What Caught My Eye Today

Human Rights - In a stinging rebuke to President Bush's anti-terror policies, a deeply divided Supreme Court ruled that foreign detainees held for years at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have the right to appeal to U.S. civilian courts to challenge their indefinite imprisonment without charges. Don't you just hate when the Supreme Court gets all high and mighty and enforces the Constitution? Bush said he strongly disagreed with the decision — the third time the court has repudiated him on the detainees — and suggested he might seek yet another law to keep terror suspects locked up at the prison camp, even as his presidency winds down. There's a good idea. If you don't agree with the Constitution, change it. The prison has been harshly criticized at home and abroad for the detentions themselves and the aggressive interrogations that were conducted there. The 70-page ruling says that the detainees have the same rights as anyone else in custody in the United States to contest their detention before a judge. Well now I see what the hubbub is all about. Apparently, the government is only interested in human rights for Americans while the rest of the world can fend for itself. That's nice.

Disaster Response - This next item is a welcome remind that even in tragedy, the human spirit can rise to the occasion. Boy Scouts who came to each others' aid after a tornado that killed four of their comrades and injured 48 people were hailed as heroes for helping to administer first aid and search for victims buried in their flattened campsite. A tornado siren went off at the camp, but the scouts had already taken cover before the siren sounded. There was no time to remove them from the isolated retreat. One staff member took off his shirt and put it on someone who was bleeding to apply pressure and gauze. Other scouts started digging people out of the rubble. These scouts will probably never forget what happened to them on this day when four of their friends lost their lives, but hopefully they will remember how they came together in the face of incredible adversity to assist one another. Well done, scouts.

Tomatoes - The toll from salmonella-tainted tomatoes jumped to 228 illnesses as the government learned of five dozen previously unknown cases. Six more states — Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New York, Tennessee and Vermont — reported illnesses related to the outbreak, bringing the number of affected states to 23. Well, that sounds bad. The Food and Drug Administration has not pinpointed the source of the outbreak. With the latest known illness striking on June 1, officials also are not sure if all the tainted tomatoes are off the market. That sounds even worse. On the do-not-eat list are raw red plum, red Roma or red round tomatoes, unless they were grown in specific states or countries that the FDA has cleared because they were not harvesting when the outbreak began or were not selling their tomatoes in places where people got sick. At least 25 people have been hospitalized during the outbreak, caused by a relatively rare strain of salmonella. I don't want to sound fatalistic or anything, but given how complex our food chain has become, I'm kind of surprised that this sort of thing doesn't happen more often. Maybe it does, and we just don't hear about it. Now that really sounds bad.

2008 Presidential Campaign - This item borders on be ridiculous and supports my contention that the campaign season is way too long, if junk like this qualifies as news. Barack Obama's campaign said that Michelle Obama never used the word "whitey" in a speech from the church pulpit. The rumor that Michelle Obama railed against "whitey" in a diatribe at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ has circulated on conservative Republican blogs for weeks and was repeated by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. The rumor included claims of a videotape of the speech that would be used to bring down Obama's candidacy this fall. Senator, welcome to the wonderful world of conservative talk show hosts. It's kind of funny that this all went down the same day that Obama launched a new web site to debunk rumors about him and his wife -- http://www.fightthesmears.com/. I'm sure that will make for some interesting reading.

Golf - Tiger Woods grimaced and pursed his lips, unable to disguise the pain in the opening round of the U.S. Open. No, it wasn't his left knee, though that was still tender from surgery. It was more the three-putt to end his round at Torrey Pines and leave him four shots behind a pair of surprising leaders and one behind Phil Mickelson. Tiger actually made two double bogeys, but before you start thinking that he's lost his touch, his last double bogey came 416 holes ago. Leading the pack are a couple of no-names, Kevin Streelman and Justin Hicks tied for the lead at 3-under 68. Streelman is #608 in the world ranking and Hicks is #722. Former U.S. Open champions Geoff Ogilvy and Ernie Els are both at 2-under while Phil Mickelson shot an even par 71. Woods ended up the day at one-over. I still wouldn't bet against the dude, and call me crazy, but I doubt you'll see Streelman or Hicks on the leaderboard come Sunday.