Dems Deny Kennedy Defection

You have no idea how long I have waited to write a headline like that, but alas this about a Kennedy in England.

The Liberal Democrats have denied reports that former party leader Charles Kennedy is considering defecting to Labour.

It follows press and online speculation that Mr Kennedy has been talking to Labour whips because of unease at his party's coalition with the Tories.

A spokesman for the Lib Dems described the story as "complete and utter fabrication".

Mr Kennedy was leader of the party between 1999 and 2006.

It seems the liberal Democrats in England are in no better shape then the Democrats in this country.

Joe Kennedy III Not Running for Congress

There was some speculation over the weekend that Robert F. Kennedy's grandson could possible run for Congress this year.

Well, you can cancel that for now.

Joseph P. Kennedy III, the son of a former congressman and the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, said Sunday he had decided against running for the U.S. House from Massachusetts this year.

Kennedy told The Associated Press that he wants to remain in his new job as a prosecutor in Cape Cod's Barnstable County. The 29-year-old Stanford University and Harvard Law graduate has held the post only for eight months.

"I've got a job I love being an assistant district attorney on the Cape, and I want to get better at it at this point," Kennedy said. "I know serving in Congress would be a great job, but I've got a great job."

A top state Democrat said Saturday that Kennedy was weighing a race if Rep. William Delahunt were to decide against seeking re-election in the 10th Congressional District, which encompasses the Massachusetts South Shore and Cape Cod.

Delahunt and the rest of the Massachusetts Democratic establishment were rocked in January when Republican Scott Brown staged an upset to win the U.S. Senate seat held for more than four decades by Kennedy's uncle, Edward M. Kennedy. While Kennedy's widow, Vicki, and Joseph P. Kennedy III's father, former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, both eschewed races, they lobbied hard for the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Her loss raised questions about the endurance of the Kennedy legacy. It also inspired several local Republicans, including former state Treasurer Joe Malone and state Rep. Jeffrey Perry of Sandwich, to say they are considering running for Delahunt's seat.

Delahunt has been criticized in recent weeks for his handling of a 1986 shooting by Amy Bishop, a University of Alabama professor accused of killing three colleagues this month. At the time, Delahunt was the local district attorney, and he accepted the findings of local and state police that Bishop's shooting of her brother was accidental.

On name alone Kennedy would have become the instant frontrunner. Still no word what Delahunt plans to do, so Kennedy's plan sure could change if he decides to retire, although it's indicated here he won't run even if Delahunt leaves office.

Says a commenter:

The boy raised the flag to see if anybody would salute it. Nobody did. Thank God.

Connie Mack Rips Useful Idiot Joe Kennedy

Florida GOP Rep. Connie Mack hammers the pathetic Joe Kennedy for his shameless pandering to Communist thug Hugo Chavez.

A Florida congressman ripped into former Rep. Joe Kennedy for airing television commercials promoting his Citizens Energy Corp. that heap praise on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, "a sworn enemy of the United States."

In the ad, Kennedy, founder and president of Citizens Energy Corp., a nonprofit energy company, lauds Venezuela and Citgo, a Houston-based oil company owned by the Chavez government, for contributing heating oil to low income senior citizens.

"I am Joe Kennedy. Help is on the way. Heating oil at 40 percent off from our friends in Venezuela at Citgo," Kennedy says in the commercial.

In a letter dated Monday, Rep. Connie Mack wrote to Kennedy: "Venezuela's Communist President Hugo Chavez is a sworn enemy of the United States. That is why there is absolutely no excuse for you to be praising him in television commercials and media interviews for any reason whatsoever."

Mack's letter continues: "While you have gone out of your way to publicly praise Hugo Chavez, he's gone out of his way to crush the hopes and dreams of the Venezuelan people and to destabilize freedom, democracy, and the United States interests throughout the Western Hemisphere."

