THE GRYPHEN FILES: Real Facts, Riehl Theory

Did Jesse Griffin get fired or suspended from his Anchorage kindergarten job Tuesday? The school itself can not comment on personnel matters. It's quite unusual for Dan Riehl to publish speculation or theory:

Does he have a personality so weak he can't afford to lose face under any circumstances, going to any length to try to prevent it?

On the other hand, because "Gryphen"/Griffin published an "exclusive" from "one of [his] best sourcces," yet he was just making stuff up . . . well, Dan says:

This is all speculation, of course. But then, so are Jesse Griffin's alleged news reports on Sarah Palin. No harm in experimenting with his form of journalism for a change, right? It isn't like he has any grounds to complain.

Read the whole thing. And keep checking back at Riehl World View, on the outside chance that "Gryphen"/Griffin decides to give straight answers some of the questions Dan e-mailed him.

PREVIOUSLY:

• 8/2: 'Mommy, Why Does My Kindergarten Teacher Lie About Sarah Palin?'
• 8/4: Jesse Griffin: Troubling Revelations
• 8/5: Jesse Griffin's Been Lying To His Friends, Too?
• 8/5: Give Jesse Enough Rope
• 8/5: When You Catch A Liar Lying

THE GRYPHEN FILES: When You Catch A Liar Lying

Sunday, an anonymous source e-mailed the identity of "Gryphen" to Dan Riehl and I. In ensuing days, the same source has also sent along quotes (with screen-capture JPEGs) from Jesse Griffin's Immoral Minority blog.

Griffin is not only a liar, but an extremely stupid liar, who arrogantly believed that no one else could ever possibly be smart enough to discover his "Gryphen" deception. For three days now, Griffin piled up lie upon lie in an effort to explain that deception. And all the time, there were those quotes the source had sent:

GIVE JESSE ENOUGH ROPE
STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING: Please note that the juxtaposition of quotes at that post is intended to highlight the vast difference between (a) what he wrote when he thought his anonymity was secure, and (b) what he wrote once his deception was exposed, and it was learned he was "an assistant teacher in a room full of five year old children."

An interesting development discovered while compiling that post: At some point since Monday, Jesse Griffin changed the banner motto at Immoral Minority from this:

"What is morality? Who decides? Are we in charge of our own destiny? What is right? And what is wrong? Are these questions which can be answered? You betcha."

To this:

"Morality is not determined by the church you attend nor the faith you embrace. It is determined by the quality of your character and the positive impact you have on those you meet along your journey."

Question: Why the change? Why now?
Answer: The first quote was a blunt statement of moral relativism, in which each individual decides, without reference to any enduring and acknowledged standard, what is right or wrong.

Or, as the serpent said: "Ye shall be as gods!"

Remember that mysterious delay Monday? Last night someone found the answer to a question I'd been asking since Sunday night. Which is why I took some poetic advice Angela McGlowan's father taught her: I burned the midnight oil.

Previously, "Gryphen" had declared himself an atheist. He is, in fact, his own god. Let him save himself from the consequences of his own freely chosen actions. The banner motto at this blog, meanwhile, remains unchanged:

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up."
-- Arthur Koestler

Hmmm. Didn't some commenter tell me to "STFU"?

As bloggers say, READ THE WHOLE THING and look for further updates at RIEHL WORLD VIEW.

Once more all readers are warned not to threaten anyone. LEAVE JESSE GRIFFIN ALONE!

Midnight Oil:A Renewable Energy Source

The heights by great men reached and kept,
Were not obtained by sudden flight.
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

THE GRYPHEN FILES: GIVE JESSE ENOUGH ROPE

WARNING: This post contains content from the Immoral Minority blog, written by "Gryphen," a/k/a Jesse Griffin, who has been a kindergarten teaching assistant in Anchorage.

