Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Is a U of I Alum Making Friends With Dictators Who Want to Kill Us?

Rarely do we deviate from sports but this is too interesting and possibly ridiculous to pass up.

So I'm surfing the U of I's website last night and come across this story that is linked on the front page about the new president of Ecuador who is a U of I alum. His name is Rafael Correa. The university seems loud and proud that one of its alums is the new head of what many would characterize as a third-world country.

So I skim the article, which is basically a propaganda piece about the huge role the U of I played in getting him where he is and think, "Hmmm, interesting but there has to be more to this story."

Alas, there is.

As is my custom every morning, I opened the Wall Street Journal to the editorial page this morning and behold, what do a I find in the left column, but a lead editorial on Hugo Chavez, the dictator of Venezuela and his dirty tricks, the latest of which is a weekend summit with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

And who does the editorial say supports Chavez?

Ding! Ding! Ding!

The new president of Ecuador and U of I alum Rafael Correa.

And guess who attended Correa's inauguration?

Yep...you guessed it: Mr. Ahmadinejad. Doesn't this guy want to blow us up?

I'm so proud. My alma mater is using tax dollars to educate people and trumpeting when they become leaders of third-world countries and then seem to make friends with dictators who want to blow us up.

UPDATE: Two Tribune stories about Correa here and here. Someone should find out if the U of I is actually proud of this guy.

# posted by Chief : 9:40 AM


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