What Caught My Eye Today

Senate - It was a busy day on the soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat front. First up, a familiar family name in New York. Caroline Kennedy told New York's Governor David Paterson that she's interested in the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton, making her the highest-profile candidate to express a desire for the job. Kennedy is the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy. Her uncle, the late Robert F. Kennedy, once held the Senate seat she wants. Paterson has sole authority to name a replacement for Clinton. There's an interesting political tactic--being open about something you want. Those New Yorkers are always pulling crazy stunts like this.

Not like our reliable friends in Chicago, who know what politics are really about. Speaking of which, how you doin' Governor Blagojevich? Blagojevich's political isolation intensified Monday evening, with the Illinois House voting 113-0 to create a bipartisan committee that will study the allegations against Blagojevich and recommend whether he should be impeached. Not so good, huh? Democrats in the Senate shelved action on a special election to fill Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat, for now leaving the decision in Blagojevich's hands. Then again, you could sell that Senate seat to the highest bidder to help pay for your legal bills. I'm serious. It's not like his reputation can get much worse. What credibility does the man have left. He might as well make a little coin.

Spider Webs - Work with me here. This next story has an interesting angle to it. The tiny tangled threads of the world's oldest spider web have been found encased in a prehistoric piece of amber. A British paleobiologist said the 140-million-year-old webbing provides evidence that arachnids had been ensnaring their prey in silky nets since the dinosaur age. He also said the strands were linked to each other in the roughly circular pattern familiar to gardeners the world over. Spider experts believe that webs were developed even earlier, but the delicate gossamer threads rarely leave any trace. Amber, or fossilized tree resin, can occasionally conserve bits of web — an earlier find in Lebanon was dated to 130 million years ago. Okay, so here's the angle I was alluding to. If scientific artifacts like this spider web are genuine--and this one certainly appears to be legitimate, along with one 10 million years younger--what does that say about the merits of intelligent design? Scientific theory suggests that man is approximately 6 million years old. Call me crazy, but a lot of evolving can take place over 130 million years. Creationism suggests that "reliable science" places the existence of mankind at somewhere between 8,000 and 25,000 years; thereby supporting the premise of intelligent design. Me? I'm going with the former. I just find it hard to believe that if life has been around for in excess of 140 million years, that we dim-witted simpletons, known as homo sapiens have managed to scratch out an existence for more than 25,000 year. Call me an optimist.

Golf - Tiger Woods said he was disappointed by his caddie's disparaging comments in New Zealand newspapers about Phil Mickelson, whom Woods referred to as a "player I respect." Steve Williams was quoted in the Taranki Daily News as saying he wouldn't call Mickelson a great player "because I think he's a (expletive)." I read in another source that '(expletive)' translates to 'prick'. Williams said that his original comment about Mickelson was not in an interview. "I visit a lot of golf clubs and do a lot of speaking for charity, and that is one of the questions I get asked the most — what is Tiger's relationship like with Phil Mickelson. I was simply honest and said they don't get along." And there's more... "I don't particularly like the guy myself," he said. "He pays me no respect at all and hence, I don't pay him any respect. It's no secret we don't get along, either." I'm thinking that Tiger was pissed not because of what Williams said--dude probably hit the nail on the head--but because Williams said it in a public venue. Tiger has a reputation to protect, and this sort of think certainly won't help matter. Tiger is already hitting Mickelson where it hurts most--winning pretty much one in three tournaments that he enters. Woods doesn't need any trash talking to aid his cause. Maybe Stevie should concentrate on carrying bag and reading the putts.
American Idol - Seems like forever since David Cook pulled that stunning upset over David Archuleta, doesn't it? Fear not, those withdrawal symptoms will abate in just a few more weeks. Fox's hit talent contest will open its eighth season with a two-night, four-hour premiere on January 13-14. "American Idol" will cut the number of weeks featuring nationwide tryouts from four weeks to three and will bring more contestants to Hollywood to compete — 36 men and women compared to the two dozen of past seasons. Amen to that. Personally, I think they could get away with a one night special dedicated to the talentless hacks that sucked bad enough to warrant airtime. The group will be winnowed down to 12 finalists, with nine chosen by audience voting and three wild-card singers selected by judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and a previously announced newcomer, singer-songwriter Kara DioGuardi. I gotta let you, I've never heard of this broad (then again, I had never heard of Simon Cowell or Randy Jackson either). Though from what I can tell from her bio, girlfriend is quite the songwriter (click here).