a large part of blogtopia (y!wctp!) is deliberately avoiding the
jeff "mandate" gannon story, perhaps out of some
misguided political correctness, in which they worry that reporting the facts is the same thing as denigrating the subject of the facts, ie, reporting that someone is gay is the same as gay-bashing.
we at skippy international think of it this way: we are talking about "jeff gannon," the man who has been revealed to be a gay prostitute currently soliciting clients while simultaneoulsly getting day passes into the white house press briefings.
now, suppose "jeff" had been "jenny gannon," a woman who was soliticing heterosexual partners for pay while simultaneously etc etc etc. would everyone feel better about reporting it?
no? ok, let's say her name was "monica" and she didn't charge. now how do you feel?
it's not the fact that "jeff" is "gay," or that "jeff" is a "prostitute." it's the "fact" that "jeff" indulges in "illegal" activity while being allowed "day passes" into the "white house." there aren't enough "quotation marks" to express our "out"rage.
the facts may be unseemly, but that's no reason to avoid discussing them. and the facts here are that a miscreant breaking the law somehow got access to a classified memo about valerie plame.
don't let the other side shut you down with their patented "how dare you bring up this terrible thing in polite company, have you no shame" trick. find out as much about this story as you can.
don't let the other side dismiss the "porn" connection. he didn't "help set up" websites. he actively ran websites soliciting pay for sex. though some disagree, there is a big difference between porn and prostitution.
john at ameircablog found out, from the man who did it, that "jeff" didn't set up the websites for a client, but rather was the client who had those websites set up.
we admit, however, to enjoying the inadvertant jokes that naturally pop up (like that one). 365gay.com asks "is bush press aide gay?" at the same time that the cox news service tells us "how to get straight to the people."
(cue beavis and butthead: he he he. you said, "cox." he he he.)
we hope the nation's media doesn't avoid this story out of a sense of false decorum. luckily, some of them aren't. here's a dynamite piece about the escort angle on salon, but you have to watch a commercial to get a day pass. (day pass? those inadverant jokes jes' keep on comin'! "he he, you said 'comin,' he he.") raw story tells us that reps. conyers and slaughter filed a freedom of information act request for the white house records on gannon. will this information actually ever obtain freedom? stay tuned.