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ISSN # 15251292 VOL. # 142 NO. 1
september 7, 2009 • $2.25
Obama’s RepORt CaRd
twO waRs, a CRateRing eCOnOmy, nuCleaR thReats—
nOt tO mentiOn glObal waRming, health CaRe, and guantánamO.
hOw’s the pResident handling his fReshman yeaR? [ p. 8 ]
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september 7, 2009
How China’s teenagers view their futures
DePArtMeNtS
03 news & trends
The perils of Wikipedia, junk-food justice,
online brain surgery, and more
28 voices
Justin Nickels, 22, on life as one of America’s
youngest mayors
29 debate
Should assault weapons be banned?
30 the ethicist
Life’s full of questions; he’s got answers.
31 cartoons
Some lighter looks at what’s in the news
on the web
upfrontmagazine.com
features and research topics
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p.18
FeAtUreS
national
06 dna on file
Does collecting DNA from people who are still
legally innocent violate the Fourth Amendment?
cover story
08 obama’s report card
A look at how President Obama is doing so far,
and the tough challenges that lie ahead
national
12 supreme decisions
This fall, the Supreme Court will consider a
broad range of constitutional issues that could
have a major impact on American life.
national
16 could you earn citizenship?
There’s a new civics test for becoming a U.S.
citizen. See if you can make the grade.
international
18 china’s neXt Generation
More than 115 million Chinese teens are
coming of age as China begins to challenge
America’s global leadership.
times past
22 america & the draft
For 200 years, the U.S. has gone back and forth
between a volunteer military and a draft.
environment
26 back to the tap?
The environmental impact of plastic water
bottles is prompting a return to tap water.
Cover Photo: oFFICIAL WhIte hoUSe Photo BY Pete SoUZA; thIS PAge: DAvID g. MCYINtYre/BLACK StAr For UPFroNt MAgAZINe

MAheSh KUMAr/AP IMAgeS (FArMer); SoNY-JeoPArDY vIA AP IMAgeS (KeN JeNNINgS); JeoPArDY Set CoUrteSY oF SoNY PICtUreS teLevISIoN; MeDIA BAKerY (CoMPUter)
news trends
an indian farmer sits on the dried-up bed of a man-made lake outside Hyderabad. A drought in many parts of the country, along
with India’s soaring population, rapid industrialization, and farms that have turned to water-intensive crops like sugar cane and rice, have
created a severe water crisis. Most of India’s drinking-water sources are contaminated by sewage and agricultural runoff, and according
to the United Nations, more than 2 million Indian children under the age of 5 die each year, largely due to a shortage of clean water. •
technoloGy
brain vs. hard drive i’ll take
t
his TV game
show is the latest
challenge for
intelligence. In 1997, a
chess program devised
by I.B.M. beat world
at lightning speed.
Computer scientists say
the main challenge is
am ad
Am ad estisi
Presidents for
$200, alex…
Am ad estisi
artificial intelligence. chess champion Garry not searching a database
estisi blam blam incipit. Xer blam incipit.
What is Jeopardy!? Kasparov. But chess but getting the computer producers incipitXer are already sed molobor Xer sed Could a
That’s correct! is a game of limits, to understand what it thinking sed about moloborwho
the aliquis sequism molobor computer aliquis beat
Tech giant I.B.M. is with pieces that have should be searching for. human aliquis contestants will odipsum
sequism Ken Jennings,
in the final stages of clearly defined powers. “The big goal is to get be. One sequism candidate is
odipsum who holds the
developing a Jeopardy! Jeopardy!, on the
computers to be able Ken Jennings—the
odipsum
record for
computer program other hand, requires to converse in human longest-reigning
Jeopardy!
to compete against a program that can terms, and we’re not Jeopardy! champ—who
wins?
humans. If the program deal with analogies, there yet,” says the won 74 consecutive
wins, it will be a major puns, and concepts like I.B.M. team leader, David times and collected over
leap forward for artificial size and location—all Ferrucci. Jeopardy!’s $2.5 million in 2004. •
SEPTEMBER 7, 2009 3

news trends
law
t
he question has
long puzzled
late-night
snackers: What, exactly,
is a Pringle? Britain’s
highest court has now
provided an answer: In
the eyes of the law, a
Pringle is a potato chip.
If you’re wondering why
Britain’s courts took a
break from robberies
and murders to think
about Pringles, it’s
am ad
estisi blam
incipitXer
sed molobor
aliquis
sequism
odipsum
Am ad estisi
blam incipit. Xer
sed molobor
aliquis sequism
odipsum
actually a fight about
taxes. Although most
foods in Britain are
tax exempt, there are
exceptions, including
potato chips. Procter &
Gamble, which makes
Pringles, argued that
the chips, which are
40 percent potato
flour, but also contain
corn, rice, and wheat,
are not potato chips,
but “savory snacks.’’
climate chanGe
culprits?
Am ad estisi
junk-food justice
environment
Got methane?
every year,
the average
cow belches
200 to 400 pounds
of methane, a heattrapping
gas that’s
4 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
weighing the
legal definition
of a potato chip
blam incipit.
Xer sed
molobor aliquis
sequism
odipsum
Lord Justice Robin
Jacob of the Supreme
Court of Judicature
disagreed: He ruled
that the potatoe-ness
of Pringles is a “matter
of overall impression,”
and his impression is that
they’re potato chips, and
taxable—which means
Procter & Gamble now
owes the government
$160 million in potato
chip taxes. •
been linked to global
warming. But changing
the bovine diet might
help. Since January,
cows at 15 farms in
Vermont have had their
feed adjusted to include
more plants like alfalfa
and flaxseed. Unlike
the corn or soy that
cows are usually fed
washinGton
President Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
white house
mail call
Every day, tens of thousands of
letters, e-mails, and faxes arrive at
the White House. It’s the job of Mike
kelleher, director of the White House
Office of Correspondence, to select
the 10 letters per day that will
actually reach—and be read by—
President Obama. kelleher says he
tries to pick letters that provide a
sampling of what Americans are
thinking: Some are from people who
have lost jobs or homes, others from
parents of troops serving overseas.
Obama answers some of the letters
by hand and uses others to make
points with officials: Rahm Emanuel,
the White House Chief of Staff, says
Obama will sometimes turn to
advisers in a meeting and say, “No,
no, no. I want to read you a letter I
got. I want you to understand.” •
News & Trends was reported by Pam Belluck, Adam Cohen, Leslie
Kaufman, John Markoff, Ashley Parker, and Somini Sengupta
of The New York Times; the Associated Press; and Suzanne Bilyeu.
today, these foods mostly from tailpipe
mimic the grasses that emissions. A 2006 United
cows evolved to eat, Nations report on the
and the methane output environmental impact
of one herd has already of cows, including
dropped 18 percent. forest-clearing to create
Methane is the second- pasture, suggested that
most-significant gas cows might be more
associated with global dangerous to Earth’s
warming after carbon atmosphere than trucks
dioxide, which comes and cars combined. •
MeDIA BAKerY (SCALe, PotAto & PrINgLeS); SChoLAStIC INC. (Letter); PLAINPICtUre/DeePoL/veer (CoW); FIoNN KIDNeY/AP IMAgeS (ShANe FItZgerALD); MethoDISt heALthCAre UNIverSItY hoSPItAL vIDeo vIA YoUtUBe (SUrgerY)

numbers
in the news
3billion
number of cars
the International
Monetary Fund
forecasts will be on
the road in 2050,
compared with about
700 million today.
SOURCE: The eCoNoMiST
60 %
percentaGe of
Twitter users who
abandon the service
after one month.
SOURCE: NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH
$0.0005
cost of eiGht ounces
of tap water, compared
with $1 for a singleserve
bottle of water.
(See p. 26.)
SOURCE: The New YorK TiMeS
2.3 billion
number of years
scientists say Earth
will stay habitable
before the sun makes
it toast.
SOURCE: TiMe
14
number of years
that Husly Rivera, 18,
a June graduate of
the Academy of Urban
Planning in Brooklyn,
N.y., attended school
without missing a day.
He plans to attend John
Jay College of Criminal
Justice in Manhattan.
SOURCE: The New YorK PoST
media
the perils of wikipedia
w
hen a French
composer
named
Maurice Jarre died in
March, Shane Fitzgerald
added a fake quote
to Jarre’s Wikipedia
biography. Fitzgerald,
a 22-year-old sociology
major at University
College Dublin in Ireland,
says it was simply an
experiment to see how
the Internet affects
media accuracy. But the
results offer a cautionary
tale to anyone using the
Web for research. The
does surGery
belonG online?
t
he point of Shila
Mullins’s brain
surgery was to
remove a tumor that
threatened to paralyze
her left side. But
Methodist University
Hospital in Memphis,
Tennessee, also saw
an opportunity to
promote itself—with a
webcast of her surgery.
Mullins had an awake
craniotomy, which
means she remained
awake and talking
during the surgery. (The
video shows Mullins
fake quote immediately
appeared on newspaper
Web sites around the
world—even though
Wikipedia twice caught
its lack of attribution
and removed it. A month
later, Fitzgerald alerted
media outlets to the
hoax. “I am 100 percent
convinced that if I hadn’t
come forward,” he told
the Associated Press,
“that quote would have
gone down in history
as something Maurice
Jarre said, instead of
something I made up.” •
reciting ABC’s while
doctors separate the
tumor from her brain.)
The hospital’s marketing
department promoted
the webcast—which was
not broadcast live, like
other surgeries at the
hospital—in infomercials
and newspaper ads, and
Don’t try this at home: a brain surgery webcast
Media watchdog shane Fitzgerald
the web
tracked the number of
viewers and the number
of appointments made in
response. Hospitals are
using unconventional
methods, like Tweeting
from operating rooms
and posting surgeries
on YouTube, to attract
patients, donors,
and doctors. But
some ethicists say
these practices raise
questions about patient
privacy. As for Mullins,
although the surgery
didn’t prevent partial
paralysis of her left arm,
leaving her unable to
work, the video includes
her testimonial praising
the hospital’s care. •
SEPTEMBER 7, 2009 5

