Customer Reviews

Bush Family Fortunes - The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

And tells about it on camera, loud and clear! Anyone who views this DVD knows why the American TV networks didn't air it: too much truth, too much documentation, too much honesty. I live in Asia and have friends living in Europe. This program was shown on TV on those two continents, but not in N. America.
Why? Because it also tells exactly how the 2000 election was stolen - gives the names of the people involved, the companies involved, and lets us know that the contracts for this infamy were given out months in advance. What's keeping them from doing it again? This DVD should be viewed by all Americans.

Living in our modern world I was able to snag a copy off of the internet, it was shown on BBC 3 and what Greg Palast calls the electronic Berlin Wall is and was still in effect Americans weren't lucky enough to get a peek; until now.

Greg Palast exposes the charmed life of George Dubya Bush through his dealings with the Texas air national guard through the theft of the White House in 2000 and does so with snarky commentary AND documented proof.

I recommend this to everyone, no matter what your political leanings are it's important to know both sides of the story.

I find it ironic that the previous reviewer(s) label Greg Palast as a liberal propogandist because this reveals they did not read his book, 'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy'. Palast is an old-fashioned muckraking journalist who will report the mis-deeds of those with conservative, liberal and moderate persuasions. To give some background, in his book he exposes misdeeds by the Bushs, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Pat Robertson, the World Bank, environmentalists, major corporations......and if this is giving you the perception that the ball part of Palast's 'ball point pen' is a wrecking ball, you are correct. Investigative reporting has no credability if it is biased in any way shape and form and Palast is relentless to find the truth, no matter how offensive it is. Palast even exposes himself: the one-time he took the money and ran from an investigative report. This is totally indicative of the truthfulness and uncompromising nature of his reportage in both the book and DVD. This documentary could have easily been called 'Lewinsky, the snorting Koch brothers, and the reason why Bill Clinton should have been impeached'.

But the subject matter at hand is the all-American Bush family and Palast, as usual, gives no quarter. He reports on the 2000 stolen election; how the Iraq invasion was actually planned in the year 2001; how W. jumped ahead of 'thousands' of applicants to get into the Texan National Air Guard with a score of 25 on his entrance exam. This score places W. at one point above the "too-dumb-to-fly-status". Etc, etc, etc. For those who think the Bush family is being wronged just consider some of the historic offences accumulated by the Bush clan.

In 1918, Prescott Bush and two friends crept into the cemetery near Fort Sill and pried open the grave of Geronimo and removed the head. It was cleaned and sent to New Haven where it was used in some ritualistic manner by later Bushs.

Excuse me. Isn't this called grave robbing?

George Walker, GW's great-grandfather and Prescott Bush were both in business with the Nazis. GW made money of of I.G. Farben, the loving company who made Zyklon B gas used you know where. Ole GW hired John Foster Dullas to hide the funds they were making from Nazi investments and the funds they were sending to Nazi Germany, rather than divest. Hmmmmm......

Prescott Bush managed the Silesian-American Corporation along with his father-in-law George Herbert Walker. This company was vital in supplying coal to the Nazi war industry and was seized as a Nazi-front on November 17, 1942 by the US government. The largest company Bush's UBC helped finance was the German Steel Trust, responsible for between one-third and one-half of Nazi iron and explosives. I suppose it is just another case of unwarrented government regulation. How dare the feds prevent the Bushs from making money from the Nazis. Long live the free market!!!

The Bush family misdeeds include Neal Bush, Jeb Bush, Jonathon Bush, Jeb son's George, Jeb's son John, Laura Bush, Jeanna Bush....................so it's just another episode of 'All In The Family'. My only question is, who represents 'dingbat' and 'meathead'? Oh Ahrrchie.....

As for the film BFF, its production values are not on the exalted level as 'Fahrenheit 9/11' but, or perhaps because of this, the revealed facts seem stark and more damaging that those in F.911.

My only caveat has nothing to do with Palasts reportage but with one of its featured interviewees. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Bill Burkett, the man in BFF who stated he watched parts of Bush's National Guard records being shredded, is the person who gave Dan Rather the 'newly found' (questionable) papers that stated Bush was given preferential treatment to avoid going to Vietnam. Rather had to apologize to Bush on natioinal television over the flap. OK. But as any active news junkie knows, Dr. Yoshi Tsurumi, one of W's Harvard business professors from the early 70's stated Bush told him, "he admitted to me that to avoid the Vietnam draft, he had his dad -- he said 'Dad's friends' -- skip him through the long waiting list to get him into the Texas National Guard." So Palast could dump Burkett and substitute Tsurumi to draw the same conclusion.

