Transcript of one of the 2 NPR Gannon interviews

For those who are interested, I've attached the transcript of the interview as a "rich text format" document. Thanks to Michael van Atta for doing the transcribing - all but the last 4 minutes are here. There's a second interview as well if anyone can get it transcribed.

NPR Gannon Interview.rtf Read More......

All of Gannon's stories deleted from GOPUSA.com Web site too

Ok, something is up. Do a google search on GOPUSA.com's Web site for "Jeff Gannon." Here is what you get, lots of links.

Click on ANY of those links and here is what you get, NADA.

Faster than you can say George Orwell, he's gone.

So, just a question for those reporters who are suggesting that this is simply a liberal vendetta against a poor embattled conservative: If there's nothing really wrong here, then why are the conservative Web sites sending all his articles down the memory hole? Read More......

It's feeding frenzy time in uber-conservative land

Now even the conservative - dare I say, uber-conservative - Web sites are chomping at Gannon. Read More......

More NPR: Ok, Gannon admits that he built the sites in question... but only kind of

A separate NPR story today said the following (click the red "Listen" button just underneath the headling, not the other button thart says "Web extra" (you can click that too, but it's not as good):

1. James Guckert is the name Gannon used to apply for press credentials on Capitol Hill, and was turned down.

2. Today he acknowledged that Jeff Gannon is not his real name, but wouldn't confirm it was Guckert.

3. NPR mentioned the "homoerotic tone" Web sites, and specifically mentioned HotMilitaryStud.com. NPR said: "These sites are registered to an address in Delaware that's the same as one held by a James Guckert. And that's the name that Gannon used to apply for press credentials on Capitol Hill. He was turned down."

More from NPR: "As for those Web sites, Gannon said he created them for clients of a software company he used to work for. And Gannon says his Christian faith has enabled him to receive forgiveness for the sins of his past."

NPR didn't bother mentioning WHICH Web sites, Gannon was associated with many, some religious, some conservative and some not just homoerotic, but, hello, MilitaryEscortsM4M.com - homoerotic isn't the point. Since NPR, bless their souls, was a bit sloppy with their report, we have no idea WHICH Web site Gannon is admitting to having created. If it were MilitaryEscortsM4M.com, for example, that would be a big deal, because working for a prostitution Web site would probably not gel with Gannon's family-values writing slant, nor with getting access to the President and internal CIA documents.

Oh, and before I forget, this I-found-God business is slightly annoying. I'm happy to believe he had a come-to-Jesus moment, but then why does he still seem to own those Web addresses? I'm not sure finding God gets you over that problem.) Was it before or after he found God that he built those sites, and which sites did he build? Was it before or after he came to Jesus that he was involved in the Valerie Plame affair? And since he's now found God, why not come clean publicly with everything he knows about the Plame scandal?

Oh, and by the way, since prostitution is a crime in most of the US, and you say you're a conservative and a born-again, who was the client you built the Web sites for and who was the consulting firm? And does being a born again forgive the fact that working for a criminal enterprise is still a crime? I'm not saying this was a criminal enterprise, but being paid to help create a prostitution business - IF THAT'S WHAT THOSE SITES WERE - raises some interesting legal questions. Read More......

It's time for an AMERICAblog-athon :-)

I was scolded recently by a fellow blogger who said I need to occasionally put up appeals for donations. And I admit, I've always hated asking for money - it's why I'm not rich yet - but being a blog-activist is a job, and I think today you guys got a sense of how much so. Not just for me, but for all the bloggers and for all the activists out there.

People have sometimes said to me, "hey, you write news updates on a Web site, or on an email list, how long can that take? And it doesn't really cost you anything?" Well, if you're independently wealth it doesn't cost you a dime. But if you work for yourself at home, it costs you a day's salary not working for clients. This story has already taken the last 24 hours of my time, up until 2:30am last night and all day today until now. Not to mention, the heads of the big gay rights nonprofits are paid $200k a year. I think the advocacy the bloggers, and other independent players out there, do is worth just as much if not more than the "achievements" of some of the big non-profits over the past year.

