What Caught My Eye Today

Ireland - There are so many disturbing aspects about this story, I'm not sure where to begin. After a nine-year investigation, a commission published a damning report on decades of rapes, humiliation and beatings at Catholic Church-run reform schools for Ireland's castaway children. The investigation of the tax-supported schools uncovered previously secret Vatican records that demonstrated church knowledge of pedophiles in their ranks all the way back to the 1930s. The report found that molestation and rape were "endemic" in boys' facilities, chiefly run by the Christian Brothers order, and supervisors pursued policies that increased the danger. Girls supervised by orders of nuns, chiefly the Sisters of Mercy, suffered much less sexual abuse but frequent assaults and humiliation designed to make them feel worthless. If that doesn't provide enough shock factor, get a load of the response. Rather predictable, but still... The Catholic religious orders that ran more than 50 workhouse-style reform schools from the late 19th century until the mid-1990s offered public words of apology, shame and regret. But when questioned, their leaders indicated they would continue to protect the identities of clergy accused of abuse. One would think that with 2,600 pages of damning evidence, these order would be open to a bit more than some public apologies. From what I can gather, I'm not sure there is much sincerity backing them up. I find myself wondering if these guys still don't understand the magnitude of the distress they inflicted on children that were already in fragile states of mind. Seriously, how could any rationale human being justify this cruelty?

Iran - Look who has a new toy. A missile test-fired by Iran is the longest-range solid-propellant missile it has launched yet. Solid-propellant rockets are a concern because they can be fueled in advance and moved or hidden in silos. The Iranian missile had a range of 1,200 to 1,500 miles, putting Israel, U.S. bases in the Mideast, and parts of Eastern Europe within striking distance. Clearly developments like this aren't welcome news, especially considering this is the same Iran that has called for the annihilation of Israel on several occasions. And yet, even this has a rather amusing angle to it. Some dozen hours after the test was reportedly conducted, numerous U.S. defense and intelligence officials declined to even acknowledge the Iranian launch had occurred. Yeah, if we don't acknowledge the missile launch maybe it never happened. It's like that old saying--if a tree falls down in the forest and no one is there to see it, does it make a sound. Of course in this case, we're talking about some serious fire power. I pretty sure denying that the launch took place is going to change the fact that Iran has itself a whole lot more "shock and awe" than it did yesterday.

Utah - A Utah boy is trying to get into the record books by covering his face with live snails. Dear God, why? Surely there has to be an easier way to enjoy one's "15 minutes of fame." The boy allowed 43 of the slimy mollusks to be put on his face. The Guinness web site says the record set in 2007 for snails on the face for 10 seconds is eight. The boy says he has since learned the record was 36. What amazes me is that there is a world record for this sort of thing. Sitting back in a reclining chair, snails gathered from neighbors' gardens were carefully placed on his face. Those that remained for at least 10 seconds were counted. Honestly, don't you people have anything better to do with your time. And another thing. What sort of parent allows their kid to pull a stunt like this?

Cycling - Stage 11 of the Giro d'Italia is in the books. Guess who is beginning to inch his way back up the leaderboard. A freak crash could impact Levi Leipheimer’s chance of winning the marathon-like time trial in the 12th stage of the Giro d’Italia. Meanwhile, Lance Armstrong keeps improving and could contend for the first victory of his comeback after 3 1/2 years of retirement and breaking his collarbone in March. Leipheimer somersaulted off his bike when someone dropped a water bottle in front of him in the feeding zone midway through the stage. Mark Cavendish won the mostly flat 11th stage Wednesday in a mass sprint, and Danilo Di Luca of Italy maintained a 1 minute, 20 second overall lead on Denis Menchov of Russia. Michael Rogers of Australia was third overall, 1:33 behind, and Leipheimer is fourth, 1:40 back. Armstrong moved up two spots to 16th overall, 5:28 behind Di Luca. Alas, not all the news is good for American cyclists. Chris Horner did not start the stage because of a muscle tear in his left calf following a crash a day earlier. On the off chance that you are under the impression that cycling is not the most exciting sport on the face of the planet, consider this. In just over two months every top-level American cyclist has suffered a crash or injury. Armstrong - broken collarbone, Horner - muscle tear, Christian Vandevelde crashed out Stage 1, and Leipheimer has crashed...well, pretty much at least once in every stage race he's ridden in this year. You don't see this many crashes in stock car racing.

American Idol - Fred's Note: If you are relying on this blog for news on Idol, you clearly don't care much about the talent competition so I'll keep this short. More than 100 million votes were cast after Tuesday's singing showdown between Lambert and Allen. A record-setting 624 million votes were cast over the season. And the winner is--Kris Allen. Yeah, that's a bit of an upset, but not totally unexpected. Honestly, do you really think that a dude having nicknames like "Glambert" and "guyliner" had a prayer in hell of capturing the "red state" votes? Bravo Kris. One final word on this season's competition. Lose the fourth judge. Kara DioGuardi is a useless addition, who--big surprise--sucks as a songwriter too. After all that Lambert and Allen went through to make the finals, they both had to perform a rendition of this season's coronation song, a piece of crap called "No boundaries." I read an article today suggesting that the reason this song was selected was that it did suck and would never be picked up by a artist with an ounce of talent (or self-respect). By making this the Idol's swan song (so to speak) the song writers will pocket around $80,000 for their effort. Dude, that's just wrong. Now that Idol is finally over, we can focus on more pressing matters, like the start of this season's "So You Think You Can Dance." Yeah, baby.