The point to this lengthy review is to encourage those with reservations about Bush Family Fortunes to watch this DVD and then read his book 'The Best Money Democracy Can Buy' to give the documentary its proper context. As Eugene O'Neal once stated, 'the truth is never bad'. Yes, this is true, but the truth can be awfully embarrassing to the Bushs.

Watch this documentary.

Hmmmm, let's see. The reviews are either one-star or five-star. What does this suggest? The party affiliation or affinity of the reviewers is clear. This film may not have the savvy of Moore's film, but I always am vindicated that these documentaries are on target when a certain group of viewers goes ballistic and are unable to truly give constructive criticism, beyond simply crying 'propaganda.' The inability to participate in or to entertain even the notion of considered debate is part of why our great country is falling behind, in diplomacy and in humanitarianism.

Along with Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Bush's Brain" about Bush advisor Karl Rove, this excellent one-hour DVD appears to complete an eye-opening trilogy of pertinent documentaries about concerns raised in continuing the Bush administration for another four years. Each has its shortcomings, mostly around the veracity of some of the findings, but this one by journalist Greg Palast seems more grounded than the other two and consequently less caught up in its own hyperbole. Perhaps that's because it was first produced for the BBC where a non-American audience was trying to make sense of Bush's rise to prominence, his imperialist and economically insensitive policies and the extremist feelings he seems to induce in this country.

Much of this material has been covered in "Fahrenheit 9/11", but his approach is quite different. Palast also does not focus as much on Iraq since his film was made earlier than Moore's. What he does cover is still quite intriguing, beginning with Bush's admittance into the Texas Air Guard, which effectively ensured he would not see active duty in Vietnam. Among those interviewed regarding that mysteriously unrecorded period are people who claim that Bush didn't even show up for duty. Palast even one-ups Moore by finding an official who swears that any incriminating evidence in Bush's file was shredded to avoid making the then-Governor of Texas look anything but heroic. The controversial 2000 Florida election results are covered in this film as well. Moore had powerful footage of African-American members of Congress being turned away for their pleas to invalidate the results. Palast, on the other hand, takes great care in providing some seriously damning evidence providing documents (included as part of the DVD extras) which prove that many legitimate voters were prevented from casting their ballots based on false accusations of a criminal past. The majority of these voters were not coincidentally African American and Democrat, and their numbers outdo the margin by which Bush defeated Gore by a fairly significant amount. A telling moment occurs when Palast tries to have a Florida official account for this alleged and obviously illegal act, and the man leaves the room in a huff and refuses to look at the documentation or answer his questions. Finally, like "Fahrenheit 9/11", much time is spent investigating Bush family ties with the Saudi royals and the bin Laden family. Palast traces the same money trail that Moore does connecting Bush's business endeavors back to Saudi investment money and bin Laden capital specifically.

Chances are high that if you are a staunch Republican that you will avoid this DVD, which would be a shame since the evidence is powerfully presented here in a dry journalistic style. Having myself read "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against Kerry" to get an alternative perspective on John Kerry's leadership, I think it's fair to take a look at this film to see the other side. The DVD also includes a very enlightening interview with Palast on how he compiled his information. Strongly recommended viewing before you vote.

This is a great follow-up for Americans who watched Moore's film and want the whole story. As usual, I see that some Neocon lackeys posted their usual "Its's all lies" reviews (ho-hum). The information in this DVD is 100% accurate and can be verified, unlike the rantings of Neocon minions. This DVD even contains photos of documents uncovered by Greg Palast.

I originally heard all of this information a while back, on the BBC's online site (since American reporters are too cowardly to question Lord Bush) its good to see it presented in a polished documentary.

Every American needs to swallow the red pill and watch this DVD.

Greg Palast during the personal interview phase of his hard hitting new DVD documentary "Bush Family Fortunes", which he adapted from his penetrating bestseller "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy", explains what it took to enable him to provide his insightful commentaries into the current political scene. He had to move out of the country.

Many people think that Greg Palast is a British reporter. Actually he hails originally from the San Fernando Valley suburban Southern California town of Van Nuys, but in the process of attempting to penetrate through the thick veneer of corporate media concentration, he was stymied. Since the British Broadcasting Corporation was willing to present his television reporting and The Guardian willing to publish his articles, Palast has been spending a great deal of his time in London. "My kids have these funny Upstairs, Downstairs English accents," he explains, "and I'd love to spend more time in America, but I found I had to work in England."