Mack said the partnership is not providing discount oil, but allowing Chavez a venue to "exploit his apologists in the name of public relations. Sadly, you have chosen to actively participate in his charade, even as he continues to attack the United States, our leaders, and freedom-loving people everywhere."

Previously:

Joe Kennedy Pimps for Chavez

Venezuelans Get a Taste of Communism

Venezuelans Get a Taste of Communism

They better get used to it, since they won't be tasting much else.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Meat cuts vanished from Venezuelan supermarkets this week, leaving only unsavory bits like chicken feet, while costly artificial sweeteners have increasingly replaced sugar, and many staples sell far above government-fixed prices.

President Hugo Chavez's administration blames the food supply problems on unscrupulous speculators, but industry officials say government price controls that strangle profits are responsible. Authorities on Wednesday raided a warehouse in Caracas and seized seven tons of sugar hoarded by vendors unwilling to market the inventory at the official price.

Major private supermarkets suspended sales of beef earlier this week after one chain was shut down for 48 hours for pricing meat above government-set levels, but an agreement reached with the government on Wednesday night promises to return meat to empty refrigerator shelves.

Shortages have sporadically appeared with items from milk to coffee since early 2003, when Chavez began regulating prices for 400 basic products as a way to counter inflation and protect the poor.

Yet inflation has soared to an accumulated 78 percent in the last four years in an economy awash in petrodollars, and food prices have increased particularly swiftly, creating a widening discrepancy between official prices and the true cost of getting goods to market in Venezuela.

Maybe Joe Kennedy can help out.

UPDATE: Now they'll really be in the dark.

Joe Kennedy Pimps for Chavez

Hugo Chavez, friend of the Kennedys.

Just disgusting.

A lawsuit by the Washington-based group Judicial Watch alleges that Chavez not only provided financial support to bin Laden, but that Al Qaeda is currently operating a training camp on the Venezuelan island of Margarita. Others have charged Chavez is providing false identity documents to individuals from the Middle East, to facilitate their entry into the United States. He also supports Colombia’s FARC terrorists.

Let us pause to reflect on the glories Kennedy’s favorite Marxist is inflicting on his nation:

*In a move decried as censorship by everyone from the Organization of American States to Human Rights Watch, on January 18, Chavez announced that he would close Radio Caracas Television. The 54-year-old station is his main media critic.

*Under the Chavez-sponsored Law on Social Responsibility of Radio and Television, reporters face up to 20 months in prison for “disrespect” of the maximum leader.

*Freedom House ranks Venezuela under Chavez 34th out of 35 countries in the Western Hemisphere in press freedom, ahead of only Cuba. But Castro has been in the business of throttling dissent for almost 50 years. Just give Hugo a little time.

*On the day that he moved against Radio Caracas Television, Chavez’s rubber-stamp National Assembly gave 1-877-Dial-Hugo-4-Marxism the power to rule by decree for 18 months in 11 key areas.

*Chavez has announced his intension to nationalize Venezuela’s energy, oil and telecommunications industries. He’s looted the country’s National Bank of billions.

*Those who signed a 2004 petition to recall Chavez (more than a million marched through the streets of Caracas at the time) have found themselves frozen out of state jobs and contracts, denied public assistance, and have even had applications for passports rejected.

*Chavez has announced his intention to rule Venezuela until 2031 – making him a president-for-life in all but name.

*Chavez is reported to have closed deals for the purchase of $3 billion of Russian arms, including fighter jets, military helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles. Since no army is poised on its borders to invade Venezuela, it’s reasonable to assume that, when the time is right, all of this will be turned on opponents of the regime.

*Chavez is trading Venezuelan oil for Cuban police-state expertise. Since 2005, he’s imported tens of thousands of Cubans to staff key positions in the nation’s military and intelligence services.

The noose is tightening on the people of Venezuela. The above are all inexorable steps toward achieving Chavez’s grand vision of “Fatherland, socialism or death.” Hugo, Hugo uber alles….