Valerie Plame Sues the CIA

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Plame Game

Former CIA officer Valerie Plame has accused high-ranking government officials of leaking her covert identity to the press, so you'd think she'd be especially sensitive to exposing classified information.

But Plame and the publisher of her upcoming memoirs are suing the CIA for refusing to let her write about her undercover work during her years at the agency.

An intelligence source says the manuscript as written would damage CIA operations, saying "the issue is her desire to talk about things she did which remain legitimately classified."

Plame announced the lawsuit at a New York trade show, where's she's promoting her new book.

Cynthia in 2008?

Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who lost her reelection bid after allegedly slugging a Capitol Hill policeman who failed to recognize her at a security checkpoint, maybe on the ballot again... as a presidential candidate.

The Georgia Democrat tells WBAI radio that she's thinking about running for the Green Party nomination in 2008, saying "all the current Democrats running for president support the principle of potential military action against Iran," and that "none of them is for impeachment of the president." "They can't speak for me," she said, adding, "I'm open to a lot of ideas in 2008."

President of "Tommorrow"?

Hillary Clinton unveiled a technology plan in California on Thursday that she said would create "New Jobs for Tomorrow" in part by encouraging more education in science and math. But she may want to work on more English education as well. Clinton delivered her Silicon Valley address in front of a banner that misspelled "Tomorrow" in big, white letters — by adding an extra "m."

Gas Guzzler?

A few weeks ago, in a speech in Detroit, Barack Obama criticized American automakers for — "hemorrhaging jobs and profits as foreign competitors answer the rising global demand for fuel-efficient cars."

Yesterday, Ford Motor Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. was asked about that and replied he was "very disappointed" in the criticism. Ford told a chamber of commerce group — "I would love to invite him to our Chicago assembly plant in his state and see where we make a vehicle that's more efficient than the one he's currently driving," — referring to Obama's V8, Hemi-powered Chrysler 300 Sedan. Perhaps in anticipation of other political criticism, Obama's campaign says the Senator sold his gas-thirsty V-8 — and now drives a fuel-efficient Ford Escape Hybrid.

Meat vs. the Environment

Researchers in the Netherlands say raising animals just to eat them is "not so good for the environment." So they're working on a unique approach to the problem — growing meat in a lab. That's right — growing meat.

Scientists at Utrecht University say manufactured meat would eliminate the need for animal feed, livestock transport, land use — and the methane gas expelled by animals — all of which harm the environment.

Steaks from a petri dish are still a few years away, though — so far, the scientists have only been successful in producing a few thin layers of cells that no one would confuse with a rib eye.

—FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.