Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Justified Assassination?
British lawmaker George Galloway says a suicide bomber would be "morally justified" in assassinating Tony Blair as revenge for the war on Iraq. Galloway told GQ magazine that murder would "be entirely logical and explicable. And morally equivalent to ordering the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iraq," as Galloway says Blair did when he sent British troops to the country.
Galloway's remarks come as the unpredictable member of Parliament made a surprise appearance on a Cuban TV show yesterday embracing Fidel Castro and denouncing a Forbes magazine report putting the dictator's net worth at $950 million as part of a "Yankee Imperialist" conspiracy.
French Fix
The U.S. isn't the only country struggling to deal with high gas prices. French officials have come up with some interesting solutions to deal with the cost — including putting signs on the pumps reminding drivers to conserve energy.
Finance Minister Thierry Breton says he wants to test new drivers on fuel saving driving techniques and has called for warnings on energy advertisements, similar to those on cigarettes, reading, "energy is a rare commodity that must be preserved."
Breton also unveiled a Web site comparing pump prices at French gas stations so drivers can search for the cheapest gas.
Banned in Solomon Islands
The South Pacific's Solomon Islands have become the latest in a string of countries to ban the Hollywood blockbuster "The Da Vinci Code." The movie, which claims Jesus Christ was married and had a child, broke worldwide box office records when it opened last weekend, but Prime Minister Manasseh Sagavare says the film could destroy the moral fabric of the Christian nation.
The prime minister admitted that enforcing the ban would be difficult since the island nation has no active censorship body. But it's made easier by the fact that the country also has no movie theaters. The majority of movies viewed in the Solomon Islands are on pirated DVDs.
The Power of Idol
Thirty-five percent of U.S. televisions in use were tuned in to the finale of FOX's "American Idol" on Wednesday night — including the set of Washington's most powerful woman.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took time out from diplomacy to join the millions of Americans awaiting the results of the singing competition. The secretary had a rooting interest this year — eventual winner Taylor Hicks is a fellow native of Birmingham, Alabama.
But a State Department spokesman tells Time magazine that Rice is an unabashed fan of the show and plans to send Hicks her congratulations.
—FOX News Channel's Aaron Bruns contributed to this report.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox