What Caught My Eye Today

California - More than 840 wildfires sparked by an "unprecedented" lightning storm are burning across Northern California, alarming Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and requesting the help of firefighters from Nevada and Oregon. To give you some perspective on this, on Sunday evening the number of wildfires stood at 520; by Monday morning it reached 700 and by Monday afternoon, the count had reached 842. Most of the fires were caused by an unprecedented lightning storm consisting of 5,000 to 6,000 lightning strikes. All but a couple were in the northern part of the state. Assistance, mostly firefighting aircraft, had arrived from Nevada and Oregon in response to weekend requests. Schwarzenegger said he had enlisted the help "because you can never prepare for 500 or 700 or 800 fires all at the same time." Between the Midwest flooding and the firestorms in the West, one wonders what got Mother Nature's knickers in such a bunch. Girlfriend is certainly in a testy mood isn't she.

Midwest - Speaking of which, more bad news in the flood plains of the Midwest. The swollen Mississippi River burst another levee, this time in Missouri, submerging farmland and threatening residential areas whose occupants had already moved out in anticipation of a flood. Forecasters expect the last stretch of the bloated river to crest later this week. Not far from the Iowa state line, the river was down a few inches after cresting Sunday at 27 feet — less than a foot short of the record set during the Great Flood of 1993. Back then, experts classified that event as a 500 year flood, as opposed to the garden variety 100 year flood, the standard that most levees are built to withstand. I'm guessing that the deal in 1993 was at the tail end of that 500 year period and this year's deal is at the front end of the next 500 year period. So I guess we're all good until the year 2500, right?

Israel - An Israeli police officer fatally shot himself at an airport departure ceremony for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, sparking fear of an assassination attempt and prompting bodyguards to whisk away Sarkozy and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The shooting occurred while a military band was playing, and the leaders apparently didn't hear anything. A police spokesman confirmed that a policeman guarding the airport committed suicide just as Sarkozy was about to board his plane and another said there had been no assassination attempt on the French leader. So was this dude just looking for an audience for his grand departure, or what? I'm glad no one was hurt, but you have to wonder what sort of vetting the Israelis conduct on the security deals for visiting heads of state. Maybe they need to revisit those standards.

Zimbabwe - Outraged at the turmoil in Zimbabwe, the U.N. Security Council declared that a fair presidential vote is impossible because of a "campaign of violence" waged by President Robert Mugabe's government. Gee, really? Here I was thinking everything was groovy. The 15-nation council unanimously said it "condemns the campaign of violence against the political opposition ahead of the second round of presidential elections," which has resulted in the killing of scores of opposition activists and other Zimbabweans. I'm amazed that the Security Council arrived at a unanimous decision on anything. Seems to me that in recent days, they've been doing their best impersonation of the United States Congress. The non-binding presidential statement was the Security Council's first formal action on Zimbabwe's political and humanitarian crises. Council members also agreed that the violence and restrictions on opposition activists imposed by the Mugabe government "have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place" Okay, here is what I don't understand. They say this is the U.N.'s first formal action, but that it is non-binding. So what exactly is so formal about this action, if nothing about it can be enforced?

Economy - Here's a newsflash...the economy still sucks. U.S. consumer confidence fell unexpectedly sharply in June, sinking to its lowest level in more than 16 years. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to 50.4 this month, the lowest since February 1992. The index dropped from from 58.1 in May. The report said the reading of consumers' expectations hit an all-time low as home prices tumbled while gasoline and food prices rose. In other news, home prices in 20 cities tracked by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index posted annual declines, hitting levels not seen since August 2004. The narrower 10-city index declined 16.3% in April, the largest decline in its more than two-decade history. But we're not in a recession, darn it! And that's the important thing to remember. Especially if you are a Republican and its an election year.