"Rudy Giuliani is probably the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency. There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11." - Joe Biden

Nutjobs lose suit

The Westboro Baptist Church - the "God Hates Fags" folks - have lost a lawsuit for 11 million dollars.

One thing that struck me - the article says that have 75 members. I've heard of them. You heard of them. Everybody in the country has heard of them. And they have 75 members.

It shows that in this country an organization can get enormous publicity just by being completely disgusting - and it doesn't require any real following or influence at all.

There's something very wrong with that.

Immunity

WASHINGTON - The State Department promised Blackwater USA bodyguards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians, The Associated Press has learned.

The immunity deal has delayed a criminal inquiry into the Sept. 16 killings and could undermine any effort to prosecute security contractors for their role in the incident that has infuriated the Iraqi government.

This seems to make little sense. If someone if granted immunity, don't there have to be written statements? How the hell is it possible to be unsure whether the State Department granted someone immunity or not?

In the second place, the press and the Democrats are so damned disgraceful that if Bush made an announcement this afternoon that he was unilaterally granting immunity to every member of his administration for anything they ever did or shall do, there would be hardly a peep.

Rudy the serial exaggerator.

Rumsfeld Charged With Torture

Hey, Democrats: Do you have any idea how pathetic it looks for the French to have more balls than you do?

NEW YORK - Donald Rumsfeld, the former U.S. secretary of defense, is facing criminal charges in France for ordering the torture of prisoners in Iraq and at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Last week, some of the world’s leading human rights law groups filed a complaint before a French court charging Rumsfeld with authorizing and ordering torture.

This is not going away, even if the Democrats run away from it; the whole damned world is furious.

Could imagine seeing an ex-President of the United States formally charged with war crimes?

I'm starting to think that it will happen.

I believe in God and Senator Dodd

Firedoglake has the transcript of remarks by Chris Dodd on the floor of the Senate.

I think everybody who reads this blog should go read that.

Bush rebukes FEMA for behaving like him

The White House has rebuked FEMA for trying to manipulate the news.

Are they kidding?

What FEMA did is EXACTLY the sort of thing the Bush Administration has been doing since day one, and everybody knows it. Jeff Gannon anyone?

The administration says they didn't know about it? Maybe, maybe not. But FEMA had every reason to believe that they would have no problem with it, because it's Standard Operating Procedure.

And the only reason that they DO claim to have a problem with it is because they were CAUGHT.

FEMA fakes news conference

Before Bush got a hold of it and "reformed" it, FEMA was one federal agency that did its job professionally and well.

But if you start with the assumption that the Government CAN'T do a good job, then the government you run WON'T. It will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and be UNABLE to do a good job. And the Bush administration is proof of that.

FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA

FEMA has truly learned the lessons of Katrina. Even its handling of the media has improved dramatically. For example, as the California wildfires raged Tuesday, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy administrator, had a 1 p.m. news briefing...

He was apparently quite familiar with the reporters -- in one case, he appears to say "Mike" and points to a reporter -- and was asked an oddly in-house question about "what it means to have an emergency declaration as opposed to a major disaster declaration" signed by the president. He once again explained smoothly.

Of course, that could be because the questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/25/AR2007102502488.html

Message from Chris Dodd

This was in my email:

Dear Iggy:

Let's get right to it and talk about how we stop retroactive telecommunications immunity from becoming law.

The way I see it, there are three ways to get this provision stripped from the final bill:

1.) The first step would be to make sure the idea doesn't make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- where it will be considered shortly.

If we can get it stripped there, it will have to be offered as an amendment to the overall bill where it will be a lot easier to get 41 votes against retroactive immunity than 41 to sustain my filibuster if necessary.

Take a moment and call up members of the committee, let me know what they said, and join others in tracking our progress in stopping the provision right there.

http://chrisdodd.com/immunity

The other two ways:

2.) If retroactive immunity does make it out of committee, Senate leadership can honor the hold I've placed on any legislation that includes retroactive immunity.

3.) If leadership does not honor my hold, I remain committed to filibustering, and working to get the 41 votes necessary to maintain it.

