What Caught My Eye Today

2008 Presidential Race - Republican presidential hopefuls Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson tussled over who's the true conservative while the Democratic contest in Nevada indicated the truce called over racially sensitive matters does not extend to other points of dispute.

We'll start with the Democrats today... Candidates pressed for advantage in Nevada's caucuses Saturday after a toned-down TV debate in which top rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama pledged to tamp down arguments between their camps over race. Clinton won the Democratic primary in Michigan, but her victory was essentially meaningless since the contest was held in violation of party rules and major Democratic candidates did not campaign there. I got nothing today. Nothing but a yawn. I'm sure its a temporary lull, but I'm not so sure the Democrats want to give this much of the political spotlight to the Republicans for very long.

Now to the GOP... Not even two weeks into voting, three candidates each have one major win thanks to three different constituencies, a reflection of a deeply divided GOP and the absence of an obvious successor to President Bush. Mike Huckabee prevailed in the Iowa caucuses with the support of fellow evangelicals. John McCain repeated his 2000 victory in New Hampshire with the overwhelming support of independents. And Mitt Romney, rallied Republican loyalists to post his first major win in Michigan; he also won barely contested Wyoming. Today, the three set their sights on South Carolina, where rival Fred Thompson has been camping out with hopes of a surprise upset that would upend the race yet again. Such an extraordinarily fractured field plays right into the strategy of Rudy Giuliani, who is on the brink of irrelevancy after badly losing the first four contests. Giuliani has planted himself in Florida in hopes of winning its primary Jan. 29, grabbing its winner-take-all 57 delegates and emerging as the GOP leader heading into Feb. 5 when some two dozen states vote. See what I mean? Look at all these plot lines compared to the Democrats. We've got us a good ol' shoot out, while over there the excitement ranks up there with watching paint dry.

Afghanistan - Tension among allies over the war in Afghanistan spilled into the open on Wednesday as NATO rejected U.S. criticism that some of its troops did not know how to fight a guerrilla insurgency. In rare comments publicly faulting allied operations on the ground, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates questioned whether NATO forces and advisers had the training to tackle Taliban and other insurgents behind rising bloodshed in south Afghanistan. Aside from the United States, NATO allies operating in south Afghanistan include Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Estonia and Romania. Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay said that Gates had called him to say the quotes had been taken out of context and he had been talking generally about training to fight a counter-insurgency. A spokesman for the Dutch Defense Ministry said it was satisfied with the U.S. explanation. "We now understand he (Gates) was misquoted and that the U.S. is very happy with the situation with regards to the Dutch, Canadian and the UK in the southern part of Afghanistan, so we accept that explanation." So I guess that pretty much leaves Estonia and Romania. Call me a skeptic, but I have a hard time believing either of these two countries are that critical to this mission as to be responsible for the failure of ground operations. I'm guessing that Gates' concerns are probably well-founded. Unfortunately, he probably should have voiced his concerns behind closed doors as opposed to sharing them with the L.A. Times.

Pakistan - In an embarrassing battlefield defeat for Pakistan's army, Islamic extremists attacked and seized a small fort near the Afghan border, leaving at least 27 soldiers dead or missing. The militants did not gain significant ground, but they did further erode confidence in the U.S.-allied government's ability to control the frontier area where the Taliban and al-Qaida flourish. Attacks on security forces are rising in the volatile tribal region, and Pakistan is reeling from a series of suicide attacks that killed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and hundreds more, chipping away at President Pervez Musharraf's prestige before February 18 parliamentary elections. A U.S. intelligence estimate last year said a Musharraf peace pact in 2006 with Taliban militants had allowed al-Qaida to regroup in Pakistan's tribal belt, a possible hiding place of Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. In Florida, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command said the rise in violence was pushing Pakistan to be more open to suggestions that American troops train and advise Pakistani forces. I hate to sound like a broken record on this subject, but what exactly is it about Musharraf does Washington consider to be so valuable an ally in the war on terror? Based on these recent news reports, it would appear that Musharraf has pretty much lost his grip on the country. Heck at this point, I question his grip on reality.

New York - I want to preface this next story by warning my gentlemen readers that what follows contains some disturbing content... A construction worker claimed in a lawsuit that when he went to a hospital after being hit on the forehead by a falling wooden beam, emergency room staffers forcibly gave him a rectal examination. The alleged victim says in court papers that after he denied a request by emergency room employees to examine his rectum, he was "assaulted, battered and falsely imprisoned." emergency room staffers insisted on examining his rectum and held him down while he begged, "Please don't do that." He then hit a doctor while flailing around and staffers gave him an injection, which knocked him out, and performed the rectal exam. He woke up handcuffed to a bed and with an oxygen tube down his throat and spent three days in a detention center. He later learned the exam was one way of determining whether he had suffered spinal damage in the accident. That might have been useful information to share with the patient before he went off on his hissy-fit. And even if they had did explain the procedure, what give the hospital the right to force treatment on someone who has clearly refused. From what I could tell, it wasn't like the dude was mentally incapacitated, at least not until the hospital drugged him into unconsciousness.

Dogs - For the first time in 72 years, the bulldog has muscled its way back into the Top 10 most popular breeds in the nation. The top dog for the 17th consecutive year was the Labrador retriever, the American Kennel Club said. Other purebreds that made the most popular dogs list were the Yorkshire terrier at #2, followed by #3 German shepherd, #4 golden retriever, #5 beagle (the only breed that has been consistently included on the Top 10 since 1915), #6 boxer, #7 dachshund, #8 poodle, #9 Shih Tzu, and #10 bulldog. With the ascent of the bulldog, the miniature Schnauzer dropped off the list. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the bulldog being included on this list, but the fact that no spaniel breed made the list suggests to me that there was some serious tampering going on with the survey results.