No Sympathy for the 'Croc Hunter'?

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Lebanese Priorities

The Lebanese military may have been too weak to do much about containing Hezbollah guerillas, but one official says it has enough firepower to break Israel's blockade of the country. Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh says if the blockade isn't lifted, his government will, "take the necessary measures and we will break the blockade with all our might."

Israel is unlikely to see that might in action, however; it has since announced it will lift its three-week old air and sea blockade on Thursday night.

No Sympathy for the Croc Hunter?

Prominent feminist Germaine Greer says she doesn't have much sympathy for Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin — who was killed by a stingray this week — suggesting that Irwin exploited animals for his own financial gain.

Greer tells the Guardian newspaper she found Irwin's behavior "bizarre" and "revolting," claiming nature had "finally taken its revenge" for harassing the animals he handled. But Australian parliament member Kevin Rudd says Greer should, "stick a sock in it," saying Irwin "made a huge contribution to the preservation of wildlife worldwide" and calling Greer's comments, "a bucket load of politically correct pap."

Trousers Off Limits?

A North Carolina man sentenced to up to 14 years for possessing crack-cocaine will get a new trial, after an appeals court ruled police performed an "unreasonable" search when they found the drugs down the man's pants.

Suspect Timothy Stone consented to a search after police pulled him over in 2002, but objected when one officer pulled his sweat pants away from his body and shone a flashlight at his groin — finding a vial of cocaine.

Prosecutors argued the search was admissible, since Stone's clothes weren't removed. But Judge Linda McGee writes no reasonable person would expect, "that he would be subjected to an inspection of his genitals."

Getting the Story Straight

Former CBS producer Mary Mapes says she is not about to reunite with Dan Rather on his new cable show.

Radar Magazine had reported the pair behind that "60 Minutes" story using discredited documents to question the president's National Guard service would work together again on the HDNet channel.

But Mapes tells the New York Observer she never talked to anyone from Radar and HDNet says it's never had any discussions with Mapes about the job. Radar editor Maer Roshan is standing by the story however, saying Mapes may not remember talking to his reporter.

—FOX News Channel's Aaron Bruns contributed to this report.