Friday digest-open thread 10/26/07

Welcome to this week's round-up of news and views. Your comments and additions are welcome!

Two weeks ago tomorrow, presidential candidate John Edwards called for a new Citizens Congress that would engage American in discussions of major issues. But young Americans aren't waiting: They're seizing opportunities to have their say now, including the Democracy 2.0 Declaration drafted by 47 youth leaders convened by Mobilize.org in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. You can read the declaration and sign on in support here. Thanks to Sandy from NCDD for passing along word of the petition.

Speaking of Edwards' proposal, Mica Stark published an op-ed in the Manchester (New Hampshire) Union Leader this week. Stark noted that although the war in Iraq, health care, the environment, and education are key issues in the 2008 elections, Edwards' call for a Citizens Congress ranks among "the more important speeches of the cycle thus far on the health and state of our democracy. ... While the merits of Edwards' proposal need to be debated, the issue of how the public can be more involved in policymaking and governance should be front and center during the primary, and voters should be pressing all the candidates, on both sides, for their specific ideas in how they see citizens participating and partnering with the next administration in solving our collective problems. ... After election day, most citizens are left on the sidelines as spectators with little opportunity to shape the decisions being made on their behalf." Read the full essay here.

As noted on the Study Circles Resource Center website today, a schools action team that grew out of study circles in the Mundelein, Illinois, area, is exploring ways - including blogs - to improve communication between the local schools and residents. Student study circles are planned soon, too. Read more here, and click here to see how your community can use study circles to work on education and other issues.

At least 1,800 Southern California homes have been destroyed in the wildfires that have swept across the state this month. Against that backdrop, it's some comfort to know that Habitat for Humanity's annual Jimmy Carter Work Project is in Southern California this year. Next week, thousands of volunteers - including former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn - will build 30 news houses and repair 70 more in an event designed to call attention to the 1.6 billion people worldwide who need affordable housing. Here are stories from some of the families involved in next week's build.

The Georgia Supreme Court today ordered that Genarlow Wilson be released from prison, ruling 4-3 that his sentence of up to 10 years in prison on a teen sex conviction was cruel and unusual punishment. In a highly publicized case, Wilson, an African-American, was convicted in 2005 of aggravated child molestation for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. He's now 21. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today that when Wilson was sentenced, his crime "carried a mandatory 10-year sentence with no parole. However, the law was changed in 2006 to make Wilson's crime a misdemeanor with a maximum 1-year sentence."

Here's an interesting essay by writer, researcher, and civic strategist Brad Rourke, who had the recent misfortune to send an email to an unintended recipient. Rourke raises intriguing questions about the balance between immediacy and accuracy in both private (emailed) and public (blogs and the like) online communication. Thanks to Molly for the tip on this.

And with that, this blogger hits the publish button on today's digest, hoping that everything here is fair and accurate - and knowing that one or more readers will let us know if it is not.