Spy Operations Inside Russia

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Russia is accusing the U.S. and some of its allies in the War on Terror of conducting spy operations inside its borders. Russian Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev says the U.S., Britain, Kuwait and even Saudi Arabia are using non-governmental organizations as fronts for intelligence gathering activity, insisting, "Our opponents are steadily and consistently trying to weaken Russian influence in the Commonwealth of Independent States and the international arena as a whole."

What's more, Patrushev says, he has "certain information" that the U.S. and its allies have earmarked more than $5 million to pay for future elections in some of Russia's neighbors — where, he says, they've planned to bring Ukrainians who successfully protested against their own government last year, to protest again.

Moyers To Defend Himself

Bill Moyers will defend himself this weekend against critics who claim he and the program he hosted on PBS, "NOW with Bill Moyers," were significantly biased to the left. And where is Moyers going to do this? Why, at a left-wing media conference in St. Louis, organized by the group Free Press — an organization whose leadership is devoid of conservative voices, and dominated by representatives of the left-wing media, including the group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and The Nation magazine.

Moyers is expected to criticize Corporation For Public Broadcasting Chairman Ken Tomlinson — who is trying to add conservative programming to PBS to balance shows like "NOW."

GOP Promoting Intolerance?

In the latest salvo from Democratic leaders, Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean says the president is a "miserable failure," and calls Republicans "despicable" for their opposition to gay marriage. In an interview with The Boston Globe, Dean accused Republicans of "promot[ing] intolerance ... [by exploiting] people's fears about gay marriage." And, he said, "[The president's] budget is a disgrace, an embarrassment. What is the matter with these people? They've gone off the deep end."

Book Barred

A woman outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is up in arms that while other parents can read their child's favorite book to their kindergarten class at Culbertson Elementary School, she has been barred from reading her 6-year-old son's favorite book. Donna Busch says the principal was "agitated and upset" by the choice of book, and insisted it would be against the law to read. So which book is this? Why, it's the Bible. Busch is now suing the school district, accusing it of infringing her First Amendment rights, and discriminating based on religion.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report