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Fight for Freedom, join the New Conglomerate
Nothing was staged for this video, this is 100% live gameplay! Join Planetside 2 now : http://play.any.tv/SHIbI Soundtrack : Vietnam – Fortunate Run.
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Fight for Freedom, join the New Conglomerate – Video
WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the freedom to profess and practice one’s faith is the birthright of every human being, not just an American invention.
In remarks coinciding with the release of the 2012 International Religious Freedom Report, Kerry said religious freedom is “ingrained in every human heart” and recognized under international law.
“Attacks on religious freedom are therefore both a moral and a strategic national security concern for the United States,” he said.
The report on religious freedom in some 200 countries and territories was released by the State Department Monday. An executive summary highlighted governments that restrict their citizens’ ability to practice religion.
Among those mentioned were China, North Korea, Vietnam, Burma, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Sudan and Eritrea.
“The right to religious freedom is inherent in every human being. Unfortunately, this right was challenged in myriad ways in 2012,” the report said.
The report noted anti-Muslim rhetoric and actions were on the rise, particularly in Europe and Asia.
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Kerry says religious freedom is the right of every human being
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Unveiling an annual report on the global status of religious freedom, Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday reinforced America’s commitment to promoting freedom of religion worldwide, and pledged to push restrictive countries – including U.S. allies — toward expanded rights even if it makes them “uncomfortable.”
In brief remarks at the State Department briefing room, Kerry touted the annual report as a “clear-eyed, objective look at the state of religious freedom around the world” and a catalogue of “discrimination and violence in countries ranging from established democracies to entrenched dictatorships.”
He stressed the historic American struggle for religious freedom, and acknowledged “we have at times had to push and work and struggle to fully live up to the promise of our founding.”
Among the countries detailed in the report as restrictive of religious liberty include Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, and several U.S. allies, like China and Russia. Kerry noted in his remarks that America’s friends are not exempt from bad behavior in this department.
“It does directly call out some of our close friends” when necessary, Kerry said of the report, adding that it does so “in order to try and make progress even though we know it may cause some discomfort.”
“The freedom to profess and practice one’s faith to believe, or not to believe, or to change one’s beliefs – that is a birthright of every human being,” he said.
In remarks following Kerry’s comments, ambassador-at-large Suzan Johnson Cook cited some progress in countries like Vietnam and Turkey in lightening some restrictions on religious freedom.
But, she said, the global struggle is far from over.
“The challenges are daunting but we remain committed to working tirelessly to ensuring religious freedom for all,” Johnson Cook said.
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Kerry: Religious freedom is a "birthright"
WASHINGTON (AP) Government information leaks and collisions with the media date back decades and decades. Think back to the Pentagon Papers.
In the early 1970s, the Justice Department went to court to prevent further publication in The New York Times of portions of a top-secret study, dubbed the Pentagon Papers, which was packed with damaging details about America’s conduct of the Vietnam War. It led to a landmark First Amendment case before the Supreme Court, which sided with the media. It also drew the ire of President Richard Nixon and resulted in a break-in at the psychiatrist’s office of Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the papers.
Fast-forward to the disclosure this week of the secret seizure by the Justice Department of two months of phone records for more than 20 telephone lines used by reporters and editors at The Associated Press. Investigators are trying to find out who may have leaked information contained in an AP story last year about a CIA operation in Yemen that stopped an al-Qaida plot to detonate a bomb on a U.S.-bound airplane. The seizure of phone records has been described by media advocacy and civil liberties groups as sweeping and broad, triggering serious concerns that this type of hunt for leakers could cast a chill on journalists and whistleblowers who want to reveal government wrongdoing.
The Justice Department has been under scrutiny before in its media leak investigations. Its own inspector general’s office concluded in a January 2010 report that the FBI did not comply with the federal regulation and department policy “that requires attorney general approval and a balancing of First Amendment interests … before issuing subpoenas for the production of reporters’ telephone toll billing records.”
One of the media leaks the inspector general looked at involved articles in The Washington Post and The New York Times. One phone company provided law enforcement with records for more than 1,600 phone calls. “No grand jury subpoena was issued for these reporters’ records, either before or after the records were produced,” the report said. “No department personnel sought attorney general approval” either.
