bad news in the trib

At the IHOP this morning, I bought a newspaper and began the search for promising yard sales. On my way to the classifieds, I scanned through the paper and read three articles that were disturbing and outrageous, each in its own way.

The first article on B1 of the Trib is titled, "Racist or just naive? Obama toy fuels furor" and is an article about a West Jordan couple who have developed "The Sock Obama", which is for sale on their website. This toy is a sock monkey. Yes, you read right, it's one of those sock monkeys kids had years ago but this one comes with black hair and a suit. The couple who developed the toy(?) said they were "saddened that some individuals have chosen to misinterpret our plush toy. It is not, nor has it ever been our objective to hurt, dismay or anger anyone. We guess there is an element of naivete on our part, we simply made a casual and affectionate observation one night, and a charming association between a candidate and a toy we had when we were little." wow.

The other two articles on page B6 are titled, "Father held after tiny infant was beaten, blinded" and "Cops: Man kicked, strangled son, 4". About the first article, the only two things I will say are that the infant was first injured at three weeks and again at six weeks and the father is a 22-year-old man from Provo.

The article about a 42-year-old Pleasant Grove man who beat up his four-year-old, says that "the boy told police his father bit his ear, covered his mouth and nose, threw him on a bed and kicked him in the stomach. He told police his dad was upset because his little brother was crying. The father admitted to stopping his son from breathing by covering his face, but said he thought he kicked him in the neck rather than in the stomach."

What the hell is going on with these people? And seriously, does the 42-year-old really think it would be better if he meant to kick his four-year-old in the neck, not the stomach, especially after he covered the boy's face and stopped his breathing?