I used to have respect for HBO, but starting tonight, I am convinced that that once-fine cable network has gone completely berserk, by airing a hagiographical puff-piece multi-week series about the pathetic, despicable, obnoxious and disliked John Adams (F-Mass), who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, as an ambassador to various monarchical European colonial powers, as Vice-President and as a failed one-term President whose chief claim to fame was signing the odious Alien and Sedition Acts whilst leading the formation of a political party that, in classic Rove-like behavior, deliberately competed with the Democratic Party (then known as the Republicans) formed by the heroic Thomas Jefferson.  I strongly urge all thinking sentient kossacks to not be bamboozled and/or hoodwinked by HBO's blatant use of the okie-doke and accepting this revisionist docudrama as anything other than psuedo-historical drivel.

After a lengthy argumentative sentencing hearing, ex-Governor George Ryan has just been sentenced to six and 1/2 years in federal prison as a result of myriad corruption charges, the most notable of which was the bribes-for-licenses charge in which Ryan, as Secretary of State maintained a licensing system whereby non-qualified professional drivers were allowed to operate on Illinois roads, which resulted in the death of Wisconsin family.

The prosecutor, of course, has been Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney for the Chicago area, who is also the special prosecutor on the Libby perjury case.  All stations in Chicago are covering this LIVE.

The History Channel has recently re-aired Errol Morris' acclaimed documentary - The Fog of War - in which Morris interviews former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and attempts to draw lessons from his career.  Filmed prior to the U.S.'s invasion and occupation of Iraq, and primarily aimed retrospectively towards Vietnam, it nonetheless provides a useful perspective on the current Iraq quagmire.

When I watched it the other night, I wrote down each of the 11 "Lessons," which are taken from quotes from McNamara during the lengthy interviews but are filtered through Morris' perspective.  If you read after the break, I'll discuss each Lesson.

Sam Rayburn used to say that "if you can't smoke it, drink it, or eat it in twenty-four hours, then don't take it."  Now, even in Mr. Sam's days, such personal ethics were not always universally followed, but the leadership set the example.  Today, where is such leadership?  What will history say about the level of honor and integrity during the Bush Dynasty?

When viewed as a list, the level of corruption in this Republican era is literally stunning.  There is an almost incomprehensible multitude of myriad scandals involving alleged malfeasance at the very highest levels of government; the details of each individual matter are difficult to follow, even for the most interested public citizens.  The common thread in all this personal corruption seems to be that elected office is merely a place where one can scam the public for personal gain; irrespective of public policy concerns.  [Mas palabras abajo].

The deplorable never-ending Iraqi governmental stalemate is about to enter its sixth month and no resolution seems to be in sight.  Given that "spreading 'democracy'" is now the current zeitgeistian justification for Iraqi war proponents, the ongoing deadlock seems to be yet another sign that the establishment of a stable democratic government in Iraq is not in the immediately foreseeable future.  Normally, the internecine negotiations and sausage-making details about how foreign governments are put together are not crucial items about which Americans are concerned, especially given all the scandals and the ongoing efforts of the hate-filled and stunningly corrupt Republicans to felonize everyone's abuelita, but in the case of Iraq, where we have heroic soldiers dying every day (two more yesterday), it takes on added importance.  And the situation is both delicate and complex; requiring a deft diplomatic hand, something for which the blunderbuss lying warmongering Bushies are not generally known.  [For more, I double-dog dare you to read after the break].    

In the interest of providing some historical perspective on the earth-shattering and all-consuming Cynthia McKinney story, which doesn't seem to get much attention around here, perhaps it might help to look back on the saga of Congressman Arthur Mitchell, the first elected African-American Democrat in Congress.  Mitchell was first elected from the South side of Chicago in 1934 as part of the FDR coalition; displacing Oscar De Priest, a Republican African-American, whom Mitchell succeeded as the only African-American, at that time, in Congress.  Mitchell was re-elected to Congress until he retired in the midst of WWII.

Mitchell is remembered for many things; being the sponsor of the Democratic version of the proposed anti-lynching legislation in 1937 and 1940, desegregating the Democratic Caucus, being a friend and ally of Sam Rayburn, fighting for fair employment practices in the lead-up to and during the war...  But the most important matter for which Mitchell is noted concern the events on a train in April of 1937.  [If you want to find out, read on after the break].

