Newtown...I was dead wrong

I originally posted the assault rifle was never used by Adam Lanza in the Newtown shooting.

I was wrong.

These are the three weapons we were originally told that were used in the Newtown killing spree.

I personally watched this guy on TV (Lt Vance) who conducted the original investigation state when asked by a reporter, "The assault rifle was never taken from the back seat of Lanza's car."

He has since contradicted his earlier statement (cannot find original video) and the new story is 4 weapons were actually involved. 

  Link to NBC video:

http://www.ijreview.com/2013/01/30208-nbc-admits-no-assault-rifle-used-in-newtown-shooting/

(Wait a few seconds and the video will play)

On 15, Jan 2013

NBC Admitted: No 'Assault Rifle' Used in Newtown Shooting

[Transcript]

This continues to be a very complex investigation and there is a lot of contradictory information out there, but we have some new information this morning (one month ago) from a couple of federal officials and state officials.

They say now that there were actually four handguns inside the school, not just two as we were initially told. Four handguns and apparently only handguns that were taken into the school.

We knew that Adam Lanza, the man said to be the gunman here, also had an 'assault-style' AR-15 -style rifle that he had had taken to the school, it was in the car he drove there, his mother's car, but we have been told by several officials that he had left that in the car.

And I bet Vance was one of those officials.

 I went with what Vance said but apparently I also got sucked into the misinformation. Originally they erroneously reported Ryan Lanza, Adam's brother, did the shooting. They also reported Adam Lanza killed his father, which also turned out to be incorrect. 

I should have known better.

As it turns out after further investigation it seems I was dead wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting

Sorry about that.

Newtown...I was dead wrong

Congressional Minuteman---Because it only takes a minute to welcome someone "home"

As soon as her feet hit the ground McCain handed her a drivers license and Schumer a welfare application. Free Health Care to follow compliments of Barry.

------------------------------------------------------

Don't believe the latest crap the government is trying to spew with an 11 million  illegal figure. The lib's are cooking the numbers so it won't look so bad in a attempt to grant them amnesty. The government itself said over a decade ago it was over 12 million.

The true figure is closer to 17,000,000

illegals living in the U.S.

This is slit your throat time for Republicans. If they don't fight this tooth and nail and amnesty is granted with one stroke of the pen Barry just created 17 million new Democrats.

Congressional Minuteman---Because it only takes a minute to welcome someone "home"

California Endowment ad espouses free health care for illegals

Before you read this... keep in mind WH tours are closed, some National Parks, Cleveland Air Show cancelled etc, because of sequestration. Meanwhile, Joe's in France drinking vintage (1957) Dom Pérignon.

They come here illegally, primarily from Mexico, and then have the f-ing gall to demand free healthcare!

When I first saw this video it pissed me off so much I almost kicked in my TV.  

Video 24

In this video they call America "our country" although they freely admit they are undocumented which is liberalese for illegal.

The California Endowment is a private, California-focused health foundation. They are advocating "free" healthcare for illegals but in typical liberal fashion they're not paying for it. This calls to mind the definition of a liberal... 

Someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off, with your money. 

This is ethically, and legally wrong. Think about it. They come here illegally from Mexico, China, Russia, Bulgaria..Oh... I  almost forgot about Barry's aunt and uncle from Kenya, and we're supposed to give them free healthcare?

1000 N Alameda St # 250, Los Angeles 

 (213) 628-1001

This coming from CA a state already $34 billion in outstanding debt.

California Endowment ad espouses free health care for illegals

Wearing your wrist watch on your ankle...

Would make more sense then this article.

Mark Kelly, the husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, attempted to purchase an AR-15 style rifle and a 45-caliber handgun at Diamondback Police Supply in Tucson.

Mark Kelly and his wife became  gun control advocates after his wife was shot in the head by a deranged lunatic using a handgun in a January 2011 shooting at a Tucson supermarket that wounded 13 people and left six others dead.

Kelly, a former astronaut, said he intended to eventually hand in the rifle to Tucson police but planned to keep the handgun.

So this means what? 