national
you’re unDer arrest
(anD so is your Dna)
the government is collecting Dna from people who’ve Been
arresteD, But are still legally innocent. Does
that violate their privacy—anD the fourth amenDment?
Brian Roberts, 29, was awaiting trial in March
for possession of an illegal drug. At the Twin
Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles,
a sheriff’s deputy swabbed the inside of his
cheek to collect a DNA sample. The DNA
was then translated into a numeric sequence
in the F.B.I.’s database of nearly 7 million genetic profiles.
Every Monday from now on, the F.B.I.’s system—housed
in a closet-size room at its laboratory in Quantico, Virginia—
will search for matches between Roberts’s DNA and other
profiles from all over the country—in the event that one day,
perhaps decades from now, Roberts might leave his DNA at
a crime scene.
Until now, the federal government
genetically tracked
only convicts. But in April, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation,
which maintains the world’s
largest genetic database, began
collecting DNA samples from
those awaiting trial and from
detained immigrants. The F.B.I.
plans to expand the growth rate
of its database from 80,000 new
entries a year to 1.2 million by
2012—a 15-fold increase.
“We went from federal
6 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
By Solomon Moore
offenders to arrestees and detained non-U.S. citizens,” says
Robert Fram, the special agent in charge of the F.B.I. laboratory
division. “We don’t know where, or if, the number of profiles
will plateau.”
a genetic-surveillance society?
And the F.B.I. isn’t alone: This year, California began taking
DNA upon arrest and expects to nearly double the growth rate
of its database to 390,000 profiles a year. In all, 15 states have
expanded mandatory DNA collection to people who have been
arrested or detained but not yet convicted. This move raises
concerns about the privacy of people who are supposed to be
presumed innocent.
DNA analysis is used in
only 10 percent of criminal
cases, but it is far more accurate
than other techniques; scientists
estimate the possibility
of a random match at one in
a quadrillion (one thousand
million million).
Law-enforcement officials
A sheriff’s deputy
collects DNA from an
inmate at the county
jail in Los Angeles.
say that expanding the nation’s
DNA database to include
legally innocent people will
not only help solve more violent
crimes, but may also lead
PHOTO BY MONICA ALMEIDA/THE NEW YORK TIMES; MAP & GRAPH BY THE NEW YORK TIMES

A gRowiNg DAtABASe the F.B.i.’s DNA database is being expanded to include genetic material from people who’ve been
arrested but not yet convicted. State laws differ as to who is required to submit DNA to the national database.
15 states, along with federal agencies, now collect
DNA samples from some of those awaiting trial.
in Kansas and Minnesota, juveniles are required to
provide DNA samples upon arrest.
to more exonerations: So far, more than 200 wrongfully
convicted people have been freed based on DNA evidence.
But criminal-justice experts worry that the nation is becoming
a genetic-surveillance society and say that in some cases, compulsory
DNA collection may violate the Fourth Amendment,
which states that “The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated. . . .”
“DNA databases were built initially to deal with violent sexual
crimes and homicides,” says Harry Levine, a sociology professor
at City University of New York. “Over time, more and more
crimes of decreasing severity have been added to the database.
Cops and prosecutors like it because it gives everybody more
information and creates a new suspect pool.”
Courts have generally upheld laws authorizing compulsory
DNA collection from convicts on the grounds that criminal
acts diminish privacy rights. Minors are required to provide
DNA samples in 35 states upon conviction; in Kansas and
Minnesota, juveniles must provide DNA samples upon arrest.
Last November, three juvenile suspects in Arizona filed the
only current constitutional challenge against taking DNA at
the time of arrest. The judge temporarily stopped DNA collection
from them and the case is pending.
Sixteen states now take DNA from some who have been
found guilty of misdemeanors. But civil rights advocates say the
government’s power is being applied too broadly. “What we
Am ad
Am ad estisi
Am ad estisi
How A DNA MAtcH iS MADe: Forensic scientists analyze 13 specific estisi blam locations, or loci, blam on incipit. human Xer chromosomes,
blam incipit.
which contain repeating sequences known as Short tandem Repeats. incipitXer sed molobor
Xer sed
sed molobor aliquis sequism
molobor aliquis
aliquis Human odipsum
sequism loci
sequism cHromosomes
odipsum
odipsum
SourceS: Wright State univerSity; BioForenSic conSulting; dna.gov; national conFerence oF State legiSlatureS
Am ad estisi blam incipit. Xer sed molobor aliquis sequism odipsum
criminate taking of DNA for things like writing an insufficient-
funds check, shoplifting, drug convictions,” says Michael
Risher, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Law-enforcement officials maintain that DNA collection
upon arrest is no different from fingerprinting a suspect. States
purge profiles after people are cleared, but defense lawyers say
this is a laborious process that can involve a court order.
racial questions
Critics are also concerned about the demographics of DNA
databases. Hank Greely, a Stanford University Law School
professor, estimates that blacks—about 12 percent of the U.S.
population—make up 40 percent of the DNA profiles in the
federal database, reflecting their prison population. He expects
Hispanics, who are about 13 percent of the population and committed
40 percent of last year’s federal offenses—nearly half of
them immigration-related—also to figure heavily in databases.
Law-enforcement officials contend that DNA is blind to
race: Federal profiles include little more information than the
DNA sequence and the referring police agency.
Rock Harmon, a former prosecutor for Alameda County,
California, says that even if an innocent person’s DNA is in a
genetic database, it means nothing unless there’s a crime-scene
sample that matches it. “If you haven’t done anything wrong,”
he says, “you have nothing to fear.”
object to—and what the Constitution prohibits—is the indis- Solomon Moore is a Los Angeles correspondent for The New York Times.
September 7, 2009 7

President
Obama in
the Roosevelt
Room of the
White House

CREDITS: PHOTO BY CALLIE SHELL/AURORA PHOTOS; CARTOON BY JOSE NEMO NEVES/CARTOONSTOCK
Mission
iMpossible?
cover story
Few presidents have Faced the daunting challenges
conFronting barack obaMa when he took oFFice.
a First-terM report card, and a look ahead
if you think your freshman
year was tough, consider
what President Obama
has gone through during
his first eight months in
the White House.
A dizzying array of crises fell
upon the President in his first
months: from the worst economic
downturn since the Great
Depression and the collapse of
two of America’s Big Three carmakers
at home, to a nuclear
challenge from North Korea, the
violent aftermath of a disputed
election in Iran, and an effort
to begin pulling the U.S. out of Iraq while immersing it more
deeply than ever in Afghanistan.
As if all that isn’t enough, Obama has vowed to get serious
about addressing climate change and reducing U.S.
dependence on foreign oil, not to mention reinventing
health care so that virtually all Americans are covered by
insurance, and overhauling an immigration system that
his predecessor tried, and failed, to fix. Not only are these
enormous goals, many of them are extraordinarily expensive—at
a time when the U.S. is already deep in debt.
“I think one of the cautions that has to be given to the
By David E. Sanger in Washington, D.C.
President,” former Secretary of
State Colin Powell told CNN,
“is that you can’t have so many
things on the table that you
can’t absorb it all.”
Trying to dispel the idea that
he has bitten off too much (which
even some of his Democratic
allies believe), Obama said in
June, “I have to repeat and revive
an old saying we had from the
campaign: ‘Yes, we can.’ ”
‘undOing tHe damage’
But what sounds so neat on
the campaign trail often turns
out to be pretty messy once you are in the Oval Office. It seems
like an age ago that Obama took the oath of office on a frigid
day in January, chastising the country for “our collective failure
to make hard choices’’ and our willingness to suspend national
ideals “for expedience’s sake.’’
That was a clear signal of Obama’s determination to undo
a range of policies—from the harsh interrogation of terror
David E. Sanger, chief Washington correspondent of The New York Times,
is the author of “The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the
Challenges to American Power.’’
September 7, 2009 9

