NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST October 1, 2007

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/us/01exonerate.html?hp

Exoneration Using DNA Brings Change in Legal System

October 1, 2007
By SOLOMON MOORE

State lawmakers across the country are adopting broad changes to criminaljustice procedures as a response to the exoneration of more than 200convicts through the use of DNA evidence.

All but eight states now give inmates varying degrees of access to DNAevidence that might not have been available at the time of theirconvictions. Many states are also overhauling the way witnesses identifysuspects, crime labs handle evidence and informants are used.

At least six states have created commissions to expedite cases of thosewrongfully convicted or to consider changes to criminal justice procedures.One of them, the California Commission on the Fair Administration ofJustice, will hold a hearing this month on remedies for people who have beenwrongfully convicted.

Laws in several states, including Illinois, New Jersey and North Carolina,have bipartisan backing, with many Democrats supportive on civil rightsgrounds and Republicans generally hoping that tighter procedures will leadto fewer challenges of convictions.

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/opinion/01mon2.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

Subcontracting the War

October 1, 2007
Editorial

There is, conveniently, no official count. But there are an estimated160,000 private contractors working in Iraq, and some 50,000 of them are"private security" operatives - that is, fighters. The dangers of thisprivatized approach to war became frighteningly clear last month, afterguards from Blackwater USA, assigned to protect American diplomats, wereaccused of killing at least eight Iraqis, including an infant.

Iraqis - whose hearts and minds the Bush administration insists it isfinally winning - were infuriated by the killings, telling tales of arrogantand trigger-happy operatives terrorizing ordinary citizens. The incidentprovides an irrefutable argument for bringing these mission-critical jobs,which should be performed by soldiers, back into government hands as quicklyas possible, and for placing any remaining private contractors under thejurisdiction of American military law.

Blackwater's 850 operatives in Iraq are not the only problem. The fact thatAmerican diplomatic activity in Iraq nearly came to a halt when Blackwaterwas grounded for a few days shows how much American operations have come todepend on mercenaries.

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/opinion/01mon3.html?ref=opinion

Gun Games in the Senate

October 1, 2007
Editorial

It is a travesty that the Senate has failed to vote final approval of a lawintended to close a gun-control loophole laid bare by last April's bloodymassacre on the Virginia Tech campus. Despite a history of mental illness, aderanged student easily bought enough guns and ammunition to take 32 livesand then his own. He was previously deemed dangerous by a judge who orderedhim to undergo health care. But this was outpatient treatment, notin-hospital, so his name was never placed on a federal watch list that mighthave barred him from buying guns.

Three months ago, the House voted to close this gap and promptly sent themeasure - a rarity, blessed by both the gun lobby and its critics - to theSenate. But it foundered there in Democratic infighting as the JudiciaryCommittee burdened the single-focus bill with 50 pages of amendmentscovering such extraneous issues as whether retired police officers should beallowed to pack concealed weapons wherever they please.

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/world/asia/01wire-pakistan.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

Suicide Bomber in Pakistan Kills 15

October 1, 2007
By REUTERS

ISLAMABAD, Oct 1 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber wearing a woman's burqa setoff explosives in the northwestern Pakistani town of Bannu on Monday killingup to 15 people, including four policemen, security officials said.

The blast was the lastest in a wave of attacks, most in the northwest of thecountry near the border with Afghanistan, blamed on Islamist militants basedin tribal areas on the Afghan border.

Military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said 11 civilians and fourpolicemen had been killed in the suicide blast in the town, which is inNorth West Frontier Province.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said 11 people -- four of them policemen --had been killed.

"A burqa-clad bomber -- either it was a woman or a man in a burqa -- set off explosives when police approached," said ministry spokesman Javed IqbalCheema.

A police official said the blast went off near a bus stand and 19 peoplewere also wounded.

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/washington/01scotus.html?pagewanted=print

Justices Begin Work on a Polarizing New Docket

October 1, 2007
By LINDA GREENHOUSE

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 - The Supreme Court has so many polarizing cases on thedocket for its new term that the deep ideological divisions thatcharacterized the last term are all but certain to remain on display afterjustices reconvene on Monday.

The conservative majority under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. drove thecourt to the right in a series of high-profile rulings during the term thatended in June. That performance, as well as a series of books and articlesby and about justices, has placed the court in an unusually bright spotlightas the new term opens.

