It was the Miami under Chief Michikinikwa ("Little Turtle") and Shawnee led by Chief Weyapiersenwah ("Blue Jacket") who delivered what still stands today as the most decisive and devastating military defeat ever suffered by the U.S. military at the hands of our country's indigenous peoples. At the Battle of the Wabash on November 4, 1791, Gen. Arthur St. Clair's force was utterly routed and nearly annihilated, suffering over 600 slain and nearly 400 wounded. Out of nearly 1,100 soldiers who marched off with St. Clair on that doomed campaign, only 48 of them escaped the debacle completely unscathed.

This unmitigated disaster -- still known in popular reference as "St. Clair's Defeat" -- led President George Washington to sack his commander, and provided members of Congress the opportunity to convene the very first formal congressional inquiry in our nation's history.

By way of some background, Ms. Kia'aina is an attorney who has worked on Capitol Hill for many years on behalf of the State Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and she is both highly articulate and extraordinarily knowledgeable. And because she's a Native Hawaiian who's long been active in indigenous rights issues, her appointment by Gov. Abercrombie to the U.S. Senate would stand as a powerful statement on our continued determination to secure formal federal recognition of Native Hawaiians as a distinct and sovereign indigenous people.

Now that it's all over, I can tell you that the late Sen. Inouye's "last wish" request that Colleeen Hanabusa be appointed to his seat, arriving as it did in Gov. Abercrombie's office on the very same day the man expired, was just a little too contrived and coincidental for my comfort.

As I told fellow Democratic officials while taking pains to state that it was no reflection on Colleen Hanabusa, I thought that it appeared to be a crass effort to manipulate public opinion at the governor's expense, by making him appear cold and callous were he to deny the senator his final wish. Personally, I felt it to be an attempted power play by the senator's longtime staff to maintain their own personal relevance and influence. It didn't sit well at all with a number of us -- and probably not too well with the governor, either.

As a bit of background, both Inouye's chief of staff and his campaign manager had a very serious falling out with Neil Abercrombie in early 2010, when he resigned his seat in Congress to run for governor without first consulting the senator -- and of course by extension, them.

Those two women then worked mightily and diligently to undermine Abercrombie's gubernatorial candidacy, publicly backing Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann instead, and using the senator's clout to garner for Hannemann the public support of union leaders, etc.

Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out as planned. The Hannemann campaign imploded thanks to some horrifically insensitive remarks from the candidate himself, and Abercrombie cruised by nearly 25 points in the Democratic primary, before winning an equally decisive general election victory over GOP Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona.

Now, with Sen. Inouye's passing, the balance of power has inexorably shifted to Gov. Abercrombie's corner, and these two women and sundry other Inouye minions are suddenly finding themselves on the outside looking in. And with Schatz's appointment to the U.S. Senate, their services are officially no longer required, and they're done as of tomorrow morning when he takes the oath of office in D.C.

I think that's a good thing.

Also if you like biography I am currently listening to a bio of Charles Dickens written by Claire Tomalin. It is detailed enough without being too much and too long. Very enjoyable.

I have the softcover of Team of Rivals but have not started it yet.

If you like historical fiction, Hilary Mantel's first two parts of her Cromwell trilogy are fantastic - Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies.  I listened to Wolf Hall on audiobook but wish I had read it instead. It is such good writing I wanted to savor it more!

Never found a way to rationalize the casting of Crowe though...

It seems to be saying that the "character actor" is not all that good looking.

To me, an actor is an actor.
The actor might be or not be in a leading role in a given movie.

How would one classify Humphrey Bogart?

All actors portray characters.

My favorite people in films, with a few exceptions, are these "character actors". That is because they have character. I particularly enjoy the movies made during the heyday of the studio system, where one can see the character actors going from one film to another - each time with some similarities and some differences.

I am a great fan of the films in which Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet appear together. The "Maltese Falcon", "Three Strangers", "The Verdict", "Across the Pacific" and others. In each one their relationship is dimensionally different, and yet we recognize their basic characters.

Are they "character actors", or leads? They are the stars of the film.

Of particular interest to me has always been those who served our country in the Second World War. I grew up listening to stories first-hand from members of "The Greatest Generation," and I came to idolize them.

People like Charles Durning and the late Sen. Dan Inouye are true heroes, and we should never forget what they accomplished on our nation's behalf as young men on the fields and seas of battle, when the future of western civilization and democratic values was on the line and the issue was very much in doubt.