Supreme Court Justices Wary of Accepting Cookies From Strangers
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Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Deal with the Devil?
Former Senator John Edwards has made a campaign of blasting Wal-Mart for failing to provide health care for its workers... but he's feeling the heat after a staff member asked the retail giant for help in getting Edwards a new Playstation 3 video game system. Wal-Mart issued a release saying : "While the rest of America's working families are waiting patiently in line, Senator Edwards wants to cut to the front."
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But Edwards calls the whole thing a misunderstanding — saying his wife mentioned that she wanted one of the games for their children — leading a volunteer to reach out to Wal-Mart without Edwards' knowledge.
Edwards wasn't the only shopper bitten by Playstation mania. A Milwaukee man is in the hospital after running face-first into a flagpole in the rush to buy this season's hot new item.
Macadamia Nut-Job?
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Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor says it's not easy being a judge these days... recalling an incident last year in which each justice received what she called a "wonderful package of home-baked cookies" that contained "enough poison to kill the entire membership of the court."
Barbara Joan March is serving 15 years in prison for mailing baked goods — laced with rat poison — to the nine justices, as well as the chiefs of staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and the director of the FBI.
The deadly sweets never reached their intended recipients. Security personnel immediately noticed the letters on each package reading: "I am going to kill you" and "This is poisoned."
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Public Praise
Remember Alberto Fernandez? The State Department press officer was forced to apologize last month after telling Al Jazeera that the U.S. had shown "arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq.
Well after a month of silence, the State Department is finally speaking out on Fernandez — not to condemn him, but to praise his "integrity, courage, [and] sensitivity."
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Fernandez was selected from three department nominees for the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy by Tufts University... for his work with pan-Arab media ... to increase the number of appearances by U.S. officials.
He receives a certificate signed by Secretary Condoleezza Rice — and $10,000 in cash.
A Younger, Hipper Al Qaeda?
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Terrorist recruiters are looking to new marketing techniques to target today's Muslim youth over the Internet.
That according to Singapore terror expert Bouchaib Silm, who says the days are long gone when terrorists could attract potential suicide bombers by showing a video of Usama bin Laden speaking for an hour in front of a blank wall.
Silm says today's youth won't listen to bin Laden, calling the terrorist mastermind "boring." The answer for terrorist recruiters? Internet comedy clips and David Letterman style "Top Ten" lists — including a video list of the top ten most devastating terror attacks.
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—FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.