In support of him and his wife's advocacy group Americans for Responsible Solutions, he is going to keep the handgun, putting aside the fact his wife was shot with one, and so were the victims of Newtown, but get rid of that vile assault rifle?

This just makes no sense to me.
With this kind of thinking I'm surprised he found his way back to Earth!



Before being shot with a handgun Gabrielle Giffords seemingly enjoyed firing an assault rifle. 

Now they want the assault rifle banned? 

Maybe they believe because the bullets are bigger in an assault rifle then they are in a handgun... therefore the handgun must be safer to own?

Mark Kelly is a law abiding citizen with no criminal record yet finds it remarkable he was allowed under his 2nd amendment rights to purchase a AR-15-style rifle and a 45.-caliber handgun.

What I find even more remarkable is John Doe could go to the same gun shop with no criminal record but has been seeing a psychiatrist for the past 12 years and is taking 9 prescriptions for Bipolar, Schizophrenia, and Multiple Personality Disorder and do the same thing. 

On a side note. If Kelly wants to buy an assault rifle to give it to the Tucson PD I don't see where the owner of the gun shop has the authority to cancel the sale.

-----------------------------------------------

Gun store rescinds Mark Kelly's rifle purchase, questions his 'intent'

A Tucson gun store owner has decided to rescind the sale of a military-style rifle to Mark Kelly, the husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, after Kelly said he had intended the purchase to make a political point about how easy it is to obtain the kind of firearms he's lobbying Congress to ban.

Kelly's March 5 purchase of an AR-15-style rifle and a 45.-caliber handgun at Diamondback Police Supply sparked a frenzy of reaction from both sides of the debate after he posted to Facebook a photo of himself shopping.

A background check took only a matter of minutes to complete, Kelly said in the Facebook post, adding that it's scary to think people can buy similar guns without background checks at gun shows or on the Internet.

But Kelly couldn't immediately take possession of the rifle because the shop had bought it from a customer. As a result, the store is required by a Tucson ordinance to hold the gun for 20 days to give the city enough time to make sure the weapon wasn't used in a crime.

Store owner Doug MacKinlay said Monday in a Facebook post of his own that he "determined that was in my company's best interest to terminate this transaction prior to his returning to my store."

"While I support and respect Mark Kelly's 2nd Amendment rights to purchase, possess, and use firearms in a safe and responsible manner, his recent statements to the media made it clear that his intent in purchasing the Sig Sauer M400 5.56mm rifle from us was for reasons other then for his personal use," MacKinlay said in the statement.

He added that the store will return Kelly's money, donate the rifle to the Arizona Tactical Officers Association to be raffled as a fundraiser and make an additional contribution of $1,295 -- the value of the rifle -- to the Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program.

Kelly's purchase of the guns sparked accusations of hypocrisy from gun-rights supporters, with many on Facebook focusing on his motivations and the rules for purchasing such guns. Kelly, a former astronaut, said he intended to eventually hand in the rifle to Tucson police but planned to keep the handgun.

Kelly and Giffords started a gun control advocacy group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, amid the wave of recent mass shootings. They have been touring the country in recent months in support of expanded background checks for gun purchases.

Giffords resigned from Congress last year as she continues to recover from her injuries.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Wearing your wrist watch on your ankle...

Obamaville

Video 23

Obamaville

Using Obama as the bar, Nero would have to be elevated to sainthood...

On a tip from Ed Kilbane

BEST SUMMATION OF BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA EVER

Mychal Massie is a respected writer and talk show host in Los Angeles.

The other evening on my twitter, a person asked me why I didn't like the Obama's? Specifically I was asked: "I have to ask, why do you hate the Obama's? It seems personal, not policy related. You even dissed (disrespect) their Christmas family picture." The truth is I do not like the Obamas, what they represent, their ideology, and I certainly do not like his policies and legislation. I've made no secret of my contempt for the Obamas. As I responded to the person who asked me the aforementioned question, I don't like them because they are committed to the fundamental change of my/our country into what can only be regarded as a Communist state.


