Ted's Soapbox 2.0

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Yesterday Shane had a baseball game, our friend, Jason, also went to watch the game. I got a sunburn on my head legs and face from sitting in the stands. Next time I have to remember my hat to protect my dome.

Shane has been doing really good at picking out what group on on the satellite radio. He always remembers Rush, which is my favorite, but he is also getting good at getting other groups also. At least he stop listening to (C)Rap music.

Yesterday morning I cut the grass, I had to do two passes since it was so long it just kept getting under the mower deck if I went to low with it. I guess I will have to start cutting twice a week now. After the game I had some rock to move in the back yard from the pond, and stupid me decided to try and do it myself. Of course, I pulled something in my back and felt like a total ass for not asking for help.

I am back to working on Sunday’s this month. It sucks becasue being off on Friday and Saturday will not allow me to see Dawnell very much on her off days but it will give each of us two alone days with Shane.

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Shame Shame

Israel has approved the construction of almost 900 new homes in East Jerusalem, a move that could hinder international efforts to secure a peace deal by year’s end.

The Palestinians hope to make East Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state.

A spokesman for Israeli Housing Minister Zeev Boim said his office will issue a tender this week for the construction of 884 houses, 121 of them in Har Homa. The rest will be in Pisgat Zeev.

Both are neighborhoods annexed by Israel in 1967. The housing ministry said it timed the issuance of the permits to coincide with the 41st anniversary of the annexation.

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THIS IS AMERICA?

On leave from the violence he had survived in the war in Iraq, a young Marine was so wary of crime on the streets of his own home town that he carried only $8 to avoid becoming a robbery target.

Despite his caution, Lance Cpl. Robert Crutchfield, 21, was shot point-blank in the neck during a robbery at a bus stop. Feeding and breathing tubes kept him alive 4 1/2 months, until he died of an infection on May 18.

It is an awful story,” said Alberta Holt, the young Marine’s aunt and his legal guardian when he was a teenager determined to flee a troubled Cleveland school for safer surroundings in the suburbs.

Crutchfield was attacked on Jan. 5 while he and his girlfriend were waiting for a bus. He had heeded the warnings of commanders that a Marine on leave might be seen as a prime robbery target with a pocketful of money, so he only carried $8, his military ID card and a bank card.

“They took it, turned his pockets inside out, took what he had and told him since he was a Marine and didn’t have any money he didn’t deserve to live. They put the gun to his neck and shot him,” Holt told The Associated Press.

Crutchfield knew he was returning to Iraq for another tour of duty, but had hesitated to tell his family until he was nearing the end of his 30-day leave.

When Crutchfield’s body was laid out Tuesday in the Sacrificial Missionary Baptist Church, his white military dress hat was tugged down close to his eyes to conceal the skull flap that had been kept open to relieve swelling in his brain.

Marines provided an honor guard at his funeral service and carried the casket to his grave at the Western Reserve National Cemetery near Akron.

He was buried there on the same day as a Vietnam veteran, two veterans from World War II and three from Korea.

***Another notch for Bush’s belt***

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“Neither in French, nor in English, nor in Mexican.”

George W. Bush
April 21, 2001
The President’s response when asked if he would answer a reporter’s question. Summit of the Americas, Quebec City, Canada.

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233 Days Left
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Number of Operations Iraq Freedom and Enduring
Freedom casualties as confirmed by U.S. Central
Command: 4574

Its more than just a number