What Caught My Eye Today

For those of you keeping count, this is posting #200.

Congress - The House approved what could become the first override of a President Bush veto Tuesday, with Republicans joining Democrats in challenging the president over a $23.2 billion water resources bill that addresses pressing infrastructure needs while offering hundreds of home district projects. The vote was 361-54, well over the two-thirds majority needed to negate a presidential veto. The Senate, which approved the bill 81-12 in September, could cast its override vote as early as Wednesday. Bush did not veto a single bill during the first five years of his presidency, when Congress was mainly in GOP hands. He has since vetoed a stem cell research bill twice, an Iraq spending bill that set guidelines for troop withdrawal and a children's health insurance bill. He vetoed the Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA, on Nov. 2, saying it was too expensive. The few critics pointed out that the Army Corps now has a backlog of $58 billion worth of projects and an annual budget of only about $2 billion to address them. Alright, then. First things, first. Well done, guys. You may actually get a piece of legislation enacted. Better late then never. As for the critics of this bill, all I can say is can I have some of whatever you dudes are smoking? By your own admission, there is a backlog of $58 billion of projects. Yet your solution to the problem is to withhold money so that the backlog doesn't get any bigger. What a great idea. Let's just let our whole infrastructure collapse. That way we won't have anything left to pay taxes to fit. Good plan...you ninnies.

Iraq - The U.S. military announced six new deaths today, making 2007 the bloodiest year for American troops in Iraq despite a recent decline in casualties and a sharp drop in roadside bombings that Washington links to Iran. With nearly two months left in the year, the annual toll is now 853 — three more than the previous worst of 850 in 2004. In fairness, the majority of these came earlier in the year and recent months have seen a dramatic downturn in casualties. Still rather sobering numbers, no matter how you look at it.

Pakistan - Pakistani opposition parties will discuss how to overturn emergency rule, hoping to capitalize on international disapproval over the detention of growing numbers of lawyers and political opponents. Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, in her strongest comments since President Pervez Musharraf assumed emergency powers on Saturday, said the world must make Pakistan's military leader revoke his measures or tell him to quit. The United States and Britain were joined by the 27-nation European Union in urging Musharraf to release all political detainees, including members of the judiciary, relax media curbs, and seek reconciliation with political opponents. Washington has said it will review aid to Pakistan, which has reached nearly $10 billion since the Sept 11 attacks. But it has yet to come up with a clear stance for dealing with a nuclear-armed country which is on the frontline in the battle against al Qaeda and the Taliban. Well, duh. That's because Washington doesn't know what to do. Talk about a PR nightmare. Here we are sending billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan for the war on terror, relying on Musharraf to spend the money wisely, while at the same time he's turning himself into a dictator. One has to wonder, how the masterminds in the State Department didn't see this one coming.

Pope - Pope Benedict and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah held a historic meeting on Tuesday and discussed the situation of minority Christians in the Islamic country where the Vatican wants them to have more freedom. At the first meeting between a Pope and a Saudi monarch, the two also discussed the need for greater collaboration between Christians, Muslims and Jews and prospects for a Middle East peace. The Vatican wants greater rights for the 1 million Catholics who live in Saudi Arabia, most of them migrant workers who are not allowed to practice their religion in public. Vatican officials often ask why church construction is banned in Saudi Arabia while Muslims can build mosques in Europe. Good question. Sounds like a bit of a double standard to me. Then again, what sane Catholic would want to live in a devout Muslim country in the first place? I'm not saying its right, but reality is what it is.

Space Shuttle - Discovery's astronauts got their spaceship ready for the ride home wrapping up a 15-day mission that kept the crew far busier than planned. This 15-day mission is longer than most — and more stressful, too, with the astronauts required to carry out repairs to a torn solar energy panel at the space station. After leaving the space station yesterday, the astronauts used a laser- and camera-tipped boom to hunt for possible micrometeorite damage to the shuttle's wing and nose that might have occurred during the 11 days the shuttle was docked to the orbiting outpost. Shuttle Atlantis, meanwhile, is being prepped for launch as early as Dec. 6. It is set to deliver a new European laboratory called Columbus to the space station. Please, please, please, let this be a sign that NASA has finally sorted out its issues with debris damaging the space shuttle. These guys finally have some momentum and have a chance to finish building the International Space Station. If you have one, maybe you can rub your lucky rabbit's foot, horseshoe, or any other good luck charm that you have on NASA's behalf. They've had a long year.