Immoral "Morality": The Making of a Hypocrite

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Sharin Bowers

I am not going to criticize Jeff Gannon because he is gay, or even because he is hypocritical. I'm not enjoying this. Okay, maybe I did at first. A little. Okay, a lot. It didn't take long for me to realize that it didn't feel good or right. I guess that makes me a true Progressive because I can't do this. They would. Republicans have attacked moral values, without mercy, even as they were doing the same.

Being gay is not a moral value. In the case of Jeff Gannon, his hypocrisy was forced upon him, probably so he could survive. Yes, it is hard to take the hypocrisy, but society has created the duplicity of Gannon/Guckert, especially the Republican, "Christian" Cons (Cons - short for Conservatives - works a lot better, don't you think) but there are some misguided Democrats, Independents and Constitutionalists, and others too.

He was prepped as a "Young Republican," he probably had parental influence pushing him with totalitarian, authoritarian, self-righteous fists called "Christian Republican values." Transferring judgment onto children, blinded in ignorance of biology and science; and in the educated opinion of some theologians, even ignorance of the Bible, is becoming more popular than ever these red state/blue state days. We aren't getting past homophobia, we are becoming more homophobic. In the name of God, for crying out loud!

Is that Christian? Are those values? Is that even moral?

In this great country of freedom to become enlightened and educated, shouldn't people be progressing instead of going backwards into puritanical misguided prejudices? By now, shouldn't everyone realize biology proves some people are born with different chromosomes and being gay is not a choice? Shouldn't we expect parents would not only not make their children feel like freaks of nature, but they would embrace them, treating them with dignity and respect?

Now that the government has gotten itself involved in determining morals or values for votes, the situation is exacerbated. If someone is born gay, they are a disappointment to those calling themselves moral, and they haven't done anything wrong except to be born who they are. Imagine trying to live in their skin. As irony would have it, the ones doing horrible damage to people are those very ones touting "Christianity" and "values."

As fake "Christian values" are exploited, foisted into the government, prejudicial value judgments based on faulty perceptions are hurting gay people even more, and it seems to be picking up steam. Is it any wonder Gannon is a hypocritical creepazoid if he is gay? Look what his own Republican and Christian society is doing to him!

I found myself wondering if his parents knew he was gay. Can you imagine if they didn't, and the pain he is going through right now, being outed so publicly? Yes, what goes around comes around (if he was instrumental in outing Valerie Plame) some might say.

Jeff Gannon/J.D. Guckert is a victim in his own world in which he probably tried to find a place, while not fitting anywhere. How could he meld who he was into Republicans of today? Or Christians? He had no choice but to split to become two people. Republican "Christians" would not accept or respect him for who he was. He was probably like most of us who wants approval from parents. Even if it meant joining the Marines. If he didn't tell them, can you blame him?

Appeals court upholds ruling in CIA leak

By MARK SHERMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a ruling against two reporters who could go to jail for refusing to divulge their sources to investigators probing the leak of an undercover CIA officer's name to the media.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with prosecutors in their attempt to compel Time magazine's Matthew Cooper and The New York Times' Judith Miller to testify before a federal grand jury about their confidential sources.

"We agree with the District Court that there is no First Amendment privilege protecting the information sought," Judge David B. Sentelle said in the ruling, which was unanimous.

In October, Judge Thomas F. Hogan held the reporters in contempt, rejecting their argument that the First Amendment shielded them from revealing their sources. Both reporters face up to 18 months in jail if they continue to refuse to cooperate.

The special prosecutor in the case, Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, is investigating whether a crime was committed when someone leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame. Her name was published in a 2003 column by Robert Novak, who cited two senior Bush administration officials as his sources.

The column appeared after Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, wrote a newspaper opinion piece criticizing President Bush's claim that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger. The CIA had asked Wilson to check out the uranium claim. Wilson has said he believes his wife's name was leaked as retaliation for his critical comments.

Disclosure of an undercover intelligence officer's identity can be a federal crime if prosecutors can show the leak was intentional and the person who released that information knew of the officer's secret status.

Cooper is a White House correspondent for Time who has reported on the Plame controversy. He agreed in August to provide limited testimony about a conversation he had with Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, after Libby released Cooper from his promise of confidentiality.