I don't hate them per definition, but I condemn them because they are the worst kind of racialists, they are elitist Leninists with contempt for traditional America. They display disrespect for the sanctity of the office he holds, and for those who are willing to admit same, Michelle Obama's raw contempt for white America is transpicuous.


I don't like them because they comport themselves as emperor and empress. I expect, no I demand respect, for the Office of President and a love of our country and her citizenry from the leader entrusted with the governance of same. President and Mrs. Reagan displayed an unparalleled love for the country and her people. The Reagan's made Americans feel good about themselves and about what we could accomplish. His arrogance by appointing 32 leftist czars and constantly bypassing congress is impeachable. Eric Holder is probably the MOST incompetent and arrogant DOJ head to ever hold the job. Could you envision President Reagan instructing his Justice Department to act like jack-booted thugs?


Presidents are politicians and all politicians are known and pretty much expected to manipulate the truth, if not outright lie, but even using that low standard, the Obama's have taken lies, dishonesty, deceit, mendacity, subterfuge and obfuscation to new depths. They are verbally abusive to the citizenry, and they display an animus for civility.


I do not like them, because they both display bigotry overtly, as in the case of Harvard Professor Louis Gates, when he accused the Cambridge Police of acting stupidly, and her code speak pursuant to now being able to be proud of America. I view that statement and that mindset as an insult to those who died to provide a country where a Kenyan, his illegal alien relatives, and his alleged progeny, could come and not only live freely, but rise to the highest, most powerful, position in the world. Michelle Obama is free to hate and disparage whites because Americans of every description paid with their blood to ensure her right to do same.


I have a saying, that "the only reason a person hides things, is because they have something to hide." No president in history has spent over a million dollars to keep his records and his past sealed.


And what the two of them have shared has been proved to be lies. He lied about when and how they met, he lied about his mother's death and problems with insurance, Michelle lied to a crowd pursuant to nearly $500,000 bank stocks they inherited from his family. He has lied about his father's military service, about the civil rights movement, ad nausea. He lied to the world about the Supreme Court in a State of the Union address. He berated and publicly insulted a sitting Congressman. He has surrounded himself with the most rabidly, radical, socialist academicians today. He opposed rulings that protected women and children that even Planned Parenthood did not seek to support. He is openly hostile to business and aggressively hostile to Israel. His wife treats being the First Lady as her personal American Express Black Card (arguably the most prestigious credit card in the world). I condemn them because, as people are suffering, losing their homes, their jobs, their retirements, he and his family are arrogantly showing off their life of entitlement - as he goes about creating and fomenting class warfare.


I don't like them, and I neither apologize nor retreat from my public condemnation of them and of his policies. We should condemn them for the disrespect they show our people, for his willful and unconstitutional actions pursuant to obeying the Constitutional parameters he is bound by, and his willful disregard for Congressional authority.


Dislike for them has nothing to do with the color of their skin; it has everything to do with their behavior, attitudes, and policies. And I have open scorn for their constantly playing the race card.


I could go on, but let me conclude with this. I condemn in the strongest possible terms the media for refusing to investigate them, as they did President Bush and President Clinton, and for refusing to label them for what they truly are. There is no scenario known to man, whereby a white president and his wife could ignore laws, flaunt their position, and lord over the people, as these two are permitted out of fear for their color.


As I wrote in a syndicated column titled, "Nero In The White House" - "Never in my life, inside or outside of politics, have I witnessed such dishonesty in a political leader. He is the most mendacious political figure I have ever witnessed. Even by the low standards of his presidential predecessors, his narcissistic, contumacious arrogance is unequalled. Using Obama as the bar, Nero would have to be elevated to sainthood... Many in America wanted to be proud when the first person of color was elected president, but instead, they have been witness to a congenital liar, a woman who has been ashamed of America her entire life, failed policies, intimidation, and a commonality hitherto not witnessed in political leaders. He and his wife view their life at our expense as an entitlement - while America's people go homeless, hungry and unemployed."

Using Obama as the bar, Nero would have to be elevated to sainthood...

This will make you guys get rid of your ipads...

Video 22

Later…the three guys went back to the motel room and the bartender took care of lady love.