This has the potential to be a long fight -- so let's build a solid foundation for our effort today by asking members of the Judiciary Committee to vote against any FISA bill that includes retroactive amnesty.

http://chrisdodd.com/immunity

I'd like to see a little more spine, frankly, on these issues. People tell us they want to lead, but a little leadership right now would certainly be welcomed on these questions.

I don't want to, but I'm not afraid to do this alone.

Chris

Adios, you nutjobs.

The entire all-Republican governing body of Lyndhurst, NJ is switching to Democrat.

Hey, THAT'S a good sign for the GOPs future.

Maybe MORE money will actually fill this hole

Bush wants ANOTHER 42 billion dollars for the war.

That doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that we actually have a Democratic Congress that can say, "NO."

I'll give you odds that they won't. Any takers? Didn't think so.

Here's Reid:

"In the coming weeks, we will hold it up to the light of day and fight for the change of strategy and redeployment of troops that is long overdue."

"The entire war in Iraq is being paid for with borrowed money."

"It's no wonder the American people are frustrated. We've been fighting for America's priorities, while the president continues investing only in his failed war strategy. He wants us to come up with another $200 billion and just sign off on it -- that's what he said today."

Yes, Harry, that's what he said today. So are you going talk tough, complain and then - just sign off on it?

I bet you will.

For God's sake, prove me wrong.

Bang, Bang, Mona's Silver Hammer

Good job, lady. Watch how fast they get their asses there next time.

Mona Shaw, 75, and her husband, Don, say they had an appointment in August for a Comcast technician to come to their Bristow home to install the company's heavily advertised Triple Play phone, Internet and cable service.

The Shaws say no one came all day, and the technician who showed up two days later left without finishing the setup. Two days after that, Comcast cut off all their service.

At the Comcast office in Manassas later that day, they waited for a manager for two hours before being told the manager had left for the day, the Shaws say.

Shaw, a churchgoing secretary of the local AARP branch, returned the next Monday — with a hammer.

"I smashed a keyboard, knocked over a monitor ... and I went to hit the telephone," Shaw said. "I figured, 'Hey, my telephone is screwed up, so is yours.'"

Good.

Rep. Stark - whose statement below has made the Republicans clutch their pearls and reach for the smelling salts - has refused to retract his statement. In fact, he kept pushing.

When asked if he would take back any of his statements, Stark told KCBS “Absolutely not. I may have dishonored the commander in chief, but I think he’s done pretty well to dishonor himself without any help from me.”

Rep. Pete Stark on SChip

First of all - I'm just amazed they can't figure out - the Republicans are worried we can't pay for insuring an additional 10 million children. They sure don't care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal war in Iraq. Where ya gonna get that money? You going to tell us lies like you're telling us today? Is that how you're going to fund the war?

You don't have money to fund the health of children. But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President's amusement. This bill would provide healthcare for 10 million children and unlike the President's own kids, these children can't see a doctor or receive necessary care...

But President Bush's statements about children's health shouldn't be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq. The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up. In Iraq, in the United States and in Congress.

Holy crap.

Old Blackwater, get your ass out of the country.

An Iraqi probe has found that Blackwater committed "unprovoked and random killing, and they are demanding that the mercenaries leave.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki asked the U.S. State Department to "pull Blackwater out of Iraq," after an Iraqi probe concluded that the private contractors committed unprovoked and random killings in a September 16 shooting, an adviser to al-Maliki told CNN.

Since they'e suppose to be self-government and all that, do you think Bush will honor this request?

We'll see.

During his townhall meeting in Arkansas yesterday, “not a single questioner criticized” President Bush. With polls showing Bush’s disapproval at record highs, the White House is staging “let-Bush-be-Bush events” in front of “friendly audiences” with “increasing frequency.” - ThinkProgress

Isn't it pathetic that the President of the United States is afraid of being criticized to his face?

And afraid of the citizens who employ him?

Hokey Pokey, my ass. THIS is what it's all about.

So saith Retired General Abizaid.

“Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” Abizaid said of the Iraq campaign early on in the talk.

