The beat of different drums

TRAFFIC BLUES. Another upside to the holiday for those of us still on the treadmill was the ability to drive across the city in minutes, instead of hours. Frustration is growing daily among those who drive themselves and those using what we like to call out public transit system,

Work projects under way across the city have created more chaos on already overburdened streets. In spite of the downturn in car sales in recent months, some 2,000 new vehicles are added to the mess each month.

There are of course some steps that could be taken to ease, at least for a while, the near gridlock. One of them would be to enforce “no parking” where yellow lines are painted. No matter where you are driving, bottlenecks appear with cars parked on both sides of narrow streets. Even where parking lots are available, our good citizens, put their blinkers on and, while chatting on their cell phones, park their vehicles under no parking signs, or next door to fire hydrants.

For the latter group who might live in the super high rises in Punta Pacifica, Paitilla, Costa del Este, and along Avenida Balboa, I advise reading the reports of our under-funded bomberos (firemen), who point out that there are some areas they wouldn’t be able to reach because of congestion, and some buildings from which they wouldn’t be able to rescue people, because of lack of equipment. Sorry to put a damper on your holiday

OBAMAMANIA. That word first appeared in the Panama Star at the beginning of the year, when Barack Obama was campaigning in the primaries, and huge crowds were turning out to hear the black man who wanted to become president, and bring change to a country mired in distrust, suspicion and controversy, and universally disliked, even in countries where the leaders had allied themselves with George W, Bush. Perhaps destined to go down in history as George WMD Bush

Obama has brought to the campaign talents derided by his opponents, one of them being his oratorical skills. In Ancient Greece, such talents were admired, especially when they could inspire people to greater effort, to face challenges, to unity

In the closing hours of the campaign Obama has masterfully put forward a new vision for the United States, and around the world (see pages 1 and 2) people are once again thinking of taking their hands from behind their backs and extending them in welcome to the man who would be president

The world will be watching tonight. We hope it doesn’t wake up with a hangover or a severe dose of chad fever

DEPRESSED HOUSING MARKET. There are stories around that the high end of the housing market is suffering, with some of the speculators who had hoped to flip apartments in the ritzy areas of town getting a little anxious Now it appears that no one wants to buy two crumbling mansions that once belonged to former dictator Manuel Noriega. The government says it received no bidders for the two properties, valued at $6.1 million. It is unclear why no one registered to take part in last week’s auction.

Perhaps some of those in high places who were once entertained by Noriega don’t wish to disturb sleeping dogs and if the General can avoid going to France he’ll be back.