Free Republic

Advocacy groups opposing the planned shutdown of 49 schools in Chicago are turning to the United Nations for help, urging U.N. officials to investigate and take steps to prevent human rights abuses which, they say, will result from the closures.

As is the case most weeks, Sunday's political news programs had a clear recurring theme - ducking the threshold question of this and every presidential election since Ronald Reagan so brilliantly raised it - "Are the American People better off today than they were four years ago?"With Democrats gathering for their national convention in Charlotte, the talking head circuit was riddled with Obama surrogates and apologists.  I guess that's fair.  A week ago, the shows were booked solid with GOP'ers.  Well, GOP'ers and weatherman, but I digress. Yes, the best and brightest the Obama camp has to offer were on full display...

WASHINGTON -- Dr. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, arrived at CBS's Washington studios Sunday with one unusual talking point for his "Face the Nation" interview clearly in mind. He claimed Iraqi women were better off under Saddam Hussein's barbarous regime than they are likely to be under the nascent democracy. In fact, he said it three times. "That's a terrible thing to say," one old-line Democratic loyalist told me. "But what are we going to do about him? We're stuck with him." The answer by this Democrat and many others is to ignore him, which is not...

DEKALB COUNTY -- Two seniors at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. High School will miss their baccalaureate -- but make their graduation -- after a stink that started over a cake knife. Because of the school's zero tolerance policy on weapons, Ashley Pickens and Candace Grier, both honor students, were suspended from school for 10 days and told they would not be allowed to attend their baccalaureate ceremonies. The DeKalb school superintendent upheld that punishment but decided to allow the girls to walk with their classmates during graduation. The trouble started when the girls brought a cake to school and...