memeorandum: Amid storm, climate hearing to go on (Erica Martinson/Politico)

3:25 PM ET, March 6, 2013

Top Items:

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, TheBlaze.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, Outside the Beltway and The Daily Caller

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: American Prospect, The Plum Line, Washington Post, The Maddow Blog, Wonkblog, The Caucus, First Read, The Hill, Smartypants, NBCNews.com, msnbc.com, susiemadrak.com and New Republic

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: Daily Kos, Post Politics and First Read

Politico:

Now Dems worry: Did Obama cry wolf? — President Barack Obama hopes to spark a pitchfork revolt against Republicans over sequester-induced budget cuts — but many Democrats fret that he's undermined that effort with an early strategy marred by hype, poor planning and muddled messaging.

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

Donovan Slack / Politico:

6 Obama administration sequester claims shot down by fact checkers — Fact-checkers have had their hands full in recent weeks as the Obama administration has tried to detail the expected impacts of automatic sequester cuts. — As POLITICO's Glenn Thrush and Carrie Budoff Brown report on the home page …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

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: Weekly Standard, Fox News, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications, The Answer Sheet and Heritage Action for America

Speaker.gov:
U.S. Capitol to Continue Welcoming Visitors for Public Tours

Discussion: New York Times

Rory Carroll / New York Times:

In the End, an Awful Manager — IN Caracas, Venezuela, you could tell a summit meeting mattered to Hugo Chávez when government workers touched up the city's rubble. Before dignitaries arrived, teams with buckets and brushes would paint bright yellow lines along the route from the airport …

Discussion: Spectator, The Other McCain and National Review

Christopher Hitchens / Slate:

What I learned about Hugo Chávez's mental health when I visited Venezuela with Sean Penn. — Less than a day after Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's communication minister appeared on television to announce that the socialist leader was in failing health, Chávez has died.

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

William J. Dobson / Slate:
How his economically disastrous, politically effective ideology will haunt the country he ruined.

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

Rebecca Ford / Hollywood Reporter:
Sean Penn on Hugo Chavez's Death: ‘I Lost a Friend’

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

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Twitchy, Belmont Club and The Daily Caller

Zack Beauchamp / ThinkProgress:
Why Democrats Shouldn't Eulogize Hugo Chavez

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, U.S. Congressman …, The Impolitic, Fox News, National Review, NBCNews.com, CANNONFIRE, ABCNEWS, BuzzFeed, Twitchy, Mediaite, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Gateway Pundit, Hit & Run, The Mahablog and The Reaction

The Carter Center:
Statement From Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on the Death of Hugo Chavez

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Ricochet Conversations Feed, NBC Latino, The Week, The Times of Israel, The Gateway Pundit, Politico, New York Times, Blazing Cat Fur, Red Alert Politics, Ed Driscoll, AEIdeas, The Lede, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers, Associated Press and Scared Monkeys

Wall Street Journal:
Venezuela Takes Page From Cuban Playbook

Discussion: Power Line, Gawker and FP Passport

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: Outside the Beltway and Hot Air

Ed O'Keefe / Post Politics:

Rand Paul begins talking filibuster against John Brennan — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced just before noon Wednesday on the Senate floor that he plans to speak “for the next few hours” in opposition to the nomination of John Brennan to lead the CIA. — Watch live video of Paul speaking from the Senate floor below:

Discussion: Business Insider, American Prospect, Roll Call, The Gateway Pundit, The Fix, Right Turn, Taylor Marsh, Booman Tribune, Red Alert Politics and Mediaite

Philip Ewing / Politico:

Rand Paul stops John Brennan action with filibuster — Sen. Rand Paul commandeered the Senate on Wednesday with an old-fashioned talking filibuster about what he said are the dangers of drone strikes against Americans inside the U.S., derailing the Senate's progress on the White House's nominee to head the CIA.

Discussion: The Week

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:
Ted Cruz Goads Eric Holder Into Admitting That Killing Americans With Drones On U.S. Soil Is Unconstitutional

Discussion: 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: Hit & Run, msnbc.com, The Raw Story, Washington's Blog and CP Feed

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.

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Guardian, Deadline.com, NBCNews.com, Politico, The Daily Caller, Media Decoder, The Raw Story, Mediaite, TVNewser, PREZ16, Weasel Zippers, msnbc.com, Small Dead Animals and Post Politics, more at Mediagazer »

Mike Allen / Politico:
THE REAL ROGER AILES — BILL GATES …

Discussion: FishbowlDC

Reuters:

Election bump over, Obama approval drops to 43 percent: Reuters/IPSOS poll — (Reuters) - Less than two months into his second term, President Barack Obama's approval rating has dropped and Americans blame him and his fellow Democrats almost as much as his Republican opponents for a fiscal mess.

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

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

Discussion: Mother Jones, Weasel Zippers and Jammie Wearing Fools

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

Discussion: The Fix, The Plum Line, Talking Points Memo, The Reaction and Business Insider

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: susiemadrak.com

David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:
Revealed: Pentagon's Link To Iraqi Torture Centers

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Guardian

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, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, Gothamist, The PJ Tatler and Jammie Wearing Fools

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 …

Discussion: The Week, BBC, FirstShowing.net, Telegraph and Deadline.com