Now, I do this kind of advocacy because I love it and it makes me feel like I'm making a difference, which is something I want to do. I'm not complaining. But it does help to be able to pay rent and, well, to eat. And you don't get to do that by spending half your time blogging instead of working for clients.

So, if the spirit moves you, some turkee would be most welcome to help subsidize the work we all do here (I promise to share the donations with the other writers here on the blog as well). And just so you know, we get next to nothing from the ads. It ends up being a couple hundred bucks a month, which is great, but hardly a living (especially when split between 5 of us here).

You can click the "donate" button at the top of the blog, or you can send a check or whatever you like via the mail to:

JOHN ARAVOSIS
PO Box 21831
Washington, DC 20009

Your donations are unfortunately NOT tax-deductibe. I always figured it was safer that way, gives me more freedom to say what I want. Read More......

Video of Louise Slaughter on Anderson Cooper talking about Gannon-gate

She wasn't bad, though he didn't understand the point isn't that Gannon is conservative, it's whether he's a journalist at all or simply a White House plant, it's MilitaryEscortsM4M.com, and it's his involvement with the Valerie Plame affair. There are a lot of questions about how and why this guy got such easy White House and CIA access. Read More......

Open thread

After all that, feel free to discuss whatever. Still researching more Gannon stuff. Read More......

Gannon REFUSES to answer NPR's question about whether his name is Guckert

NPR: James Guckert... Is that your name?

Gannon: I would again, I'm going to decline to discuss that. If that information is coming from the Senate Press Gallery they've, you know, in telling you those kind of details they've already broken a confidentiality clause in the application process and I'll deal with them accordingly. If they did tell you something like that they have no right to do that.

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Gannon tells NPR that White House did a background check on him

Oh really? And the White house had no problem with all the information the bloggers have found in the past week? Or were they so incompetent that they didn't find it, or bother to, even though Gannon was given access to the president and reportedly given access to internal CIA documents? Read More......

Democrats.com demands a Special Prosecutor look into Gannon affair

http://democrats.com/gannon Read More......

FLASHBACK: Gannon's GOPUSA defended Japense-American internment

From AMERICAblog last year. Read More......

NPR interview with Gannon

Can you guys listen to this and summarize, and/or send me a transcript I can post. I'm listening to it now.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4492778 Read More......

Typical Howard Kurtz

On CNN, he paints the story as "did these liberal bloggers go too far in investigating this guy's personal life?"

Oh, I don't know. The issue here is whether we might have a male prostitute (or pimp) asking questions of the president and being leaked internal CIA documents. And Kurtz doesn't think that's a story worth investigating.

Not to mention, did Kurtz even ask Gannon the most obvious question from Journalism 101:

Are you in any way associated with the Web addressses MilitaryEscorts.com and MilitaryEscortsM4M.com?

Then your second question is:

It appears these Web sites deal with prostitution - a crime - am I wrong?

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Some other questions about the Gannon/Guckert scandal: were laws broken?

How the hell could this Gannon/Guckert scandal happen right in front of the White House Press Corps? Seems to me, attending a White House Press Briefing is unlike most other briefings. You don't just show up.

First, you can't even get into the White House complex without a background check and picture identification. So who got the background check? Gannon or Guckert.

Did he tell the Secret Service his real name? If not, how the hell did the Secret Service let someone using a false name get close to the President. That is kinda scary.

And if Gannon/Guckert used a pseudonym to get press credentials, someone in the White House had to know. Under what name did he pass that background check and get White House press credentials? The White House just doesn't hand those things out. Who approved it? And again, who did they approve it for? Gannon or Guckert. And why did he get the credentials? Just to lob softballs.

There has to be documentation of this. Someone filled out the forms for the White House press credentials. Gannon or Guckert? Someone in the White House knows how it happened.

It's hard to imagine someone in the White House did not know about this scam. Whoever arranged this should be fired immediately. And the Secret Service should start an investigation ASAP.

Besides the pure hypocrisy and the ethical implications, there could be some serious legal ramifications.

Someone in the White House press corps knows the process. Maybe one of them can ask some questions. Read More......

CNN is covering the Gannon story in moments

It'll be on Wolf Blitzer's show, approximately 5:50pm EST. Read More......

