Florida Radio Station Will Broadcast Storm Warnings Despite Its Connection to FOX

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Backing Off

The Broward County commissioners in Florida have decided not to cancel their contract with the radio station that serves as the county's official hurricane information outlet — and also carries Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and FOX News Radio.

We told you yesterday that Commissioner Stacy Ritter said Tuesday she no longer wanted to support a station that carries programming she called out of step politically with area residents.

But when word got out, commissioners were deluged with complaints. Then some commissioners who were not present at Tuesday's meeting indicated they would not go along with the move to dump the station.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports by late Wednesday the commissioners had voted to renew the contract.

Bending the Rules

It appears that the federal government is not only spending taxpayer money to subsidize production of ethanol and other biofuels — but it is also bending pollution rules as well.

Cybercast News reports the Environmental Protection Agency will allow ethanol refineries to emit 150 percent more emissions than they currently do. Supporters say the old rules were discriminatory and restricted production.

But clean air advocates say the move will hurt air quality in the rural areas where most of the plants are located.

Meanwhile, Cybercast News also reports EPA records indicate 73 of the nation's 119 working ethanol refineries have been cited for environmental violations during the last three years.

Truth vs. Propaganda

Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus says global warming hysteria is a prime example of what he calls the "truth versus propaganda problem."

Klaus writes in the Financial Times: "As someone who lived under communism for most of his life, I feel obliged to say that I see the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now in ambitious environmentalism, not in communism."

He quotes an MIT scientist who says future generations will wonder in bemused amazement why the world went into hysterical panic over a globally averaged temperature increase of a few tenths of a degree.

Females Targeted

Taliban gunmen are being accused of killing a 13-year-old girl and her female schoolteacher in Afghanistan's Logar Province — because the girl attended school.

Females were prohibited from going to school when the Taliban was in power. The London Times reports 85 teachers and students have been killed in the past year — mostly by Taliban insurgents.

Deadly Porn

And Iran's parliament has voted in favor of a new law that could mean the death penalty for people working in the adult movie industry.

The bill still requires approval by Iran's Guardian Council. It would apply not only to actors but directors, producers and camera operators. And it comes in spite of the fact that Iranians can easily access pornographic programs through foreign satellite television channels that are beamed into many homes.

—FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.