suspects and illegal domestic wiretapping, to the invasion of
Iraq—that hurt America’s image around the world.
But “undoing the damage”—the theme of this White
House—is quite tricky, whether it’s foreign affairs or repairing
the nation’s economy. And now that the new President is no
longer so new, he can’t afford to complain that every problem
is one he inherited.
“When a President tries new policies to deal with old problems
and then new policies appear to be failed policies, then he
owns it,’’ says George C. Edwards III, a presidential scholar at
Texas A&M University. “That’s the challenge for a President.’’
Obama’s biggest success and best grades so far go to his
management of the economy, and even there he has yet to
turn the corner. The country is still in a recession with unem-
ployment around 10 percent, the highest level in decades.
But the banks that Obama rescued—with huge injections of
taxpayer funds that many of his critics decried as socialism—
did not fail as many feared. Several have even paid back their
bailout money early. And public investment restored confidence
that the government would not let key financial institutions collapse,
which has since begun to lure back private investors.
10 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
resilient to face those future crises that inevitably await us.’’
FDR didn’t have to face one of Obama’s other big challenges:
Restoring America’s image abroad—particularly in the Muslim
world, where attitudes toward the U.S. were at a low point
when he took office. Obama has put a great deal of effort into
this area. The first TV interview he did from the White House
was for an Arabic-language news channel, and he sent Iranians
a Persian New Year greeting in March. He visited Turkey in
April, citing the Koran in his speech to the Parliament. And in
June, he went to Cairo, Egypt, and gave a major address aimed
at finding common ground with Muslims worldwide.
He seems to have made progress. But while many in the
Muslim world love the messenger, they continue to question the
message. “Egyptians still think that this one-of-a-kind American
iran: Protesting the results of the presidential election north Korea: Hostile, unpredictable, and nuclear? iraq: Can iraqis maintain security as the u.S. steps back?
President can do great things,’’ wrote Egyptian author Alaa Al
Aswany after the speech. “Young Egyptians’ admiration for
America is offset by frustration with American foreign policy.”
Much of the enthusiasm overseas for Obama stems from his
historic role as America’s first black President—a fact that has
touched off debate, from France to Southeast Asia, about whether
other countries could elect a minority as their head of state.
Add to that Obama’s extraordinary gift for communication.
If Roosevelt soothed a jittery nation with his fireside chats,
Obama has helped restore confidence by carefully explaining
his policies and candidly discussing America’s shortcomings.
And whether he’s filling out his NCAA bracket on ESPN or
dashing out of the White House to grab lunch at Ben’s Chili
Bowl in Washington, the President projects an air of calm
and confidence. What’s more, his young, attractive family has
brought some glamour back to the White House.
Whatever his successes so far, the President’s in-box is still
IRAQ)
IMAGES AL-RUBAYE/AFP/GETTY AHMAD
anOtHeR fdR?
(KOREA);
Will that be enough? President Franklin D. Roosevelt is
credited with leading the country out of its worst economic
crisis, the Great Depression. Can Obama steer the nation out
NEWS/REUTERS
of the Great Recession?
KYODO
“To warrant comparisons with Roosevelt,’’ writes Stanford
(IRAN);
historian David M. Kennedy, “he will be judged not simply on
whether he manages a rescue from the current economic crisis,
IMAGES
but also on whether he grasps the opportunity to make us more GETTY

ED KASHI/CORBIS (HEALTH CARE); JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES (HOUSING);
FRANCES M. ROBERTS VIA NEWSCOM (EMPLOYMENT)
filled with tough challenges. Every morning, he gets a nationalsecurity
briefing about a world that is testing his mettle—and
his vow to “engage” America’s adversaries in a way that his
predecessor, George W. Bush, did not.
North Korea has said outright that it isn’t interested in negotiating
with the U.S.—possibly because its longtime ruler, Kim
Jong Il, is ailing and a power struggle over his successor seems
likely. When North Korea set off its second nuclear test in May,
Obama declared a change in strategy: The U.S., he said, would
no longer reward North Korea with aid, food, and diplomatic
concessions. But that leaves very little for the two countries to
talk about, and many fear a confrontation is coming.
The hardest engagement problem is Iran. For his first five
months in office, President Obama sent public and secret
Health care: Can a broken system be fixed?
messages to the Iranians, offering direct negotiations over their
suspected nuclear-weapons program—a big change from the
Bush era, when the President refused to talk to Tehran unless it
first halted its nuclear program.
But the aftermath of the Iranian election in June changed
everything. After President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was
declared the winner in an election widely considered a fraud,
hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets in protest,
and a violent crackdown soon followed. Suddenly Obama
faced a huge dilemma: How can he negotiate with a regime
that shot a 26-year-old woman on the street, a moment captured
on a video seen by millions on YouTube?
Then there’s the ongoing issue of the two wars Obama inherited,
in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. has roughly 200,000
troops in both countries, and more than 5,000 Americans have
been killed. The U.S. has pulled back from Iraqi cities and
begun reducing troop levels there, but Obama has sent another
21,000 U.S. troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, which he
sees as the front line in the war against terrorism.
Some U.S. generals in Afghanistan say that still may not be
enough to retake control of the country. And in Iraq, the big
question is whether the country will hold together as the U.S.
continues to withdraw its forces.
WHat lieS aHead?
Back at home, no one knows how the American economy will
fare over the next few years and whether the government rescue
of American carmakers will work. In an effort to save General
Motors and Chrysler, the government essentially took over both
companies and forced them into bankruptcy to reorganize.
This is politically risky: What if G.M., even under government
Housing: nearly a million have lost homes to foreclosure. unemployment: lining up at a job fair in June
ownership, cann ot produce cars Americans actually want to
buy? That would be “a huge embarrassment,” a Cabinet member
recently confided. And it’s possible that Obama’s ambitious
plans for health-care reform just won’t fly.
“To be candid with you, I don’t know that he has the votes
right now,” says Senator Dianne Feinstein of California.
How all the rest of these issues play out is anybody’s guess.
Will relations with Iran and North Korea improve, or are we
headed for confrontation, given Obama’s declaration that we
cannot accept either country as a nuclear power? Will the
economy recover? Will the situation in Afghanistan improve?
“The most difficult thing is trying to make sure that we are
handling the issues in the correct sequence in relation to world
events,’’ says General James L. Jones, the President’s national
security adviser.
Because when you’re the President, it’s not just good grades
you need—it’s good results.
September 7, 2009 11

this fall, the supreme Court will hear Cases that
Could have a major impaCt on ameriCan life. here’s a look at key
Constitutional issues they’re likely to Consider.
s ince
Presidential Power & national security
the nation’s founding, the U.S. has debated how
much power a President should have, and how to balance
national security with individual liberty, especially in
a time of war. But the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001,
transformed that debate as the U.S. found itself at war not
with another nation, but with a stateless organization.
In general, the courts have not been eager to secondguess
presidential actions taken in the name of protecting
the nation. In 1944, for example, in a decision now widely
discredited, the Supreme Court upheld President Franklin
D. Roosevelt’s executive order during World War II to put
120,000 Japanese-Americans in internment camps.
12 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
deCisions,
deCisions
By Adam Liptak in Washington, D.C.
the u.s. military prison
at Guantánamo, shown
here in 2002, has
raised a number of
constitutional questions
concerning presidential
authority in wartime
and the rights of
detainees.
Today, the big issue is the prison at Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba, which President Obama has promised to close by
January. Guantánamo holds about 200 men who were
captured all over the world, including some of the alleged
ringleaders of the 9/11 attacks.
“In inheriting Guantánamo, the administration is inheriting
something like the Japanese internment camps,” says
Eric M. Freedman, a law professor at Hofstra University.
Last year, the Court said the Guantánamo detainees are
entitled to at least some of the constitutional protections generally
accorded to the accused. And the Obama administration
says that some of them should be released, but the process
of closing the prison and deciding where the more dangerous
prisoners should go is moving slowly. If no other country will
take them, the Court has been asked to decide whether they
must be released into the United States.
Legal experts say the Court may look to history in considering
how much power President Obama should have in the
ongoing fight against terrorism. To do that, the Justices may
have to decide whether the terrorist threat will be handled
by the criminal courts or the military justice system.
“It is a hybrid warrior we’re fighting in a hybrid war,’’ says
Glenn M. Sulmasy, a national-security law expert at the Coast
Guard Academy, “and it doesn’t fit neatly in the criminal
justice structure or in the law-of-war structure.” •
ROYALTY-FREE/CORBIS (SUPREME COURT); SHANE T. MCCOY/U.S. NAVY (GUANTANAMO BAY); MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES (SAVANA REDDING)