“We’ve treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations,” the retired general said. “Our message to them is: Guys, keep your pumps open, prices low, be nice to the Israelis and you can do whatever you want out back. Osama and 9/11 is the distilled essence that represents everything going on out back.”

Bethany

The Real Rudy

The story of the radios.

A good reason to vote for Rudy.

Campaigning in Exeter, New Hampshire Sunday, the New York Republican [Rudy] was asked by a young questioner what he would do if aliens attacked the United States, according to the Associated Press.

"Of all the things that can happen in this world, we'll be prepared for that. Yes we will," Giuliani said, noting that he had never fielded a question about potential attacks from outer space before.

I'm willing to bet that nobody else running would stand there and claim to be ready for an attack from outer space.

NOBODY else could possibly be that full of themselves.

=sigh= Too Bad He Doesn't Stand A Chance

"Now the people in the Administration of George Bush better remember their Miranda rights, because when I'm elected President I'm going to see that they are arrested. I'm not kidding here! I want to let you to know something; how I feel about what's happened to our country. We have been led into a war based upon lies -- an unjust a war. We've seen our civil liberties taken away because of lies. The President, the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense are all part of this. They're going to be held accountable under the law. If someone runs a traffic light, they'll get a ticket here. There are a million dead Iraqis and almost 4,000 dead American soldiers as a result of this war. Where is the accountability? What's happened is that our constitution is being torn up. And in this toxic environment, the Administration, in its never-ending quest for more scapegoats, focuses on immigrants. You know it and I know it. And we see, unfortunately, the failure of the Democratic Party to stand up to this Administration." - -DENNIS KUCINICH

"Good Germans"

"Our humanity has been compromised by those who use Gestapo tactics in our war. The longer we stand idly by while they do so, the more we resemble those “good Germans” who professed ignorance of their own Gestapo."

Frank Rich's column must be read.

Bush was spying illegally before 9/11

Well, well, well. The former head of Qwest Communications claims that the Bush administration pressured him to help them spy on Americans without a warrant. Six months before 9/11. Apparently, Nacchio declined because he thought it might be illegal, and the Bushies retaliated by bringing insider trading charges against him.

And lest you think that this is just an accusation being made by a guy trying to beat the rap, the same sort of accusation was made regarding Verizon, which started building a spying facility just days after Bush's inauguration.

This basically means that Bush's claim that 9/11 made him think it was necessary to spy on Americans was bullshit. Bush began spying on Americans almost immediately after being inaugurated. 9/11 wasn't the cause. Like so many other things, it was the EXCUSE used to justify was Bush wanted to do anyway.

In addition, Kagro X makes this terrific point:

But it's not just that. If Qwest's competitors were already abetting this bloodless(?) coup before 9/11, then the "administration's" domestic spying not only has little if anything to do with response to terrorism, but it also objectively failed to prevent 9/11.

You think this little tidbit might slow Congress down and make them hesitate a bit about giving retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies? And decide that maybe letting Bush spy on Americans in the name of protecting us is really, really stupid?

More here, here, and here.

Blackwater drew guns on US soldiers

This crap should be ALL OVER the news. The first sentence speaks for me as well as the colonel. And these shits are not answerable to US or Iraqi law. They are answerable to NO law.

The colonel was furious. "Can you believe it? They actually drew their weapons on U.S. soldiers." He was describing a 2006 car accident, in which an SUV full of Blackwater operatives had crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee on a street in Baghdad's Green Zone. The colonel, who was involved in a follow-up investigation and spoke on the condition he not be named, said the Blackwater guards disarmed the U.S. Army soldiers and made them lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle the SUV. His account was confirmed by the head of another private security company.

Responsible for guarding top U.S. officials in Iraq, Blackwater operatives are often accused of playing by their own rules. Unlike nearly everyone else who enters the Green Zone, said an American soldier who guards a gate, Blackwater gunmen refuse to stop and clear their weapons of live ammunition once inside. One military contractor, who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution in his industry, recounted the story of a Blackwater operative who answered a Marine officer's order to put his pistol on safety when entering a base post office by saying, "This is my safety," and wiggling his trigger finger in the air. "Their attitude was, 'We're f---ing security; we don't have to answer to anybody'."

