One of the intimidating parts of writing a blog is that if one is lucky, lots of people read it — and those people are scattered pretty far around.

(Feb. 28, 2003 WH press conference on C-SPAN) Eric Boehlert has this piece in Salon that pulls together some super-sleuth reports proving that Jeff Gannon/James Guckert had access to White House press briefings before Talon News was even up and running. Someone helped this guy.

The other day, I was moved by this Colbert King column that made the link betweeen the W.E.B. Du Bois-led civil rights movement at Niagara Falls 100 years ago and the pursuit of equal rights for gays and lesbians and the legalization of same-sex marriage.

John Aravosis told me last night that the only person who seems to be able to reach Jeff Gannon/James Guckert is Michelangelo Signorile, who previously interviewed Gannon/Gukcert in a two-hour interview.

I just got off the phone with Jacob Heilbrunn from whom I received permission to post this excellent and educational article about the large neo-Nazi demonstration in Dresden this past week. Heilbrunn deftly delineates between the two former parts of Germany and how each managed its historical memory challenges.

The C.V.

Howard Kurtz has a very long column today profiling Jeff Gannon/James Guckert. Most of what Kurtz writes on is the excellent investigative work of John Aravosis, but he makes some other important points.

I had a minor intellectual skirmish a few years ago with Tadashi Yamamoto. We were arguing about whether Japanese civil society had matured to a level to be considered a genuine democracy.

I have to admit that I feel awkward and uneasy posting comments about Jeff Gannon, his role as a shill for the White House, and his alleged extracurricular activities as a gay-sex hustler.

When I was more youthful, less cynical, and thought that some of the world’s most severe problems could be solved if every American just gave a dime, or a quarter, or a dollar, I had no idea how expensive fixing some of the world’s problems could be. George W.