No man outside my family has had a bigger influence in my life than

[burythehatchet]

Bill Moyers.

Years ago, in the 80's, I saw a Bill Moyers investigation of the CIA and a Hidden Government. That led to my life-long thirst for learning the truth about what the government does in my name. This was probably the most influential political story of my life.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8536707153900925247


Transcript

Text
THE SECRET GOVERNMENT – The Constitution In Crisis

Bill Moyers, Secret Government, PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) 1987

Moyers: “The Secret Government is an interlocking network of official functionaries, spies, mercenaries, ex-generals, profiteers and superpatriots, who, for a variety of motives, operate outside the legitimate institutions of government. Presidents have turned to them when they can’t win the support of the Congress or the people, creating that unsupervised power so feared by the framers of our Constitution. Just imagine that William Casey’s dream came true. Suppose the enterprise grew into a super-secret, self-financing, self-perpetuating organization. Suppose they decided on their own to assassinate Gorbachev or the leader of white South Africa. Could a President control them and what if he became the enterprise’s public enemy Number One? Who would know? Who would say no?”

“The history of our secret government.”

“World War II was over. Europe lay devastated. The United States emerged as the most powerful nation on earth. But from the rubble rose a strange new world, a peace that was not peace and a war that was not war. We saw it emerging when the Soviets occupied Eastern Europe. The Cold War had begun.”

Then in 1990, when I was going through a very difficult time with my wife, I saw a 6 part series on religion and philosophy that featured Professor Joseph Campbell, the late professor emeritus of theology at Sarah Lawrence University. The series was called The Power of Myth - The Hero's Journey. It confirmed all of the questions I was asking and formed my spiritual structure since then.

The man who guided that discussion, Bill Moyers.

Now in Buying the War, Bill Moyers has assembled the entire sordid web of lies into a groundbreaking documentary. This program will be the black death of viral videos and have an impact on a lot of people.

"Buying the War"

Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln and delivered a speech in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. Despite profound questions and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House's claim that the war was won. How did they get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11 continue to go largely unreported?

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/video_popups/pop_vid_btw1-1.html

Bill Moyers, I salute you. You are the most influential person in my life.

[givemebackmycountry]

1. I love Bill Moyers...

If he's saying it, writing it, delivering it in a speech, or commenting on it...
I'm listening to it or reading it.

kicked & nominated & recommended & everything else.

[Frustratedlady]

5. I agree. He's such a gentle, soft-spoken man with a powerful way

of holding your attention. So many reporters/interviewers on today's programs need to take a lesson from his technique and shut up until the interviewee has finished their answer. Matthews, especially.

[TahitiNut]

2. Campbell and the "Power of Myth" is absolutely seminal.

It was one of the best series ever put on TV ... and should be required for every high school student in the country, imho.

[burythehatchet]

4. It was the first epiphany that I can recall

teary eyed and watching the shows, and finding the context into which my life fit.

[bluerum]

7. Yes - I have it on dvd. eom

[ginnyinWI]

9. I first saw it in a college history course.

It was World History and that series was great. It led me to read a few books by Campbell. I especially liked Myths to Live By which explains the origins of our world religions, explaining how they came about as a result of the environments and food sources of the people in that region. His series explains why people have a need to have a religion or creed of some sort.

Moyers is my favorite journalists bar none. Sometimes he scares me because he's not afraid to tell the whole truth, but we need to know.

I think there would be a huge reaction to some teacher trying to get it into high schools--the fundamentalists would go nuts.

[EFerrari]

3. Bobby, Martin, Gore, and sure, Bill.

Thankful we have him.

K&R

On edit: That is Gore Vidal.

[KathySierra]

6. I wonder how long it will take for us to hear the rightwing media start to smear him.

and PBS.

[IndyOp]

8. They've been smearing Moyers for years -- mostly, I think it doesn't stick

because his work speaks powerfully for itself.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[applegrove]

10. I love him and his accent!

[blm]

11. Moyers gets smeared and marginalized by the corpmedia because he truly believes in open government

and they do NOT because they are PAID to promote the fascist agenda he has worked to expose for years.