Thursday, February 17, 2005

Gannon Gate Finally Hits The Mainstream Media!

Finally after bloggers left and right have been pushing this very important story that the White House very much wants to distance itself from, the mainstream media has begun to touch it with a ten-foot pole.

The New York Times : The White House Stages Its 'Daily Show'
Christian Science Monitor : Bush administration blurs media boundary
Salon.com : Midnight cowboy in the garden of Bush and evil

It amazes me that there are so many American's oblivious to this administration's tactics and those of chief advisor Carl Rove. Carl Rove has been using the same tactics to benefit his party at the expense of the truth since his days in Texas.

Why then should the media and the public at large not get upset and REALLY demand answers when a gay, conservative, hooker who has no formal journalism education background or affiliation with any reputable media outlet is allowed unfettered access to the White House briefing room?

Let's break it down so that those among us who lack the ability to think for themselves (you know who you are - W 04) may get a clue.

Irrelevant Points:
  1. Subject is gay.
  2. Subject is a hooker.

Relevant Points:

  1. Subject used an alias (pretended to be someone else) and apparently thwarted the hightened post 9/11 security measures put in place to protect the President and the White House every day for two years.
  2. Subject has not formal journalism training.
  3. Subject is a conservative working for a conservative propaganda machine (Talon News) masquerading as a news organization.
  4. Talon News has ties directly to the RNC and will often regurgitate it's talking points as news.
  5. Subject was able to obtain a daily pass to the White House briefing room everyday for two years while never obtaining any access to congress because he could not pass their screening process.
  6. The White House Spokes Person almost always called on him to deflect more important questions.

This now makes 5 individuals that this administration has paid or been linked to who claim to be performing unbiased journalism while actually spreading domestic propaganda illegally.

Corrupt Journalists So Far:

  1. Armstrong Williams
  2. Karen Ryan
  3. Alberto Garcia
  4. Maggie Gallagher
  5. Jeff Gannon / Jim Guckert

Domestic propaganda it illegal, so who will pay the price? No one unless the public demands someone's head. This is unlikely since a majority of the selfish, self-absorbed Americans are all ignorantly wrapped up in their own lives. If they didn't care when the President admitted to lying about weapons in Iraq as a reason for going to war, then what is a little domestic propaganda and continued lying?

FYI - This is the exact language in the law which governs dissemination of information within the United States:

"The Secretary is authorized, when he finds it appropriate, to provide for the preparation, and dissemination abroad, of information about the United States, its people, and its policies, through press, publications, radio, motion pictures, and other information media, and through information centers and instructors abroad. Subject to subsection (b) of this section, any such information (other than ''Problems of Communism'' and the ''English Teaching Forum'' which may be sold by the Government Printing Office) shall not be disseminated within the United States, its territories, or possessions, but, on request, shall be available in the English language at the Department of State, at all reasonable times following its release as information abroad, for examination only by representatives of United States press associations, newspapers, magazines, radio systems, and stations, and by research students and scholars, and, on request, shall be made available for examination only to Members of Congress. (b) Dissemination of information within United States
(1) The Director of the United States Information Agency shall make available to the Archivist of the United States, for domestic distribution, motion pictures, films, videotapes, and other material prepared for dissemination abroad 12 years after the initial dissemination of the material abroad or, in the case of such material not disseminated abroad, 12 years after the preparation of the material."

The reference in the United States Code is:

Title 22 Foreign Relations and Intercourse
Chapter 18 United States Information and Educational Exchange Programs
Subchapter 5 Dissemination Abroad of Information About The United States
Section 1461 General Authorization

posted by Clint Thomson @ 2/17/2005 11:59:00 AM