Fonda, Kerry and... Belafonte?

Just when the United Nations was beginning to escape from the headlines with the Oil for Food scandal having successfully dodged the onslaught of press coverage is deserved, one of the organization's goodwill ambassadors has found a way to follow in the shameful footsteps of Jane Fonda and John Kerry.

Harry Belafonte, best known as the voice behind “Banana Boat (Day-O)” and other youth hits, showed up in Venezuela this week to take a meeting with socialist wacko Hugo Chavez and deliver as much aid and comfort to the enemy as possible. It would seem Mr. Belafonte has come a long way from adoring the capitalism and democracy that made him a celebrity, as he chose to share some choice words about the President of the United States with this loose cannon of an international leader:

No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W. Bush says, we're here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people ... support your revolution.

Now, as Jon Stewart astutely noted on this evening's “Daily Show,” this is troubling to believe considering that, if nothing else, most Americans probably don't even know where Venezuela is.

I realize the United States isn't at war with Venezuela, so any screams of “treason,” tempting as they may be to make, are going to be a touch misplaced. But it sure is amusing to see this lunatic go so far off the deep end that the United Nations – perhaps the only political body in the world more squeamish than the French government – is trying to separate itself from Mr. Belafonte's comments.

Still, we're talking about a wealthy celebrity running around Mr. Chavez' Venezuela. Call it a hunch, but, borrowing from again from Mr. Stewart's program, I'd suspect that when daylight comes, he'll want to go home.