Viewed against a backdrop of the constant claims by the lying/smearing/torturing Bushies that the unprovoked invasion and occupation of Iraq was designed to promote "democracy," what is to be made of the U.S.'s intervention in the ongoing deadlock in the selection of a prime minister as a result of the election nearly 4 months ago?  Today, Secretary Rice and Foreign Minister Jack Straw, following on the heels of earlier efforts by Zalmad Khalilzad, directly intervened in the de novo constitutional process by urging/pressuring Ibrahim al-Jaafari to withdraw from consideration as prime minister.   Al-Jaafari had earlier been nominated as the prime minister-designee by the largest party in the new parliament, by one vote over Adel Abdul Mahdi.  In addition to the diplomatic efforts, the right wing news media have been quite critical of al-Jaafari in recent days.

[For more, read on - same bat time, same bat channel].

In one of Andrew Sullivan's blog entries for today, he quotes Senator Joe Biden in one of his multitudinous appearances on Meet the Press in which, responding to a question about whether he would, like John Edwards, admit to a mistake in voting for the use of force resolution in October 2002.  Rather than taking the direct bait and actually answering the question, Biden instead said that the "biggest mistake" that he made was in not realizing that the Bush administration was "stunningly incompetent" in prosecuting the never-ending disastrous war in Iraq.

Andrew says that Biden's primary mistake was his mistake as well, that is, he supported the war but he did not realize that Bush was incompetent.  He then challenges Kossacks to lambaste Biden to the same extent that we criticize Sullivan.  What should be our response??  Do we even care??  [Stay tuned after the break - same bat time, same bat channel].  

When the eminent and legendary Joseph Lowery, chairman emeritus of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, uttered the words "In the morning" yesterday, there was a palpable and immediate electrifying response from the attendees at yesterday's inspiring ceremonies celebrating the life and works of Coretta Scott King, the First Lady of the international Civil Rights movement.  Indeed, the reaction was almost soporific amongst both the bereaved and the viewers, bespeaking a shared spiritual inner knowledge and realization that Lowery, by pointedly utilizing that well-honed meaningful preacher phrase, was going to speak truth to power and lay down explicit metrics of accountability for President Bush and the other office-holders present.

In the morning, will the words and deeds meet the needs??  Sure, the words praising Coretta sounded fine, but in the morning, whatcha gonna do??    

As we all settle into our happy family-oriented Thanksgiving Day festivities in which we will, hopefully, calmly and rationally dwell on those circumstances for which we feel thankful, please let us also remember that the lying, smearing, treasonous, torturing Bush administration lied us into a disastrous war on false pretenses and that the war has resulted in thousands and thousands of casualties, including the deaths of nearly 2100 brave American servicemen and women, and permanent life-debilitating injuries to many thousand others.  Not only that, there appears to be no end in sight for the Iraq war, so the killings and maimings and worldwide torture and denials of civil rights are likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

This, of course, is not news to most kossacks, but it needs to be said (and I intend to say so after the break if you won't cut and run from this diary like a total coward - just joking:-))

Even though my diaries are rarely read or commented on, I thought I'd update y'all on Patrick Fitzgerald's other big case - the corruption trial of former Republican Governor George Ryan - both to highlight the widespread pandemic nature of typical Republican corruption and to provide insight into an actual trial conducted by Fitz.  Today's court hearings were explosive and deserve to be known widely.  To briefly summarize the story, Ryan was Secretary of State of Illinois prior to being elected as Governor in 1998 and there have been numerous allegations about corrupt conduct during his tenure then, the most serious perhaps being the bribe-for-license scandal whereby commercial driving licenses were obtained by graft (which ultimately resulted in the horrific deaths of a family allegedly caused by a driver who fraudulently obtained his license).

I dare you to read more after the break!

With Fitzmas fast approaching, it might be well to discuss our views on what the Fitz's options are in enforcing the rule of law amidst the greatest treason-related scandal this country has seen since the days of Benedict Arnold.  The threshold questions appear to be (1) Should the Fitz aim high and reach for the heavens;?? or (2) should he be 'conservative' and move forward only on those criminal actions which are definitively provable in federal court, bearing in mind the likely defenses and the vicious smearing counter-attack that is likely to ensue??  Put in another way, should he "pull an Archie" or a "DeGenova"??

