http://news.yahoo.com/…

Many foreigners can travel to Venezuela without a visa. But now there’s a new requirement once they get there. President Hugo Chavez announced on Sunday that foreigners who publicly criticize his government will be deported. He ordered officials to monitor statements made by international figures visiting the country. The comments came after the President of Mexico’s ruling conservative party criticized Chavez for seeking to do away with term limits at a recent pro-democracy conference in Caracas. “No foreigner, whoever it is, can come here to attack us,” Chavez said. “How long are we going to allow a person, from any country in the world, to come to our own house to say there’s a dictatorship here, that the President is a tyrant, and no one does anything about it?”

More evidence for the rise of Dictator Chavez. I had forgotten to post about the possible doing away with the term limits. If that’s not the most telling part of this all I’m not sure what else could convince people.

Ron Paul: In for the Long Haul

With regards to fundraising and his $2.4 million:

• 3rd in total receipts for the quarter
• 4th in total receipts to date
• 3rd in total current assets (ahead of former front-runner John McCain, and just $800,000 behind Mitt Romney)
• 47% of the contributions made to Ron Paul’s campaign are donations of under $200 from individuals (John McCain’s 17% is the second-highest percentage)

WRT online:

• “Ron Paul” recently topped Technorati’s search-term rankings for an unprecedented stretch – current rank #2 (Technorati is the leading authority on Internet media usage).
• RonPaul2008.com draws more traffic than any other candidate’s Web site.
• On YouTube.com, the Internet’s most popular video site, the Ron Paul channel has over 22,000 subscribers, which is 13,000 more than the second most popular candidate (Obama).
• And on Meetup.com, more than 25,000 people comprise 560 Ron Paul Meetup groups, which makes the Good Doctor the most popular Meetup source in the political category. The next candidate, Obama, is a distant second with 5300 members in 68 groups.

http://www.reuters.com/…

Calling for the impeachment of U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, Cindy Sheehan and 45 fellow Iraq war protesters were arrested on Monday after they refused to leave a U.S. lawmaker’s office and adjoining hallway, authorities said.

Before police escorted her away, Sheehan, who emerged as a leading peace activist after her son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004, announced what she had earlier suggested — that she would be a candidate for Congress next year.

Sheehan said she would challenge House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat. Pelosi has refused calls to start impeachment of Bush and Cheney for what critics charge was misleading the United States into war.

As I reported here I’m all for her running. She has been screwed by both major parties and the 2008 House race against Pelosi could get very interesting.