Gannon and Guckert are definitively connected

1. ConservativeGuy.com is Gannon's Web site. Here's his photo on the site:



2. ConservativeGuy.com was authored by JD Guckert:



3. Conclusion: Gannon and Guckert are either close colleagues who look alike, or they're the same person. Read More......

Ok, got it, thanks

Ok, got it, thanks guys.

I need to get copies of Gannon's Talon News stories dealing with gay issues. Talon News pulled them, and I want to show reporters how his writing was always slanted to the anti-gay side of things (such as when he wrote an an article defending Santorum's man-dog sex comments).

Can you guys check the way back machine, or whatever it's called, and pull up links for me to his gay-related stories that were pushing the bad guys' agenda.
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Some of the latest I've been able to piece together on Gannon/Guckert

Keep in mind that A LOT of research is going on here, especially by the Daily Kos people, so what I'm trying to do is use my journalist and legal training to digest some of this into bite-size pieces we can all get our brains around, and hopefully reporters as well can get their brains around. Here's what I just sent one reporter friend:

1. JeffGannon.com is Jeff Gannon's web site

2. JeffGannon.com is owned by Bedrock Corp of Wilmington DE, address 4001 Kennett Pike, 19807. Phone 302-547-8825. Also, the name J. Daniels (JD? As in JD Guckert?) is listed as the administrative contact for this web site, and J Daniels has the same address on Kennett Pike.
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/02/ok-here-is-linkage-between-gannon-and.html

3. MilitaryEscortsM4m.com is owned by the same Bedrock Corp, exact same address and phone. J Danikels is again listed as the administrative contact for this site, and J Daniels has the same address on Kennett Pike.
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/02/ok-here-is-linkage-between-gannon-and.html

4. So we know for an absolute fact that Jeff Gannon's web address and the military escort web address are owned by the same person.

5. There is another Bedrock Corp address in Wilmington, interestingly also on Kennett Pike:
Bedrock Corp.
5721 Kennett Pike, Wilmington DE 19807 - Map
http://www.de-cashflow.com/Wilmington.htm

6. Jim Guckert lives at the same address as the other Bedrock Corp (is Jim Guckert the same person as JD Guckert, our poster boy in the AOL profile below?)
GUCKERT JIM 5721 KENNETT PIKE WILMINGTON, DE
http://www.infosourceusa.com/CAT/Secretarial-Court-Reporting/DE/Wilmington.htm

7. That means that Jim Guckert lives at the same address as the company that owns Gannon's Web site (UNLESS there are two different and unrelated Bedrock Corps in Wilmington, and unless Jim Guckert is not the same person as JD Guckert)

8. Gannon and Guckert look like the same person from the photos on my site.
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/02/is-gannon-guckert-you-decide.html Read More......

Is Gannon = Guckert? You decide

Here are 3 confirmed pictures of Gannon. Followed by a confirmed picture of Guckert. Same guy?

------> Read More......

We now have proof that the AOL profile is of JD Guckert

1. The AOL profile belongs to AOL screen name jdg17:

ftp://members.aol.com/jdg17/myhomepage/

That address makes clear that the AOL screen name is: jdg17
In AOL terms, that translates to an AOL email address of jdg17@aol.com

2. jdg17 is JD Guckert

According to Guckert's own fraternity, jdg17@aol.com is in fact his email adress.



3. A lot of things are still unresolved, such as whether Guckert is in fact Gannon. If he is, I'd like to know more about that AOL profile. Let's just say it doesn't look like the kind of photo some pro-family-values reporter would post.

But there is something more. According to the minutes from a meeting of Guckert's fraternity, he was sighted in May of last year in the White House briefing room, as a reporter. This report is unconfirmed, but adds more fuel to the fire in terms of linking Guckert and Gannon - unless there's a JD Guckert who was given a White House press pass last May?

