"Live from Congress! Hear of high-ranking officials trying to board planes with $100,000 stuffed in their underwear. See politicians refusing to answer investigators for fear of incriminating themselves. Watch their wives reduced to tears. Secretaries revealing their bosses' dirty secrets. Their opponents insulting them with accusations of corruption and lies. And an eager public lapping up every word while watching the bad guys fall and the good guys struggle to survive." From the Christian Science Monitor on line.

Hey, if they can't beat the system, at least ordinary Brazilians can benefit by the entertainment value of it, eh?

Public disgrace and embarrassment go a long way toward ending corrupt practices than do law enforcement efforts that are carried out by the very people taking bribes. Back in the early 1980's then Mayor Ed Koch used to have a radio program on NYC's city owned station called the John Hour, where the head of the NYPD vice unit would read the names and addresses of men arrested for soliciting prostitutes.

I have no beef with sex workers but the concept of disgrace and embarrassment is more of a deterrent than a ticket and a small fine quietly mailed into a court PO box.

-Ali Massoud