I just knew that if I posted my travel plans, interesting items would surface. I just learned that the RAND Corporation, one of the biggest think tanks in the world with more than $175 million in annual revenue, has an operation in Doha, Qatar called the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute.
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.
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.
