What Caught My Eye Today

2008 Presidential Race - Invigorated by back-to-back political conventions, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama grappled for the mantle of change as the fall race for the presidency took off in states teeming with the independent voters they needed to win. Strategists for the campaigns argued that McCain and Obama would be engaged in debate over new directions for public policy. "John McCain has a record of fighting to change," a McCain strategist said. For Obama, change is "a nice word, it's a campaign tactic ... it's nonsense." An Obama strategist that McCain was offering the policies of the Bush administration. "Last night Sen. McCain used the word 'change,' but the policies that he describes were very familiar. This isn't change, this is more of the same." I'm not sure of the validity of this statistic, but if it is true that McCain voted with President Bush 90% of the time, one could argue that the Obama campaign has a point. That being said, the political machine in Washington isn't limited just to the President. Regardless of who wins in November, both of these agents of change are going to have a tough time bringing change to an institution that has been around long before these guys came onto the scene, and it'll be there long after they leave it.

Economy - Two days in a row? This cannot be good. The nation's unemployment rate zoomed to a five-year high of 6.1% in August as employers slashed 84,000 jobs, dramatic proof of the mounting damage a deeply troubled economy is inflicting on workers and businesses alike. employers cut payrolls for the eighth month in a row. Job losses in June and July turned out to be much deeper. The economy lost 100,000 jobs in June and another 60,000 in July, according to revised figures. Previously, the government reported job losses at 51,000 in each of those months. So far this year, job losses totaled 605,000. We had a round of economic stimulus earlier this year (one that I didn't qualify for), right? And if I'm not mistaken, President Bush urged everyone to wait for the full effect of the stimulus package to kick in. So like, is the verdict in yet, or should we wait for the economy to tank even further?

Hurricanes - I'm not sure which is more depressing, the economic forecast or the weather forecast. Tropical Storm Hanna cruised steadily toward the Carolina coast. The storm will likely wash out the weekend from the Carolinas to Maine. Tropical storm watches or warnings ran from Georgia to areas just south of New York City, and included all of Chesapeake Bay and the Washington D.C. area. The latest forecast called on Hanna to make landfall on the northern coast of South Carolina around 2 a.m. Saturday before marching quickly up the Atlantic seaboard and pushing into New England by early Sunday morning. Hanna is expected to dump several inches of rain on the coastal areas of the Carolinas through central Virginia, Maryland and southeastern Pennsylvania. Okay, so now get this. Hanna isn't the biggest concern of forecasters. That honor goes to our boy Ike. The bigger worry is the ferocious-looking Hurricane Ike, which weakened to a Category 3 storm today as it headed toward the Bahamas and Florida. Ike's track is riddled with uncertainty. The hurricane center's latest official forecast takes Ike through the Florida Keys island chain as a ferociously destructive Category 4 hurricane into the Gulf of Mexico, where around 4,000 offshore platforms produce a quarter of U.S. crude oil and 15 percent of the energy-hungry country's natural gas. Some computer models have Ike near the heavily populated Miami area in south Florida. A Category 4 hurricane strike on Miami would be a huge disaster because of the billions of dollars of vulnerable real estate in low-lying islands like Miami Beach and along the coast of the Florida peninsula. Power would be out for millions of people for an extended time. On one hand, you could assume that the economic news is worse because the effects will last longer than a storm. You could, but you'd be wrong. Sure a hurricane lasts only a few days, but if you harken back to Hurricane Katrina, we're still feeling the after affects of that mess. Last I check, economic downturns don't usually last for years (though I will grant you the Great Depression as a notable exception).

Libya - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that her historic visit to former pariah state Libya proves that the United States never writes off another nation forever. Unless of course another nation decides to piss us off. Rice is the highest-ranking American official to visit the North African country in more than a half-century. She will meet over dinner with mercurial leader Moammar Gadhafi, whom President Reagan once called a "mad dog" and other U.S. leaders have called a terrorist. Gadhafi has sought the visit to culminate five years of halting but steadily improving ties that began when Libya abandoned weapons of mass destruction and renounced terrorism in 2003. Still it is nice to see the Bush Administration reach out to a nation whose track record has been suspect in the past. Unusual and way too rare, but nice to see.

Ukraine - Then again, old habits are hard to break. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has pledged U.S. support for Ukraine following last month's war between neighboring Russia and Georgia. Cheney said that Ukrainians should be able to live "without the threat of tyranny, economic blackmail and military invasion or intimidation." Not exactly what I would call a subtle reference to Russia. He said the United States has a "deep and abiding interest" in Ukraine's security. Cheney's visit to Ukraine and two other ex-Soviet republics signaled that the United States will continue cultivating close ties in the region. That's even after Russia showed it was willing to use military force against countries along its border. I'm no big fan of Russia, but consider for a moment their position in all this. Over the past few years, a bunch of former Soviet satellite states have joined a military alliance whose primary objective is to hold Russia at bay. How would we react if Canada and Mexico decided to align themselves with Russia as a means to deter American imperialism? This escalation of hostilities between Russia and the West isn't good for anyone, however, it isn't terribly surprising either. What we may call blackmail and intimidation, could be considered preemptive actions to preserve Russia's sovereignty. And one thing, we should be rather familiar with is preemptive action.