President Obama Angers the Left, Upholds Solemn Tradition

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Dixieland Divide

On his first Memorial Day as commander-in-chief, President Obama chose to keep one tradition and start another.

The president sent a wreath to the Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery. A group of university professors and scholars had asked him to end the practice, which dates back to Woodrow Wilson, of acknowledging the soldiers who fought and died for the South in the Civil War. ABC News reports that the group says that the monument is a "denial of the wrong committed against African Americans by slave owners, Confederates, and neo-Confederates."

President Obama also sent a wreath to a monument honoring 200,000 African-American soldiers who fought for the Union Army. He is the first president to do that.

Age Appropriate?

A San Francisco area school board will vote Tuesday on whether to adopt a new curriculum for kindergarten through fifth graders that includes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lessons for children as young as five.

Many parents are angry that they will not be allowed to keep their kids out of the classes, even if the parents feel their kids are too young for the subject matter. The proposed course material includes a book in which two male penguins fall in love and want to start a family.

The school board has held two public debates this month on the issue. One parent tells FOXNews.com that a majority spoke out against the new lesson plans, but the board "seems to have a preconceived political agenda."

Another parent who supports the change thinks the issues will come up anyway and therefore teachers should be prepared.

Stop the Presses

Two former New York Times' journalists say their paper could have broken the Watergate scandal if they had not let a good tip fall through the cracks.

Former reporter Robert Smith says the FBI's acting director hinted at White House involvement in the 1972 break-in over lunch two months after it happened. Smith says he told his editor, but had to hand off the story because he was leaving for law school. Editor Robert Phelps says he had no idea what happened, but that it is probably his own fault The Times didn't pursue the story and was scooped by the rival Washington Post.

Sounding Off

It seems not everyone is pleased with the environmental benefits of energy harnessed through wind turbines.

A farmer in Taiwan says the noise from eight turbines located nearby kept his goats from sleeping and he says that led to 400 goat deaths over the past three years.

Agricultural authorities will determine if the giant turbines are at fault. If so, Taiwan Power has promised to compensate the farmer.

— FOX News Channel's Lanna Britt contributed to this report.