What Caught My Eye Today

2008 Presidential Race - Not sure if you heard or not, but tomorrow is election day. Barack Obama radiated confidence and John McCain displayed the grit of an underdog as the presidential rivals reached for the finish line of a two-year marathon with a burst of campaigning across battlegrounds from the Atlantic Coast to Arizona. I just love hyperbole, don't you? While the overall number of early votes was unknown, statistics showed more than 29 million ballots cast in 30 states and suggested an advantage for Obama. Democrats voted in larger numbers than Republicans in North Carolina, Colorado, Florida and Iowa, all of which went for President Bush in 2004. Democrats also anticipated gains in the House and in the Senate, although Republicans battled to hold their losses to a minimum and a significant number of races were rated as tossups in the campaign's final hours. Unwilling to concede anything, McCain's campaign filed a lawsuit in Richmond seeking to force election officials to count late-arriving ballots from members of the armed forces overseas. No hearing was immediately scheduled. No desperation in that move. I'm not saying that McCain's campaign is not entitled to due process, but maybe they could wait until an actual impropriety takes place before bringing the judicial process into the election. Of course, they got the courts to give them the 2000 election, so maybe they are onto something here. Who needs votes when you have judges?

Sarah Palin - Nothing off the news wires of particular interest, but have you ever noticed that 'Palin' is an anagram? If you re-arrange the letters P-A-L-I-N, you get 'plain'. Coincidence? I think not.

Auto Industry - The auto industry is one of the few things that can make the economy seem not so bad. That can't be good. General Motors' October U.S. sales plunged 45%, and Ford's and Chrysler's weren't far behind, as low consumer confidence and tight credit combined to bring the industry's sales to an "unsustainably weak level" that is the worst in 25 years. If GM's sales were adjusted for population growth, October would be the worst month of the post-World War II era. See what I mean. Automakers sold 838,156 vehicles in October, 32% fewer than the same month last year and the worst performance since January 1991. Chrysler's sales tumbled 35% and Ford's dropped 30%. Toyota's sales fell 23% despite its zero-percent financing offer, and Nissan and Honda posted 33% and 25% declines, respectively. They say misery likes company, but this is ridiculous. And what exactly does "unsustainably weak" mean? Don't get me wrong, I love my truck, but at some point I'm going to need a new vehicle. I'd like to think that there will still be a few automakers left after this economic meltdown concludes.

Mexico - I know things in Mexico have been pretty rough, but this next item is almost beyond the limits of human comprehension. Kidnappers grabbed a 5-year-old boy from a gritty Mexico City street market, then killed him by injecting acid into his heart. Mexico has one of the world's highest kidnapping rates. Kidnappings are up 9% this year and average 65 per month nationwide, according to the federal Attorney General's Office, which blames a growing web of drug cartels, current and former police officers and informants who point out potentially lucrative victims. The nonprofit Citizens' Institute for Crime Studies estimates the real kidnapping rate to be more than 500 per month. For you math buffs out there, let's assume that 500 figure is more accurate than the 65 kidnappings claimed by the government. If 65 represents a 9% increase, we're talking about a base number of approximately 60, which means if 500 is closer to reality, the increase in kidnappings is slightly higher--roughly 833%. Most kidnappings go unreported for fear of police involvement. Ordinarily, you would expect police involvement to be a good thing.

President Bush - Despite the fact that we have a presidential election coming up, we still the dude who currently occupies the office to deal with for a few more months. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd denied a report alleging that US President George W. Bush had asked him what the G20 was, amid mounting political tensions over the embarrassing story. A newspaper report alleged that Rudd had pushed Bush for a summit of G20 nations during a telephone call about the global financial crisis on October 10 and had been stunned when the US president had asked: "What's the G20?" Considering its Bush we're talking about, this doesn't crack the top ten (maybe even the top 100) for political gaffes. Rudd said he had phoned Bush to discuss the role of the G20, which brings together the world's largest industrialised and emerging economies, in the crisis and stressed that the US leader had not been ignorant of the body. Now that is the first thing about this story that I do find hard to believe. The G20 will meet in Washington on November 15 at Bush's invitation to discuss the financial crisis and Rudd is expected to attend. Call me crazy, but I'm thinking Bush is just looking for a good reason to throw one last kegger before he leaves office.