Sean Penn has defended Hugo Chávez as a model democrat and said those who call him a dictator should be jailed....
Good old Sean Penn. By the way, could there be a crueller summation of the current status of Failed Academic Noam Chomsky than this line, made all the more poignant for appearing in the Guardian:
Other celebrity endorsements [for Chavez] have come from the linguist and writer Noam Chomsky and model Naomi Campbell.
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According to Wikipedia, Prof. Chomsky is the recipient not only of some 35 honorary degrees but also, and perhaps more impressively, the dedicatee of Pandemoniumfromamerica, a 2006 album by Viggo Mortenson and "avantgarde guitarist Buckethead". If, like me, you'd somehow never heard of Mr B. -- creator of 29 solo albums and the soundtrack to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the Movie -- Wikipedia provides the gen:
"When performing ... Buckethead used to wear a KFC bucket on his head, emblazoned with an orange bumper sticker that read 'funeral' in capital black block letters, and an expressionless plain white costume mask. More recently, he has switched to a plain white bucket no longer bearing the KFC logo. He also incorporates nunchaku, robot dancing, and toy trading into his stage performances. Buckethead's persona represents a character who was 'raised by chickens' and has made it his 'mission in life to alert the world to the ongoing chicken holocaust in fast-food joints around the globe'."
There really is no point trying to be a satirist any more, is there?
Not bad, if you can get past the bucket:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8akmP6Sjv2o
Of course, when I was young avantgarde guitarists who wore buckets on their head were much better. Everything since in this field has been a bit of a retread.
I've tried to see both sides of the argument on this, but what ultimately clinches it for me is Chavez's face. You wouldn't trust him with a dog, would you?
If you've got a strong stomach here's Penn's acount of his holidays with Chavez and Raul Castro. On Raul, Penn recalls: "Castro moves with the agility of a young man. He exercises every day, his eyes are bright and his voice is strong."
Man-crush that big would have got him a summary execution in Raul's hey-day.
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