What Caught My Eye Today

Hurricanes - Usually when I lead off with a weather story, its not good news. Sadly, that is the case this time as well. With a historic evacuation complete, and gun-toting police and National Guardsmen standing watch over this city's empty streets, even presidential politics stood still while the nation waited to see if Hurricane Gustav would be another Katrina. (More on the political angle to this story in a moment.) The storm is set to crash ashore midday Monday with frightful force, testing the three years of planning and rebuilding that followed Katrina's devastating blow to the Gulf Coast. Painfully aware of the failings that led to that horrific suffering and more than 1,600 deaths, this time, officials threatened arrest, loaded thousands onto buses and warned that anyone who remained behind would not be rescued. The exodus of 1.9 million people is the largest evacuation in state history, and thousands more had left from Mississippi, Alabama and flood-prone southeast Texas. Forecasters say Gustav is likely to grow stronger as it marches toward the coast with top sustained winds of around 115 mph. The storm could bring with it a storm surge of up to 14 feet and rainfall up to 20 inches wherever it hits. By comparison, Hurricane Katrina pushed about 25 feet of surge. I'm trying desperately to find an upside to this story, some silver lining or a glimmer of hope--I'm trying, but coming up with goose eggs. Here's hoping for the best.

2008 Presidential Race - Mindful of the potential for disaster, the Republican Party scaled back its normally jubilant convention — set to kickoff as Gustav crashed ashore. President Bush said he would skip the convention all together, and John McCain visited Jackson, Mississippi today as his campaign rewrote the script for the convention to emphasize a commitment to helping people. You know, there is a bit of irony here. Remember this past Friday, when the media was applauding McCain for stealing Barack Obama's thunder by announcing his vice presidential running mate (more on that in a second)? Well here we are on the eve of the GOP convention, and the Republicans are being one upped by a natural disaster. You just never can tell, can you. All that aside, you have to tip your cap to McCain for casting aside politics for a greater good. (Plus, I'm guessing someone has figured out a way to garner a lot of positive PR for the McCain campaign by doing this).

So how about McCain picking first term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as a running mate. I'm sure all the so called political pundits had her pegged for the job from day one. Palin She mayor of small-town Wasilla, Alaska, for six years before she became governor in December 2006. McCain made a ringing defense of Palin, who Democrats argue has less experience than their presidential candidate, Obama. He cited Palin's stint as governor of a "state that produces 20 percent of America's energy" as well as her previous membership in the PTA and her time spent on the city council and in the mayor's office in Wasilla,a town of fewer than 7,000 people outside Anchorage. Well heck, if Palin can survive the local PTA, I'm all for her being next in line to run the most powerful nation on the planet. Democratic Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut said McCain's selection was merely designed to appease the hard-right conservatives in the Republican Party. "His knees buckled" when it came time to picking a running mate, Dodd said of McCain. Oh I don't know about that. I'm thinking that picking a first term governor that no one has ever heard of--and a woman, no less--probably took a pair of brass ones, if you know what I mean.

Canada - Here is yet another reason to move north of the border--assuming a national healthcare system isn't motivation enough for you. Canada is finally getting its very own pornographic cable channel. Woo-hoo! And thoroughly Canadian it will be. The new channel, Northern Peaks (one assumes that one of many double entendre were intended here), will have far more than the 15% "Canadian-made content" required by law. Fully 50% of the videos will be Canadian. Okay, usually I would jump at the chance to comment on this story, but the chick from The Edmonton Sun does such a good job, that I couldn't hope to top her. Here are some excerpts from her editorial:

"...most sex scenes are filmed indoors, and we have only the producers' word for it that the studio is in Canada. Therefore, I want Canadian landmarks in my Canadian porn...Better yet, to ensure that no Californians or Czechoslovakians sneak into the cast, require all Canadian porn stars to be tattooed with the maple leaf--in strategic places.

You just know that she had fun with that story.

Blood - Scientists have devised a method to generate a virtually endless supply of blood from embryonic stem cells. If you listen closely, vampires around the world are celebrating like you wouldn't believe. The advance could eventually pave the way for a blood supply that comes from the lab, making blood shortages a thing of the past. If the system can be duplicated on a large scale and in a cost-effective manner, hospitals and blood banks will have access to an ample supply of all blood types While on the surface, this certainly appears to be a promising development, does anyone besides me, see a potential downside to this? Ethics aside (and there's a whole heap load you can talk about there), I'm not so sure I want my blood supply to come from aisle five at the local grocery store.

Potpourri - Here's another collection of snippets on current events. Enjoy.

Childbirth - According to a recent Census Bureau study, more women than ever are choosing not to have children. 20% of women ages, 40-44 have no children, double the level of 30 years ago. I'm sure that it is purely coincidental that 30 years ago, there weren't nearly the career opportunities open to women that there are today.

Olympics - According to a study by the University of South Australia, every gold medal won at the Olympics costs a country $37 million in training costs. This could explain why the majority of the medals in the Beijing Games were won by the 10 nations with the biggest economies. Hmm, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh that's right. Duh. They needed a study to figure this out?