Updated

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson (search), husband of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, says he wanted the Iraq constitution to be rejected because he said that would force the U.S. to "go back to the drawing board" on its Iraq policy. Wilson told an audience at San Francisco State University Thursday that he was ashamed of his country, which he said had turned into "just another imperial power who has unleashed the dogs of war."

The Oakland Tribune reports that when Wilson was asked if he'd consider running for public office, he replied that he'd had "too many wives and taken too many drugs. And yes, I did inhale."

Rice Part of Problem?

Colin Powell's former chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson (search) , a longtime foe of the Bush foreign policy, is blaming what he calls a cabal for hijacking the decision making process inside the administration. In a speech in Washington, Wilkerson said there was "a cabal between Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld on critical decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made."

Wilkerson said then National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (search) was part of the problem because she never crossed the cabal, preferring instead to build her intimacy with the president, who, by the way, Wilkerson says was unable to control Cheney and Rumsfeld because he's "not versed in international relations and not too interested in them either."

U.S. Doing Well

Meanwhile former Secretary of State Colin Powell (search) is singing a different tune, saying the U.S. is doing well diplomatically. Powell told his audience at SUNY Buffalo yesterday that the Iraq war was justified and that the U.S. must stay there until political stability is achieved. Powell cited U.S. diplomatic successes in Europe and China, and predicted a diplomatic solution to nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea.

And despite a small group of protesters that gathered outside the auditorium where Powell spoke, he received a standing ovation when he took the stage.

English Only?

An Ohio man is fighting a state regulatory ruling that ordered him to remove a sign reading, "For Service, Speak English" from the window of his tavern. The Ohio Civil Rights Commission (search) (search) decided earlier this month that the sign violates discrimination laws. But the owner of the Pleasure Inn in the town of Mason is appealing, insisting that the tavern serves everyone.

So, why the sign? He says he has no Spanish-speaking employees, which can make communication difficult. If the ruling stands, the tavern could be forced to take down the sign, pay for ads promoting nondiscrimination, and enroll its employees in diversity and cultural sensitivity courses.

— FOX News' Aaron Bruns contributed to this report