What Caught My Eye Today

Diabetes - The number of Americans with diabetes has grown to about 24 million people, or roughly 8% of the U.S. population, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number represents an increase of about 3 million over two years. The CDC estimates another 57 million people have blood sugar abnormalities called pre-diabetes, which puts people at increased risk for the disease. The disease results from defects in insulin production that cause sugar to build up in the body. It is the seventh leading cause of death in the country and can cause serious health problems including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and amputations. Admittedly, this may be going out on a limb, but do you think that there may be a slight correlation between this and the nation's problem with obesity? Here's my favorite part of this news item... "It is concerning to know that we have more people developing diabetes, and these data are a reminder of the importance of increasing awareness of this condition, especially among people who are at high risk," said an CDC spokesperson. "On the other hand, it is good to see that more people are aware that they have diabetes." I'm not one to criticize someone for attempting to find the sliver lining in an otherwise dismal report, but this is a bit of a stretch.

Zimbabwe - This is rich... African pressure mounted to postpone Zimbabwe's presidential election but authorities said it would go ahead despite a storm of international condemnation. Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission (ZEC) ruled that last Sunday's withdrawal from the election by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was filed too late and had no legal force. Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the contest against President Robert Mugabe because of attacks on his followers, said the vote was a sham and called for the African Union, backed by the United Nations, to lead a transition in Zimbabwe. You have to be somewhat impressed by the audacity of the ZEC. First, they lock up the opposition candidates, then they send out gangs to threaten anyone thinking of voting for Tsvangirai with death, and then, after they manage to strong arm him out of the election, they call his withdrawal illegal. Interesting way of trying to legitimize this election, wouldn't you say.

Sri Lanka - The U.S. embassy in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, was closed on after a "suspicious powder" was found in the premises. The heavily-guarded embassy has thrice been closed in the past after suspicious powder was detected but on each occasion it turned out to be a false alarm. The United States supports a political solution to end Sri Lanka's 25 year civil war that has killed more than 70,000 people. Three times a suspicious power was found on the premises? I think someone is covering up a drug problem, don't you? All that aside, the thing that caught me eye, was the fact that civil war has been raging for 25 years. That the U.S. is hoping for a 'political solution,' yeah I'm sure that's of tremendous comfort to the Sri Lankan people. Here's a brief summary of the conflict in Sri Lanka, courtesy of Wikipedia.org:

The Sri Lankan Civil War is an ongoing conflict on the island-nation of Sri Lanka. Since the year 1983, there has been on-and-off civil war, predominantly between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist militant organization who fight for the creation of an independent state named Tamil Eelam in the North and East of the island. It is estimated over 70,000 people have been officially listed as killed in the war since 1983 (though separate independent studies suggest the number could be as high as 338,000).

Olympics - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is investigating a speech made by Tibet's Communist Party boss at the end of last weekend's Beijing torch relay leg in Lhasa in which he denounced the Dalai Lama. It was not immediately clear what the IOC, which is unlikely to resort to its ultimate sanction of withdrawing the Games from China, could do. It has said before it has "no political mandate" to instruct countries how to behave. Which begs the question, why is the IOC investigating in the first place? Beijing blamed Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and his followers for the March 14 riots in Lhasa and accused him of scheming to split the Himalayan region from China. Tibet has cast a long shadow over the torch relay, which China hoped would project the image of a modern and vibrant country ahead of the Games. But the March riots became a focus of anti-Chinese protests and counter-demonstrations on relay legs in London, Paris and San Francisco, prompting ugly scenes which alarmed the IOC. I'm thinking that these latest developments aren't going to improve the situation much. But again, the IOC has itself admitted that it has no authority to do anything here, so I'm not exactly sure what they hope to accomplish here. Clearly, China has indicated that it is going to do whatever it wants with regard to Tibet regardless of the criticisms raised by the international community about its methods.

Golf - Seeing as it is only Wednesday, and most tournaments don't get underway until Thursday, this must be a story about Tiger Woods' knee. Tiger Woods had reconstructive surgery on his left knee to repair a torn ligament, and doctors said it was "highly unlikely" there would be any long-term effects. And so it is. It was the second time in 10 weeks Woods had surgery on his knee, this time on his anterior cruciate ligament. The surgery was the fourth time Woods has had surgery on his left knee. He had a benign tumor removed in 1994, and he had benign cysts removed in 2002, along with fluid around the ACL. Woods said he tore his ACL while jogging last year after the British Open, but tried to make it through the end of this season without surgery. Two days after his runner-up finish at the Masters, he had surgery to clean out cartilage in his left knee. The world's No. 1 player announced last week that he would miss the rest of the season, which includes two more major championships and the Ryder Cup. I'm guessing that the most press the PGA is likely to get for the rest of this year will be progress reports on Tiger's rehab. Rather impressive, if you ask me, the influence that Tiger has on the game; and rather pathetic that the PGA finds itself in this situation. It's never wise to have all your eggs in one basket.