"[T]he school has done extensive background checks on me and I am squeaky clean."
-- "Gryphen," A/K/A, Jesse Griffin, Aug. 4, 2009

"You know the reason that many people enjoy adult movies is that it is sexy to watch people making love. . . . I think that this trend toward real people having real sex is definitely the way to go. I always had a little guilt watching an adult movie and wondering if the female performer was a drug addict, or victim of molestation, just prostituting herself to make a buck. I am not Jewish, so guilt and sex don't really go together for me. But when you see a video of an amateur couple having sex you can tell that they are simply doing it for the sheer excitement of sharing their passion with a bunch of middle aged pervs who are going to wank off to their sexual exploits. Well great here comes that guilt again."
-- "Gryphen," a/k/a Jesse Griffin, June 3, 2007

"Yes I DO work in a Kindergarten class during the school year. My main job affords me some time during the day and I have chosen to use it teaching children to read, and helping them to become more independent."
-- "Gryphen," a/k/a Jesse Griffin, Aug. 2, 2009

"Having somebody reveal your "secret identity" can be a little unsettling . . ."
-- "Gryphen," A/K/A, Jesse Griffin, Aug. 4, 2009

"What is morality? Who decides? Are we in charge of our own destiny? What is right? And what is wrong? Are these questions which can be answered? You betcha."
-- banner sllogan at Immoral Minority blog (changed after Aug. 2, 2009)

"All of the fun of sex is drained by making all of these rules and labels. If sex is not naughty then it is almost not worth doing. I love kids, but in my opinion they are just a side effect of a healthy sex life."
-- Gryphen," a/k/a Jesse Griffin, June 14, 2007

"But just where did Trig Palin come from? As of today, as of this minute, and after over a month of searching I cannot tell you. I simply do not know for certain. I do know however where he did not come from. He did not issue forth from Sarah Palin. . . . He was not conceived in her uterus. On that one fact I have absolutely no doubt."
-- "Gryphen," a/k/a Jesse Griffin, June 6, 2009

"And your penis will respond more readily if you take it out and put it through its paces more often. Duh! So the next time your girlfriend/wife/mother bust you for watching porn on your computer, simply tell her that you are exercising and you would appreciate some privacy."
-- "Gryphen," a/k/a Jesse Griffin, July 7, 2008

"That's right I am promoting self pleasure. Does that really surprise anybody?" -- Gryphen," a/k/a Jesse Griffin, Oct. 17, 2007

"I do it because it brings me joy to work with these children and I believe, and have been told, that I am very good at it . . .
"[Y]ou now know my dirty little secret. I am an assistant teacher in a room full of five year old children. . . ."
-- Gryphen," a/k/a Jesse Griffin, Aug. 2, 2009

"I am teaching my boys to wear dresses and swish when they walk because being ignorant or drug addicted is no longer a guarantee of being passed over. If your not willing to suck cock then pack up your going to Iraq."
-- "Gryphen," a/k/a Jesse Griffin, June 10, 2005

"[A]s of right now I have every confidence that I will be vindicated."
-- Gryphen," a/k/a Jesse Griffin, Aug. 2, 2009

RELATED ARTICLES BY DAN RIEHL

• 8/4: Jesse Griffin: Troubling Revelations
• 8/5: Jesse Griffin's Been Lying To His Friends, Too?

MORE TO COME AT RIEHL WORLD VIEW

VIDEO: Censorship on Capitol Hill?

Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) says -- surprise! -- the Democrats are trying to shut down opposing viewpoints:

(Via Washington News Observer.)

Dr. Barbara Oakley: 'Why MostJournalists Are Democrats'

OK, I spent 22 years in the newspaper business, the first nine as a Democrat, but I'll set aside my know-it-all attitude and listen to this:

Unsurprisingly, self-selection plays an important role in choosing a job. People choosing to do work related to prisons, for example, commonly show quite different characteristics than those who volunteer for work in helping disadvantaged youths. Academicians have very different characteristics than CEOs—or politicians, for that matter.
Harry Stein, former ethics editor of Esquire, once said: "Journalism, like social work, tends to attract individuals with a keen interest in bettering the world.” In other words, journalists self-select based on a desire to help others. Socialism, with its “spread the wealth” mentality intended to help society’s underdogs, sounds ideal.
Most journalists take a number of psychology, sociology, political science, and humanities courses during their early years in college. Unfortunately, these courses have long served as ideological training programs . . .

Read the whole thing. To young people, I would say, if you have a "keen interest in bettering the world," and are looking for a job with low pay and little prospect for career advancement, how about you join the freakin' Peace Corps and stop messing up the news business?

Dr. Oakley's observations about self-selection are right on target. So what explains me? Why am I not "bettering the world"? My original career plan was to become a multimillionaire rock star, but my Dad insisted I go to college, just in case I needed "something to fall back on."

