Terrorists to be tried in NY City

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four others are going to be tried for their crime in New York City. It seems to me that this is a simple proposition: a crime was committed in the US, so the perpetrators of the crime should be tried in the US. Given that, we need to follow the rules of [...]

But it’s a state secret

Via KD, it seems the CIA lied about ’state secrets’ and the court found out. The judge was not happy:
The judge also criticized CIA Director Leon Panetta, saying he’s given conflicting accounts about what should be revealed in the case. The ruling led to the unsealing Monday of more than 200 unclassified versions of classified [...]

Gay marriage loses in Maine

The recall vote on gay marriage won yesterday in Maine (53% voted for the repeal with 83% counted). This is a little discouraging but somewhat expected: polls were showing it would be close. And there is the usual line in the article:
It is currently legal in five states, but only by virtue of politicians or judges.
The [...]

Rape, arbitration, and Republicans

An amendment by Senator Franken to stop funding for defense contractors who mandate arbitration for certain things (like sexual assault) passed the Senate 68-30. Democrats have started to use the fact that 30 Republicans voted against a proposal to rectify a situation where a woman gang raped and then imprisoned in a metal container was [...]

Roman Polanski: Rapist

Let’s see:
Geimer later agreed to a second session, which took place on March 10, 1977 at the home of actor Jack Nicholson in the Mulholland area of Los Angeles. “We did photos with me drinking champagne,” Geimer says. “Toward the end it got a little scary, and I realized he had other intentions and I [...]

Gay marriage news

There are three developments in gay marriage:

A law recognizing same sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions went into effect yesterday in Washington DC. It passed the DC council in May, but the US Congress had 30 days to rule on it and have not. DC does not allow same sex marriages.
Same sex marriage foes in [...]

Ok, now NH will allow gay marriage

The New Hampshire legislature first passed a gay marriage bill back on April 30, but then there were a few bumps. Anyway, a gay marriage bill has now been passed by the legislature and signed by the governor.
I will again link to the Union Leader, because they again have links to the text of the [...]

No gay marriage in California, for now

The California Supreme Court has upheld the referendum that approved a ban on same sex marriage (it does allow those already married to stay married). Their decision rested on what can be decided by referendum:
“After comparing this initiative measure to the many other constitutional changes that have been reviewed and evaluated in numerous prior decisions [...]

Regret means more than saying you’re sorry

 A report out of Ireland about schools run by the Catholic church:

found that sexual molestation was “endemic,” committed by offenders who were often transferred to other institutions rather than dismissed or turned over to authorities.

…
Nonetheless, it wasn’t tough enough for some of the victims. Many are angry that the report includes no names of alleged offenders, [...]

Hate Crime

Jeff Jacoby has an article about Hate Crimes legislation. He shows he isn’t bad as some:
Every crime that would be covered by the bill is already a felony under state law. Each one can already be prosecuted and punished. Its name notwithstanding, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act will not prevent any hate crimes. [...]

NH to have gay marriage

NH governor Lynch says he will sign a revised gay marriage bill if new language is added:
I. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a religious organization, association, or society, or any individual who is managed, directed, or supervised by or in conjunction with a religious organization, association or society, or any nonprofit institution or organization operated, [...]

Gay marriage in Maine (and NH?)

Wow, things are moving fast. The governor of Maine has now signed a law to allow gay marriage. This makes Maine the first state where the governor signed a bill to allow gay marriage (in VT the governor’s veto  was overridden and in CT the state passed legislation to legalize all the parts of gay [...]

NH to add gay marriage?

The NH Senate has joined the House in voting for gay marriage. The Senate and House bills are different, so now it goes back to the House. This shouldn’t be a problem, but there is a problem with Governor Lynch who has said in the past that he’s against gay marriage–the bills passed 13-11 and [...]

Vermont votes in gay marriage

Vermont is now the fourth state to allow gay marriage (joining Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa) and the first that voted it in (so no complaining about ‘activist’:
The House recorded a dramatic 100-49 vote, the minimum needed, to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto. Its vote followed a much easier override vote in the Senate, which rebuffed the [...]

Gay Marriage

Iowa allowed gay marriage for two hours in 2007 and now will allow them for at least a while:
Opponents can try and persuade Iowa lawmakers to address the issue, but state Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said it’s “exceedingly unlikely” gay marriage legislation will be brought up this session, expected to end within weeks. [...]

Another reason why arbitrary detention is so bad

I would have liked this article by Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Colin Powell, a lot better if it had come out when this was all happening. Many of the things he mentions are now widely known, but this really shows what can happen when you don’t follow the rules:
The fourth unknown is the [...]

This is a tough spot for Obama?

I’m with Kevin Drum, this seems to be a pretty straightforward choice:
As a presidential candidate, Mr. Obama said he would “fight hard” for the rights of gay couples. As a senator, he sponsored legislation that would have provided health benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.
Now, Mr. Obama is in a tough spot. If he supports [...]

al-Marri indicted

Via Hilzoy, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri  is going to be tried in a criminal court. This is mostly good news, it brings another person out of indefinite imprisonment without any cause shown, but:
Indicting him in a federaldistrict court in central Illinois could avert a Supreme Court ruling that would tie the Obama administration’s hands in [...]

Ledbetter and other gender stuff

I thought there would be problems, but it seems the Lilly Ledbetter bill passed the Senate fairly easily (61-36). It now has to go back to the House (since it was passed in conjunction with another bill), but that’s just a formality and it’s now almost sure to become law. Yay.
President Obama gave out a [...]

al-Marri, detentions, and torture

Via Glenn Greenwald, I see that President Obama is also reviewing the al-Marri case:
The President instructed the Attorney General, the Secretaries of Defense, State, and Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence to conduct a review of the status of the detainee Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri who is currently held at the Naval Brig [...]