WATCH THIS VIDEO....first!http://www.pbs.org/wnet/expose/2008/02/quid-pro-quo-the-insiders-game.htmlTHEN GO HERE:Ask the Reporter and Producer: Exposé on Bill Moyers JournalThis week BILL MOYERS JOURNAL and the PBS series EXPOSÉ: AMERICA'S INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS offer a hard and fresh look at how earmarks really work. The broadcast profiles SEATTLE TIMES reporters on the trail of how members of Congress have awarded federal dollars for questionable purposes to companies in local Congressional districts—often to companies whose executives, employees or PACs have made campaign contributions to the legislators. The segment also focuses on how earmarks for some products were added to the defense appropriations bill even in cases in which the military didn’t want them in the first place. Example: a $4.65 million patrol boat the Coast Guard hadn’t even asked for and decided it couldn’t use was eventually given away by the Coast Guard to a California Sheriff’s office. David Heath of the SEATTLE TIMES says: “They're selling a product to the military that they're not even using.”
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2008/02/ask_the_reporter_and_producer.html------
THEN CHECK THIS OUT:Welcome to a new season of Exposé: America's Investigative Reports, the documentary series that spotlights some of the most important investigative journalism in America. Each month a new show will premiere on this site and air on PBS's Bill Moyers Journal. In our season premiere, Seattle Times reporters take a close look at pork barrel politics. On our new site, you can watch the program. Or read the paper's original reporting and find out about the $4.65 million, 85-foot boat Congress ordered the Coast Guard to buy - but which the Coast Guard said it couldn't use. Or maybe you want to look up the defense bill earmarks your own representative has sponsored, or browse earmark recipients - the individuals, companies, and institutions who get the federal dollars. They're searchable by state and name in The Seattle Times' database. You can also get the story behind the story from investigative reporter David Heath. And if you're new to the earmarking concept, let Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists give you the 411 on this "insiders'game." And if you've got a question or a comment for our producer or the Seattle Times reporter, click over to the Blog on the Bill Moyers Journal website and fire away. Then there's our resources page where you can check out what others are saying around the internet about earmarks, campaign finance, defense spending, and ethics in Congress. Last but not least, if you want to see some compelling stories of investigative journalists and their work, chose from the menu of Exposé episodes in our Video Library. May we suggest our Emmy® Award-winning episode "Blame Somebody Else"? Want more? Check back here each week between documentary premieres for additional features. In the works: a web-exclusive video interview with Senator Tom Coburn, who calls earmarks "the gateway drug for overspending," and executive producer Tom Casciato's audio interview with Seattle Times executive editor David Boardman.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/expose/