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NJ Governor Resigns As He Admits To Gay Affair
California Court Voids 4,000 Same Sex Marriages in San Francisco
Washington Post Admits It Buried Anti-War Voices Before the
Iraq invasion
Will Yaser Esam Hamdi Go From An Enemy Combatant to A Free
Man?
A Warning From the ACLU: Emerging “Surveillance-Industrial
Complex” Is Turbo-Charging Government Monitoring
NJ Governor Resigns As He Admits To Gay Affair
In a stunning press conference, James McGreevey yesterday
announced his resignation and revealed that he had an affair
with another man. McGreevey becomes perhaps the highest ranking
politician to ever come out while serving in office. [includes
rush
transcript]
But that is not the whole story.
McGreevey is expected to be slapped with a sexual harassment
suit by a former top aide, Golan Cipel. They met in Israel
four years ago. After their meeting, Cipel moved to New Jersey
and worked on McGreevey’s campaign for governor. McGreevey
helped him find a car, a job and an apartment a tenth of a
mile from the Woodbridge townhouse he shared with his wife.
According to the New Jersey Star Ledger, the Israeli national
would go on to play a controversial role in McGreevey's political
life over the next two years, first as the newly elected governor's
homeland security adviser and then as a "special counsel"
with ill- defined responsibilities and a $110,000 annual salary.
Now Cipel is preparing to sue McGreevey.
A federal law enforcement official said McGreevey's office
had called the FBI yesterday and complained Cipel had requested
$5 million to quash the suit, which assistants to the governor
saw as extortion.
- Gov. James McGreevey, speaking at a press conference
on Thursday
California Court Voids 4,000 Same Sex Marriages in
San Francisco
The state Supreme Court voided the marriages of some 4,000
same sex couples who married in San Francisco earlier this
year. The court ruled that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
had overstepped his authority by issuing the marriage licenses
to same sex couples. [includes rush
transcript]
- Kate Kendell, executive director of the San Francisco-based
National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Washington Post Admits It Buried Anti-War Voices
Before the Iraq invasion
Press critic Michael Massing reviews the Washington Post
admission that it failed to raise criticisms of the Iraq invasion
before the U.S. attacked last year. Executive Editor Leonard
Downie Jr admited in the Post yesterday, "Across the
country, the voices raising questions about the war were lonely
ones. We didn't pay enough attention to the minority.”
The Washington Post yesterday published a major 3,000 word
front-page story examining how the paper downplayed critics
of the Iraq war before the U.S. attacked last year.
Pentagon correspondent Thomas Ricks revealed how in October
2002 editors killed a piece of his titled "Doubts"
that outlined how many senior Pentagon officials were reluctant
about plans to attack Iraq. Ricks also added "The paper
was not front-paging stuff. Administration assertions were
on the front page. Things that challenged the administration
were on A18 on Sunday or A24 on Monday. There was an attitude
among editors: Look, we're going to war, why do we even worry
about all this contrary stuff?"
Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. admitted mistakes were
made. He said "Across the country, the voices raising
questions about the war were lonely ones. We didn't pay enough
attention to the minority.”
We are joined now by Michael Massing. In February he wrote
a major article in the New York Review of Books titled “Now
They Tell Us” on the press coverage leading up to the
Iraq invasion.
Will Yaser Esam Hamdi Go From An Enemy Combatant
to A Free Man?
For over two years Hamdi, a U.S. citizen, has been held
on a military brig. Charges have never been filed against
him. He has never been in a courtroom. And only recently was
he allowed to see an attorney. The president declared him
an enemy combatant and essentially decided the Constitution
did not apply to him. Now the U.S. is preparing to release
him. [includes rush
transcript]
Federal prosecutors have indicated that enemy combatant Yaser
Esam Hamdi may soon be released. The U.S.-born citizen has
been held since he was captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan
in late 2001; he has been denied access to a lawyer throughout
most of his confinement. Hamdi spent time in Guantanamo Bay's
notorious Camp X-Ray before later being moved to a U.S. Navy
Brig in South Carolina. He has never been charged with a crime
and has been held largely incommunicado because President
Bush deemed him to be an enemy combatant.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled that as a U.S. citizen,
Hamdi can not be held indefinitely without access to the U.S.
legal system. This week, Hamdi"s attorneys and federal
prosecutors made the surprise announcement that they were
negotiating terms for his release. Part of the deal may call
on Hamdi to renounce his citizenship, move to Saudi Arabia,
accept monitoring by Saudi authorities, and promise not to
sue the U.S. government.
- Barbara Olshansky, attorney with the Center for Constitutional
Rights. She is the author of "Secret Trials and Executions:
Military Tribunals and the Threat to Democracy."
A Warning From the ACLU: Emerging “Surveillance-Industrial
Complex” Is Turbo-Charging Government Monitoring
A new report by the American Civil Liberties Union has found
the government is rapidly increasing its ability to monitor
average Americans by tapping into the growing amount of consumer
data being collected by the private sector. [includes rush
transcript]
The report is titled, “Surveillance-Industrial
Complex: How The American Government is Conscripting Businesses
and Individuals in the Construction of a Surveillance Society.”
We are joined now by Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU’s
Technology and Liberty Program.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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