What Caught My Eye Today

2008 Presidential Race - Michigan Democrats agreed to push a do-over primary in early June to give them a say in the close presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Yeah, those jerks just want to steal South Dakota, Montana and New Mexico's thunder. You'd think that these guys would get some recognition for being the last states to vote, but no, Michigan has to go and foul that all up. To go forward, the plan will require the approval of the two campaigns, the Democratic National Committee, state party leaders and the governor, who is backing Clinton. The contest must be held by June 10 for the results to count under DNC rules. Florida Democrats said they will make a decision by next week on whether to hold a dual mail-in and in-person re-vote. The plan floated this week faces opposition from the state's Democratic congressional delegation, and Obama has also expressed concerns about security and accuracy of a mail-in vote organized so quickly. I'm sure his concern has nothing to do with the fact that Hillary won the popular vote back if February. And don't you think that it would have been so much easier for everyone concerned if the Democrats had just followed the GOP's lead and docked Michigan and Florida half their delegates and been done with the matter? I swear, it's like the Democrats go out of their way to make things complicated.

Venezuela - Guess who's denouncing the evil empire again? President Hugo Chavez dared the U.S. on Friday to put Venezuela on a list of countries accused of supporting terrorism, calling it one more attempt by Washington to undermine him for political reasons. Chavez said the "threat to include us on the terrorist list" is Washington's response to his own successes in the region. One wonders how exactly Chavez defines success. U.S. lawmakers have called for the State Department to add Venezuela to its list of terror sponsors, which currently includes North Korea, Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba. They have expressed concerns about what they call Chavez's close ties to Colombia's leftist rebels. "Let them make that list and shove it in their pocket," Chavez said. Maybe something got lost in the translation, but in my day the saying was simply "shove it". Adding to that simple diminishes the impact. Then again, I have been known to say "shove it where the sun don't shine." "In your pocket?" That's just lame.

Space Station - If these dudes didn't have bad luck, they wouldn't have any luck at all. The space station's new robot remained without power because of a cable design flaw as flight controllers devised yet another plan to get electricity flowing to the machine's various joints and electronics. Engineers believe the problem is with a cable that wasn't designed properly. Engineers on the ground put in the wrong circuitry; that was enough to create a roadblock in power and data to the robot named Dextre. Ever the intrepid investigative reporter that I am, I managed to eavesdrop on a conversation at Mission Control:

Melvin: Hey Irv. I think I know what the problem is with that robot.
Irv: Really? So what do you think.
Melvin: Remember when you said we needed to avoid cost overruns?
Irv: Yeah.
Melvin: Well, they were having a special on plugs at the Home Depot, so we picked up the plugs there, you know, to save some money.
Irv: So what's the problem?
Melvin: Uh, well the plugs are three pronged and...
Irv: Come on spit it out!
Melvin: Well, uh, as it turns out, all the outlets on the space are two pronged.
Irv: Oh crap.

Peru - Okay this next item is a bit of a history lesson, but before you roll your eyes and go to the American Idol update, take a look. You might learn something. Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of an ancient temple, roadway and irrigation systems at a famed fortress overlooking the Inca capital of Cuzco. The temple on the periphery of the Sacsayhuaman fortress casts added light on pre-Inca cultures of Peru, showing that the site had religious as well as military aims. The Inca empire, based in the ancient city of Cuzco, flourished along the western edge of South America during the 1400s, prior to the arrival of the Spanish. The roadway, buried for hundreds of years under about three feet of soil, is believed to have formed part of a network connecting Sacsayhuaman's buildings. Archaeologists are also busy unearthing an advanced hydraulic system, which may have been used to supply water to Cuzco during the Inca empire. We're talking about sophisticated roadways and hydraulics in the fifteenth century. Pretty impressive no matter how you look at it. It's not like they had access to modern conveniences like electricity to assist them.

American Idol - Already then. For the majority of you who blew off that fascinating archaeological discovery, here is a belated recap of Wednesday's results show. More than 29 million viewers cast votes for their favorites this week and David Hernandez, the "American Idol" contestant with a reported history as a male stripper, was eliminated. Of course he was, because I made the mistake of publicly picking Kristy Lee Cook as this week's victim. Hernandez, performed the 1960s Beatles hit "I Saw Her Standing There" for the Lennon-McCartney songbook-themed show. Syesha Mercado and Kristy Lee Cook, along with Hernandez, were the bottom finishers among the 12 remaining contestants.

And here's a little bonus coverage... With CBS close to losing the total viewers race for the first time in five years, CEO Leslie Moonves called Fox's ratings hit "American Idol" a "monster" and urged somebody to "kill that show." "It's a phenomenon. If somebody would kill that show, I'd really appreciate it. But it's a national phenomenon, and it continues to do extremely well. It's tough to compete with it," Moonves said. What is that people say--'wishing death on someone or something is the highest form of flattery,' or something like that? Even with CBS' scripted programming returning to the air in the coming weeks after a prolonged absence due to the recently ended writers' strike, Fox's first-place position is expected to hold through the conclusion of the May sweep. Serves you greedy jerks right.