What Caught My Eye Today - The 300th Edition

Fred's Note: 300 postings in just over a year? Clearly someone has a lot of time on his hands...and apparently a great deal of pent up frustrations.

Politics - Today was a pretty lousy day all the way around in the world politics. First up, the former governor of New York.

In a startlingly swift fall from grace, Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned today after getting caught in a call-girl scandal that made a mockery of his straight-arrow image and left him facing the prospect of criminal charges and perhaps disbarment. The scandal erupted Monday after federal law enforcement officials disclosed that a wiretap had caught Spitzer spending thousands of dollars on a call girl at a fancy Washington hotel on the night before Valentine's Day. The resignation brought the curtain down on a riveting three-day drama that made Spitzer an instant punchline on late-night TV and fascinated Americans with the spectacle of a crusading politician exposed as a hypocrite. His dizzying downfall was met with glee and the popping of champagne corks among many on Wall Street, where Spitzer was seen as a sanctimonious bully for attacking big salaries and abusive practices in the financial industry when he was New York attorney general. While I hate to see anyone suffer, dude brought this on himself so it is difficult to muster up much sympathy for him. And taking into consideration that Spitzer professed himself as holier-than-thou, the label of 'hypocrite' is likely to stay with him for a long, long time. That being said, he's not the first politico to stray off the reservation, and I doubt he will be the last. So for all of you folks that are laying into him, I say this--let he who is without guilt cast the first stone.

And now to our second casualty, Geraldine Ferraro.

Geraldine Ferraro stepped down from an honorary post in Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign amid a controversy regarding her comments that Barack Obama wouldn't be succeeding in the presidential race if he weren't black. The controversy began when the national media picked up on comments Ferraro made in an interview last week with s newspaper in Torrance, California: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Ferraro said she stands by her assertion that Obama's success in the Democratic campaign is due "in part" to his race. I disagree with her statement, but I guess you have to give Ferraro credit for not backpedaling on what she said. Clinton has said she disagrees with Ferraro's remarks. Probably a good idea, even if she privately agrees with Ferraro. Obama said that if someone in his campaign had suggested that Hillary Clinton "is where she is only because she is a woman" she would be offended. Very true. It's a shame, don't you think, that the world's sole super power and bastion of freedom cannot seem to free itself of its preoccupation with race and gender.

2008 Presidential Race - Barack Obama's victory in Mississippi yesterday along with his weekend win in Wyoming has enabled him to erase the gains Hillary Clinton made with wins in high-profile races in Ohio and Texas last week. Obama got 253,441 votes, or 61% of Mississippi's popular vote, compared with 154,852 votes, or 37% for Clinton. Obama's win in Mississippi was largely because of a big victory among black voters. According to exit polls cited by the Associated Press and television networks, he won about 90% of the black vote, while getting less than a third of the white vote. Blacks accounted for half the Democratic electorate in Mississippi. Because the Democratic Party awards delegates proportionally based on voting in congressional districts and statewide, a candidate needs to win by a wide margin to gain an edge. Even a 60% to 40% victory can mean the delegates are divided almost evenly. With less than 600 delegates at stake in the remaining contests, it's next to impossible for Clinton to win by the margins necessary to close Obama's gap. I've given up trying to make sense of the convoluted process that the Democratic party has come up with for awarding delegates. What I found interesting about the Mississippi primary is the way that it was reported by the media. I flipped between Fox, CNN and MSNBC for about an hour last night and they were all saying the same thing--that a disturbing racial divide had emerged in Mississippi. So like, are they suggesting that if Mississippi had voted earlier in the primary season that the results would be any different? Give me a break. First of all, Mississippi is going to probably vote Republican in November anyway, so the results don't really mean very much. But secondly, how desperate are these news outlets getting to fill airtime that they are making up stories to suggest a conflict? This racial divide has probably been around for ages--certainly in Mississippi. This isn't news, it's history for goodness sake.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong ordered more than half a million primary and kindergarten students to stay home for two weeks because of a flu outbreak in one of the world's most densely populated cities. Two words--PAR and TAY!!! The government ordered all kindergartens, primary and special education schools closed for two weeks. The schools had been expected to start their Easter Holiday in a little over a week. Officials said bringing the holiday forward would help reduce cross infection among school children and calm public fears. If I'm a kid, who cares what the reason is. All I know is that Spring Break just got longer. Of course, if I'm a parent, I'm stocking up on aspirin. One week is back enough with those screaming monsters. Now I have to put up with then for two.

Serbia - U.N. authorities in Kosovo told Serbia to stop interfering in Serb areas of the new state, where a Serb boycott has fuelled speculation Belgrade is trying to partition the territory. The U.N. mission called on Serbia to respect its mandate in the former Serbian province, where the 90% Albanian majority declared independence with Western-backing last month. Of course, whether or not the Albanians broke any laws in doing so is still an open question, but I suppose that is just splitting hairs at this point. Backed by big-power ally Russia, Serbia has rejected the secession and is instructing the 120,000 remaining Serbs to do the same, deepening an ethnic divide that almost nine years of international administration since the war has failed to tackle. You just know that this is going to end badly and unfortunately, probably with a lot of bloodshed.

Canada - Canada still does not know which NATO country will supply the extra troops Ottawa has demanded as a condition for remaining in Afghanistan. Canada's mission in Afghanistan is currently due to end in February 2009, but the government has agreed to remain until 2011 if another NATO country agrees to supply the added troops Ottawa says are needed for the mission to succeed. Canada is not interested in seeing the 1,000 soldiers made up from a series of smaller contingents from several nations. The support needs to be from one country that does not place restrictions on how much combat their forces can engage in. Well, I for one am shocked--shocked, I tell you--that NATO has not responded to Canada. I specifically remember that memo being stamped 'URGENT' and placed in the 'TO-DO TODAY' pile at NATO headquarters. I cannot fathom what could possibly be leading to this delay. Unless of course there is reluctance--and no public support--among member nations to send troops into a conflict where they are likely to get shot at. No. That couldn't possibly be it.

American Idol - Okay, kids. It's getting serious now. We're down to the final 12 and next week they're breaking out the mentors. The game is certainly on now. Here's a recap from last night. The 12 American Idol finalists tackled the Lennon/McCartney songbook. A number of contestants rose to the occasion — notably the lightly regarded Chikezie, who fused bluegrass and classic soul on a raving version of "She's a Woman" that ranks with the season's best performances to date. David Cook's impassioned "Eleanor Rigby" and Carly Smithson's "Come Together" were also highlights, making up for a flat "In My Life" from Ramiele Malubay, a dismally countrified "Eight Days a Week" by Kristy Lee Cook and a misguided "I Saw Her Standing There" by David Hernandez. Surprisingly, front-runner David Archuleta stumbled (and forgot lyrics) on "We Can Work It Out". And now for the predictions. Archuleta messed up, but dude is money to make it into the next round. Cook hands down had the best performance of the night. As for my bottom 3, I agree with the recap. Malubay, Cook and Hernandez were wretched. I had Malubay packing her bags, but that was only until Cook brought new meaning to the word, "horrible." You could almost see John Lennon cringing from the great beyond. She gone.