After college, I was a nightclub DJ for about six months, then got fired from a job -- honestly, how was I to know that blonde dancer was the bouncer's girlfriend? -- and signed up with a temp agency, doing warehouse work on Fulton Industrial Boulevard in Atlanta. That led to a full-time job for nearly 18 months as a forklift driver, paying the bills and saving up money for a P.A. system.

Falling Back
In college, I'd been entertainment editor and rock-music columnist ("Flock of Seagulls: Threat Or Menace?") for the student paper. The faculty advisor urged me my senior year to do other assignments -- sports, news, features -- so I'd have a more "balanced" portfolio of clippings. But I hadn't been able to land a newspaper job right out of school, and didn't really look for one after that. Before the Internet, you see, the business of looking for a job was much more time-consuming, and the rock-star thing was my real passion anyway.

One day, a buddy of mine, an amateur photographer, was out at Sweetwater Creek State Park and it just happened there was a radio-controlled model sailboat club having a regatta. He got some pictures and thought it was pretty cool, and said he talked to the club members and they'd asked him to send the pictures to them for the club newsletter. He was pretty excited about this.
Well, it happened that, driving through the nearby town of Austell the past few weeks, I'd noticed a new sign on a building downtown: "Cobb News Chronicle." That Austell could be a two-newspaper town was explained by the fact that a local businessman had gotten mad at the publisher of the town's original weekly tabloid (The Sweetwater Enterprise) over ad rates and decided he'd start his own paper.

Seeing this sign while driving through Austell en route to see my girlfriend (who lived in Marietta), I'd been thinking maybe I should see about getting a job there. Compared to forklift driving, being a newspaper writer might be more useful to my rock-star ambitions. And here was my buddy with these model sailboat photos, excited about having them published in a club newsletter.

"Hey, cool, but I tell you what. There's a brand-new newspaper that just opened up in Austell. If you've got these photos, I could do a freelance article to go with it, and maybe we could get paid."
Well, I wasn't going to write for "spec," see? I was first going to find out if they would pay me before I would bother writing the article.

Two Big Things I Never Forgot
So the next day, I put on the blue pin-stripe three-piece suit my grandmother had bought me for my mother's funeral in 1977 -- hey, bell-bottoms were cool! -- took my portfolio and the photos, and drove down to the Chronicle office. Walked in the front door, with my blue suit and rock-star hair, and the green-eyed girl at the front desk had a spectacular rack. (Forgot her name long ago, but I never forget a great rack.)

So I tell the green-eyed girl with the spectacular rack I'd like to speak to the editor. She goes back and gets Chris Barker, the news editor. He walked me back to his cubicle, where I showed him my photos and the clips and pitched the idea of doing a freelance photo feature. What would they pay for that?

Well, he wasn't so interested in this feature idea, but my clips looked pretty good . . .

"Tell you what," he said. "There's a city council meeting tonight. You want to go cover that for us?"

"What does that pay?" I asked.

"If it's any good, $4.50 an hour."

That was in April of 1986. The story needed a good bit of editing -- Chris Barker was both a great editor and a great teacher -- but I got $4.50 an hour for four hours' work. When we were through with the story, Chris offered a full-time job at the same rate. A couple weeks later, they'd hired my buddy as a photographer, too.

Rock On, With Boy Howdy!
So the point of that story is this: My career in journalism had nothing to do with any "keen interest in bettering the world." I was just looking to make some money until the rock-star career took off. Bounced around a bit, then met my wife in the fall of 1987, had our first kid in 1989 and . . well, if the rest isn't history yet, it's only because I'm not finished yet.

I never wanted to be Woodward and Bernstein. Maybe I admired the late, great rock critic Lester Bangs (does anyone remember the old Creem magazine?) and I'd been a Hunter S. Thompson junkie since I was 19, but it never occurred to me, in 1986, that I'd end up as an award-winning political journalist in Washington. (Hey, Jesse, how'd you like that pony?) Far less did I expect to become a top Hayekian public intellectual.

Here's the thing: When I was starting out, nobody offered to pay me to write political opinions, and I didn't have any interest in doing that egghead pundit crap anyway. Al Gore hadn't invented the Internet yet, so we hadn't reached the glories of the Information Age, when every random loser with a laptop can tell the world their opinions of stuff they know nothing about. I didn't go to Harvard, so it wasn't like National Review would ever offer me an internship to go skinny-dipping with Bill Buckley.

So I made my living by skill, not opinion. And because of that, I realized the only way to get ahead was to work hard every day to improve my skills.

