Touching up the x-rays

I think I've used this old joke before, but I'll try it again.

The doctor tells his patient that the x-rays show he has lung cancer and will require surgery. The patient asks how much the procedure will cost, and the doctor says $20,000. The man blanches a bit and finally says, "How much would you charge to touch up the x-rays?"

Juan Cole has a perfect example of touching up the x-rays for us:

Since the Bush administration doesn't actually have any good news on Iraq, they are just making it up. It confirms your worst suspicions. They haven't been counting victims of car bombings when they say that violence is down in Iraq! Bush administration spokesmen and officials are just saying that fewer bodies are found in the streets, victims of death squads. But the number of victims of car bombing has actually increased in this period.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government is withholding statistics on Iraqi casualties from the United Nations.

It is official: The real parts of the Iraq War are being treated as imaginary, and the imaginary parts are being treated as though they are real.