What Caught My Eye Today
FBI - This is a good one. Read on and you'll see what I mean... Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time. A Justice Department audit blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000. In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal and intelligence investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies. Don't get me wrong, I'm not thrilled about the loss of information that could be potentially vital to the security of the United States, but you have to admit, it's pretty funny that even an agency with the prestige of the FBI can have its phone service turned off when it forgets to pay its bills. Maybe somebody should remind them about paying their electricity bills, just in case.
Middle East - President Bush called for a halt to Israel's military occupation of land the Palestinians claim for a state and an end to the terrorist threat over the Jewish homeland, spelling out the U.S. bottom line for ending the long and bloody Mideast conflict. Bush's peacemaking checklist, combining existing U.S. policy with a few new elements, was his most detailed summary yet of U.S. expectations for resolving some of the hardest issues in a final peace accord. The biggest hurdles to an agreement are: conflicting claims to the holy city of Jerusalem, different views about the outlines of a future Palestinian state, and the fate of Palestinian refugees and millions of their descendants. Guess what, boys and girls? I got my hands on the unpublished version of the checklist. Here are some of the highlights...
Checklist for Securing My [Bush's] Legacy - aka Checklist for Mideast Peace
2008 Presidential Race - Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama picked up a major endorsement with the party's 2004 nominee John Kerry announcing he would back his U.S. presidential bid. Kerry's endorsement was a snub to former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, his vice presidential running mate in 2004, who is also running for president but is a distant third in national polls to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Obama. The endorsement by Kerry, who lost the 2004 election to Bush, could boost Obama's presidential bid by attracting more support from the Democratic establishment, which has largely supported Clinton, the former first lady. You know, I just don't see that happening. The dude lost to Bush for crying out loud. Heck, if I'm Edwards I'm thinking, 'Good riddance, you chump.' And if I'm Obama, I'm scratching my head, 'What did I do to deserve this?'
Ecuador - Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano is poised for a major eruption, a volcanologist said Wednesday. Authorities last week evacuated 10 villages from its western slopes as a precaution. A U.S. expert on volcanoes said the 16,575-foot volcano, located 80 miles southeast of Quito, "is preparing to generate, in days or weeks, a great eruption" that could mean pyroclastic flows — blasts of volcanic material "that descend at high speeds and burn everything in their way." Tungurahua erupted in July and August of 2006, causing at least four deaths. The eruptions forced the evacuation of thousands of villagers and damaged thousands of acres of crops buried under tons of ashes and lava flows. Well that sounds bad, doesn't it. The last time I heard the word 'pyroclastic' was in a cheesy film called, Dante's Peak (which I have to confess I've seen dozens of times). You have to say this about Mother Nature. When she decides to put on a display of who's really in charge of this place we like to call Earth, she pulls out all the stops.
Mount Everest - Sir Edmund Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century's greatest adventurers, died at age 88. Hillary's life was marked by grand achievements, high adventure, discovery, excitement — and by his personal humility. Humble to the point that he only admitted being the first man atop Everest long after the death of climbing companion Tenzing Norgay. He had pride in his feats. Returning to base camp as the man who took the first step onto the top of the world's highest peak, he declared: "We knocked the bastard off." Hillary remains the only non-political person outside Britain honored as a member of the Britain's Order of the Garter, bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II on just 24 knights and ladies living worldwide at any time. He reached the summit of Everest four days before Elizabeth was crowned Queen of Britain and the Empire on June 2, 1953. She immediately knighted the angular, self-deprecating Hillary, who was just 33. If you don't have a pint of ale in your hand. Go get one and raise it up in a toast to "Ed." That's the sort of tribute he would have liked.
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