What Caught My Eye Today

Military - Fort Bliss in the far West Texas desert stood as the last Army post in America where if you were old enough to fight and die for your country, you were old enough to drink a beer. Citing too many drunken-driving crashes and arrests and too many fights, the new commanding general has raised the drinking age on base from 18 to 21, bringing 17,000-soldier Fort Bliss into line with what has been the law in the rest of Texas since 1986. Army bases around the country raised their drinking age to 21 over the past 20 years or so. Many states went to 21 under federal pressure beginning in the mid-1980s, and 21 is now the law in all 50 states. For the past 28 years, however, Fort Bliss let young soldiers drink. For most of that period, it was peacetime, and things were calm on base. But now units are routinely shipping back and forth to Iraq and Afghanistan, and base officials say young men and women have been using alcohol to blow off steam. Imagine that. A review of base crime statistics showed that in late 2007 and early 2008, sexual assaults, domestic violence and traffic accidents by soldiers 18, 19 or 20 involved alcohol more often than not. From what I can gather, booze isn't the problem here. Call me crazy, but if going into a war zone where religious extremists are looking for ways to send you home in a coffin, isn't enough to drive you to drink, I don't know what is. Want to stop the excessive drinking? How about getting rid of the reason that is driving so many troops to the bottle in the first place.

Climate - Here's something I didn't know. Apparently there is a law on the books that requires the federal government must produce a comprehensive science assessment of global warming every four years. It had not been done since 2000. Under a court order and four years late, the White House Thursday produced what it called a science-based "one-stop shop" of specific threats to the United States from man-made global warming. Shocking as this may sound, the news isn't that encouraging. The report includes the following findings:

• Increased heat deaths and deaths from climate-worsened smog. In Los Angeles alone yearly heat fatalities could increase by more than 1,000 by 2080, and the Midwest and Northeast are most vulnerable to increased heat deaths.
  I don't want to trivialize this, but honestly, that's like 14 deaths a year. That many people are just as likely to die trying to cross the street.
• Worsening water shortages for agriculture and urban users. From California to New York, lack of water will be an issue.
  Will be an issue? What planet do you guys come from? It's already an issue, num nuts!
• A need for billions of dollars in more power plants (one major cause of global warming gases) to cool a hotter country. The report says summer cooling will mean Seattle's energy consumption would increase by 146% with the warming that could come by the end of the century.
  Maybe I'm more sensitive to this being from California and all, but again, this isn't exactly news to anyone. Hell, we recalled a governor over this issue.
• More death and damage from wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters and extreme weather. In the last three decades, wildfire season in the West has increased by 78 days.
  Actually, last I heard, California was considering getting rid of the of wildfire season altogether, given the fact that wildfires seem to be occurring with increasing frequency throughout the year.
• Increased insect infestations and food- and waterborne microbes and diseases. Insect and pathogen outbreaks to the forests are causing $1.5 billion in annual losses.
  Dude, this report isn't worth the paper that it was printed on.

Stonehenge - Let me begin by acknowledging that this next item is not exactly dripping with excitement. New research indicates that England's enigmatic Stonehenge served as a burial ground from its earliest beginnings and for several hundred years thereafter. Dating of cremated remains shows burials took place as early as 3000 B.C., when the first ditches around the monument were being built. And those burials continued for at least 500 years, when the giant stones that mark the mysterious circle were being erected. The researchers also excavated homes nearby which they said appeared to be seasonal homes related to Stonehenge. The village appeared to be a land of the living and Stonehenge a land of the ancestors. The researchers suggested that that the cremation burials represent the natural deaths of a single elite family and its descendants, perhaps a ruling dynasty. The actual building and purpose of Stonehenge remain a mystery that has long drawn speculation from many sources. And not all archaeologists agree with latest theory. You have to love these crazy science types. Here you have a bunch of archaeology hooligans arguing over how to explain relics of the past. Newsflash, people. They buried dead people here. End of story. What else do you need to know?

Cycling - What's this? Cycling news in May. The Tour de France doesn't start for several weeks, right? Well that may be true, but the Giro d'Italia is going on right now. Team CSC's Jens Voigt attacked successfully from a breakaway to take a superb solo victory in stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia. The Astana-led peloton crossed the line 7'56 back to preserve Alberto Contador's pink jersey ahead of the final three crucial stages of the race. You may recall that after last year's Tour de France debacle, Astana was kicked out of participating in this year's race by tour organizers. Bad news for American rider Levi Leipheimer, who incidentally wasn't a member of the team at the time--nor Alberto Contador, for that matter. At the last minute Astana was granted permission to ride in this year's first grand tour, the Giro, and it looks like the team is making the most of it's opportunity. So far, no word on whether or not Astana will be invited to participate in the Tour de France in July. The Tour usually includes 21 teams, each with 9 riders. To date, there are only 20 teams scheduled to participate.

Music - Newly crowned "American Idol" champion David Cook took over America's Hot 100 singles chart on Thursday, sending a record-breaking 11 new titles into the tally a week after he won the top-rated TV talent show. The old mark was set by teen idol Miley Cyrus (as her Disney Channel character Hannah Montana), who placed six new titles on Billboard magazine's flagship pop singles chart in November 2006. The Beatles hold the all-time record for songs charted in a single week, with 14, during the height of Beatlemania in 1964. Seriously, pop culture is dead. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against my boy D Cook (I voted for him three times on the finale), but come on. What does it say about the music listening public when some no name on a talent competition can come close to knocking off the greatest rock and roll band of all time?