Spicoli strikes again

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has praised Sean Penn for his critical stance against the war in Iraq, saying the two chatted by phone and soon plan to meet in person.

Chavez said Penn traveled to Venezuela this week wanting to learn more about the situation in the country and walked around some of Caracas' poor barrios on his own.

"Welcome to Venezuela, Mr. Penn. What drives him is consciousness, the search for new paths," Chavez said Wednesday in a televised speech. "He's one of the greatest opponents of the Iraq invasion."

Chavez read aloud from a recent open letter by Penn to President Bush in which the actor condemned the Iraq war and called for Bush to be impeached, saying the president along with Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are "villainously and criminally obscene people."

The socialist president, who shares those views, said he and Penn talked by phone—"with my bad English but we understood each other more or less."

They say there is no bad publicity, that may be, but this is as close as you can get. Spicoli cuddling up to a dictator that jails his opponents, shuts down dissenting papers and verbally attacks the Nation that tolerates hollywierd fruitcakes and their opinion. I wonder what Sean would think if he were kidnapped for ransom the way so many there are, and had to be hospitalized in the socialist paradise medical system? Little different perspective I expect. Walking around in the barrios does not generally give you a feel for a country, particularly when the Govt. probably has you covered with minders.