What Caught My Eye Today

Economy - President Bush, hoping to inoculate his party and his presidential legacy from election-year anger over the economy, heaped criticism on the Democratic-led Congress for "letting the American people down." Of course he did. But wait, here's the shocker...He said he'd consider a summer suspension of federal gasoline taxes. But he offered no new ideas for a range of economic worries now facing the country. The president tried to shift the focus to Congress, saying he long ago sent lawmakers proposals to deal with many of the nation's economic problems, only to see them sit or be replaced with approaches that he deems unacceptable.No way! How out of character for the President. And how do you think Congress reacted to this diatribe? Capitol Hill's Democratic leaders said Bush was to blame for proposing policies that would worsen the problem, not help, and that it was their duty to reject them. I think a time it is in order. If the President and Congress are going to act like children, maybe they should be treated as such.

Iran - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that sending a second U.S. aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf could serve as a "reminder" to Iran, but he said it's not an escalation of force. Gates said heightening U.S. criticism of Iran and its support for terror groups is not a signal that the administration is laying the groundwork for a strike against Tehran. Right. How could a second aircraft carrier possibly be seen as an 'escalation' of force? It's merely a 'show' of force. In the past, military officials have said that beefing up the Navy's presence in the Gulf was a way to show that that the U.S. remains committed to the region. And they have acknowledged it also serves as a show of force for other countries there, such as Iran. Oh sure, to the untrained eye this may seem like a contradiction, but it's not. You see, the Defense Secretary is a civilian post. Only military officials have said that this sort of action serves as a 'show of force'. What do they know anyway?

Here's a bonus daily double...

Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pushed to seal a $7.6 billion pipeline deal linking the world's second-largest gas reserves to growing South Asian economies, despite opposition from the United States. Ahmadinejad met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a brief stop-over trip that has already sparked diplomatic tension between New Delhi and Washington, which fears the pipeline will fund Iran's nuclear ambitions. Washington urged India this month to use Ahmadinejad's visit to encourage Iran to stop nuclear enrichment. India, which has been growing closer to the United States in recent years, responded sharply -- saying that it did not need any "guidance" on its bilateral relations. So many reactions come to mind; where does one begin? First off, if we are to believe the notion that oil prices are rising due to decreased supplies, how could a new oil pipeline be viewed as a negative development? Secondly, it is somewhat difficult to believe that Ahmadinejad's motives are entirely on the up-and-up. And lastly, maybe the United States should give India the benefit of the doubt and let the Indian government do its thing.

Saudi Arabia - This is rather curious. Yet another reminder of just how little the Western world knows about the Muslim world. A governor in northern Saudi Arabia has ordered authorities to punish men who flirt with women in public places by cutting their hair. Sounds rather amusing, doesn't it? Saudi Arabia has long imposed a strict Islamic lifestyle in which men and women are segregated in public. That lifestyle is enforced by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, a government body that runs the country's powerful religious police. Here's another head scratcher--'religious police'? Its members patrol public places to make sure women are covered and not wearing make up, the sexes don't mingle, shops close five times a day for Muslim prayers and men go to the mosque and worship. Now there are some dudes that I want to party with. These guys sound like the life of the party.

Earthquakes - Scientists are scrutinizing seismic readings and studying damage at residents' homes to try to figure out what's happening beneath the earth's surface under a northwest Reno neighborhood rocked by a seemingly endless string of earthquakes. What they can't say is whether the hundreds of temblors that have rattled the area for two months — the largest a magnitude 4.7 last week — are subsiding or a prelude to bigger things to come. Gee, there's a big surprise. Scientists unwilling - or unable (you make the call) - to make definitive statements about the probability of the big one being just around the corner. The shaking is unusual, seismologists say, because the intensity of the quakes has increased over the past few weeks. Generally, earthquakes tend to occur and are followed by smaller aftershocks. During the past week alone, more than 500 occurrences have been recorded. Regardless of what the scientists say or don't say, this doesn't sound so good. When Mother Nature gets her mind set on something, like or not, she's probably going to do it, and when it happens, we're likely all going to notice.