The Tangled Tale of Hillary Clinton and the Waitress She Either Did or Did Not Tip

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Real People

Hillary Clinton has been telling audiences the story of a single mom she met in Iowa who works several jobs to support her two sons. Clinton says waitress Anita Esterday is the kind of person who will be better off if she is elected.

But National Public Radio reports Esterday is not complaining about her lifestyle —saying Clinton did not understand what she was saying — and adding — "I've been doing it all my life. Why should it change now that I'm old?"

Esterday is complaining that Clinton is telling her story — without her permission. And says flatly of her newfound fame — "It's made things worse."

In fact — she has been forced to look for a new second job — because after the local paper ran a picture of her with Clinton — her boss at her other job cut her hours to almost zero — apparently because he dislikes the senator.

NPR is also reporting that when the Clinton team came into the restaurant where Esterday works — no one left a tip — even Senator Clinton — whose meal was on the house.

The Clinton campaign denies this — insisting it paid $157 for food and left a $100 tip. The manager confirms someone paid, though it remains unclear why the waitress apparently got nothing.

Warming Skeptic

The TV meteorologist who came up with the idea for The Weather Channel says global warming is "a manufactured crisis" and "the greatest scam in history."

John Coleman has been forecasting since the fifties and now works for a San Diego TV station. He writes on the weather-related Web site called Icecap — "Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data to create in illusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental whacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the 'research' to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims."

Coleman says in a decade or two — the public will realize that — "we have been duped."

Politics of Warming

Global warming may be the enemy in the eyes of delegates to the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference — but the warm weather of a tropical resort apparently doesn't sound so bad.

U.N. staffers and others will fly the 10,000 miles from U.N. headquarters in chilly New York to Bali, Indonesia in December — at what is billed as the island's, "most luxurious hotel and resort" — which features amenities such as sailing, snorkeling and kayaking.

U.N. policy permits staffers to travel in high-priced business class for long haul flights — tickets to Bali go for between $4,700 and more than $10,000 — on planes that emit tons of carbon dioxide… on their way to the resort — for the conference that is scheduled to last almost two weeks.

Bad Hair Days

And Palestinian militants seeking to enforce Islamic law in Gaza have attacked secular youth for wearing hair gel in Hamas controlled territory. World Net Daily reports security officials affiliated with Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party — say patrol units have targeted Palestinian males wearing the hair gel — seriously injuring one boy.

Gunmen say the use of hair gel is an imitation of the west and the beginning of corruption. Officials also report the patrols are responsible for recent closings of pool halls, and movie and video stores.

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