Which Presidential Candidate Pays His Female Employees Better?

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Money Talks

Barack Obama has vowed to make equal pay for women a priority if elected president and even told supporters in New Mexico last week, "McCain is an honorable man... but when you look at our records and our plans on issues that matter to working women, the choice could not be clearer. It starts with equal pay."

But Cybercast News cites a report from the secretary of the Senate which says women working in Obama's Senate office were paid, on average, about $6,000 less than men. And, of the five people in Obama's office who earn more than $100,000 a year, only one is a woman.

But in John McCain's Senate office, the average pay for women is $2,500 more than men.

Naval Worship

The American Civil Liberties Union is threatening to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Naval Academy over the school's traditional lunchtime prayer. Nine midshipmen at the academy have asked the ACLU to petition the school, saying they feel pressured to participate.

A letter from the ACLU reads, "The government should not be in the business of compelling religious observance." But a spokeswoman at the academy tells FOX News that the prayer is non-sectarian and that while attendance at lunch is mandatory, participation in the prayer is not.

An official statement from the academy says the school does not intend to change its practice of offering an opportunity to pray before lunch.

Grave Consequences

A senior Iranian commander has said that his country will prepare 320,000 graves in Iran's border provinces to accommodate slain enemies in the event of an attack.

The Mehr News Agency reports General Mir-Faisal Bagherzadeh said, "We have plans to dig 15,000 to 20,000 graves in each of the border provinces," adding, "We do not wish the families of enemy soldiers to experience what Americans had to go through in the aftermath of the Vietnam War."

The general, who is a commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the graves are part of Iran's plan to comply with the Geneva Conventions.

Fruits of His Labor?

The European Union has barred a British market vendor from selling a batch of kiwi fruits because they are one millimeter smaller than E.U. rules allow.

The Daily Mail reports that Tim Down's stall in the city of Bristol was examined by government food inspectors last week who told him that he had to trash the 5,000 slightly undersized kiwis.

Down says he will lose $2,000 by not selling the fruit. And, he has even been told that he is forbidden to give any of the fruit away, and that if he does he will be slapped with a fine of around $10,000.

He says, "They are saying I'm a criminal for selling this fruit — but the real crime is that all this fruit will go to waste — all because it's one millimeter too small."

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