[BurkeanCyclist]

We need to do an Allende.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

In Venezuela, its a dictatorship in the making--One satirical writer took a more sophisticated approach: He suggested that although Chavez irritates his opponents when he speaks, he creates even more anxiety when he keeps quiet. Silence from the presidential palace, he says, is like silence from the playpen: It makes every parent panic.

Venezuelan human rights activists are worried that while Chavez is not a dictator, he is slowly dismantling all the institutions that provide checks and balances of his ever-growing power and this, they say, is where the danger is. The United States has mostly ignored Chavez's behavior -- in spite of Venezuela being the third-largest oil provider to the United States -- because it rightly identified the pattern as nose-thumbing at the gringos. But it may become increasingly difficult for Washington to ignore him.

With this "thou shalt not criticize me" attitude, Chavez appears to be crossing the line between an erratic behavior and an authoritarian one.