I like the blogosphere, especially when regular people do real journalism (Look, Jesse, Santa brought you a pony!) and as a means for regular people to talk back to the media. But merely having an opinion wasn't worth $4.50 an hour even in 1986. You can't succeed merely by having an opinion -- much less by trying to "better the world" -- whether it's in blogs or newspapers or anything else.

Well, that's my story. Dr. Barbara Oakley's article is also excellent. Read the whole thing.

Gutzman's GOP criticism is nearly on target

by Smitty

Via Political Class Dismissed, Kevin R. C. Gutzman takes the GOP to task for Phony Originalism at Taki's Magazine.

Since the days of Ronald Reagan and Edmund Meese, the Republican Party’s position has been that judges should be bound by the people’s understanding of a particular constitutional provision at the time they ratified it. This notion goes under the name "originalism." Recent events, including the Republican response to President Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, reveal that the party is a highly unreliable vehicle for this principle.

Examples cited in the article include Kelo v. City of New London, enforcing the Second Amendment at the state level, abortion, and affirmative action.
Here is an interesting point, emphasis mine:

The Bill of Rights as an obstacle to federal infringement on state authority was only one element of the underlying principle of the U.S. Constitution. This is “federalism,” the notion that the states (meaning the sovereign people of each state) had delegated only particular powers to the Federal Government. In the Reagan era, with Edmund Meese as attorney general and Charles Cooper as assistant attorney general, this principle received an emphasis it had not since 1937.

Gutzman concludes:

In short, then, Republicans generally do not stand for principled adherence to originalism, which once was called "the Constitution." Across a range of questions, they mirror their Democratic opponents in advocating judicial legislation of their preferred legislative outcomes.

While no lawyer, I have read the Constitution and Amar's book avidly. Oh, and Goldberg. What seems missing in Gutzman's analysis is any acknowledgement of the importance of Progressivism in digging the current political/economic pit. Progressives of both stripes, Democrats by commission and Republicans by omission, have supported excessive centralization in DC since the Wilson administration (I'd be interested in knowing why Gutzman picked 1937 as a turning point for federalism).

In discussions with an older, conservative colleague at work, I hear a common, bogus apology: "Social Security was OK as originally conceived, it only went wrong after the fact."

I try to explain that there is no Constitutional argument in favor of Social Security: anything like a sober reading seems to argue against it. And that's neglecting the moral argument that the Amish make so well. Pssst, Baptists: you're asleep at the switch. Finally, there is the crushing economic argument:

Ponzi schemes are OK as long as you've another generation of victims. Possibly acquisition of another round of victims explains the Democratic non-command of border security.

Social Security was never more than an interesting experiment underscoring the wisdom of the 10th Amendment. That one can find examples of people who were helped by it (as my colleague does) only serves to underscore the fundamental evil of government dependency. Having perverting liberty, people are reduced to a form of slavery:

Exodus 14:10-12

10. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
11. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
12. Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

(Note that I'm not arguing against Progressive policies per se. They should certainly be allowed to succeed/fail at the state level, to whatever degree the residents of the state desire.)

Thus, while Gutzman seems to be arguing against the GOP from a snarky leftist "see, they're just like us, only hitting different notes" standpoint, I'd hit the GOP from a "screw you pack of Progressive squishes, and all the jackasses in tacit alliance with you".

Excessive, concentrated power, and the resulting tyranny is precisely what the Constitution was written to preclude, and exactly what the Progressive legislative re-write has given us these last 80-ish years.

If there is a lesson drawn from Obama the Joker and Chicago-on-the-Potomac, it is that "We the People" had better be about continuing the project begun by Ronald Reagan, placing these entitlements on valid economic and Constitutional footing, and protecting our liberty from the Vision of the Anointed. The eyes of that vision seem to be of the Overworld.

THE GRYPHEN FILES:Dan Riehl Is Not 'Making Stuff Up'

Remember when Jesse Griffin was predicting he'd be "vindicated"?

Remember when Jesse Griffin tried to threaten Dan Riehl?

Remember when Santa Claus didn't bring you that pony, Griffin?

WOW! JESSE GRIFFIN WAS RIGHT!

I can't believe this! After she denied it in a direct quote! But Jesse had it right the whole time! Sarah Palin really is getting divorced after having an affair with . . .

BIGFOOT?

Hey, "multiple sources," right? And compared to Dennis "Bozo" Zaki (who is actually not a stringer for CNN, as he had previously claimed) the Weekly World News is a paragon of . . . what's that word? Ah, yes: "Integrity"!

