What Caught My Eye Today

Abortion - Voters failed to overturn Portugal's strict abortion law Sunday because of low turnout at the polls, but the prime minister nonetheless vowed to relax the restriction through legislation in the conservative Roman Catholic country. With nearly all the votes counted, almost 60 percent of voters approved the referendum allowing women to opt for abortions up to the 10th week of pregnancy, while slightly more than 40 percent opposed it. However, under Portuguese law more than 50 percent of the country's 8.9 million registered voters must participate in a referendum to make the ballot valid. The turnout Sunday was 44 percent.

And in a related story...

Lawmakers who watched as a near-total ban on abortions failed in South Dakota voting booths last year have revived the legislation with changes that may make the difference in public acceptance. The bill introduced in January includes exceptions for victims of rape or incest and if continuing the pregnancy would harm the woman's health significantly. Last year's ban exempted only abortions needed to save a woman's life, and the lack of more exceptions was cited when voters repealed the ban in November. Public opinion polls have shown that a ban with rape and incest exceptions would pass muster with South Dakotans.

So Portugal first. A country that is 90% Catholic whose religious leaders threatened their congretations with excommunication if they voted for this law could only manage a 44% turnover? Gee, I wonder why? And then there is South Dakota. Is there some concentration of Portuguese-born clergymen in South Dakota that I haven't heard about?

High Fashion - Five models were declared too thin for the catwalk at this week's international designer show in Madrid. Last year, Madrid's Cibeles became the first high profile parade to bar models whose ratio of body weight to height was so low it was deemed an unhealthy example to the public. Bit of a non-sequitur here, but try to follow me on this one. If the fashion industry, let me say that again, the fashion industry, can enforce standards for acceptable health levels for its models, why can't the brain trusts at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency, sort out this deal with Floyd Landis?

Speaking of cycling...

Cycling - Discovery Channel will drop its sponsorship of former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong's team after this season. In a statement, Discovery said it was proud to sponsor the team for three seasons, but "we have decided to aggressively shift our focus and resources to support our core business goals and objectives." This goes out to the handful of sports fans who may actually know what I'm talking about...Who didn't see this one coming?

Baseball - Those of you who have been suffering baseball withdrawals (its been nearly 4 whole months since the World Series) can breathe a sigh of relief. Spring training for pitchers and catchers starts on February 15.

Basketball - This one falls into the category of not being able to turn away from watching a train wreck. The Boston Celtics have chalked up 17 straight losses and now own the worst record in the NBA. Fans in Vancouver are hoping that the Celtics can find a way to continue its losing streak for 7 more games. The current record for consecutive losses is held by the former Vancouver Grizzlies with 23. Anyone else notice that the Grizzlies aren't that much better in Memphis than they were in Vancouver?