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Colin Farrell (originally aired December 11, 2004)
- Rumsfeld Town Meeting
- Weekend Update: steroid use, Kerik nomination, NHL lockout, Canada and same-sex marriages, Karzai inauguration, Bill O'Reilly, Ku Klux Klan case
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| > | Rumsfeld Town Meeting. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld faced some tough questions from U.S. soldiers during a Dec. 8, 2004 town meeting. A transcript of that meeting is on-line here.
One soldier's question related to the attacks on transport vehicles in Iraq and the lack of armor on many such vehicles. According to statistics reportedly released by the House Armed Services Committee, more than 75 percent of Humvees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait have some kind of armor, but only 10 percent of medium-weigh transport trucks and only 15 percent of heavy transport vehicles have armor.
Some have questioned whether the soldier's question was unduly influenced by a newspaper reporter embedded with the soldier's unit and who had written about the subject. According to reports, the soldier who asked Rumsfeld about the lack of armor on military vehicles was prompted by a reporter from The Chattanooga Times Free Press. Defense Department spokesman Lawrence Di Rita questioned such influence on the meeting in a Dec. 9 statement (on-line here). "Town Hall meetings are intended for soldiers to have dialogue with the Secretary of Defense. It would be unfortunate to discover that anyone might have interfered with that opportunity, whatever the intention."
Another soldier's question related to the stop-loss program that the Army has invoked to prevent certain soldiers from voluntarily retiring or leaving active duty. The Army invoked the program several times in the year immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks and then invoked it again in February 2003, about a month before military action began in Iraq. The Army began lifting the program over the summer of 2003, but implemented the program again in November 2003 and expanded it in January 2004.
The Department of Defense announced on Dec. 1 (on-line here) that it planned to increase the number of troops in Iraq to about 150,000 by late December or early January, the highest level of troops in Iraq since the invasion. In order to do so, the Department of Defense has, among other things, deployed more troops and also extended some troops' tours of duty. Brig. Gen David Rodriguez said on Dec. 1 that the planned extensions would mean that more than 8,000 troops from the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry, the 2nd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division and the 66th Transportation Company would be in Iraq for more than 12 months and up to 14 months.
| > | Weekend Update: Steroid Use. According to recent reports, New York Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi told a federal grand jury in December 2003 that he had used steroids and San Francisco Giants player Barry Bonds told the grand jury that he had used substances that he said he did not know were steroids. According to testimony before a Senate hearing on March 10, 2004 (here), anonymous tests in 2002 showed that more than 5 percent of Major League Baseball players were positive for steroids. Major League Baseball planned as of that hearing to conduct random tests of all players for steroids; players who test positive will receive treatment the first time and will be suspended or fined for subsequent offenses.
| > | Weekend Update: Kerik Nomination. Former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik was nominated to be the second Secretary of Homeland Security on Dec. 3 and withdrew his nomination on Dec. 10 amidst concerns about the immigration status of a nanny he had employed, whether he had the managerial experience to run a Cabinet-level department, and whether he had ethical conflicts of interest due to his involvement with a company that did business with the Department of Homeland Security.
| > | Weekend Update: NHL Lockout. The hockey season has been shut down since mid-September 2004, when the National Hockey League started a lockout of players. The player's union sent a new proposal to the NHL on Dec. 9, potentially initiating a resumption of negotiations. According to NHL statistics (on-line here), the league had operating losses of $273 million overall, with 11 teams reporting operating profits and 19 teams reporting operating losses. The player's union has at times questioned the accuracy of such figures and called for greater transparency in financial reporting.
| > | Weekend Update: Reference to Canada's Same-Sex Marriage Law. Canada has not actually adopted a new law allowing same-sex marriages yet but likely will do so in the wake of a Dec. 9 ruling by Canada's highest court that the country's constitution permitted such marriages. Canada Prime Minister Paul Martin has supported such legislation in the past and reportedly plans to introduce a bill to allow such marriages in the coming weeks.
| > | Weekend Update: Karzai Inauguration. Hamid Karzai, who had served as the head of Afghanistan's interim administration since December 2001, was inaugurated as the country's first democratically-elected president on Dec. 7, 2004. Karzai was elected as a result of the country's first national elections for a head of state on Oct. 9. While some candidates initially criticized the election for problems, the elections were generally hailed as a success given the turnout and the lack of violence.
| > | Weekend Update: Reference to Bill O'Reilly. Bill O'Reilly was sued in early October 2004 for sexual harassment by a co-worker. O'Reilly's lawyers announced an out-of-court settlement on Oct. 28.
| > | Weekend Update: Ku Klux Klan Case. The United States Supreme Court declined on Dec. 6 to hear a Ku Klux Klan chapter's challenge to New York's anti-mask law, which outlaws congregating in a public place while masked or disguised unless such disguises are in connection with something like a masquerade party. This law was first enacted in 1865 and was last modified in 1965.
In January 2004, a federal appellate court concluded that New York Penal Law 240.35(4) did not violate the First Amendment. "While the First Amendment protects the rights of citizens to express their viewpoints, however unpopular, it does not guarantee ideal conditions for doing so, since the individual's right to speech must always be balanced against the state's interest in safety, and its right to regulate conduct that it legitimately considers potentially dangerous," a panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held.
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By Stephen Lee
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