What Caught My Eye Today

2008 Presidential Race - I've taken a bit of a breather on the presidential race because, well frankly, I'm a bit tired of the whole thing and, in recent days, things have been relatively quiet. That is until today. Barack Obama's campaign says a satirical New Yorker magazine cover showing the Democratic presidential candidate dressed as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist is "tasteless and offensive." The illustration on the issue depicts Barack Obama wearing sandals, robe and a turban and his wife, Michelle, dressed in camouflage, combat boots and an assault rifle strapped over her shoulder — standing in the Oval Office. The couple is doing a fist tap in front of a fireplace in which an American flag is burning. Over the mantel hangs a portrait of Osama bin Laden. Now, you tell me what could possibly be construed as "tasteless and offense" with that? The part of this story that I love the most is how the New Yorker attempts to justify its decision to run this cover. The magazine said the cover "combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are. The burning flag, the nationalist-radical and Islamic outfits, the fist-bump, the portrait on the wall? All of them echo one attack or another. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover," the New Yorker statement said. I appreciate satire as much as the next guy (I pretty much thrive on it), but these morons are living in another universe if they think that the general population is going to perceive this as just a spoof, especially seeing as the vast majority of people who see this cover probably won't read the corresponding articles explaining why the cover is a spoof. And while, conservative talk show hosts will probably have a field day with this this, I bet you that Republican party officials are none to happy about this. The last thing they need is for Barack to pull in sympathy votes as a rush of this cover.

Sudan - The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court filed genocide charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, accusing him of masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in Darfur with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation. The filing marked the first time prosecutors at the world's first permanent, global war crimes court have issued charges against a sitting head of state. Call it a hunch, but there is a precedent I'm pretty sure no sitting head of state wanted to see established. "Genocide is a crime of intention — we don't need to wait until these 2.5 million die," he said. Good point, but will anyone actually step up and do something to prevent this from happening? If judges issue an arrest warrant, they will effectively turn al-Bashir into a prisoner in his own country. In the past, Interpol has issued so-called Red Notices for fugitives wanted by the court, meaning they should be arrested any time they attempt to cross an international border. The United States, which is not part of the ICC, said it was examining the indictment. So, technically, this dude al-Bashir could seek refuge from prosecution in America. Wouldn't that be a feather in our cap? I don't want to come off as having a bias one way or the other, but if this scumbag is eventually caught and convicted, I probably won't shed too many tears on his behalf.

Arctic - Russia announced that it is sending warships to patrol Arctic waters for the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union -- the latest move to increase the country's global military presence. I realize that this is probably secondary to the main point of this story, but if global warming hadn't done its bit to melt the polar icecap, do you think any of the countries involved would be going to all this trouble? I'm telling you, this global warming deal is really starting to become a buzz kill--as if the world wasn't depressing enough already. Moscow recently sent an expedition to plant a Russian flag on the seabed under the North Pole and said research indicates a massive underwater mountain range in the area, which is believed to contain huge oil and gas reserves, is part of Russia's continental shelf. And Russia hopes it can increase access for fishermen who are blocked from seas around the island of Spitsbergen, where Norway claims exclusive rights. Russia does not recognize the 200-mile economic zone delineated by a 1982 U.N. treaty. Well, heck, if the United States can blow off the U.N. whenever it suits our purposes, it should not come as much of a surprise that another country, especially Russia, wouldn't try to do the same thing. You just know, that if we had any legitimate claim to this turf, we'd be all over it. Now since, we're talking about some potentially big oil reserves, I suppose we could just annex Canada and then go after the Arctic land grab. You don't think the Canadians would mind too much, do you?

Beer - I don't know why, but this next item seems like an end of an era. Anheuser Busch said it had agreed to a sweetened $52 billion takeover bid from Belgian brewer InBev, creating the world's largest brewer. Quick, does anyone know how to say, "gimme a Bud" in Flemish? InBev said it would be the world's third largest consumer products company by market capitalization after Procter & Gamble of the United States and Nestle SA of Switzerland. Inbev brands include Stella Artois, Beck's and Bass. Few products are associated with America as much as Budweiser, which its owner calls the King of Beers. Its Clydesdale horses are fixtures of Super Bowl ads, and even the label is red, white and blue, with an eagle swooping through the "A." Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure the "A" stands for Anheuser, but then again, who am I to put a damper on patriotism. Despite more than 600 years of brewing beer in Belgium, InBev is more rootless. Although based in Leuven, Belgium, it is run by a Brazilian management team and sells most of its beer outside Europe. Ah yes, always nice to see globalization leaving its mark...or in this case, lack of of one.

Coral Reefs - A new research paper in the journal Science says as much as a third of the world's coral species may now be headed toward extinction. Hmm. That sounds like a lot doesn't it. Coral experts say these reefs hold 25% of the world's marine species, which is why coral reefs are often called "the rain forests of the ocean." Now that is a lot. Of course given the sorry state of rain forests on land, is it that big of a surprise that the aquatic equivalent is getting hammered just as badly? Researchers found evidence of a link between coral-killing diseases and warming ocean waters. Ocean waters are becoming more acidic as they soak up carbon dioxide, the main global warming gas. And while there's evidence that coral reefs can find ways to adapt to waters warmed by global climate change, there's no proof that they can cope with more-acidic oceans. So here's my plan. Everyone go out and buy a package of Tums antacid, then go to the closest beach and toss it in.