What Caught My Eye Today

U.S. Debt - Horror stories are flying about the damage that might be wreaked should Congress and President Barack Obama fail to cut a deal by the August 2 deadline to increase America's borrowing limit. Absent a deal by then, the government would find itself tight on cash and unable to borrow and have to start deciding which of the 80 million bills due in August it should pay and which it should put off. Forgive me if I don't sound sympathetic to the government's plight. Like most normal people, I content with this conundrum pretty much every month. One analysis, by the Bipartisan Policy Center, suggests that once the government runs out of cash and lacks the power to further borrow, it would need to slash spending at once by as much as a whopping 44 percent. The U.S. now borrows more than 40 cents for every dollar it spends. Some conservative congressional Republicans have questioned whether there would really be a crisis if the deadline were missed. They note that the government could cut programs instead and still make interest payments at least for a while. On one hand, we're being asked to call the government's bluff and go into default. On the other had, we're being told, even if we go into default, it's not so bad. We'll just cut some government programs. Nice choice. Here's my question to that those Republicans. What makes you think that it will be any easier to reach some sort of agreement on which programs to cut after the government defaults than finding some sort of middle ground before it runs out of money? I like to think of myself as an optimistic realist. In this case, the best chance for the government to come up with some sort of palatable compromise is while it still has some options to choose from. Meanwhile, I, along with the rest of the country, will will continue find ways to survive on what I actually have.

North Dakota - A constitutional error recently discovered shows that North Dakota has never technically fit the requirements for statehood. An 82year old Grand Forks resident discovered the error in 1995 and has been been campaigning to fix North Dakota's constitution ever since. The problem lies in the state constitution's omission in requiring the governor and other top officials to take an oath of office. In failing to require these oaths, North Dakota's constitution is at odds with federal requirements established by Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, therefore making statehood illegitimate. A State Senator introduced a bill fixing the mistake that will be put to voters next spring. The thing I like about this story is that it demonstrates no matter how old you are, you have the ability to affect change. And don't look now, but boyfriend appears to be ready for his encore. The eagle eye claims he's found another error in the constitution, this time having to do with the state's eastern border. If Minnesota had a functioning government, I'm thinking the legislators might be keeping tabs on this guy to make sure it's borders don't get redrawn. If you hadn't heard, Minnesota literally shut down two weeks ago because it could hammer out a budget. Seriously, is anyone in Washington paying attention?

Traffic - I don't want to sound unsympathetic to my friends in Los Angeles, but oh my God, what is it with you and your freeways? How Angelenos are coping with "carmageddon" – the 53 hour shutdown of a crucial 10 mile segment of freeway here – is the topic of conversation no matter where you go in Los Angeles. This segment of Interstate 405 linking the Los Angeles International Airport and the San Fernando Valley, the most traveled freeway in the United States, will be closed so that engineers can demolish a bridge to create a carpool lane. Many say it’s tearing the city apart by spotlighting the entire metropolitan region’s long term over dependence on cars in place of adequate public transportation. Others say it’s bringing the city together as never before, because everyone is in the same predicament and helping each other out. Still others, like myself, are wondering what it says about these people, when with all that is going on in the world, all they can think about is how they are going to survive without a freeway for 2 days. Here's a thought. Spend some time thinking about just how petty this sounds to the rest of the world.

Sports - And then there were two. No, I'm not talking about the number of riders left in the Tour de France, but the finalists in the FIFA Women's World Cup. It took until the semifinals, but I final picked all the winners (all 2 of them). Before I roll out my final picks, let's give a shout out to the U.S.A for dispatching of a rather impressive French squad and to Japan for showing the exit to Sweden. Now then, in the third place game between France and Sweden, I'm going with France. Based on their performance against Japan, I think Sweden has run out of go-go juice for this tournament. And in the main event pitted the U.S.A. against Japan, as much as I would like to see them bring the trophy back to a ravaging homeland, I think Japan is going to meet its match against an inspired American squad.