This week’s Guests:
– Gay historian JOHN D’EMILIO on Senator Larry Craig’s very bad week
– DANIEL HOPSICKER on the CIA, the drug trade, and the Mob (continued from last week)
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– Re: Senator Larry Craig – Historian John D’Emilio says, “Where’s the compassion?”
By any standard, last week was a very bad week for Senator Larry Craig. In June, an undercover cop arrested him in the men’s room in a Minneapolis airport. Craig, 51 days later, in what he later called an “overreaction,” pled guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct. Roll Call broke the story, Craig’s story quickly unraveled, and his support, even from Senate Republicans, turned into a freefall. Even the head of the conservative Idaho Values Alliance said Mr. Craig’s public statement was “unconvincing and unpersuasive,” and added, ”The senator also has probably lost the credibility necessary to be a leader on pro-family issues.”
Craig was quickly removed from 3 Senate committees, and his role in the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney was quickly erased from Romney’s website. After representing Idaho in Congress for over a quarter of a century, including speeches and consistent votes for “family values,” Larry Craig announced yesterday that he will resign from the Senate, effective at the end of September. Craig had denied gay allegations since 1982, including being outed by gay activist Mike Rogers last fall.
Tonight Monitor co-host Pokey Anderson will discuss the Senator Craig saga with gay historian John D’Emilio. Prof. D’Emilio wonders if the pile-on and the jokes reflect homophobia, even in the gay community.
He is Professor of History and Gender & Women’s Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago, where he has taught since 1999. He was one of the first academics to do research and publish on the history of gay sexuality.
A book co-authored by Prof. D’Emilio, “Sexual Politics,” was cited by Supreme Court Justice Kennedy among the references in the majority opinion overturning the Texas sodomy case, Lawrence et al. v. Texas, in 2003.
His work has been recognized numerous times with awards and fellowships, including the Brudner Prize, Yale University, for lifetime contribution to the development of lesbian and gay studies, 2005. One of his books, “Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin,” was nominated for a National Book Award (2003), and won Best Gay and Lesbian Nonfiction Book for the same book from the American Library Association/Stonewall Award. He was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2005. He is a former co-chair of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force board of directors. Prof. D’Emilio received his bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees from Columbia University.
RELEVANT ARTICLES re Senator Craig:
“Fear and Self Loathing in Idaho”
by Sherman Yellen
August 30, 2007
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sherman-yellen/fear-and-self-loathing-in_b_62587.html
QUOTE: An abusive anti-gay culture has created this misshapen monster of a man – one who fought against the rights of homosexuals in the Senate while allowing his own gay proclivities to express themselves behind toilet doors. It is more than an act of hypocrisy; it is an American tragedy. The self hatred has tragic consequences; not only for the Larry Craigs of the world and their families, but for those he viciously attacked in his “Defense of Marriage” proposals.
“Men’s room arrest reopens questions about Sen. Larry Craig”
by Dan Popkey
August 28, 2007
Idaho Statesman
http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/143801.html
The Idaho Statesman interviewed 300 people for their investigative piece on Senator Larry Craig, after blogger Mike Rogers claimed to have statements from four men who would swear to having had sex with Craig. Their in-depth piece was published after news of Craig’s Mpls. guilty plea.
– DANIEL HOPSICKER on the CIA, the drug trade, and the Mob (continued from last week)
Independent journalist DANIEL HOPSICKER returns to the Monitor to discuss various topics with co-host Mark Bebawi, including Barry Seal, the CIA, the drug trade, and the Mob.
He is the author of Welcome to Terrorland, Mohamed Atta & The 9-11 Cover-up in Florida (2004: Mad Cow Press). He has also done several series of articles on voting machine companies, as well as on the Duke Cunningham scandal. Hopsicker lives in Venice, Florida.
WEBSITE:
www.madcowprod.com
BOOKS:
Welcome to Terrorland: Mohamed Atta & the 9-11 Cover-up in Florida
Barry & ‘the Boys’: The CIA, the Mob and America’s Secret History
FILM:
Documentary Mohamed Atta & the Venice Flying Circus
