Green Party Candidate Cynthia McKinney Goes Off the Deep End Again

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Hurricane Cynthia

Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney has a new story to tell. She says the U.S. government systematically killed thousands of people during Hurricane Katrina.

McKinney was speaking at Oakland's Laney College during a conference Sunday on reforming the justice system when she said that after Katrina a woman called her explaining, "Her son's charge by the Department of Defense was to process 5,000 bodies that had received a single bullet wound to the head... the bodies were dumped in the swamp in Louisiana... this is true. I suspect that these were prisoners."

McKinney claims the man who said this is afraid to come forward because he signed a "silence agreement" with the government, adding that Red Cross workers verified the mass killing.

Courting Hillary

Critics suggest Bill and Hillary Clinton are doing little to help the Obama campaign, and now one report says it is because Obama refused to guarantee his former rival a job she covets.

The New York Post reports the Clintons are doing the bare minimum because Obama "balked" at promising Hillary Clinton a spot on the Supreme Court should he become president and a position opens up.

One Clinton insider told the paper, "Hillary wants an assurance that if she shows loyalty and goes out there like a good soldier, she will be rewarded with a nomination for the Supreme Court."

But a Clinton representative e-mailed the Post saying the report is, "Absurd. Nonsense. Rubbish. Hogwash. Malarkey."

Special Ed

The Virginia affiliate of the National Education Association is getting criticism over an e-mail encouraging members to wear blue in support of Senator Obama, canvas on his behalf and advocate for him in the classroom.

The Washington Times reports the union asked members to recognize Tuesday as "Obama Blue Day" and "register two voters or talk to two people who may be on the fence or a McCain supporter and sway them to become an Obama supporter."

Virginia Republican Party Chairman Jeffrey Frederickcalls the e-mail "an abuse of taxpayer resources that teachers chose to use school grounds as a political base."

The e-mail's author Dorris Boitnott now concedes the note should have been worded differently, saying, "Teachers know they are not allowed to partake in partisan activities during school hours."

Comic Relieved

A women's shelter in Boston has canceled an appearance by comedian Sandra Bernhard at its annual fundraiser after some startling comments about Sarah Palin. Bernhard said during a show in Washington, D.C., last month that if Palin ever visited New York she would be "gang-raped by my big black brothers." Bernhard also lashed out at plain for opposing abortion rights.

But her act did not sit well with officials at Rosie's Place, a women's shelter that provides help for victims of violence. Director of Public Relations Leemarie Mosca says, "We don't think violence against women is a laughing matter... that means not including Sarah Bernhard at this time."

Bernhard has not apologized, but a statement on her Web site says she wishes Palin no harm. She ads, "I'd just like her to explain to me how she can hold such outrageous views... and then go back to Alaska."

— FOX News Channel's Zachary Kenworthy contributed to this report.