Sean Penn: Journalists who Call Chavez a Dictator Deserve to Go to Prison

What is it with Sean Penn? When he’s not busy wishing rectal cancer on his critics (and looking constipated while doing it), he’s slamming Americans who dare to say mean and nasty things about his pal Hugo Chavez. I kid you not!

In a recent appearance on Bill Maher’s HBO show, Penn showered praise on Venezuela for assisting him in assisting the quake victims in Haiti. He also claimed to have a little sympathy for those who hold America-as-an-evil-empire-looking-to-conquer-the-world views. Then he turns around and says journalists here who call Chavez a dictator (shudder) should do a stint in the hoosegow:

The collaborative opportunity in Haiti, when you talk about Hugo Chavez, and some of the other people who are demonized [think Castro], and you know, when some of these countries accuse us of an occupation – where I believe this was strictly a humanitarian action by the United States military, and an incredible one – I’m a little sympathetic. Because every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it! And accept it. And this is mainstream media, who should – truly, there should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies.

Okay, so he’s not officially a dictator. Neither was Saddam Hussein, you may recall – he won 100 percent of the vote back in the day. How about we call Hugo “dictator in waiting” instead? Would that make Sean feel better?

Let’s take a look at some of the things Venezuela’s duly elected leader has done lately:

• The takeover of numerous banks has caused the Venezuelan dollar to plunge in value.
• His dream of ending presidential term limits was realized a year ago.
• He supports the Basque terror organization ETA as well as the Colombian FARC.
• This oil-rich nation that depends upon “green” sources for its electricity is now rationing said electricity, and Chavez is threatening to “punish” businesses that use what the government deems to be too much, further putting a strain on that nation’s economy.
• Chavez ordered the takeover of a number of privately-owned businesses, including U.S. food giant Cargill, assets of 60 oilfield services companies, and he continues to tighten his grip on private media.
• Schools that do not implement his socialist curriculum will be nationalized.
• Always concerned that the Venezuelan public doesn’t get enough of him, Chavez has a Sunday television show called “Hello, President” that can go on for hours, frequently orders television and radio stations to air his speeches (threatening to close them down if they don’t comply), and now has a new radio program called “Suddenly Chavez,” where radio broadcasts can be interrupted by Dear Leader at any time, day or night, in a bid to “serve to define the lines of communication of the Bolivarian Revolution.” Oh, and just a couple of weeks ago, Chavez himself was the victim of his own bad policy when his live television broadcast was briefly cut off due to a loss of power.

Meanwhile, when George W. Bush was president, Sean Penn had plenty of unflattering things to say about that elected leader, including saying Bush was our country’s “most devastating enemy,” calling for the impeachment of Bush and Dick Cheney, and calling Bush, Cheney and Condoleezza Rice “villainously and criminally obscene people, obscene human beings.”

Then there were the countless references to Bush as Hitler. What did Sean Penn think about those? Ah well, they were indulging in freedom of speech, so it’s okay.

I wonder what would have happened to our dear friend Sean if he’d said the same things about Chavez that he did about Bush were he a citizen of Venezuela. Never mind; I think I know.

I could call Sean Penn the most brilliant thinker of our time, but according to the standards set by Penn himself, I should go to prison. So scratch that.