ace
race
has long been one of the most difficult issues for
the Court, as it has for the nation. In recent years, many
cases have centered on the constitutionality of affirmative
action, in which race (or gender) is considered in hiring and
school admissions. In general, proponents of affirmative
action say it’s needed to make up for past discrimination,
while opponents say it’s reverse discrimination.
The Roberts Court has been skeptical of race-conscious
decisions by the government in cases about education,
employment, and voting. In an important 2007 decision,
the Court ruled that public schools cannot explicitly take
race into account to achieve or maintain integration.
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is
to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” Chief Justice
John G. Roberts wrote in that ruling.
The Court applied the same principle in June, ruling 5-to-4
that New Haven, Connecticut, could not throw out the
teen riGhts
w hat’s
more important: the rights of students, or the
needs of schools to keep order and maintain a safe environment?
That’s one of the key questions in the area of teen
rights in which the Court is trying to find the right balance.
In 1969, the landmark case Tinker v. Des Moines
Independent School District established that students do not
“shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or
expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
But in recent years, the Court has generally sided with
schools, particularly in cases involving drugs and school
security. In 2007, in Morse v. Frederick, the Court backed an
Alaska principal who suspended a student for displaying a
banner that said “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” at a school-sponsored
event off school property. The student said the banner was a
prank and the words were gibberish, but a majority of Justices
said the sign advocated drug use. The decision effectively cut
back the First Amendment rights of students.
However, in June the Court issued a ruling that supported
students’ right to privacy at school. Savana Redding
was 13 years old and in the 8th grade when she was
strip-searched in 2003 by school officials in Arizona, who
wrongly suspected her of having prescription-strength
Adam Liptak is the Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times.
national
results of a promotional exam for firefighters because black
firefighters did poorly on it. The case, Ricci v. DeStefano, was
brought by white and Hispanic firefighters who did qualify
for promotions but were denied them, and said they were
victims of reverse discrimination.
“This decision will change the landscape of civil rights
law,” says Sheila Foster, a law professor at Fordham
University in New York.
Such decisions have prompted some to wonder if the
Roberts Court might be moving toward effectively abolishing
affirmative action and similar programs in the near future.
That’s what Justice Stephen G. Breyer seemed to hint at
when he wrote his dissent in the 2007 case that ended the
use of race by school districts trying to maintain integration.
Referring to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling
in 1954 that desegregated schools, he wrote: “The last
half-century has witnessed great strides toward racial equality,
but we have not yet realized the promise of Brown.” •
ibuprofen. In Safford Unified School District v. Redding, the
Justices ruled 8-to-1 that the strip search had violated the
Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches.
“It does not require a constitutional scholar to conclude
that a nude search of a 13-year-old child is an invasion of
constitutional rights of some magnitude,” wrote Justice
John Paul Stevens.
The case attracted national attention and gave rise to an
intense debate over how much leeway school officials should
have in enforcing zero-tolerance policies for drugs and violence.
Some parents were outraged by the intrusiveness of the
search, while others worried about tying the hands of school
officials charged with keeping their children safe. •
savana redding, now
19 and a student
at eastern arizona
college, in front of the
supreme court in april;
she was 13 when school
officials strip-searched
her in the mistaken
belief that she was
hiding prescriptionstrength
ibuprofen.
September 7, 2009 13

i t’s
First amendment
been more than 25 years since the Court last recognized
a new category of speech with so little value that it did not
merit the protections of the First Amendment. This year, the
Court will consider if depictions of cruelty to animals should
join obscenity and “fighting words” (words likely to incite
violence) as speech unworthy of constitutional protection.
The new case, United States v. Stevens, arose from the
conviction of a Virginia man sentenced to 37 months in
prison for selling videos of pit bulls fighting each other and
attacking other animals. A 1999 federal law makes it a crime
t he
l ast
environment
environmental movement of the 1960s inspired a
series of laws to prevent pollution and protect natural
resources. In the following decades, the Court was a
friendly forum for environmental groups, interpreting
laws such as the Endangered Species Act and the Clean
Air Act broadly.
Lately, though, the Court has been less receptive to environmental
cases. The Roberts Court has ruled against environmentalists
in five major cases in the past term. In Winter v.
Natural Resources Defense Council, a case that pitted environmental
protection against national security needs, the Court
refused to restrict submarine training exercises using sonar,
which was said to harm whales and dolphins off the coast of
California. In effect, the Court said that national security is
more important than the protection of marine mammals.
social issues
spring, the legislatures of Vermont, New
Hampshire, and Maine legalized same-sex marriages,
while Connecticut and Iowa recognized them through
court rulings, bringing to six the number of states in which
same-sex couples can now marry. (Massachusetts legalized
same-sex marriage in 2004.)
And last year, the California Supreme Court allowed
same-sex marriages, but voters then banned them in
a ballot initiative known as Proposition 8. In May, the
California Supreme Court upheld the ban.
All this activity makes it likely that the question of
whether gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional
right to marry will head to the Supreme Court—perhaps
14 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
to create or sell such videos and other depictions of cruelty
to animals. The Court will decide whether that law violates
the First Amendment.
The next big free-speech frontier is the Internet. Aside
from striking down laws aimed at Internet pornography, the
Supreme Court has not yet addressed free-speech issues as
they relate to new technologies.
In the next few years, however, cases involving online
harassment, the First Amendment rights of bloggers, and
whether websites like Craigslist may be held responsible for
what users post will likely reach the Court. •
after decades
of interpreting
environmental laws
broadly, the supreme
court has recently
been less receptive to
environmental cases.
As President Obama looks for ways to tackle environmental
challenges like climate change, some opponents are
likely to fight back, setting the stage for confrontations that
may well reach the Supreme Court. •
by way of a lawsuit challenging the California ban.
But since the same-sex marriage issue is under discussion
in so many state courts and legislatures around the
country, the Supreme Court may be wary of making a
controversial decision that binds the entire nation, as it
did in Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a
right to abortion.
Some critics of that decision, including Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg (a longtime supporter of abortion rights),
have said that Roe moved too fast in making a policy decision
that could have worked its way through state legislatures.
There is no major abortion case on the horizon, and
at least five of the Court’s nine justices appear to support
the central holding of Roe v. Wade. •
CARR CLIFTON/MINDEN PICTURES (ENVIRONMENT); PAUL EDMONDSON/GETTY IMAGES (GUN STORE); GLENN PAUL VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES (JOE SULLIVAN)

t he
Gun riGhts
Second Amendment, which protects “the right of
the people to keep and bear arms,” is more than 200
years old, but it was not until last year that the Supreme
Court weighed in on how it applies to gun-control laws.
Many courts and scholars had long assumed that the
Amendment protected only a right to own guns tied to a
state militia. But the Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 decision,
ruled that the Second Amendment protects a fundamental,
individual right.
The decision in District of Columbia v. Heller struck down
parts of Washington, D.C.’s gun-control law, the strictest in
the nation. But because the case came from the District of
Columbia and thus involved only federal law, the Court did
not resolve the important question of whether the Second
Amendment’s protections also apply to state and local laws.
The ruling also left open the question of whether the
Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to have a
gun for purposes beyond self-defense in the home.
“There is likely to be quite a flood of litigation to try
to flesh out precisely what regulations are to be permitted
and which ones are not,” says Robert A. Levy, a lawyer on
the winning side of the case.
t he
death Penalty & harsh sentences
Eighth Amendment prohibits “cruel and unusual
punishments,” but the legal definition of that phrase
has evolved over time as social standards have changed.
For example, the Supreme Court has narrowed the scope
of the death penalty several times in recent years, saying it
cannot be applied to juvenile offenders, the mentally retarded,
or people who commit crimes other than murder.
But the Court has shown no inclination to abolish capital
punishment. In fact, it upheld the use of lethal injection
even though there is some evidence that the chemicals used
in executions can produce extremely painful deaths.
This fall, the Court will consider two cases that question
whether the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and
unusual punishment should extend to sentencing juvenile
offenders to life in prison without parole.
Questioning the constitutionality of life without parole
for juveniles is the logical next step following the court’s
2005 decision in Roper v. Simmons, which struck down the
death penalty for crimes committed by 16- and 17-year-olds.
last year, the
supreme court ruled
that the second
amendment protects
an individual’s right
to own a gun, but
it’s unclear how the
ruling will affect
state and local
gun-control laws.
Most state and local gun restrictions appear to be allowed
under the ruling, including licensing laws, limits on the
commercial sale of guns, restrictions on guns in places like
schools and government buildings, and prohibitions on the
possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill.
“The Heller case is a landmark decision that has not
changed very much at all,” says Adam Winkler, a law
professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“To date, the federal courts have not invalidated a single
gun-control law on the basis of the Second Amendment
since Heller.” •
Writing for the majority in that case, Justice Anthony M.
Kennedy said that even older teenagers are different from
adults: less mature, more impulsive, more susceptible to peer
pressure, and more likely to change for the better over time.
“The principles driving Roper,” says Douglas A. Berman,
a sentencing law expert at Ohio State University, “would
seem to suggest that its impact does not stop at the execution
chamber.” •
Joe sullivan, now 33,
was 13 when he was
convicted of raping a
72-year-old woman in
Florida and sentenced
to life in prison without
parole. the court will
consider whether life
without parole for
juveniles violates the
eighth amendment.
September 7, 2009 15

national
an attempt to ‘summarize the basic concepts of american democracy’ in 100 questions
By Kirk Semple
for those of us who weren’t born here, it’s never been
easy to become a citizen. And as of October 1, in
addition to passing a reading and writing test of
English proficiency, all immigrants going through the
naturalization process must pass a new civics exam that some
say is much harder than the test it replaced.
Immigration officials say the new test is an attempt to
put more emphasis on basic concepts of American history,
government, and democracy, and that some people may find
it easier.
The civics test is oral, with an examiner asking the applicant
10 questions from a list of 100, all of which are available
online.* Applicants must answer 6 of the 10 questions cor-
5
8
9
could you pass the new
citizenship test?
american government
16 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
1. What is the sUpreme laW of the land?
2. the idea of self-government is in the first three Words of
the constitUtion. What are these Words?
3. What do We call the first 10 amendments to the
constitUtion?
4. Who is one of yoUr state’s U.s. senators?
5. What is the economic system in the United states?
6. name one branch or part of the government.
7. hoW many JUstices are on the sUpreme coUrt?
8. What is the name of the vice president of the United states?
9. hoW old do citizens have to be to vote for president?
10. What are tWo cabinet-level positions?
rectly, and are given two chances to pass; those who fail twice
can reapply for naturalization immediately.
Some immigrant-advocacy groups have said the new test
is more abstract, and therefore tougher. But Alfonso Aguilar
of Citizenship and Immigration Services (part of the federal
Department of Homeland Security) says that in a test of the
new exam, 92 percent of participants passed on their first try.
“We try—in 100 questions and answers—to summarize the
basic concepts of American democracy,” says Aguilar.
Now it’s your turn. Try answering the following 30 questions
from the new test, and see if you have what it takes to
earn American citizenship.
Kirk Semple is a reporter for The New York Times.
FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: FUSIONPIX/CORBIS; TOM LE GOFF/CORBIS OUTLINE; TIM SLOAN/AFP VIA NEWSCOM