This will make you guys get rid of your ipads...

Update: WH tour cancelation... this time (THE TRUTH)

Straight from the horse's mouth.

Fmr. Agent Dan Bongino Blasts Obama for ‘Throwing the Secret Service Under the Bus’ Over Cancellation of White House Tours

(Click post title if video won't load)

Video 21

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKKYBxbPtbY&feature=player_embedded

More crippling effects of Sequestration.

Blue Angels before.

After

Update: WH tour cancelation... this time (THE TRUTH)

It's always somebody else's fault

Bush's

That do nothing Congress

And now... throws the SS under the bus

Barry blames his guards for closing White House tours 

The "guards" arbitrarily came up with the idea to close down the WH? So the guards are calling the shots, not POTUS? When it comes to telling the truth Barry makes Bill Clinton look like George Washington.

The hardball interview with Stephanopoulos produced this revolting  spew:

"Well, what I'm asking them is are there ways, for example, for us to accommodate school groups — you know, who may have traveled here with some bake sales," he said. "Can we make sure that — kids, potentially, can — can still come to tour?"

 He'll have you believe he's pleading with the SS to keep the tours open for the sake of the children.
How f-ing lame is this?

After this fiasco I would like to pose a survey question to the Secret Service. 

How many of you are still willing to take a bullet for Barry?

President Barack Obama is blaming the U.S. Secret Service for the politically damaging decision to close the popular White House tours, and also suggested he would restart the tours.

"You know, I have to say this was not — a decision that went up to the White House," he claimed in an interview broadcast Wednesday by ABC News.

"What the Secret Service explained to us was that they're gonna have to furlough some folks," he insisted to ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos, who worked as top aide to the nation's previous Democratic president, Bill Clinton.

His claim clashes with a March 7 statement by his press secretary, Jay Carney, who declared that "the White House made the decision that we would, unfortunately, have to temporarily suspend these tours."

Obama is now trying to backtrack.

"Well, what I'm asking them is are there ways, for example, for us to accommodate school groups — you know, who may have traveled here with some bake sales," he said. "Can we make sure that — kids, potentially, can — can still come to tour?"

Under the terms of the long-scheduled 2011 sequester, which was suggested by Obama, the federal government is cutting 1 percent of spending from the 2013 budget of $3.8 trillion, during the period from March to October.

In the weeks up to March 1, Obama and his aides pushed to win public backing for their demand that the sequester to be canceled and replaced by tax hikes. They forecast immediate and major economic pain and inconvenience for the public. The Department of Homeland Security released roughly 2,000 illegal-immigrant prisoners, and the Secret Service — which guards the White House — announced the closure of the White House tours.

The tour cancellation saved roughly $74,000 a week, or roughly one-millionth of the government's weekly spending.

The Secret Service is part of the administration, and reports to President Obama. On March 4, Obama appointed a new chief to run the Secret Service.

The White House's response failed to move public opinion or GOP votes, and even prompted a spate of skeptical articles from the establishment press.

The strategy also may have cost Obama much public support.

A series of recent polls show the public's approval of Obama's policies has lurched downwards. For example, a poll released March 13 by the Washington Post shows that only 44 percent of Americans support his economic policies.

That sour attitude has also effected Obama's other top priorities. For example, only 45 percent of Americans now trust Obama "to do a better job handling immigration issues." The poll also showed that 39 percent trust the GOP on immigration, and 9 percent trust neither Obama nor the GOP leadership.

Since his sequester strategy has failed, Obama has shifted his tactics to show him working with the GOP.

However, he has coupled that outreach with campaign-style criticism of the GOP's economic plan, which has been developed by House budget chief Rep. Paul Ryan.

"If you look at what Paul Ryan does to balance the budget, it means that you have to voucherize Medicare; you have to slash deeply — into programs like Medicaid; you've essentially got to either tax middle-class families a lot higher than you currently are; or you can't lower rates the way he's promised," he claimed in the ABC interview.

Many GOP leaders and supporters say that Obama's mix of threats, diplomacy, walk-backs and rhetoric is intended to help him win a House majority in 2014, not to negotiate a long-term budget deal.