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Ok, here is the linkage between Gannon and the Military Escort site - but it's still not rock-solid

FURTHER UPDATE: One thing to keep in mind. The fact that the registrar is the same does NOT prove that the sites are related. For example, I build Web sites for a living. Gannon comes to me and asks me to build his site - I go out and register JeffGannon.com for him and build his site. I never transfer ownership of his name to him, so I'm still listed as the registrar of the site. I then get another client, this time it's a military escort service, I register their domain for them, and never transfer the owernship to them. Now both URLs, Gannon's and the military escort's, are listed with the same registrar - me. But the two sites are NOT connected. We need more info on this Bedrock Corp.

UPDATE: Request one is taken care of. Here are the screen captures of Gannon's Web site ownership and the military escort Web site ownership. They're owned by the same company. The Kos folks are doing more research on just who this Bedrock Corp really is.

JeffGannon.com



MilitaryEscortsM4M.com



Still trying to find out how anyone found the AOL profile. I think RawStory.com is going to have that story shortly.

Thanks, JOHN Read More......

This is the AOL profile everyone is talking about

It was taken down, but I grabbed a download of it yesterday before it went down. Let's just say, it sure looks like a certain ex-pseudo-reporter who has a penchant for writing stories sucking up to the family values/anti-gay crowd.

As always, more power to you if you have an AOL profile that's really sexy and looks, well, kind of gay. But don't go sucking up to the family values crowd and writing stories defending Santorum's dog-sex comments, then expect people to give you a pass on whether you meet the standards of the very family values your buddies are promoting.



PS Why did Talon News, Gannon's former employer, just remove a SLEW of articles from their archives? Gannon's stories, and other stories on gay issues that weren't even by him, are now all gone? Were those OTHER bylines HIS as well? Read More......

What was Gannon's role in Valerie Plame CIA-Gate?

From DailyKos:

White House-credentialed fake news reporter "Jeff Gannon" from fake news agency "Talon News" was cited by the Washington Post as having the only access to an internal CIA memo that named Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a covert CIA agent. Gannon, in a question posed to Wilson in an October 2003 interview, referred to the memo (to which no other news outlet had access, according to the Post). Gannon subsequently has been subpoenaed by the federal grand jury looking into the Plame outing.

I'm sorry, but a potential male prostitute was given access to internal CIA documents? Hello? We CANNOT let this story die.
Read More......

Morning open thread

Wow Read More......

Quick reflection on Gannon-gate

Just imagine if some guy with alleged ties to male prostitution were given unprecendented access to the White House, and given a White House press pass that didn't even have his real name on it, in order to throw fake softball questions at the press briefings to help make the president look good.

Now imagine that president were named Bill Clinton.

Now imagine what would happen next?

• Congressional hearings in the House and Senate.
• Demands for a Justice Dept. investigation - how did this man get past security, who let him in, what were his ties to these male prostitute URLs, and who else on the White House staff may have been involved?
• Appointment of a special counsel.
• Demands for a slew of firings of White House staff.
• Never-ending questions about Hooker-gate directed to the White House staff and the president from the Washington media.
• All sorts of questions about what the president's wife knew, and when she knew it.
• And non-stop 24-hour coverage on CNN and FOX.

Keep that in mind in the next 24 hours when we see how the "liberal" media handles this story, if at all. Read More......

BREAKING NEWS: GOP pseudo-journalist quits!

From JeffGannon.com:

Jeff Gannon
A Voice of the New Media

The voice goes silent.

Because of the attention being paid to me I find it is no longer possible to effectively be a reporter for Talon News. In consideration of the welfare of me and my family I have decided to return to private life.

Thank you to all those who supported me.

I'm sorry, but that hardly settles the matter. He's a family-values-loving reporter with access to the White House, revelations come up linking him with male prostitution, he suddenly quits his job, and we're to say "oh, ok." The White House has some MAJOR explaining to do.

Not to mention, "The voice goes silent"? Drama queen, much?

PS What an amazing testament to blogging this whole affair has been. Some members of the DailyKos community decide to start digging around, and several min-blogs start finding information, sharing it, and building on it, along with the help of bloggers Atrios and World O' Crap, and then BAM, they nab the guy and he resigns. If that isn't worth a big "Holy Shit," I don't know what is. Wow. Ok, now I'm really off to bed. And I shouldn't forget to mention MediaMatters and Buzzflash, who were also early to jump on this story.
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