Dragon Man

Cheney Waits Until Last Minute Again To Buy Sept. 11 Gifts

Busy dealing with important paperwork and other vice presidential duties in recent weeks, Dick Cheney was forced to put off until the last minute a cherished annual tradition: gift-shopping for his favorite holiday,...

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Obama-Palin ticket

Firstly, we here at OotC salute John McCain's choice for his running mate. Sarah Palin exudes a fresh profile for the Bush party, one that can't be so conveniently linked with the current chief. Sarah will surely raise the confidence of the conservative voter who have found their new heroine. So in essence, she's Barack Obama to the GOP, just with less stature being second fiddle. Wouldn't it be fascinating to have the two tickets switch their VP's. That race would give us Obama/Palin against McCain/Biden. Now think about that for a second, the former is made up of two (relatively) young, attractive, vibrant, political unknowns. Obama and Palin both played basketball in their hey days, and have roots in the two far-away non-contiguous states. Conversely, McCain and Joe Biden are carbon copies of seemingly every duo that's held the White House since this country's inception, two senior citizen European-Americans with all the pizazz of a Kinkos.

Now America was or still is in need of unity and change - so what better combination than Obama and Palin. They would bridge all known ideological and political divides, and give every vote something to hang their hat on. Overlooking the inconceivability of all this, its amusing at least to take note of. Its times like these that I wish Obama was a conservative, in which this ticket could have transpired. Nonetheless, great to have Sarah Palin added to the campaign going forward!

The end of General Musharraf

Oct 12 1999 - Aug 18 2008. So shall read the political tombstone of another Pakistani head of state, one who led the nation as both head of its most powerful and revered military unit, as well as an all too brief civilian role. History is replete with examples of ill-chosen directives given by people in power - the proverbial invade Russia pratfall. In the case of President Musharraf, the most erroneous misstep involved the overreaching move to silence the sitting chief judicial figure in March 2007. This led to a series of boisterous public conventions involving lawyers and politicians across the land, exclaiming an utter betrayal of what they held most dear - an independent judiciary to give some semblance to a democratic state of affairs. From that point on, the General's track was derailed from completing another term as head of state, culminating in having to reconcile with his adversaries who then conspired together to separate Musharraf from his leading role.

He stood nearly nine years in power, longer than what any US president is legally allowed to carry, and to have it end with a resignation amidst national acrimony and economic doldrums was ordained. For, you see, in the annals of the country's history, this day closes yet another rueful chapter in this thing called Pakistan.

Vladimir Putin's clairvoyance

Osama bin Laden; attacks on New York and Washington; Islamic extremism - Reading an editorial containing the preceding subjects would be nothing out of the ordinary these days, rather par for the course in any discussion on the War on Terror. Now imagine these ideas being bandied about almost two years before September 11, 2001. In fact, they were penned in an op-ed by Russian leader Vladamir Putin, in November of 1999. Most extraordinary, Putin wrote the following cryptic scenario:

"....ordinary New Yorkers or Washingtonians, asleep in their homes. Then, in a flash, hundreds perish in explosions at the Watergate, or at an apartment complex on Manhattan's West Side. Thousands are injured, some horribly disfigured. Panic engulfs a neighborhood, then a nation."

His point of reference was the violence afflicted by Chechen separatists in the on-going conflict on Russian soil. For all the criticism thrown Putin's way by western media, this one editorial of his has validated his analysis on what it takes to combat extremism, a blueprint followed by his American comrade, George Bush, for the last 6 and a half years.

Obama's flag pin

Since May 14, Barack Obama has universally donned a flag pin on his lapel, an act his two rivals in the race have yet to ascribe to. There has even been an interesting machination in the versions that Obama has worn. Originally, the wavy version with a pole was chosen; this particular one is the most common among politicians and newscasters such as Lou Dobbs, Brit Hume and Jay Leno. On May 19, on a visit to South Dakota's Indian reservation, Obama switched to the Presidential rectangular flag. I applaud his campaign's strategy in employing the latter, which looks better, and more importantly, adorns the lapel of George W Bush, who himself made the switch just before taking his second term in January 2005. This puts Obama on an even viewing pane with the figure he hopes to succeed in less than 8 months from now.

Here are the visuals of Obama and Bush adorning their nation's symbol.

Obama's three seminal primary victories

Who would have imagined four months ago that the primary season would still be relevant leading up to the warm days of summer; now we're still provided around the clock television coverage on the super networks on every Tuesday or the next. The journey that Senator Obama has travailed deserves an inspection via the paper of record, whose grand headlines dictate the relevance of the day's news. Here below are the historical victories that have certainly clinched the nomination for the tall skinny young man who no one had ever heard of even 4 years ago. (To think, it could have been Mike Ditka of all people that would up stopped this train before it gained steam during those days in 2004.) My best wishes to the great states of Iowa, South Carolina, and North Carolina.