What Caught My Eye Today

Iraq - On a whirlwind trip shrouded in secrecy and marred by dissent, President George W. Bush hailed progress in the wars that define his presidency and got a size-10 reminder of his unpopularity when a man hurled two shoes at him during a news conference in Iraq. Bush ducked both shoes as they whizzed past his head and landed with a thud against the wall behind him. In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. I bet the Secret Service got an earful after that news conference. And I'm sorry, but throwing a shoe is the best you guys can come up with. How boring and--yes, I'll say it--juvenile. Bush visited the Iraqi capital just 37 days before he hands the war off to his successor, Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it. The president wanted to highlight a drop in violence in a nation still riven by ethnic strife and to celebrate a recent U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011. "The war is not over," Bush said. Thanks for the tip, Mr. President. In many ways, the unannounced trip was a victory lap without a clear victory. He does have a history of doing that sort of thing. Anyone remember that "Mission Accomplished" stunt he pulled more than five years ago? Bush then flew to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan for a rally with U.S. and foreign troops. I heard the war isn't over there either.

Speaking of Afghanistan...

Afghanistan - The men around Lindsey Graham ignored his powerful political title — U.S. senator — and instead addressed him by rank — colonel. Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and the only U.S. senator in the military's Guard or Reserves, donned the Air Force's camouflaged uniform for five days last week to serve in Kabul. In Kabul, he worked with the staff of military lawyers at the U.S. base Camp Eggers. The office is helping to train military judges and defense lawyers, and to write Afghanistan's uniform code of military justice. Graham said his experiences in the military taught him how difficult wartime deployments can be on families. He figured all that out after five days? Wow this guy must be a genius or something. The rest of the troops who are serving need 12 to 15 month deployments to come to that same conclusion. On a serious note, I have no problem whatsoever seeing our nation's leadership get a taste of what our men and women are subjected to in carrying out the orders of the civilian leadership in Washington.

Ecuador - Ecuador is to default officially on billions of dollars of foreign debt it considers "illegitimate." Yeah, I tried that once with my mortgage holder. They were not amused. President Rafael Correa said he had given the order not to approve a debt interest payment due on Monday, describing the international lenders as "monsters". The president said that some of Ecuador's $10 billion debt was contracted illegally by a previous administration. Dude, the same thing happened to me, I swear. I never intended to fully pay my mortgage to those "monsters". It is the first debt default by a country in Latin America since 2001. The country's foreign debt amounts to about a fifth of its Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. Analysts say Ecuador's decision to effectively cut itself off from outside financing could lead to a budget shortfall, especially if the price of oil - the country's main revenue earner - continues to fall. Oil is Ecuador's main source of income and accounts for 40% of the national budget. Bad news on that front for Ecuador, I'm afraid. Oil slipped below $46 a barrel this past Friday and shows no signs of rebounding.

Santa Claus - Lest you had forgotten, Christmas is just around the corner. The folks at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) certainly haven't forgotten. In advance of the holiday season and its 50th year of tracking Santa Claus on his annual journey around the world, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has activated its "NORAD Tracks Santa" website for 2008. The program began in 1955 when an errant phone call was made to NORAD's predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The call was from a local child who dialled a misprinted telephone number in a local newspaper advertisement. The commander who answered the phone that night gave the youngster the information he requested - the whereabouts of Santa Claus - and thus the tradition of tracking Santa began. When CONAD became NORAD in 1958, the new command assumed the responsibility of tracking Santa's journey around the world. The program has grown immensely since it was first presented on the Internet in 1998. In 2007, the NORAD Tracks Santa website received 10,660,838 unique visitors from 212 countries and territories around the world. I had just about written off the military, and then I read this. If they're going to go through the trouble to track Santa's travels on Christmas Eve--I know I've been a good lad this year--then I say those are tax dollars well spent.