Oh, Danny Glover...

I liked him in Silverado and the Lethal Weapon movies (although I had to ignore the blatant politicization of the latter ones), but his off-screen activism is off-putting. I don't care if there are no "white heroes" in a movie about Toussaint and the Haitian revolution. I think that the producers who say they need that are being shallow (well, that's Hollywood). If he can get the movie made, that's great, and it shouldn't need racial rewriting to make a good story.

But. You're going to your buddy Chavez to get the dough?! ...raised 18 of the 30 million dollars needed from a Venezuelan cultural body set up in 2006 by his friend President Hugo Chavez to counter what he termed "the Hollywood film dictatorship".

Nice.

Captured laptop documents Venezuelan aid to FARC

Well, this has got to be embarassing. After killing the FARC leader Raul Reyes, the Colombians have captured a rebel laptop with all kinds of neat-o documents on it. Including discussion of what may be a $300 million gift from Chavez to the rebels: "Who, where, when and how will we receive the dollars and store them?" What to do, what to do?

It also reveals the US (who has some citizens being held hostage by FARC) has been making overtures to them in some odd way. I hope we're not really negotiating with this bunch, but I understand the motivation to do so. Weird is this passage, though:

Writing two days before his death, Reyes tells his secretariat comrades that "the gringos," working through Ecuador's government, are interested "in talking to us on various issues."

"They say the new president of their country will be (Barack) Obama," noting that Obama rejects both the Bush administration's free trade agreement with Colombia and the current military aid program.

Reyes said the response he relayed is that the United States would have to publicly express that desire.

Huh. Well, I'd like to see more about what that means!

Venezuela's next step towards Communism

Hugo Chavez has seized "operational control" of the Orinoco Belt crude oil operations from foreign oil companies. Well, it's "May Day," the big communist holiday, and Reuters notes that on May Day last year, Bolivia's Evo Morales actually sent troops in to seize natural gas fields.

So they're both going for the political symbolism in their timing.

No surprise; I mean, Chavez isn't hiding anything. The "workers" "celebrated" the takeover by painting a wall with Chavez's slogan, "Homeland, Socialism or Death."

Well...at least he's giving people the option...