Premier Wu Den-yih's Cabinet, inaugurated yesterday, faces many urgent tasks. It has inherited a number of hot potatoes from the previous administration.

As if on cue, critics have popped out of the woodwork following the announcement of Premier Liu Chao-shiuan's resignation and the appointment of Kuomintang (KMT) Secretary-General Wu Den-yih to take his place as the head of the Cabinet.

Former first lady Wu Shu-jen has now been officially convicted of perjury and sentenced to a year in prison.

Liu Chao-shiuan quit yesterday as premier. He said that President Ma Ying-jeou, recently called the “gutsiest world leader” by an American bimonthly magazine based in Birmingham, Ala., “mental floss,” has approved his resignation.

All of a sudden, President Ma Ying-jeou is mired in a confidence crisis, with his stratospheric popularity plummeting and his administration pilloried from every side.

At a time when the outcome of a comprehensive reform of the health care system in the United States is highly uncertain, the leadership of Sen. Ted Kennedy, who died of brain cancer on August 25 at age 77, “will be sorely missed,” said Geoff Garin in a recent commentary special to The Washington Post.

The Ministry of Finance is trying to win the public over with its plan to levy a luxury tax in Taiwan. A symposium will be held on mid-September on the issue and a preliminary decision by the ministry is expected by the end of the year.

The “President Ma Ying-jeou card” in the past often worked magic for many candidates who received blessings from the once-charismatic leader.

We wish the Dalai Lama or “Sea Superior Man” Godspeed back to Dharamsala in India. He is winding up his very ill-considered prayer tour of Taiwan tomorrow.

This Saturday — September 5th — the 21st Summer Deaflympics will kick off in Taipei.