we now have a freely elected Fascist government in the United States, elected by just plain folks -- same people you graduated from high school with.


Spoken by Frank Zappa.

[Change has come]

10. welcome to DU

:kick:

[Warpy]

11. Don't blame LSD for yuppies

I knew a lot of those Young Repug and YAF types back in the day and their drug of choice was alcohol. If any of them ever dabbled with grass, they got paranoid as hell and rejected the whole thing.

The yuppie cohort came along in time for Disco, but mised the peace/love/LSD days of the 60s and early 70s.

You're right about the MBA, though. It's been used as a substitute for practical experience for far too long. The course of study is an amoral one and it shows in the often sociopathic tendencies of large corporations.

[KT2000]

13. LSD ?????

Totally asgree about the MBA but LSD??? No way.

[Pharaoh]

16. actually LSD

allowed many people to awaken to the insanity of our present system, that's why the government was so afraid of it and banned it.

[philly_bob]

8. A technical appreciation of Moyers' journalism

Two points:

1) Moyers' researchers turned up remarkably early tapes of Abramoff, Grover, et al. Marvelous to see them as college Young Republicans. Do you realize how much work it took to locate those tapes and get permissions?

2) Although the concept and effect of Moyers' work is to build outrage and shame, note how seldom Moyers actually uses the language of shame and outrage. He just connects the dots, the dates, the money. Just the facts ... and the facts are devastating!

Bob=

[Helga Scow Stern]

9. It's excellent and disturbing. n/t

[KT2000]

12. What was so amazing

was how Moyers was able to tell the story so it was understandablbe.
As we have gotten the story in pieces, over time, the big picture was not so obvious.
That Reed, Norquiest, Abramhoff and DeLay were holding hands at the trough came through loud and clear.

[Eric J in MN]

14. Did Grover Norquist break any laws? (NT)

NT

[Warpy]

15. RICO statutes

If this isn't interstate racketeering, what is?