Aung San Suu Kyi is on the short list. She has stood up to the powers that be in Myanmar — including the post-election coup after she overwhelmingly won election in 1990. Having spent most of more than two decades under house arrest — after winning the Nobel Prize that almost certainly saved her life — she has again been voted into office.

The Obama Administration recently announced that it would begin an “interagency process” to implement commitments made on human rights before the UN Human Rights Council just over a year ago. Coinciding with the announcement, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) put out a report on how the administration has done so far.

The report highlighted key areas of criminal justice, national security and immigration where the US must make improvements. It put forward “concrete ways that the Obama administration” could “make tangible progress in protecting and promoting human rights.” It also suggested how the administration could address “very serious violations” of human rights.”

There are reports that Saudi Arabia has sent military equipment to aid the rebels in the Free Syrian Army, according to an anonymous diplomat for the Arab nation. But who the “good guys” in this fight, considering the push by neoconservatives to arm these same Syrian rebels, or intervene militarily on their behalf. It turns out that human rights groups are now accusing the Syrian opposition of a litany of abuses.

With profound sadness, I report we have lost a true friend, and one of our longest tenured contributors, Mary. Mary Beth Perdue left us on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2011.

What could possibly make a human being torture another human being?

That’s a question that, as a young boy, I recall asking my grandparents—Holocaust survivors—after they described to me in vivid detail the torture they and other members of my extended family were subjected to by the Nazis during World War II.

It’s a question I returned to earlier this year when I had the opportunity to interview a veteran of the US Army Reserves who was torn up about the torture he says he witnessed and participated in against some “war on terror” detainees while serving as a guard at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility. [That guard, Pfc. Albert Melise, has since been barred from reenlistment for speaking to me.]

This is not right. You are not alone. This must change. With these three phrases, the mighty are brought down and the lowly lifted up.

On this Thanksgiving Weekend, I am thankful for all who stand up to bullies.

Over the last few days protests have been growing in Egypt in response to the continuing control of the government by Mubarak era military forces.

Only eight days away from parliamentary elections which activists believe are being subverted by the military to protect their continued control, activists are back in Tahrir, Alexandria and Suez demanding democratic control of the Egyptian government.

And not all of us can have 19 children or have the stomach to force one of them into pageants so we can get on Toddlers & Tiaras; and the competition is getting fiercer for those slots.

We live in a culture that is more comfortable asking rape victims “why did you let yourself get raped?” than asking their attackers “why did you rape?” After a Toronto cop’s remark seemed to put the responsibility for rape on how a victim dressed, it lit a fuse of anger that has spread around the globe.

Slutwalk. “Because We’ve Had Enough”

It’s coming to Kansas City today, and maybe to your city next.

Lost in the dust of the national debt this week was a Texas execution. While every execution is an egregious violation of human rights, this was distinguished in it blatant disregard for not only human life but for the rule of law.