White House explains its position re FOX “news”

What does the White House think of Fox News? White House communications director Anita Dunn spells it out for Howard Kurtz: Dunn didn't quite say it like I would. FOX works hard to make Obama look bad, no matter what he does. Or no matter if Obama didn't do anything at all, as was the case with Obama award of the Nobel Peace Prize. Truly, what kind of "news" channel would criticize Obama when a prestigious organization over which he had no control awarded him a prize he was not seeking? This is just the latest incident, of course. Dunn spells out a few recent examples too (for many more examples, see NewsHounds and consider a recent FOX abomination--the youtube attached to this article). The bottom line is that an organization that starts with the premise that this sitting president is wrong/evil, it is not a news organization and shouldn't be treated like one, even though it features a few reporters who sometimes get it right.

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Why was Jeff Gannon (Jeff Guckert) spending so much time at the Bush White House?

Back in 2005, I was intrigued when the story broke that a fake reporter supposedly named "Jeff Gannon" somehow got access for White House press briefings. His real name turned out to be Jeff Guckert, and he had no credentials as a reporter. He didn't even qualify for a press pass. Really strange stuff. Actually, the story got much much stranger:

Investigative bloggers at Daily Kos and AmericaBlog.org discovered that Guckert owned male escort sites, and was himself a male prostitute.

I just ran across this 2005 Raw Story piece that goes into a lot more detail about Guckert/Gannon. Not only did he not belong at the White House at all, but it turns out that he was almost always there.

[D]ocuments obtained by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) through a Freedom of Information Act request, reveal Guckert had remarkable access to the White House . . . Guckert made more than 200 appearances at the White House during his two-year tenure with the fledging conservative websites GOPUSA and Talon News, attending 155 of 196 White House press briefings. He had little to no previous journalism experience, previously worked as a male escort, and was refused a congressional press pass.

If you read this Raw Story story, you'll be amazed at the many anomalies regarding Gluckert's White House visits. According to the linked Wikipedia and Raw Story articles:

The Secret Service Records appear to show that he checked in, but never checked out on many occasions, and visited the White House on several days during which no press conference or other press events were held.

You'll see all of the data regarding Gluckert's many visits at Raw Story. I don't remember this story (of the extent of Gluckert's White House access) ever getting covered by the mainstream media. I'll end with a question. It seems as though a huge percentage of gay bashers are conflicted closet gays. It was also clear that there were a LOT of gay-bashers in the Bush White House. To connect the dots, it would appear from Gluckert's real profession and his extensive White House access that he was visiting the White House to provide sexual services to someone who also spent a lot of time at the White House. So who was it that Gluckert was spending so much time with at the White House. Which of the Bush Administration anti-gay bigots was spending so much time with Gluckert? And one more question: Whenever a politician takes a strong anti-gay stand, shouldn't we immediately and automatically remove them from political office and require them to go to therapy so that they can work out their conflictedness regarding their sexual attractions toward members of the same sex?

Continue ReadingWhy was Jeff Gannon (Jeff Guckert) spending so much time at the Bush White House?

Jon Stewart skewers NBC’s White House documentary

Jon Stewart took on the role of a journalist covering "journalism" when he examined the exclusive White House story done by Brian Williams. Stewart is exactly right. Can you spell o-b-s-e-q-u-i-o-u-s? Yes, Williams' coverage of Obama's White House is shameful and vapid. Thank you, Jon Stewart, for exposing this "story" for what it was.

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Religion in the White House: a history

Richard Balmer is a historian of religion. On Jon Stewart's show, he surveyed the relationship between religion and the Presidency since John F. Kennedy:

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61 degrees

My family is keeping our thermostat at 61 degrees this winter. We decided to bring it down from our traditional 65 degrees in order to save energy. [Note: Late at night at my house, the temperature automatically drops down to 55]. I've put a thermometer in various rooms to check the accuracy of the thermostat. The actual daytime temperature ranges from 59 to 62 in the various rooms. When we are all gone for the day, we manually set the temperature down to 55. When I mention "61 degrees" to people, most of them are surprised; some of them are aghast. Apparently, at least among Americans, 61 degrees is an usually "cold" temperature for the interior of a house in the winter. Over the past couple of weeks, I even heard from several people who keep their thermostats above 70. When you browse the Internet, you will find numerous "authorities" advising you to set the thermostat down to 65 to save energy (e.g., here). Here's an informal survey of quite a few folks. Apparently, even our new energy-conscious President likes it toasty indoors.

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