I have avi type 2 files created either with kdenlive or kino from a firewire capture device called a Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge. It captures at 720x480 but is there a way to stretch it so it matches my project settings of 1280x720? Is there some video effect I can apply that would do that?

The Pan and Zoom effect with greater than 100% if your source will stand it quality wise or comp over black giving letterbox appearance.

Blowing up 480 footage inside a 720 project will result in artefacts in my experience.

Edit at 480p, then render to 720p at the final stage will give you better results.

rendering to 1280x720 results in having black bars on the left and right, I want my source video to fill 1280x720.

UPDATE: it appears like I can use the Crop,Scale,Position but the numbers are very weird. Starting Scale is at X=50 Y=50 and the Tilt X=640 Tilt Y=360. It seems like I can change Scale to X=68 and then Tilt to X=525 and it looks like it filled my 1280x720@30 project monitor window. I guess I figured it out by guessing the numbers till it "looked" like it filled the entire 1280 width just thru me off with those weird starting numbers