Subject: Human Rights Policy

• The Velvet Voz

  April 5, 2001

• Manzanar Pilgrimage Exhibit

  February 5, 2009

• Toture Awareness Month

  Over at Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World, Jonathan Schwarz points out that June is Torture Awareness Month. Quoting from the announcement on TortureAwareness.org: June 26th is the date that the United Nations has marked as the International Day in Support of Survivors and Victims of Torture. This year a coalition of human rights, civil liberties and faith organizations have joined TASSC International, a leading survivors organization, in declaring June "Torture Awareness Month." This awareness

  June 5, 2006

• A Bad Day for Bush, and maybe waterboarding

  The Supreme Court today ruled the Bush administration must do one of those things it is always extremely reluctant to do: obey the law. By a vote of 5-3, the Supremes said the administration can't proceed with its plans to try prisoners at Guantanamo Bay before military tribunals. Writing for the majority, John Paul Stevens (appointed by President Ford) declared the planned tribunals were illegal under both US law and the Geneva Conventions. Over at SCOTUSblog (SCOTUS may sould like a skin dise

  June 29, 2006

• Sanchez Returns From Vietnam?

  Amid gifts of flowers, hand-made placards and shouts of "We love you Loretta!" from a crowd of approximately 20 people, Rep. Loretta Sanchez--Orange County's lone Democratic voice in Congress--returned from a trip to Vietnam. A website, perhaps tied to Sanchez, has posted a video of her arrival celebration at Los Angeles International Airport. You can see it here. Details of her trip aren't yet know. Hell, I didn't even know she was gone. Communist Party officials, who govern Vietnam, haven'

  October 5, 2007

• "Friends of Monsignor John" Already Deletin'

  Scroll for updates after the jump... A support group for embattled Orange diocese Monsignor John Urell isn't even a day old, and already site administrators are deleting messages critical of Urell and his peers' handling of the diocese's sex-abuse scandal. You won't know this from reading their website, of course: they deleted the messages, silly! But this trusty reporter has three of them for you, after the jump:

  October 10, 2007

• Arrogance, Thy Name is Robert Morey

  Our post earlier today about the turmoil at Irvine's Faith Community Church has already sparked discussion on its friend's blog (more below) and a comment from the church's leader, Robert Morey. And it's not just any comment--it's one so pompous and hilarious it deserved its own post. Here it is: We who actually attend Faith Community Church don’t see any schism or confusion in the church. We are happy and joyful serving the Lord. Our attendance is great and things are moving forward with gre

  April 24, 2008

• Guerrilla in the Midst

  March 18, 1999

• Winged Monkeys!

  October 18, 2001

• Shut Up and Take It

  February 21, 2002

• Handicapped Parking

  December 12, 2002

• The Kids Are Not All Right

  May 8, 2003

• Tom Morello's Nightwatchman Brings Chord Changes We Can Believe In

  December 11, 2008

• ACLU Suing Newport-Mesa Schools Over "Rent" Debacle

  MOVING UP AND UPDATING WITH DISTRICT REACTION, MORE BACKGROUND.Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials say they were attempting to resolve a complaint stemming from the staging, cancellation and re-staging of the musical Rent at Corona del Mar High School when they learned today the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California was suing the public school system.The ACLU announced this morning its suit against the district and Corona del Mar High officials "for permitting and sanc

  March 18, 2009

• Making Change

  August 21, 2008

• A Former Saddleback Congregant-Turned-Cub Reporter Purposely Drives to Rick Warren's Candidate Forum

  August 21, 2008

• Giving Back!

  April 3, 2008

• Weaponless Warrior

  May 15, 2003

• Spain, Chapman University Debaters Are Out to Get John Yoo

  So the big question when John Yoo speaks at Chapman University next week about presidential power is: Will he be shackled? Probably not, seeing as how this is not Spain, but were Orange within the Iberian Peninsula nation and NATO ally, he'd be under criminal indictment for sanctioning torture at Guantánamo. The Fletcher Jones Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law's presence at Chapman certainly has sparked debate, and not just the one he's participating in Tuesday morning.The National Lawyer

  April 15, 2009

• From Hunter to Hunted

  In his quest to free slaves around the world, Aaron Cohen thought hed seen it all. Then he went to Myanmar

  June 28, 2007

• Diary of a Mad County

  June 13, 2002

• Special Screenings

  Movie of the Week: Crossing Arizona

  March 29, 2007

• Money for Nothing

  October 5, 2006

• Unflinching Sincerity

  May 4, 2006

• 'Gwen, We Hereby Disown You'

  July 14, 2005

• Losers Again

  June 30, 2005

• F. Yoo!

