Of Scandals and Outrages

Republican nominees John McCain and Sarah Palin

Scandal: Sarah Palin, Republican Vice-President Nominee Abuses Power

When John McCain named the little known Alaskan governor as his running mate, millions around the worlds were stunned into temporary speechlessness. Prior to being Alaskan governor, Palin had only been some small-time *moose-hunting hockey playing* mayor and had virtually no experience in foreign diplomatic issues and national security. Nonetheless, McCain's risky move looked to have been a masterstroke. Palin's election as a VP candidate sparked a revival for the Republican camp by injecting some life and energy into what had looked like and dead or dying campaign for McCain, triggered massive donations for the Republicans and help boost McCain's ratings on public opinion polls and narrowing the gaps (in some cases, even pulling away) in some swing states where McCain had been trailing badly to Obama. In short, the *pitbull in lipstick* had been McCain's ace up his sleeve in wrecking what had looked like Obama's unassailable rush to the White House and derailing (albeit temporarily) his plans by choosing a very unlikely candidate as his running mate. Palin charmed her way through interviews, diverting attention from the obvious flaw that she had little knowledge on national security and diplomatic affairs as aforementioned, and won over many white previously Democratic women into siding with the Republican camp. As one woman put it, simply because "she's a woman." McCain's obvious intention in selecting Palin had been to woo Hilary Clinton's supporters; those who resented Obama for winning the Democrat nomination by giving them what they wanted: A woman for president. Or more accurately, vice-president. Everywhere she went, the adoring crowd chanted, "Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah!". McCain had to contend with the ignominy of hordes of people leaving whenever he got up to make a speech (after Palin had made hers) and TV commercials being played after she wrapped up her speech. Sarah Palin had become a nationwide phenomenon, outshining the Republican nominee himself.

Fast forward 3 weeks later and the once beloved (well, at any rate less beloved now) Palin finds herself staring at accusations of abuse of power and breach of state ethics. The Branchflower Report released by the Alaskan Legislative Council states that Palin and her husband, Todd Palin greatly pressured Walt Monegan, Public Safety Commissions Officer into firing Trooper Mike Wooten; whom they apparently harboured a grudge against since his acrimonious divorce from Mrs. Palin's sister. When Monegan refused, he instead was given the axe. Besides that, it has also been claimed that Todd Palin was allowed to attend board meetings with his wife despite not actually holding a post in office, and Sarah Palin allowed her husband to have a room in her office and actually use office resources.

Dear oh dear. Because of this scandal, McCain and Palin's ratings in opinion polls have dropped vastly and yesterday, it was reported that Obama had opened up a double-digit lead (11%) in the nationwide polls. Others have come forward and criticised Palin's Alaskan adminstration as "amateurish". What looked to have been a brilliant move seems to have backfired as as of this moment, Palin looks more like a liability to the party rather than a "reliability".

Outrage: Shah Rukh Khan awarded Datukship

Come on, any sane Malaysian can tell you this is plain ridiculous. Bollywood hearthrob Shah Rukh Khan is awarded a Datukship for what? Because he shot a few movie scenes in Malacca? Some Malaccan Datuk or minister claimed it was a publicity move to promote Malacca. Yer right. As Penang CM Lim Guan Eng said, "Then Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones should also be given Datukship for shooting part of their movie Escape in the Twin Towers." Absolutely. And it was plain to see that many Malaysians were very disgruntled and disapproving of the move. SMSes sent in to the Star said, "I doubt he even knows how to find Malacca on the map" and "Like that Jackie Chan should also be given a Datukship, he has done more for Malaysia than SRK". The general notion was also that local artists were more deserving of the award. The horrible irony was that the two local artists who were nominated only received the Darjah Pangkat Mulia which does not carry any title. Go figure.

WCQ Results:-

England 5 Kazakhstan 1

Wales 2 Liechenstein 0

Scotland 0 Norway 0

Italy 0 Bulgaria 0

France 2 Romania 2

Holland 2 Iceland 0

Spain 3 Estonia 0

Croatia 0 Ukraine 0

Poland 2 Czech Republic 1

Alarm bells should start ringing for France, they were very poor against Romania who deserved to get all three points but were denied by a superb French equaliser.

Wednesday:-

England vs Belarus

Germany vs Wales

Holland vs Norway

Portugal vs Albania

Italy vs Serbia

Love is blind, it knows not sight

Knows not what's wrong or what is right

Eyes see what your heart hath behold

And listens not what others told.