My hero Bill Moyers is back on TV, his debut broadcast Bill Moyers on America aired last week on PBS and it was a doozy. I'm just geeky enough to be fairly well versed in the financial shenanigans committed by convicted felon and former College Republican President Jack Abramoff and his best buddy former House Speaker Tom Delay but my research didn't scratch the surface of the cess pool of political corruption detailed on Moyer's two hour program "Capitol Crimes." If you missed it you can still stream the show on-line by clicking on www.pbs.org.

The show traced the beginnings of the relationships between Abramoff, Delay, Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist from the early 90's and the Reagan revolution to Abramoff's conviction and Delay's resignation from the House of Representatives. The amount of money Jack Abramoff ripped off his clients is staggering. In a single instance, four Native American Indian tribes operating casinos, paid Abramoff's lobbying firm $45 million over a three year period. The money was laundered through a variety of non-profit organizations set up by Abramoff for the express purpose of keeping the cash out of sight from federal regulators. Fortunately some savvy internet investigators and tribe officials themselves managed to trace the money trail and dig up the evidence to link the players and convict Abramoff on a variety of charges. Abramoff's right hand man Mike Scanlon flipped on his boss and agreed to testify which helped speed things along as well. Ripping off the money from naïve Indian tribes was shameful enough but the blatant hypocrisy of Abramoff, Reed and Delay was sickening. When asked what he was thinking about when his mug shot was taken Delay responded, 'I wanted to remember to smile and I was hoping that people would see Christ in me.' I wish I were making that up but I'm not. Delay is a classic example of the smarmy, slick Christian con-man-think Jim Bakker and Benny Hinn. He's praising the Lord while he's picking your pocket. Delay not only fleeced his fellow Christians and Native Americans he also managed to funnel at least half a million dollars in contributions to his wife and other family members.

In concluding commentary the author Thomas Franks told Bill Moyers that the moral compass of Congress has been "demagnetized by money." One of the other experts said the institutional corruption in Congress is at an all time high. The FBI reportedly recently tripled the number of teams investigating corruption on Capitol Hill. This political corruption (which by the way is bi-partisan in nature but since the Republicans are in charge is dominated currently by the GOP) is fueled by class inequality in America. The widening disparity between the haves and the have not's in the United States is making it nearly impossible for issues that affect working class people to be heard on Capitol Hill. Big Pharma literally wrote the Medicare prescription drug bill, while big oil helped write the Bush Administration's so called energy policy. The late crook Kenneth Lay was one of the first people invited to serve on Vice President Cheney's energy panel. Remember when President Bush took pains to say he barely knew Ken Lay and Jack Abramoff when their devious activities came to light? The NY Times recently documented over 500 meetings at the White House between Karl Rove, President Bush and other high ranking administration officials and Jack Abramoff. The lies told by George W. Bush just keep piling up. Moyers reports that there are over "65 lobbyists for every member of Congress. They spend $200 million per month wining, dining and seducing federal officials."

Another expert on the panel with Bill Moyers noted that there is a desperate need for politicians who understand the process of compromise and consensus. Republicans like to ridicule old time pols like Tip O'Neill and Ted Kennedy but by God they were and are great at reaching across the aisle to achieve consensus and get legislation passed. The past 6 years under Republican domination has been grid lock. Their management style is bullying, aggressive, mean and nasty. Tom Delay did his level best to punish any lawmaker, corporation or organization that affiliated themselves with or gave money to the Democratic Party. The results of his tactics will take years to un do and some of the ground can never be regained.