Control Wii with Remote? (not wiimote)

I've tried to do some searching around for this but have not found any support. Here's the idea: Control the Wii (homebrew Channel really) with a TV remote control (Specifically, I believe the Media Center Remote would be the best choice since it already works with the Xbox and Media Center PCs) in order to watch Netflix (there could be other applications, that's just what I'm shooting for :p ) . My reasoning is that I have a single remote that controls everything, except my Wii, it would be really awesome to be able to control Wii to watch Netflix with the same controller. Here's what I'm thinking about:

Use Arrow keys to change highlighted menu within Homebrew and OK button to make selection.
Arrow keys act like D pad, OK button is the "A" button back button is the "B" button.

Issues I know of:

Sensor Bar is not an IR receiver would need to attach a USB IR receiver (Again, I would suggest using the IR receiver that comes with Media Center Remotes)

Power is turned on via Blutooth radio signal, only work around I can think of involves soldering (The original Xbox had a similar mod that allowed you to turn it on and off via remote

I'm afraid I don't know much about the Wii or programming for it, but I can help out on the remote side (Getting IR signal codes, etc).

Would such a thing even be possible? I mean I figure the first part is possible, a remote control could control the Homebrew Channel in theory, but would that control carry into netflix? I'm not sure if there's much point if not.

you should get busy writing a driver for your usb-remote-receiver. then after you write it and it works, you need to get busy hacking it into the netflix dol.