My now dead uncle, a colonel in the air borne division in the south Vietnamese army, was once an avid hunter during the Vietnam war.

One of my most vivid childhood memories was of him hunting wild boars from helicopter. He killed a big one, landed his chopper and hauled the thing to Dalat (a plateau of hills and forests where many big hunts had happened during the French rule and long after) and dropped it in the garden of our villa, where the servants gathered and butchered and roasted the beast – it was one of the most festive events that i can remember of my childhood. At 5, in fact, it was so awesome to see such a monster of a boar shot by one’s uncle.

What did he want from the boar? Its fangs. Which he turned into two talismans. One for himself. another for my father, his older brother, who was a general.

Uncle Thoi was flamboyant, feared and loved. He was at one point governor of a province in the Mekong Delta, and for which he was sent to communist re-education camp for 13 years after the war ended, but i digress.

Traditionally, strong, powerful leaders know how to use weapons and use them well. And as kings or emperors, these often go a-hunting. Hunting, in fact, seems so much part of the pastoral noblesse oblige that without it, one becomes less a leader, losing that mysterious leadership mandate somehow.

Kings and Maharajahs and Dukes and the upper class sat on horsebacks or elephant backs and shot deer or rhinos or tigers.

Recently, after having his excursion into Georgia and lay to waste the Georgian army, Vladimir Putin took to hunting Siberian tigers. He didn’t kill but tranquilize but the image of the Russian leader with his rifle sends a clear message: don’t mess with Russia! The tamed, tranquilized tiger he petted like a cat. Which freaked out probably more europeans than Americans – since they (the europeans) barely hunt anymore (not a lot of trees left) and chasing after foxes on horseback on manicured lawns seem like child’s play in comparison.

Which is perhaps why if she and McCain win the 2008 election, Sarah Palin will bring us up to par with Russia – we already invade other countries on a whim, and we need leaders who can shoot straight. We need leaders who can swagger and swashbuckle.

Dick Cheney tried in feb 2006, but having been missed the vietnam war after applying for draft deferment repeatedly, he also missed shooting penned quails who never flew before before being released for their “executions”, as it were, and the VP hit his 78 year old lawyer instead. Well, he made a mockery of the sport and became a laughing stock.

From wikipedia: [David Letterman began his Monday show on February 13 with “Good news, ladies and gentlemen, we have finally located weapons of mass destruction…. It’s Dick Cheney,” and adding that “We can’t get bin Laden, but we nailed a 78-year-old attorney.”[33] His Top 10 list was devoted to “Dick Cheney’s excuses” and included “he thought the guy was trying to go gay cowboy on me”.

Stewart, for instance, pointed out that Whittington had been the first person to be shot by a sitting vice president since Alexander Hamilton, and that while Aaron Burr’s fatal shooting of Hamilton was during a duel over issues of honor and political maneuvering; Whittington “was mistaken for a bird.” Correspondent Ed Helms, reporting supposedly from Corpus Christi Hospital, said that Whittington’s condition had been upgraded from “stable” to “stable, but still shot in the face by Dick Cheney.” “Cheney’s Got a Gun” is a play on the 1989 Aerosmith song “Janie’s Got a Gun”; in the aftermath of the incident, several parody versions of the original song and music video were released, replacing “Janie” with “Cheney.” Further, after Whittington’s post-discharge press conference, Stewart noted that Cheney’s power was such that upon shooting someone, the victim would apologize.]

Never fear. Were she elected, the new VP will shoot wild animals and most likely not miss, having hunted from helicopters and planes for moose and wolves with powerful rifles.

A militaristic country that is occupying other countries probably needs this macho image to go with, and well, this is probably why Palin creates such a stir in many sectors when she was vetted. War hero Mccain and Huntress of the Northern Shore read like some romantic epic – (Kill babies, Kill!)? Call of the Wild?

Palin could at the very least redeem the hunting sport since we still need to shoot more wild animals to make a point to Nature as to who’d won. We already can, btw, do something about the weather, not just talk about it, which is pretty amazing.

Since she can see Russia from her windswept Alaskan shore, and she’s presumably a good shot, and since she’s ready to defend Georgia as she told ABC news recently, watch out Siberian Tiger Hunter, get ready for the Wolf Killer!

Now we only need to draft about 100,000 young people for it.