Political Grapevine: Money for nagging?

Taxpayers fund grant for campaign to get women to 'encourage' men in their lives to quit smokeless tobacco

Some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Chew It Over

You've heard of the phrase "money for nothing." Well, this story is about money for "nagging." Two million of your tax dollars are sponsoring a continuing grant for a campaign to get women to "encourage" the men in their lives to quit using smokeless tobacco.

The Washington Times reports researchers have established that women can be readily recruited to get their men to quit, but now the project will include a multimedia push. A spending watchdog group decried the expense, noting: "One wonders if National Institutes of Health has a companion grant program designed to teach dads how to cope with hostile environments in the household."

NIH defends the study, saying positive support has been shown to be an important factor for effective quitting attempts.

Yogi Bear

Last Friday, we told you about a city in Russia that was cracking down on yoga in an effort to curb the spread of religious cults. It seems that country's president did not get the anti-yoga memo.

This week during a meeting with India's prime minister -- an avid yogi -- Vladimir Putin agreed to roll out the mat, noting he hadn't tried yoga yet. Russia's macho man said, "I will consider yoga based on what I do in sports."

Favorite Putin pastimes include bare-chested horseback riding, judo and hockey to name a few.

Crowded Field

Finally, each week another well-known presidential contender jumps in the 2016 presidential race. In fact there could be hundreds of candidates filing. However, a dark horse candidate is getting a lot of attention after officially filing paperwork with the FEC.

Actually, it's a cat. Limberbutt McCubbins to be exact. The registered "Democat" is pushing environmental issues and the legalization of catnip.

We have not reached out to McCubbins though about a contender profile or an appearance in our Center Seat segment. We were worried the claws might come out.