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: MRS. L. CONDON VIA LOC; BOB ADELMAN/CORBIS; EDWARD S. CURTIS VIA LOC; ROBERT HOLMES/CORBIS; BILL ROSS/CORBIS; THINKSTOCK/CORBIS
american history
11. What is one reason colonists came to america?
12. Who lived in america before eUropeans arrived?
13. Who Wrote the declaration of independence?
14. When Was the declaration of independence adopted?
15. there Were 13 original states. name three.
16. What did sUsan b. anthony do?
17. name one War foUght by the United states in the 1800s.
18. What did martin lUther King Jr. do?
19. Who Was president dUring the great depression and World
War ii?
20. dUring the cold War, What Was the main concern of the
United states?
21. name one american indian tribe in the United states.
civics & geography
22. name one of the tWo longest rivers in the United states.
23. What ocean is on the east coast of the United states?
24. name one U.s. territory.
25. name one state that borders canada.
26. name one state that borders mexico.
27. Where is the statUe of liberty?
28. Why does the flag have 13 stripes?
29. Why does the flag have 50 stars?
30. name tWo national U.s. holidays.
* Answers to this quiz in the teAcher’s edition And At upfrontmagazine.com. For All 100 questions And Answers,
go to www.uscis.gov. click on ‘educAtion & resources,’ then ‘civics And citizenship study MAteriAls.’
16
18
21
22
27
28 & 29
september month 00, 7, 2007 2009 17

INDIA
KAZAKHSTAN
NEPAL
0
TIBET
BHUTAN
BANGLADESH
200 MI
0 300 KM
Lhasa
MONGOLIA
RUSSIA
CHINA
MYANMAR
VIETNAM
(BURMA)
LAOS
THAILAND
Beijing
Hong Kong
Shanghai
South
China
Sea
Yellow
Sea
TAIWAN
N. KOREA
S. KOREA
East
China
Sea
Like many Chinese teenagers, Jiao Yuqiao’s
schedule is dominated by academics. Last
May, that meant his school day began with
mandatory calisthenics at 7:30, followed
by classes from 8 to 4, an hour-long review
session, dinner, then homework until 11.
Over the weekend, Jaio (pronounced “jow”)—then
a 15-year-old 9th-grader at a Beijing public school—
was taking extra courses on Saturday mornings and
Sunday afternoons.
All this effort was aimed at scoring well on the senior
high school entrance exam, known as the zhongkao
(pronounced “jong kow”). Jiao, the son of an engineer
and a teacher, was shooting for School Number 31, one of the
best in his district for 10th through 12th grade. (High school in
China doesn’t include 9th grade.)
“Several days ago, my grandfather came,” Jiao said. “He
said, ‘You are the only son in your family—we place all the
hope on you. So you had better get into the best university.’
Now I am totally focused on the zhongkao.”
The 115 million Chinese between ages 14 and 18 are the
first generation to come of age as China assumes its new role as
a global power. As adults, they will live in a nation that could
pass the United States as the world’s largest economy. Never
has China held such high expectations for its young, who are
pampered—and pressured—like never before.
And never have Americans had a bigger stake in a generation
of foreigners. Today, the U.S. and China find themselves
in an uneasy partnership: From the global economic crisis to climate
change to the spread of nuclear weapons, it is increasingly
difficult to make real progress on the world’s biggest problems
unless Washington and Beijing agree on a common path. And
agreement is seldom easy, for each nation is still gauging how
much to trust the other.
“China has deeply held suspicions,” says Bonnie S. Glaser of
the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
“Is the U.S. willing to accommodate its rise, or will it seek to slow
down its emergence as a great power?” The U.S., she adds, “is not
Michael Wines is a correspondent in the Beijing bureau of
The New York Times. Additional reporting by Sharon LaFraniere.
18 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
N
W E
S
JAPAN
Jiao Yuqiao, 15 (inset),
outside his school and
Chen Qiong, 17 (below
right). Bottom: Jiao
doing homework; Chen
studying with a friend at
McDonald’s; Jiao at
a food stall; and Chen
at a mall.
China’s
Jiao Yuqiao, 15,
and Chen qionG,
17, CouLd soon see
China overtake
the u.s. as the
worLd’s biGGest
eConomY. what
does that mean
for both nations?
By Michael Wines in Beijing
Photos by David G. McIntyre

internationaL
next Generation
September 7, 2009 19

BY THE NUMBERS...
PoPuLation
Labor forCe
Per CaPita
GdP
internet
users
China
1.3 biLLion
807 miLLion
$6,000
253
miLLion
SOURCE: The World FacTbook 2009 (C.I.A.)
u.s.
307 miLLion
155 miLLion
$47,000
223
miLLion
quite certain what China is going to do with the power it is amassing—its
economic power and its growing military capacity.”
Modern China was born just 60 years ago, when Mao
Zedong’s Communist troops won a civil war and founded a new
state in 1949 (see timeline, below). Over the next three decades,
the country endured great turmoil and suffering as Mao lurched
from one disastrous initiative to another.
By the time Mao died in 1976, China’s economy was in ruins.
His successor, Deng Xiaoping, introduced free-market reforms
that opened up the economy and led to three decades of explosive
growth. Deng insisted that Communism—which rejects
capitalist ideas such as private business and land ownership—
was still China’s model. But he was as much a pragmatist as a
Communist. “It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white,” he
liked to say. “What matters is how well it catches mice.”
With China’s economy generating new wealth, many Chinese
longed for democracy too. But in 1989, when tens of thousands
of students gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square demanding
political reforms, the government sent in army troops who
killed hundreds and injured and imprisoned thousands more.
Twenty years later, most young people seem to accept the futility
of challenging the government’s control.
“You can think, maybe talk about the events of 1989; you just
cannot do something that will have any public influence,” says a
student at Peking University in Beijing. “Everybody knows that.”
economic, not political, freedom
Today, China is a global powerhouse, nearly even with Japan
as the world’s second-biggest economy. Beijing and Shanghai are
forests of gleaming skyscrapers. Since 1999, the average income
of a city-dweller has nearly tripled, to about $2,300 a year.
That’s still far less than what the average American earns, but
despite the global recession, China’s leaders expect the economy
to grow 8 percent this year. And with its huge workforce—China
has four times America’s population—China’s total economic
output is expected to surpass that of the U.S. in 20 to 40 years.
China still has problems: The income gap between the rich
and poor is growing, and rural areas, where two-thirds of
Chinese live, have yet to see many benefits.
Freedoms are severely limited. China has more Internet
20 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
users than any other nation, but censors block websites and
online chats critical of the government. All broadcasting is state-
controlled. People who criticize the government can face persecution,
beatings, the loss of their jobs, and imprisonment.
But many Chinese appear to accept the trade-off of limited
freedom in an authoritarian, one-party state in exchange for
economic growth. They’re proud of their nation’s growing
power and affluence and are eager for the chance to have a far
better life than their parents or grandparents had.
In most Chinese households, such hopes rest on a single child.
With the government’s “one child” policy to slow population
growth, many Chinese joke that they are raising a generation of
“little emperors,” used to being the center of attention.
With that attention comes pressures. Getting into the best
schools is a matter of family honor. The pressure to do well on the
national college-entrance exam—the gaokao (pronounced “gow
kow”)—is enormous, and students spend years preparing before
they take it at the end of their senior year. Only three out of five
pass, and far fewer score high enough to get into a top college.
Chen Qiong (“chen chih-yong”), an 11th-grader in suburban
Beijing, wants to be one of those students.
She began thinking about the
gaokao in 7th grade. Last year, Chen
had an after-school tutor in all her
subjects, and she attended summer
school to get a jump on this year.
“The 11th grade is very important
for the gaokao,” she says during
a chat at a Starbucks. “So I want to
get a solid foundation.”
And what about dating, sports,
and other high school pleasures?
Her school has sports teams, but students
don’t go to the games. As for
dating, many students see it as a distraction.
“If you really want to date,
of course you can find a way,” Chen
says. “But the level of your studies
will drop. They’ll focus more on the
relationship instead of studying.”
PHOTO ASSIGNMENT BY DAVID G. MCYINTYRE/BLACK STAR FOR UPFRONT MAGAZINE
1949
After more than 20 years of
civil war, Mao Zedong leads
the Communists to victory and
declares the People’s Republic
of China. The U.S. had backed
Chang Kai Shek’s Nationalists,
who flee the mainland and set
up a rival government in Taiwan.

