\u201cThe Big Buy: Tom De Lay\u2019s Stolen Congress\u201d (DVD) (Brave New Films)<\/p>\n
review by Kent Manthie<\/p>\n
Good riddance Tom Delay!!! When I first heard the news, last spring, that De Lay was quitting his seat I was overjoyed. It was a case of dreams coming true and I\u2019m sure it was more than just my dream that came true. Thousands of people danced in the streets, celebrating the fact that this heavy-handed, rabid, corrupt and corrupting phony is finally going down. Now, if we can just get rid of the rest of the crooked, hypocritical, theocratic Republicans in both houses of congress this fall we\u2019ll be a better country for it.
\n Robert Greenwald, the man who directed \u201cOutfoxed\u201d and \u201cUncovered\u201d has, with his new \u201cBrave New Films\u201d production company, helped put together this eye-opening look at the fall of Tom DeLay, recently resigned former congressman from Texas. Entitled \u201cThe Big Buy: Tom DeLay\u2019s Stolen Congress\u201d, it shows how this former exterminator from Sugarland, Texas got away for years with doing all he could to get his fellow Republicans in power, greased the corporate world for oodles of contributions \u2013 illegal contributions, part of what is at the heart of the indictment against him.
\n Ronnie Earle, district attorney in Houston, is a tough guy, someone with the balls to stand up to DeLay, in fact more than stand up to him, Earle has gone after DeLay and finally won an indictment against him for money laundering and conspiracy charges. He is the hero of the story. He\u2019s not the only one that matters here, but without his aggressive pursuit DeLay might still be in congress.
\n In one poignant clip, Earle, talking about the political rancor his prosecuting De Lay has produced, said that \u201c\u2026this is not about Republican & Democrat, this about cops & robbers\u201d, the robbers, of course, being those shifty, cunning devils, the House Republicans. The cops, though, besides being the prosecutors who bravely go after this corruption, but also the voters in this country, who can \u201carrest\u201d the crooked politicians in their districts \u2013 by voting the bums out. Earle has stuck his neck out, opened himself up as a target to Republicans all over the U.S., not just in Texas, by getting an indictment of The Hammer for money laundering and conspiracy charges; bringing to light the seedier machinations that have been going on for some time now, proving to the world what most people on the inside already knew for years, that these crooks are trying to twist the government into their own little money machine.
\n For his efforts Earle has been tarred and feathered, metaphorically, by the right all over the US. He is seen as a partisan attack-dog, since he happens to be a Democrat, a crusader, trying to bring down poor, innocent little DeLay. It is much to Ronnie Earle\u2019s credit that The Hammer\u2019s reign of terror has come to an end. If it wasn\u2019t for him De Lay would still be running things in the House, e.g., acting as a rubber stamp for GW Bush, another Texas crony. Bush is even quoted in the film as saying that he likes DeLay; he gets the legislation Bush wants through the congress. I have a sneaking feeling, however, that Bush won\u2019t have too much trouble with the new majority leader, Boehner.
\n Jack Abramoff, the slimy, creepy convicted felon and former lobbyist is shown introducing DeLay at a Young Republican meeting, and does so by gushingly spewing out this pap: \u201c\u2026here he is, the man we all want to be when we grow up\u2026\u201d Gawd, how nauseating; makes me want to vomit. Hold on \u2013 UGH \u2013 ohh, that was better (I threw up).
\n We need much more of this kind of expose. This country has been idle for too long now, our liberties are starting to atrophy, like an unused muscle. That is why you can host your own \u201cScreening Party\u201d for showing \u201cThe Big Buy\u201d at your house, with a whole bunch of your friends and maybe a bunch of new friends too. There is a place to find out more about this new phenomenon and to get signed up to do so too, just go to http:\/\/www.tomdelaymovie.com and click on the icon that reads \u201cScreenings\u201d. This is a fabulous way to get as many people as possible to see this interesting and very informative documentary.
\n It must\u2019ve had a hard time getting distribution in theaters around the country. I wonder, though, if the ROXIE Theater in San Francisco (@ 16th & Valencia Streets in the Mission District) would or did show this film. They were the first ones, after EVERYONE else chickened out, to show the controversial \u201cKurt & Courtney\u201d documentary in 1998, a fabulous look at how Kurt Cobain died, by director\/filmmaker Nick Broomfield. But I can see why most theater chains would decline to show this \u2013 they\u2019re chickenshit!
\n \u201cThe Big Buy\u201d is a peek into the world of corporate political maneuvering, the industry of lobbying that, while a constitutionally protected right \u2013 the right to address congress and let your voice be heard in government, also, like many other things, is twisted and warped into something to be used for what amounts to buying congress. But what is unique is that DeLay and his cronies have been using kickbacks from corporate bribers, the redistricting issue and the usurping of the election laws to manipulate the congress so that it is kept in Republican hands, regardless of the will of the voters of America. That is what is so bad and so creepy about DeLay\u2019s villainy.
\n The slickness of the film doesn\u2019t mask emptiness or banality; it merely enhances a thrilling piece of journalism, political digs and liberal takings to task of greedy corporate hacks. For more info, check out these websites: http:\/\/www.disinfo.com or http:\/\/www.tomdelaymovie.com \u2013 KM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cThe Big Buy: Tom De Lay\u2019s Stolen Congress\u201d (DVD) (Brave New Films) review by Kent Manthie Good riddance Tom Delay!!! When I first heard the news, last spring, that De Lay was quitting his seat I was overjoyed. It was a case of dreams coming true and I\u2019m sure it was more than just my dream that came true. Thousands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[475],"class_list":["post-103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","tag-the-big-buy-tom-de-lays-stolen-congress"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":135,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2006\/09\/01\/maybe-logic-dvd-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":103,"position":0},"title":"MAYBE LOGIC dvd review","author":"admin","date":"September 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"MAYBE LOGIC (The Disinfo Company DVD) Review by Kent Manthie Another product from the amazing disinformation company; this one is a DVD focused on Robert Anton Wilson, whose \u201cIlluminatus Trilogy\u201d and \u201cCosmic Trigger\u2026\u201d are influential underground classics, has expanded the mind of many. 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