Dictators, not Democracy

I have a few observations on the state of dictators. Haha that's right, though awful, murdering, lying, despots that are popping up everywhere theses days. take the case of Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan President and dictator and Iranian despot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
These two have a number of things in common, and recently both spoke at the U.N to plead their case that they are persecuted freedom loving and misunderstood humanitarians. Of course, anyone who knows the stories of either realizes that they are the opposite. Ahmadinejad, for instance, is a Holocaust denier who presides over one of the world's most repressive and women hating regime in the world.
But both dictators have huge oil supplies in their countries, and given that Europeans are passive an afraid to ever so much as utter a complaint against an oil producing dictator, the two thugs came out of their closet at that U.N. parlay. Chavez called Bush "the devil" and the U.S. an oppressor. Now, I dislike Bush and think he creates many problems for my country with his awful policies.
But I think calling a leader a devil while visiting his country is not wise. In fact, Chavez is much closer to being a devil than pathetic George. However, when your nation is rolling in oil visit a nation and call its president the devil because other nations who know better don't want to lose that precious oil you supply. Ah.... Chavez is a clown and will one day be overthrown in his own country, becoming but a minor footnote in history.
But the other thug, Ahmadinejad, believes that world needs to be remade in his image. That is, instead of a somewhat flawed (Bush being president, for example) democratic, open society like the U.S., Ahmadinejad suggests the world adopt the theocratic society he boasts of, the one where free thought is crushed, laws are made to repress, women are regarded as cattle, and the quest of the government is only to control its subjects at all costs.
So those two vented and defined the U.S. as the world evil, and they the world hope. Surely, the Bush administration has been a terrible one that caused much harm (more here than anywhere else). Ha! At least Bush will exit in two years and his whole administration will be replaced democratically. One hopes voters are wiser this time and select more sensible leaders. But regardless, at least we give our people the power to choose. Is the U.S now the symbol of evil and dictators the voice of reason? Judging by the silence of decent nations who listened and have never once rebuked those two thugs, the answer in the mind of the world seems to be "yes". And that is a bigger problem than the two now seeming to be sympathetic characters on the world stage.
Since I am pontificating today let me talk about "double standards", in this case the ways male sex offenders are treated as compared to the method of punishment of females when the issue is sex with a minor. Debra Lefave, 25, a female teacher from Tampa pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a juvenile (she had sex with a 14 year old boy twice) and was given the most common sentence a woman sex offender gets- house arrest (3 years) and probation. Debra is one of many high profile females who have molested boys and have gotten far less severe sentences than their male counterparts.
I do not have data at this moment to show this disparity, but it is much talked about by legal experts and probably a reflection f the society "winking" at female abusers because it often is overly harsh with male sex offenders. It's interesting to note that even Debra's ex husband says she got off too light, that her sentence was a double standard. "She is a sex offender, and if she were a male she would have gotten jail time," he told a media source.
One good aspect to the sentence though is the "no profit" provision the judge handed down. That is, unlike so many other high profile criminals, Debra will not be allowed to profit from the sale of her story or in making personal appearances. So we do not have to endure "My Story" book promotions or a media circus promoting her as a sympathetic character.
Sigh..sure would be nice though to sentence the males and females equally