What Caught My Eye Today

Illinois - Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was thrown out of office without a single lawmaker coming to his defense, brought down by a government-for-sale scandal that stretched from Chicago to Capitol Hill and turned the foul-mouthed politician into a national punchline. That's a bit harsh, but pretty much right on the money.Blagojevich, accused of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat, becomes the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed by impeachment. After a four-day trial, the Illinois Senate voted 59-0 to convict him of abuse of power, automatically ousting the second-term Democrat. Honestly, who in their right mind would side with the dude. Talk about political suicide. In a second, identical vote, lawmakers further barred Blagojevich from ever holding public office in the state again. Yeah, I'm okay with that. It's not like he's going to be begging for his next meal. I bet before the year is out, Blagojevich is making himself a rather tidy living on the speaking circuit.

Arctic - NATO will need a military presence in the Arctic as global warming melts frozen sea routes and major powers rush to lay claim to lucrative energy reserves. Sort of takes you back to grade school doesn't it? "Me first, me first." The opening up of Arctic sea routes once navigable only by icebreakers threatens to complicate delicate relations between countries with competing claims to Arctic territory — particularly as exploration for oil and natural gas becomes possible in once inaccessible areas. The United States, Russia and Canada are among the countries attempting to claim jurisdiction over Arctic territory alongside Nordic nations. I've always thought that those Fins, and Swedes and Norwegians were trouble makers. And don't even get me started on those hooligans from Greenland and Iceland.Analysts say China is also likely to join a rush to capture energy reserves. Russia and Canada have already traded verbal shots over each other's intentions in the Arctic, and Canada has beefed up its military presence in the region, announcing plans to build a new army training center and a deep-water port in contested Arctic waters. Norway, the U.S. and Denmark also have claims in the vast region, while Russian President Dmitry Medvedev seeks to lay claim to Arctic territory the size of France. This is promising. What with things going so smoothly in the rest of the world, it's about time we had a new territorial dispute to stir things up a bit.

Zimbabwe - Dude, I know things are bad and I should be sympathizing with these folks, but the deal with the Zimbabwean currency continues to break new ground in the realm of absurdity. Zimbabwe's government admitted defeat in a fight against dizzying inflation, allowing business to be done in U.S. dollars and bank notes of neighboring countries. Zimbabwe has the world's highest official inflation, with its currency now printed in the trillions of dollars. Here comes the money shot. This month, the central bank introduced a new 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar note. For those of you who cannot count that high, that is a 1 followed by 17 zeroes. How can you not laugh at the ridiculousness of that number? Zimbabwe has been nearly paralyzed by the crisis precipitated by disputed presidential elections last year. Politicians agreed to a coalition government in September but for months have been unable to agree how to share Cabinet posts. The impasse has stranded Zimbabweans in a prolonged economic crisis, with hospitals, schools and sanitation infrastructure left to collapse. It is situations like this where you can come to appreciate that not everyone in the world finds that democracy is that answer to all that ails them. Look where democracy has gotten the Zimbabwean people so far. Though in fairness, I'm not sure democracy had Robert Mugabe in mind.

France - Here's something new...the French are on strike...again. France's largest general strike in three years hobbled transportation, school, hospital and mail services as unions demanded that President Nicolas Sarkozy's better protect jobs and consumers during the global economic crisis. That's right, darn it. You should demand that the government protect your 35 hour work week. God forbid that you have to put in 40 hours like those stupid Americans do.More than 1 million protesters took part, with tens of thousands of youths, retirees and unemployed people marching across towns and cities. Economic growth in 2009 is expected to be close to zero in France, with unemployment rising at the fastest rate in 15 years. So what? Join the club. It's not like any of the rest of us are doing any better. Quit your whining and go do something more productive with your time. Perhaps a nice glass of Burgundy or Bourdeax.

Tennis - One last Australian Open update before the champions are crowned this weekend. I got out of two right. Serena Williams (#2) will play for her fourth Australian Open title (and tenth Grand Slam title) against against Russian Dinara Safina (#3). And while she's at it, Serena may take the doubles title with sister Venus--she made the finals in that too. On the men's side, Andy Murray (#4) crashed out in the fourth round, but my sentimental choice, Roger Federer (#2) is in the big dance, as he attempts to tie Pete Sampras with the most Grand Slam titles (14). His opponent will definitely be a Spaniard--Rafael Nadal (#1) goes up against countryman Fernando Verdasco (#14) for the other spot in the men's final. I'm thinking we're going to see another #1 - #2 matchup in the final. You go, Roger.