Here are the details of some other recent cases where the government sought to probe leaks of sensitive or classified information.
CIA-JAMES RISEN
Prosecutors want Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter James Risen, a reporter for The New York Times, to testify at the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, an ex-CIA officer from Missouri. The government alleges Sterling was a key source in Risen’s 2006 book “State of War,” which details a botched CIA effort during the Clinton administration, dubbed Operation Merlin, to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions by secretly giving the Iranians intentionally flawed blueprints through a Russian intermediary.
Risen’s lawyers have argued that the First Amendment should shield him from having to testify about his sources. The judge disagreed and said he must testify, though she limited the scope of his testimony to four topics. The government has asked an appeals panel in Richmond, Va., to reverse the ruling that limited the testimony. The government says the First Amendment doesn’t shield journalists from disclosing their sources during criminal prosecutions. The case is still pending.
CIA-JOHN KIRIAKOU
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Recent leak cases and First Amendment battles
In a move China calls “tourism” but others have likened more to “imperialism”, a first Chinese cruise ship is currently touring the Paracel Islands, claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan, Chinese media reported.
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IHT Rendezvous: Chinese Cruise to Disputed Paracel Islands Angers Vietnam
The first Chinese tour ship to visit disputed South China Sea islands set sail, state media reported, a move likely to stoke a long-running territorial row between Beijing and its neighbours.
Plans to allow tourists to visit the Paracel Islands is the latest stage in China’s development of the territory, which has previously angered Vietnam and caused concern in Washington.
Vietnam and China have a longstanding territorial row over the Paracel Islands. Hanoi last month accused a Chinese vessel of firing on one of its fishing boats which had sailed in disputed waters in the area.
Up to 100 passengers paid a ticket price between 7,000 yuan ($1,135) and 9,000 yuan for the four-day voyage, which is set to become a monthly or twice monthly trip if the maiden trip proves successful, the Global Times said.
Only passengers in “good health, which includes having a normal weight” are permitted on the trip, the newspaper added, in a report which cites the Shanghai Morning Post.
The plan to allow cruise tours follows rapid development of infrastructure in a new city — Sansha — along with the establishment of an army garrison in the Paracels last year.
A named commentary in the Global Times defended the decision to allow tourists to visit the islands, which are known as Xisha in China.
“China’s Xisha tourism has nothing to do with its neighbouring countries,” said Ju Hailong, a research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at Jinan University, in the southern city of Guangzhou.
“Those who want to manipulate China’s moves to make trouble are not admirers of international law and regional security.”
Officials earlier this month confirmed they would open up the Islands to tourism.
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Chinese tourists sail to disputed islands: report
April 25, 2013
Mary Beth Tinker in the Cox Enterprises First Amendment Gallery at the Newseum. (Maria Bryk/Newseum)
Free speech activist Mary Beth Tinker has launched a crowdsourced campaign to raise money for a cross-country “Tinker Tour” during the 2013-2014 school year.
Tinker is using the tour to educate a new generation of students about their First Amendment freedoms.
In 1965 Tinker, then a 13-year-old student in Des Moines, Iowa, her brother and a friend, were suspended from school for wearing black armbands to mourn the dead in the Vietnam War. In a landmark case in 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court found the suspensions to be violations of the First Amendment.
The court declared that freedom of expression should be protected in public schools and that both students and teachers do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
The armband worn by Tinker is on display in the Cox Enterprises First Amendment Gallery.
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Free Speech Activist Launches Nationwide Educational Tour
Busloads of gun rights advocates and veterans from across the state rallied with the Second Amendment Action Group on the steps of the state Capitol today to oppose expansion of gun control laws.
Russ Stump of Pine Grove, a Navy Vietnam War veteran, said he came with 13 members of the Pine Grove American Legion to support the Second Amendment.
We want to make sure its preserved. American Legion veterans fought for the country, we support the Second Amendment. We know what its like as a veteran to have fought over, to protect the rights of our citizens, Stump said.