The conservative bloc will not necessarily prevail in every important case.For example, the Bush administration is clearly on the defensive as thecourt prepares to hear a third-round challenge to policies governing thoseheld as enemy combatants at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/us/01weapons.html

U.S. Is Top Arms Seller to Developing World

October 1, 2007
By THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 - The United States maintained its role as the leadingsupplier of weapons to the developing world in 2006, followed by Russia andBritain, according to a Congressional study to be released Monday. Pakistan,India and Saudi Arabia were the top buyers.

The global arms market is highly competitive, with manufacturing nationsseeking both to increase profits and to expand political influence throughweapons sales to developing nations, which reached nearly $28.8 billion in2006.

That sales total was a slight drop from the 2005 figure of $31.8 billion, atrend explained by the strain of rising fuel prices that prompted manydeveloping states - except those that produce oil - to choose upgradingcurrent arsenals over buying new weapons.

The report, "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations," wasproduced by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, a division ofthe Library of Congress, and presents a number of interesting observationslinking arms sales and global politics. For example, Russia has been a majorsupplier of weapons to Iran in past years, including a $700 million deal forsurface-to-air missiles in 2005.

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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/30/AR2007093001036_pf.html

What We Owe the Burmese

By Fred Hiatt
Monday, October 1, 2007; A19

An upheaval like the pro-democracy uprising taking place in Burma over thepast month tends to shake up certainties that had seemed self-evident.Certainties such as the primacy of justice. Or the sanctity of the OlympicGames.

Despite an academic industry devoted to the subject, no one can predict whenan oppressed people will find that precise combination of hopelessness andhope, impatience and solidarity, and recklessness and anger that leads it torebel. Nor can anyone answer the most important question facing Burma now:When will the boys and men who prop up a corrupt regime with their guns andprison cells decide that they have had enough -- that they no longer want toshoot unarmed Buddhist monks or round up young girls for possession ofcellphones with cameras?

But this much is sure: The first process is rare and precious enough, andthe second so difficult to initiate, that those on the outside must dowhatever they can to support and encourage both. We're a long way fromhaving fulfilled that obligation.

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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/30/AR2007093001035.html

Bush's Unhealthy Veto

By Sebastian Mallaby
Monday, October 1, 2007; A19

President Bush has spent six-plus years not using his veto. In 2005, hebecame the first president since John Quincy Adams to complete a term in theWhite House without once standing up to Congress; he has since paused tointerrupt this doormat act on only three occasions. But now his patience isexhausted, and he is spoiling for a fight. Congress has had the temerity topropose expanding health care for poor children.

Politically, this is crazy. The bill that Bush is poised to veto hasbipartisan backing, and two-thirds of the public say they like it. But inpolicy terms the veto looks a little crazy, too. The bill would extend theState Children's Health Insurance Program, a successful initiative that Bushhimself supports. A veto would be based on misleading statistics and anexaggerated faith in markets.

The president laid out the case for his veto at his Sept. 20 newsconference. He asserted, to begin with, that the bill involves "taking aprogram meant to help poor children and turning it into one that coverschildren in households with incomes of up to $83,000 a year." Up to is aweasel phrase; for nearly all the children covered by the bill, familyincomes would be well below the $83,000 that the president cited. Fully 70percent would come from families with incomes of less than $41,300,according to a careful study by the Urban Institute. Most of the rest wouldcome from families earning less than $62,000.

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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/30/AR2007093001208.html

Children's Health Check
The facts about the program extension that President Bush intends to veto.

Monday, October 1, 2007; A18

PRESIDENT BUSH appears determined to veto the $35 billion expansion of theState Children's Health Insurance Program that the House and Senate approvedlast week. Although there's scant hope of changing the president's mind,here's a fact-check of some of the administration's arguments against themeasure.

Claim: "Their proposal would result in taking a program meant to help poorchildren and turning it into one that covers children in households withincomes of up to $83,000 a year." -- President Bush

Actually, the measure would limit enrollment in the program to children infamilies making up to three times the poverty level -- about $64,000 for afamily of four. The $83,000 number comes from a request by New York state,which the administration denied, to cover children with family income of upto 400 percent of the poverty level.

