Funny. I'd always thought that was an oxymoron.

But seriously, it seems to me the only way a dictatorship could be benevolent is when the dictator in question is benevelont. How often has that happened? I would wager that those dicatators who were considered beneveloent (can anybody name three?) were those who were *dethroned* in favor of the jackboot crowd. Just a guess, probably no accuraccy in that estimation, but what the hell.