Without an iota of doubt many of us have watched with disgust, disappointment and also disbelieve how as a result of the inclination to gain political favors, Sen. McCain who used to claim to be a maverick and an apostle of transparency and healthy political campaigning has metamorphosed into an element of mediocrity, sensationalism and desperation to the extent that he is now part and parcel of surrogates and institutions that are deliberately and aggressively perpetrating and orchestrating the campaign of distortions and deceptions about the real Sen. Obama.

File this in the Better Late Than Never category.  

A couple of weeks ago, the Department of State closed bidding on a new program to catalog and evaluate the U.S. Government’s efforts in "ministerial capacity development" in Iraq.  We don’t do nation-building, dontcha know.  This is different—it’s building capacity for governing within the Iraqi government ministries, which is completely different from nation-building.  I read the solicitation for bids at the link above, and there is some real interesting stuff in there.  None of it is a real surprise to anyone here, but it’s definitely noteworthy...

Historical background on the Lie Factory:

Remember the lead up to the Iraq War?  The hype was thick and well orchestrated. Cheney's gal Friday, Judith Miller, was dishing his dirt in the New York Times from an anonymous source (Scooter Libby, pardoned by Bush), and he cited her articles as proof that his ballyhoo was substantiated by a venerable newspaper (no longer).  The New York Times stood idly by, letting Cheney play this trick on the American public, anonomously corroborating himself via their reknown reporter (infamous now). The NY Times aided and abetted Cheney's artifice, which would unleash death and destruction on thousands, while sweetening the pot of special interests at our expense, without so much as a correction.

Today, August 8, is the day Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency of the United States in 1974 to avoid impeachment and conviction for high crimes and misdemeanors.  Today is the day that Holy Joe Lieberman was driven from the Democratic Party.

Today is also the day the Strangebedfellows Moneybomb is set to go off.  Back in June-July when the FISA fight was roiling, pissed-off civil libertarians raised over $300,000 to run ads targeting Democrats such as Steny Hoyer who colluded with Congressional Republicans, the White House, and the telecoms to pass the corrupt and dangerous 2008 "FISA Amendments Act."  The Strangebedfellows aim to continue and broaden that campaign, and they need our help.

cross posted at brendan Calling and Booman Tribune

Note: I usually don't diary over here at Kos, preferring to write at my own blog, linked above.  However, given that I didn't see any diarioes about the Accountability Now Money Bomb I felt it was necessary to spread the word.  I am kind of surprised to see so little attention here at Kos.

Update: Link to video of the interview here (MSNBC's embed function doesn't work on dkos)

On Hardball today, Mike Barnicle just made a fairly explosive statement.  They were talking about Ron Suskind's new book The Way of the World, in which Suskind alleges via interviews with multiple colleagues and subordinates of George Tenet the explosive charge that the Bush Administration gave the CIA an actual paper ordering them to forge a document drawing connections between Al Qaeda and Iraq.

Suskind was on the show, and faced fierce questioning from Barnicle--specifically about why Suskind didn't interview Tenet himself.  Suskind responded that Tenet was confused and "did not remember" a large number of incidents from the time, including the famous "slam dunk" remarks--but that numerous colleagues and subordinates keep detailed records.

We have a vague notion that the "inevitability" of democracy's spread throughout the world may be a false claim, but we don't know for sure, and don't know how to evaluate the idea.  So even Democrats hesitate to call the idea nonsense.

Frances Fitzgerald wrote "Fire in the Lake," published in 1972.  This book described the debacle that results when Americans try to insert American values and institutions into a society (Vietnam) that cannot accept them.

From outward appearances no member of Congress, no present or recent member of the administration (let's include Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz and the State Department) and none of the Sunday morning interview hosts has ever read this book or any similar book.

As I pondered U.S. security and foreign policy, it struck me just how necessary it is that the national intelligence community undergo serious reform. Especially when facing a multi-national, multi-ethnic terrorist threat, the U.S. vitally needs intelligence agencies that are accountable, well-trained, and most importantly, good at what they do. Unfortunately, despite a $44 billion budget and one of the most diverse and largest talent pools ever (the American people), the intelligence community repeatedly fails, and has done so throughout its history.

