Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine...
Cursing Allowed
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor has a new platform in his election campaign -- Vote for me or you will be cursed.
Acting president Nicolas Maduro is warning -- quote -- "If anyone among the people votes against [me] he is voting against himself, and the curse of Macarapana is falling upon him."
That refers to a 16th-century battle when Spanish colonial fighters massacred local Indian forces.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles says anyone who threatens his country has no business being president.
Curse or not -- Maduro is leading in the polls-- but Capriles supporters predict a last minute opposition surge before Venezuelans head to the polls Sunday.
From the Pollls to the Poles...
From the polls to another kind of poles.
It is still legal for Colorado welfare recipients to withdraw their monthly benefits at strip clubs.
Late last week, the state House in Colorado, killed a bill to close the so-called "strip club loophole" -- allowing welfare debit cards to be used to withdraw cash from ATMs inside the clubs.
The cards cannot be used at ATMs inside casinos, liquor stores, bingo parlors, or gun stores.
The Denver Post reports one Democratic lawmaker argued that in some poorer communities the strip club may have the only ATM available to welfare recipients.
Poodle Prank
And finally, a new pet owner in Argentina got quite a shock when he took his two new toy poodles to the vet and found out they weren't dogs at all.
The Daily Mail reports, they were actually ferrets on steroids.
He reportedly paid a breeder $150 each for the animals.
Purebred toy poodles -- like the dog on the left -- can fetch upwards of a $1,000.
Ferrets -- also known as Brazilian rats -- are far less expensive.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox