The Iraqi Shoe Thrower

(Authors warning: There is a picture of a deceased child at the bottom of this post- a casualty of the Iraq war. It is a very small picture. I included it because it just might elicit the emotional response that might make someone want to throw their shoes at the person they feel is responsible for the death of a child.)

The shoe incident was a weird one. If you haven't seen it yet, here it is. It might have been laughable if I didn't understand the symbolism of what was happening. I remember as the United States military moved through Iraq "liberating" the country one area at a time the Iraqi people were slapping paintings of Saddam with their shoes. The news outlets explained to us that this was the ultimate act of defiance and disgust. I'm not sure there is an equivalent in our culture. So was calling someone a "dog" as this journalist did to Bush. "This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is the farewell kiss, you dog," he exclaimed. I don't think that guy should have thrown his shoes at Pres. Bush. But I think I understand why he did. The cartoon below pretty much sums it up for me.

The closest I've ever been to living in a country that was under attack was September 11th. I don't want that to happen again. We lost a lot of lives that day.

The whole Iraq mess it terrible. I don't pretend to have the right answer to this war. I do, however, believe that we were mis-led about the WMD's and Iraq's potential to really hurt us as a country. I don't know. However, I'm not sure this journalist was all that upset about why we went into Iraq, he was upset about what happened after we got there.

It's impossible to determine how many lives have been lost as a result of the war. At the writing of this entry, coalition deaths have totalled 4525. The attacks on 9/11, minus the terrorists, claimed 2,973 lives. This totals 7,498. While not all of these lives are American, for the purposes of this entry we'll consider them American losses. The estimated number of Iraqi deaths since the invasion in April of 2003 is staggering. The following is an excerpt from justforeignpolicy.org :

In a country such as Iraq, where sufficient reporting mechanisms do not exist, there is a scientifically accepted way to measure demographics including death rate: a cluster survey. Cluster surveys provide reliable demographic information the wake of natural disasters, wars and famines. Cluster surveys give us the data about deaths in Darfur, accepted for example by the U.S. government as one basis for its charge of genocide. They are used by U.N. agencies charged with disaster and famine relief.
In Iraq, there have been two scientifically rigorous cluster surveys conducted since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. The first, published in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet (available in pdf), estimated that 100,000 excess Iraqi deaths had resulted from the invasion as of September 2004. The second survey, also published in The Lancet (available in pdf), updated that estimate through July 2006. Due to an escalating mortality rate, the researchers estimated that over 650,000 Iraqis had died who would not have died had the death rate remained at pre-invasion levels. Roughly 601,000 of those excess deaths were due to violence.
As with all statistical methods, the Lancet surveys come with a margin of error, as do opinion polls, for example. In the second survey, the researchers were 95 percent certain that there were between 426,000 and 794,000 excess violent deaths from March 2003 to July 2006. 601,000 is the most likely number of excess violent deaths. It is this number that our Estimator updates.
As of September 2007, a poll from the British polling firm Opinion Research Business contributed to our understanding of the Iraqi death toll, confirming the likelihood that over a million have died with an estimate of 1.2 million deaths."

I honestly don't know how reliable these numbers are. I really don't. But the cost of war for Americans has been different than it has been for the Iraqis. Here is an article that speaks to how some of the actions of the American gov't are viewed by the locals. I think I believe things are improving in Iraq, and I am hopeful that the Iraqi people in the future will enjoy the same freedoms I enjoy. I'm just really uncomfortable with the price the Iraqi's have paid in civilian lives. I'm uncomfortable, the reporter was pissed, and I'm not sure I blame him.

I know there are people that will read this that have loved ones in the US military. So do I. I'm not calling them cold-blooded killers, I just don't think we in the west ever have any understanding of what the Iraqi people have gone through. I think if my friends, neighbors, and relatives were being killed on a regular basis, I'd probably want to throw something at the leader of the country responsible too. I wanted to on 9/11. And I didn't know any of those people.

I imagine that the journalist that threw his shoes has seen things I'll likely never see. I decided NOT to post some of the more disturbing images I found of civilian casualties from the Iraq war. The girl in the picture below was 6 and is being washed in preparation for her burial. You can find the article with the picture by clicking on it. There are more pictures there too. Be forewarned- it is not a feel-good article.

God help me understand how many Iraqi lives are worth the safety and security of one American life. It seems like fuzzy math to me.

I'll take a number one, coffee medium/regular, french cruller and Boston cream...

Every New England-er has their "regular" order at Dunkin Donuts. They also have a back-up regular in case the regular doesn't work out for some reason. If you go to the same Dunks for a while, the person behind the counter even learns to recognize you and knows your order before you open your mouth to ask for it. It becomes pretty convenient. (I don't think this is possible at Stah-bucks. I found this one hilarious! And add it to the reasons to support this guy.)

For as long as I can remember, my regular has been #1. It's a coffee with 2 donuts. I used to get Hazelnut coffee back when they still brewed hazelnut flavored coffee beans. Now they use hazelnut flavored syrup which is not the same taste. The first tastes like Hazelnut coffee, the other tastes like coffee with Hazelnut syrup in it. Totally lame. So, now I simply order just a normal flavored coffee, medium/regular (which means with cream and sugar in New England but nowhere else), with my two favorite donuts- the Boston Creme and the French Cruller. Both are great donuts on their own (I actually think the French Cruller is my fav of the two) but for me, one is inadequate without the other. I am very particular about how I like my Boston Creme served to me. It's simple- place it in the bag carefully as to avoid the chocolate covering sticking to the inside of the bag and getting all over everything. (Ok, so they usually just throw it in the bag, but I fix it before any damage is done!) Eating the Boston Creme takes a bit of pre-planning too. The first bite should be over the hole where they put the creme filling in so the filling doesn't come squirting out said hole upon the first bite. That gets messy. The french cruller is simply a soft, flaky, sweet treat. And if you're lucky, you get it warm and it's a soft, flaky, warm, and gooey treat! Mmmmm...

There is a DD two blocks from my desk at work, and until recently I was going there daily for my #1. This particular DD is located inside an Exxon gas station on the corner of Park Drive and Boylston street in Boston. Many of you might recognize gas station as it uses it's land for a parking lot during Red Sox games. Things were going well until just before Halloween this year. I entered and asked for the usual.

"I'll take a number one, coffee medium/regular, with a Boston Creme and a French Cruller (pronounced cur'-ler)," I said.

"I'm sorry, we don't have French Crullers right now. We have replaced them with pumpkin donuts," replied Trevor from behind the counter. Poor Trevor. I really let him know how sad I was that of all the donuts they made chose replace my favorite. And I don't even like pumpkin flavored anything. This poor shmoe was just the messenger!

Fortunately for me, Trevor was a very customer service oriented kid and he spoke to his manager for me! Next time I was in there there was a small number of crullers specifically waiting for me! Woohoo!!! Unfortunately, I began to put on weight and had to cut down on my donut intake. I stopped going to DD's every morning. Instead, I began to walk up all of the stairs at work (44 flights a night) and only treat myself to DD on Fridays. I felt bad that Trevor had gotten me the crullers and then I stopped buying them all the time, but it was necessary to avoid gaining weight.

Well, this morning is Friday so I went down to DD's to get the regular. When I did, the kid (Isaiah) behind the counter told me the french crullers were considered "manager specials" and were not included in the #1 since they cost more. I looked at him, dumbfounded.

"No, their not," I replied.

"Yes, they are," he corrected me.

"Since when," I asked?

"They've always been. I didn't know it until recently when I got in trouble for selling them at the regular price."

"I think you need to re-check your facts," I insisted. "I've been ordering the same thing for over 20 years and the french cruller has never been anything other than a regular donut." I pointed at his co-worker, Zorah. "She sells them to me all the time! She knows!"

It was to no avail. I ended up getting a "Low fat" blueberry muffin instead. As it turns out, the muffin was far more fattening than my donut. 1 French Cruller has 150 calories. 1 "low fat" blueberry muffin has 400 calories, about 2.7 times the calories in the cruller. Aaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!
Someone at this DD has something against either me or the french cruller. I intend to do some serious investigating. Or do I?

This whole stupid situation has filled my night with a considerable amount of cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, I'm really upset by this little inconvenience. It's amazing how one little change in a 20 year old routine can mess with one's mind. On the other hand, I am very aware of how stupid my feelings are! This one little donut costs as much or more than millions of people in the world make in a day. It's shamful, really. I want to go in there and meet the manager and find out what this guy has against the cruller. He's probaby a communist! But I can't imagine how I could possible make a stink about something so dumb. I wonder what I'll do?

I'll keep you posted. I'm sure you'll be waiting with baited breath.

Wise-guy 5-year-old...

(Author's note: If for some reason you are reading this and don't know me or my family, we're about as white as it gets! That'll help understand the context of this post.)

Our son Joshua never ceases to amaze us with what comes out of his mouth. We have friends of many different races and nationalities. The following was a conversation that took place between our son Josh and a Korean friend of ours...

Josh: "Are you Chinese?"

Friend: "No, I'm Korean."

Josh: "You look Chinese."

Friend: "Well, I'm not, I'm Korean. Sometimes people make that mistake though."

Josh: "I think you're Chinese because you look Chinese. You must be Chinese!"

Friend: "Well, just because I look Chinese doesn't mean I am Chinese!"

Josh: "Oh. Well, I'm Chinese."

Friend: "No you're not."

Josh: "Yes I am. My mommy's Chinese, my daddy's Chinese, my sister's Chinese, and I'm Chinese."

Friend: "You don't look very Chinese."

Josh: "Just because I don't look Chinese doesn't mean I'm not Chinese."

