What Caught My Eye Today

Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Here I was thinking that it was going to be a quiet week, what with the holiday and all. However, much like my College Football Bowl picks, I was clearly wrong.

Pakistan - Benazir Bhutto was killed in Pakistan yesterday when a suicide attacker shot at her and then blew himself up as she left a rally in Rawalpindi. Authorities initially said she died from bullet wounds, and a surgeon who treated her said she died from the impact of shrapnel on her skull. Today, hundreds of thousands of mourners thronged the mausoleum of Pakistan's most famous political dynasty in an outpouring of emotion for Bhutto. The government said al-Qaida and the Taliban were responsible for her death, claiming it intercepted an al-Qaida leader's message of congratulation for the assassination. Many of Bhutto's furious supporters blamed President Pervez Musharraf's government for the shooting and bombing attack on the former prime minister, Musharraf's most powerful opponent. Thursday's attack on Bhutto plunged Pakistan into turmoil and badly damaged plans to restore democracy in this nuclear-armed nation, a key U.S. ally in the war on terror. Yes, by all means, let's focus on what this tragedy means to U.S. foreign policy and its interests in this region. No need to waste time on what this means to the Pakastani people. I tell you, it never ceases to amaze me how our government sets its priorities at times like this. It comes as no surprise to me why there is so much animosity directed at the United States when the first thing that our leaders are concerned when a tragedy befalls another country--one that we consider an ally, no less--are the repercussions on our interests.

Congress - President Bush plans to veto a sweeping defense policy bill on grounds that it would derail Iraq's efforts to rebuild its country. This sounds familiar... Bush's action, which apparently caught congressional leaders off guard, centers on one provision in the legislation dealing with Iraqi assets. Sadly, so does the fact that Congress seems surprised by Bush's veto... The provision that is causing problems would have allowed the victims of the executed Iraqi dictator Saddam to seek compensation in court. The Iraqi government has warned that former U.S. prisoners of war from the first Gulf War might cite this legislation in an attempt to get money from the Iraqi government's reported $25 billion in assets now held in U.S. banks. Overall, the bill authorizes $696 billion in military spending, including $189 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for the 2008 budget year. It aims to provide more help to troops returning from war and set conditions on contractors and pricey weapons programs. The measure reflects the best Democrats could do this year on their national security agenda while holding such a slim majority. Powerless to overcome GOP objections in the Senate, the bill does not order troops home from Iraq, as Democrats would have liked. While it does not directly send money to the Pentagon, the bill is considered a crucial policy measure because it guides companion spending legislation and dictates the acquisition and management of weapons programs. I find myself in the unfamiliar position of siding with the President on this one. I'm not sure I see how it is Congress's mandate to write legislation that includes provisions for suing a foreign government. Now please don't confuse this with me not agreeing that former U.S. prisoners of war should not be entitled to some sort of compensation for what they were forced to endure. However, it was the U.S. that put these soldiers in harms way and it seems to me that the U.S. should bear the responsibility for making sure that it takes care of its own. It just doesn't seem right that all of this other legislation--that unexpectedly appears to make sense--should be held up because of this one provision.

Economy - The housing market plunged deeper into despair last month, with sales of new homes plummeting to their lowest level in more than 12 years. New-home sales tumbled 9% in November from October; many economists were predicting sales to decline by just 1.8%. The housing and mortgage meltdowns have raised the odds that the country will fall into a recession. The big worry is that the housing and credit troubles will force individuals to cut back on spending and businesses to cut back on hiring and capital investment, throwing the economy into a tailspin. In technical terms, tailspin pretty much means recession. Funny how this threat hasn't been making it into very many of the soundbites that the Presidential candidates have been throwing at us for the past...to tell you the truth, I've lost count of how long this pre-election season has been dragging on, but it's been a long time. I don't think the candidates will be able to ignore the growing possibility of the R-word for much longer.

France - One of France's most iconic institutions — the smoky cafe — will be but a hazy memory. The extension of France's smoking ban to bars, discotheques, restaurants, hotels, casinos and cafes on January 1 marks a momentous cultural shift in that country. The Health Ministry says one in two regular smokers in France dies of smoking-related illness, and about 5,000 nonsmokers die each year of passive smoking. About a quarter of France's 60 million people are smokers. Many bartenders and restaurant staffers are looking forward to breathing easier and to clothes that don't stink of seeped-in odors from the clouds of smoke where they work. Just about anywhere indoors will be off-limits for smoking, except homes, hotel rooms, and sealed smoking chambers at establishments that decide to provide them. Many restaurateurs, cafe owners and disco operators fear lost business: Smokers who light up with a countertop morning coffee, on the dance floor or after a meal make up a huge customer base. A national union of disco owners has said it expects a 5% to 8% decline in business initially, and has urged the government to send pamphlets to police to show "understanding" in their enforcement of the ban. I have mixed feelings on this one. I'm a non-smoker and anything that allows me to avoid having to breathe in someone else's bad habit, I'm generally in favor of. The inner-conflict that I have with this, is just how far can you go in curtailing an individual's rights? One could argue that alcohol is every bit as dangerous in the hands of an excessive drinker--perhaps more so--than cigarettes are, yet there are no laws preventing people from drinking wherever they like. That said, I do believe that the fears of less business among nightclub owners are rather unfounded. If all nightclubs are faced with the same restrictions, it isn't as if any of these places are going to be at an advantage or disadvantage over any other place of business.

College Football - I mentioned earlier that I wasn't doing so well in my college football bowl game picks. Lest you thought I was kidding, here are my results so far. Out of the 8 bowl games played so far, I am a staggering 1 out of 8. Somehow I managed to pick Cincinnati over Southern Miss in the Papajohns.com Bowl. My strategy of picking WAC and Pac-10 teams to win hasn't exactly paid off. Boise State, Nevada, UCLA and Arizona State all lost their respective bowl games. It would have been something if I could have gone 0 for 32, but no, I had to get one right.