What Caught My Eye Today

Attorney General - Republicans blocked the Senate's no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Monday, rejecting a symbolic Democratic effort to prod him from office despite blistering criticism from lawmakers in both parties. The 53-38 vote to move the resolution to full debate fell seven short of the 60 required. In bringing the matter up, Democrats dared Republicans to vote their true feelings about an attorney general who has alienated even the White House's strongest defenders by bungling the firings of federal prosecutors and claiming not to recall the details. Republicans did not defend him, but most voted against moving the resolution ahead. Not exactly what you would call a glowing endorsement of the Attorney General from the GOP. I'm curious how much longer these folks are going to support the Bush Administration. Maybe they didn't get the memo...he cannot run for a third term.

Anti-terrorism Laws - The Bush administration cannot use new anti-terrorism laws to keep U.S. residents locked up indefinitely without charging them according to a 2-1 decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling was a harsh rebuke of one of the central tools the administration believes it has to combat terror. "To sanction such presidential authority to order the military to seize and indefinitely detain civilians, even if the President calls them 'enemy combatants,' would have disastrous consequences for the constitution — and the country," the court panel said. What sort of consequences do you think they mean? Something to the effect of completely invaliding the Constitution upon which the country is based upon? I suppose that could construed by some liberal treehuggers as disastrous. Not me, though. I say long live King George.

Nuclear Holocaust - In its annual report on military forces around the globe, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said the world's top military powers are gradually dismantling their stockpiles of nuclear arms, but all are developing new missiles and warheads with smaller yields that could increase the risk of atomic warfare. In addition, the rising number of nations with nuclear weapons is raising the risk such arms could be used. North Korea was, for the first time, counted among the world's nuclear countries, because of its underground test explosion of an atomic device last October. The U.S., Russia, China, France, Britain, Pakistan and India are known to have nuclear weapons, while Israel is thought by most experts to have them. The report estimated those nations had 11,530 warheads available for delivery by missile or aircraft at the start of 2007, with Russia and the United States accounting for more than 90 percent — 5,614 in Russia and 5,045 in the U.S. Well there are some cheerful statistics, what with the Americans and Russians getting along so well these days.

Iran - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rejected on Monday another prominent senator's call for a military strike against Iran, saying a U.S. attack would destabilize the Middle East. Senator Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said over the weekend the United States should be prepared to use military force to stop Iran from training and equipping Iraqi militants blamed for the deaths of U.S. troops in Iraq. This one is good for a two-fer. First, we'll review Reid's comments. An attack on Iran would 'destabilize the Middle East?' Dude, how would you categorize the current situation? And then there's Lieberman. Contrary to whatever universe you exist in, invading yet another country will probably result in the deaths of more U.S. troops rather than fewer. You don't honestly believe that the Iranians are going stand by and do nothing if the U.S. invades their borders.

Space Shuttle - Two US astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis have begun a spacewalk to start deploying new solar panels on the International Space Station (ISS). The space station's robotic arm has already attached a new 16 ton segment to the ISS containing a pair of new solar panels. The solar panels will increase the station's power generation capacity, paving the way for Europe's Columbus module to join the station later this year. Atlantis docked with the ISS on Sunday, after a back flip so damaged insulation on its underside could be photographed. Its thermal blanket was torn during take-off and Nasa are now assessing the photos to decide how to proceed. A decision on whether to conduct another spacewalk to fix the damaged blanket will be made in the next day or two. Nasa plans to fly 15 more missions to the station to deliver large components, spare parts and other supplies. Good luck with that, guys.

Internet - Apple has launched a version of its web browser Safari for Windows, competing head to head with Microsoft's Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox. Chief executive Steve Jobs said Apple "dream big" and wanted to expand the 4.9% market share Safari enjoys. Mr Jobs was speaking at a conference of developers for Apple products in San Francisco, California. He said Safari was "the fastest browser on Windows", saying it was twice as fast as Internet Explorer. Twice as fast as IE, huh? Not exactly setting his standards too high, is he?

Sopranos - No, I won't give away the series finale ending. I'd like to but there is anything to give away. Fade to black? What a cop-out. Although, I'll hand it to series creator, David Chase. I did not see this one coming.

Paris Hilton - Imprisoned hotel heiress Paris Hilton has said she believes God has given her a new chance and she plans to stop acting dumb and put her influence to good use. Hilton called television journalist Barbara Walters on Sunday from the medical wing of a Los Angeles jail. "I'm not the same person I was," Hilton told Walters. "I used to act dumb. It was an act. I am 26 years old, and that act is no longer cute. It is not who I am, nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me....I have become much more spiritual. God has given me this new chance." So like the dumb thing was an act? Give this broad an Oscar. She had me fooled.

Sports wrap - Some sports headlines that caught my attention:

Tennis - Henin and Nadal win their 3rd consecutive French Open singles titles. At least Federer managed to take a set off Nadal who is now a perfect 21-0 at Roland Garros.

Golf - Michelle Wie completed the LPGA Championship with a final round 79. She had to make an 8-foot bogey putt on the final hole to break 80, it was her 20th consecutive round without breaking par, she finished in last place by 10 shots, and her 21-over 309 was the highest 72-hole score of her career, professional or amateur.

Basketball - San Antonio takes a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals as the series moves to Cleveland for games 3, 4 and maybe 5 if Cleveland can manage to win a game, which doesn't seem that likely based on its performance in the first two games.

Baseball - Look out folks, the Yankees are only 9.5 games behind the Red Sox. By the way, has anyone notified Barry Bonds and the Giants that the season isn't over yet? From what I can tell they stopped playing professional baseball in early May. I'm not sure what they're doing now, but it's a far cry from baseball.