Week 3 Same sex marriage, legal, the US

Poll: 60 percent of likely voters back gay marriage 

Lead: 
 What:  Same sex marriage
 Why:  The poll
 Where:  The USA
 When:  Jan. 25-31.2014
 Who:  American

 How:  Not given

Context:

With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to(做準備) rule this spring on whether same-sex couples nationwide should have the right to marry, a gay rights organization on Friday released a new survey showing support for gay marriage at 60 percent among likely voters in the 2016 election.

The Human Rights Campaign — a Washington, D.C.-based tax-exempt(免除) nonprofit that works to “achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual(兩性的) and transgender Americans” — says its survey shows conservatives(保守者) who claim the country will balk(阻遏) at court-imposed(利用) marriage rights are out of step with public opinion.

The poll(投票) was conducted late last month by the Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. According to the survey, 60 percent of likely voters say they favor “allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally,” while 37 percent oppose allowing gays to marry.

That’s only slightly(微小地) higher than nonpartisan(無黨派的人) public surveys, which show majorities backing same-sex marriage in recent years. In 2014, polls generally showed support for gay marriage in the mid-50s, and 56 percent of Americans in an ABC News/Washington Post poll in October 2014 support “the Supreme Court action … that allows gay marriages to go forward in several more states.”

While opponents are still more likely to feel strongly than supporters, the sheer(絕對的) number of those backing gay marriage overwhelms them. Three-fourths of opponents say they feel strongly, but they account for only 28 percent of all likely voters. Forty-three percent of likely voters say they are strong supporters of marriage rights.

Poll respondents were also asked to react to a quote from Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, who speculated(推斷) that a ruling from the high court permitting same-sex marriage across the country could be met with a “revolt(反感)” or “revolution.” According to a memorandum(章程) from pollsters(整理民意測驗結果的人) Anna Greenberg and David Walker, 70 percent of voters disagreed with that statement, including 57 percent of Republicans.

“In some of our previous reports to HRC, sometimes in the face of stubborn anti-marriage majority, we have noted the movement toward equality over time and said this question is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when,’” Greenberg and Walker wrote in their memo. “For voters, ‘when’ is ‘now.’”

The poll was conducted Jan. 25-31, surveying 1,000 likely voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Earlier this week, Alabama became the 37th state to allow same-sex marriages after the Supreme Court declined to stop a court order that threw out the state’s laws prohibiting gay marriage. Justice Clarence Thomas — who has voted against same-sex marriage in prior cases — was one of only two justices to dissent(不同意) on that question, writing that allowing marriages to proceed there “may well be seen as a signal of the Court’s intended resolution” of the overall case.

Reference:  http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/gay-marriage-voters-poll-115171

Week2 Aung San Suu Kyi

A twist in Aung San Suu Kyi's fate

 

 Lead:

1.  What:not given
2.  When:May 31, 2010
3.  Why:free elections in Myanmar
4.  Where:Myanmar
5.  Who: Aung San Suu Kyi
6.  How:confined
   
   

 Context:

BANGKOK, Thailand — Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy faithful cringed[1] upon hearing their leader was dragged off[2] to the most notorious [3]prison in Myanmar last week. Many have suffered there themselves.

Within the country's suppressed[4] democracy movement, the words “Insein Prison” have a cruel ring. One of its former political prisoners, Moe Zaw Oo, described it as a brutal “factory of HIV/AIDS.”

Worse yet, they say, is the world’s lack of action. Many had hoped Suu Kyi’s ongoing[5] prison trial[6] — spurred by an American religious fanatic[7] swimming to her lakefront home — would draw a harder line from foreign powers, particularly the United Nations.

But again, the junta[8] that rules Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, appears unmoved by the world’s scorn[9].

“This is a nightmare,” said Nyo Ohn Myint of the National League of Democracy, devoted to reinstating  free elections in  Myanmar. “The U.N. Security Council could do a lot more than what they’re doing.”

Suu Kyi has mostly lived under house arrest since 1990, when the country's military junta refused her election to the prime minister’s seat. The Nobel Peace Laureate[10] remains backed by a pro-democracy movement-in-exile, many of them also voted into a  Myanmar parliament[11] that never was.

Then came John Yettaw, a 53-year-old Mormon from the Ozarks. Compelled[12], as many are, by Suu Kyi’s image of poise(自信) and resolve(決心), he entered Burma and swam to her heavily guarded lakeside home using homemade flippers. Accounts of his motive vary: his wife says he’s “eccentric(怪人)” and Suu Kyi’s lawyer calls him “nutty.(頭腦不正常的)”

The Missourian told Burmese authorities he came to pray with her, The Associated Press reported.

When Suu Kyi allowed him to stay several nights on the ground floor, the junta pounced(突然襲擊). Boarding a foreigner without permission is illegal under Myanmar law. Many assume that Suu Kyi’s imprisonment(監禁), which was within two weeks of expiring(滿期), will be extended once again.

This could silence her in advance of 2010 elections, which exiles(放逐) suspect are being manipulated(控制) to legitimize(使合法) the junta. More than 2,100 other political prisoners are also confined(幽禁) at Insein and other sites.

Suu Kyi’s trial has prompted(激起) much outcry(抗議). Many heads of state, including U.S. President Barack Obama, have issued strongly worded statements. So have celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Madonna. The United States, particularly prone to(傾於) condemning  Myanmar in recent years, has extended sanctions(制裁).

But the international community, said Thin Thin Aung of the Women’s League of Burma, has “not really started acting. They just keep saying, ‘We’re concerned.’ We’d like to see immediate action.”

The harshest condemnation has come from nations with thin ties to Myanmar, namely Western powers.

Exiled pro-democracy leaders are now focusing on swaying the trading partners that keep Burma afloat(漂流的), particularly the Association of Southeast Nations, or ASEAN, a 10-nation alliance(結盟) that includes  Myanmar.

ASEAN, in a statement, has politely asked the junta to release Suu Kyi. The alliance’s “principle of non-interference” among member nations doesn’t allow for much more.

Myanmar, which supplies natural gas and other resources to its neighbors, has repeatedly embarrassed ASEAN on the world stage. But its member nations tend to stop short of punishing their trading partner.

“ASEAN told the military its credibility is at stake(風險),” said Aung Zaw, an exiled magazine editor now based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. “What credibility are they talking about?”

Myanmar’s friendships with China and Russia have helped block action from the U.N. Security Council, which has also heard pleas(請求) from exiled Suu Kyi’s supporters. More than 20 fellow Nobel laureates have also pressured the U.N. to step in.

Suu Kyi, 63, is weak and sometimes needs intravenous(靜脈注射的) drips(注射器), say members of the National League of Democracy. They claim the dungeon(土牢)-like conditions — in which tuberculosis(肺結核) and AIDS spread freely — could even prove fatal.

On Wednesday, the junta showed a small gesture of appeasement: Suu Kyi’s trial was briefly opened to a handful of diplomats and journalists.

She thanked them for coming, according to Reuters, and said, “I hope to meet you in better days.”

From:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/thailand/090520/aung-san-suu-kyi-imprisonment

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[1] 畏縮

[2] 強行拉走

[3] 聲名狼藉的

[4] 發育不全的

[5] 不間斷的

[6] 審訊

[7] 狂熱的

[8] 軍政府

[9] 輕蔑

[10] 得獎人

[11] 議會

[12] 強迫