Awhile back, a financier told me that understanding President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela was fairly simple: Just look at his friends. Chavez only has four friends, he explained, so one need not look long or hard. They are Saddam, Castro, Mugabe and Khaddafi.

Well, Khaddafi wants to return the friend—forever favor, and this past Sunday awarded Chavez his Moammar Khaddafi Prize In Human Rights for his "brave heart, intelligent mind, eloquent oratory and firm hand." Well, there's nothing like being part of a club. Khadaffi's last recipient was Fidel Castro. And as for Chavez?

"I feel bathed in honor," the Venezuelan strongman blubbered. 

—A.M. Mora y Leon