What Caught My Eye Today

Iraq - The Iraqi government is achieving only spotty military and political progress, the Bush administration conceded in an assessment that war critics quickly seized on as confirmation of their dire warnings. Within hours, the House voted to withdraw U.S. troops by spring. The House measure passed 223-201 in the Democratic-controlled chamber despite a veto threat from President Bush, who has ruled out any change in war policy before September. The vote generally followed party lines: 219 Democrats and four Republicans in favor, and 191 Republicans and 10 Democrats opposed. It's almost like listening to a damaged CD that keeps playing the same snippet over and over and over.

Stock Market - Wall Street soared Thursday, propelling the Standard & Poor's 500 index and Dow Jones industrials to record highs as bright spots among generally sluggish retail sales allowed investors to toss aside concerns about the health of the economy. The rally, which gave the Dow its biggest one-day percentage gain in nearly four years. The S&P 500 rose 28.94, or 1.91 percent, to 1,547.70, above its previous record close of 1,539.18 set June 4. The Dow shot up 283.86, or 2.09 percent, to 13,861.73; its previous record close, which also came June 4, was 13,676.32. The Nasdaq composite index rose 49.94, or 1.88 percent, to 2,701.73. Still, the index, bloated by the late 1990s tech boom, is nowhere near its closing record of 5,048.62, set in March 2000. I'm sure this is all well and good for somebody, but I still have to drag my my tired butt to work in the morning.

Beauty Pageantry - Seeing as Paris, Lindsay and Britney seem to have kept themselves out of the tabloids for a couple of weeks (stop the presses), I found this little gem to tide you over. Miss New Jersey can keep her crown despite photos that show her acting "not in a ladylike manner." The pictures include one showing her boyfriend apparently biting her breast through her shirt, another of her in a limousine wearing jeans with her legs spread in the air and another of her in what appears to be a Halloween costume dress holding two small pumpkins up to her breasts. Miss New Jersey's lawyer said that a person or persons claiming to be The Committee to Save Miss America threatened to make the photos public unless she resigned her title. I fail to see what the big deal is here. Everyone knows that girls just want to have fun. It certainly sounds like she had some.

Motor Sports - Formula One's U.S. Grand Prix won't return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next year after officials failed to reach a new deal. Attendance figures are not released at Indianapolis, but estimates have been around 125,000 each of the past six years. The inaugural race in 2000 drew more than 200,000. Formula One's ruling body mentioned the possibility of moving the U.S. Grand Prix to New York or Las Vegas. Here's my take. Who needs the stinkin' F1 when we have NASCAR, baby?

Football - Here's one that through me for a loop. The United States and Japan on Thursday advanced to the final of the American Football World Cup, in which the sport's homeland hopes to seize the crown from hosts Japan. The US team, taking part in the competition for the first time, were 33-7 winners in the semi-final over Germany, who held the Americans to 16-7 in the first half before letting down their guard. The Japanese team overwhelmed Sweden in their semi-final 48-0. Japan and the United States will play the final Sunday. Sweden will play Germany for the bronze on Saturday. France and South Korea will play for fifth place in the six-nation tournament. Japan won the first two American Football World Cups held in 1999 and 2003. But the US did not take part in the previous competitions. There's a World Cup for gridiron football? Dude, that's just wrong.