I agree with you on pretty much every point.
Good Photoshopping is worth at least as much as good photography. Look at any high quality professional photography these days, and a large portion of the quality and look comes from post-processing. The only people who would disagree with that are either delusional about the current state of photography, or desperately clinging to the last vestiges of the analog age. Obviously journalistic photos aren't edited to the degree in the article, but most things not explicitly documentarian in nature are.
It's also true that a lot of analog-age artists have trouble making the switch to Photoshop. It's a completely different skillset that allows people without traditional artistic ability to make art, and challenges traditional artists who have to develop entirely new technical skills. Makes me wonder how many other photographers out there are doing this, but are competent enough at Photoshop to get away with it. I certainly know how to clone things out without leaving telltale clone marks or other amateur mistakes. And I'm not even that good with Photoshop.
I think photographers keep getting away with this because people are gullible, and tend to believe what they see without listening to the quiet, nagging voice in the back of their mind telling them that something looks wrong. I'm a little surprised they caught him by spotting that the Lynx had the wrong season coat. When I looked at the pictures it was glaringly obvious that they were poorly-edited fakes, regardless of their content.