What Caught My Eye Today

2008 Presidential Race - Barack Obama added Wisconsin and Hawaii to a primary season winning streak that now totals 10 and has put Hillary Clinton into a virtual must-win scenario in Democratic contests coming early next month in Texas and Ohio. I'm not exactly sure that is the case, but I suppose this makes for a more compelling storyline. And those news organization guys do need to make a living, you know. Obama cut deeply into Clinton's political bedrock in Wisconsin, splitting the support of white women almost evenly with her. He also ran well among working class voters in the blue collar battleground that was prelude to primaries in the larger industrial states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Clinton congratulated Obama on his two latest victories but dismissed the Illinois senator as leading a movement with little to show for his eloquence and promises. Not exactly a heartfelt congratulations is it? Call me a skeptic, but I don't think she really wanted to acknowledge Obama's victories. John McCain easily won the Republican primary in Wisconsin with 55% of the vote, dispatching Mike Huckabee and edging closer to the 1,191 delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nomination. McCain stepped up his criticism of Obama, suggesting the Democrat doesn't have the experience or judgment on foreign policy and defense matters needed in a president. See this would be more worrisome to me if I was a member of the Clinton campaign than the current delegate count. What does it say of Clinton's standing in this race, when the presumptive Republican presidential candidate starts gearing up his strategy to go up against Obama in the general election?

Space Shuttle - Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew returned to Earth, wrapping up a 5 million-mile journey highlighted by the successful delivery of a new European lab to the international space station. NASA wanted Atlantis back as soon as possible to clear the way for the Navy to shoot down a dying spy satellite on the verge of smashing into Earth with a load of toxic fuel. The missile could be launched as early as tonight from a warship in the Pacific. Nice to see that NASA has such confidence in the Navy. Better to play it safe, but honestly, just how much of a risk do you think there really was? This certainly isn't in my realm of expertise, but I have to believe that a space shuttle doesn't exactly resemble a satellite. One would hope that the Navy could tell the difference between the two. NASA's next mission is just three weeks away. Endeavour is scheduled to blast off with the first piece of Japan's massive space station lab on March 11. The second piece of the Japanese Kibo lab — Kibo means hope — was supposed to go up in April aboard Discovery, but has been delayed until May because of shuttle fuel tank work. Atlantis, meanwhile, won't fly again until the end of August, when it takes a team of repairmen to the Hubble Space Telescope for one final tuneup.

Britain - The former head of MI6 denied that the British intelligence agency was responsible for the car accident that killed Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi al Fayed, in 1997 and also said that an operation by rogue agents would have been impossible. Fayed's father, Mohamed Al Fayed, has accused MI6 of engineering the death of his son and the princess at the behest of Prince Philip, the queen's husband. Okay, so like it's 2008. When will this case be put to rest? As for these revelations from this MI6 bloke, what were investigators expecting him to say? "Oh, yes. Prince Philip ordered a hit on Diana, so we went out and whacked her under the guise of an automobile accident." I don't think so. I'm not suggesting that Fayed's accusations are without merit, but unless someone in the know decides to come clean (assuming there is anything to come clean about), this inquiry probably won't reveal any new information about Diana's death.

Africa - President Bush said that talk of the United States building new military bases in Africa to expand its influence is "baloney." My apologies for including such a technical term as "baloney", but I wanted to quote the president accurately. The Defense Department created Africa Command last October to consolidate operations that had been split among three other regional commands, none of which had Africa as a primary focus. Several African countries, including Libya, Nigeria and South Africa, have expressed deep reservations, fearing the plan signals an unwanted expansion of American power on the continent or is a cover for protecting Africa's vast oil resources on the United States' behalf. I don't see why these guys were so concerned. Maybe they haven't noticed, but our military is stretched rather thin right now. Even if we wanted to establish new military bases in Africa, we don't have enough troops to staff them. Besides, if we really think there is a threat to the oil supply to the U.S., we'll just invade the nation(s) in question. We don't need no stinking military bases to do that.

Antarctica - Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica said they have collected mysterious creatures including giant sea spiders and huge worms in the murky depths. Experts taking part in an international program to take a census of marine life in the ocean at the far south of the world collected specimens from up to 6,500 feet beneath the surface, and said many may never have been seen before. Some of the animals far under the sea grow to unusually large sizes, a phenomenon called gigantism that scientists still do not fully understand. The expedition is part of an ambitious international effort to map life forms in the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, and to study the impact of forces such as climate change on the undersea environment. In an time where most news of this nature reports on the extinction of species, it's encouraging to hear that there are species that are still being discovered. Of course (and forgive me for the pessimistic tone that follows), one could make the argument that the reason these newly discovered lifeforms have flourished, is because humans didn't know that they existed. Now that we do, I figure their days are numbered.

Cycling - This is pretty much the last item today. So if you have no interest in the Tour of California (you philostines!) then we'll see you tomorrow. Former world road race titlist Tom Boonen of Belgium won the second stage and American Tyler Farrar grabbed a one-second race lead yesterday in the rainy Amgen Tour of California. With his stage win, Boonen moved into third overall, trailing by 4 seconds. Defending race titlist Levi Leipheimer (Astana) of Santa Rosa, Calif., finished 21st in the stage in the main field. He dropped two places to sixth, 7 seconds behind Farrar. The field of 131 riders will contest the 103-mile Modesto to San Jose stage 3 today. The road race includes five categorized climbs, including the ascent of Mt. Hamilton at 4,360-feet, the race's second-highest peak.