Credentials in Question

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Identity Issues?

Controversial University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill, who compared victims of the 9/11 attacks to Nazis says he's "not backing up an inch," insisting, "I owe no one an apology." Speaking at his university last night, Churchill said he not only had the right, but "indeed the obligation" to make the comparison.

Meanwhile, questions are mounting about who Churchill actually is. He's built a career in part on his claimed Native American heritage, but a genealogical study by the Rocky Mountain News has found no Native American ancestors in his family.

And a fellow researcher has looked into questions about Churchill's claim -- in a book and other works -- that a deadly smallpox outbreak among Native Americans in the 19th Century was started by the U.S. Army. According to Lamar University Assistant professor Thomas Brown, none of the sources Churchill cites said anything of the kind.

Front-Page Folly?

The Washington Post prides itself on a strict policy discouraging the use of anonymous sources. But on its front page today is a story that says the President's second term agenda would enlarge the government and expand its influence over American lives.

The paper says this break with previous Republican policy of trying to shrink government is part of a concerted strategy, according to "Republicans inside and outside the White House." The paper then fails to mention a single Republican inside the White House or even quote one anonymously.

Martin's Make of It

Baltimore's Democratic Mayor, Martin O'Malley, has compared President Bush's new budget to the 9/11 hijackers. At a news conference yesterday, O'Malley said, "Back on September 11, terrorists attacked our metropolitan cores, two of America's great cities. ... Years later, we are given a budget proposal by our commander in chief ...And with a budget ax, he is attacking America's cities. He is attacking our metropolitan core."

DC Democratic Mayor Anthony Williams called that "harsh." And Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, a Democrat, said O'Malley "went way too far." But O'Malley, quoted by the Washington Post, insists he wasn't trying to say the budget is like a terrorist attack.

Officials Taking Off With Aid?

Nearly seven weeks after a deadly tsunami ripped through Sri Lanka, only 30 percent of Sri Lankans affected by the tsunami have received aid and many insist it's because government officials are stealing it.

In Brak-mana-watte, village official Manori de Silva allegedly gave food and supplies to friends and relatives unaffected by the tsunami. She's been suspended. In Bala-pah-tiya, two officials have also been suspended for allegedly misusing aid. And in Kalu-rata, villagers say their official is giving aid only to his supporters. The Sri Lankan government is now setting up a "special complaint unit" for citizens to record their grievances.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report