What Caught My Eye Today

Afghanistan - Try to keep up with me, this gets a bit confusing. Hamid Karzai has been re-elected as Afghanistan's president after a run-off vote was canceled. Afghanistan's government-appointed Independent Election Commission (IEC) called off the November 7 presidential run-off, a day after Karzai's only rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew citing doubts it would be a fair vote. The commission was concerned a one-candidate race would raise concerns about the legitimacy of the presidency. Sure they were. Bear in mind that the reason for the run off election in the first place was the first vote results were deemed to be tainted by the aforementioned IEC. So basically, the dude that claimed foul in the first election got the run off he was looking for, but decided to quit the race, because he thought the results would be equally flawed in a second election. But that's not the weird part of this story. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, visiting Kabul today, congratulated Karzai as did U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Let me see if I've got this right. Karzai wins the first election based on dubious--at best--results. Then dude is basically handed a second term after his sole opponent drops out of the race saying that nothing has been done to prevent the same thing from happening again. And then--and this is the head scratcher--the international community lines up to congratulate Karzai on his triumphant win. Seriously, what gives?

Catholicism - I'm torn between calling this latest ploy by the Catholic Church tactless or just plain desperate. Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would make it easier for Anglicans to convert to Catholicism. The Church of England split from Rome back in 1534, and the two denominations have kept an uneasy truce over the years. but the Anglican Church's recent acceptance of female priests and openly gay bishops has offended many traditionalists. the Vatican will now allow disaffected Anglicans to retain many of their customs--including allowing priests to marry--if they recognize the pope as their supreme leader. Of course, those of us that have been loyal Catholics throughout, don't receive any of these courtesies, but that's a separate discussion. Dude, you are pandering for followers. Where's your pride, man? You know what? I'm not torn anymore. This announcement is both tactless and desperate. As a brief sidebar, I came across an article about Nones--people who say "None" when asked their religious affiliation--and the fact that a growing number of the population (almost 15%) aren't merely rejecting religion, they aren't thinking about it at all. I can see why.

Randomness - Turns out the executive decision maker--also know as the ubiquitous "coin toss"--isn't all that impartial after all. Researchers found that a coin flip favors whichever side of the coin was facing up when the flip was initiated, landing on that side as much as 60% of the time. I knew it! There is no way I could have lost all those "decisions" based solely on chance. No one has luck that lousy.

Juris Prudence - Here's another example of taxpayer dollars hard at work keeping the wheels of justice turning. Parents: you may want to send the children out of the room for this one; it isn't pretty. A Florida man failed to win compensation for a "defective" pair of underwear. The man claimed in his lawsuit that over a two-week vacation in Hawaii, the fly flap of his briefs rubbed his genitals like "sandpaper belts." His words, not mine. But wait, it gets better. When asked by the judge why he didn't notice sooner, the 285-pound man said he cannot see his own genitals, and he didn't ask his wife to look because it might "ruin her vacation." I've re-read this story a couple of times, and it seems to get funnier every time.