What Caught My Eye Today

These first two items come courtesy of this month's issue of Esquire:

Kazakhstan - Kazakhstan discovered it had oil - and a lot of it - in 2000. When they start pumping the Kashagan oil field in the Caspian Sea in 2011, Kazakstan's oil production will double. By 2015, the country's reserves could top 110 billion barrels, catapulting it into the top five oil producing countries in the world. The world's ninth largest country jumped from #82 to #63 on the World Bank's ranking of countries, boasting a banking system more advanced than Russia's. The government's business-friendly efforts, coupled with an average economic growth rate of 9% per year, budget surpluses topping 6% per year, and increased public spending are attracting foreign investment from companies including Deutsche Bank, Exxon Mobil, Ernst & Young, Mitsubishi and ABN AMRO Bank. Too bad the nation's leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, is nuts. President for as long as the country has been in existence-since 1991-Nazarbayev has a history of unstable behavior. His most recent exploit has been moving the capital from Almaty, a city on the southern border near China, to Astana, a made up city in the middle of nowhere. Speculation abou the president's motives range from his desire to move create a capital free of dreary Communist baggage to his belief that Astana is easier to pronounce than Almaty. Among the many reasons why I will never be rich is my aversion to risk. But seriously, how many of you would invest billions of dollars with this crackpot in charge?

Imperialism - Here is a fascinating take on 5 candidates to be added to the United States:

Cuba: Fidel Castro dies, leaving his brother Raul in charge of the country. Raul gets replaced by some "national unity" committee that holds free presidential elections within 5 years. One or more of those candidates stumps openly for American statehood. Florida holds every subsequent U.S. presidential candidate hostage to the Cuba-statehood plank.

Washington D.C.: Assuming Cuba comes into the Union as a "red state", expect the political spectrum to be balanced out with the former district being added as a "blue state."

Puerto Rico: This "red state" contender would command half a dozen seats in the House based on its population. Currently, Puerto Rico draws $20 billion out of the Treasury each year in federal grants while paying back nothing in taxes and is subject to all our laws while having no representation in Congress and no vote for president.

Mexico: Well, parts of it, at least. The northernmost states could conceivably join up in some scheme balance by GOP-heavy Texas's subdivision (The 1845 congressional joint resolution admitting Texas allows for its division into as many as 5 separate states). The United Mexican States has a history of secessionist movements. While the northern states are clearly integrating economically with the U.S., the ones continue to fall behind.

Central America: Leading candidates here include El Salvador (where 1 in 5 Salvadorans lives and works in the U.S. already), Panama (I'm guessing that the Canal has something to do with this) and Costa Rica (where an increasing number of American retiree are choosing to relocate).

Canada: The western provinces (British Columbia and Alberta) have never liked the francophone easterners and would make a wonderfully matched set in Quebec ever got its wish and triggered Canada's breakup.

I can see the Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico scenarios coming to fruition some day, but the rest of this seem completely far-fetched (though amusing).

O.J. Simpson - O.J. Simpson was arrested Sunday and faces multiple felony charges in an alleged armed robbery of collectors involving the former football great's sports memorabilia. Prosecutors were planning to charge Simpson with two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and coercion. A conviction on the most serious charge, robbery with use of a deadly weapon, could bring a sentence of three to 35 years for each count. Simpson said he and other people with him were retrieving items that belonged to him and that there were no guns involved and that he went to the room at the casino only to get stolen mementos that included his Hall of Fame certificate and a picture of the running back with J. Edgar Hoover. Simpson said that he did not call the police to help reclaim the items because he has found the police unresponsive to him ever since his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, were killed in 1994. This seems reminiscint of how Al Capone was brought down. When law enforcement could not get him on any murder raps, they busted him for income tax evasion. One way or another, the guilt will find a way to get busted.

