Shocking!

At the GNU Public Dictatorship we are shocked and appalled today! Someone tasked with producing a photo of four-star General Ann Dunwoody for the press decided to clean up the low-quality snapshot before releasing it!

Okay, enough sarcasm. What is actually shocking is that the AP finds it shocking. Governments around the world routinely doctor their photos, and not usually for strictly aesthetic reasons, as was the case here. The AP should know that the Department of Defense is no different. Even NASA faked some of its moon pictures. But enough about that. There are a number of valid national security reasons to doctor pictures, and any government not engaged in this practice is sure to receive a call from Adobe trying to get them to invest in Photoshop.

We don't understand why the AP would be so upset about this particular picture. Who would want a picture circulated of them which appears to have been taken by a stone-age digital camera in lighting conditions that might make even the most battle-hardened trained photographer run screaming? Besides, you can hardly tell the name says "Dunwoody" in the original. The Department of Defense apparently had two choices: call her in for a new portrait, or doctor the original to make it look okay. But enough about the quality of the picture. It appears that what bothers the AP most is the replacement of the background of the photo with an American flag, changing the "circumstances" of the photo, and thus making it unfit for publication. Never fear, General Dunwoody, we will not stop publishing pictures with doctored backgrounds!