Is Al Gore Practicing What He Preaches on the Environment?

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Climate Charlatan

After former Vice President Al Gore's massive home energy use was exposed in February 2007, the Nobel Prize winner began using solar panels, a geothermal system, energy-efficient light bulbs and even updated his windows and ductwork.

But the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, which revealed Gore's energy bills last year, reports that since he made those green-friendly changes to his Tennessee mansion, his energy use has surged more than 10 percent.

The center says that in the past year, Gore's home has burned through more than 213,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. That is enough to power 232 average American households for a month.

Image Is Everything

The Barack Obama campaign has apologized to two Muslim women who were barred from sitting behind the podium at a rally in Detroit, Monday.

The Politico newspaper reports campaign volunteers cited the current political climate as the reason for trying to prevent the women's headscarves from appearing in photos or on television.

Hebba Aref says, "I felt like I was discriminated against by the very person who was supposed to be bringing change."

Campaign spokesman Bill Burton called the volunteers' actions a counter to Obama's commitment to bring Americans together.

Pooh Policy

One of the people named to Senator Obama's national security advisory group we told you about earlier says that Winnie the Pooh should be a player in the future of U.S. foreign policy.

The Daily Telegraph reports former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig told a foreign policy conference in Washington, D.C., "Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security."

Danzig said the strategy in the War on Terror should follow a lesson from a "Winnie the Pooh" children's book, which can be shortened to: if it is causing you too much pain then try something else.

Danzig, while reading from the book, said, "Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump on the back of his head... he thinks there really is another way — if only he could stop bumping a minute and think about it."

Panty Plaintiff

And finally, a Los Angeles woman is suing underwear giant Victoria's Secret because she claims a defective thong injured her.

The Smoking Gun Web site reports 52-year-old Macrida Patterson says that she was putting on a "low rise v-string" — the company's version of the g-string — when a decorative metallic piece flew off the garment and struck her in the eye.

Patterson claims the injury caused her to miss a few days of work as a traffic officer with the Los Angeles Transportation Department. Her lawyer says the damage caused to his client's cornea will affect her the rest of her life.

— FOX News Channel's Zachary Kenworthy contributed to this report.