Obama likely bolstered that view in his ABC speech, partly because he repeatedly insisted that the nation's high $16.7 trillion debt — up from $11 trillion in late 2008 — is not a major problem.

"We don't have an immediate crisis in terms of debt. In fact, for the next ten years, it's gonna be in a sustainable place," he claimed in the ABC interview, during which he said that also that he would not seek to balance the budget anytime during the next decade.

It's always somebody else's fault

One fish... out of how many?

Cincinnati poll worker charged with voting half dozen times in November

This is only one of dozens of cases relating to voter fraud I have found. In almost every case it involves Democrats. Black Democrats. This validates the motivation behind Democrats rejection of photo ID to vote.

Remember this blatant attempt at "impartiality"?

When I voted, standing in a long line, we were told no political posters, buttons, or anything of a political nature were allowed within 500 feet of the precinct. Yet, this mural of Barry at a Philadelphia voting precinct seemed perfectly OK, then an elections judge  ordered it covered but there is some discrepancy as to the order being carried out. The point is...it should have never been there!

"I'll fight it for Mr. Obama and Mr. Obama's right to sit as president of the United States," she proclaimed in the interview. Undergoing illusions of Rosa Parks are we? So next week if she chooses to rob a bank the justification is what...I needed the money? She'll never do 12 years but I hope they nail her ass to the wall.

Guess I cheated myself by voting for Romney only once!  She'll fight for his "right to be president" by voting 6 times! What happened to the UNCF slogan... 

She admitted voting twice in the presidential election last November, and now, Obama supporter Melowese Richardson has been indicted for allegedly voting at least six times. She also is charged with illegal voting in 2008 and 2011.

The 58-year-old veteran Cincinnati poll worker, indicted Monday, faces eight counts of voter fraud. Two others, one of whom is a nun, have been charged separately.

Richardson had admitted on camera to a local TV station, "Yes, I voted twice," claiming she was concerned that her vote would not count. She also said there "was no intent on my part to commit any voter fraud."

"I'll fight it for Mr. Obama and Mr. Obama's right to sit as president of the United States," she proclaimed in the interview.

Officials charged that she voted in her own name by absentee ballot and also in person at the polls, but Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Deters said she also is charged with voting in the name of five other people in various elections.

"This is not North Korea," Deters said in a statement announcing the indictments. "Elections are a serious business and the foundation of our democracy. In the scheme of things, individual votes may not seem important, but this could not be further from the truth. Every vote is important and every voter and candidate needs to have faith in our system. The charges today should let people know that we take this seriously."

Richardson made national headlines when the Hamilton County Board of Elections announced that it was investigating whether she voted up to half a dozen times, including on behalf of her granddaughter, India Richardson.

India told Fox News that her grandmother did indeed vote in her name, telling us that "it wasn't a big deal."

But voting twice or in another person's name is illegal.

Prosecutors say the five other people for whom Richardson cast ballots are all relatives.

Sister Marguerite Kloos also faces one count of illegal voting, for allegedly submitting an absentee ballot in the name of a fellow nun, Sister Rose Marie Hewitt, who had died before absentee ballots were sent out. She is accused of opening Sister Hewitt's ballot, forging her signature and mailing it to the Board of Elections as a vote.

The 54-year-old Kloos has resigned as the dean of the Division of Arts and Humanities at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, where she still serves as an associate professor of religious and pastoral studies.

Kloos was not indicted but faces what is known as an information, because her lawyer contacted prosecutors and she agreed to cooperate and plead guilty.

"As a valued member of the Mount community, our thoughts are with her during this difficult time," the college said in a written statement. "We respect her privacy and will not comment further on this matter at this time."

Russell Glassop, 75, also is charged with illegal voting. He is accused of voting on behalf of his wife, who died before election day.

But it was Richardson's case, and the possibility of repeated votes, that shocked many. She faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted. Efforts to contact her and her lawyer have been unsuccessful.

The Hamilton County Board of Elections recently held hearings on cases of possible double voting and voter fraud, part of a statewide review ordered by Secretary of State John Husted. He called on all 88 counties to review complaints of fraud, as well as voter disenfranchisement.

