What Caught My Eye Today

Olympic Torch Relay - The Olympic torch played hide and seek with thousands of demonstrators and spectators crowding San Francisco's waterfront before being spirited away without even a formal goodbye on its symbolic stop in the United States. Oh I don't know. I think it's almost fitting that the torch limped in and out of the United States. Talk about making a statement--I think this speaks volumes. The last-minute changes to the route and the site of the closing ceremony were made amid security concerns following chaotic protests in London and Paris of China's human rights record in Tibet and elsewhere, but they effectively prevented many spectators who wanted to see the flame from witnessing the historic moment. Say what you will about the tactics, but if anything bad had gone down, local officials would have been crucified for lack of planning. As it made its way through the streets of San Francisco, the flame traveled in switchbacks and left the crowds confused and waiting for a parade that never arrived. Protesters also hurriedly changed plans and chased the rerouted flame. At the opening ceremony, the first torchbearer took the flame from a lantern brought to the stage and held it aloft before running into a waterfront warehouse. A motorcycle escort departed, but the torchbearer was nowhere in sight. Officials drove the Olympic torch about a mile inland and handed it off to two runners away from protesters and media, and they began jogging toward the Golden Gate Bridge, in the opposite direction of the crowds waiting for it. More confusion followed, with the torch convoy apparently stopped near the bridge before heading southward to the airport. Okay, I'm confused just reading about how the torch relay went down. Mission accomplished. And onto Argentina we go.

Olympics - UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown will not attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, however, he will be at the closing ceremony when the Olympic baton will be passed to London. A spokeswoman said Mr Brown had never planned to attend the opening ceremony and was not boycotting the Games. Right. Call me a skeptic, but all the spin doctoring in the world is not going to make this look good. Brown - who has been under pressure to boycott the Olympics over China's human rights record - has never specifically said he will attend the opening ceremony. His decision not to attend the opening ceremony was in keeping with his attitude to China's Olympics - that he has to do his duty without being seen as a supporter. The UK needs to be represented at the closing ceremony because London takes over from Beijing as the next Olympic city. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. So much for the Olympics being about sport rather than political statements. Where is the sport in all this political posturing? Unless...of course! I should have figured this out before.. Political posturing will be a 'demonstration sport' at the the 2012 Summer Games in London.

2008 Presidential Race - John McCain refused to rule out a pre-emptive war against another country, although he said one would be very unlikely. "I don't think you could make a blanket statement about pre-emptive war, because obviously, it depends on the threat that the United States of America faces," McCain said. The Iraq war was in the spotlight this week as General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander there, gave Congress a status report on the war. McCain argues for keeping troops in Iraq to capitalize on security gains, despite a recent outbreak of violence. His Democratic rivals, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton argue for withdrawing troops. Say what you will about McCain, the dude isn't afraid to speak his mind about rather unpopular subjects. Bottom line, anyone who becomes President will likely be confronted with this same dilemma. McCain is just being open about how he will deal with the possibility.

Air Travel - Boeing Co. pushed back its oft-delayed 787 jetliner by another six months postponing the jet's debut in commercial service until the third quarter of 2009, further jolting the company's credibility and likely costing it billions of dollars in additional costs and penalties. What I don't get is why Boeing thought it was going to avoid delays any better than Airbus did with the A380. At least the Airbus guys had control over their supply chain. The latest delays — the third revision to its delivery schedule and fourth switch in the plans for first test flight — underscore the problems Boeing is having keeping to a schedule while leaning heavily for the first time on outside contractors to do most of the manufacturing work. The aircraft touted for its potential to be more fuel-efficient than other large jets is now more than a year behind the original schedule. Actually, this isn't that big of a deal if you think about it. With all of the flight cancellations due to FAA inspection screw up, there might not be anyone left who's willing to put up with the headache of flying.

Eritrea - Lest you forgot--and you probably did--I reported on this African country that no one has ever heard of a couple of months ago. Seriously, check out my February 7, 2008 posting if you don't believe me. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned a new war could break out between Eritrea and Ethiopia if U.N. peacekeepers withdraw from a buffer zone along their disputed border. A 1,700-strong U.N. force has been monitoring a 15-mile wide, 620-mile long buffer zone between the two countries under a December 2000 peace agreement that ended a 2 1/2-year border war. The Horn of Africa neighbors have been feuding over their border since Eritrea gained independence from the Addis Ababa government in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. Tensions between the two countries remain high because of Ethiopia's refusal to accept an international boundary commission's ruling in 2002 on the border demarcation. Eritrea's U.N. Ambassador dismissed warnings of a new war and said there was "no border dispute." Well this could prove problematic. The U.N. says that war is possible while one of the parties that would be involved in said war says there is no dispute. Of course, they didn't say that there wouldn't be a war. They just said there was no dispute. You know, I'm thinking this Eritrean dudes might be medal contenders in 'political posturing' in 2012. Think about it. The Olympic spirit knows no boundaries.