What Caught My Eye Today

Afghanistan - Barack Obama visited with U.S. troops and Afghan officials in this war-weary nation. While officially a part of a congressional delegation on a fact-finding tour expected to take him to Iraq, Obama was traveling amid the publicity and scrutiny accorded a likely Democratic nominee for president rather than a senator from Illinois. Big surprise there. The area where the meeting took place is not far from where Osama bin Laden escaped U.S. troops in 2001 after his al-Qaida terrorist group led the attacks on September 11. Hard to believe that dude is still on the loose, isn't it? With the ousted Taliban regime resurgent and given the al-Qaida goal of terrorizing the U.S., Obama has argued that the war in Afghanistan deserves more attention as well as more troops. Obama's first overseas tour since securing the Democratic nomination could be key to honing his foreign policy strategy with less than four months before the election. It's certainly not going to help his plan for universal healthcare. A lack of time in the region has not stopped Obama from proposing significant changes to the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. So what? When have politicians ever let the lack of factual basis prevent them from making grandiose policy statements? Obama advocates ending the U.S. combat role in Iraq by withdrawing troops at the rate of one to two combat brigades a month. He supports increasing the military commitment to Afghanistan, where the Taliban-led insurgency is at its strongest in seven years.

Yemen - I'm all for respecting cultural nuances that may on the surface appear rather bizarre, but this is just plain wrong. In February, a little Yemeni girl, Nujood Ali, was married at the age of 10 to a man three times her age. Her impoverished father said he was only trying to find her a secure home. The groom agreed no to touch her until she reached puberty. Somehow, that just doesn't make me feel any better about this poor girl's situation. Luckily, the story does have a happy ending...sort of. With the help of a sympathetic aunt, Nujood marched into a courthouse two months later and asked for a divorce. She claimed that her husband had insisted on sleeping in her bed and that he beat her when she tried to stop him from touching her. Under tribal law, the man was entitled to compensation, so a $250 payment was arranged and the marriage was annulled. Put aside for the moment the fact that this jerk essentially got paid off not to molest a child (I could go on for hours on that one). The angle that gets me is that technically, no laws were broken. I am fully aware that I don't have the foggiest clue as to the dire straights that this family must have found itself it, to result in this sort of action, but somebody has got to figure out a way to put a stop to this. Seriously, do you think this was an isolated incident? How many more children don't have an aunt to stick up for them?

Zimbabwe - This is so sad, it's almost funny. Zimbabwe is to introduce a bank-note worth Z$100bn (that's 100 billion, or 1 followed by a whole heap of zeros) in response to rampant inflation - but the note will barely cover the cost of a loaf of bread. Wow. Some Zimbabweans are already calling for higher denominations in a country where the official annual inflation rate has exceeded 2,200,000%. I was going to ask if that was even possible, but evidently it is. Independent economists believe the real rate is many times higher. Let me try again--is that even possible? The country's central bank has introduced several new notes already this year in response to the hyperinflation. In January, a Z$10 million note was issued, followed by a Z$50 million. By June the denominations had reached tens of billions. Zimbabwe was once one of the richest countries in Africa. But it has descended into economic chaos in recent years, with many international observers blaming the policies of President Robert Mugabe. If Zimbabwe was a corporation, dude would have gotten a golden parachute a long time ago. I personally would have disabled the ripcord, but that's just me.

Golf - I have a two-fer for you today, because let's be real...you can never get enough golf drama. First up the British Open. Gusts that approached 50 mph required Greg Norman to manufacture shots from his 53-year-old memory Saturday in the British Open, which he called among the toughest tests he has ever faced in golf. I watched some of the coverage of the third round, and the conditions were bordering on ridiculous. Norman carded a 2-over 72 and has a two-shot lead over defending champion Padraig Harrington and K.J. Choi and is 18 holes from becoming golf’s oldest major champion. Norman is 1-6 when he has at least a share of the 54-hole lead in the majors, his only victory coming at Turnberry in 1986. His career is defined as much by the majors he lost as the two British Open titles he won. Look, the past is the past and tomorrow is a new day. You go, Greg. Oh, and by the way, how much must the suits at ABC be kissing their lucky rabbit's feet? Who would have thought that the British Open would be this compelling without Tiger Woods in it.

And now to the LPGA. Poor Michelle Wie just cannot catch a break. After finishing the first and second round in second place at the State Farm Classic, Michelle Wie was one good round away from finally living up to her deep potential. Then, minutes after tapping in her last putt of the third round, Wie sat in front of a couple dozen baffled reporters and photographers, explaining why she’d been disqualified from the tournament. The 18-year-old, playing her best golf of the year, broke one of the game’s most basic rules: She failed to sign her scorecard before leaving the scoring area. Wie was gone from a tournament where either the $255,000 winner’s purse or the $155,252 second prize would have put her comfortably within the top 80 money winners for the year—and virtually guaranteed her a place on the LPGA Tour next year. She did say that it was an unintentional mistake and the LPGA seems to agree with her, but rules are rules and girlfriend did not follow them. Ironically, she was outside signing autographs when someone told her she forgot to sign her scorecard, which she promptly did. But apparently, according to the rulebook, if you leave the scoring area without signing your card, you are disqualified. Still you have to feel kind of bad for the poor girl.

YouTube - By and large, I'm not exactly what you would call a big fan of YouTube and don't recall ever reporting on a video appearing on it. I have nothing against YouTube, I'm just not a big fan. However, on this particular occasion, I'm going to make an exception. A year after the Sopranos finale lifted Journey back into the zeitgeist, a spoof of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" has been combined with the upcoming Brendan Fraser flick, "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (click here). Trust me, it's hilarious.