The Story of the Year...That Disappeared

It's Jeff Gannon.

If the details are a little sketchy for you, let me give you a quick re-iteration: it was revealed on a liberal blog that a reporter in the White House Briefing room was not the Jeff Gannon he claimed to be, but Jeff Guckert.
--Turns out that not only was this reporter there under a name that wasn't actually his, he wasn't actually a reporter. No journalism degree. No experience in reporting.
--Turns out the organization he worked for (Talon News) was created by a right wing Texas Republican looking to get the GOP view more airplay. It wasn't actually a news service.
--Turns out that Gannon/Guckert didn't have a standing White House Press pass, as do most reporters, but was issued one on a daily basis.
--Turns out Gannon started appearing at the press conferences about a month before Talon News Service even existed.

Let me repeat that last part: before the fake news service for which non-journalist Gannon/Guckert even was created, Gannon was given press passes to get into the White House Briefing Room.

There's no way around the fact that this is a construct of someone within the White House. That is a hardcore, big time scandal. Unfortunately, it came and went without a congressional investigation, which would have revealed exactly who rubber-stamped his appearance at presidential briefings.

But wait! There's more. Turns out Gannon/Guckert owned three web sites promoting gay escorts, including none other than himself. There were many pictures of him as an adult wearing every bit of the clothing he was born in. He bragged on being "8 inches cut" and the pictures I saw back then appear to underscore that.

I don't care one bit if someone's gay or not, but what it boils down to is this: a gay escort posing as a journalist was allowed into presidential press conferences to lob softball questions to the president representing a news service that was actually a PR firm. Besides being a movie plot too outrageous to sell, this could not have been done without high-level complicity. How does one get beyond the FBI clearance screenings? There had to be someone there saying "let this guy through." Who?

This whole gay prostitute scandal comes from an administration which vowed to clean up the White House, to restore dignity and to make America proud again. My irony meter is now broken by the sheer bizarrity of it.

So where did this story go? Why is there no congressional investigation? Why is the President no longer being asked for an investigation on this matter? Congress is controlled by Republicans (who are more concerned with keeping power than their duties as promised to the people) and a complicit, or at least lazy press. Asking tough questions is hard, and it can jeopardize your place at these conferences. Ask Helen Thomas.

My renewed outrage over this story was fueled by my daily visits to crooks and liars. Crooks and Liars is an excellent liberal web site offering up videos that you really should see--and see again. Today a retrospective on the whole affair is there, and I highly recommend a viewing. Go to crooksandliars and look for the headline
Blast from the Past: Jeff Gannon retrospective in Video
Your sense of outrage will be fueled too, I suspect. There's also the great line from Bill Maher, referencing Gannon where he says
"Now I understand what Bush meant when he said he had a mandate..."

More Stained Glass

I am just in a stained glass jag. I've made four windows in the last month and a half, and it's been about as much fun as I've had in a long time. Here's the one I posted nearly done a while back.

It's almost six feet tall and has thirteen beveled diamonds, two beveled stars, and a fleur de lis.

It now resides in Austin, where it soon will be installed in a door. I've made a dozen or so doors like this in the past, and hope to be making more in the future.

It's a pretty plain design, but sometimes, that's exactly what a design should be.

The window on the right is my last window, and tends to elicit fairly positive--and pretty negative responses. People tend to like it, or really not like it.

I just love it myself. I call it "Hoit It On The Grapevine" since the pieces and parts are so wrapped around one another.

I'll get back to political ranting and raving before long. Right now though, I'm just in this stained glass thing...