What Caught My Eye Today

Congress - In the current Congress, no Southern senator is a committee chairman and there are just four in the House — fewer than from the state of California alone. One chief reason is the South's shift toward the Republican Party that was cemented in the 1990s. When Republicans lost control of Congress in last year's elections, the region's clout took a hit. But signs of waning influence were evident under Republican control. Through death, retirement and a more competitive political environment, the South simply lost the seniority that gave it such outsized influence. So basically, the South has lost its influence because its senior legislators are dying from old age. There's always something that messes with the cogs of power. If its not a sex scandal its human mortality.

U.S. Military - For weeks after his death, the Pentagon maintained that Pat Tillman was killed in an enemy ambush, even after a top general tried to warn President Bush that the NFL star-turned-soldier likely died by friendly fire. In the memo sent to a superior officer seven days after Tillman's death, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned that the evidence strongly pointed to friendly fire and the nation's leaders risked embarrassing themselves if they publicly said otherwise. It is not clear whether Bush or Brownlee received the warning, but it raises new questions on how high up the chain of command the misinformation campaign extended. A White House spokesman said that a review of records turned up no indication that the president had received McChrystal's warning. Tread carefully, Mr. President. That whole 'I don't recall' strategy isn't working too well for your boy, Alberto Gonzales. One has to feel for the Tillman family. It's hard to believe that so much effort has been made to conceal the truth. If the Army had come clean in the first place, they would have avoided this mess.

Brazil - A protest by air traffic controllers forced the suspension of flights from Brazilian airports Friday, stranding thousands of travelers across the country, according to union officials and government media. All 67 commercial airports in Latin America's largest country were closed for takeoffs, but planes in flight were allowed to land normally. Controllers were protesting a decision by the Air Force command, which oversees the nation's air traffic controllers, to transfer top workers to other cities. And we thought air travel in the U.S. was messed up. It just goes to show, things can always be worse.

Pet Food - The recall of wet and dry pet foods contaminated with a chemical found in plastics and pesticides expanded Saturday to include a new brand even as investigators were puzzled why the substance would kill dogs and cats. Federal testing of some recalled pet foods and the wheat gluten used in their production turned up the chemical melamine. Melamine is used to make kitchenware and other plastics and is toxic only in very high doses . About 70 percent of the wheat gluten used in the United States for human and pet food is imported from the European Union and Asia, according to the Pet Food Institute, an industry group. Between this and the E Coli found in spinach a few months ago, you really start to wonder just how safe our food supply really is. That's why I stick to only those foods that are so jacked up with preservatives that the effects of any toxins are negligible by comparison.

Swimming - Michael Phelps stayed on track for a record gold-medal haul at the world championships, edging out American teammate Ian Crocker by 0.05 seconds to win the 100-meter butterfly Saturday night at the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. Phelps is 6-for-6 with two races remaining. His latest gold tied Australian Ian Thorpe's record from the 2001 worlds in Japan. But Phelps failed to set a world record for the first time in five nights. "I'm definitely starting to feel it (fatigue)," he said. "I've got to get some food and some sleep, and hopefully tomorrow I'll run off adrenaline. I need to come back and do two solid races." I love it. His definition of a slump is not breaking a world record. We should all be so lucky.