What Caught My Eye Today

U.S. Economy - This is a classic case of sour grapes if you ask me. I'll explain in a moment. The head of the European Union slammed President Barack Obama's plan to spend nearly $2 trillion to push the U.S. economy out of recession as "the road to hell" that EU governments must avoid. The blunt comments by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek to the European Parliament highlighted simmering European differences with Washington ahead of a key summit next week on fixing the world economy. Mind you that Topolanek is not haven't a great week. Yesterday, the Czech Republic Parliament passed a vote of no-confidence, effectively ousting Topolanek as Prime Minister. Shocked by the outburst, other European politicians went into damage control mode, with some reproaching the Czech leader for his language and others reaffirming their good diplomatic ties with the United States. Notice, if you will, that none of these folks said Topolanek was wrong, just that his comments were inappropriate. Of course, Topolanek has the luxury of literally having nothing to lose, so why not speak his mind.

U.S. Postal Service - The post office will run out of money this year unless it gets help, Postmaster General John Potter told Congress as he sought permission to cut delivery to five days a week. The agency lost $2.8 billion last year and is looking at much larger losses this year. Reducing mail delivery from six days to five days a week could save $3.5 billion annually. Any chance that reducing mail service from six days to five, will cut back the amount of junk mail I receive? I figure the bills will keep coming regardless, but less junk mail would be nice. Officials said the recession has contributed to a mail volume drop of 5.2 billion pieces compared to the same period last year. If there is no economic recovery, the USPS projects volume for the year will be down by 12 billion to 15 billion pieces of mail. So there is hope--no more Publishers' Clearing House mailers. It just goes to show that in every dark cloud there is a silver lining. If the Postal Service does run out of money, the question is which bills will be paid and which will not. I ask myself that same questions nearly everyday. Frankly, I'm not too enamored with any of the creditors that I'm paying every month.

Saudi Arabia - The more I read about this country, the more I am fascinated and, this almost goes without saying, amused by it. A group of Saudi women — sick of having to deal with male sales staff when buying bras or panties, not to mention frilly negligees or thongs — have launched a campaign this week to boycott lingerie stores until they employ women. It's an irony of the kingdom's strict segregation of the sexes. Only men are employed as sales staff to keep women from having to deal with male customers or work around men. But in lingerie stores, that means men are talking to women about bras or thongs, looking them up and down to determine their cup sizes, even rubbing the underwear to show how stains can be washed out. The result is mortifying for everyone involved. Perhaps I'm in the minority here, but I find this positively hilarious. Since this is Saudi Arabia, we're talking about, maybe there is a simple solution to all this. These dude used to have harems right? All the Saudis need to do is find some retired eunuchs looking to supplement their retirement, and presto--problem solved.

Papua New Guinea - A brilliant green tree frog with huge black eyes, jumping spiders and a striped gecko are among more than 50 new animal species scientists have discovered in a remote, mountainous region of Papua New Guinea. The findings are significant, particularly the discovery of the new frog species; frogs are often regarded as a great bioindicator of environmental health. In this day and age, its rare to find a bit of good news. And what could be better than the discovery of life. Naturally, since we now know that these new species exist, their fates are sealed. If us humans are good at anything, it's figuring out how to screw up the nature balance of things.