Well, obviously, I don't know anything about that stuff. My speciality is history, and if Hiroshima wasn't enough, guess we'll have to . . . well, just keep reading here and at Dan Riehl's blog.

THE GRYPHEN FILES: E-MAIL TO JESSE GRIFFIN

Just sent this e-mail:

To start with Griffin, don't lecture me about libel. Screw you, you miserable little pissant. I didn't work my way up -- starting with a $4.50-an-hour staff writer job at a 6,000-circulation weekly in 1986 -- so some random loser could lecture me about libel law.
I spent more than two decades with a copy of the AP Stylebook And Libel Manual within arm's reach, and I know the difference between facts and bulls***, a distinction you seem to have trouble making. And you want to lecture Dan Riehl about "integrity"? When he told me that, I was half tempted to risk Dan's wrath by just going off on my own, but there are more important things to consider and I wouldn't want to make Dan angry, so I waited.
You made a serious mistake when you published that Palin divorce rumor, Griffin, and your idiot friend Zaki made another serious mistake by pretending to have confirmed it with "multiple sources." What you did, to borrow a term from military science, was to surrender the initiative to your enemy.
Even if Todd and Sarah had been ready to call it quits Saturday morning (and since my sources apparently aren't as good as yours, I have no way of knowing), you handed them a perfect weapon of revenge, which they can now use at their discretion. All they have to do is not file for divorce, and they make you a liar. And if they decide to sue your a**, I'm thinking you don't want a jury trial, so the folks in the jury box can see them every day, sitting in the front row holding hands all lovey-dovey.
Idiot. The other day I was telling my wife I'd have loved to have seen you try to file that "story" at The Washington Times some night when Geoff Etnyre was the M.E. in charge. You and Zaki would have been fired on the spot.
Working at a real news organization, as opposed to the idiot crap you and Zaki do, requires responsibility to others -- colleagues, bosses, advertisers, owners and, above all, the readers. As much as I love playing the Internet joker since quitting the Times in January 2008, I try to make it clear to readers the difference between when I'm being serious and when I'm just clowning around. After all, I've got a serious career as a freelance journalist, with a wife and six kids to worry about, and even if most blog readers "get it" when I'm just joking, misunderstandings can sometimes cause trouble.
Let's talk a little bit about "sources," Griffin. Until I came to Washington in 1997, I'd never worked for a newspaper that allowed what we call "blind sourcing," the anonymous "senior administration official" and so forth. Well, Washington is a different game (and I've got the knives in my back to prove it), so I had to learn how to deal with this "sources said" stuff.
One of the basic rules, insisted on by our Old School editor-in-chief Wes Pruden, was that you couldn't hang a story entirely on blind sources. You had to have something else -- some kind of document, or an official who was willing to go on the record and "put his name on it" -- or else it looked like you were just peddling gossip.
It didn't matter if the reporter knew that the story was right. Without something concrete to anchor the story, the reader might get the impression you were, to quote a highly-placed Republican source, "making stuff up." You owed it to your readers, and to the reputation of the paper, to get something or someone into that story that would let them know for sure they were getting the real deal. Otherwise, you couldn't publish it. And woe unto the poor schmuck on the national desk (alas, it was sometimes me) who signed off on a story where the reporter failed to "back up his lede."
It was for many years my honor to edit the work of such fine reporters as Jerry Seper, Audrey Hudson, Stephen Dinan and Ralph Z. Hallow. Ask any of those guys how much arguing was sometimes required to get a story just right, so that when we printed 110,000 copies, nobody at the White House, Congress or the FBI could dispute our credibility. Ask those guys, and maybe they'll tell you Stacy McCain is a clueless dilbert who doesn't know good journalism from a hole in the ground, but that's their right. It was their bylines on those stories, and if I screwed up the story by an editing error (the reporter's worst nightmare) then my stupidity could damage their credibility.
Speaking of credibility, Griffin, you don't have any. Given how wrong you were about the Palin divorce, you've blown whatever chance you ever had of being someone that people should take seriously. And given all the things you've written about Palin over the past several months, I'd guess the "malice" part of a libel action against you would be a lead-pipe cinch. But I'm not a lawyer, so that's just a guess.