Breaking: Right-Wingers' Heads Explode

Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize

From BoingBoing reader Mark Malamud.

Idiots

Part of the problem with America is that morons like THIS are on television, instead of babbling on street corners where they belong:

John Gibson, Fox News.

On the October 10 broadcast of his nationally syndicated Fox News Radio show, while discussing 14-year-old Asa H. Coon, who earlier that day shot four people at his Cleveland high school before killing himself, Fox News host John Gibson asserted that "because the school is very heavily African-American, I did leap to a conclusion" that "the shooter might have been African-American." Gibson went on to say that he "knew this was not a classic hip-hop shooting" once he learned Coon killed himself. Gibson continued: "Hip-hoppers do not kill themselves. They walk away. Now, I didn't need to hear the kid was white with blond hair. Once he'd shot himself in the head, no hip-hopper." Gibson later stated, "I know the shooter was white. I knew it as soon as he shot himself. Hip-hoppers don't do that. They shoot and move on to shoot again." Gibson added: "I know there's a few of you who want to call me racist. But when you do, remind -- let me remind you, African-Americans are dying in major cities because people won't face this problem."

After a commercial break, Gibson repeated his assertion: "All right, it turns out, though, the kid in Cleveland who did the shooting today -- three teachers, three students -- white." Gibson added: "And I could tell right away 'cause he killed himself. Black shooters don't do that; they shoot and move on."

Bush has broken the army

Just like he's broken everything else.

Army needs three to four years to recover from Iraq

Three to four years. And we're still there.

Hope nothing happens BEFORE then, eh?

The front runner for the GOP Presidential nomination:

You CAN'T make this up.

I have a good Congressman

Jerry Nadler. Who is an extremely rare thing: a Congressman who actually knows and believes in the Constitution.

Didja notice?

That when it comes to helping sick kids, the Republicans claim that someone making $60,000 a year is rich?

But when it came to who should get a tax cut, they SWORE that someone making $200,000 a year was struggling just to get by?

Real Americans

WWII interrogators all got together yesterday for the first time in decades.

THOSE guys - who fought in a war that was actually necessary, under a REAL Commander-In-Chief, and who SUCCEEDED - apparently don't think much of the crap that's going on now.

"We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with their torture," said Henry Kolm, 90, an MIT physicist who had been assigned to play chess in Germany with Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess.

Several of the veterans, all men in their 80s and 90s, denounced the controversial techniques. And when the time came for them to accept honors from the Army's Freedom Team Salute, one veteran refused, citing his opposition to the war in Iraq and procedures that have been used at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

"I feel like the military is using us to say, 'We did spooky stuff then, so it's okay to do it now,' " said Arno Mayer, 81, a professor of European history at Princeton University.

When Peter Weiss, 82, went up to receive his award, he commandeered the microphone and gave his piece.

"I am deeply honored to be here, but I want to make it clear that my presence here is not in support of the current war," said Weiss, chairman of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy and a human rights and trademark lawyer in New York City.

Nearly 4,000 prisoners of war, most of them German scientists and submariners, were brought in for questioning for days, even weeks, before their presence was reported to the Red Cross, a process that did not comply with the Geneva Conventions. Many of the interrogators were refugees from the Third Reich.

"We did it with a certain amount of respect and justice," said John Gunther Dean, 81, who became a career Foreign Service officer and ambassador to Denmark.

The interrogators had standards that remain a source of pride and honor.

"During the many interrogations, I never laid hands on anyone," said George Frenkel, 87, of Kensington. "We extracted information in a battle of the wits. I'm proud to say I never compromised my humanity."

"I never compromised my humanity."

Why are people now so hesitant to speak of something as evil as torture in such clear, blunt terms?

The White House Leaked Spy Info

Can you imagine the SCREAMING from the right-wing if this had been done by a Democrat?

The Bin Laden video from a month ago was provided by the intelligence company to the Bush Administration on the condition that it not be revealed for security reasons.