I know what we all hope - that truth will emerge and that the rule of law will prevail, with justice for all.  But how do we best reach that ultimate goal/criteria??  {Only certified Plameologists should read on}...

The magnitude of the appalling catastrophe which Hurricane Katrina has wrought upon America's Gulf Coast, and the shamefully inexcusable vacuum of Presidential leadership in Katrina's wake, in my opinion, sends a clarion call for the urgent re-convening of Congress in order for the U.S. people to be able to address the situation, which continues to deteriorate daily.  The flooding of New Orleans, the absolute destruction of Biloxi and Gulfport, the refugees, the still-trapped victims, the unknown amount of dead, the gas lines, the looting, the breakdown in law and order, the as-yet-to-be-attempted jerry-rigging of the levies, the urgent need for basic supplies and medical care for thousands and thousands of U.S. citizens, schooling for the children, dialysis machines, evacuations - all of this literally screams for national leadership!

Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi has now called for such a Special Session to address Katrina.  I think we should strongly support her.  My ideas for the public policy issues to be addressed are included after the break.

Rather stunningly, in lieu of President Bush and his minions, Christopher Hitchens, a former Trotskyite leftist, has lately emerged as the principal expositor of the pro-war agenda.  Instead of relying on President Bush to sell his policies and agenda with comprehensible adult rhetoric to his constituents, Hitch has been on a rampage lately, rather famously sliming all over Cindy Sheehan, and, in general, gratuitously insulting anyone and everyone with which he might disagree about the war in Iraq.

Hitch has now written a serious piece for the Weekly Standard Weekly Standard which, in my opinion requires a serious response.  In his article, Hitch has listed several reasons that he believes supports the conclusion that the Iraq war is something to be proud of.  This diary will address his list:

{More after the break}

Here's the link from the bbc: Daily Kos

Essentially, the Afghan government is extremely disappointed about the punishment given to American troops convicted of abusing two detainees who later died.  In the first examples of any judicial determination of prisoner abuse since 2001, two soldiers were convicted and sentenced to prison - one for two months and one for three months - involved with the beatings and later death of a detainee known only as Diliwar in late 2002.  Although several such deaths have been reported, this is the only such case, involving information which has been released, which has reached any sort of final result.

{More after the break}

In the long turbulent annals of human history, perhaps one of the not too unimportant moments was the late 1960's publication of Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed, in which Nader (whatever became of him?) postulated the thesis that the Corvair was not particularly designed with any discernible overt interest in protecting the human body from the gory, bloody depictions frequently seen on local news in which the resultant effects of automobile (and other motor carrier) collisions have wreaked utter and complete havoc upon the sensibilities of viewers in a true and complete "shock the conscience" sensory experience.

[Want to read more if you dare?]

Today, there were several diaries asking for predictions for tonight's exciting Congressional race in Ohio's Second District.  It is safe to say that everyone wanted an outright victory, and some of us actually predicted it, but the final  percentage results were Schmidt 52 - Hackett 48.  (Actually, Schmidt is slightly less than 52 and Hackett slightly more than 48 - so it's 52- - 48+).  This is a significant turnaround in a staunchly Republican District and is less than the bar set by Charlie Cook for a sign that the Republicans are in trouble generally on a national basis.

By my count, there were 33 entries in the prediction contest and many were surprisingly close.  (To find out the winner, read after the break)

Okay, today's hot story is the Hackett-Schmidt campaign in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District.  Because we don't really have all that much to talk about whilst awaiting results, let's hold a contest to see which kossack has his/her finger on the pulse of the average Cincinnati-area voter.  Who can predict the actual outcome the closest??

Earlier, on another thread, I predicted an outright victory.  So, I'll get the ball rolling with a prediction of Hackett 52% and Schmidt 48% amidst a relatively low turnout (after all, it is a special election).  Based on prior threads, I have a feeling that I might be a tad optimistic and that most of us are beginning to settle for a Pyrrhic victory that results from a close, albeit losing result.  More after the break: