Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Creative Marketing

Supporters of political candidates sometimes employ unusual fundraising methods — but few can rival the efforts by one proponent of Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul.

Carson City, Nevada businessman Dennis Hof says he will place collection boxes at his establishment so that patrons can leave contributions for Paul.

What makes this noteworthy is that Hof runs the Moonlite Bunny Ranch — a world famous brothel. It seems Hof was intrigued by Paul after receiving a call from his good friend — TV host Tucker Carlson — who was trailing Paul for a story. Carlson called up Hof and told him to check out the candidate.

A spokesman for Congressman Paul says he does not condone prostitution on a personal level — but says he feels it is not the role of the federal government to regulate it.

What's In a Name?

A British woman working as a private school teacher in the Islamic nation of Sudan has been arrested for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad. The London Times reports Gillian Gibbons could be charged with blasphemy — which could get the 54-year-old woman 40 lashes. When Gibbons was in the Khartoum police station — a group of young men gathered outside and shouted death threats.

The school project involved teaching children about animals — and 20 of Gibbons' 23 second-graders voted to name one student's teddy bear Muhammad. Now the director of the Christian-run, multi-racial school has closed it down until the first of the year because of fears of reprisals.

Glass Houses

Many public and private institutions have constructed all-glass, environmentally friendly buildings in order to go green, save power, and blend in with nature. But the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports these buildings have turned into bird killers on an incredible scale. Ornithologist Daniel Klem of Muhlenberg College says that between 100 million and one billion birds die in the U.S. each year in collisions with glass.

The chief environmental officer at Atlanta's Emory University describes its glass mathematics and science center as a slaughterhouse — and refers to it as "the wall of death." Many owners are now putting black mesh netting or large drapes over the buildings — in order to save the birds.

Pitching In

And the nation of India is preparing to make a contribution to the fledging United Nations peacekeeping force for the embattled Darfur region of Sudan.

The French press agency reports India plans to send a group of what it calls "combat trained camels" into the area — at the request of the U.N. Indian border security forces use camels for long-range reconnaissance, including night patrols to track arms and drug smugglers.

The leader of the force's camel division says the animals are trained not to react to gunfire, and are taught to crawl and follow other "soldierly movements." He says they can go up to 50 miles with short breaks carrying a load of ammunition and two soldiers.

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