Update: This was already diaried.  Sorry guys n gals.

I can't really write too much here because I lack the knowledge to give credible commentary on the whole Georgia-Russia situation.

However, this is... almost unbelievable.  Some photographs of the tragic suffering of Georgians at the hands of Russians that are posted by Reuters are obvious fakes.

See for yourself.

It sickens me to see that we are so open to propaganda, even through an organization as respected as Reuters.  Evidently the narrative is that, in this conflict, Russia is bad (which it probably is) and Georgia is good (which it obviously isn't).  Are the repugs so desparate as to cause an international crisis and twist the news to create a narrative that favours McCain?  Or am I being cynical thinking that?

Item seen in the Citizens For Legitimate Government Newsletter:

Reuters caught with 'fake' pictures from Georgia --Media war against Russia 10 Aug 2008 This morning one can read on the BBC news site -- Reuters agency posts horrible pictures of Russian bombardments of allegedly civilian residential buildings. But what if you take a closer look?

Breaking: The Senator has just proposed a major solution that will result in immediate savings and a significant drop in gas prices within a couple of weeks. We need Congress to bring this proposition to the floor immediately.

The McCain camp is scrambling to counter this bold and substantive move. More on the McCain response shortly.

According to Reuters, www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSWBT00950720080804 - In Lansing, Michigan today, Senator Obama just called for the sale of 70 million barrels of oil from the U.S. energy stockpile as part of a swap aimed at reining in the high cost of gasoline.

According to the latest Reuters poll, in a two way race:
Obama 47
McCain 40

In a four way race
Obama 46
McCain 36
Barr 3
Nader 3

This story reports the 41 dead at the Kabul car-bombing of the Indian embassy. What's fascinating is that it's from Reuters and details the growing Afghan suspicion that the Pakistanis might be behind this and supporting the Taliban.

For all you MSM junkies, here's the WaPo story with no mention of the suspects.

That's right, no mention that apparently both our allies, the Afghans and the Pakistanis are almost at each other's throats. Oh, and Karzai is threatening border raids into Pakistan to go after the Taliban.

Sometimes people - experts even - make pronouncements that seem so out of line with reality that I've got to double take.

I was reading this article in the New York Times today, which summed up the opinions coming out of Reuter's Investment Outlook Summit this week. Here's the lead sentence:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain's tax policies have given him an edge as the better man for the economy, various Wall Street experts said at this week's Reuters Investment Outlook Summit.

I guess that's not so surprising. Wall Street likes tax cuts, for sure. But aren't we now in a current economic crisis AFTER massive tax cuts were given by the Bush administration? I know the reasons for our current economic struggles are complex and that tax cuts by themselves were not necessarily the cause. But it sure doesn't seem like our economy has done better because of them, does it?

So I've got to wonder, how do supposedly smart people expect to do the same old thing (tax cuts) and get different results (better economy)?

More puzzlement of mine below.

2000-plus more looking for work in an economy that is sucking the life out of us all.

After 27 years in the business, Jevic Transportation, Inc. has ceased all operations in terminals across the eastern seaboard, Ohio and Chicago. Due to many factors, including our nation's gas/diesel crisis, the powers-that-be have sent out the form letters that Jevic is no more. Or, is it?

Step on over...

That's the LEDE over at Reuters.

Somebody forgot to tell Hillary Clinton the Democratic presidential race is over and Barack Obama won.

This is how the WIRE SERVICE Reuters opens their story on Hillary Clinton's refusal to back out of the race.

This just up on Reuters.  Small Currency Exchange shops are turning away American tourists looking to exchange US dollars for Euros.  

The shops complain that the dollar is falling so fast that they won't recoup their Euros when they manage to cash in the US dollars they've taken in.  Tourists are having to go to central banks in downtown Amsterdam to exchange their dollars.

