Updated

And now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Due Diligence

The Obama administration cut corners before concluding that climate-change pollution can endanger human health, a key finding used to justify costly new regulations. That is according to an internal government watchdog.

The report says the EPA should have followed a more extensive review process for a technical paper -- quote -- "While it may be debatable what impact -- if any -- this had on EPA's finding, it is clear that EPA did not follow all the required steps."

By highlighting what it calls "procedural deviations," the report provides ammunition to Republicans and industry lawyers battling the Obama administration over its decision to use the Clean Air Act to fight global warming.

A Bit Off

The Census Bureau has dramatically lowered its estimates for married and unmarried same-sex households across the country in 2010. It says some opposite sex couples were miscounted as same-sex. The new estimate for same-sex households is 646,464 -- that's down from about 902,000.

The Census Department says it discovered an inconsistency in the responses that artificially inflated the number of same-sex couples. Reports suggest it was due to confusing questions on a new form.

Fightin' Words

And finally, Al Qaeda is lashing out at Iran over its president's beliefs about the 9/11 attacks -- quote -- "The Iranian government has professed on the tongue of its president Ahmadinejad that it does not believe that Al Qaeda was behind 9/11, but rather the U.S. government."

"For them, Al Qaeda was a competitor for the hearts and minds of the disenfranchised Muslims around the world.

"Al Qaeda succeeded in what Iran couldn't. Therefore it was necessary for the Iranians to discredit 9/11 and what better way to do so? Conspiracy theories."