What Caught My Eye Today

Congress - Or perhaps I should more accurately say House Democrats were busy today.

House Democrats have drafted new Iraq legislation they hope will appeal to Republicans fed up with the war: Start withdrawing troops in two months but leave it up to President Bush to decide when to complete the pullout. The House has passed similar anti-war measures in the past, but has been unable to push the legislation through the Senate, where Democrats hold a slimmer majority and Republicans have routinely blocked such bills from advancing. Bush has not given any indication he is open to a dramatic shift or a major redeployment of troops after September. Instead, he has talked extensively about the need to remain engaged in Iraq to fight al-Qaida and has repeatedly appealed to lawmakers for more patience. For their part, top U.S. military officers also have indicated that the troop buildup initiated this year may be needed through next summer.

If that isn't enough for you, somehow, Democrats managed to tackle some domestic issues on the same day.

The House Judiciary Committee approved a contempt of Congress citation Wednesday against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and one-time Counsel Harriet Miers, setting up a constitutional confrontation over the firings of federal prosecutors. The Justice Department said it would block the citation from prosecution because information Congress is demanding is protected by executive privilege. The action followed nearly seven months of a Democratic-driven investigation into whether the U.S. attorney firings were directed by the White House to influence corruption cases in favor of Republican candidates. The administration has denied that, but also has invoked executive privilege to shield internal White House deliberations on the matter.

Always nice to see those tax dollars working.

Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would never yield to international pressure to suspend its nuclear program. "Iran will never abandon its peaceful (nuclear) work. Our nuclear work is legal and why should we stop it?" The United States and other Western powers suspect Iran has a secret program to build nuclear weapons. The oil-producing Islamic Republic says its nuclear program is only for generation of electricity for the benefit of its economy. Ahmadinejad said Iran had "some thousand centrifuges which are spinning every day." Centrifuges are used to make fuel for power plants but can also be employed to enrich uranium to a higher level to make bomb material. Diplomats have said Iran had installed about 2,000 centrifuges by early in June, most enriching uranium and others undergoing test "dry runs" without uranium in them. The 3,000 mark was likely to be reached by the end of July, they said. Three thousand could produce material for one bomb within a year if run non-stop at supersonic speed. Here's my question. Are 3,000 centrifuges necessary for peaceful work? If so, maybe Iran has a valid point. If not...I mean really, how many spares do you need? And maybe someone out there could explain to me why Iran is spending so much on nuclear technology instead of improving its oil refining capacity?

Iraq - The dream run of Iraq's national soccer team captivated an otherwise despairing nation. But even in its moment of joy — the Iraqis are in the Asian Cup finals for the first time ever — violence struck. Two suicide bombings killed at least 50 cheering, dancing, flag-waving Iraqis celebrating their national triumph. More than 130 other revelers were wounded. The attacks bore the hallmarks of Sunni militants. The revelers were celebrating Iraq's semifinal win over South Korea in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. Iraq won a tense penalty shootout 4-3 after the two sides played to a scoreless draw in 90 minutes regulation and 30 minutes extra time. Iraq plays Saudi Arabia on Sunday in Jakarta, Indonesia for the championship. All I can say is, dude, that's so not cool. Your friggin' national team is in the finals of a Confederation tournament. How could that possibly justify suicide bombings?

Israel - A delegation from the Arab League made a historic visit to Israel on Wednesday to present its own Middle East peace initiative. The foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, the first delegation the 22-member group has sent to the Jewish state, formally presented the Arab League's proposal for peace between Israel and Palestine. The proposal, originally presented in 2002 and rejected by the Jewish state, extends an offer from all Arab countries to recognize Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from land captured in the 1967 Middle East War. Currently, Egypt and Jordan are the only two nations in the league that recognize Israel. I don't claim to know much about this deal, but it sounds promising. And is it just me or did the U.S. have nothing to do with this? Is it possible that some problems could actually be resolved without the U.S.'s involvement? Sadly, I'm sure we'll find some way to screw this thing up.

Britney Spears - First Lindsay Lohan gets busted for drunken driving and cocaine possession , now Britney wants her turn in the tabloid spotlight. According to a magazine editor, Britney Spears sat back and watched as her Yorkshire terrier puppy pooped on a $6,700 designer gown at a photo shoot for OK! magazine. Allegedly, Spears also wiped grease on a designer dress, treating it like "a napkin," took frequent trips to the bathroom — leaving the door open — and complained that the high-end clothing put together for the fashion shoot weren't sexy, short or tight enough. After about three hours, the 25-year-old singer bolted, walking away with more than $14,000 of borrowed apparel. I say allegedly, because I wasn't there (thank God), but would it come as much of a surprise if she did everything that the editor suggested?

Cycling - The Tour de France is really in a pickle now. I'm actually starting to feel sorry for Tour organizers and participants. On Tuesday, star cyclist Alexandre Vinokourov was sent home after testing positive for a banned blood transfusion, and his team pulled out of the race. Wednesday, it happened again when the Cofidis squad confirmed its rider Cristian Moreni of Italy had failed a doping test, prompted the withdrawal of the entire squad. And then, Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen was removed from the race by his team after winning Wednesday's stage, the biggest blow yet in cycling's doping-tainted premier event. "Michael Rasmussen has been sent home for violating (the team's) internal rules," a Rabobank team spokesman said. The expulsion, which was ordered by the Dutch team sponsor, was linked to "incorrect" information that Rasmussen gave to the team's sports director over his whereabouts last month. Rasmussen missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28. The 33-year-old rider had looked set to win the race, which ends Sunday in Paris. But Tour officials had questioned why he was allowed to take the start on July 7 in London, England. "We cannot say that Rasmussen cheated, but his flippancy and his lies on his whereabouts had become unbearable," Tour director Christian Prudhomme said. With Rasmussen out, Spanish rider Alberto Contador of the Discovery Channel team moved into the race lead. They need to finish this race pretty quick before they run out of riders. By my calculation, 39 riders are now out of the Tour (Astana and Cofidis team withdrawals account for 18 alone) leaving 150 to finish up what's left of the Tour. And get this, USA based Team Discovery now finds itself with the first and third place general classification riders.