Theyre trying to put in stricter laws, and restrict what type of weapons were allowed to have, Stump said.
He said he fears gun rights are being slowly eroded.
Its only one this time, maybe two the next time, Stump said.
Three busloads of sportsmen came from the Beaver County area, said Larry Infantozzi of the Green Valley Sportsmans Club. We want to make sure our rights are not infringed upon, he said.
The event, which began at 10 a.m., was organized by state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, and featured a trio of retired military men speaking about the importance of the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms.
The featured speaker was Capt. Sean Parnell, a retired U.S. Army combat veteran, Ranger and author of the book “Outlaw Platoon.”
He spoke of the Revolutionary Army, fighting against desparate odds, under terrible conditions to secure independence for what would be the United States, and the legacy they left.
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Crowd rallies at state Capitol in support of Second Amendment
Islands known as Xishas in China and the Paracels elsewhere are claimed by Vietnam, but are administered by Hainan island.
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China plans to open contested islands to tourism
OFFICIAL SAYS: Agence France-Presse
BOAOChina is to open disputed South China Sea islands up to tourism this month, state media reported Sunday, a move likely to inflame a long-running territorial row with its neighbors.
The plans to allow tourists to visit the Paracel Islands before the May Day holiday is the latest stage in Beijings development of the territory, which has previously angered Vietnam and caused concern in Washington.
Vietnam and China have a longstanding territorial row over the Paracel Islands. Hanoi last month accused a Chinese vessel of firing on one of its fishing boats which had sailed in disputed waters in the area.
The plan to allow cruise tours follows rapid development of infrastructure in a new city Sansha along with the establishment of an army garrison on one of the Paracels last year.
Tourists can only visit the islands on cruise ships as the hotels and other facilities are inadequate, news agency Xinhua said, citing Tan Li, executive vice governor of the southern province of Hainan.
Tan was speaking on Saturday at the Boao Forum for Asia, which is being held in Hainan.
The report quoted shipbuilder Haihang Group Corp Ltd. as saying its cruise ship was ready to take almost 2,000 passengers on a tour of the islands. A second cruise ship was being built by Hainan Harbor and Shipping Holdings Co, the report added.
The tour prices will be relatively high due to the high costs of tourism infrastructure construction, Hainan-based tour agency general manager Huang Huaru told Xinhua.
Tan said local authorities would build more supply ships and ports, and beef up the infrastructure in Sansha.
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China to open Paracel Islands to tourism—official
Published on 07 April 2013 Hits: 83 Written by AFP
BOAO: China is to open disputed South China Sea islands up to tourism this month, state media reported on Sunday, a move likely to inflame a long-running territorial row with its neighbors.
The plans to allow tourists to visit the Paracel Islands before the May Day holiday is the latest stage in Beijings development of the territory, which has previously angered Vietnam and caused concern in Washington.
Vietnam and China have a longstanding territorial row over the Paracel Islands. Hanoi last month accused a Chinese vessel of firing on one of its fishing boats, which had sailed in disputed waters in the area.
The plan to allow cruise tours follows rapid development of infrastructure in a new city, Sansha, along with the establishment of an army garrison on one of the Paracels last year.
Tourists can only visit the islands on cruise ships as the hotels are inadequate, news agency Xinhua said, citing Tan Li, executive vice governor of the southern province of Hainan.
Tan was speaking on Saturday at the Boao Forum for Asia, which is being held in Hainan.
The report quoted a tourist company as saying its cruise ship was ready to take almost 2,000 passengers on a tour of the islands.
The tour prices will be relatively high due to the high costs of tourism infrastructure construction, said Huang Huaru, general manager of the Hainan-based agency.
Officials said last month they were exploring tourist possibilities for Sansha, according to Xinhua, but no time frame was set.
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China opens disputed islands to tourism
China is to open disputed South China Sea islands up to tourism this month, state media reported Sunday, a move likely to inflame a long-running territorial row with its neighbours.
The plans to allow tourists to visit the Paracel Islands before the May Day holiday is the latest stage in Beijing’s development of the territory, which has previously angered Vietnam and caused concern in Washington.
