In his much-maligned "malaise" speech, President Jimmy Carter spoke of a "crisis of the American spirit" and a Congress paralyzed by special interests. He warned that shared sacrifice had been "abandoned like an orphan without support and without friends." Those warnings hold true. The United States needs to come to terms with its lowered economic position and restore its moral leadership.

Posted 5 p.m. Mon. Nov. 17 - This weekend, nearly a hundred St. Louisans, many of them high school students, will travel to Fort Benning, GA to protest the School of the Americas. Among its graduates are some of Latin America's most notorious dictators, guilty of some of the continent's most savage human rights violations. Rachel Heidenry, who participated in the protest while a student at Nerinx Hall and Bard College, describes the experience and took the photographs that accompany the story and are in a slideshow at the end of the article.

The Big Three automakers may well be facing drastic, forced reorganization, but they do not have the same compelling case for a government bailout as the financial sector had. Business professor Anjan Thakor explains the difference.

M.W. Guzy notes that a case can be made that the financial problem started when Congress required credit-card companies to charge a minimum payment that actually included principal as well as interest. So, shouldn't Washington get to the root of the problem?

Time for a celebration!

Today is the 80th birthday of one of Hollywood's most beloved creations: Mickey Mouse !

..while yesterday was the 30th anniversary of something they'd rather not talk about: Star Wars, The Holiday Special .