What Caught My Eye Today - Norway, Political Campaigns, Olympics and the Tour de France

Norway - Norway's government invoked emergency measures to order striking oil workers to return to their jobs. More on why they were on strike in a moment. After two weeks without progress, the government ordered the unions into arbitration, and forbade any further work stoppages for two years. The strike cut Norway's oil production by 13%, sending the international price to more than $101 a barrel. As of this posting, the price of oil was just shy of $89, so I guess things have settled down on that front. I find myself conflicted whenever I read about labor disputes such as this. On one hand, I fully support the workers' right to look after themselves as a collective body, after all, if the 1% can look after its interests why shouldn't the rest of us? But then, you see what these guys are on strike for. It seems these oil workers are looking to retire will full pensions at age 62, five years earlier than Norway's general population. And, by the way, Norwegian oil workers are the highest paid in the global oil industry, working 4 months annually and earning an average of $180,000. I will readily admit that I have no clue how demanding off shore oil drilling is. I'm sure it is rather unpleasant. However, it is sort of hard to muster up much sympathy for a group of workers already at the top of their food chain.

Political Campaigns - You all better sit down for this next one. It seems we have accusations of dishonesty related to this year's U.S. presidential race. Yeah, I know. How rare is this? Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama of running a campaign based on "falsehood and dishonesty" and brushed aside suggestions, including from some Republicans, that he should release more years of tax returns, arguing it would only give more ammunition to the Obama campaign. Romney lashed out at the Obama team's "dishonest" attacks on his business record, but the president again questioned his rival's credentials and Democrats repeated charges that the Republican flag-bearer may have committed a felony over his Bain Capital disclosures. Romney maintains he quit the day-to-day running of Bain in February 1999 and was not making the decisions when companies it owned subsequently laid off US workers and "outsourced" jobs to plants in Mexico and China. But a recent Boston Globe report revealed that filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission still listed him as Bain's chief executive between 1999 and 2002. Doesn't it make you all warm and fuzzy inside that the next leader of the free world has time to engage is this sort of nonsense? First to Romney. Dude, grow a freaking backbone already. You don't see Obama whining about the unsubstantiated claims that Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have made up to fill their airwaves, have you? As for the President. Sure, all things are fair in love, war and politics, and obviously, this story is putting Romney on the defensive...but that doesn't make it right. I have an election to win, I get that. I was just sort of hoping you wouldn't have to resort to the same tactics as the other guys.

Olympics - The dominance of the United States for much of modern Olympic Games history has continued unabated, with Americans enjoying some level of success in virtually every sporting discipline. I sense a "but" coming up here. Yet there are three events coming up in London this summer where the U.S. has drawn a complete blank, with no medals won, by men or women, in any Olympics. Ever. And there it is. While American athletes have been largely unrivalled on the track, in the pool and on the basketball court, the Star Spangled Banner has never been hoisted to celebrate overall glory or even a top three finish in badminton, table tennis or handball. Clearly, the guys at the International Olympic Committee just don't get it. It's not really a sport if the U.S. isn't good at it. Don't believe me? I bet you if we showed the sort of dominance that Spain has over the past few years, soccer would enjoy a lot more popularity than it does now.

Tour de France - And finally, a glimmer of hope that sportsmanship and fair play are not dead yet... An appalling act of sabotage from an unidentified person in the crowd lining the road at the Tour de France triggered an extraordinary display of sportsmanship from some of the leaders of the race. Carpet tacks were strewn across the road at the summit of the final climb in Sunday's stage, causing defending champion Cadel Evans and more than 30 other riders in the peloton to suffer tire punctures. Overall race leader Bradley Wiggins decided to slow the pace over the final 25 miles of the race to allow him to catch up. Wiggins could have used Evans' misfortune as an opportunity to all but eliminate one of his chief adversaries in this year's Tour, but instead he and the rest of Team Sky eased their tempo and encouraged the rest of the peloton to follow suit. As a result of the sportsmanship of Wiggins and the other leaders, Evans remains in the same position he was entering the day — fourth overall and 3:19 out of first place. Skeptics will probably argue that Wiggins waited because no one in front of him threatened his overall position in the race. Boyfriend is, in all likelihood going to win the Tour de France regardless of what he did yesterday, but that is beside the point if you ask me. Yes, there is always a winner; that's the nature of athletic competition. But every once and a while sport produces a moment that transcends winners and losers. This was one of those moments and should be celebrated. Cheers, Bradley. Well done.