REPUGNANT IMAGES

LA TIMES--A crudely altered photograph of Michelle Obama, which often comes up as the first result on a Google image search of her name, will not be removed from the company's search process despite protests that the depiction is racist and repugnant.

"It's offensive to many people, but that alone is not a reason to remove it from our search index," Google spokesman Scott Rubin said. "We have, in general, a bias toward free speech."

The image, which depicts the first lady as having monkey-like features, is posted on a blog called "Hot Girls" without explanation.

Republican's have expressed similar objections to an images of Sarah Palin that come up on Google Image Search.

For a demonstration, see the Google Image Link at right.