memeorandum: Calligraphy-Gate — The Weekly Standard's Daniel Halper … (James Joyner/Outside the Beltway)

5:30 PM ET, March 6, 2013

Top Items:

Jake Novak / CNBC:

Boehner Wants Budget Deals ‘Out in the Open’ — Supervising Producer for “The Kudlow Report” — House Speaker John Boehner told CNBC's Larry Kudlow on Wednesday that a long-term deal on entitlements is possible, and there's no good reason for the Obama team to have shut down the White House tour.

Discussion: Politico, First Read, PoliticusUSA, Post Politics and Daily Kos

New York Times:

Trying to Revive Talks, Obama Goes Around G.O.P. Leaders — WASHINGTON — With Republican leaders in Congress forswearing budget negotiations over new revenues, President Obama has begun reaching around them to Republican lawmakers with a history of willingness to cut bipartisan deals.

Discussion: Campaign for America's Future, The Plum Line, The National Memo, The Hill, American Prospect, The Caucus, Washington Post, The Maddow Blog, First Read, Wonkblog, Smartypants, NBCNews.com, Weekly Standard, susiemadrak.com and msnbc.com

Niels Lesniewski / Roll Call:

Filibuster Overhaul Effort Should Be Revived, Durbin Says — Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin signaled Wednesday it may already be time to reopen the debate about the chamber's rules, given Republicans have attempted to or plan to filibuster three presidential appointments in the month …

Discussion: Daily Kos and PostPartisan

Reuters:
Election bump over, Obama approval drops to 43 percent: Reuters/IPSOS poll

Discussion: NBCNews.com, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, The Moderate Voice, Scared Monkeys, Jammie Wearing Fools, The PJ Tatler and National Review

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Republicans Have Won a Budget Battle, But Not the War

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Plum Line, Talking Points Memo, The Reaction, Business Insider and Prairie Weather

Politico:
Now Dems worry: Did Obama cry wolf?

Discussion: Salon, CNN, Business Insider, Hot Air, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Huffington Post and The National Memo

Jon Cohen / The Fix:
Cut government spending? Sure....in theory.

Discussion: Firedoglake, CNN, Politico and Hot Air

Greg Holyk / ABCNEWS:
Most Back Cuts Overall - But Not to the Military

Discussion: Mother Jones, Weasel Zippers and Jammie Wearing Fools

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:

Rand Paul launches talking filibuster against CIA nominee — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is staging a talking filibuster against the nomination of John Brennan to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). — “I'm here to filibuster John Brennan's nomination to be director of CIA,” Paul said on the Senate floor Wednesday.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, The Mental Recession, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway and Weekly Standard

Josh Voorhees / Slate:
Rand Paul Has Started What Could Be an Epic Mr. Smith-Style Filibuster on the Senate Floor

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Jeff Merkley Calls For Reigniting Filibuster Reform

Discussion: The Maddow Blog and Wonkblog

Philip Ewing / Politico:
Rand Paul stops John Brennan action with filibuster

Discussion: The Week and Booman Tribune

Ed O'Keefe / Post Politics:
Rand Paul launches talking filibuster against John Brennan

Discussion: Business Insider, American Prospect, The Gateway Pundit, Taylor Marsh, The Fix, Right Turn, Red Alert Politics, The Other McCain, Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire and Mediaite

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Chief White House Calligrapher Gets Paid $96,725 Per Year — With the White House closing its doors to public tour groups in order to save money for the sequester, it's worth remembering some of the other costs the White House incurs annually. — Like the “Chief Calligrapher,” …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Hot Air, Mediaite, The Impolitic, TheBlaze.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Caller and Washington Times

James Joyner / Outside the Beltway:

Calligraphy-Gate — The Weekly Standard's Daniel Halper, who yesterday broke the story of a government leader reminding his employees to obey the law, unearths another scandal: the White House employs calligraphers. And pays them money! … Yes, it sounds a little silly that we're paying people …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Daily Caller and Weekly Standard

Wall Street Journal:
SequesterThis — Meat inspectors have to go, but fine wines are still on the USDA menu.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Betsy's Page, Right Wing News and Washington Times

William J. Dobson / Slate:

How his economically disastrous, politically effective ideology will haunt the country he ruined. — Even before Hugo Chávez died, he had become a ghost. A strange, unfamiliar quiet had fallen on Venezuela for weeks as people waited to hear the voice of the president who had been part of their daily lives for nearly 14 years.

Discussion: The Lede, NewsBusters, The Dish, The Week and IHT Rendezvous

Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
What I learned about Hugo Chávez's mental health when I visited Venezuela with Sean Penn.

