What Caught My Eye Today

Sudan - A Sudanese court convicted a British teacher Thursday of insulting Islam for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad and sentenced her to 15 days in prison, avoiding a heavier punishment of 40 lashes. The teacher wept in court, insisting she never meant to offend. The case began with a classroom project on animals in September at the private school, which has 750 students from elementary to high school levels, most from wealthy Sudanese Muslim families. The teacher had one of her 7-year-old students bring in a teddy bear, then asked the class to name it and they chose the name Muhammad. Each student then took the teddy bear home to write a diary entry about it, and the entries were compiled into a book with the bear's picture on the cover, titled "My Name is Muhammad." An office assistant at the school, Sara Khawad, complained to the Ministry of Education that the teacher had insulted the prophet. Comparing the Prophet Muhammad — Islam's most revered figure — to an animal or a toy could be insulting to Muslims. Influential Muslim hard-liners sought to raise outrage over the case. They compared her action to the prophet cartoons run in European papers and to Salman Rushdie, the British author who was accused of blasphemy for his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses." I like to consider myself rather open minded when it comes to respecting the views of others when it comes to religion. Let's face it, religion can tend to be a rather touchy subject with a lot of folks. With that in mind, you have to wonder why the teacher got herself into this in the first place. Even if the intention was harmless--and you have to believe it was--she should have explained to the children what Muhammad was not an appropriate name to choose. However, the reaction to this momentary lapse in judgment is ridiculous. Locking up a teacher because of what her students chose to name a teddy bear? Come on. It's stunts like this that perpetuate the stereotypes that Westerns have about Muslims and vice versa.

Afghanistan - Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on Europeans to stop helping the United States in the war in Afghanistan. Bin Laden said it was unjust for the United States to have invaded Afghanistan for sheltering him after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, saying he was the "only one responsible" for the deadly assaults on New York and Washington. The message appeared to be another attempt by bin Laden to influence public opinion in the West. In 2004, he offered Europeans a truce if they stopped attacking Muslims, then later spoke of a truce with the U.S. In both cases, al-Qaida then denounced those areas for not accepting its offer. Al-Qaida has dramatically stepped up its messages — a pace seen as a sign of its increasing technical sophistication and the relative security felt by its leadership. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan frontier. Well let's see here. The United States has been hunting for this dude for the better part of 6 years without success. I'd feel rather secure too, if I were him. What I don't get is what bin Laden hopes to accomplish with this so-called strategy. Is he attempting to isolate the United States in the court of public opinion? Clearly, the past few years have shown that we don't give a flip about what other countries think of us.

2008 Presidential Race - With the final round of a yearlong campaign approaching, the Republican presidential race grew remarkably bitter as the top contenders jockeyed for the upper hand — and sought it by tearing down one another. The most fierce exchanges came from the candidates with the most at stake five weeks before the voting begins; the frequent pot shots from Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson in particular underscored the extraordinary volatile state of the race in which any candidate seemingly has a chance to win. A testy exchange on immigration, a heated issue that divides the GOP field, opened the debate and set the tone. The responses showed who was willing to throw the sharpest elbows — and who was receiving the most.

Here are some of my favorite soundbites:

In biting comments, Giuliani accused Romney of running a "sanctuary mansion" that employed illegal immigrants as gardeners and called him "holier than thou." Equally as sharp-tongued, Romney scolded Giuliani, saying "Mayor, you know better than that" and argued that it would "not be American" to check the papers of workers employed by a contractor simply because they have a "funny accent." 'Funny accent,' Governor? I'm not sure the folks that you are supposedly defending would not appreciate your characterization of their accents as funny.

Fred Thompson argued that Romney supported President Bush's unpopular comprehensive immigration reform plan and sarcastically added: "Now, he's taken another position, surprisingly." In a not-so-subtle dig at Giuliani's disgraced former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, Thompson also slyly said: "We've all had people probably that we have hired that in retrospect probably is a bad decision." So Senator, is it fair to say that you've never flip-flopped on anything or hired someone that didn't work out so well? You know what they say--let he who is without guilt cast the first stone.

As the others engaged in spats, John McCain played the part of an adult during the debate, explaining in even tones why the country must first secure its borders but then address other issues arising because of a failed immigration policy. He lamented "rhetoric that unfortunately contributes nothing to the national dialogue." Is it just me or does that sound bite sound suspiciously like rhetoric?

Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister who also supports the death penalty was asked, "What would Jesus do" about the death penalty, Huckabee responded: "Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office." Sure, he dodged the question, but his response was easily the best of the night.

Oil - A fire at a pipeline from Canada that feeds oil to the United States killed two people and sent oil prices soaring before burning out. Two workers fixing the underground pipeline were killed when fumes apparently escaped and ignited the blaze in Clearbrook, about 215 miles northwest of Minneapolis. The 34-inch pipeline carries crude oil from Saskatchewan to the Chicago area. The pipe had leaked a few weeks ago and was being repaired.The crude oil is used to make several kinds of fuel, such as gasoline and heating oil for homes. An average of 1.5 million barrels of oil passes through the pipeline each day. We just cannot cut a break on oil. We luck out for a second year in a row with practically no hurricanes in the Gulf Coast, but now we've got leaky pipes in the North. I'd like to ask what could go wrong next, but I won't. I don't want to jinx things any worse than they already are.