Controversy Over TIME Magazine's Latest Cover

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Mad Magazine

Some of the veterans who were at the World War II Pacific battleground of Iwo Jima are hopping mad at TIME magazine's latest cover.

It's a takeoff on the famous picture of Marines raising the American flag. But TIME's cover has substituted a tree and talks about a war on global warming.

The Marine who led the platoon that raised the flag on Iwo Jima says that "global warming is the biggest joke I've ever known."

Another Iwo Jima veteran says, "It's an absolute disgrace. Whoever did it is going to hell. That's a mortal sin. God forbid he runs into a Marine that was an Iwo Jima survivor."

TIME managing editor Richard Stengel isn't backing down. He says, "There needs to be an effort along the lines of preparing for world war two to combat global warming and climate change."

Conventional Wisdom

Some Democrats are worried that the controversy over Jimmy Carter's Mideast trip could cause problems at the Party's nominating convention. The Jewish newspaper The Forward reports that insiders say finding the right role for the former president turned peacemaker would require delicate maneuvering.

Says one Democratic political consultant, "The Republicans would love to see Carter at the convention giving a speech. If he has a role at the convention, you can rest assured that it will wind up on film, in a television commercial or on YouTube, as a weapon against Democrats."

Party sources are also concerned at Mr. Carter's reputation for not sticking to the party line.

Some advisers to 2004 nominee John Kerry were said to be annoyed that President Carter went "off-script" during his speech to the convention.

All Wet?

A British man and his 10-year-old son were barred from swimming at a North London Public Pool recently because they were not Muslims. The London Daily Mail Reports the men were told that the pool had been reserved for what was called a "men only modesty session" — and that they could not participate unless they were Muslim.

Managers of the site later said staffers were wrong to bar the father and son from swimming. And one Muslim professor at Oxford says there is no Koranic verse that prohibits Muslims from swimming with non-Muslims.

Party Crasher

And finally, when Democrats in Idaho vote in their presidential primary next month — they will choose between Hillary Clinton — Barack Obama — and a federal prison inmate from Texas named Keith Russell Judd.

The Idaho Statesman Newspaper reports Judd took advantage of a loophole in the rules — and got his name on the ballot by submitting a notarized form and paying a $1,000 fee. A recent change in state election law eliminated the requirement that used to mandate 3,000 signatures on a petition.

Idaho's secretary of state says, "We got conned."

A state party official says the situation is particularly bad since another qualified candidate for local office was kept off the ballot on a technicality.

"It's a mockery of the system," he says. "We have this really good candidate who can't get on the ballot, and this yahoo prisoner in Texas who coughs up $1,000 can."

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