End of conversation!

Stuff I Don't Get...

In my first entry titled Stuff I Don't Get... I explained that I had trouble understanding the logic behind Coors Light's advertising techniques. I'm detecting a pattern, because this post is also about advertising.

My first rant is in regards to the recent advertising campaign by Chrysler for the 2009 Dodge Ram. If you watch any sports at all, you've most likely seen commercials that show a sort of competition for people Driving Dodge Ram trucks. In order to see the content of the whole commercial, one must go to the website. This isn't the first time I've seen a commercial that tries to entice viewers to visit the website for a particular company. However, I don't think I've ever actually visited a site just to see the continuation of the commercial. This particular commercial effort however, seemed over-the-top so I decided to visit the site to see if the rest of it was just as stupid as I thought the teaser was. The teaser had these guys driving through an obstacle course that included trucks swinging like a pendulum and exploding buildings. (You can find these commercials at http://www.ramchallenge.com/.) I find these adds useless for many different reasons, but all of my pet-peeves for TV commercials boil down to this: I want you to show my why your product is of use to me. If it doesn't then you're not doing your job as an advertiser. Or you're simply clueless.

If you follow the above link, you'll note that the very first screen you come to is a large disclaimer which reads:

The following competition features actual contestants under the supervision of professional stunt drivers. Chrysler LLC, Dodge and its Agencies insist no one attempt to replicate the activity shown on this site.

I'm having a hard time understanding how that begins to make the case that I will find their trucks useful, but whatever. To summarize, there are these 8 guys broken up into teams of 2 according to their profession- 2 firefighters, 2 military men, 2 cowboys, and 2 contractors. Obviously, they are the manliest of men. The only manlier person is the host of the competition. I can't find any good way to describe him except that he looks like John Kruk's ugly brother- and even John Kruk would tell you that's not a compliment. He begins each stage of the 4-day competition by firing a sawed-off shotgun in the air. And he says "Never back down from a challenge" a lot. That's the catch-phrase for this ad campaign. The website is pretty impressive actually, and you need to watch a couple segments of video to see what I'm talking about. In short, it's a testosterone-laden 40 minutes of action movie/reality TV directed by Hollywood director/producer Tony Scott. During the race, the drivers take the trucks up and down steep inclines/declines, through a "wall of fire", avoid old cars and trucks swinging from cranes, over a bridge the drivers have to build themselves, and through an obstacle course while towing a good sized trailer among other things. In the grand finale, they drive their trucks through what appears to be an old ghost-town. As they drive by, or in some cases through these buildings they explode. I guess it's all in a days work. Or not.

Here's what I don't get...

1) Exactly who are they marketing these trucks to? Obviously they think cowboys, firefighters, military men, and contractors would find this stuff to be impressive. In fact, I think driving a truck through a course they had set up would be a lot of fun. But it's not likely to be something that will happen to me...or MOST OF THE WORLD. If they're trying to sell a lot of trucks, why don't they try to have a larger target audience?

2) How many millions of dollars did it take to produce this online commercial that most people won't ever see? I'm sure Tony Scott didn't do it for free. As far as quality goes, it's first-rate. It reminded me a lot of "24," right down to the letters that flashed across the screen. I'd like to see a Congressman ask the guys at Chrysler who gave the OK for this commercial if they really think it was the best use of their advertising budget.

Here's the weird thing- I just bought a new truck. I've taken some ribbing for it as it's kind of large and rather redneckish. (It even has a NASCAR sticker on the back window. I'll be removing that the first time I have a chance!) I'll be sure NOT to lend it to people who teased me when they need a truck. Especially those who returned my last truck with a large dent in it! I used the "truck" part of my old truck all the time. It wasn't just a vehicle to get me around. I used it for landscaping, picking up stuff at Home Depot for home projects, towing the occasional trailer, helping friends move, etc... If I didn't have a truck, I'd have to get used to it. I like owning a truck. I got a new truck because my family has outgrown my old truck and I'd like to be able to take them all with me. The new truck is a 1994 with 56,500 miles on it, reasonably priced, and in almost mint condition. It's the only truck I've ever seen with an automatic sliding rear window. I like this truck. But when looking for a new truck I never asked myself, "Can it go through a wall of fire? Will I be able to successfully navigate a gauntlet of swinging cars? Will I be able to jump through an old building just before it explodes? I hope so. I might need to some day." Because that happens to a lot of people, right?

I've rambled on this long enough... I just don't see why anyone would buy a truck due to this expensive add.

My second "I don't get it" isn't as big of a deal. It's about the Snuggie. This is just plain silly. Some will find a use for this, but please, I'm begging you, do NOT take it to any sporting event. You'll need to pause the video when the family is at the sporting event to see how silly they look. I can't imagine bringing one of these things to a curling event let alone a Patriots game.

Well, that's it for this rant. Sometimes I'm just a goof.