Vietnam and China have a longstanding territorial row over the Paracel Islands. Hanoi last month accused a Chinese vessel of firing on one of its fishing boats which had sailed in disputed waters in the area.
The plan to allow cruise tours follows rapid development of infrastructure in a new city — Sansha — along with the establishment of an army garrison on one of the Paracels last year.
Tourists can only visit the islands on cruise ships as the hotels and other facilities are inadequate, news agency Xinhua said, citing Tan Li, executive vice governor of the southern province of Hainan.
Tan was speaking on Saturday at the Boao Forum for Asia, which is being held in Hainan.
The report quoted shipbuilder Haihang Group Corp Ltd as saying its cruise ship was ready to take almost 2,000 passengers on a tour of the islands. A second cruise ship was being built by Hainan Harbor and Shipping Holdings Co, the report added.
“The tour prices will be relatively high due to the high costs of tourism infrastructure construction,” Hainan-based tour agency general manager Huang Huaru told Xinhua.
Tan said local authorities would build more supply ships and ports, and beef up the infrastructure in Sansha.
The city was established last summer to administer more than 200 islets, sandbanks and reefs in the South China Sea, which also include the Spratly Islands and Macclesfield Bank.
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China to open disputed islands to tourism: official
Aerial view of the city of Sansha on an island in the disputed Paracel chain, which China considers part of its territory.
Aerial view of the city of Sansha on an island in the disputed Paracel chain, which China considers part of its territory.
China is once again at odds with a maritime neighbor over disputed islands, this time as often leading to a little shooting and a lot of posturing.
The latest confrontation is with Vietnam over the mostly uninhabited Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. Hanoi has accused Beijing’s forces of firing on a Vietnamese vessel engaged in fishing near the islands, which both sides claim.
Vietnam did not say if anyone was hurt in the incident that occurred last Wednesday, but it described the matter as “very serious.”
“Vietnam strongly protests, urging China to investigate and seriously deal with the wrongful and inhumane act, and compensate Vietnamese fishermen for their loss,” Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi was quoted by the BBC as saying.
China’s response: “It is necessary and legitimate for China to take action against a Vietnamese shipping boat that has entered China’s waters for illegal activity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said. “No damage was caused to the fishing boat from Vietnam at the time,” he added, without saying what action the Chinese vessel had taken.
Both countries claim the islands, which are rich fishing grounds and also sit above undersea oil and gas fields. China and Vietnam fought a one-day naval battle over the low-lying archipelago in 1974, solidifying Beijing’s control.
Besides Vietnam, China has had similar island disputes with Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and Malaysia, frequently resulting in tense standoffs at sea.
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China, Vietnam Clash Over Disputed Islands
LOS ANGELES – One morning in May 2008, an eighth-grader walked into Janice Harts office at a Beverly Hills middle school crying.
She was upset and humiliated, and couldnt possibly go to class, the girl told the counselor. The night before, a classmate had posted a video on YouTube with a group of other eighth graders bad-mouthing her, calling her spoiled, a brat, and a slut. Text and instant messages had been flying since. Half the class must have seen it by now, the girl told Hart.
Hart took the problem to the schools vice principal and principal, who took it to a district administrator, who asked the districts lawyers what they could do about it. In the end, citing cyber-bullying concerns, school officials suspended the girl who posted the video for two days. That student took the case to federal court, saying her free speech rights were violated.
Last month, a US District judge in LA sided with the student, saying the school went too far. Amid rising concerns over cyber-bullying, and even calls for criminalization, some courts, parents, and free speech advocates are pushing back – students, they say, have a First Amendment right to be nasty in cyberspace.
To allow the school to cast this wide a net and suspend a student simply because another student takes offense to their speech, without any evidence that such speech caused a substantial disruption of the schools activities, runs afoul [of the law], judge Stephen V. Wilson wrote in a 60-page opinion.
The court cannot uphold school discipline of student speech simply because young persons are unpredictable or immature, or because, in general, teenagers are emotionally fragile and may often fight over hurtful comments, he wrote.
