What Caught My Eye Today

Mexico - Hurricane Dean swept across the Yucatan peninsula, toppling trees, power lines and houses as it bore down on the heart of Mexico's oil industry. President Felipe Calderon said no deaths were immediately reported. Dean weakened over land but is expected to strengthen as its eye moves over the Bay of Campeche, home to more than 100 oil platforms and three major oil exporting ports. The sprawling, westward storm was projected to slam into the mainland Wednesday afternoon with renewed force near Laguna Verde, Mexico's only nuclear power plant. Dean was the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall since record keeping began in the 1850s. The deadliest storm to hit Latin America in modern times was 1998's Hurricane Mitch, which killed nearly 11,000 people and left more than 8,000 missing, most in Honduras and Nicaragua. Two items of note here. 13 deaths versus 11,000 deaths less than a decade ago? Somebody must be doing something right. Secondly, Mexico has a nuclear power plant? Who knew?

Iraq - Lots of news related to this little oasis of peace and love...

First up, President Bush acknowledged his frustration with Iraqi leaders' inability to bridge political divisions, but he said only the Iraqi people can decide whether to sideline the troubled prime minister. "I think there's a certain level of frustration with the leadership in general, inability to work — come together to get, for example, an oil revenue law passed or provincial elections," Bush said. "The fundamental question is, Will the government respond to the demands of the people? And, if the government doesn't demand — or respond to the demands of the people, they will replace the government. That's up to the Iraqis to make that decision, not American politicians." While on one hand I agree with the President, that the decision is up to the Iraqi people, I have to question what our response will be if the Iraqis decide to replace their existing government.

Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, Democrat Barack Obama said the recent increase in American troops in Iraq may well have helped tamp down violence, but he insisted there is no military solution to the country's problems and U.S. forces should be redeployed soon. "All of our top military commanders recognize that there is no military solution in Iraq," Obama said. "No military surge can succeed without political reconciliation and a surge of diplomacy in Iraq and the region. Iraq's leaders are not reconciling. They are not achieving political benchmarks. The only thing they seem to have agreed on is to take a vacation." With all due respect, Senator, I don't think there is a same person out there who doesn't agree with you. I want to know what you are going to do to facilitate a political reconciliation? It's easy to criticize what isn't working. If you want my vote, convince me that you have a plan that will work.

Russia - Russia wants the Shanghai Cooperation Organization--an intergovernmental body that includes Russia, Chiana, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan--to transform from an economic partnership into a military alliance. With two large nuclear arsenals and more than 4 million servicemen, Russia and China and the "Stans' would have more powere than all NATO armies put together. Whether China will go for the idea is an open question. Any way you look at this, there doesn't seem to be much of an upside for the U.S. if this deal goes down.

Space Shuttle - As the wounded space shuttle Endeavour brought its seven astronauts safely home today, NASA is looking ahead to three more launches at risk for the same kind of damage. The 3 1/2-inch-long gouge in Endeavour's belly did not put the astronauts at risk. And as soon as the damaged tiles are popped off, engineers will know whether repairs are needed to the underlying aluminum structure. The gash seemed to weather the return flight well, NASA said. It's analyzing a variety of temporary bracket solutions, which may or may not be in place before the next space station construction mission in late October. Making the brackets with titanium, which would require far less foam insulation than the aluminum version, is the permanent solution ordered after the problem first cropped up last summer. But that won't happen until next spring. By then, NASA will be just two years from retiring its three remaining space shuttles after wrapping up a demanding schedule for finishing construction of the international space station. What strikes me as somewhat amusing is that for all these millions of pieces that make up the space shuttle and the ridiculously explosive liquid oxygen used to power it, it's a teeny-weeny piece of foam or ice that is causing so many problems.

Music Industry - U.S. audio cassette sales hit about 700,000 in 2006, down from a peak of 442 million in 1990. Despite the near ubiquity of the CD and other forms of digital music, the audiocassette still has a strong following among the blind, religious groups, and court stenographers. There's a joke in there somewhere, I just know there is.