Reuters has the story of a Harris poll that shows that 44% of Americans now read political blogs, and 22% of them read blogs several times a month or more. So how do they react to that huge and growing percentage of America that is moving away from traditional media outlets like themselves?

Poll: Most Americans don't read political blogs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A majority of Americans do not read political blogs, the online commentaries that have proliferated in the race for the U.S. presidency, according to a poll released on Monday.

Only 22 percent of people responding to the poll said they read blogs regularly, meaning several times a month or more, according to the survey conducted by Harris Interactive.

The title sounds a bit silly, a bit reduntant, I know, but there's a method to my madness.  

A Reuters article was published this morning noting the votes in the towns of Brattleboro and Marlboro in Vermont to have President Bush and Vice President Cheney arrested and handed over to authorities who would properly prosecute them.  What's interesting about this article is less the content than the particularly offhand manner in which the author implies that this is just a few crazy liberals in Vermont, a particularly liberal bastion of liberal New England.

Reported on Fark.com:

One man's terrorist is another man's presidential candidate: Reuters prints "Osama" instead of "Obama."

Three times.

In one article.

The proverbial cork is about to pop in Mesopotamia.

(And, it won’t be coming out of a champagne bottle either.)

Looks like vacation time’s over in Iraq, folks. The hierarchy of the Mehdi Army is becoming increasingly frustrated with both the American occupiers and al-Qaeda in Iraq, and is now exerting unified pressure on cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to forego reinstating the ceasefire that’s been in effect for his Mehdi Army for the past six-months. Despite being given little credit until recently by the Bush regime and the U.S. press for its substantial role in the overall reduction in violence across the country, the ceasefire has no doubt enabled the U.S. military to take undue credit for success with the so-called "surge."

Depending on whom you listened to back then about when the surge was actually fully in place and operational, it’s pretty likely that the start of the substantial reduction in overall violence throughout the country coincided with Sadr’s August 29 announcement of a six-month freeze of all operations by his feared Mehdi Army.

It's time once again for Sunday Funday, where I bring you funny, strange or otherwise interesting news stories.

German authorities were able to track a burglar by way of his taste for salami.

German authorities were able to pin a burglary committed in April on a suspected serial thief after he left a half-eaten slice of salami carrying a sliver of his DNA at a crime scene, police said Thursday.

Note to burglars: if you're going to help yourself to the contents of your victims' refrigerators, you might want to at least finish the meal.

And here we are with another edition of Sunday Funday, where I present funny, odd, or otherwise interesting bits of news and videos for your perusal.  Scotland is thinking about trying to get the U.S. to lift its import ban on Haggis, according to Reuters.  Haggis, which is sheep's stomach stuffed with other internal organs and spices, is such a popular dish in that country that it became Scotland's national food symbol. Robert Burns, a Scottish poet, composed the work, "Ode to a Haggis."  I'll leave you, dear readers, to make your own judgments or jokes.

The concern trolls circling around Bill Clinton's campaigning is just too much to bear. The Dallas Morning News wrote yesterday that "there's something disconcerting, even diminishing, about watching a former president get down and dirty on the campaign trail." I didn't know Presidential Images, even his, were so damn valuable, not even to be expended for his Wife or for the future of the Country.

Writing a story about leading Democratic candidates and (more of) their words on the economy?  No need to include John Edwards, someone who has been talking about economic stimulus for the past several months, because Reuters is leading the way in expunging John Edwards from the national narrative.

Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama ramped up their calls on Thursday for emergency action to stimulate the struggling U.S. economy

You see, journalistically, this would have been a good time to add, "John Edwards, meanwhile, pointed out the possibility of a recession as many as two months ago and has been calling for decisive action just as long."

Instead, Reuters did not mention Edwards' name once in this article.

Ever since their lack of examination of Bush and Iraq and their bias reporting on illegal immigration, I have been turned off by the news media for good.  However, I guess people in Iowa and NH pay attention to these things...so the Concord Monitor has endorsed Hillary....

http://www.concordmonitor.com/...