What Caught My Eye Today

Libya - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron said Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his ruling clique have lost legitimacy and must step down to end violence in the country. The British and French leaders also called on the international community to enforce an arms embargo on Libya. France became the first country to recognize the rebel group, and Sarkozy has raised the idea of a limited air campaign against forces loyal to Gaddafi. Unless I am very much mistaken, I'm pretty sure that Sarkozy will not be receiving a Christmas card from Gaddafi this year. Still you have to be impressed by Sarkozy strong stand on the issue as opposed to the relatively muted response from the U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton announced that Washington was suspending relations with Libya's embassy to the United States, though the move falls short of completely severing diplomatic relations. The way I heard it, some whack job at the Pentagon pointed out the fact that the U.S. military is limited by the laws of nature in that it cannot be everywhere at the same time. I'd like to see some proof of that, before such outlandish claims are made.

Terrorism - Congress pushed deep into a raw and emotional debate over American Muslims who have committed terrorist attacks in the name of religion. This should be good. Republican Representative Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, called the hearing because Muslim community leaders need to speak out more loudly against terrorism and work more closely with police and the FBI. King declared U.S. Muslims are doing too little to help fight terror in America. I'm sure that was warmly received. Democrats wanted the hearing to focus on terror threats more broadly, including from white supremacists and warned of inflaming anti-Muslim sentiment and energizing al-Qaida. I agree. If you are going fan the flames of discontent, you might as well cover everyone that hates you. Of course, if you are going to do so, it would be nice if you come out with a plan for dealing with the inferno of rage. Despite years of government focus on terrorism, dozens of unraveled terrorism plots and a few successful attacks have suggested there is no one predictable path toward violence. Today's hearing offered no insight into those routes. So much for wishful thinking.

U.S. Politics - It's nice to see that the Republicans are as supportive of their leadership as the Democrats are of theirs (See Mar 8 posting here). House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner is under pressure from fiscal conservatives in his own party to push steep spending cuts, with Tea Party stalwarts likening the Ohio Republican to "a fool" for not taking a sharper knife to public programs. Republicans have proposed cuts of $61 billion in fiscal year 2011 from current levels, a step President Barack Obama says would choke the faltering economic recovery. But for some in the Tea Party, it is not enough. They say the figure should be at least $100 billion. As much as it pains me to say this, I find myself sympathizing with Boehner. Dude effectively has to figure out how to draw blood from a turnip. Boehner has to find a way to appease the Tea Party contingent while trying to avoid a government shutdown, which is a very plausible possibility given the lack of common ground for finding some sort of compromise that everyone can live with. Good luck with that, spark plug.

Cricket - This one goes out to my friends in the U.K. Halfway through the group stage of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, the traditional powers are working their way to the top of the standings and look likely to advance to the knockout stage. To those of you not familiar with cricket (I'm guessing that is the vast majority of you), the heavy weights in cricket include India, Pakistan, England and Australia. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted as the tournament progress. No need to thank me.

Basketball - The time is rapidly approaching for worker productivity in the United States to drop precipitously. That's right, my friends, March Madness is just around the corner. Ordinarily, I wouldn't be into the "madness" until the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament starts, but these are ordinary times. My beloved San Jose State Spartans are threatening to make it into the tournament for the first time in years. Two more wins in its conference tournament and my mighty Spartans will make into one of those coveted play-in games.