They released it to the press IMMEDIATELY.

"The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group's communications network."

That video was released for political reasons. As USUAL with this administration, politics is the most imporant thing that there is - FAR more important than national security.

I think Congress should subpoena everyone in sight and find out who the hell did this.

And if the Democrats possessed a single ball among them, they'd be demanding some answers.

Here's Jon Stewart on the SCHIP veto.

Child Health Day, 2007

Declared by Bush two days before vetoing the coverage of SCHIP.

It's hard to find words to describe just what a totally empty person he is.

Blackwater faulted by U.S. military

As you probably know, right-wingers decide whether an action is right or wrong on the basis of who does it, not what they do.

This gives them problems. Perhaps their heads will explode.

Blackwater faulted by U.S. military

Fri Oct 5, 5:24 AM ET

U.S. military reports from the scene of a shooting incident in Baghdad involving security contractor Blackwater indicates its guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

At least 11 Iraqis were killed in the September 16 incident, which has outraged Iraqis who see the firm as a private army which acts with impunity.

Citing a senior U.S. military official, the Post said the military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault.

"It was obviously excessive. It was obviously wrong," a U.S. military official speaking on condition of anonymity told the newspaper.

"The civilians that were fired upon, they didn't have any weapons to fire back at them. And none of the IP (Iraqi police) or any of the local security forces fired back at them," the official was quoted as saying.

The Blackwater guards appeared to have fired grenade launchers in addition to machine guns, the official told the Post. He said U.S. soldiers had reviewed statements from eyewitnesses and video footage recorded at the scene.

An Iraqi Interior Ministry official and five eyewitnesses described a second deadly shooting involving the same Blackwater guards minutes after the incident in Nisoor Square, the Post reported.

The FBI is leading a State Department investigation of the incident, which occurred as Blackwater escorted a diplomatic convoy in western Baghdad. The Pentagon and a joint U.S.-Iraqi team are also looking into the incident.

North Carolina-based Blackwater has said its guards reacted lawfully to an attack on the convoy they were protecting.

In previously unpublished remarks prepared for delivery at a congressional hearing, Blackwater Chairman Erik Prince said the Blackwater guards "came under small-arms fire" and "returned fire at threatening targets," the Post reported.

Portions of the remarks dealing with the incident were left out of his testimony after the Justice Department warned Blackwater the incident was under investigation, it reported.

The Post did not say how they obtained these remarks.

Blackwater is also under scrutiny over other shooting incidents involving Iraqis.

Whipped

I don't like to use the word "whipped" (as in "pussy-whipped"). It's such a sexist, misogynistic, shallow term.

Occasionally, though, it fits.

Rudy answers his calling - and his wife's, too
Dan Janison

When Rudy Giuliani reached into his jacket, pulled out a cell phone and took a call from his wife during his speech to the National Rifle Association, skeptics suspected a setup. They even questioned whether Judith Giuliani was really on the other end of the line.

A backer and former aide of Giuliani was asked if this was indeed just political stagecraft.

"No," the source chuckled convincingly. "The truth is worse than that.

"When she calls he must answer, or else it will be, 'I called you, why didn't you pick up?'" insisted the supporter, who spoke only if unidentified. "He must pick up that phone no matter what. That's her line to call on. If you recall, when the phone rang, he knew it was her. She calls all the time."

"For Rudy, this buys peace," the source added. If he didn't answer, "there would be hell to pay. I think she'll call him during his first State of the Union."

Torture Boy Rises Again

So our resigned and disgraced ex-Attorney General secretly approved torture while pretending not to.

Maybe Gonzales should get his ass thrown into Guantanamo.

Here's something from the American Freedom Campaign. And yes, I'm signing it in the truly insane and delusional hope that it might do some good:

Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) signed the American Freedom Pledge yesterday, expressing his commitment to protecting and defending the Constitution. With Senator Obama's pledge, all of the Democratic presidential candidates except Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) have now either signed the pledge or have provided the American Freedom Campaign Action Fund with a detailed statement addressing the issues described in the American Freedom Campaign Agenda. (The full agenda is included at the bottom of this release.)

