Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Information Please
The author of a new book about the Clinton White House years says she was stonewalled during her attempts to get information at the Clinton Presidential Library in Arkansas. Sally Bedell Smith — author of "For Love of Politics" — says her requests for memos and records dealing with Hillary Clinton's role as First Lady were denied.
Newsweek reports the national archives says barely one-half of one percent of the 78 million pages of documents and 20 million e-mails stored at the library are open to the public. Nearly 300 Freedom of Information requests are pending for Clinton documents — and an archives spokeswoman says it is hard to predict if any of the material will be released before next year's election.
In the past Bill Clinton has blamed the Bush administration for the backlog. But Newsweek says documents it uncovered indicate that Mr. Clinton gave the archives private instructions to tightly control the release of presidential documents. This comes despite promises of transparency by Hillary Clinton — who once said about the library — "Everything's going to be available."
Reality Check
An environmental scientist and Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Santa Barbara says that most scientific evidence suggests global warming will not have serious effects on life on earth.
Daniel Botkin writes on The Wall Street Journal's Web site that many scientists ignore evidence that contradicts alarmist dogma. Botkin says that while the United Nations suggests up to 30 percent of plant and animal life could become extinct because of climate change — the reality is that almost none of the millions of species have disappeared during the past 2.5 million years — with all of its various warming and cooling periods.
He says fears that warming will lead to fresh epidemics of diseases such as malaria and encephalitis are debunked by research indicating temperature changes do not affect distribution or frequency of these diseases.
Going Postal
A post office in Paso Robles, California has taken down pictures of local military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan — after a complaint by one person that the display is pro-war.
Media reports indicate the photos had been up for several years. But after the complaint, postal officials said the pictures violate policy against non-postal business material. Residents are outraged — complaining to the post office and their congressman. Republican Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield says he is trying to get the pictures put back up, even if it means changing federal postal regulations.
Homeless on the Range
And some folks in San Francisco have found a way to get homeless people to pick up and leave. A local TV station reports the city spent $15,000 on a herd of hungry goats for the Corona Heights neighborhood. The goats munch away the thick brush that had served as camouflage. Now that the brush is gone — so are the homeless people that had camped out there — along with the campfires, trash and dirty needles.
— FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.
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