XPost: alt.fan.barbra.streisand, alt.fan.j-garofalo, alt.fan.julia-roberts   
   XPost: alt.politics.democrats   
   From: eng@G0LDFARB.C0M   
      
   On 19 Feb 2005 08:03:28 -0800, "Leland Milton Goldblatt , PhD."   
    wrote:   
      
   >This is great story:   
   >   
   >February 17, 2005   
   >OP-ED COLUMNIST   
   >Bush's Barberini Faun   
   >By MAUREEN DOWD   
   >   
   >WASHINGTON   
   >   
   >I am very impressed with James Guckert, a k a Jeff Gannon.   
   >   
   >How often does an enterprising young man, heralded in press reports as   
   >both a reporter and a contributor to such sites as Hotmilitarystud.com,   
   >Workingboys.net, Militaryescorts.com, MilitaryescortsM4M.com and   
   >Meetlocalmen.com, get to question the president of the United States?   
   >   
   >Who knew that a hotmilitarystud wanting to meetlocalmen could so easily   
   >get to be face2face with the commander in chief?   
   >   
   >It's hard to believe the White House could hit rock bottom on   
   >credibility again, but it has, in a bizarre maelstrom that plays like a   
   >dark comedy. How does it credential a man with a double life and a   
   >secret past?   
   >   
   >"Jeff Gannon" was waved into the press room nearly every day for two   
   >years as the conservative correspondent for two political Web sites   
   >operated by a wealthy Texas Republican. Scott McClellan often called on   
   >the pseudoreporter for softball questions.   
   >   
   >Howard Kurtz reported in The Washington Post yesterday that although   
   >Mr. Guckert had denied launching the provocative Web sites - one   
   >described him as " 'military, muscular, masculine and discrete' (sic)"   
   >- a Web designer in California said "that he had designed a gay escort   
   >site for Gannon and had posted naked pictures of Gannon at the client's   
   >request."   
   >   
   >And The Wilmington News-Journal in Delaware reported that Mr. Guckert   
   >was delinquent in $20,700 in personal income tax from 1991 to 1994.   
   >   
   >I'm still mystified by this story. I was rejected for a White House   
   >press pass at the start of the Bush administration, but someone with an   
   >alias, a tax evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like   
   >the "Barberini Faun" is credentialed to cover a White House that won a   
   >second term by mining homophobia and preaching family values?   
   >   
   >At first when I tried to complain about not getting my pass renewed,   
   >even though I'd been covering presidents and first ladies since 1986,   
   >no one called me back. Finally, when Mr. McClellan replaced Ari   
   >Fleischer, he said he'd renew the pass - after a new Secret Service   
   >background check that would last several months.   
   >   
   >In an era when security concerns are paramount, what kind of Secret   
   >Service background check did James Guckert get so he could saunter into   
   >the West Wing every day under an assumed name while he was doing   
   >full-frontal advertising for stud services for $1,200 a weekend? He   
   >used a driver's license that said James Guckert to get into the White   
   >House, then, once inside, switched to his alter ego, asking questions   
   >as Jeff Gannon.   
   >   
   >Mr. McClellan shrugged this off to Editor & Publisher magazine, oddly   
   >noting, "People use aliases all the time in life, from journalists to   
   >actors."   
   >   
   >I know the F.B.I. computers don't work, but this is ridiculous. After   
   >getting gobsmacked by the louche sagas of Mr. Guckert and Bernard   
   >Kerik, the White House vetters should consider adding someone with some   
   >blogging experience.   
   >   
   >Does the Bush team love everything military so much that even a   
   >military-stud Web site is a recommendation?   
   >   
   >Or maybe Gannon/Guckert's willingness to shill free for the White   
   >House, even on gay issues, was endearing. One of his stories mocked   
   >John Kerry's "pro-homosexual platform" with the headline "Kerry Could   
   >Become First Gay President."   
   >   
   >With the Bushies, if you're their friend, anything goes. If you're   
   >their critic, nothing goes. They're waging a jihad against journalists   
   >- buying them off so they'll promote administration programs, trying to   
   >put them in jail for doing their jobs and replacing them with ringers.   
   >   
   >At last month's press conference, Jeff Gannon asked Mr. Bush how he   
   >could work with Democrats "who seem to have divorced themselves from   
   >reality." But Bush officials have divorced themselves from reality.   
   >   
   >They flipped TV's in the West Wing and Air Force One to Fox News. They   
   >paid conservative columnists handsomely to promote administration   
   >programs. Federal agencies distributed packaged "news" video releases   
   >with faux anchors so local news outlets would run them. As CNN   
   >reported, the Pentagon produces Web sites with "news" articles intended   
   >to influence opinion abroad and at home, but you have to look hard for   
   >the disclaimer: "Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense." The   
   >agencies spent a whopping $88 million spinning reality in 2004,   
   >splurging on P.R. contracts.   
   >   
   >Even the Nixon White House didn't do anything this creepy. It's worse   
   >than hating the press. It's an attempt to reinvent it.   
   >   
   >   
   >Shalom,   
   >   
   >---Leland Milton Goldblatt, Ph.D. ®   
   >Distinguished Professor   
   >http://www.prof.faithweb.com   
   >   
   >   
   >Osama Bin Laden is still alive. Sadam Hussein is still alive. Abu Musab   
   >al-Zarqawi is still alive. Baghdad, Mosul and Fallujah are burning. But   
   >my government has the courage to kill children or their parents. And   
   >I'm supposed to be impressed.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)