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Rep. Greg Meeks will head up a U.S. delegation attending the funeral Friday of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a decision by President Barack Obama that is drawing attention because of the congressman’s previous ties to Chávez. … Former Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Bill Delahunt is also part of the U.S. funeral delegation. Like Meeks, Delahunt drew criticism in 2005 for meeting the Venezuelan dictator to discuss a deal for discounted heating oil to help low-income residents of Massachusetts. …

A top Massachusetts Democrat says one of Robert F. Kennedy’s grandsons is considering running for the U.S. House of Representatives. Joseph P. Kennedy III is one of the twin sons of former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II. The source, who demanded anonymity to speak about private conversations with the father and son, says the younger Kennedy is considering running if Rep. William Delahunt decides against seeking re-election. Delahunt has been criticized lately for his handling of a 1986 shooting in Braintree by a woman now accused of killing three colleagues at an Alabama university. Delahunt’s district includes Cape Cod, where...

U.S. Rep. William Delahunt blew nearly $560,000 in campaign cash last year - much of it on lavish meals and a family-friendly payroll that includes his ex-wife, son-in-law and daughter - stoking speculation the Quincy Democrat is emptying his war chest and won’t seek re-election. -snip- Delahunt told the Herald last week that he was still weighing whether to seek re-election, but Democratic Party sources have privately indicated his departure is anticipated - and expected to draw a host of candidates-in-waiting out of the woodwork.

It has only been a week since the Crystal Ball published our most recent comprehensive view of House races across the country, but political news abhors a vacuum and there already many new developments to report. All nine ratings changes this week benefit Republicans, further evidence of the many advantages they face across the country at this time. The Crystal Ball moves five Democratic seats from a “safe” rating onto our list of competitive races: KY-6 (Ben Chandler), MA-10 (Bill Delahunt), OH-13 (Betty Sutton), SC-5 (John Spratt), and VA-9 (Rick Boucher). In addition, two already competitive races for Democrats look...

Current Norfolk County DA Bill Keating contradicted current Democrat congressman and former DA Bill Delahunt over Delahunt's decision not to charge Amy Bishop regarding the 1986 shooting death of her teenage brother. Late yesterday, Bill Keating's office for the Norfolk district in Massachusetts posted a press release which included analysis of the Amy Bishop shooting death of her brother in 1986, which in turn was prompted by newly received documents from a Braintree municipal records audit . By way of that analysis, which involved the Chief of Homicide and the Chief Appellate Attorney, Bill Keating now believes that Amy Bishop...

Two lawmakers of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party appealed Thursday to let Uighurs locked up at Guantanamo Bay move to the United States, saying they were victims of injustice. The plea came despite an overwhelming Senate vote a day earlier to block money to transfer inmates out of the deeply controversial "war on terror" prison in Cuba, which Obama on Thursday vowed again to shut down. US authorities four years ago cleared 17 imprisoned Uighurs -- members of a largely Muslim group in northwestern China who the State Department says face worsening persecution by Beijing. But they are stuck at...

Mexico slams Border Patrol clemency. Criticizes commutation for former Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean. Plus, President Bush and Administration Corruption Exposed Part II 01.22.09 CNN Lou Dobbs Video: "Mexico Meddling" (Ramos-Compean, Bush Corruption Exposed Pt II) 01.14.09 CNN Lou Dobbs Video: President-Elect Barack Obama and Mexico's President Felipe Calderon met SEGMENT INTRO: New questions about Mexico's brazen meddling in the case against former border patrol agents Ramos and Compean who remain in prison tonight, we'll have special coverage of this continuing miscarriage of justice and the intervention of the Mexican government in the Bush administration's policy making. # And...

...Does a woman who accepts America's money to build democracy deserve 16 years in prison? Only to a brutal dictator. But that doesn't excuse Congress, NOW and Jimmy Carter for having nothing to say. ...a politicized court is about to throw Venezuelan democracy campaigner Maria Corina Machado into prison for "treason." Her so-called crime: Accepting a $54,000 grant from U.S. Congress' National Endowment for Democracy. ...all she and three others did was inform citizens about their supposed rights under Chavez's own 1999 constitution. For Chavez, that was a crime.. his prosecutor handed the one-man judge and jury his demand for...

IF THE SAHARA DESERT WENT Marxist, ran a Cold War-era joke, pretty soon it would have to import sand. Today the gag might be: If Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, elected Hugo Chávez, pretty soon it would have to import petroleum. Except it's not a gag. In December 2002, less than four years into Chávez's presidency, Venezuelans began importing oil. The wells hadn't gone dry. Rather, the state petroleum firm, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which was then controlled by the opposition, had called a general strike to protest Chávez's increasingly autocratic rule.Chávez balked at their demands--that he either call...

Latin America: Oil earnings have given Hugo Chavez a colossal sense of his own power at home and abroad. He's not limiting himself to small countries like Bolivia, though. Surprise: The U.S. is also in his cross hairs. Venezuela's president has targeted America and not just by organizing political fifth columns called "Bolivarian Circles" ... He's also getting himself good press for delivering discounted oil for his handpicked "poor" ... Chavez has won plaudits from the mainstream media for his newly launched program to deliver cheap heating oil to carefully "screened" low-income constituencies. Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA, through its...