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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/30/AR2007093001208_pf.html

Children's Health Check
The facts about the program extension that President Bush intends to veto.

Monday, October 1, 2007; A18

PRESIDENT BUSH appears determined to veto the $35 billion expansion of theState Children's Health Insurance Program that the House and Senate approvedlast week. Although there's scant hope of changing the president's mind,here's a fact-check of some of the administration's arguments against themeasure.

Claim: "Their proposal would result in taking a program meant to help poorchildren and turning it into one that covers children in households withincomes of up to $83,000 a year." -- President Bush

Actually, the measure would limit enrollment in the program to children infamilies making up to three times the poverty level -- about $64,000 for afamily of four. The $83,000 number comes from a request by New York state,which the administration denied, to cover children with family income of upto 400 percent of the poverty level.

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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/01/AR2007100100162.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Israel Frees 57 Palestinian Prisoners

By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH
The Associated Press
Monday, October 1, 2007; 10:04 AM

BEITUNIYA CHECKPOINT, West Bank -- Dozens of freed Palestinian prisonerskissed the ground at this West Bank checkpoint after Israel released them ina gesture to President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of a U.S.-sponsored Mideast peaceconference.

As the 57 prisoners headed home, Israel said it was moving forward withplans to open a new West Bank police headquarters, despite U.S. concernsthat development in the area harms prospects for establishing a viablePalestinian state. The Palestinians accused Israel of undermining new peaceefforts.

The prisoners arrived at the army's Beituniya checkpoint, near the West Bankcity of Ramallah, after a two-hour journey from the Ketziot prison insouthern Israel.

They got off Israeli buses, kissed the asphalt, and then boarded aPalestinian bus. An ecstatic crowd of waiting relatives clapped and wavedPalestinian flags.

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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/29/AR2007092900300.html?hpid=sec-religion

Hope Wanes Among Protesters in Myanmar

The Associated Press
Sunday, September 30, 2007; 2:52 AM

YANGON, Myanmar -- Thousands of soldiers and police were deployed inMyanmar's largest cities Sunday, keeping even the most die-hard protestersoff the streets, and more arrests were reported, further demoralizingdissidents desperate for democracy.

The forces were deployed as the top U.N. envoy on Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari,was in the country trying to persuade the military rulers to end a deadlycrackdown on demonstrators that has sparked international outcry.

Many protesters said that despite that effort they were seeing a repeat ofthe global reaction to a 1988 pro-democracy uprising, when the world stoodby as protesters were gunned down.

"I don't think it will make much of a difference," said one hotel worker,who like other residents asked not to be named, fearing retaliation. "Wehave to find a solution ourselves."

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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/30/AR2007093000795_pf.html

McCain: I'd Prefer Christian President

The Associated Press
Sunday, September 30, 2007; 3:29 PM

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain said in an interview published Saturday thathe would prefer a Christian president over someone of a different faith,calling it "an important part of our qualifications to lead."

In an interview with Beliefnet, a multi-denominational Web site that coversreligion and spirituality, the Republican presidential hopeful was asked ifa Muslim candidate could be a good president.

"I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was foundedprimarily on Christian principles ... personally, I prefer someone who Iknow who has a solid grounding in my faith," McCain said. "But that doesn'tmean that I'm sure that someone who is Muslim would not make a goodpresident."

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The Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-1001ledeletteroct01,0,1205255.story

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
Admit that No Child Left Behind is a farce

John Gabriel, Associate professor and chair Department of Teacher Education,
DePaul University
October 1, 2007

Chicago

Unless they were teachers themselves, politicians and policymakers knowsquat about education.

All teaching is local.

We need no federal daddy to tell us what we need to do in our classrooms.

Mr. No Child Left Behind President, senators and congresspeople, go to thetoughest schools in our nation and work for a month -- a year -- with a 10thgrade English teacher. You'll be screaming all the way back to the comfortof your big office digs quicker than you can shout "Uncle John Dewey."

From what President Bush has done in Iraq and New Orleans, how can we notsee that NCLB, President Bush's "signature education initiative," isbalonier than weapons of mass destruction and "Heckuva job, Brownie"?

Good and great teachers everywhere: Unite.

Take back our classrooms.

If we endorse and uphold and prosecute NCLB in our classrooms, we'll leavelegions of children behind. Dump NCLB.

Live American democratic education.


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