What Caught My Eye Today

President Bush - The President has been racking up the frequent flier miles over the past few days. His schedule said Bush was spending Sunday evening in Washington before traveling the next morning to Australia. Instead, Air Force One lifted off from Andrews Air Force Base after dark Sunday night on a secret flight to Iraq. For security reasons, the president's trip — his third to Iraq — was a closely guarded secret. Bush flew to this remote desert air base and met with top politicians from Baghdad as well as leading Sunni Arab sheiks who have led a local movement opposing al-Qaida in Iraq. He was joined by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other key advisers, including the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, and Gen. David Petraeus, the top American commander in the country.
From Iraq, the President went to Australia to meet with one of his few remaining staunch war allies, Australian Prime Minister John Howard ahead of a 21-nation Asia-Pacific summit later in the week. Bush's trip is intended to show he's not neglecting the region, and he has a busy schedule of one-on-one meetings with Asia-Pacific leaders on the sidelines of the APEC forum later in the week, including sessions with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Indonesian President Bambang Yudhoyono.

You know, all this travel and being presidential may actually help Bush's approval rating. That is, of course, if Bush manages not to piss anyone off or do something like call out another country as a safe harbor for terrorism.

Mexico - Hurricane Felix walloped Central America's remote Miskito coastline while Hurricane Henriette slammed into resorts on the tip of Baja California as a record-setting hurricane season got even wilder with twin storms making landfall on the same day. Felix roared ashore before dawn as a Category 5 storm along Nicaragua's remote northeast corner. The 160 mph winds peeled roofs off shelters and a police station, knocked down electric poles and stripped humble homes to a few walls. By late afternoon, Felix had weakened to a Category 1 storm with winds of 80 mph. In the Pacific, Henriette's top winds increased to 85 mph and it made landfall just after 2 p.m. on the southern tip of Baja. Felix was the 31st Category 5 hurricane seen in the Atlantic since record-keeping began in 1886 — and the eighth in the last five seasons. Some meteorologists say human-caused increases in sea surface temperatures are making storms stronger, while others say the numbers are up because new technology allows us to measure their intensity better. Two category 5 hurricanes in one season and two on the same day--that's gotta suck in a muy grande way.

2008 Presidential Race - John McCain was told by New Hampshire high school students he might be too old to be president and too conservative to be respected. "Thanks for the question, you little jerk," McCain joked back to one student who asked the 71-year-old about his age. "You're drafted." McCain's two-day trip to New Hampshire launches his fall campaign for the GOP nomination. During a morning visit with students, he explained why he was not shrinking from his support for a temporary increase of troops in Iraq and why students should pay attention. You have to give the guy props for his sense of humor, thought the real credit has to go to the students who asked the questions that the pundits are too afraid to ask.

College Football - Oh yes, my friends, it's that time of year again. The final fallout from a disastrous opening weekend for Michigan came Tuesday, when the Wolverines dropped all the way out of The Associated Press Top 25, an unprecedented fall from No. 5 to unranked. Since the AP poll expanded to 25 teams in 1989, no team has taken a bigger tumble in one week. After an opening college football weekend filled with blowouts and highlighted by Appalachian State's stunning 34-32 upset of Michigan at the Big House, there was little notable movement in the Top 25 other than the Wolverines. Southern California was voted No. 1 by the media panel, followed by LSU, West Virginia, Florida and Wisconsin/Oklahoma. Florida State also fell out of the rankings. The Seminoles were 19th heading into their season opener at Clemson and lost 24-18. Clemson moved into the rankings at No. 25 and Georgia Tech also moved into the Top 25. The Yellow Jackets were 21st after winning at Notre Dame 33-3.

Golf - Phil Mickelson shot 5-under-par 66 on Monday in the final round of the Deutsche Bank to finish two strokes ahead of Tiger Woods, Brett Wetterich and Arron Oberholser. The victory was worth $1.26 million and 9,000 points in the Fed Ex playoffs, moving him to the top of the standings. Then, complaining that the PGA Tour Playoffs are too much of a commitment for players already tired from a long season, Mickelson decided to skip the BMW Championship this week outside Chicago. Even if Mickelson does skip the next event, he long ago locked up a spot in the Tour Championship. But that would make it three consecutive weeks that a top five player in the world rankings has sat out one of the playoff events. Tiger Woods sat out Week 1, and Ernie Els sat out the Deutsche Bank to be with his kids as they started school. I'm not sure this is what PGA officials had in mind when they dreamt up this FedEx Cup, though I have to say I'm not that surprised. Most people want to see guys like Mickelson, Els, and Woods. Unfortunately, these happen to be the last guys on the Tour that need another big payday. They make enough in endorsements and are probably better served taking the time off and focusing on the 4 majors.

Tennis - With the quarterfinals set for both the men's and women's draw at the U.S. Open, let's see how I did with my picks:

Men's Draw: Nadal (2) over Federer(1) in the final; Dark horse pick: Lleyton Hewitt (16)
My dark horse, Hewitt, crashed and burned in the second round. Other than that it's all good.

Women's Draw: Serena Williams (8) over Sharapova (2) in the final; Dark horse: Venus Williams (10)
Not sure what happened to glamour girl Maria Sharapova in the third round, though if the experts are right, it won't matter much. All the talent is in the top half of the draw including Justine Henin and the 2 Williams sisters.