  February 10, 2005

• Genocide Reloaded

  August 19, 2004

• Mourning in Guatemala

  June 24, 2004

• Bring Us Your Torturers Yearning to Breathe Free

  March 25, 2004

• Fear and Loathing on Death Row

  March 13, 2003

• The Failure of (Almost) All Pop

  December 26, 2002

• Human Rights and Wrongs

  May 16, 2002

• The Little Engine Who Took His Place in the Underclass

  May 16, 2002

• Rave Off

  August 23, 2001

• Welcome to Kissinger Country

  August 2, 2001

• Show Us Your Scars!

  March 15, 2001

• Shut Em Down!

  April 20, 2000

• Letters

  June 24, 1999

• A Gray Area

  June 3, 1999

• Diver Down

  August 13, 1998

• Shut Up, Again

  March 5, 1998

• Tuesday is a Big Night for Darfur in Orange County

  Photo by Rev. Wilfredo Benitez for Orange County for DarfurMia Farrow may have ended her hunger strike for Darfur last week, but the spotlight remains on the lingering effects of genocide in the Sudan--at least in Orange County tomorrow night. Orange County for Darfur was formed in June 2007 to raise awareness among local residents and elected officials to the genocide, and the all-volunteer members have worked diligently to continue pressing their message ever since. Their next monthly planning

  May 11, 2009

• New Free Iran Movement to Hold Teach-in at UCI's Aldrich Park

  Courtesy of PersianoEvents.comIt begs the question.The Iranian government now says Neda Agha-Soltan--the 26-year-old martyr in the struggle for freedom in that tense country--may have been killed by a gunman who mistook her for the sister of an Iranian "terrorist," the Islamic Republic News Agency reports today. Rather than blaming the marksman, Iran suggested "those groups who want to create division in the nation" are responsible for Neda's death, even hinting at something of a conspiracy by s

  June 24, 2009

• Laguna Beach Settles Lawsuit Over Homeless Ordinance

  Laguna Beach agreed today to settle a lawsuit over the city's treatment of disabled homeless people, according to the ACLU of Southern California.   "Under the agreement, the city's police officers will not cite, arrest or harass people under state law simply for sleeping in public places, as long as there are no reasonable public health or safety concerns," states a just-released media advisory from the civil rights group. "The agreement also establishes a process for sealing, expungi

  June 25, 2009

• 'Slave Hunter' Aaron Cohen Throws the Book at Human Trafficking

  July 2, 2009

• 'Slave Hunter' Co-Author Christine Buckley Wears Her Journalism on Her Sleeve

  July 2, 2009

• "Slave Hunter" Co-Authors Chime in on Technology, Internet

  CORRECTED VERSION...You'll find separate interviews on this site with Aaron Cohen and Christine Buckley, the co-authors of Slave Hunter: One's Man's Global Quest to Free Victims of Human Trafficking (Simon & Schuster). One thing you won't read in those Q&As is their shared beliefs that technology and the Internet are helping to make the cause to end global slavery easier. That's because we've saved those comments for this post. "As I watch coverage of the events in Iran, I'm torn," Buckl

  July 2, 2009

• Loretta Sanchez Will Defend a Kid in Vietnam But Refuses to Support Kids Here?

  Photo by Christopher VictorioWhat was Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez thinking today when she took to the floor in Congress to fight for the rights of a youth activist in Vietnam while she continues to ignore the youth activists pleading for her support in her own backyard? It's not that Nguyen Tien Trung, a well known youth and pro-democracy activist in Vietnam, shouldn't be released from prison, what nags here is yet another instance of Sanchez's blatant hypocrisy."The recent arrest of lawyer Le

  July 8, 2009

• "Press Conference" Against Iran Government Produces No News, Much Political Support in Irvine

  Rep. Laura Richardson (inset), Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Rep. Ed Royce, together at last.If the goal of a press conference is to produce a "big announcement" that makes news and warrants coverage--the usual reason one calls a press conference in the first place--then the Iran Supporters Network failed Friday evening at Irvine City Hall. But if the idea was to bring local politicians, community leaders and the Iranian American community together, engage in some spirited preach

  August 10, 2009