Free Republic

Where politicians and a draft constitution have failed, a television show has succeeded. Iraq stands united in its enthusiasm for its own version of Pop Idol.Iraq Star has become a television phenomenon since it began six weeks ago and more than 2,000 hopefuls have risked the country's dangerous roads to audition. This week, in a studio in a corner of Baghdad's Babylon Hotel, a teenage girl attempted one of the Lebanese pop songs popular among young Iraqis only to be mercilessly ridiculed for her inability to dance. Then, in a musical critique rarely heard on the British version of the...

I've had to open the Oval Office doors more frequently for a bad performance on television than for somebody whose temper flared enough to cause for such summons, since the doors to the Oval Office, and the term itself, debuted February 22 at Rockingham, NC. (And Francis Ferko should . . . I can't say it. He homewrecked two cities and a whole state to please himself.) But now the Oval Office doors are opening wide again for a looney show on the WB called "Superstar USA". "Auditions for The WB's Superstar USA were held in Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Orlando...