An Endorsement You Don't Want

It seems Hugo Chavez has praised actor Sean Penn for his anti-war effort.

I dunno. Do you really want an endorsement from a tyrannical dictator who's nationalizing companies, silencing opponents, and ruling by decree?

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."

Many people on the Left hate when conservatives bring up the "useful idiot" label for people like Penn or Cindy Sheehan or Cameron Diaz or Jane Fonda. But it's hard not to look at these people and wonder seriously who they want to be friends with. Do they honestly think the Hugo Chavezes of this world believe in freedom of speech or the right to protest as it is practiced in the U.S.?

For Chavez (or Castro, or Hu Jintao or whoever), such photo ops with American celebrities are positive press. These events allow these dictators to manipulate the gullible press into spinning stories showing these countries in the best light possible.

But I don't really blame the press so much here. I do blame the celebrities involved. If Sean Penn really has Chavez's ear, why doesn't he press him on his oppression of opposition groups or controlling the media in Venezuela?

Maybe He Needs Some Anger Management Counseling

I just read about Alec Baldwin's abusive outburst left on his daughter's voice mail via TMZ.com.

After Ireland (Baldwin's daughter with Kim Basinger) failed to answer her father's scheduled morning phone call from New York on April 11, Alec went berserk on her voice mail, saying "Once again, I have made an ass of myself trying to get to a phone," adding, "you have insulted me for the last time."

Switching his train of thought, Baldwin then exercised his incredible parenting skills and took a shot at his ex-wife, declaring, "I don't give a damn that you're 12-years-old or 11-years-old, or a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn't care about what you do." The irate Baldwin went on to say, "You've made me feel like s**t" and threatened to "straighten your ass out."

"This crap you pull on me with this goddamn phone situation that you would never dream of doing to your mother," screamed Baldwin, "and you do it to me constantly over and over again."

Before hanging up, Baldwin warned the child, "You better be ready Friday the 20th to meet with me." That's tomorrow.

We've learned that on Wednesday, Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner Maren Nelson heard the tape and temporarily suspended Baldwin's visitation rights. A hearing is set for May 4, where the judge could permanently deny Baldwin visitation or contact with Ireland.

I usually don't pay attention to celebrity bad behavior, but I particularly despise Baldwin after he suggested stoning Henry Hyde for conducting Bill Clinton's impeachment hearings.

The fact that Baldwin would leave such a vitriolic message to his 11-year-old child is unforgiveable to me. I was involved in a nasty custody battle for my oldest shortly before her 12th birthday, and while there were times I was angry or disappointed in her choices, it would never have occurred to me to call her names or scream at her. Does that make me an exemplary parent? No, it makes me a normal parent.

If Baldwin has this enormous an anger problem, he doesn't need to be around his daughter. His influence would be poisonous and it is unfair to the child. If adults want to hate each other fine, but leave the kids out of the line of fire, please.

UPDATE: Ace of Spades reminds us that "verbal violence" is equal to shooting up a school according to Barak Obama. He also has this gem:

How f****** stupid do you have to be to leave this kind of a nasty rant on an answering machine belonging to an ex-wife whom you allegedly smacked around?

Pretty f****** stupid.