Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
The Usual Suspects?
The former deputy head of the Egyptian Domestic Security Agency says the group behind yesterday’s deadly bombings in Dahab is not Arab Terrorists — it’s Israel.
General Fouad Allam, who in 2004 pinned the bombing of a Sinai hotel on the Israeli Intelligence service Mossad, said only the Israelis had anything to gain from carrying out the attacks arguing that Arabs would not have targeted areas frequented by Egyptians.
What’s more, Allam believes Mossad is involved because, just prior to the bombings, Israel warned its citizens to avoid the region because of possible terror attacks.
Rush to Judgment?
The Center for Responsive Politics is calling on Illinois Representative Bobby Rush to recuse himself from a key telecommunications vote before the Energy and Commerce Committee — after a report that the community center he founded received a $1 million grant from a major phone company.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that SBC/AT&T donated the money for the still-unbuilt “Bobby L. Rush Center for Community Technology” in 2001. Rush is the only Democrat on the committee backing the bill, which is supported by phone companies. But he denies any conflict of interest, saying “the real conflict” stems from current telecommunication laws that hurt the poor.
Switching Support
Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich may have gained national prominence during his long shot 2004 presidential campaign, but his national ambitions have cost him the support of his hometown paper.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer has long endorsed the former Cleveland mayor for his House seat, but now writes:
“Rather than focusing on the real and immediate needs of this district… Kucinich has been on a quixotic journey of increasingly grandiose proportions. He spent much of 2004 on a one-man campaign for president of the United States, having cobbled together a creaky, left-slanted platform upon which his party would not set foot, but which he would not abandon.”
Classroom Concerns
A parents rights group says it may sue the school district in Lexington, Massachusetts, after a second grade teacher read students a fairy tale about a gay marriage. The book, “King & King,” tells the story of a prince who rebuffs a bevy of beautiful princesses and instead lives “happily ever after” with another prince.
The president of the Parents Rights Coalition argues the school is legally obligated to notify parents when teaching sex education. But the school’s superintendent says the book isn’t sex-ed, but is merely “teaching children about the world they live in.”
The same school made headlines last year after sending kindergarten students home with a “diversity book bag,” including material on homosexual families.
— FOX News’ Aaron Bruns contributed to this report.
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