mixed results

On Friday, "Brig. Gen. Richard Sherlock, deputy director for operational planning for the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said violence in Iraq 'has continued to decline and is at the lowest level since June 2006.'"

This morning, the Associated Press says its count of Iraqi civilian deaths in 2007 is running nearly double the number in 2006.

This is, perhaps, what they mean when they say the results of the surge of US military forces into Iraq are mixed.

things are (still) not as they seem

I posted here on alleged photo retouching of the lovely — but not lovely enough — Faith Hill.

Now, courtesy of Moby, more insight into what it takes to be picture perfect (click on the portfolio, select a beautiful person and move your cursor on and off the photo to see the cleanup.

I had a zit on my nose the day I took my senior portrait in high school. I was glad they painted it out. Maybe that's the same thing.

I have a propensity to talk and write as if things were better than they are . . . maybe that's the same thing too.

Neutralizing Al-Qaeda | a Letter from Kamp Krusty

I don't know how to add to this. Brilliant.

Dick Cheney | when you're right you're right

are Republican voters as stupid as Tom Cole thinks?

Are Republican voters as stupid as Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole thinks?

I don't believe so. I hope not.

It could have been any of a number of elected officials but it happened to be Congressman Cole I heard last weekend saying, "We are the party of small government, low taxes and a strong defense."

Really? He believes his constituents will buy that? He is relatively new to the Congress but I see he attended . . . well, look for yourself:

A former college instructor in history and politics, Cole holds a B.A. from Grinnell College, an M.A. from Yale University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma. Cole has been a Thomas Watson Fellow and a Fulbright Fellow at the University of London. He currently serves on the national Board of the Fulbright Association. He also serves on the board of the Aspen Institute.

So if he's not the dumb one, who does he think is?

I doubt Congressman Cole or anyone else would consciously settle for an ineffective government solely on the basis of it's runty size.

I doubt anyone would seriously contend that taxes too low to contribute to the common good were better than higher but measureably more beneficial taxes — any more than they would insist on only the cheapest footware and brag that they are "the family of worthless shoes."

Insisting "We are the party of strong defense" is a triumphalist jingo devoid of meaningful metrics. Everyone knows that . . . now.

I should think Congressman Cole would wish to be in the party of wildly efficient government, intelligently scaled taxation and universally effective foreign policy. I would be willing to wager a small amount that behind closed doors he would say that, or something like it, is precisely what he wants.

But not in public. Because he apparently thinks Republican voters are stupid . . . bless their hearts.

the music is not in the piano . . .

I am not here to compete with Warner Music (NYSE:WMG). I am not here to sign 300 bands because 2 will pay for the other 298. By the end of the year, we hope to have signed 6 acts. We are just utilizing our real estate to further develop artists. We sign and introduce bands through games and make them available to people globally. Young people want to take music from the game and buy it for their phone or iPod. I am in the music 2.0 business.
— Steve Schnur | Worldwide Executive of Music and Marketing, Electronic Arts | Fast Company | July 2007 | page 26

Buckminster Fuller told Mike Vance: "You never change anything by fighting it; you change things by making them obsolete through superior technology." ( Mike Vance + Diane Deacon | Think Out of the Box | Career Press | 1997 | page 138)

Jesus told this parable:

No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’” — Luke 5.36 - 39

When I think about it for a moment I see how much this has to say about yesterday's post on Emerging Grace.

[The title of this post is widely attributed to Clement Mok though, for the life of me, I can't find the source.]

Sunday Morning | Emerging Grace

Emerging Grace writes:

I didn't recognize my views in the posters that were made (elsewhere) concerning emerging church terms. So I decided to make my own posters that represent my simple understanding of emerging/missional terminology.

I hope these are encouraging to you

They are.

Here is one of my favorites . . .



The rest of Grace's images are here.

Thanks to Susan for introducing me to Grace.

how Netflix treats good customers

You think you know a company and then, out of the blue, they pull something like this . . .

Thanks a lot Netflix . . . seriously.

when Faith is not enough

Jezebel posts what they claim is the photo of Faith Hill that formed the basis for the July cover of RedBook.

Here is the list of alleged changes to the photo, including the observation, "It turns out Faith Hill looks sort of like your mom."

Meanwhile in Iraq . . .

strange bedfellows | Opium, Afghanistan + the US

According to US Ambassador to Afghanistan William Wood, Afghani growers are having a record-breaking year, harvesting 457,135 acres of opium poppies — compared to 407,715 acres last year.

A report by the Associated Press says:

Afghanistan last year accounted for 92 percent of global opium production, up from 70 percent in 2000 and 52 percent a decade earlier. With the higher yields, global opium production increased 43 percent between 2005 and 2006.

Is it just me or . . . Never mind, it's probably just me.

[photo by SuperFantastic]

futbol in America | David Beckham

New York Times, 07.14.07

Misheard Lyrics Guy | Pearl Jam

Thanks to Nashville's own Chris Hauser.