TIMELINE: SIPA PRESS VIA NEWSCOM (1949); CENTRAL PRESS/GETTY IMAGES (1950-53); BETTMANN/CORBIS (1972); JEFF
WIDENER/AP IMAGES (1989); RONG XINGYI/IMAGINECHINA/ZUMA PRESS (1990’S-2000’S); GREG BAKER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES (2009)
Chen has an iPod but says she doesn’t really follow music
because it’s not an academic subject. Beyond getting into the best
university, Chen’s ambition is to be “a businesswoman.”
“Now the value of college graduates has shrunk,” she says,
acknowledging the growing number of Chinese who are going
to college. “To get a better and decent job, we’ll need to go to
top universities in China. That can guarantee a better job.”
views of the u.s.
Jiao Yuqiao is as driven as Chen. He gave up gym class last
year so he had more time to prepare for his high school entrance
exam, even though he dreams of playing pro soccer. His backup
plan is the telecom industry. Being successful, he says, means
“having my own house and car, and also being able to have
enough money to support my parents.”
Still, they do find time for fun: Chen hangs out at the mall on
weekends and texts friends on her cellphone. (Her father is a restaurant
manager and her family is well-off by Chinese standards.)
Jiao’s family can’t afford a cellphone or an iPod, but they have a
computer in their small, concrete-floored apartment in a spartan
1950-53
In the Korean War, China
sides with Communist
North Korea. The United
Nations, led by the U.S.,
backs South Korea in this
Cold War conflict that ends
in an armistice but without
a peace treaty.
1972
Richard Nixon becomes the
first American President to
visit Communist China.
The trip leads to the
resumption of diplomatic
relations in 1979.
1989
Tens of thousands of
students demanding
democratic reforms protest
in Beijing’s Tiananmen
Square. Hundreds are killed
when the government sends
in the army, ending any
hope of democratic reform.
Left to right: Jiao
reads a Japanese comic
book; Chen with the car
her father promised
to buy her if she gets
into a top university;
Jiao with friends; and
Chen shopping.
Beijing high-rise. Both spend much of their free time online, surfing
the web, or in Jiao’s case, playing computer games.
In addition to Chinese, math, science, and politics—a required
course in the glories of Communism—they both study English.
The little they’re taught about the West centers on indignities
China suffered long ago at the hands of colonial powers.
Still, the Chinese say they like Americans, though the U.S.
doesn’t occupy their thoughts that much. They seem less fascinated
with President Obama than the rest of the world.
“I’ve only seen Obama a few times on TV, and I think he’s
handsome,” says Jiao. “He’s very young, yet he’s become the
President of the U.S. so he must be pretty capable.”
There’s one aspect of American life they are familiar with—
the education system—and they’re quite envious.
“American students—their teachers are so relaxed,” says
Chen, who is used to schools that rely on rote learning and
little interaction between teacher and student. “We used to
have a foreign teacher who taught us English, and he arranged
our desks so he could walk to our seat and talk to us. Students
like the American way of education.”
1990s-2000s
The free-market reforms
begun in 1978 by Chinese
leader Deng Xiaoping lead
to an economic boom. But
concern rises about the
impact of China’s exports
on the U.S. economy.
TIMElINE: THE U.S. & CHINA
2009
Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton visits China soon
after President Obama takes
office: The U.S. wants to work
with China on issues like the
economic crisis, North Korea’s
nuclear weapons program,
and climate change.
September 7, 2009 21

times pAst
AmericA & the DrAft
the U.s. hAs gone bAck AnD
forth between A volUnteer
militAry AnD conscription.
coUlD the DrAft be broUght
bAck toDAy?
by Monica Davey in Chicago
America may be fighting two wars, in Iraq and
Afghanistan, but 17-year-old Theo Seman
isn’t too worried about the prospect of a
return to the draft—even though he’ll soon
have to register for one, like all 18-year-old
men, just in case it’s brought back.
“As far as I can tell, the voluntary army seems to be working
out,” says Theo, a senior at the Francis W. Parker School
in Chicago.
For teenagers like Theo, registering with the Selective Service,
the federal agency that administers the draft, is not something
they give much thought to when turning 18. But four decades
ago, the military draft—and the Vietnam War in which 1.8 million
conscripts were called to fight—consumed the nation.
On a May morning in 1969, across the city from Theo’s high
school, a group of protesters torched a Selective Service office,
then stood outside watching the flames and singing “We
Shall Overcome,” until police arrived to arrest them. Similar
protests—most peaceful, but some violent—took place in cities
and on college campuses across the U.S. in the late 1960s
and early 1970s, in many cases with young men burning their
draft cards in defiance.
22 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
Burning draft
cards at
the Pentagon
in 1972,
during the
vietnam war
Washington wanted the Continental Congress to give his
fledging national army the same power, rather than relying
on volunteers to fight the British. But it refused—as did
the U.S. Congress in dismissing similar calls from several
Presidents in the early 1800s.
Interestingly, the Constitution is neutral on the subject: It
grants Congress the “power to raise and support armies,” but
says nothing about service being voluntary or mandatory.
The first real national draft occurred during the Civil War,
as both the Union and the Confederacy turned to conscrip-
NEWSPAPER
civil war riots
IMAGES;
In fact, the draft has proved controversial throughout
America’s history—even today, when some advocate its
return to address what they see as the inequities of the vol-
ARCHIVE/GETTY
unteer military that the U.S. has relied on since Vietnam.
HULTON
During the Revolutionary War (1775-83), some states
BY
drafted soldiers into their militias, and General George PHOTO
CLIPPING VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES

: A 200-yeAr DebAte
tion to fill the ranks of their exhausted, depleted armies.
After President Lincoln called for a draft early in 1863,
Congress passed legislation that made single men up to age
45, and married men up to 35, eligible for the draft lottery.
There were, however, two big loopholes that aroused
popular anger: Those who could afford it could pay the
government $300 (equal to about $5,200 today) or hire a
The New York Times, Page One, May 14, 1969
substitute to avoid service.
Draft protests broke out in several cities in the North and
turned deadly in New York, where more than 100 people Monica Davey is Chicago bureau chief of The New York Times.
September 7, 2009 23

were killed and thousands more were injured in several
days of rioting across the city.
In May 1917, a month after the U.S. declared war on
Germany and entered World War I, Congress passed the law
creating the Selective Service. During America’s involvement
in World War I (1917-18) and World War II (1941-45), 13
million men were drafted, with relatively little opposition.
Both wars were viewed as critical to the nation’s interests,
even its survival, and public service and personal sacrifice
were seen as important to the war efforts.
The draft continued with little controversy through the
Korean War (1950-53), and during the peaceful but tense
Cold War years that followed. It was during the Vietnam War,
and the general tumult of the 1960s, that the draft faced its
greatest opposition.
draft Boards & deferments
In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson sent the first U.S. combat
troops to aid South Vietnam in its fight against Communist
North Vietnam. As the war dragged on and American casualties
mounted, the public increasingly turned against the war,
which ultimately claimed 58,000 American lives.
For much of the war, local draft boards across the nation
determined who was most eligible for the draft, and who
would be exempted or given a much lower chance of being
called. Going to college, as an undergraduate or a grad student,
greatly increased the chances
of getting an exemption, as
did marrying and having kids.
Thousands also used connections
to win deferments from
their draft boards. Minorities
and the poor, however, often
found it harder to avoid being
called up. By one estimate,
76 percent of the soldiers in
Vietnam were from workingclass
or lower-income families.
“People were drafted
because of the color of
gles of Vietnam. (Millions of other volunteers, including a quarter
million women, also served in the military during the war.)
As TV images of America’s dead on the battlefield became
a staple of the evening news, a draft widely perceived as
unfair became a flashpoint. In cities across the nation, young
people, religious and civil rights leaders, and thousands of
others demonstrated against
the war and the draft, and
in some cases, tangled with
police. About 100,000 men
who were unable to avoid
the draft fled the country,
many to Canada, rather
than report for duty.
While many people supported
their actions, others
were angered by “draft
dodgers” refusing to do
their civic duty.
David O’Brien, a 19-year-
their skin, of their class,”
says Ernest E. Garcia, now
President Obama with U.S. troops in Baghdad in April
old from Massachusetts,
was arrested for burning his
the acting director of the
draft card on the steps of a
Selective Service. Garcia joined the Marine Corps during South Boston courthouse in March 1966. At his trial, he told
the Vietnam War when he was 19 because he felt certain the jury that he had done so as an act of “symbolic speech,”
he would be drafted, and enlisting generally gave men a hoping that “other people would re-evaluate their positions
chance for better assignments.
with Selective Service, with the armed forces, and re-evaluate
Nearly 2 million men were drafted, with many sent to the jun- their place in the culture of today.” The case went all the way
24 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
civil war
timeline
volunteers
and
draftees
revolutionary war
after the 13 colonies go to war
against Great Britain in 1775, the
continental congress establishes a
national army and appoints George
washington as commander. He asks
for a draft to counter troop shortages
and thousands of desertions, but the
congress refuses.
JOY PARIANTE/DOD/CNP/CORBIS (OBAMA WITH TROOPS); GRANGER COLLECTION (CIVIL WAR); BETTMANN/CORBIS (VIETNAM WAR); JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES (IRAQ WAR)

