As Good As Gross Negligence?

And now the most scintillating two minutes in television, the latest from the political grapevine:

Association Ad-verse

As President Bush begins airing $4.5 million worth of ads with images from 9/11, the International Association of Fire Fighters says the ads are -- "try[ing] to trade on the heroism" of 9/11 fire fighters and are -- "calling on the biggest disaster in our country's history ... to win sympathy for [Bush's] campaign."

In a press release, the association calls the ads -- "disgraceful." However, the press release never mentions that more than five months ago, the association's leadership voted unanimously to endorse John Kerry for president, and has been campaigning with him ever since. The White House, meanwhile, says the ads are appropriate for an election about public policy and the war on terror.

As Good As Gross Negligence?

Democrats today again accused Republican staffers of -- "stealing" their computer memos about President Bush's judicial nominees, but one of the world's best-known computer security experts, a lifelong Democrat, insists staffers from his own party are to blame.

Ira Winkler, writing in the National Review, says Democratic staffers with the Senate Judiciary Committee left the memos on a computer for months after being informed they were insecure... by a Republican. And that, Winkler says, is not a crime but -- "gross negligence. ... the electronic equivalent of leaving the files in the Capitol rotunda."

Passing on the Passion

French film distributors have been refusing to bring Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" into France, many worried that the movie about Jesus Christ's last 12 hours might bolster growing anti-Semitism there.

But now a big-time Muslim movie broker -- Tarak Ben Ammar -- has announced he will distribute "The Passion" in France, insisting -- "it [is] my duty as a Muslim who ... respects ... the three [monotheist] religions, to have this film shown to the French and let them judge it for themselves."

As for Ammar himself, he says -- "It's a powerful film and not at all anti-Semitic."

Inappropriate Inquiry?

The Nova Scotian Health Department, in association with The Canadian Mental Health Association, is giving Nova Scotians a chance to win cash prizes for reporting when newspapers use such -- "inappropriate" words as "basket case," "lunatic," "fruitcake," "madman" and "kooky."

The health department says it's trying to determine if newspapers are -- "respectful of the people who have [mental] illnesses."

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report