The names Laura Ling and Euna Lee are on everyone’s tongue as the news of their 12-year sentence of hard labor breaks.  In case you don’t know the entire story, the two women, both journalists, were arrested on the border of China and North Korea as they reported on the flight of North Korean refugees into China.  Today, they were given a 12 year sentence in a North Korean labor camp, the maximum sentence for the “crime” (i.e. illegal entry and hostility toward Korean people) they had committed. Since they were tried at the highest court, there is no appeal.  There is also no early release due to overcrowding or good behavior.

Even worse, all reports indicate that any time served in a North Korean labor camp is tantamount to a death sentence.

These two women are shining examples of what our generation strives to be – hard-working, independent, intelligent individuals who are passionate about the human condition.  We should not only keep these women in our thoughts, but also look to their bravery as an example of how to live our lives.  This can only underline the power and the preciousness of our right to free speech and fair trial (and all our rights we are free to enjoy in the United States).

All my best wishes go to these ladies.  Let’s hope someone with more power than I have can pull through and get them out of there.

DC Chief of Police, Mayor, and City Official React to Supreme Court’s Decision on Thursday

On Thursday the US Supreme Court struck down the D.C ban on handgun ownership as unconstitutional. It’s decision overruled 200+ years worth of lower court decisions that suggested that the intent of the amendment strictly concerned gun ownership in a citizens’ militia. The 1976 law prohibited handgun ownership and required that shotguns and rifles be kept unloaded and either disassembled or under a trigger lock.

The plaintiff in the case, Gillian St. Lawrence, a 29 year old residing in the posh neighborhood of Georgetown in Northwest DC, stated, “I’m thrilled… I’m finally going to be able to take the trigger lock off my shotgun and load it if I need to be able to defend myself in my own home”. It should be noted that the majority of murders occur on the opposite side of town—in the urban areas of Southeast and Northeast.

Last year there were 143 murders in DC and the thugs seem ready to beat that number this year. There have been 85 murders in DC so far this year. So let’s make it easier shall we? Hunting season is officially starting up once more in DC. Come one come all! (Your writer is a resident of DC). Read More »

Drum roll please…

It’s the news with Kandy Korrespondent! (wild applause) anyways:

The California Supreme Court has overturned the state’s same-sex marriage ban by a vote of 3-4 stating that gay unions must be given the “respect and dignity of marriage” and that same-sex couples should be permitted to wed. Governor Schwartzenagger said on Thursday that he will respect the court’s ruling. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told reporters that he will gladly officiate at same-sex weddings.

This ruling is the first to apply arguments typically used with regards to the protection of gender and racial rights to the issue of same-sex marriage.

In Other News: Read More »

The much-touted Beijing Olympics more and more seem like an awful nightmare amidst the continuing Human rights fallout. This is the first of three articles examining China’s Human Rights Record.

Visit Beijing—What do you see?

Skyscrapers

Fashion (America’s Next Top Model filmed their last season there)

Entrepreneurs

Money, Money, MONEY!!!

Stand in the middle of the city and you could be in New York, Tokyo, Berlin, or Sydney.

This is not your parent’s China…or is it?

Your parent’s China was ruled by the infamous Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist People’s Party. As you probably remember from your Cold War history, Mao’s China, like Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia, flagrantly violated human rights.

Chairman Mao’s death in 1976 ushered in a slow yet steady drive towards economic reform that many hoped would correspond to political reform as well.

Events on June 4, 1989 shattered such hopes. Read More »