One fundamental issue that has yet to be addressed by our political leaders is the privatization of vital U.S. military/intelligence operations. I've yet to hear either candidate even mention this trend, yet it is one of the most basic and pervasive issues of American government today. Chalmers Johnson has written an astounding piece for Salon describing the history of privatization within the "military-industrial complex," as well as the major, negative effects it creates in terms of efficacy and accountability.

Today the Justice Department's Inspector General, Glenn Fine, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss Monday's report showing serious violations of the law in the hiring of career Department employees.  What the IG revealed today was that the attitude of extreme partisanship inside the DoJ was pervasive.  Whether people were actively engaging in politicization or just tacitly accepting it, everyone was at least aware of what was happening... everyone except for Abu Gonzales, of course, who does not recall.

For those of you kossacks who were not aware of the deadline to add your name to Kucinich's Impeachment petition go to http://kucinich.us/ and add your name to the petition.

"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."

I haven't been able to get these words out of my mind lately after reading the two excellent recommended diaries--Ixnay on Letting Bygones Be Bygones by FPer Meteor Blades and ... to his eternal shame and our nation's great discredit by our wise mentor teacherken.

Both diaries addressed the crimes against the Constitution by the Bush Administration and why accountability is crucial to our nation's future. Both diarists and most commenters agree that the Bush Administration should be held accountable. I don't presume to be able to express that viewpoint as well as those two esteemed Kossacks, so I urge you to read the diaries if you haven't already.

The problem I have, and I saw it reflected in many comments as well, is will such an accounting actually take place and how?

Please read on.

Meteor Blades is right.

For some progressives, the lack of enthusiasm for a Church-style committee emerges from the certain knowledge no conceivable Congressional probe will ever take a gander at the machinations of bipartisan American empire, so why urge any poking around at all? From such a perspective, any investigation will simply be an elaborate pretense run by Democrats and Republicans to lull Americans into thinking something is actually being achieved even as the corporatist elite continue their plunder and rapine as usual.

This kind of thinking denies that any good information came out of the flawed Watergate, Church Committee or Iran-contra investigations.

No doubt chances are slim to none for prosecuting the Cheney-Bush crew as well as for passing relevant reforms designed to shield citizens from the outlawry of future leaders. But slim is always better than none. Without a Congressional investigation, there’s no chance at all. How can progressives reconcile themselves to that?

You know that you are either doing something right, or wrong, when one diary leads into another.  In the previous diary, I took two different situations and showed how one statement could be used in both situations.

Out of that diary, two comments made brought out two issues I want to discuss in this diary: the issue of rape itself and the issue of blame vs accountability (which is where I'm really going to focus).

Onward... through the fog...

I just came across this interesting little article by Saul Friedman at Harvard's Watchdog Blog. Saul notes that the BushCo, having ostensibly broken many, many laws here in the U.S. and abroad merits its own crime reporter. This is a great idea for two reasons.

This is an ongoing series from the national tour for THE UPRISING. You can order The Uprising at Amazon.com or through your local independent bookstore.

NEW ORLEANS - CNN today today published a long piece on its website about what an Obama presidency would mean for the African American community. The article fronts an absurd title asking whether an Obama presidency would "hurt black Americans." I'd say there's very little chance of that. However, I do believe the amount that Obama moves the country forward on all issues is contingent on how much we pressure him.

The real story of media accountability is how the tracking ability of internet advertising is re-shaping the editorial decision-making of the mainstream media.

Committee on the Judiciary Hearings

07/25/2008 Full Committee 10:00 A.M.
in 2141 Rayburn House Office Building

Hearing on: Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations

By Direction of the Chairman

This Friday, John Conyers will hold a hearing in response to Dennis Kucinich's resolution to impeach Bush.  If you will be in the metro Washington area, show your support by attending this important meeting.  

Contact your Congressman and ask him or her to go.  

In Maya Schenwar's Interview With Rep. Dennis Kucinich for Truthout.org, Dennis pointed out:

The case for war was based on fraud. That's the core charge in this impeachment resolution. And it just takes one article to be able to force the administration and the president to the consequences of their deceit.