With the number of Middle East nations currently in revolt against tyrannical rulers continuing to mount, the U.S. and the rest of the free world is hoping the despots can be replaced with democratically-elected governments.

As the uncertainty grows in that crucial part of the globe, America's own system of government has been on display with the strong pro-labor protests in Wisconsin. The most obvious contrast - beside the obvious deadly confrontations in places like Libya, Bahrain and Iran - is the right of free speech being practiced by the protesters in Madison.It's not even conceivable to imagine despotic leaders like Iran's President Mohammad Ahmadinejad or Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi condoning a massive sit-in demonstration at their government headquarters.In fact, judging from the social networking news filtering out of those media-blocked countries now in turmoil, those rulers have been answering the young protests in their countries with bullets, not negotiations. Untold numbers have already died fighting for their rights to have their voices heard.Although the right to speak has surely been seen and heard in Wisconsin over the last two weeks, one unsettling issue concerning a number of teachers was reported last weekend. There were some physicians in the gathering willing to write doctor's excuses for them so they could present them to their respective school districts in order to be paid for a sick day.One undercover newsman posing as a teacher found it easy to secure the doctor's notes and the physicians were even willing to offer advice to lead them through the phony maneauver.There is plenty of blame on both sides in this shady practice. First, the teachers should feel shame at deceiving their home school districts into paying them. Second, the physicians should be ashamed for breaking their Hippocratic Oath by not upholding their professional ethical standards.Students who have seen their schools closed because of the teacher "sick-outs" in order to protest at the Wisconsin statehouse do not need to hear about or see this kind of behavior by their instructors and mentors.Those who engaged in this greedy practice used poor judgment and the taxpayers - who pay their salaries - have reason to be upset. The taxpayers also have a right to make their own voices heard and expose the guilty teachers in a public forum within their school community.By Jim Zbickjzbick@tnonline.com