Golf - The PGA Tour's "new era in golf" came to a familiar conclusion Sunday when Woods captured the Tour Championship in record-setting fashion, closing with a 4-under 66 for an eight-shot victory at East Lake and his seventh title of the season. Along with winning the Tour Championship and its $1.26 million prize, Woods was a runaway winner of the FedEx Cup and the $10 million that goes into his retirement account. Woods' primary objective is winning majors, and he already has 13 of those. The World Golf Championships were created in 1999, and he has won 14 of 25. And now the FedEx Cup. It was the 61st career victory for Woods, which makes him at 31 the youngest player to reach that mark. Jack Nicklaus was 35 when he captured his 61st tour victory. The $1.26 million in cash he earned Sunday pushing his season total to $10,876,052, the second-highest mark in PGA Tour history. Woods came up $29,114 short of the record set by Vijay Singh in 2004, although Singh earned that in 29 tournaments. Woods played in only 16 this year. You almost feel bad for the rest of the guys on the PGA tour...almost. Over on the women's side, dominating the singles matches like they always have, the Americans celebrated one of the most coveted wins in women's golf Sunday, a 16-12 decision over Europe to win the Solheim Cup.

NASCAR - Clint Bowyer raced to his first Nextel Cup victory Sunday, starting from the pole and leading all 221 of the 300 laps to win at New Hampshire International Speedway. Bowyer entered the 12-driver Chase as the only contender without a victory, and had never finished higher than third in his short Cup career. Jeff Gordon, the four-time series champion, finished second and was followed by two-time series champion Tony Stewart. Kyle Busch was fourth and followed by Martin Truex Jr., Johnson and Matt Kenseth as Chase drivers took the top seven spots. Johnson and Gordon are tied for the points lead, and Stewart is just 10 points back. Bowyer moved up eight spots into fourth place, only 15 points out. Kyle Busch jumped four spots to fifth and is 35 points behind. Truex is sixth, 40 points back and Kenseth is seventh. Carl Edwards dropped four spots to eighth, and Denny Hamlin fell three spots to ninth. Kevin Harvick is 10th. Jeff Burton 11th and Kurt Busch plummeted seven spots to 12th.

College Football - Here are the latest rankings after week 3 of the college football season. Nick Saban's first big win at Alabama vaulted the Crimson Tide into the top 25 for the first time this season. Coming off a 41-38 upset of Arkansas, Alabama (3-0) climbed to 16th in the latest Associated Press poll. Surprising Kentucky (3-0) also entered the top 25 for the first time in 2007 at No. 21 after upsetting Louisville, 40-34. There were two other newcomers in the poll as well: No. 24 South Florida (2-0), which was idle last week after upsetting Auburn, 26-23, in its season opener, and No. 25 Missouri (3-0), which drubbed Western Michigan, 52-24. Louisville (2-1) dropped from ninth to 18th, while Arkansas (1-1), 16th last week, fell out of the top 25. Southern California (2-0) strengthened its spot atop the poll following an impressive 49-31 victory at Nebraska as the Trojans collected 46 of 65 first-place votes and 1,605 points from a panel of writers and sportscasters. Louisiana State (3-0) remained second after routing Middle Tennessee State, 44-0. The Tigers received 1,577 points and the remaining 19 first-place ballots. Florida (3-0), Oklahoma (3-0) and West Virginia (3-0) complete the top five, followed California (3-0), Texas (3-0), Ohio State (3-0), Wisconsin (3-0) and Penn State (3-0). No. 11 Rutgers (3-0) starts the second 10, followed by South Carolina (3-0), Oregon (3-0) and Boston College (3-0), which climbed seven slots and staked an early claim as the top team in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 24-10 win at Georgia Tech. No. 15 Clemson (3-0), Alabama, No. 17 Virginia Tech (2-1), Louisville, Hawaii (3-0) and Texas A&M (3-0) complete the top 20. Completing the poll are Kentucky, Georgia (2-1), South Florida (2-0), Nebraska (2-1), which dropped 10 spots, and Missouri. UCLA (2-1) and Tennessee (1-2) also dropped out of the poll following lopsided losses.