"Every voter must play by the rules, and if they don't they will be held accountable," Husted, a Republican, said in a written statement. "For voters to have confidence in our elections, we must prosecute every case of voter fraud in Ohio."

Last month, Husted told Fox News that Richardson's case was especially troubling, because "it appears she not only attempted to vote more than once, but was actually successful at it and having those additional votes counted."

"Most attempts are caught by the system. But there are cases that do slip through, as this one does, and we need to make sure that we really send a strong message, that if you do this, you are going to be held accountable," Husted said. "It might mean fines, it might mean jail time."

Hamilton County prosecutors are investigating three additional cases of possible voter fraud.

One fish... out of how many?

Defense Chiefs Flatly Deny Karzai Claims of U.S.-Taliban Collusion

This is the last straw. Over 2,000 Americans have died defending this worthless shit hole not to mention we have pumped in a half a trillion dollars in the last 12 years. If it were up to me I'd give the order to pull out now. Let them kill each other off like they're doing in Syria. Muslims killing Muslims and not one drop of American blood spilled. What could be better then that?

  Hoping, that's his life expectancy after we leave.

Top defense officials categorically deny claims by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the United States is working unilaterally with the Taliban, and that the militant political group secretly wants foreign powers to remain in the country after 12 years of war.

Newly minted Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has been in Afghanistan meeting with leaders and greeting coalition troops. He said on Sunday he discussed Karzai's most recent comments during a meeting with him this weekend. Karzai's statements follow other criticisms of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan at a time when the White House is trying to shift the rhetoric to the American troop drawdown in 2014. "I told the president it was not true that the United States was working unilaterally with the Taliban and trying to negotiate anything," Hagel told reporters in Kabul. "The fact is, any prospect for peace or political settlements—that has to be led by the Afghans. That has to come from the Afghan side. I know these are difficult issues for President Karzai and the Afghan people," Hagel added. "And I was once a politician, so I can understand the kind of pressures that especially leaders of countries are always under."

The Taliban claimed responsibility for bomb attacks in Kabul and in Khost Province on March 9 that killed at least 19 people during Hagel's visit, including nine civilians, eight children, and two policeman. A U.S. contractor and four soldiers were injured. Karzai said afterward that the attack showed the Taliban "are serving foreigners and are not against the foreigner. These bombings show that Taliban want longer presence of foreigners, not their departure from Afghanistan." Karzai also claimed the United States and Taliban representatives host daily talks.

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, who inherited command of the coalition forces in February, said Karzai had never repeated these claims while speaking to him. "I don't know what caused him to say that today," he told reporters in Kabul. "All I can do is speak for the coalition to tell you that it's categorically false, he said. We have no reason to be supporting instability in Afghanistan. And all that we have been about over the past 12 years is to bring peace and stability to the Afghan people so that they can take advantage of the decade of opportunity that will follow 2014. That's what we're all about." Karzai's most recent comments follow criticisms of U.S. special forces in Wardak Province, immediately west of Kabul and a key region for access to the capital. He echoed claims from local residents of the mistreatment of detainees and called for the complete withdrawal of the commandos within two weeks.

The outgoing commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees Afghanistan, told a Senate panel March 5 that the Pentagon was still negotiating with Afghans to reach a solution."That issue is being worked right now. It is not operant right now," said Marine Gen. James Mattis, who is expected to retire in March. "Obviously we would be reluctant to see our forces not able to operate there right now. It's not just reversing [Karzai's order], Mattis said. It's crafting how best we operate in Wardak Province."

Defense Chiefs Flatly Deny Karzai Claims of U.S.-Taliban Collusion

Chavez protege Maduro seeks snap election as Venezuela mourns

Maduro, hand picked by Chavez, is trying to push a snap election to cash in on  Chavez's death while it still lingers in the air. 

This is a major crossroad for Venezuela. Either they get back on the road to Democracy, or follow the path of Cuba.

My condolences to Sean Penn who I understand is on suicide watch.