Schools ability to limit student speech is an age-old issue that has been repeatedly tried and tested in the courts, from armbands protesting the Vietnam war to banners promoting marijuana use.
But with teens social lives moving increasingly to cyberspace, where what previously might have been a private bickering is reproduced, publicized and documented for all to see, school officials find themselves on unfamiliar grounds in dealing with e-mails, instant messages, profile pages, videos, and the like that may result in hurt feelings or something more serious.
Free-speech advocates said the notoriety of highly publicized cases, such as the Missouri girl who committed suicide after a mean-spirited MySpace message, have led to schools overreacting and excessively cracking down on student expression when it comes to the Internet.
Its better to have a lawsuit and lose some money than have a situation where a student commits suicide, said Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment scholar and law professor at the UCLA who has criticized a bill in Congress that would make cyber bullying punishable by as long as two years in prison.
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Judge backs student’s First Amendment rights
BELLINGHAM In 1965, three teenage students in Des Moines, Iowa, walked into school wearing black armbands to mourn those killed on both sides of the Vietnam War and support Sen. Bobby Kennedys call for a Christmas truce.
They were suspended from school.
The students sued the school district, saying it had violated their First Amendment rights to free speech. The case made its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled 7-2 that students and teachers do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.
One of the students in that case is Mary Beth Tinker, who is currently touring schools around the country to tell her story.
I made a difference with just an armband. Can you imagine what a shy 13 year-old-girl could do today with all of the extraordinary speech tools available? Tinker writes on her tour website after recounting the school board meetings, death threats and legal appeals leading up to the Supreme Court decision. We look forward to reminding her and sharing real-life stories about how students are keeping the First Amendment alive.
Tinker will be at Western Washington University at 2 p.m. Thursday in room 125 of the Communications Facility. Her presentation is open to the public.
While in Washington, Tinker also will visit Ferndale High School and the Washington Journalism Education Associations state conference.
This is an important moment in the history of our country, especially for youths, who are naturally creative and hopeful, but too often feel discouraged, Tinker writes. They need to hear stories of young people throughout history and today who bring the Constitution to life and make a difference. And we need to hear from them as well.
Reporter Gina Cole: 360-416-2148, gcole@skagitpublishing.com, Twitter: @Gina_SVH, facebook.com/byGinaCole
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First Amendment advocate to speak at WWU
Phu Quoc shot with Nikon D800E
Impressions of the different beaches and Mango Bay Resort in Phu Quoq Island, Vietnam.
By: MrLuhes
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Phu Quoc shot with Nikon D800E – Video
Credit: Getty Images
Children of the 1980s and ’90s might find themselves experiencing a mental flashback when Comedy Central’s “Workaholics” asks, “What Would Kurt Loder Do?” on tonight’s episode. This sneak peek clip brought us right back to the days when Kurt kept us informed on all the latest music happenings at MTV News…
For such a straitlaced-seeming reporter, Kurt’s actually a super interesting guy. So, what would Kurt Loder do?” Well, here’s a few surprising things…
Long before his days at MTV, Kurt learned how to be a reporter during his stint in the U.S. Armed Forces. (He got drafted in the Vietnam years.) “So my entire journalism background is four weeks, provided by the Army journalism school,” he said.
Starting in the late ’70s, Kurt helped steer the legendary publication during one of its greatest periods. You can read his work at Rolling Stone’s site.
Kurt helped Tina Turner with her book “I, Tina,” which served as the basis for the film “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” He also earned a screenplay credit.
He might’ve made his name in music journalism, but Kurt is currently Reason magazine’s resident film buff. He even published a collection of his reviews titled “The Good, The Bad and The Godawful.” Thumbs up.
Kurt might not seem like your typical legalization activist, but he’s actually held a strong libertarian viewpoint since the ’70s, telling Politico: “I’m drawn to the idea that people are allowed to do what they want without hurting other people. It’s your body to do stuff with, and government should be fairly minimal.”
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Tags Comedy Central, kurt loder, libertarianism, mtv news, reason magazine, Rolling Stone, tina turner, Workaholics
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5 Things You Didn't Know About Kurt Loder
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