Bob Woodruff is the man

I couldn't tear myself away from the TV last night as I watched footage of ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff make his impressive 13-month recovery from a bomb injury that ripped off part of his skull while he was covering the Iraq war.

What makes the entire special so moving is that only part of it focuses on Woodruff's amazing recovery. The second half of the special is dedicated to America's treatment of injured soldiers — some of whom weren't as fortunate as Woodruff — and the widening gaps between the opinions of the Defense Department and the injured.

Example: The Department of Defense reports about 23,000 nonfatal battlefield casualties among about 1.5 million soldiers who have reported to Iraq and Afghanistan, but according to Woodruff, an internal document states that over 200,000 of these soldiers have sought medical care.

When Woodruff approached Veterans Affairs Secretary James Nicholson with these figures -- including some 73,000 reports of mental disorders and about 61,000 nervous system diseases -- Nicholson began his response with “A lot of them come in for dental problems."

Think Progress has video of that awkward exchange here.

Last I checked, the worst root canal isn't quite comparable to Traumatic Brain Injury.

Anyway, the show is gripping. If you have 40 minutes, I highly recommend watching the entire ABC News special here.

Support Our Troops: The Show-Don't-Tell version

No matter what your stance on the Iraq war -- or any war -- this is a short, powerful ABC News video that features a lot of selfless people, including veteran Bert Brady. (I promise it's more moving than depressing.)

Regardless of your personal timeline for American troops in Iraq or Afghanistan, let's hope all of them get home safely.

More fun than any Chia Pet

Still looking for a last-minute holiday gift? Vintage "SNL" has a suggestion.



Makes a great gift! Four quick thoughts:

1. Watch it again, listening only to the background music. How great is that?!

2. Since I first saw this sketch in 1990, I've always loved how Mike Myers totally hams it up with only four words with which to work. I also remember the first "SNL" skit that my siblings and I took notice of this Myers fellow: "Ten Beatles Classics You Kind of Know the Words to." In that one, he does a great air-bass-guitar riff for "Get Back."

3. More than 16 years later, "Happy Fun Ball" is surprisingly timely with references to a war in Iraq (albeit Desert Storm) as well as a list of medical disclaimers about product use -- an ironic predecessor to today's commercials advertising prescription medication. I picture one of the comedy writers back then saying, "Hey, let's have one of the potential side effects be 'an erection lasting four or more hours!'", only to be shot down by another with, "Nah, that's too over the top. Who'd believe that?"

4. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

Google knows what we searched for last summer

Props to my friend Valentina for pointing out this New York Times article, which explores the creepy/awesome trend of... Google Trends.

This engine graphs the number of times comparative terms have been searched as far back as 2004, then pinpoints surges in the data, gives news-related reasons for peaks and valleys, and shows how trends differ in top cities.

Some interesting examples I tried out:

1. Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Devil Rays

2. Beatles, Rolling Stones

3. Katharine McPhee, Taylor Hicks, Elliott Yamin, Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler (2006 only)

4. John Kerry, George Bush, Iraq

5. Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, Futurama

6. Google Maps, Google News, Google Trends (2006 only)

Creepy/awesome!