12 Years of Hard Labor for Two Female Journalists

By now you've heard the distressing news that the two Current TV employees, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were sentenced this week to 12 years in a North Korean labor camp after a North Korean court found them guilty of illegally entering the country. According to the New York Times, "the harsh sentences have prompted the Obama administration to call for the women's release on humanitarian grounds, but administration officials say the women may be used as a negotiating ploy by North Korea in the continuing international fallout from the country's nuclear test two weeks ago"

I certainly hope the Obama administration works on freeing these two journalists and stepping up to the plate with democracy efforts in North Korea. For now, those of us who honor free speech can sign a petition insisting on their release over at CARE2. However, in a country that doesn't really honor such ideals, it may prove difficult to get them released with a bunch of signatures. Still, I've always been one who believes that consciousness raising, making noise and generally being a big pain in the ass does have some merit - so let's give it what we got and hopefully we can free these two female journalists!