EPA Not Living Up to its Own Standards

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Leading the Way

As the Environmental Protection Agency finalizes strict new regulations for dealing with toxic lead in residential homes, the agency is cleaning up dangerous lead contamination at its o wn headquarters.

The Daily Caller reports lead levels in dust samples taken from the EPA's Washington headquarters were much higher than federal government limits for commercial buildings. In one case levels were almost 93,000 percent higher than normal. The General Services Administration, which owns the building, is running cleanup efforts and pursuing more testing.

An official with a union that represents most EPA employees said he was shocked to hear about the situation: "We're the EPA — who's supposed to be the agency that regulates lead."

You're So Vain?

Conservative critics have long called President Obama narcissistic and overconfident.

Arkansas Democratic Congressman Marion Berry said that when he voiced his fear that this year's midterm elections could resemble those of a disastrous 1994, "The president himself ... said, "Well, the big difference here and in '94 was you've got me."

Well, not surprisingly President Obama does not agree with the narcissist-in-chief charge. In fact, an Australian reporter recently interviewed President Obama, and wrote this about the president: "He was quite expansive and quite genuine on what he saw as the commonality and connections between [he and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd]. One of which was humility."

One news compilation site that linked to the Australian write-up headlined it: "President Obama: Australia's Prime Minister and I Are Awesome Because We're Both So Humble."

Better Off Dead

And finally, a Tennessee town was so unhappy with its incumbent mayor that voters overwhelmingly elected a dead man instead.

The Chattanooga Times reports a local alderman running for mayor died of a heart attack a month before the balloting. But residents still felt he was the better choice over current mayor Barbara Brock in Tuesday's election.

When asked how she felt losing to a dead man, Brock responded, "I'll live."

— Fox News Channel's Lanna Britt contributed to this report.