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Thursday, May 27, 2004
Just because a guy is a radical muslim cleric doesn't mean the U.S. media has to post the worst picture attainable, does it?
5/27/2004 03:09:00 PM by Todd Bacon
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Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Jason, why have you forsaken us....
NEW YORK — Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. (KKD) Tuesday reported its first quarterly net loss since going public four years ago and cut the number of planned new stores, blaming the low-carb diet craze for curbing appetites for doughnuts.
5/25/2004 04:22:00 PM by Todd Bacon
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Monday, May 24, 2004
Following is a Paul Dunham original rap, composed on a sticky note and affixed to my desk while I was out to lunch:
"Oh Todd,
Be a claims processor
Not a crossdresser,
Be a data analyzer
Not a guy fantasizer,
Try to stay cool Toddie,
Because it must be tough,
When you are such a hottie"
It's a good thing he owns his own business and isn't making his living as a lyricist.
5/24/2004 09:21:00 AM by Todd Bacon
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Saturday, May 22, 2004
Transportation
We bought one of these today.
It's a 1996 with 1600 miles. Seems to be in perfect condition.
5/22/2004 03:14:00 PM by Todd Bacon
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Friday, May 21, 2004
Jenny and I would look good on this.
But this is more sensible...
5/21/2004 12:22:00 PM by Todd Bacon
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Thursday, May 20, 2004
Ever wonder where in the world you've seen an actor/actress before?
This guy in Master and Commander:
...perplexed me, and I couldn't figure out where I'd seen him. I'm ashamed to say where I'd seen him. It was in this role:
...as Geoffrey Chaucer, in the not-so-highly-acclaimed "A Knight's Tale"
5/20/2004 09:12:00 AM by Todd Bacon
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Wednesday, May 19, 2004
"...the main source of pain with ureterolithiasis was said to be the stone moving through the small, delicate ureter scratching, scraping, gouging, and cutting as it goes."
5/19/2004 07:51:00 AM by Todd Bacon
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Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Feelings
I feel much better now that I'm not in constant pain. But my intake of water has dwindled to nothing. Need to go drink a bottle. My lovely bride tells me it's not healthy to wait until 2:00 in the afternoon to eat your first meal as it does something to your mitabbleschism. What say you?
5/18/2004 12:54:00 PM by Todd Bacon
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Monday, May 17, 2004
Painful
I think I passed a kidney stone today.
That is all.
5/17/2004 04:36:00 PM by Todd Bacon
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Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
By John Moody
I'm sorry to have to tell you this: We are apologizing too much.
Now that President Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and several top officers in our armed forces have apologized for the mistreatment of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib (search) prison, it seems only fair to ask - what is the apology for?
Don't misunderstand. There's a reason to regret what happened and make sure it doesn't occur again.
I just fear that we, as a country and society, are saying sorry with the wrong motivation. The pictures of naked prisoners tethered to leashes, contorted into human pyramids and pinioned to their cell doors are distasteful to us as we sit in our living rooms.
But what if you or I were in that prison, trying not only to guard prisoners, but extract from them information that could save a loved one's life? How heavy-handed might you become if the stakes were personal?
The soldiers and guardsmen who are accused - not yet convicted - of abusing their captives made some questionable decisions. They will probably pay for them with their military careers, their reputations, or in some cases, time behind bars.
It's important, though, not to judge all our servicemen and women by what happened in Abu Ghraib or to judge what happened there by the standards of behavior applied to civilian society.
More than a year after the U.S. invasion deposed Saddam Hussein, Iraq is one of the most dangerous places on earth. Nothing increases the chance of falling victim to that violence more than wearing an American military uniform - the same garb we profess to admire as we thank our troops for keeping us free.
Should we revoke that admiration because some small fraction of our troops took license with others' dignity? It might be worthwhile to try to put ourselves in their combat boots for a moment.
As of this writing, 717 American soldiers, Marines and guardsmen have died trying to secure Iraq's freedom. The cheers with which they were met along Baghdad's streets in April 2003 have been replaced, at least on the surface, with a shower of roadside bombs, improvised explosive devices and hand grenades.
