Common Ground

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Kyoto Claims

Bill Clinton says President Bush is "flat wrong" to reject the Kyoto treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on economic grounds telling an audience at the U.N.'s climate conference in Montreal, "we could meet and surpass the Kyoto targets in a way that would strengthen and not weaken our economies." Clinton and then-vice president Al Gore were instrumental in the formulation of the original Kyoto treaty in 1997, which would have required a 29 percent cut in emissions from 1990 levels by 2012.

President Bush has come under fire from environmentalists for formally renouncing the agreement, but in 1997, the Senate voted 95-0 against even considering the treaty and warned President Clinton not to even send it to them, saying the United States shouldn't sign anything that would "result in serious harm to the economy of the United States." As a result, President Clinton never even submitted the Kyoto Treaty for ratification.

Where Would Jesus Shop?

Would Jesus shop at Wal-Mart? That's the question raised by a group that accuses the retail giant of labor policies that harm families and communities. A campaign called, "Wake Up Wal-Mart," backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, has launched an ad in the Bible Belt asking, "Should people of faith shop at Wal-Mart this holiday season?"

They've also released a letter from religious leaders, saying, "Jesus would not embrace Wal-Mart's values of greed and profits at any cost." Wal-Mart points out that it has given $200 million to charity this year and the company's president accuses the group of using union dues to "exploit religion."

European Backlash

The German government has summoned Iran's ambassador to explain Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's suggestion that the Holocaust never happened. Speaking in Saudi Arabia, Ahmadinejad said, "Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces..." adding, "we don't accept this claim. Reuters reports that foreign leaders have universally denounced the Iranian president, but their story treats the Holocaust as a matter of opinion, noting that "Historians say six million Jews were killed in the Nazi Holocaust,” and calling that instead a "widely accepted view."

Common Ground

What does Senator Barack Obama have in common with Mariah Carey, Kanye West and Paul McCartney? The Illinois Democrat has joined those pop music superstars as a 2005 Grammy nominee. Obama is up for Best Spoken Word Album for his narration of his autobiography "Dreams from my Father." His competition for the award? Actor Sean Penn, Radio personalities Al Franken and Garrison Keillor, and comedian George Carlin."

— FOX News' Aaron Bruns contributed to this report