What Caught My Eye Today

Pakistan - Commandos cleared the warren-like Red Mosque complex of rebel fighters Wednesday, ending a fierce eight-day siege and street battles that left more than 100 dead. Hours later, al-Qaida called for Pakistani Muslims to wage holy war against the government of President Pervez Musharraf in retaliation for the assault on the mosque. The elite Special Services Group commandos went in after unsuccessful attempts to get the militants to surrender to the siege mounted by the government following deadly street clashes with armed supporters of the mosque July 3. The extremists had been using the mosque as a base to send out radicalized students to enforce their version of Islamic morality, including abducting alleged prostitutes and trying to "re-educate" them at the compound in the heart of Pakistan's capital. The State Department endorsed the Musharraf government's decision to storm the mosque, saying that the militants had been given many warnings, and President Bush reaffirmed his confidence in the Pakistani president in the fight against extremists. I'm not so sure that Bush's endorsement is going to buy much goodwill for Musharraf among his people. Bush isn't exactly Mr. Popular with the Muslim community.

Indonesia - Thousands of people living on the slopes of a mountain in eastern Indonesia have been relocated after the volcano began spewing hot smoke and ash. Mount Gamkonora showed sharply increased seismic activity Monday and two major eruptions were recorded Tuesday. Some 8,400 locals were moved to safer areas. Indonesia has more active volcanoes than any other country since it is located on the Pacific so-called Ring of Fire, a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia. Have you every wondered about the real estate market there? Lemme see here--tsunamis, earthquake, volcanoes, and let's not forget about the occasional terrorist bombing. I thinking that these might depress property values just a tad.

Iraq - Several Republican senators told President Bush's top national security aide that they did not want Bush to wait until September to change course in Iraq. Republican support for the war has steadily eroded in recent weeks as the White House prepared an interim progress report that found that the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad has made little progress in meeting major targets of reform. Of the GOP lawmakers who say the U.S. should reduce its military role in Iraq, nearly all are up for re-election in 2008. Okay, first off, since when has any one's opinion, other than his own, mattered to President Bush. Secondly, are you guys flip flopping just to get re-elected or because you really think Bush's policy isn't working? Vote your consciences, you gutless cowards.

President Bush - Speaking of the President, Bush ordered his former White House counsel, Harriet Miers, to defy a congressional subpoena and refuse to testify Thursday before a House panel investigating U.S. attorney firings. She irked senators by refusing to answer many questions from a panel investigating whether the firings were politically motivated. She said she was bound by Bush's position that White House conversations were protected by executive privilege. Say what you will about him, but dude certainly doesn't back off from a fight...no matter how ill advised that may be.

Harry Potter - "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth film in the series based on the best-selling novels about a British boy wizard, opened in 4,285 U.S. and Canadian theaters and in 44 markets around the world. The widest U.S. and Canadian release was 4,362 theaters for Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." In total, the first four "Potter" movies raked in $3.5 billion in theaters, starting with "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in 2001. And if that's not enough, the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" gets released July 21. Here's my impression of Rowlings on July 22..."Mo' money, mo' money, mo' money!!!"

Baseball - Ichiro Suzuki sped around the bases for the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star game history as the American league held on for a 5-4 victory over the National league. The AL closed to 40-36-2 and improved to 5-0 against the NL since the All-Star winner received homefield advantage in the World Series. Yeah, whatever. Let's get back to the games that count, shall we?

Cycling - Wednesday's fourth stage, a mostly flat 119.9-mile ride from Villers-Cotterets to Joigny won by Thor Hushovd of Norway. Fabian Cancellara, the Swiss time-trial ace kept the overal leader's jersey for a fourth day. In the Alpine stages of the three-week race, overall favorites could try to make their move and chisel out precious minutes on their rivals. Few can be ruled out yet: 160 riders are within two minutes of Cancellara. A total of four riders have pulled out, leaving 185 riders left. For those of you still counting, that's four stage down, 17 to go.