GOP Representative Calls One Bill 'a Hooker Dressed Up Like a Nun'

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Media Attention

The mainstream media is starting to weigh in on the latest reporting about the investment practices of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The Los Angeles Times Sunday reported that the Nevada Democrat paid $10,000 five years ago to obtain full control of a 160-acre parcel in northern Arizona that could be worth up to $300,000.

The Times says Reid then sponsored legislation that would have been helpful to the businessman who sold him the land. This follows an Associated Press story about another land deal a few weeks ago. Reid's office says the land deal was perfectly legitimate.

But a Chicago Tribune editorial is titled, "Harry Reid, Land Shark" and calls the sale "unseemly." The Orlando Sentinel's editorial is titled "No Role Model" and says — "if they are serious about ethics, Senate Democrats need to find a more deserving standard bearer." The New York Sun calls it "Reid's whitewater" and "a corker of a controversy."

Crying Foul

House Republicans are crying foul over the Democrats' $463.5 billion bill passed today that funds domestic programs for the rest of the fiscal year. Republicans say it contains $500 million in earmarks — special funding that Democrats promised to eliminate — such as almost $45 million for a tropical rain forest biosphere in Iowa and $266 million for Department of Energy projects that Republicans canceled last year.

One Republican today called the bill "a hooker dressed up like a nun." Democrats say the bill includes previously funded earmarks but no new ones, although House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey told the Washington Post, "I don't love this proposal and we probably have made some wrong choices."

Iranian Attitudes

A new survey of Iranian and American attitudes about terrorism reveals people in Iran have many of the same opinions as folks in the U.S. The survey published on Usama bin Laden unfavorably — all sentiments in line with majority opinion in the U.S.

One big difference, though — Iranians giving approval ratings of 75 percent to Hezbollah and 56 percent to Hamas — groups viewed unfavorably by huge majorities in the U.S.

No Killing Women

And the small Canadian town of Herouxville, Quebec has a message for immigrants — you may not stone women to death in public, burn them alive or throw acid on them. The town council adopted the rules amid community debate about how tolerant the village of 1,300 should be to the customs of newcomers.

At least one Muslim leader felt the declaration was targeting Islam, and said it sets back race relations by decades — and reinforces false stereotypes and ignorance about that religion. The policy also says women are allowed to drive, vote, dance, write checks, dress how they want, work, and own property.

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