Did The New York Times Break the Law?

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Congressional Inquiry

Republican Congressman Tom Davis of Virginia is asking Democrat Henry Waxman, the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to convene a hearing over the MoveOn.org ad in The New York Times calling General David Petraeus, "General Betray Us."

Davis says The Times may have unlawfully subsidized the political message of MoveOn by giving it a discounted rate. As we told you last week, MoveOn says it paid$ 65,000 dollars for an ad which The Times tells FOX normally sells for more than $181,000.

Waxman says he believes Republicans are trying to manufacture a controversy, but will consider ordering a hearing.

Safe Havens

A group of House Republicans has introduced a bill that aims to counter the growing number of so-called "sanctuary cities" around the country — cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Minneapolis that prohibit local police from enforcing immigration laws or cooperating with federal immigration investigations.

The Washington Times reports the bill, written by Florida's Virginia Brown-Waite, specifically states that local law enforcement does have existing authority to investigate immigration matters and make arrests. It also would require federal agents to take illegals into custody or reimburse local governments if they detain them.

Similar legislation has failed in the past and this bill faces an uphill fight in the Democratic-controlled Congress.

Politically Correct?

A few weeks ago we told you about some episodes in the comic strip "Opus" that were being dropped by The Washington Post and some of its affiliates because of a reference to Islam that editors felt might be offensive.

A female character says she is becoming a radical Islamist because it's the "hot new fad" on the planet. About 25 of 200 papers in the syndicate didn't run the comic.

Now Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell says the papers that refused to run the material were wrong and that Washington Post editors overreacted.

She says that of the papers that did run the comic, only two received complaints — one each. And many Muslim leaders — including the head of the rights group CAIR and the chair of Islamic Studies at American University — say they were not offended by the comic.

Mass Transit

The city of Seattle plans to bring its new streetcar system online in December. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports the city has spent more than $50 million on the effort and has obviously put a lot of time and thought into the plan.

Except maybe regarding the name.

They now want to call it the South Lake Union Streetcar. But during its inception and construction, the city dubbed it the South Lake Union Trolley. And if you take the first letters of that title, you get the acronym S-L-U-T.

As you can probably guess, that name has stuck, no matter what city officials try to do about it. At one Seattle coffee house, T-shirts with the slogan "Ride the SLUT" are moving off the shelves faster than merchants can get them restocked.

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