Michael Moore calls Palast's reporting "courageous" and it certainly is. He never takes a backward step, especially when it comes to the rich and powerful that are attempting to shield their unscrupulous practices. This film reveals how George W. Bush went AWOL in the Texas Air National Guard when it appeared that combat might be awaiting in Vietnam.

A fellow Guardsman explains that the rules were bent in order for him to be accepted, since the general rule was that members had between three and years of flying experience to be considered. Bush not only had no such experience; he was just one point above the "too dumb to fly" minimum score on his entrance application and had over 100,000 applicants ahead of him. He also, it must be noted, had a father who was a famous Houston congressman.

Palast recounts how Bush failed in four tries in the oil business, how his father was set up with a million dollar account by his father, Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush, in what friendly corporate media sources have described as "making it on his own" as an oilman in Midland Texas, as well as how young Bush, through his connections, received a lucrative contract from Bahrain for oil drilling despite the fact that his Harken Energy was a fledgling young company without the kind of track record expected under the circumstances. As Palast's documentary repeatedly reveals, it helps when you have the name of Bush and the myriad connections flowing therefrom.

Another important aspect of the documentary is the informative revelations about Bush family involvement with the Saudi oil monarchy and the Carlyle Group. He follows the Saudi connection attentively, noting how the Bush family used the FBI to spike an investigation into the bin Laden family, with which the Bushes were closely linked.

The most hilarious episode in this fast-moving documentary involves the climax of Palast's investigation into charges that Governor Jeb Bush used his influence along with Katherine Harris to suppress votes of close to one hundred thousand African-Americans in the 2000 presidential election on his brother's behalf. Palast tragically was unable to generate interest from American sources in this story when it was developing during the post-election recount period. He notes that even the Gore team was afraid to jump aboard and provide support.

As a result Palast used his London BBC connection and flew to Florida's capital of Tallahassee to conduct interviews. When he began filming an interview with Clay Roberts, Harris's top subordinate and the state's supervisor of elections, the interviewee nervously ended the process. This came just as Palast was beginning to ask Roberts about the firm used by the state to track down alleged "felons."

Roberts ended the interview, scurried into his office, and called security, looking like both a frightened and petulant child. A nonchalant Florida state trooper entrusted with evicting Palast from the premises grinned and told the interviewer, "There's never a dull moment around here." Meanwhile a highly nervous Roberts called out from his office in the adjoining room that Palast must leave immediately. Such is Republican democracy as practiced by the brothers Bush, Katherine Harris, and Clay Roberts.

The informative DVD also contains interactive material consisting of "secret" contracts and memos from closed-door meetings. The film demonstrates the ongoing clash between vigilant reporters fearlessly seeking the truth and corrupt corporate and political forces equally determined to prevent it from surfacing.

This is a fascinating example of how journalism should be done. Palast reveals the disturbing truth behind the 2000 election, the war in Iraq, Bush's "service" (or lack thereof) during Vietnam. Before you buy the administration's lies about spreading democracy abroad, you should first see this film and realize that Bush and co. have already destroyed democracy at home. Bush, with his family fortune, has basically bought his way into power. Powerful, eye-opening stuff - buy a copy, watch it yourself, then give it to all your friends. This film could save us from four more years of this deceitful aristocracy.

Stranger than fiction but the film rings true. The quid pro quo system of bribery and influence peddling is, of course, as old as history, but the Bushes and Co. have raised it to an art form. I was worried that it would just rehash points I had already seen made in Unprecedented, Orwell Rolls in His Grave (highly recommended)and Bush's Brain, but it expands that story in some interesting ways, especially in terms of the Saudi Arabia/Bush connection. Greg Palast, Charles Lewis, and Seymour Hersh actually give one hope that ethical investigative journalism is possible. The DVD doesn't have much in the way of extras, but the additional interview with Palast is worth watching (he's not as photogenic as all the talking heads on network news shows, but his intelligence and investigative skills more than make up for it).

I can't understand how people still didn't get it. We should all know by now that some people use fear to be able to do what they want to. It's pretty obvious though and everyone should step back, take all the information that is available and see what is going on. But no...some people want to support their president because it is "good" to do so, no matter what he does and those people don't even take a second to see this movie before judging it. There's even one person who gave it 1 star and said this "book" was a fairytale...or something like that. Dude, it's a DVD...And you know what? 7 people found his review helpful.