Analysis of daily attack stats in Baghdad show decline in averages

From Pajamas Media, there’s this link to Soldier’s Dad who provides a map of the districts in Baghdad along with the average daily attacks for the past 2 weeks. There’s an overall decline. Not that you’d know that from the media coverage, but the numbers are the numbers. Have a look.

I note, interestingly, that the once-lethal Sadr City – you know, the area the media held up as the example of how we couldn’t assist the Iraqis in securing their country – had precisely zero (0) attacks last week. Also note that every district but 3 saw declines. One of those 3 was steady – at an average of 1 daily attack – while the other 2 went up by less than 1. All others were lower.

Hardly what a civil war looks like.

Where’s the riot?

Something interesting happened on my way to work yesterday. As I was driving in DC’s wonderful traffic and listening to the local news station (hoping their traffic reports might guide me around the worst of the traffic snarls), a commercial came on. The very happy-sounding narrator began telling the story of Genesis. You know, the part of the Bible that describes how God made the universe. When the narrator starts up his rendition by stating that, in the beginning, “there was nothing – not even a bagel!”, you just know this isn’t going to turn out well for the story.

As the narrator continues, he pauses in various places to allow another voice-actor, playing the part of God, to speak his lines about how whatever was just created was “pretty good.” This fast-forward retelling of the Bible’s opening story culminates when the narrator tells us that God, after creating man and woman, notes that something’s missing, and it’s not bagels. It’s fun, and that means God needs to create bikes. Yes, you read that correctly: bikes. As in: bicycles. As in: here’s where “God” and the narrator put in their plug for some bike seller’s big sale and ya’ll should just come on down!

Or something to that effect.

As I listened to this commercial spot I realized several points.

• Some marketing group somewhere thought that hijacking the story of Genesis was not only not offensive, it was downright clever.
• That same group thought that having that story – and God, I might add – depicted as rather goofy was also not only not offensive, it was downright clever.
• That the production house, director, and actors clearly had no issue with making the spot.
• That the radio station advertising people had no issue with accepting the spot and running it on the air with no disclaimers about how their station respects the beliefs of all its listeners and intends no offense.