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Dish, The Week, Toronto Star, Hot Air, The Atlantic Online, TheBlaze.com and News Desk, more at Mediagazer »

Rory Carroll / New York Times:
In the End, an Awful Manager

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Other McCain, National Review and Spectator

Greg Grandin / The Nation:
On the Legacy of Hugo Chávez

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Hit & Run, Mediaite, Twitchy, ThinkProgress, Babalú Blog, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, Belmont Club, The Carter Center and Ed Driscoll

Zev Chafets / Vanity Fair:

Exclusive Excerpt: Roger Ailes Off Camera — Roger Ailes is one of the most powerful—and controversial—characters in television media, pilloried by critics and many in the mainstream media and lionized by conservative viewers who can't get enough of his posse of charismatic hosts.

Agoldberg / The Smoking Gun:

Cops: Perp Had Loaded Revolver In Her Vagina — Handgun was found inside Oklahoman during strip search — An Oklahoma woman arrested Monday on drug charges had a loaded handgun hidden in her vagina, according to police. — The weapon was discovered during a search of Christie Dawn Harris …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hinterland Gazette and Gawker

Joleen Chaney / KFOR-TV:
GRAPHIC: Woman packing heat, drugs in private parts

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

Capitol janitors making ‘ends meet’ with overtime? Nope — “You know, those Capitol janitors will not get as much overtime. I'm sure they think less pay, that they're taking home, does hurt.” — Gene Sperling, director of the White House economic council, on ABC News' “This Week,” March 3, 2013

Discussion: The Fix, Weekly Standard, Fox News, NewsBusters, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications and Heritage Action for America

Donovan Slack / Politico:
6 Obama administration sequester claims shot down by fact checkers

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Lara Jakes / ABCNEWS:

Too Much Money Spent in Iraq for Too Few Results — Ten years and $60 billion in American taxpayer funds later, Iraq is still so unstable and broken that even its leaders question whether U.S. efforts to rebuild the war-torn nation were worth the cost. — In his final report to Congress …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Impolitic, Booman Tribune and Jammie Wearing Fools

Spencer Ackerman / Wired:
Over $8B of the Money You Spent Rebuilding Iraq Was Wasted Outright

Discussion: The Dish

sigir.mil:
Learning From Iraq — A Final Report From the Special Inspector …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Week, Online NewsHour, New York Times and Hot Air

John Bachman / WSB-TV:

City looks to make gun ownership mandatory — Every homeowner in a local town could soon have to own a gun or break the law. It's a controversial new plan for the city of Nelson. — NELSON, Ga. — Every homeowner in a local town could soon have to own a gun or break the law.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mediaite, BuzzFeed, The PJ Tatler and The Raw Story

Rebecca Leber / ThinkProgress: City In Georgia Would Mandate That Everyone Own A Gun

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Lindsey Graham: Hurricane Victims Need Assault Weapons To Shoot ‘Roaming Gangs’ — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) pushed back against efforts to limit the availability of assault weapons during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday by echoing the paranoia of the National Rifle Association …

Discussion: Video Cafe blogs

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Graham on Obama invite: ‘How do you say no to the president?’

Discussion: Politico

Guardian:

Revealed: Pentagon link to Iraq torture centres — Exclusive: General David Petraeus and ‘dirty wars’ veteran behind commando units implicated in detainee abuse — See the full-length documentary film of the 15-month investigation — The Pentagon sent a US veteran of the “dirty wars” …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Talking Points Memo, The Dish and susiemadrak.com

Carl Campanile / New York Post:

Mayor Bloomberg's new health crusade: too-loud earbuds — Now listen up, if you can. — Mayor Bloomberg — who has already cracked down on smoking, junk food, trans fats, salt and super-sized drinks — is embarking on a new crusade: preventing New Yorkers from going deaf.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, NBCNews.com, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Gothamist, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler and Jammie Wearing Fools

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:

Ted Cruz Goads Eric Holder Into Admitting That Killing Americans With Drones On U.S. Soil Is Unconstitutional — On Tuesday, the Department of Justice sent shockwaves through the nation when Attorney General Eric Holder informed Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in writing that the White House …

Discussion: Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Mother Jones

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
Killing Americans on U.S. Soil: Eric Holder's Evasive, Manipulative Letter

Discussion: msnbc.com, Hit & Run, CP Feed and The Raw Story

Brendan Sasso / The Hill:

Holder defends prosecution of Web activist Swartz — Attorney General Eric Holder denied on Wednesday that agency officials acted inappropriately in their prosecution of Aaron Swartz, an Internet activist and co-creator of Reddit who killed himself earlier this year.

Discussion: Politico and TalkLeft

Empire News:

Sam Mendes Won't Direct Bond 24 — Exclusive on ‘a very difficult decision’ — Bond may be back, but Empire can exclusively reveal that Sam Mendes won't be joining him. At the BAFTAs recently, basking in the glow of Skyfall's triumph for Outstanding British Film, it seemed that Mendes …