Democratically elected former President Chen Shui-bian, some would argue, has turned out to be the most corrupt head of state in modern Asian history.

The fallout from Typhoon Morakot continues with news that the death toll may be even higher than President Ma Ying-jeou's estimate of 500.

Recently, the front pages of many newspapers and the main segments of many TV news programs have featured scary numbers: 7 million Taiwanese people may contract the A(H1N1)) influenza, also known as swine flu, and 7,000 may die as a result.

Typhoon Morakot has left a traumatized Taiwan pondering how it could avoid a repeat of the disaster that struck Siaolin Village — which was completely buried in meters of mud along with almost 500 people.

The Dalai Lama, the Nobel laureate and spiritual leader of Tibet, is coming to Taiwan for the third time shortly. He planned to visit Taiwan last December, but President Ma Ying-jeou said he was welcome but the time wasn't right. He couldn't come.

Typhoon Morakot has not only proved to be the most destructive natural disaster in Taiwan in half a century, it inflicted serious damage to the presidency of Ma Ying-jeou, who has been struggling to keep his head above the political deluge caused by his bungled response to the storm.

A government is run by politicians, bureaucrats and technocrats nowadays. When they form a good triumvirate, it works successfully or smoothly.

The concept of “public service” lies at the very heart of modern government.

Socialism is defined in Webster's dictionary as: A system of organization in which the production and distribution of goods are owned and controlled collectively or by the government.

Over the past few days, the local news media has been abuzz in angry criticism of the U.S.-based Cable News Network.