What Caught My Eye Today

Iraq - President Bush will keep roughly the same number of U.S. forces in Iraq through the end of the year and pull about 8,000 troops home by February, a drawdown that's both slower and smaller than long anticipated. The move shows that Bush still commands when and how troops will withdraw, despite a fiercely opposition Congress and a soured American public. I'm sorry, but what would be Bush's motivation to change at this point in his presidency? General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, had argued to keep troop levels fairly level through next June — an even longer timeframe than Bush is embracing. But others, including Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they believed that withdrawing troops more quickly from Iraq represented a small risk compared to the gain that could be made by shifting more to Afghanistan. So here is an interesting quandary. Do you think that Petraeus is being overly pessimistic or is Mullen trying to position himself for a potentially drastic change in policy come January?

2008 Presidential Race - Here's a newsflash. Seems the Democrats are accusing Republicans of stretching the truth and vice versa. Let's start with the Dems, shall we?

Barack Obama broadly accused his Republican rivals of dishonesty, citing former lobbyists working for John McCain, Sarah Palin's shifting stance on the "Bridge to Nowhere" and their promise to change Washington. I wonder what brought that on. With national polls finding the Democratic presidential nominee trailing or in a dead heat with McCain, Obama began the campaign's final eight-week push by criticizing McCain's popular running mate as much as the Arizona senator himself. Nevermind. Obama wouldn't go so far as to say McCain and Palin are lying, even when the audience tried to goad him into it, but he began showing an ad that did. Well, thank goodness Obama is a man of honor and refuses to resort to mudslinging. Best let his campaign ads do it for him.

Let's see what the Republicans are up to.

John McCain and Sarah Palin criticized Democrat Barack Obama over the amount of money he has requested for his home state of Illinois, even though Alaska under Palin's leadership has asked Washington for 10 times more money per citizen for pet projects. Well now, it wouldn't make a lot of sense for Palin to criticize herself would it. Obama hasn't asked for any earmarks this year. Last year, he asked for $311 million worth, about $25 for every Illinois resident. Alaska asked this year for earmarks totaling $198 million, about $295 for every Alaska citizen. McCain said the Illinois senator's earmark total over the years amounts to "almost a million dollars for every single day he was in the United States Senate." So if we applied the same logic to Palin, what would that amount to? For his part, McCain doesn't seek pork projects and vows to do away with them as president. I'd love to see him try.

United Arab Emirates - The Bush administration is planning to sell the United Arab Emirates an advanced U.S. missile defense system valued at up to $7 billion that could be used to defend against Iran. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that deal that we're building in Russia's backyard supposed to do the same thing? For Iran, Katzman added, the UAE could be an attractive target because of its billions of dollars of infrastructure investments. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is designed to defend population centers and critical infrastructure among other things. Translation: Oil for America. Several such systems on land, at sea and potentially aloft are being woven into an expanding U.S. shield against missiles that could be tipped with chemical, biological or nuclear warheads. And as an added bonus, these systems appear to irritate the hell out of Russia.

Tennis - It was a good year for repeat winners of the U.S. Open, even historic for the men's champion. Serena Williams defeated second seed Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 7-5 in the women's US Open final for her ninth career Grand Slam title and the world number one ranking, a spot she previously held for 57 weeks beginning in 2002. She also picked up 1.5 million dollars in first-place prize money and moved into third on the all-time money list, just ahead of Martina Navratilova. Not too shabby for two weeks' work. If you think that's impressive, check out what Roger Federer pulled off. Roger Federer won his 13th Grand Slam crown and fifth consecutive US Open title, defeating British sixth seed Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2. Federer's 56th career crown moved him into sole possession of second place on the all-time Slam title list, one more than Roy Emerson and one below the career record 14 won by Pete Sampras. Federer became the first man to win five Slams in a row at two different events, having also completed the feat last year at Wimbledon. The dude has talent, that's for sure. And with the likes of Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, men's tennis should be awfully entertaining next year. And let's not forget about the Williams sisters. They had one heck of a year too.

Cycling - What could possibly catch my attention in the world of cycling and not be related to another doping scandal? Two words--Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong will come out of retirement next year to compete in five road races with the Astana team, according to sources familiar with the developing situation. Armstrong, who turns 37 this month, will compete in the Amgen Tour of California, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia, the Dauphine-Libere and the Tour de France — and will race for no salary or bonuses. Should Armstrong return with Astana, it would bolster a squad that arguably boasts the sport’s best stage-racing team. Not to mention all the publicity that these stage races will get if Armstrong does indeed come back to competitive road racing. I wonder if the folks at the Versus television network are paying dude under the table to make a comeback.