Posted on 08/09/2007 4:40:32 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
Barry take note. The horror Obama's boneheaded comment about meeting unconditionally with the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Iran and Syria inspired in his supporters was not misplaced.
Madame Clinton nailed it: "I don't want to be used for propaganda purposes."
Apparently ultra-liberal Hollywood darling Sean "Jeff Spicoli" Penn doesn't mind.
Last week Penn, self-appointed U.S. ambassador/journalist, toured the Venezuelan countryside with Hugo Chavez who, at every stop, waved Penn around like a Kewpie doll prize won at a state fair. Chavez, with visitors from six countries, was positively effervescent driving around in an open-topped Jeep with Penn -- whom he loves for his bitter and outspoken criticism of the Bush administration -- riding shotgun.
"They'll say, 'There goes Chavez with a crazy battalion containing Africans, Canadians, Cubans, even gringos,'" he crowed.
At one point, no doubt imagining the glossy posters he'll surely have printed up to commemorate the event, Hugo purred to Penn, in English, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
Yes, thank you, Sean, for that lesson straight out of the ''Diplomacy for Dummies'' handbook.
Pay to play And speaking of the war, how does a $20,000 payday for joining the Army strike you? That's the newest tactic for getting more warm bodies "quick-shipped" off to Iraq and Afghanistan.
There's a better way, says Debra Leticia Gordils, a founder of Adults Raised as Americans, a group of illegal immigrants who've tried unsuccessfully to join the military. I called her when I read that our own Sen. Dick Durbin was sponsoring a bill that would give a path to citizenship to illegal high school graduates if they complete two years of college or military service.
"Every week just in our Chicago offices, our recruiters turn away 30 undocumented people who want to serve without the money because they love the country.
"We don't need to pay for military service -- we need to see that the overwhelming majority of the undocumented are an asset to our country and realize how to utilize that for the betterment of this country.
"The American people want fairness in this immigration issue, and I think there are no Mexicans or illegals who wouldn't trade four-year service for citizenship -- its an honorable exchange if you're going to risk your life for this country."
Sounds like a plan to me, Deb.
The boy next door In the wake of the disastrous Minneapolis bridge collapse, one bright spot: I got to see a Hispanic man in the news who isn't a drug-dealing gang-banging, marginalized migrant worker, or an about-to-be-deported tearful illegal immigrant. The shaved head, the thin mustache, the wife-beater T-shirt -- 20-year-old Jeremy Hernandez could be any kid on the street.
A summer camp coordinator, he was leading a school bus filled with 50 kiddies in a "really dorky" Spanish song immediately before teetering on the broken I-35W bridge. He kicked out the door and hustled everyone out to safety.
Sure he's a hero, but mostly he's just your regular Joe who's workin' hard and staying in school. One of the 44 million overwhelmingly legal Hispanics in the U.S. living day by day, minding their own business and trying to get ahead. Just an average American guy.
Pregunta del DÃa Today's question arrived last Friday night from Cepeda fanatico JayBee: "Who won the Bears game tickets?" Well, JayBee, it was a tough call, but Kristen Bonner had the pithiest, wordsmithiest Cepedapedia entry for the term "Bears Fanatico." You can check it, and other entries, out at www.suntimes.com.
Political futbol Few things unite us in the deep, emotional way sports do. Think back to the euphoria that gripped us when the Bulls won their championships or when the White Sox won the 2005 World Series. Soccer -- exotic to some and just plain boring to others -- isn't big here the way it is all over the globe. It'll never be. But the passion of the fans crosses cultural boundaries. Just imagine when the Bears won the NFC title game last season, if our revelry had been interrupted by a few strategically detonated car bombs.
It would have been a tragedy measured in human lives but also in the depth of the dagger plunged into the city's heart.
The Iraqi people, straining under the weight of their disastrous lot in life, had only a short moment of pure joy when their team won 1-0 over South Korea in a semifinal of the 2007 Asian Cup. It quickly turned to fear and heartbreak when more than 50 people were killed by suicide bombers.
The Iraqi team went on to win the Cup against Saudi Arabia, but there was no carefree basking in a moment of national triumph. No ticker-tape parades sharing hopes for a bright future with fans. They got home last week -- five days after their win -- to a fortified green zone behind razor wire-topped blast walls for their own safety.
Iraqi soccer captain Younis Mahmoud, using his brief moment on the international stage to give his people a voice, delivered this eye-opening message: "I want America to go out. Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but out. I wish the American people didn't invade Iraq, and hopefully it will be over soon."
Who knew we had so much in common?
mailto:ecepeda@suntimes.com
His father was blacklisted with the Hollywood Commies back in the fifties... a time when America acted out of the fundamental right of self-preservation and dealt with its enemies within.
How long before Chicago becomes a fortified green zone for Illegals + their Lefty advocates?
Oddly enough, Senora Cepeda is not as pro-illegal as one might think.
Military service or two years college?
These people are different faces of the same coin. How do we know that the Madame does not have off the record chats with the Venezuelan leader they use the same talking points.
Political liberals have long used their beautiful side ..Hollywood.. to do what they won't do in public.
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