Emotional: Sean Penn  pictured at the funeral of Hugo Chavez.
He described the Venezuelan leader as a 'champion of the poor'


Some of the other "notable attendees" were
Jesse Jackson, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Raul Castro, and Hugo's Protégé: Evo Morales, Dictator of Bolivia.

 Venezuela's new acting President Nicolas Maduro is pushing for a quick election, hoping to benefit from an emotional outpouring at the death of his charismatic mentor, Hugo Chavez, and step into his shoes. 

 Venezuela's election commission could announce as early as Saturday a date for the election, which two recent polls have forecast Maduro would win comfortably. 

 Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader who served as foreign minister and vice president under Chavez, has vowed to keep Chavez's self-styled socialist revolution alive. He was sworn in as acting president in Congress on Friday and handed the red, yellow and blue presidential sash. "I asked (the election authority) to comply with legal and constitutional obligations and immediately call elections," Maduro, 50, told Congress late on Friday as he cemented his position as heir-in-waiting. 

 The Supreme Court had earlier ruled that Maduro did not need to step down in order to campaign, but the move was denounced by opponents as a violation of the constitution and a "fraud." As Maduro spoke in Congress, residents of some wealthy neighborhoods of Caracas banged pots and pans in a traditional form of protest. Maduro named Chavez's son-in-law Jorge Arreaza as his vice president, and then returned to a military base where more than 2 million people have filed past Chavez's remains to pay their last respects, and took his oath again in front of the casket.

 Chavez was a hero to millions of mostly poor supporters for using Venezuela's oil wealth to finance heavy social spending during his 14-year rule but he was seen as a dictator by his opponents. He died on Tuesday at age 58 after a two-year battle with cancer. 

 Like Communist leaders Lenin, Stalin and Mao, Chavez's remains are to be embalmed and put on display "for eternity". An eclectic cast of celebrities, leftist and center-right presidents and rogue leaders attended Chavez's state funeral on Friday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a close ally, broke with protocol to kiss the coffin, while Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn was also in attendance.

 It is likely to be a particularly bitter election campaign in the OPEC nation, which boasts the world's largest oil reserves. The opposition had accused the government of trampling on the constitution during its handling of Chavez's battle with cancer, and is furious that Maduro was allowed to take on the job of caretaker president while he campaigns for the job. "This transgression is unprecedented in the history of the republic," opposition lawmaker Maria Corina Machado said on Twitter. "Today, on a day of mourning ... the Supreme Court issued a political sentence, a fraud," said opposition leader Henrique Capriles, 40, the centrist governor of Miranda state who lost to Chavez in October's election and is expected to face off against Maduro. "We are not prepared to tolerate abuses of power," he added. "To become president, the people have to elect you. ... No one elected Nicolas president." 

Judging by this article it doesn't seem they're off to a good start.

Chavez protege Maduro seeks snap election as Venezuela mourns

The Desperation in Sequestration

Citing sequestration, White House cancels tours

(Unless, of course, you have $500,000 to meet with Barry)

 Times are tough.
 Some staff members have been seen parading around the WH lawn with these.

The White House announced Tuesday that all tours of the building have been canceled because of the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, which took effect on Friday.

"Due to staffing reductions resulting from sequestration, we regret to inform you that White House Tours will be canceled effective Saturday, March 9, 2013 until further notice," The White House visitor's office announced in an email Tuesday afternoon. "Unfortunately, we will not be able to reschedule affected tours."

"We very much regret having to take this action, particularly during the popular Spring touring season," the email added. (RELATED: Bob Woodward claims President Barack Obama lied repeatedly about sequester trigger)

Federal agencies facing budget cuts have a long-standing habit of suspending their most visible and popular activities in an effort to gin up public outrage, a strategy that Washington journalist Charles Peters nicknamed the "Firemen First Principle" in 1976.

In one famous example of the strategy, the National Parks Service director closed all the nation's national parks, including the Grand Canyon and the Washington Monument, for two days a week after President Nixon cut the agency's budget. The ploy worked, and Congress quickly restored funding amid public outcry.

The Desperation in Sequestration