What Caught My Eye Today

2008 Presidential Race - A teary-eyed Hillary Clinton pushed for support as polls showed her poised for a huge New Hampshire loss to Democratic rival Barack Obama, but the former front-runner vowed to carry on with her presidential quest even if she loses. Obama warned supporters against overconfidence as a flood of new surveys gave him a double-digit lead over Clinton one day before the state primary. In the Republican race, John McCain held a more narrow lead over Mitt Romney in new polls. He scrambled across the state to urge supporters to get out and vote -- and asked them to bring a friend. One recent poll showed Obama with a 10-point edge on Clinton in the state, 39% to 29%, as he rode a wave of momentum from his win in Iowa. The same poll has McCain leading Romney by 5 points. Clinton and Romney are both under pressure to revive their campaigns after disappointing showings in Iowa, and a second consecutive loss for either could be devastating. I appreciate the appeal of polls. They're entertaining and sometimes, I daresay, even a bit insightful. But honestly, Hilary, they're just polls. Maybe you should wait until the results come in before you open the old flood gates. In fact, I'd like to suggest a new rule for the rest of primary season. To paraphrase a famous line from A League of Their Own...'there's no crying in primaries.' For pete's sake, we've only had one caucus so far (okay 2 for the GOP, I forgot Wyoming). Get a grip, people.

Speaking of Wyoming, where's the love for these guys? Iowa has been getting press for months (for its 37 delegates), but there's no mention of the Wyoming GOP caucuses (for its 12 delegates)? What up with that? Incidentally, Mitt Romney walked away with 8 delegates, Fred Thompson, 3, and Duncan Hunter, 1. No mention of John McCain or Mike Huckabee here.

Iran - An Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up a three-ship U.S. Navy convoy passing near Iranian waters, then vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, according to the top U.S. Navy commander in the area. The three U.S. warships — cruiser USS Port Royal, destroyer USS Hopper and frigate USS Ingraham — were headed into the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz on what the U.S. Navy called a routine passage inside international waters when they were approached by five small high-speed vessels believed to be from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. No shots were fired an an Iranian official in Tehran said the incident amounted to "something normal." Bush administration officials complained that the Iranian actions amounted to a dangerous provocation. I'm not sure which is more amusing, that Iran considers playing chicken with warships "something normal" or that the U.S. considers 5 little motor boats with guns mounted on them to be a "dangerous provocation". Heck, the most that these warships had to worry about was the possibility of hull damage if they accidentally ran over one of these patrol boats.

Supreme Court - Lethal injection procedures pose a danger of cruelly inhumane executions with excruciating pain, an attorney for two death row inmates told the U.S. Supreme Court in a capital punishment case that has drawn worldwide attention. But attorneys for the state of Kentucky and the Bush administration defended the three-drug cocktail currently used in nearly all U.S. executions and said the drugs, if administered properly, would result in a painless death. Opponents argue that inmates are often not rendered fully unconscious by the first drug in the cocktail as they are supposed to be before the second drug, a paralytic, is administered. They suffer when they are conscious while the paralytic and the third drug, which burns as it enters the system, are given. The justices appeared closely divided between conservative and liberal factions during the arguments that represented the first time the high court has considered a specific means of execution since it upheld the use of firing squads in 1879. So it seems to me that support for the current protocol is based on the injections being administered in a competent manner. If that is the case, how often does a licensed physician or anesthesiologist administer a lethal injection or is even present in the death chamber observing? if this is the most compelling argue that Kentucky can come up with, you'd think that this might be a slam dunk case. Unfortunately, it appears that partisan politics will rule the day. So much for an impartial judiciary.

Media - So like, this writer's guild strike is starting to get serious... The Hollywood Foreign Press Association said that the traditional Golden Globe Awards ceremony has been canceled and will be replaced with a news conference format. The move came after striking writers threatened to picket the event. Faced with a threat by actors to boycott the ceremony rather than cross picket lines, the association and NBC were forced to adopt another approach for the ceremony. The association will forgo the typical network payment, reported to be $5 million, it receives for the broadcast. On the bright side, I won't have to suffer the humiliation of having to watch all my picks for Best Actor, Best Drama, et cetera, et cetera lose. In all seriousness, this was my favorite awards show of the year. It's the only one that honors achievements in both television and film. And more importantly, it doesn't have an emcee making wisecracks all night and apologizing for how long the show has dragged on (you know the one I'm referring to).

Britney Spears - Or maybe I should say Dr. Phil. In either case, what a bunch of pinheads... Television personality and psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw scrapped plans to air a show about Britney Spears after he was criticized for a visit to the troubled pop star in hospital on the weekend. McGraw went to see Spears at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles where she was admitted last week in a fit of hysterics over the handover of her two young sons to her ex-husband Kevin Federline. McGraw has been accused of breaching Spears' privacy by other counselors on various media after he visited the pop star on Saturday morning just before she was released. McGraw said he had planned to tape a show on Monday focused not on the tabloid side of Britney's problems, but on other issues surrounding this case. "Because the Spears situation is too intense at this time, and out of consideration to the family, I have made the decision not to move forward with the taping," said McGraw. So basically, public outrage rather than a sense of decency or professional ethics forced Dr. Phil not to exploit Britney's demise. Gee, that's nice. I'm the first to admit that I've taken my fair share of shots at Britney Spears and her apparent total lack of judgment, but I'm not a freaking, psychologist, for chrissake. I've never been a big fan of Dr. Phil, and up until now, I chalked up my indifference to not really caring one way or the other what this dude had to say. Now, I genuinely dislike the man.