Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Gun Smoke and Mirrors

Three months after his aide was arrested carrying a loaded pistol into the Senate office building — Virginia Democratic Senator Jim Webb is now acknowledging it was his gun.

Phillip Thompson was arrested in March as he tried to bring the gun and two loaded magazines into the building in a bag belonging to the senator.

But at the time Webb said he did not give Webb the gun. He now tells a Richmond, Virginia newspaper that it was in fact his gun. But he still says he did not give Thompson the weapon or ask him to do anything with it.

Webb would not address a question about whether he felt he was above complying with the District of Columbia handgun ban. But he did say he never carries a gun into the Capitol complex.

"Culture of Bias"

A year-long investigation of the British Broadcasting Company has condemned what it calls a "culture of bias" in the network including its news coverage — finding the BBC is anything but fair and balanced on issues such as climate change, poverty, race and religion.

British media say the report — which was commissioned by the BBC itself — finds the organization has been undermined by the liberal culture of its staff — with few challenging those preconceived positions. "There is a tendency to 'group think' with too many staff inhabiting a shared space and comfort zone," the report says.

It offers a 12-step program to help the BBC safeguard its impartiality — including a call for fair-minded, evidence-based judgments and discussions exploring more than one side of a given issue.

Slaughter Due to Climate Change?

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon says the slaughter in Darfur was triggered by global climate change — and more such conflicts may be on the horizon.

Ban wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece — "The Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change... the drying of sub-Saharan Africa derives, to some degree, from man-made global warming. It is no accident that the violence in Darfur erupted during the drought."

Ban says Sudan is not the only country with such problems. He points to Somalia, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso as African countries with what he calls "food and water insecurity."

Hands to Yourself

And if you want to stay out of the principal's office at Kilmer Middle School in Vienna, Virginia — outside Washington — then keep your hands to yourself. And we're not talking just about fighting.

The school has forbidden all touching — including hugs, handshakes, and even high-fives.

The Washington Post reports the principal says the students need to have their personal space protected — and many lack the maturity to understand what is acceptable or welcome.
But the father of one student who got in trouble for putting his arm around his girlfriend says they encourage hugs and handshakes at home — and don't want him to get the message that all physical contact is wrong.

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