Free Republic

All Detroit Public Schools students from kindergarten through 12th grade will get free breakfast, lunch and snacks starting this fall under a federal pilot program aimed to eliminate the stigma that students feel when they get a free lunch. Districts in Michigan can participate if at least 40% of their students are entitled to public assistance.

Muslim immigrants face so much discrimination and hostility that they don't feel they belong here, according to a liberal research group. As part of efforts to improve integration, it called for an improvement in public behaviour towards Muslims. And it said other Britons are wrong to worry about segregation and Muslim-dominated enclaves, as there are benefits to "residential clustering". The report, for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, is a strike for multiculturalism, the doctrine which encourages the development of minorities. Multiculturalism fell out of favour in 2005, after the Government's equality chief Trevor Phillips warned that the country was "sleepwalking to...

(Some predict violent protest may be sign of things to come) One day after 21 people were arrested during a demonstration that vandalized a U.S. Army recruiting office on Milwaukee's east side, Wisconsin peace activist groups on Tuesday said some protesters might increasingly turn to destruction as their frustrations mount.Monday night's violence was an anomaly, said Judy Miner of Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, who noted protesters were peaceful at dozens of demonstrations, marches, rallies and vigils held Monday throughout the state. "That's what impressed me," said Miner. "People have been very respectful of the fact that violence doesn't...

As Tom Johnson noted, Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon wrote a column for Thursday's paper, headlined "Gumbel Has the Right To Say What He Feels." After Gumbel insulted union leader Gene Upshaw about needing a "leash" because he was the NFL Commissioner's "pet," Wilbon said he disagreed with the argument that Upshaw made bad deals for football players, but suggested the idea of the NFL Network removing Bryant Gumbel from broadcasting their football games later this fall "not only won't fly but will look like the silliest Nixonian attempt at censorship." But don't give him a First Amendment Award. That's...

VENICE, La., Jan 20 (Reuters) - At the mouth of the Mississippi River, where Hurricane Katrina flattened nearly everything in sight, residents consider themselves the "forgotten survivors." With so much public attention paid to New Orleans, locals living on the decimated, southernmost spit of Louisiana fret that little is coming their way to help rebuild their houses and businesses that sat directly in Katrina's path. The handful who have returned to the wasteland left by the Aug. 29 storm sleep in ramshackle tents or, if they're lucky, in tiny trailers. They gather to smoke, sip beer and swap stories at...

NEW YORK -- Activists plan to hold sit-ins at delegate hotels, take over city intersections, block doors to major corporate offices, confront GOP bigwigs and infiltrate events when Republicans come to town for their political convention. They say the aim is not to cause harm or even stop the convention from proceeding inside Madison Square Garden from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2. They will use what they call creative mischief to call attention to their disgust with the Bush administration. "It sends that message loud and clear, that people feel so strongly that they are willing to put their freedom...