What Caught My Eye Today

Pope - The leader of the world's Roman Catholics has been to the White House only once in history. That changes this week, and President Bush is pulling out all the stops: driving out to a suburban military base to meet Pope Benedict XVI's plane, bringing a giant audience to the South Lawn and hosting a fancy East Room dinner. Bush has never before given a visiting leader the honor of picking him up at the airport. In fact, no president has done so at Andrews Air Force Base, the typical landing spot for modern leaders. The Bush-Benedict get-together will be the 25th meeting between a pope and a sitting president. The first did not come until shortly after the end of World War I, when Woodrow Wilson was received at the Vatican by Pope Benedict XV in 1919. The next wasn't for 40 more years, when President Eisenhower saw Pope John XXIII in Rome. President Carter hosted the first White House visit by a pope, when John Paul II came in 1979. Since then, such audiences have become a must-do. Every president has met with the pope at least once, often more. This week makes Bush the record-holder, with a total of five meetings with two popes. So like what's the deal here? Does Bush have a guilty conscience about something or what? And following along those lines, I suppose if you are going to go big on the guilt, you might as well attempt to go big on the absolution. And who is bigger than the Pope? Dude, that confession is going to take a long, long time.

Iraq - Iraq's government moved to restore discipline within the ranks of the security forces, sacking more than 1,300 soldiers and policemen who deserted during recent fighting against Shiite militias in Basra. The Basra offensive — which opened on March 25 — quickly stalled amid strong resistance from the outnumbered militiamen, despite artillery and air support provided by U.S. and British forces. During the attack more than 1,000 security troops — including a full infantry battalion — refused to fight or joined the militias, handing them weapons and vehicles. Well honestly, what's worse--desertion or knowingly looking the other way while Shiite militias went about their business? I'm thinking the guys that deserted had more honor than the troops that looked on while the violence escalated. At the same time, Iraq's Cabinet ratcheted up the pressure on anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr by approving draft legislation barring political parties with militias from participating in upcoming provincial elections. Yeah, I bet that has al-Sadr quivering with fear. I'm not saying he's going to be in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize any time in the foreseeable future, but al-Sadr has done more to quell the violence than the Iraqi government--or even the U.S. military, for that matter--so I'm not so sure legislative threats are the smartest play here.

Food - The president of the World Bank urged immediate action to deal with mounting food prices that have caused hunger and deadly violence in several countries. After a meeting of the bank's policy-setting committee, he said that the fall of the government in Haiti over the weekend after a wave of deadly rioting and looting over food prices underscores the importance of quick international action. He went on to say a rough analysis the bank estimates that a doubling of food prices over the last three years could potentially push people in low income countries deeper into poverty. The head of the International Monetary Fund also sounded the alarm on food prices, warning that if they remain high there will be dire consequences for people in many developing countries, especially in Africa. As if those poor slobs needed any more bad news. Let's see here. They live in the midst of an AIDS pandemic; they are in constant fear of getting caught up in the violence of warring militias; their governments are overrun with corruption; and to top it all off, now they are slowly starving to death. Kind of puts your lot in life into proper perspective, doesn't it?

Italy - For regular readers of this blog, this next item will come as no big surprise, and perhaps even a bit amusing. For the rest of you, carry on. Italians fed up with the governing class and a stagnant economy voted in early parliamentary elections that could return conservative billionaire Silvio Berlusconi to power. A sense of malaise hung over the elections, with Italians pessimistic that the ruling class — dominated for years by the same key figures — can offer much chance of change. I see there is some common ground between the United States and our Italian friends. I don't have much hope for our upcoming elections either. The election comes three years early due to the premature collapse of Romano Prodi's left-wing government. Italy has a history of political instability, with more than 60 governments since World War II. Whoever wins will face Italy's perpetual dilemma — improving the economy, the world's seventh largest. It has underperformed the rest of the euro zone for years and the International Monetary Fund forecasts growth of 0.3% this year, compared with a 1.4% average growth for the 15-country euro area. With all these problems, who in their right mind would actually want this job in the first place? Whoever wins likely won't be around for that long anyway. This is the 62nd (or something like that) general election Italy has conducted since 1945. By contrast the upcoming 2008 presidential election will be the United States 16th.

Golf - We'll start with the big headline at The Masters--Tiger Woods did not win. With that out of the way, here is the rest of the story. Trevor Immelman handled the wind and pressure of Augusta National far better than anyone chasing him Sunday to win the Masters, the first South African in a green jacket in 30 years. A two-putt par on the final hole gave him a 3-over 75, matching the highest final round by a Masters champion. Even so, it was good enough for a three-shot victory over Tiger Woods. Woods never got within five shots of the lead when he was on the course, twice missed birdie putts inside 8 feet and had to settle for a 72 and his second consecutive runner-up finish in the Masters. Can you say, "SLUMP"? Woods closed with a 72 and has finished 3-2-2 in his last three Masters. It also was his fifth runner-up in a major. Immelman earned $1.35 million for his second PGA Tour victory. So that is that. No grand slam for Tiger. With that said, bring on the U.S. Open. After all, 3 out of 4 would still be one hell of a year, even for Tiger.