There is an ill wind blowing out of the south. Hugo Chavez is reinforcing his tyrannical dictatorship in Venezuela. Student demonstrators gathered in the streets a few days ago to protest an expected vote in their nation's parliament that would repeal the term limits for the President. For you libs slow on the uptake, that means that Chavez would be President until he dies.

The people who are terrified that Bush might not step down in '08 stand on the sidelines and cheer on Chavez.

But this is just one thing that leftists don't ever seem to have a problem with when it comes to Communist Dictators in other nations. They have nothing but glowing support for people like Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro (each of which only had one election ever during their respective tenures.) Saddam got 100% of the vote and it was called "fair" by libs the world over.

Of course, I've never seen an election where someone wins with 100% of the vote - not even in districts where politicians run unopposed. There is almost always someone who writes in a joke or just leaves it blank.

Truth be told, Chavez's last election in 2004 saw him win 59% of vote. Jimmy Carter certified the vote as "fair". Of course there was widespread reports in various Venezuelan media outlets (before Chavez decided to close them anyway) of election rigging - everything from fixed voting machines to Hugo's granting of citizenship to millions of foreigners on the eve of the election.

Exit polls (which always tell the truth here in the United States - especially when they show an Al Gore/John Kerry victory) indicated that the polling numbers should have been reversed - with 59% against Chavez. Scattered media reports indicate that oppositional polling leaders tended to disappear or be fired during Hugo's re-election party.

Moreover Chavez has faced not one, but two attempted coup's while in office. He wants to write this off as just an attempt by the CIA to undermine his regime. The thing is that the people who started the fight weren't a bunch of foreign mercenaries from Columbia - they were citizens of Venezuela who were risking their lives and families and livelihoods to stop what they saw was happening.

To draw a comparison, for all their blubbering and moaning about how awful life under Bush is in the United States the radical left has yet to try to start an actual revolution. Much less two. (It was these coups that Chavez used to justify the shutting down of an oppositional television station in Caracas earlier this year.)

Does this sound like a popular leader who carries 60% of the vote?

I'll give liberals the benefit of the doubt though. I'm guessing that most of them know Chavez is a Communist/Socialist who is opposed to the war in Iraq and therefore an ally to them. Because if they do know Chavez's record, I would have to call the complete hypocrites.

Chavez is making alliances with the Syrians and other warmongers. He's already threatening to use force against (not just the United States) but his neighbors like Guiana which he insists is actually a part of Venezuela. He's meddling in Latin American politics - from Honduras to Mexico. He's setting himself up to be "President" for life. He's stamping out free speech and press everywhere. I'm willing to bet with a little digging, we'd discover that he tortures and executes prisoners without trials or humanity. He also refused to let in international observers during the election of '04 - with the exception of Carter's bunch. (Carter is the guy who gave us present day Iran and a Nuclear armed North Korea, so Chavez knows a chump when he sees one.)

None of this stuff is coming from the "status quo" media of the United States. All of this I'm citing is coming from foreign media sources (most notably the BBC.)

And despite all of this, Hugo remains a hero of the American left. Left wing leaders and spokespeople from Cindy Sheehan to Sean Penn have run down there to get their pictures taken with him. Danny Glover even wants to make a movie about Chavez.

I believe that people have a right to live free. I believe that people have a right to say and write things they believe in without fear that the government is going to take action against them. There is nothing going in Venezuela that would further any of these things.

We're watching yet another tyrannical dictatorship unfold. Why doesn't the left care?

Jeremy Meister graduated with a B.S. in History from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1998 and a B.S. in Media Production from Missouri State University at Springfield in 2005. He is also a film director, producer and author of over seven feature length screenplays including 'Hollow Dogs' and 'Epic: the Autumn Gales', as well as owning his own film company: the famous LWC Productions. Jeremy is the former host and producer of the Conservative internet radio program "The Tzimisce Show". Presently he is working behind the scenes at Lotus Broadcasting on such shows as "The Mr. Sunshine Show" with occasional work for HBO and UFC. Contact him at LWC_Productions@hotmail.com or at www.myspace.com/tzimiscechi. For a complete list of blogs check out: http://tzimisce.townhall.com/

Art for the people: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1888382/posts