Monday, April 04, 2005
Thou Shalt Not Steal (But What About Plagiarize)
Every once in a while, you hear a disturbing story about some low-life who breaks into a church to steal from the collection plate.
This is a story about one such low-life: Jeff Gannon or Guckert or just plain plagiarist, not really a journalist, but a National Press Club invitee, just the same.
Readers of articles at the Traditional Values Website are encouraged to "take action about what [they] have just read." Readers are also encouraged to "write a letter to your local newspapers, television stations and radio stations" but "[p]lease note, the article will NOT be automatically inserted or referenced in your letter. You must copy and paste it or give them the web page URL yourself."
But, as far I could tell, nowhere on the Traditional Values Website does it say that "journalists" are allowed to copy and paste. Jeff Gannon did, though. And Jeff Gannon gets to go to the National Press Club because...well I'm not really sure why because...I just know that he's going and all the liberal bloggers who have exposed him as a journalistic fraud - and other things far, far worse - don't get invited to go.
On January 20, 2004 Jeff put his name on his copy-and-paste heist of an article from the Traditional Values Website. Like magic, "Winston-Salem City Councilman Vernon Robinson Unveils his own Ten Commandments Monument in front of City Hall" was transformed into "Winston-Salem City Councilman Installs Ten Commandments Monument at City Hall" By Jeff Gannon (Jeff & Jeff's victim), and my favorite plagiarist had himself yet another "exclusive" for Bobby Eberle's Talon Plagiarism Factory News "service":
TVC: "Winston-Salem City-Councilman Vernon Robinson and four other men erected a Ten Commandments Monument in front of Winston-Salem City Hall this morning...The blue granite monument stands nearly five feet tall and weighs just under one ton..."
Jeff: "City Councilman Vernon Robinson chose the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday to unveil a Ten Commandments monument in front of the Winston-Salem City Hall. He and four other men erected the blue granite monument that stands nearly five feet tall and weighs just under one ton."
TVC: "A nationally recognized conservative leader, Robinson's campaign for Congress in North Carolina's Fifth District..."
Jeff: "Robinson is a nationally recognized conservative leader and a Republican candidate for Congress in North Carolina's Fifth District."
TVC: "It was paid for entirely out of the personal funds of Councilman Robinson, who intends that it be placed on permanent display at city hall."
Jeff: "Councilman Robinson, who paid for the monument entirely out of his personal funds, intends that the monument will be left on permanent display."
TVC: "It was designed by Rev. David Maynard of Clemmons, who also selected and commissioned the artisans who actually formed the piece."
Jeff: "Rev. David Maynard designed the piece and also selected and commissioned the artisans who formed it."
TVC: " The monument is inscribed on one side with the Ten Commandments...and on the other side with...the American Bill of Rights..."
Jeff: "The monument is inscribed on one side with the Ten Commandments and on the other side with the Bill of Rights."
TVC: "The project has been in the works since October of 2003, when Councilman Robinson and Justice Roy Moore (former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court) were the keynote speakers at the Florida Christian Coalition's annual God and Country banquet. After an extended discussion with Justice Moore about the somewhat similar monument commissioned by Moore that was removed by federal court order from the Alabama state courts building in Montgomery, Robinson became inspired to undertake a constitutionally acceptable project here in Winston-Salem."
Jeff: "The project has been in the works since October of 2003, when Robinson and former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore were the keynote speakers at the Florida Christian Coalition's annual God and Country banquet. Following a discussion with Moore about his experience with the Ten Commandments monument he had placed in the Alabama state courts building that was removed by a federal court order, Robinson says he was inspired to install a similar piece in Winston-Salem."
TVC: " Although some public displays of the Ten Commandments have encountered legal challenges in recent years, the Robinson display avoids these constitutional pitfalls. It is paid for entirely by Councilman Robinson's personal funds, and therefore represents no investment of public monies. In addition, the inclusion of the Bill of Rights makes clear that the text is not an overt tribute to the Judeo-Christian religion, but rather a simple acknowledgement of the historical role these two great documents, one secular and one religious, played in the development and growth of our American legal system."
Jeff: "Robinson has been careful to avoid the constitutional pitfalls that have resulted in legal challenges to other public displays of the Ten Commandments. The monument is paid for entirely by Councilman Robinson's personal funds, and therefore represents no investment of public monies. In addition, the inclusion of the Bill of Rights makes clear that the text is not an overt tribute to the Judeo-Christian religion, but rather a simple acknowledgement of the historical role these two documents, one secular and one religious, played in the development and growth of our American legal system."
TVC: "Robinson also acknowledged that one or more of the liberals serving with him on the city council might ask that the monument be removed:"
Jeff: "Robinson also acknowledged that one or more of the liberals serving with him on the city council might ask that the monument be removed..."
TVC: "[T]he five men who erected the monument dedicated it with a prayer asking the Lord to soften the hardened hearts of city officials."
Jeff: "The five men who erected the monument dedicated it with a prayer asking the Lord to "soften the hardened hearts of city officials..."
I'm not a religious sort of man, though I would consider myself agnostic as opposed to atheist. And while I don't believe in Heaven, I do cross my fingers that there is some sort of after-life where low-lifes who steal words for a "living" burn in eternal damnation.
Aw Hell...I'd just settle for the plagiarizing low-life known as Jeff Gannon to be dis-invited from the National Press Club since the powers-that-be are afraid of real journalists like John Aravosis and ePluribus Media's Susan Gardner.
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