What Caught My Eye Today

Golf - Golf? What could possibly be going on in golf to warrant this as the lead off item? Tiger Woods walked tenderly out of Torrey Pines with a U.S. Open trophy he was destined to win on a left leg worse than anyone imagined. Woods revealed today that he has been playing for at least 10 months with a torn ligament in his left knee, and that he suffered a double stress fracture in his left leg two weeks before the U.S. Open. He said he will have season-ending surgery, knocking him out of the final two majors and the Ryder Cup. Woods has 65 victories that rank third all-time on the PGA Tour, and 14 professional majors that are second only to the record 18 won by Jack Nicklaus. This is the 500th week Woods has been ranked No. 1 in the world. Even if you aren't a fan of golf, you have to be impressed with the grit this dude showed in pulling off this latest win. According to experts, the expected recovery time for the surgery that Tiger will undergo gives him a realistic shot at playing in the 2009 Masters next April. Yeah, I'll be watching. And until then, there's always NASCAR.

Congress - Gee, here's a big surprise. The House passes some legislation while the Senate does nothing. Democratic and GOP leaders in the House announced agreement on a long-overdue war funding bill they said President Bush would be willing to sign. The agreement on the war funding bill also paves the way for a quick infusion of emergency flood relief for the Midwest (more on this story in a moment), an extension of unemployment payments for the jobless and a big boost in GI Bill college for veterans. It would also provide about $165 billion to the Pentagon to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for about a year. That's enough time for Bush's successor to set Iraq policy. So like which do you think will cost more--a withdrawal plan (if Obama wins) or an endless engagement with no end in sight (if McCain wins)? A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the agreement contains several priorities for Democrats in the Senate but stopped short of issuing a direct endorsement, saying Reid needed to consult with his colleagues. This is why no one likes the job that Congress is doing--specifically the Senate. See, the Senate would need to actually do something in order for us working class folk to render a positive opinion of the Senate.

Midwest - I'll forewarn you on this next item. It's rather bleak. As many as 30 more levees may overflow along the Mississippi River from Burlington, Iowa, down to St. Louis. Twenty levees already have been topped by flood waters this week, and another 20 to 30 additional levees could overflow if sandbagging efforts fail to raise the height of the structures. Storms and flooding across six states this month have killed 24 people, injured 148 and caused more than $1.5 billion in estimated damage in Iowa alone — a figure that's likely to increase as river levels climb in Missouri and Illinois. Meanwhile, parts of the rest of the country (like where I live) are in the grips of a rather nasty drought. Mother Nature is a crotchety old bag, ain't she? With her it's always feast or famine. Speaking of which, we still have hurricane season to look forward to on the East Coast and firestorm season (which pretty much never ends) on the West Coast. Oh happy day.

Gasoline - This situation sucks for just about everyone. Today's victim--the gas station operator. Gas station operators nationwide are reporting woes as higher prices translate into higher credit card fees the managers must pay, squeezing profits at the pump. Their complaints target the so-called interchange fee — a percentage of the sale price paid to credit card companies on every transaction. The percentage is fixed — usually at just under 2% — but the dollar amount of the fee rises with the price of the goods or services. As gas tops $4 a gallon, that pushes fees toward 10 cents a gallon. Now stations, which typically mark up gasoline by 11 to 12 cents a gallon, are seeing profits shrink or even reverse. convenience stores paid roughly $7.6 billion in credit card fees last year, while making $3.4 billion in profits. Okay I stand corrected. Anyone with stock in Visa or Mastercard probably isn't complaining too much. The credit card companies say fees are just part of the cost of doing business. MasterCard has capped interchange fees for gas purchases of $50 or more. Visa argues that the fees are offset "by the tangible benefits to stations and their customers, such as the ability to pay at the pump." Huh? Visa thinks being able to pay at the pump is a tangible benefit to me. Yeah, you cannot put a price on the value of saving me from having to walk that 15 feet to the gas station attendant. It's true that I pay for most my gas by credit card, but that's because it costs me too much in gas to find an ATM to get enough cash to fill up my tank.

Basketball - The Boston Celtics won their 17th NBA title in relentless fashion, trouncing the L.A. Lakers 131-92 to win the NBA Finals in six games. It's the Celtics' first title in 22 years. Boston's 39-point win surpassed the NBA record for the biggest margin of victory in a championship clincher. The Celtics completed the greatest one-year turnaround in NBA history. Last season they won just 24 games and missed the playoffs. This season they won 66 regular-season games and finished with a playoff-record 13 home wins. For those of you who read my blog post 6 months ago (or whenever the playoffs began), you may recall that I picked the Lakers in 6 games. Clearly, I meant that they would lose the Finals in 6 games, which they did. So, who da man?