Top U.S. Spymaster Has it Both Ways

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Blairing Omission

Following the Obama administration's release of the interrogation memos, National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair released a copy of a letter to his colleagues in the intelligence community. But the version on his office's Web site did not have several important sentences contained in the actual letter.

One reads, "High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the Al Qaeda organization that was attacking this country."

Another says, "The leadership of the CIA repeatedly reported their activities both to executive branch policymakers and to members of Congress, and received permission to continue to use the techniques."

And another says, "Even in 2009 there are organizations plotting to kill Americans using terror tactics, and although the memories of 9/11 are becoming more distant, we in the intelligence service must stop them."

Those familiar with the process say it is common, especially in the intelligence community, to send internal messages that are never meant to be public. DNI Spokeswoman Wendy Morigi responded, "Our commitment to the media is that we accurately state the director's views and concerns and that's exactly what we did."

Timing is Everything

California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein reportedly introduced legislation to route $25 million in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just later awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract.

The Washington Times reports Feinstein's intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was unusual because the California Democrat is not a member of the Senate committee with jurisdiction over the FDIC, nor is the agency supposed to operate off of direct federal dollars.

Feinstein defended herself to reporters Tuesday, maintaining there was no conflict of interest and calling the story blatantly unfair and inaccurate.

Social Circles

Fresh from his high-profile handshake with President Obama, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that Venezuelan socialism has begun to reach the United States under the Obama administration.

Cybercast News reports Chavez told a crowd gathered for an independence day celebration that after the Americas summit his government achieved what he called "one of the biggest victories of our history," adding, "It would seem that the changes that started in Venezuela in the last decade of the 20th century have begun to reach North America."

Name That Lake

And finally, Webster, Massachusetts officials have agreed to correct spelling errors in road signs pointing to a lake with a 45-letter Native American name.

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg has one of the world's longest place names and even some locals have given up and simply call it Lake Webster. For the record, the misspelled signs had an "o" at letter 20 instead of an "u" and a "h" at letter 38 instead of a "n."

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