Rather Connection to Lead Investigator?

The latest from the Political Grapevine:

Rather Connection to Lead Investigator?

In asking Louis Boccardi (search), the former head of AP, to help lead its investigation into those now discredited documents, CBS was calling on an old friend of Dan Rather (search), who sat with Boccardi at a party honoring his retirement last year and gave a glowing tribute to Boccardi at the event. People who know Boccardi, however, say he will be impartial in conducting the investigation.

CBS Local Affiliates Affected?

Speaking of the discredited documents, local CBS affiliates are now weighing in on the controversy. In a statement to viewers posted online, the head of NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, Tennessee, says she is disappointed by Dan Rather's report and, "I regret that the sloppiness of [it] ... may reflect badly on the 170 men and women who work here at NewsChannel 5. I am proud of our local news and the ethical standards by which our news department operates."

And the head of WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Virginia, who happens to also be the chairman of CBS' affiliate association, has told viewers, "I am truly sorry that CBS News has gotten this black eye." It probably didn't help that an editorial in Roanoke's hometown paper spoke of a, "scandal over ... phony documents" and said CBS, "recklessly relied ... on bogus evidence."

U.N. Not Mentioned in Resolution

John Kerry (search) is once again saying his vote for the congressional resolution on Iraq wasn't a vote to go to war, but, "a vote to go through the process of going to the U.N., building the allies and then making a judgment of whether we had to go [to war]." And the LA Times today, says the same thing in a news story which speaks of, "congressional action intended to give the president diplomatic leverage against [Iraq]."

But the actual Congressional resolution says, "the president is authorized to use the armed forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate." It does not make that contingent on going to the United Nations (search), though the president did subsequently go to the U.N.

Only Once a Week, Please?

An Iranian woman, beaten by her husband every single day, has asked a court in Tehran to order her husband to beat her only once a week ... that according to an Iranian newspaper. The woman, named Maryam, told the court, "beating is a part of his nature and he cannot stop it."

As for the husband, he told the court, "If I do not beat her, she will not be scared enough to obey me." The court, however, ruled against both: banning him from beating her altogether.

– FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report