Ambassador Sean Penn?

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

My Boys

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has offered a solution to the diplomatic stand-off between his country and the U.S. that began when he rejected President Obama's choice to be ambassador to Caracas -- quote -- "I hope they name Oliver Stone.... I'll suggest a candidate Sean Penn or (linguist and philosopher Noam) Chomsky. We have a lot of friends there. Bill Clinton!"

Chavez also recounted his brief interaction with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Brazil's inauguration last weekend -- quote -- "I said to Senora Clinton 'How is your husband?' But I made a mistake because I speak very bad English and I said, 'How is your wife?' She laughed then I said husband."

The Recruit

And authorities in Saudi Arabia have detained what they say is a spy from Israel's Mossad agency -- a vulture tagged with the words "Tel Aviv University."

A front-page story in the Jerusalem Post references a Saudi newspaper report that the vulture was found in a rural area of the country wearing a leg bracelet and transmitter. The paper said the incident appeared to be a Zionist plot.

You may remember it was just last month that an Egyptian governor suggested recent shark attacks in the Red Sea were also the work of Israel's spy agency.