Dick Cheney shoots a turkey on Thanksgiving

Dick Cheney shot a turkey on Thanksgiving Day. But I believe waxed ducks and gobbling geese in Istanbul are not very amused.

And I will tell you why. Few people actually like Dick Cheney. His fat lugubrious unsmiling face on TV reminds one so much of a Richard Nixon. Both were corrupt or had sneaky ways of getting their own agenda done. Richard Nixon on Watergate. And Dick Cheney in Halliburton and its energy supply during the Iraq war.

If there's one thing I've learnt as an officious bystander from Thailand looking into the American landscape, it's this : corruption in politics starts slowly, and is seldom discovered till decades later, when all breaks lose. Thaksin was unceremoniously removed from power despite being a billionaire, despite being prime minister, despite having a perpetually smiling face, unlike dull-witted Dick Cheney. His sudden fall in 2006 is a stark reminder that even the greatest of politicians can fall suddenly if the public became aware of their seedy deals - either with the Mafia or with a group of people who use the Mafia for their own purposes, in order to prevent their own crimes from being discovered.

Since Dick Cheney can't even hold a rifle straight when he shoots, and since he always seems to be in dubious deals with energy companies after earning millions, I wish him a good fat turkey for Thanksgiving. I hope he doesn't choke on Idaho potatoes and green peas and the brown gravy he slurps up! I hope one day the truth about Halliburton and Dick Cheney's influence on George Bush to get them involved in providing energy deals during the Iraq war as the sole provider would one day come to the fore.

If it doesn't, it means that even a great democracy like America has to find crucial nuts and bolts to prevent their presidents and vice-presidents from using their influence in order to get their own companies or associates involved in billion dollar projects during a war or in the pursuance of American interests.

If all of us could have just one turkey for Thanksgiving and be satisfied with its plump juicy flesh, I think the world would be a lot better. We don't need two turkeys for Thanksgiving, do we, Mr Dick Cheney?

Dubious deals and dubious shots in the dark of the Rose Garden.

Three cheers for democracy, Mr EM Forster, but none for corruption, and none for nepotism!!