vietnam war
civil war draft riots
in march 1863, congress approves a
national draft for the union army. a
provision allowing draftees to provide
a substitute or pay $300 to avoid
service arouses widespread public
anger, and protests occur in several
cities. in new york, more than 100
people die and thousands are injured
in four days of rioting.
world wars i & ii
congress creates the selective service
system in 1917 and authorizes the first
draft since the civil war. nearly
3 million men are conscripted to fight
in world war i. during world war ii,
10 million men are drafted and
6 million more volunteer for the
five-year fight against Germany, Japan,
and the other axis powers.
to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1968 upheld the federal
law that made it a crime to burn or destroy a draft card. (O’Brien
served two months in prison.)
At the end of 1969, facing intense criticism, the Selective
Service re-instituted a draft lottery, in an effort to make the
process more logical and equitable: 366 balls showing every
possible birthday (including Feb. 29 in leap years) were pulled
randomly from a drum to determine the order in which draftees
would be eligible. There were, nevertheless, still charges
that blacks, Hispanics, and those without money or connections
were drafted at a disproportionate rate.
Finally, in 1973, as American troops were being withdrawn
from Vietnam, President Richard Nixon put the draft on hold,
and a volunteer army has been in place ever since.
Four years later, in a controversial decision, President Jimmy
Carter pardoned all those who had avoided the draft illegally.
is a volunteer army really Better?
Today, even with a volunteer military, most men ages 18 to
25 are required to register for the draft (at www.sss.gov, or with
forms often available when getting a drivers license or at other
government agencies), and local draft boards still exist should
the draft return. (Men who fail to register can be denied federal
financial aid for college, refused federal employment later on,
and face a fine of up to $250,000 and imprisonment.) Some
feel that women, who increasingly hold key roles in the military,
should be required to register too.
Since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001
afGHanistan war
vietnam war
in 1965, President Johnson sends
combat troops to help south vietnam
fight north vietnam. draft-card burning
becomes a symbol of declining public
support for the war, and anti-war
protests mount. two million conscripts
are called up, while 500,000 men
illegally evade the draft before
President nixon ends it in 1973.
iraq & afGHanistan
an all-volunteer military is fighting
two wars, with 130,000 u.s. troops
in iraq and 65,000 in afghanistan.
President obama has pledged to
withdraw most troops from iraq by
the summer of 2010. while there
have been some calls for a return
to the draft, it seems unlikely in the
absence of a military emergency.
and 2003 respectively—and with thousands of troops dealing
with multiple deployments because the military is stretched
so thin—some have called for a return to the draft. Ironically,
many of the arguments used against the draft during Vietnam
are being used against the volunteer military today: that the
armed forces still do not “represent America” because there
are, they argue, disproportionate numbers of minority, rural,
and blue-collar soldiers.
a conGressman’s crusade
Congressman Charles B. Rangel of New York, a Korean War
veteran, has introduced legislation to reinstitute the draft several
times in recent years, but has failed to garner much support in the
House of Representatives. (In 2004, his bill failed 402-2.) He has
said he will try to reintroduce the bill again this year.
“Those that have to go to fight should not be selected
from those who volunteered because of economic circumstances,”
Rangel said in 2003.
The politics of the draft, however, and the Pentagon’s general
belief that the quality of a volunteer force is higher than
what a draft would produce, make it unlikely that the draft
will return anytime soon.
“In truth, I have been surprised that the military has somehow,
through two conflicts, been able to patch it together
without a draft,” says Michael S. Foley, a historian who has
written about Vietnam and conscription. “But I think the
public is so much against the idea, and most in the Congress
think it would be political suicide.”
September 7, 2009 25

environment
bAck to tHe tAp?
How tHe environmentAl impAct of bottled wAter
is getting people to give up tHeir plAstic
Americans have gotten the message that water
is a lot healthier than soda and many other
beverages, and the evidence is everywhere:
plastic water bottles stuffed into backpacks,
gym bags, and all too often, tossed empty on
the side of the road.
In fact, the United States is now the world’s largest consumer
of bottled water. In 2008, Americans spent $11 billion
to guzzle more than 8 billion gallons.
But while the water is good for us, the plastic bottles it comes
in may not be so good for the planet: They consume massive
amounts of fossil fuel to produce and transport, then pile up in
landfills. This has led to efforts across the U.S. to urge people to
turn on their faucets instead
of buying bottled water.
Given the tough economic
times, the cost of bottled
water, as well as its environmental
impact, has prompted
city officials in San Francisco
and Los Angeles to ban the
use of city funds to buy it.
And on many high school
and college campuses, the
reusable plastic or steel water
bottle has become something
of a badge of environmental
GalloNS per perSoN per year
26 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
30
25
20
15
10
5
By Nicole Cotroneo
U.S. Bottled-Water CoNSUmptioN
(GalloNS per perSoN per year)
awareness. Berkeley High School in California has removed
bottled water from its cafeteria, and colleges like Washington
University in St. Louis, Missouri, and Belmont University in
Nashville, Tennessee, have banned its sale on campus.
Although it’s true that other beverages also come in plastic
bottles, environmentalists point out that buying water in
bottles is unnecessary and wasteful because the tap water in
most American cities is perfectly acceptable.
“First of all, water is water is water,” says Marion Nestle, a
professor of nutrition at New York University. “Second, tap
water in the developed world is not only cleaner than bottled
water, but it has fluoride, which most bottled water does not.
Mostly, you are paying for the convenience of the bottle.”
That convenience comes
0
1988 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
SOURCE: BEVERAGE MARKETING CORPORATION
at a steep price. In New York
City, for example, an eightounce
glass of tap water
costs $0.0005. Eight glasses
a day comes to $1.46 per
year. But the same amount of
bottled water can cost more
than $1,400 a year.
Several U.S. cities, including
San Francisco, New
York, and Houston, are
promoting their municipal
water supplies. The town
MEDIA BAKERY (GIRL WITH BOTTLE); CHAD HUNT/CORBIS (BOTTLES)

of Babylon, N.Y., has pulled single-serve water bottles from its
vending machines, upgraded public drinking fountains, and
offered free reusable bottles to residents as part of a local campaign
to help people kick the habit of buying bottled water.
Steve Bellone, the Babylon town supervisor, says the bottled-
water industry “has done an effective job of convincing people
that drinking bottled water is good for you. But we have some
of the most pristine water in the country.”
not as pure as you think
Some consumers say they drink bottled water because it
tastes better than tap water, or because they believe it has
fewer impurities. But in blind taste tests, most people can’t tell
the difference between tap and bottled.
And bottled water is not necessarily healthier. In 2008, the
Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization in
Washington, D.C., tested 10 popular brands of bottled water
and found 38 chemical pollutants altogether, with an average of
8 per brand; 4 brands were contaminated with bacteria.
Bottled water also leaves a hefty carbon footprint. Plasticbottle
production in the U.S. consumes at least 17 million
barrels of oil annually, according to the Pacific Institute, an
environmental research organization. And that doesn’t even
take into account the oil it takes to transport bottled water
from as far away as Fiji and refrigerate it.
The environmental impact of bottled water doesn’t end
there. Eighty-six percent of the plastic water bottles used in
every yeAr,
billions
of wAter
bottles
end up in
lAndfills.
the U.S. become garbage or litter, according to the Container
Recycling Institute. About 38 billion per year wind up in
landfills, where they can remain intact for up to 1,000 years.
To offset its negative image, the bottled-water industry is
taking measures to produce a greener product. Nestlé, which
sells Perrier and Poland Spring, and Coca-Cola, which sells
Dasani and Evian, have reduced bottle weight and launched
conservation and recycling projects. Fiji Water plans to
become “carbon negative” by using renewable energy sources
like windmills and investing in reforestation projects.
thoughtless extravagance?
Meanwhile, as the debate over bottled water continues,
more than 1 billion people in developing countries lack access
to any source of clean drinking water. Peter Singer, a bioethicist
at Princeton University, says that in countries where the drinking
water is safe, bottled water is a wasteful luxury.
“We’re completely thoughtless about handing out $1 for this
bottle of water when there are virtually identical alternatives for
free,” Singer told Fast Company magazine. “Put that dollar in a
jar on the counter instead, carry a water bottle, and at the end
of the month, send all the money to Oxfam or CARE and help
someone who has real needs. And you’re no worse off.”
Nicole Cotroneo covers Long Island, N.Y., for The New York Times.
Additional reporting by Bill Marsh, Julia Moskin, and Alex Williams
of The Times, and by Suzanne Bilyeu.
September 7, 2009 27

