What Caught My Eye Today

2008 Presidential Race - Barack Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton by seven votes in the Guam Democratic presidential caucuses Saturday. The count of more than 4,500 ballots took all night. That means they'll split the pledged delegate votes. Obama's slate won in 14 of 21 districts. Clinton issued a statement Saturday night promising, "I will continue to champion the issues facing the people of Guam, and when I'm president I will ensure that hard-working families of Guam have the resources and the opportunity to succeed." No pandering going on here. Obama's campaign had no immediate reaction to the results. That sounds more like it. No offense intended, but this is Guam we're talking about. Eight pledged delegates will attend the convention, each with one-half vote. U.S. citizens on the island, however, have no vote in the November election.

Iraq - Not that this should come as much of a surprise, but as it turns out, this war in Iraq is kind of expensive. The war in Iraq has cost the United States about $600 billion since 2003, and the total is rising fast. Because of soaring fuel costs and the high price of repairing or replacing damaged equipment, the U.S. is spending about $12 billion a month in 2008, up from $4 billion a month in 2003. $1.5 billion of the monthly total is spent on reconstruction. $4.5 billion goes to private contractors doing everything from serving food to protecting diplomats. The remainder covers fuel, ammunition, equipment and the cost of paying, feeding, housing and providing medical care to the more than 150,000 U.S. military personnel. The nonpartisan Congressional Office recently said the war's cost would amount to $1.2 to $1.7 trillion by 2017. And that's a conservative estimate. Some economists have the figure ranging from $2 to $5 trillion. To put this into perspective, World War II is the only war to cost more (adjusted for inflation) at $5 trillion. Put another way, the money spent on the Iraq War could fund Social Security for 75 years. Funny thing that notion of 'opportunity cost.' Makes you wonder if we're getting our money's worth out of the Iraq War.

India - India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh said the widespread abortion of female fetuses is a "national shame." Hard to disagree with that. The sex ratio in India has fallen to 927 girls born for every 1,000 boys in 2001, down from 962 per 1,000 in 1981. Despite India's rising education levels and standard of living, the practice of selective abortions has increased. Singh said the government would crack down on doctors who perform such abortions. Well, I suppose they need to do something, but doctors are the ones at fault here. This is a commentary of the national psyche that for some reason places a premium on boys. Perhaps someone should remind these folks that it takes two to tango. In other words, if you don't keep the girls in the equation, I promise you that boys will definitely be out of the equation. That is, of course, unless someone figures out how to make it possible for males to conceive offspring.

Congo - After a rather long dry spell, we have another 'so bizarre it must be true' story. This time the candidate comes from Congo. A word of warned to the men...you all may just want to skip this story altogether. Police in Congo arrested 13 sorcerers for using magic to steal men's penises. Believe it or not, this gets weirder. At least 14 victims have come forward to say that the sorcerers cast spells that caused their penises to either disappear or sink dramatically, and then demand a ransom for the organs' return. Sorcerers and shrinking or disappearing penises? I'm not sure I can top this. Perhaps we'll just leave this one be.

Life Expectancy - Here's a bit of depressing news unless, of course, you happen to have nothing to live for. For the first time in nearly a century, life expectancy for some Americans. People who live in the nation's poor counties are dying at an earlier age than they were just a few years ago. The poor--especially--poor women--are shortening their lives with obesity, smoking and other unhealthy habits. When they get sick, the poor often don't have access to high quality medical care. No kidding. The United States already lags much of the developed world in life expectancy, ranking 41st--between Bosnia and Albania. And if either of those countries' populations decide to curb ethnic violence, they'll really distance themselves for us. Kind of a sad commentary on the state of health in this country.

Horse Racing - It's that time of year again, where for about 6 weeks, the American public pretends to have a love affair with horse racing, also known as the Triple Crown. First up, the Kentucky Derby. Big Brown was pulling away from the field, accelerating with every powerful stride toward the finish line in the Kentucky Derby. The crowd of 157,770 was on its feet and cheering as the big, unbeaten, muscular bay crossed the line first, 4 3/4 lengths ahead of the filly Eight Belles. A rather impressive feat made all the more so, considering Big Brown had the outside post position among a field of 20. Unfortunately, this was not the headline of the day. After the race, it took a few minutes to sink in, but anyone watching those horses soon realized that one of them had fallen to the track. the joy of the Derby and the promise of a new Triple Crown season were upended when Eight Belles was euthanized by injection on the track. She had broken both front ankles and could not be saved. The breakdown brought back memories of the 2006 Preakness, where Barbaro shattered his right rear leg just after the start. The colt was euthanized months later, after developing laminitis from the catastrophic injuries. I heard an interesting statistic on SportsCenter regarding horse racing. Approximately 2 races in a thousand result in a horse having to be put down from injuries sustained on the track. Could you imagine those same odds in any of the professional sports that humans play? Neither can I.