When confronted with violence, our troops react as they are taught. They kill some of their aggressors, wound some, and arrest others.
People who fall into the latter two categories are those who are incarcerated at Abu Ghraib. Many have either killed or tried to kill the comrades, friends or barracks-mates of the troops guarding them.
How gentle could you be with the killer of your best friend? Or someone who you saw cheering that crime?
On March 31, a van of American civilians traveling through Fallujah (search) was set upon by a band of Iraqi thugs. They were there to help the country to its feet.
In gratitude for that work, their vehicle was set on fire, they were dragged from it and hacked to pieces, and their bodies were dragged through the streets and strung from a bridge.
Many TV networks, including Fox News, deemed the pictures too shocking to air. Fox also heavily censored a videotape of torture sessions carried out by Saddam's regime.
In retrospect, that may have been a mistake. Without showing the charred bodies of Americans dangling in ignominy, or the lopped off-arms of justice Saddam-style, how can we judge the pictures we are now clucking over?
Was one worse than the other? Where was the outrage, after Fallujah, from members of Congress and other self-appointed mullahs of morality? Do we expect American soldiers to be morally superior to the people who are trying to kill them, and at the same time win a war in which there are no rules of conduct for one side? Does that somehow smack of ... racism?
Americans are living in a split-screen world of war and wealth. Since 9/11, we have conducted our lives with the nervous knowledge that we can be reached, injured and killed by fanatics who do not know us but wish us dead. For some months now, the reality of terrorism has been seen in other places: Bali, Madrid and day after day after day, Iraq.
Meanwhile, millions tut-tut over the exposed breast of an entertainer on the 50-yard line, willing themselves to ignore the amputated limbs and splattered brain matter of men and women in our nation's service.
Others fret as gasoline prices near 50 percent of what they are in Europe. Fans cry real tears because a sitcom is ending. We shriek with indignation that Iraqi suspects are humiliated, but forget the specter of Fallujah.
We can't have it both ways, I'm sorry to say. See? I'm getting the hang of this apology thing. It's a pity, isn't it?
5/11/2004 07:56:00 AM by Todd Bacon
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Thursday, May 06, 2004
Worker has accident with nail gun...
5/06/2004 11:50:00 AM by Todd Bacon
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Monday, May 03, 2004
At Jacob's soccer game this Saturday I went over to congratulate him on scoring a goal after the coach switched him out with the other rotation of kids. He was hanging his head and sitting sort of across from the other three kids (two girls, one boy). As I walked up I heard the boy saying, "He's just selfish."
Then as I walked up one of the girls said, "He eats grass!" Jacob responded with "Quitit." I noticed he was rubbing his eyes and was obviously hurt. I ignored the girl at first and said, "Great job Jacob! You scored again!" and offered him some more of what I'm wondering should be ruled an illegal substance for Jacob during soccer games: Coke. The one bratty little girl said again something about Jacob eating grass, and the other girl chirped in with "Yeah." The kicker is that there was another adult sitting there with them and had said nothing. I asked the girls if they thought Jacob looked happy and asked them why they weren't being kind. The little girl said, "He does. He eats grass - my mom's the coach - and she saw him put grass in his mouth." So I plucked a blade of grass, "What, you mean like this?" and put it in my mouth like a toothpick. "Ewwww!, you don't know what's on it!" I asked them, "Who made this grass?" The not so mouthy little girl without pause said, "God." Anyway, I mentioned how God made the grass and God created us and we should be kind to one another and they are a team and they should talk nicely to their teammates and encourage one another and they are the BLUE TEAM! etc. The smart-mouthed coaches kid warmed up to the idea after a bit, and acknowledged that yes, she doesn't like it when her brother teases her. Jacob was beaming by the time I left to go back and sit down.
Jacob asked me later that day while riding by on his bike, "Daddy, you know why I was looking down when you came over?"
"Why's that buddy?"
"Cause I was crying and I didn't want them to see me."
Ouch. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy.
This was a minor battle, but it's more evidence that we are in a world at war.
5/03/2004 10:46:00 AM by Todd Bacon
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