VOICES
HOw I MAdE It
tO CIty HAll
Justin Nickels, 22, on being one of
America’s youngest mayors
By JuStIN NICkElS
On April 7, 2009, I was
elected mayor of
Manitowoc, Wisconsin,
the city where I was born and
raised.
My career in politics began
when I was 17 and a senior
at Manitowoc Lutheran
High School. I read in the
newspaper that elections were
being held for five City Council
seats, and I decided to place
my name on the ballot. Even
though I had been interested in
politics since I was 13, when I
volunteered for Al Gore’s 2000
presidential campaign, I really
had no idea what a Council
member did. But I cared
about our city and its 34,000
residents, so I went to City Hall
and became a candidate.
During the campaign, I
learned that, first and foremost,
people want elected leaders
who listen to their concerns.
As I went door to door, day
after day, voters told me they
were most concerned about
the economy, overspending,
and the accountability of city
officials.
I ended up winning, with 56
percent of the vote, against a
16-year incumbent—surprising
many people in the process.
My four years on the City
Council were an education in
how a city runs: I learned how
to balance a budget, work with
people with different agendas,
and fight for the things that
are important to me, like
curbing wasteful spending.
Last year, I decided to
enter the 2009 race for mayor.
Manitowoc was $70 million in
debt, and I felt that we needed
to look at things from the point
of view of someone who wants
to work and raise a family here.
The campaign was tough,
and the biggest issue I faced
was my age. My opponents
said I didn’t have enough life
experience to be mayor, that
I was single, and didn’t even
pay property taxes. “I can’t
do anything about my age,”
was my usual response, “but
here’s what I plan to do on the
issues.” I won the election by
just 17 votes out of more than
9,500 cast.
Manitowoc is located on
Lake Michigan, about 60 miles
28 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
north of Milwaukee. Our main
industries are manufacturing
and tourism, and a hospital is
the largest single employer.
Being mayor is a full-time
job with an annual salary of
$68,880. My day can include
everything from attending
meetings and ribbon-cutting
ceremonies to deciding where
to hold the city’s annual July
4th picnic. (This year, we moved
the picnic to a downtown park
with better facilities and saved
about $2,500.)
The biggest issue we face is
an unemployment rate around
13 percent, compared with
about 10 percent nationwide.
Another challenge is
balancing the annual $80
million city budget.
In addition to being mayor,
Nickels takes
the oath of office
in April.
‘I can’t do anything about my age, but
here’s what I plan to do on the issues.’
I’m working toward a bachelor’s
degree in public administration
at the University of Wisconsin at
Green Bay. Because of my
schedule, I’m taking classes
online.
I’ll be up for re-election
in 2013. Someday, I might
decide to run for state or even
national office. But for now,
I’m focused on doing my job as
mayor because that’s what I
was elected to do. •
Send us your 500-word story,
along with your name, address,
and phone number. If we publish
it, we’ll pay you $100.
The New York Times
UpfroNT
557 BrOAdwAy
NEw yOrk, Ny 10012
or upfront@scholastic.com
JASLYN GILBERT, HERALD TIMES REPORTER/AP IMAGES

PHOTOS BY I-STOCKPHOTO
Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush,
YES Bill Clinton, and I all supported a ban on semiautomatic
assault weapons like AK-47s and Uzis, and such a
ban was finally passed in 1994.
When the 10-year ban was set to expire, many police groups
called on Congress and President George W. Bush to renew and
strengthen it. But instead, it was allowed to expire in 2004.
I have used weapons since
I was big enough to carry one,
and I now own two handguns,
four shotguns, and three rifles,
two with scopes. I use them
carefully, for hunting with my
family and friends. We cherish
the right to own a gun.
But none of us wants to own
an assault weapon because we
have no desire to kill policemen
or go to a school or workplace
to see how many victims we
can accumulate before we are
finally shot or take our own
lives. That’s why the White
House and Congress must not
give up on trying to reinstate a
ban on assault weapons.
An overwhelming majority of Americans, including me
and my hunting companions, believe in the right to own
weapons. But surveys show that most Americans also support
modest restraints like background checks, mandatory
registration, brief waiting periods before gun purchases—
and banning assault weapons. In opposing such a ban, the
National Rifle Association is defending criminals’ access to
assault weapons and use of ammunition that can penetrate
protective clothing worn by police officers on duty.
In 2006, more than 30,000 people died from firearms—nearly
20 percent of all injury deaths. It is time to ban assault weapons,
which are designed only to kill police officers and the people
they defend. •
—PRESIDENT jIMMy CARTER (1977-81)
ShOulD ASSAulT
wEApONS BE BANNED?
A 10-year ban was allowed to expire in 2004.
President Obama wants Congress to pass a new one.
DEBATE
The reinstatement of a ban on so-called “assault”
NO weapons runs counter to the Second Amendment,
which protects the right to lawfully keep and bear arms.
The first question is whether the previous assault-
weapons ban was effective in its stated goal: a reduction in
violent crime. During the time it was in effect, from 1994 to
2004, there was no measurable reduction in violent crime
that could be attributed specifically
to the ban.
A g o v e r n m e n t s t u d y
required by the 1994 legislation
that enacted the ban
“found no statistical evidence
of post-ban decreases in
either the number of victims
per gun-homicide incident,
t h e n u m b e r o f g u n s h o t
wounds per victim, or the
proportion of gunshot victims
with multiple wounds.”
Besides ineffectiveness,
the ban was problematic
because it included weapons
largely due to their appearance.
The words “assault
weapons” conjure images of
fully automatic machine guns, but many weapons outlawed
by the ban mechanically function the same way as a legal
semi-automatic hunting rifle or shotgun.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia
v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s
right to keep and bear arms primarily for self-defense. In
affirming the right to own a particular class of firearms for
personal safety—in Heller’s case, a handgun—the Court
sent a clear message that incremental steps to erode the
Second Amendment are unacceptable.
Considering its ineffectiveness and, I believe, incompatibility
with the rights guaranteed in the Second Amendment,
the assault-weapons ban is better left expired. •
—CONGRESSMAN DAN BOREN, Democrat of Oklahoma
SEPTEMBER 7, 2009 29

the ethicist Life’s full of questions; he’s got answers.
When i arrived to babysit for a family whose children i adore,
the mother told me her daughter was coming down with a cold.
shouldn’t she have warned me in advance? i’m a student and don’t have
time to get sick. i stayed, knowing this mom needed the help, but my dad
says i should have left. is he right? eve rybnick, West orange, n.J.
he is not. You did well not
to leave this mother in the
lurch, although she should
have told you promptly about
her child’s health and let you
decide if you wanted the job.
An employer should not
significantly alter the terms of
employment. But her failure
to alert you to this minor
malady is not enough reason
to walk out on her. And there’s
the possibility that her child’s
symptoms emerged too late
for the mom to make other
arrangements.
Let’s keep things in
perspective. The daughter
didn’t have the plague; she
had a cold—a routine hazard
for anyone who leaves their
house, and certainly for
the BaBysitter’s Dilemma
anyone who has contact with
kids: They’re walking petri
dishes of who knows what.
Incidentally, nobody has
time to get sick. But with
ordinary precautions—like
washing your hands
frequently—most people don’t
need to become hermits to
avoid catching cold. •
i’m a student intern at a
nonprofit theater. When i was
assigned to do research on
a new play, i discovered that
many passages were taken
verbatim and without citation
from various sources, ranging
from websites to literary
journals. i’d like to alert the
theater’s artistic director,
but i fear tensions and
recriminations. must i take
that risk? NAME WITHHELD
ranDy cohen writes “The Ethicist” column in the neW york times magazine. If you’d like help with a moral dilemma you’re facing at school, at home, or at work,
send your question to: ethicist@nytimes.com or The Ethicist, The New York Times Magazine, 620 Eighth Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10018, and include a phone number.
30 Upfront • Upfrontmagazine.com
you must. As a novice,
you’re understandably
reluctant to anger senior
and influential people who
can affect your professional
future—but that should not
deter you from speaking up.
Better that this comes
out now than on opening
night: Critics can be harsh,
and lawyers even harsher.
By acting promptly, you can
protect the theater and thus
do your duty. If the artistic
director is wise, the response
should not be recrimination
but appreciation.
It’s also possible that
what you’ve discovered is
not deliberate plagiarism
but a careless failure to cite
sources. If that’s the case, the
artistic director can talk to the
writer and work out a solution:
Cut the passages in question,
properly credit them, or
significantly rework them.
Another possibility is that
the author intentionally used
diverse material to construct
a collage play. There’s nothing
wrong with that, as long as
he or she meets all legal
and ethical obligations to the
audience and the original
authors.
Depending on how much
of this material is used and
how (and whether it’s in the
public domain), payments and
permissions might be legally
required. As an ethical matter,
the audience should know what
it’s getting, and all sources
should be acknowledged in
the program. •
ILLUSTRATION BY chRISTOph NIemANN

JoE HELLEr • Green Bay Press-Gazette (Wisconsin)
PaUL FELL • Lincoln Journal Star (Nebraska) • artIZans
rJ Matson • St. Louis Post-Dispatch •
caGLE cartoons
See p. 16
roB roGErs • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette •
cartoons
UnItEd FEatUrE syndIcatE
MIKE LUcKoVIcH • Atlanta Journal-Constitution • crEators syndIcatE
PatrIcK corrIGan • Toronto Star (Ontario, Canada) •
See p. 26
caGLE cartoons
September 7, 2009 31

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