(Friday, February 25)

Gannon/Guckett Gate

I have been trying to keep up with "GannonGate" the best I can as of late. (If anyone doesn't have a clue what GannonGate is, a good synopsis is located here and here (Little more graphic (AKA FOR THE LADIES)) ) From what I understand some "journalist" [admitingly, the guy says he has written over 500 articles for the Talon News] usually throws GW a bunch of softball questions (read "Easy To Answer/Explanation of your views on the topic for the press all up in here") at press conferences that the left *could* construe as "pre-setup" questions from the Bush Admin. [To be fair I am sure there were elements of the media that did this with Clinton and every other Dem President before him] Upon asking a specific question, Rush Limbaugh (Very -> ) remarked about it and created a (far <- ) section of the blogosphere (who says Blogs don't have an effect on politics?) that wanted to do a little research on Jeff Gannon. It turns out that Jeff Gannon is actually Jeff Guckett and a whole mess of other things (things = images on gay porn sites) and some other stuff turned up from his past. To be fair Guckett/Gannon has explained that this stuff is in his past on his blog. (who says Blogs don't have an effect on politics?) as per usual everyone is calling each other a hypocrite and blah blah blah (ever wonder why stuff doesn�t get done for the common man in DC?) Well to keep a long story short, both sides (the <- and the ->) have taken a pretty predictable stance, up until I read this (what appears to be a US House Memo (looks legit form what I can tell) For me this looks like the reps might be deciding to end this with a swift clean cut and try to pin that CIA operative (yellow cake mess) name drop on Gannon/Guckett. Man talk about a change in strategy. Jeez. After looking at some Star Wars Episode III spoilers today (you can see here (SPOILERS) from what the person who put these pics together into chronological order, it looks like there is a scene where Dooku is fighting Anakin and Anakin beats back Dooku to the cheering of the Emperor. Anakin somehow grabs Dooku's lightsaber and has both at Dooku's neck and instead of Dooku's envision of the emperor letting him go, the emperor cheers on Anakin (ready to turn into Vader) on and tells him to kill Dooku. In Astonishment, Dooku looks at the Emperor and purportedly says: "You promised me Amnesty" and then his head get cleanly shaved by a light saber via Anakin. For some reason the situations seem closely tied to me. it's hard to imagine the press as trying to help the common citizen now a days with crap like this. Cut your TV off, and Cut off your Radio. Choose your media; luckily our generation has that ability. Nothing scares them more. (Both the media (<-) and big business that advertises on it (->)).

"A free and independant press is essential to the health of a functioning democracy. It serves to inform the voting public on matters relevant to its well-being. Why they've stopped doing that is a mystery. I mean, 300 camera crews outside a courthouse to see what Kobe Bryant is wearing when the judge sets his hearing date, while false information used to send our country to war goes unchecked? What the fuck happened? These spineless cowards in the press have finally gone too far. They have violated a trust. "Was the president successful in convincing the country?" Who gives a shit? Why not tell us if what he said was true? And the excuses. My God, the excuses! "Hey, we just give the people what they want." "What can we do, this administration is secretive." "But the last season of Friends really is news." The unmitigated gall of these weak-willed...You're supposed to be helping us, you indecent piles of shit! I...fuck it. Just fuck it..."
John Stewart, America pg 131