Fitzgerald then issued a second, broader subpoena seeking the names of other sources.

Miller is facing jail for a story she never wrote. She had gathered material for an article about Plame, but ended up not doing a story.

Prosecutors have interviewed President Bush, Cheney, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and other current or former administration officials in the investigation. Journalists from NBC and The Washington Post also have been subpoenaed.

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Was White House 'reporter' paid?
Reporter's credentials questioned

by OfficialWire NewsDesk

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- (OfficialWire) -- 02/10/05 -- In the wake of revelations last month that conservative commentator Armstrong Williams had received $240,000 indirectly from the Department of Education to promote Bush's "No Child Left Behind" education overhaul and after it was discovered that syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher had received $21,500 from the Department of Health and Human Services to help create materials used to promote Bush's $300 million initiative encouraging marriage to strengthen families, one is left wondering whether or not James Guckert, who reported from the White House for the Talon News Service using a false name—"Jeff Gannon"—was being paid to ask administration-friendly questions and report favorably on important issues.

In a letter to President Bush, New York congresswoman Rep. Louise Slaughter, questioned why Guckert routinely received credentials for White House news briefings.

"It appears that 'Mr. Gannon's' presence in the White House press corps was merely as a tool of propaganda for your administration," Slaughter wrote.

The White House had no comment.

Working for a news website, owned by a GOP activist, Guckert was able to obtain White House press credentials under an assumed name despite the requirement for a secret service background check—suggesting that ‘Gannon's’ real name was known but that White House officials permitted the use of an assumed name.

Slaughter said she believed the White House gave Guckert credentials to get a 'friendly questioner' into the room during White House briefings.

In a statement published to TalonNews.com, 'Editor in Chief' Robert R. Eberle, Ph.D. wrote:

"Talon News Washington, DC reporter and White House Correspondent Jeff Gannon submitted his resignation from our organization effective February 8, 2005."

"I understand and support Jeff's decision, and have accepted the resignation."

"We are currently evaluating candidates to fill this critical assignment, and anticipate minimal interruption of Talon's coverage of our nation's capitol and the White House in the meantime." -- Robert R. Eberle, Ph.D., Editor in Chief, Talon News

Interestingly, Eberle does not refer to 'Jeff Gannon’ by his real name...

Rumsfeld Debating Whether to Avoid Germany
By Charles Aldinger
Reuters


WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday he has not decided whether to attend an international security conference next week in Germany, where he might be subject to arrest on a war-crimes complaint.

"I have not made a final decision on that (attendance). And there are several factors," Rumsfeld told reporters when asked if he would go to the prestigious annual private Munich Conference on Security Policy Feb. 12-13 when he is in Europe next week.

He conceded in response to questions at a press conference that one problem was the jurisdiction of a German court over a 160-page criminal complaint filed Nov. 30 with the federal prosecutor's office in Germany accusing him of war crimes in connection with detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

That complaint was brought by the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a group of lawyers representing Iraqis who say they were mistreated by U.S. forces at the Baghdad prison.

The complaint also names other senior U.S. military authorities, including former U.S. commander in Iraq Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, and former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet.

"It's certainly an issue, as it was in Belgium. It's something that we have to take into consideration," Rumsfeld said of the suit on Thursday. "Whether I end up there we'll soon know. It'll be a week, and we'll find out."

The German prosecutor's office has taken no action on he complaint, based on a 2002 German law that the gives the Karlsruhe Court "universal jurisdiction" in cases involving alleged war crimes.

A similar law was previously passed in Belgium but later modified, and cases against U.S. and other officials, including Cuban President Fidel Castro, were dismissed or rejected.

Officials of the Munich conference, which marked its 40th anniversary last year, earlier told the Washington Post that Rumsfeld might not attend. It draws members of (the U.S. Congress), cabinet ministers, lawmakers and prominent analysts and politicians from many parts of Europe and Asia.

Rumsfeld told reporters on Thursday he would attend an informal meeting of NATO defense ministers in Nice, France, Feb. 9-10 and was likely to make other stops, but that his final schedule was not complete.

"I'm going to be in Nice. And I'm very likely going to visit some other locations in that part of the world during that period," he said.