Jeff Spicoli has decided to surf some major waves down south of the border, meeting with Big Kahuna Hugo Chavez. Yahoo! reports that Chavez said he met privately with actor Sean Penn on Wednesday, and that the Oscar-winning celebrity may film a movie in Venezuela . Chavez also took another swipe at President Barack Obama, saying that he should earn his Noble Peace Prize by halting plans to increase U.S. troop numbers in Colombia. Because, you know, stopping terrorists and drug kingpins is the antithesis of peace, I suppose. Penn remains a strange creature. He seems to admire Chavez for doing the same stuff he hated former President Bush for doing. But I guess since Chavez is on the left end of the political spectrum, that covers all sins. Now, I myself don't think Obama has earned the Peace Prize. In fact, ever since Yassir Arafat was awarded one I started to serious question whether or not these things were actually rewared by by sane, rational people or if they were just randomly handed out as prizes in Cracker Jack boxes. But that's apples and oranges here. Chavez is in no position to criticize someone else for interfering in Colombia, not after he got busted last year laundering money to FARC. As to the secret meeting between the two. We can only speculate what discussions took place. Oh heck, let's just speculate out loud! Penn: "Hey bud, let's party!" Chavez: "Yes, yes! Let us party by shutting down some TV stations that don't support my regime that are opposed to our glorious revolution!" Penn: "You got to understand man, politics is about, like, making everyone happy and giving people stuff for free. Like good tunes and some tasty waves!" Chavez: "The evil Americans don't want there to be good tunes and tasty waves! That's why they are secretly causing global warming! It's an imperialist plot to make tropical countries unlivable!" Penn: "Hey man, I just got a great idea! Let's shoot a movie down here! We could make some righteous bucks!" Chavez: "Yes, of course! We can use only government approved workers, just like the ones who run PDVSA!" Penn: "Uh, thanks there Chavez, but it would be more gnarly if we had professionals who actually know what they're doing. When's that pizza getting here, I've got the munchies!" -Stephen Payne, Editor, Oil and Gas Investor This Week; www.OilandGasInvestor.com; spayne@hartenergy.com
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