What Caught My Eye Today

2008 Presidential Race - Candidates are dropping like flies now. First up a report on the GOP. Rudy Giuliani bowed out of the Republican presidential contest today and endorsed front-runner and longtime friend John McCain. Once the front-runner himself, Giuliani decided to abandon the race after a dismal performance in Tuesday's Florida primary, a contest on which he had bet his political fortune. Instead, McCain won and Giuliani came in a distant third. Mike Huckabee is still formally in the Republican race but his lack of campaign money and limited appeal beyond Christian conservatives has left him trailing far behind. Somewhere along the way I guess I missed the fact that Duncan Hunter dropped out back on January 21. The lucky beneficiary of his endorsement--Mike Huckabee. Way to pick a winner there, Duncan.

Over on the Democrat side, it's now a two horse race. The withdrawal of John Edwards means Democrats will field a history-making ticket. Regardless of whether Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton wins the nomination, it will be the first time a black or a woman has headed a major U.S. party's presidential slate. Edwards did not immediately endorse either of his rivals. I exaggerated a bit. It's not exactly a two-horse race. After all, we still have Mike Gravel in the mix. Who, you ask? My point exactly (He's the former governor of Alaska).

I have to say I'm not exactly surprised by the way the Democratic race is turning out, though it would have been nice if these drop outs had stuck it out a bit longer--at least until Super Tuesday. I'm completely confounded by the GOP race. Before the Iowa caucuses, Guiliani was being crowned as the nation's savior while McCain was scrounging for survival. My, but how the tides have turned. By the way, how are all of you absentee voters feeling now that a bunch of your votes probably don't matter any more?

Economy - The U.S. Senate Finance Committee approved a $157 billion economic stimulus package that offers smaller tax rebates to more people than a plan passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. President Bush wants the Senate to accept the $146 billion package passed Tuesday by the House. The Finance Committee bill would give a flat $500 rebate to individuals, $1,000 for couples, plus $300 per child to all tax filers reporting at least $3,000 of income, including Social Security and disability benefits. The House bill provides for a $300 rebate for low-income workers, $600 for families who reported at least $3,000 in income in 2007 and paid no income taxes. Those families would also get the $300 child benefit. I'm just wondering if it is worth threatening a delay of a stimulus package over what amounts to an $11 billion dollar difference and a couple of hundred dollars in the pockets of most Americans. Maybe I'm in the minority here, but $1000 versus $600 for the average family isn't going to make much of a difference. This barely covers a car payment for most of us.

Meanwhile, the Fed appears to be doing what it can to delay...I mean prevent stop the downward spiral that our economy is stuck in. The Federal Reserve cut U.S. interest rates by a hefty half-percentage point today, lowering the federal funds rate to 3%, the lowest since June 2005. This comes just eight days after the central bank slashed rates by three-quarters of a point. The cumulative 1.25 percentage point reduction in the interbank overnight rate in less than two weeks ranks among the most abrupt rate-cutting sprees in the modern history of the U.S. central bank. The Fed's action came on the heels of a government report showing that the economy grew at a weak 0.6% annual pace in the last three months of 2007 as consumers curbed spending and homebuilding plunged. Growth of 2.2% for all of 2007 marked the economy's weakest expansion in five years. As nice as it must be for Congress to pass out candy--which they are issuing promisory notes to foreign interests to pay for--it's difficult to see how this so-called economic stimulus package is going to stimulate much of anything.

Climate Change - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that global warming could cost the world up to $20 trillion over two decades for cleaner energy sources and do the most harm to people who can least afford to adapt. Ban, who has repeatedly said that his No. 1 priority is persuading the world to agree to new controls on global warming gases before the end of 2009, warned that global warming would probably affect women more than men. You know how we sometimes use the analogy of the 'third rail' to describe domestic issues too volatile for politicians to act upon, like Social Security and immigration? I think we have a contender for 'third rail' on the global stage.

Australia - Aborigines--450,000 among Australia's population of 21 million--are the country's poorest ethnic group and are most likely to be jailed, unemployed and illiterate. Their life expectancy is 17 years shorter than other Australians. From 1910 until 1970, some 100,000 mostly mixed-blood Aboriginal children were taken from their parents under state and federal laws that argued the race was doomed and that integrating the children was a humane alternative. An inquiry concluded in 1997 that many stolen generation children suffered long-term psychological effects stemming from their loss of family and culture. It recommended that state and federal authorities apologize and pay compensation to those who were removed. All state governments have apologized, but the question of compensation was left to the federal government. Australia's government announced today it would formally apologize to the so-called "stolen generations" as the first item of business of the new Parliament. The issue has divided Australians for decades, and an apology would be a crucial step toward righting injustices many blame for the marginalized existence of Australia's original inhabitants. Sounds similar to the type of treatment our indigenous population has gotten over the years. You know, instead of apologizing, maybe Australia could do the same thing we did here--legalize Indian gaming. Nothing like a little cash to undo generations of unfair persecution.

There's a little build up on this last item. Don't worry, the payoff will be worth it.

Middle East - A rare snowstorm swept the Middle East, blanketing parts of the Holy Land in white, shutting schools and sending excited children into the streets for snowball fights. In Amman, Jordan, where a foot of snow fell, children used inflatable tubes as sleds. Some roads were temporarily closed. Snow covered most mountain villages and blocked roads in Lebanon. The storm disrupted power supplies in most Lebanese towns and villages, exacerbating existing power cuts. Parts of the Beirut-Damascus highway were closed. Temperatures in Syria dipped below freezing and snow blanketed the hills overlooking the capital, Damascus. Maybe peace does have a chance after all. You know what the skeptics have said...'not a snowball's chance in hell'. Well it's snowing now.

Yeah, you're probably right, it wasn't worth it.