If it were the Olympics, Hillary Clinton would be a fraction of a point from gold. The primary race between her and Obama was the closest since primaries became a bigger part of the nominee selection process.  She and her supporters deserve their moment in court.  They ought to get a roll call vote at the Democratic convention, now only days away.

Why not allow her name to be put in nomination?  The obvious reason is that Obama doesn't want to highlight the closeness of the primary electionn, the number of delegates who didn't vote for him.  Understandable.  Others fear it would broadcast a message of disunity. The media has been wringing their hands over the unity factor. However, Clinton supporters want their day at court.  She earned it, and it may take an act such as a roll call to satisfy them.  Let's not forget that the delegate count is the reason for a national convention, and there are plenty of historical precedents of roll calls for candidates who were not nearly as close.

On Thursday, a judge ruled that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick can travel to Denver to attend the Democratic National Convention and can get rid of an electronic tether that had been ordered as part of his bond in his perjury case.

The Houston Chronicle reports that, “Kilpatrick and his former top aide were in Wayne County Circuit Court for an arraignment on perjury and other charges stemming from a text-messaging sex scandal. Not guilty please were entered on their behalf.”

A gunman shot and killed the chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party in the party's Little Rock headquarters on Wednesday before being shot and killed after a 30-mile chase.  Chairman Bill Gwatney, 49, died four hours after being shot.  The shooter entered party offices and said he wanted to volunteer, and then went into Gwatney's office and began firing.  Gwatney was a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention and declared supporter of Hillary Clinton. 

The United States has rejected an Israeli arms request that would have enhanced Israel’s military capability to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to a front-page report in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper on Wednesday.

Fox News reports that, “the U.S. warned Israel against attacking, saying such a strike would undermine American interests, the paper said. The unsourced report also says the U.S. demanded that Israel give it a heads-up if it decides to strike Iran.”

A federal judge ruled that the University of California can deny course credit to applicants from Christian high schools whose textbooks declare the Bible infallible and reject evolution.

A book by a conservative author that goes negative on Democrat Barack Obama is set to hit the top of the New York Times bestseller list this weekend, the newspaper said this weekend.

According to AFP, “’The Obama Nation’ is by Jerome Corsi, who made his name by co-authoring, ‘Unfit for Command,’ which maligned 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry’s Vietnam War record and contributed to his defeat by President George W. Bush.”

On Wednesday, separatist fighters and Russian troops looted and set homes ablaze in Georgian territory amid fears over a fragile ceasefire that ended five days of bitter conflict.

The AFP reports that, “despite a French-brokered truce agreed Tuesday by the leaders of the two countries, Russia faced mounting criticism in the West for its military offensive. Russian armored vehicles patrolled Gori, the flashpoint Georgian town between the capital and South Ossetia, the breakaway region at the center of the conflict.