The American Freedom Campaign (AFC) Action Fund is encouraging all candidates to sign this pledge, the text of which is as follows:

"We are Americans, and in our America we do not torture, we do not imprison people without charge or legal remedy, we do not tap people's phones and emails without a court order, and above all we do not give any President unchecked power.

"I pledge to fight to protect and defend the Constitution from attack by any President."

The Campaign also sent letters in August to the announced Republican presidential candidates. None of the Republican candidates have provided AFC with a response. Earlier this year, however, Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) signed a similar pledge circulated by the American Freedom Agenda, an organization formed by conservative leaders, including former Reagan official Bruce Fein and former congressman Bob Barr.

For more details about the American Freedom Campaign Action Fund's presidential pledge campaign, including the written responses from two of the candidates, please visit this page.

The mission of the American Freedom Campaign is to preserve the vision of the nation's Founders -- that no President shall be above the law. As part of this mission, it seeks to make the issue of defending the Constitution a prominent part of the 2008 presidential campaign. Later this fall, with a grassroots army to call on, the Campaign intends to turn up the heat on candidates who have not made their commitment to defending the Constitution clear.

Nothing to see here; move on.

Former Bush administration officials are peppered throughout Blackwater’s highest executive positions. Erik Prince, the former Navy Seal who founded the company, was a White House intern under President George H. W. Bush and has been a Republican financier since, with more than $225,000 in political contributions.

Mr. Prince’s sister, Betsy DeVos, is a former chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party and a “pioneer” who raised $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2004. Her husband, the former Amway chief executive Richard DeVos Jr., was the Republican nominee for governor of Michigan in 2006.

Remember: every decision Bush makes, no matter how foolish it seems, ALWAYS makes him and his cronies money. Coincidence, I'm sure.

Free Market Killing

WASHINGTON - Most of the more than 100 private security companies in Iraq open fire far more frequently than has been publicly acknowledged and rarely report such incidents to U.S. or Iraqi authorities, according to U.S. officials and current and former private security company employees.

Isn't it wonderful to know that the United States of America is using mercenaries to fight our wars?

Of COURSE they don't report most incidents. Why WOULD they? What law governs mercenaries? Are they answerable to United States law?

"What do we love about America? The Bill of Rights...IMPEACHMENT...Motorcycles!" - Bruce

Most Americans oppose fully funding President Bush's $190 billion request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a sizable majority support an expansion of a children's health insurance bill he has promised to veto, putting Bush and many congressional Republicans on the wrong side of public opinion on upcoming foreign and domestic policy battles.

So why the hell are the Democrats so scared to do what people want them to do?

Why in the hell does NO ONE in Washington actually interested in doing what Americans WANT?

Fred Thompson is insane

Which means he might wind up being the nominee, since the whole Republican Party is insane.

He's still thinks there were WMDs in Iraq.

How bonkers is that?

The Prototypical Fan

This isn't political - it relates to sports, if anything - but I think it's an interesting demonstration of how manufactured the news is.

If you follow sports at ALL, you probably know that the New York Mets just had a historic collapse, and lost the division title to the Phillies.

Anyway, here's the cover of the New York Daily News, showing a dejected fan:



The photo is by Ron Antonelli of the Daily News.

New York Newsday, meanwhile, ran THIS picture of a dejected fan on page 3:



Ummmm....that's the same guy. In a different pose. How could THAT have happened? 50,000 people at the stadium. What an amazing coincidence. THIS photo is by Kathy Kmonicek of Newsday.

But the Associated Press was jealous, and got in on the fun. They ran THIS photo by Kathy Willens:



My GOD! That THREE major news organizations all just happening to pick the same guy to take a picture of.

So Reuters went along for the ride. Here is theirs:



Photographed by Shannon Stapleton.

Four different news organizations; four different photographers. All taking a picture of the same guy (his name is Seth Fleischauer, by the way).

Obviously, they didn't look around the stadium for candid shots of fans. They all found the same guy, and had him POSE for them, so they could PRETEND that it was a candid shot of a fan.

How much of the NON-sports news is manufactured in the same manner?