Really exposes how the corporate media (just about more than any other corporatocracy segment) controls our government.
It's not just the lobbyist money for favors, but they also control the other side on how the campaign is shown through the media as well.
And it's like they don't really care how much it costs them to put in donations, since they will get most of that money back with the media buys for the heavy ad campaigns all of these guys run. Then they have it going both ways. They control the message AND they don't lose much money when they get most of it back with profits from campaign ads! Such a frickin' racket that warps democracy!
Another documentary I encourage everyone to tune into on Link TV this week is "The Corporation". It really hits head on the whole problem with the way corporate charters are set up today that warps our system, and rewards those who it shouldn't. If you have the DVD of this, it is great also because it has interviews with MANY different people on it. Included are many thoughtful and decent CEO's of corporations too, who WANT to do the right thing, and TRY to do the right thing at times in making their products have a life cycle that recycles waste and doesn't outsource labor, etc., but they are put at a disadvantage compared to companies that are headed by CEO's that thinking of nothing but making money, whether it hurts the rest of us or not. It really gives you the perspective of the heavy work that's ahead of us to tear this corporatocracy down, and why it is SO important that we should make sure we elect those who will try to push the envelope to take out the K-Street mess, much as they might not be allowed to speak directly in their campaigns now of doing so unless they are independently wealthy.
A lot of good docs in this week's funding drive. They have interviews and clips of two of the Oscar nominated films (and the one that won), "Taxi to the Dark Side" and "No End in Sight". Also "The Planet" is a great miniseries that they are pretty much airing in full that hits it on the head with Global Warming.
http://www.linktv.org/specialsThe documentary they have on "Clean coal technology" (Burning Our Future: Coal in America) is also a must see. We really need to look past the campaign rhetoric and understand that the coal industry (no matter how they tout their improvements) are the worst culprits in so many areas of inflicting damage onto society (flooding threats in coal mining areas, mercury and other chemical poisoning in ground water in those areas and neighboring states where rivers flow to, green house gas emissions, etc.). We should be challenging Obama to really take off his gloves with these folks. He's been tacitly supporting them a lot more than I care for up to this point. He's said a few things about him reversing this stance, but I think he needs to be clearer about that. With all of the extra money he's getting from the small campaign contributor, he shouldn't need these guys, and shouldn't need to have his positions corrupted by them at all. Link TV aptly points out that the coal industry have been very visible sponsors of the debates that have been on this year to help build up their "public image" when they know they are likely going to be the worst penalized by necessary steps to reduce global warming. There are a lot of other coal documentaries worth seeing, one of which I recall the protagonist in this film also being in as well, that would be worth checking out to get more info on this (these all have been on Link TV or Free Speech TV at one time):
Black Diamonds - More in West Virginia / Kentucky
Westray - Mining disaster in Canada
Buffalo Creek Flood - An Act of Man
Buffalo Creek Revisited
To Save the Land and People
Sludge
Rough Side of the Mountain
Beyond Measure
Evening with RFK, Jr. - "Who Owns Nature" - RFK Junior talks about the devastating effects and scope of mercury poisoning, which is another side effect of coal mining.
And of course, there is also the "Stealing Democracy" segment which talks about two newer election docs that I might donate to get my hands on ("Uncounted" and Greg Palast's "The Election Files")