What Caught My Eye Today

Mexico - President Bush, working to rebuild strained U.S.-Mexico relations, promised Tuesday he would do his best to get a deeply divided U.S. Congress to change American immigration policies that are hated south of the border. Relations between the two border countries have only grown worse since Bush signed a law calling for construction of more than 700 miles of new fencing along the long border the two countries share. Admittedly, calls for improving relations at the same time as you are building a 700 mile fence on your border could possibly seen as sending a mixed message. Not to me, of course, but for some.

U.S. Justice Department - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales accepted responsibility Tuesday for mistakes in the way the Justice Department handled the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors but he rejected calls for his resignation. Democrats in Congress have charged that the eight dismissals announced last December were politically motivated and that some of those ousted have said they felt pressured by powerful Republicans in their home states to rush investigations of potential voter fraud involving Democrats. The government's 93 U.S. attorneys are presidential appointees who can be hired and fired at will. But critics say the fate of the eight who were dismissed last year appeared to have been politically motivated. If U.S. attorneys are presidential appointees who 'serve at the pleasure of the President' why should it come as any surprise that their dismissals were politically motivated? Heck, their appointments were probably politically motivated. I'm not saying any of this is right or wrong, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking that these alleged politically motivated firings are that shocking.

U.S. Military - The Pentagon's top general expressed regret Tuesday that he called homosexuality immoral, a remark that drew a harsh condemnation from members of Congress and gay advocacy groups. In a newspaper interview Monday, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had likened homosexual acts to adultery and said the military should not condone it by allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces. In a statement Tuesday, he said he should have focused more in the interview on the Defense Department policy about gays — and "less on my personal moral views." As we all know, the military executes policy, it doesn't set policy. That deal belongs to the government (God help us all). Hopefully this dude learned his lesson and is keeping his personal opinions to himself. If Pace had just followed the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, he wouldn't have gotten into this mess in the first place. Kind of ironic, don't you think?

Iran - At the 65 nation Disarmament Conference being held in Geneva, Switzerland, this country was accused of posing " uniquely grave threat to regional and international peace and security and requires to be seriously dealt with by the international community taking practical measures." No, not Iran, Israel. The U.S. and Israeli delegations walked out during the speech to show their displeasre with the Iranian remarks. The conference is intended to negotiate disarmament treaties. Iran has said it is prepared to discuss the suspension of uranium enrichment if the U.N. Security Council closes the file on Iran's nuclear program and is committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the standoff over its nuclear program. Seeing as everyone knows that Iran's demands are not going to be met, I'm having a hard time seeing how Iran is claiming to be interested in a diplomatic resolution.

March Madness - With two days until the tournament begins, here are my regional finals and national semifinals and finals picks:

Midwest: (1) Florida over (3) Oregon
West: (2) UCLA over (1) Kansas
East: (2) Georgetown over (1) North Carolina
South: (3) Texas A&M over (1) Ohio State

In the Final Four
(1) Florida over (2) UCLA (this is a rematch of last year's final)
(2) Georgetown over (3) Texas A&M

Winning it all...(1) Florida

If history is any indicator, I should be completed hosed by the end of Round 2.