Document Authenticity Inconclusive

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Kept Out Of Conclusions

You wouldn't know it from the conclusions reached by the panel that investigated CBS' now-discredited story on President Bush's National Guard service, but the panel's own expert said the memos in the CBS story were fake.

Forensic document examiner Peter Tytell told the panel that based on the spacing, superscript and typestyle, the memos, "must have been produced on a computer." And, as the Weekly Standard's Jonathan Last points out, other document experts reached the same conclusion, one calling the memos, "modern forgeries."

But the panel, in its report, still says it was "not able to reach a definitive conclusion as to the authenticity of the ... documents."

Reporters Got a “Gift”

Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's (search)campaign organization hoping to make sure its press conferences are covered by Arab media in the run-up to Iraqi elections has handed out money to journalists.

After a campaign meeting in Baghdad, officials from the group brought reporters upstairs, and then offered them each an envelope... a "gift," the officials said. Each envelope had a $100 bill inside which would take an average Iraqi journalist two weeks to make.

One of the journalists, quoted by the Financial Times, said it all reminded him of something Saddam Hussein would do. U.S. officials say they know nothing about it.

American Boycott

A group of terrorists in Iraq is urging people around the globe to stop buying American products, insisting, "Put an end to Zionism before it ends the world." In a video posted online, the Islamic Jihad Army says, "We do not require arms or fighters, for we have plenty. ... We ask you to ... stop using the U.S. dollar. ... We will disrupt, then halt, the flow of our stolen oil, thus rendering [U-S] plans useless."

As for U.S. soldiers in Iraq, the group says, "You can also choose to fight tyranny with us. Lay down your weapons, and seek refuge in our mosques, churches and homes. We will protect you."

Detained For Disorderly Conduct

Two activists waiting in line outside the district courthouse in Hempstead, New York, have been arrested for disorderly conduct, and charged with a misdemeanor. So what exactly did they do?

Why, they told a pair of lawyer jokes, including this one: "How do you tell when a lawyer is lying? — "His lips are moving." The two, who founded a group that advocates greater public access to courts, are due in court next month.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report