Mala fides, as the lawyers say, is a dangerous thing. There have been times when I've been assigned to do a story -- and I wore two hats, doing both reporting and editing at The Times -- involving persons or organizations I considered evil. And when you get a story like that, the trick is to do it Joe Friday style: "Just the facts, ma'am." Like one of my first editors told me, "As long as you've got your facts right" -- i.e., as long as the story is accurate -- "they can't touch you." So if you're doing a story about somebody you can't stand, you tend to err on the side of caution. That's another Old School editor's maxim: "When in doubt, leave it out."
But you don't know that stuff, Griffin, because you're a phony -- and I state that as an objective fact. Sue me. You are trying to seem like you're reporting news without actually doing the work. That's as dangerous as mala fides, and when you combine the two . . .
Your bulls*** about "my best source" had some serious unintended consequences, Griffin. Among other things, you ruined my weekend. Frankly, I didn't give a damn about what was going on in Wasilla. I was planning to spend the weekend chilling out so I could spend this week up on Capitol Hill talking to my sources on the IG investigations. Byron York beat me last week, which was my own fault, and now I've got to play catch-up.
Instead, I ended up spending all Saturday knocking down the bogus story from you and Zaki -- the Woodward and Bernstein of Anchorage -- which left me entirely frazzled. And then I got a call Sunday morning from Dan Riehl, and my weekend descended into the seventh circle of Hell.
Your "best source"? Let me make something clear, Griffin: If I ever quote an unnamed source, it's with the understanding that, should any legal action result, my source will be willing to go on the record and testify on my behalf. There is a basic newspaper rule: If you publish something, and get a complaint from somebody who claims libel and starts talking about lawyers and lawsuits, the conversation is over. Have their lawyer talk to your lawyer, and if the lawyer says retract, retract.
A good reporter never burns his sources, but a good source never burns a reporter. If one of my sources doesn't call me first with the big scoop, I feel insulted. But that's probably just the notoriously touchy pride of a Southerner. ("Sir, you have impugned my honor!") However, if one of my sources feeds me bogus stuff so that I end up putting my name on a story that's wrong, you'd better believe I'm going to make him regret it. ("Pistols at dawn, you lying scalawag!")
So when Sarah Palin gave me that quote denying the divorce rumor, she might not have known what she was getting herself into. As I wrote: "That worldwide exclusive quote from Sarah Palin? You can take that to the bank, baby. . . . After I'd filed that, however, I sent an e-mail containing the admonishment that now, no matter what happens, the Palins can never get divorced, as this would undermine my credibility." I'm told she thought that was funny. Except, I wasn't joking.
Right now, I'm about 60-40 between Palin '12 and Romney '12, but I'd prefer Palin, just because I might have a better shot at the "sources said" angle on that campaign. But if there's any problem between the governor and the "First Dude" (and like I said, my sources aren't good enough to give me the play-by-play, "if you get my drift") they'd better not get divorced, or it's time to kiss the White House good-bye. However scandalous an affair might be (headline: SARAH SHOOTS 'TWO-TIMING WEASEL') a divorce would make me look like a chump. Woe unto the source who makes me look like a chump.
By the way, Griffin, there's one point you and I agree on: Republicans are too uptight about sex. I've been happily married for 20 years and, as the father of six kids, I always laugh when liberals suggest that being a conservative means I'm sexually repressed. More like irrepressible. Sometimes I joke around with my single friends, urging them to get married, lest they fall prey to the temptation of fornication. A joke, but serious, too. When God gives a guy as ugly as me a wife as good-looking as mine, it's the kind of blessing I'd be a fool to reject. ("MRS. McCAIN SHOOTS TWO-TIMING WEASEL")
One of my journalistic heroes is Benjamin Franklin, who wrote in his autobiography that, as a child, he was often admonished by his father with a Bible verse, Proverbs 22:29: "Seest thou a man diligent in his work? He shall stand before kings, and his place shall not be among ordinary men." Like they say, claim the promise. Because I'm lazy by nature, God has relentlessly chastised me for that sin. Nothing good ever happens to me unless I sweat for it, like I've had to sweat since Saturday.
So far, I've stood before congressmen, senators, governors, attorneys general, first ladies and Cabinet secretaries, but never yet a president nor a king. Given that I'll be 50 in October, I'm starting to get a little impatient. But live or die, I'm sure one day I'll stand before a king. So I just keep working and praying.
Speaking of prayer, Griffin, on your blog you say you're an atheist. Maybe you should pray to Nothing and see if that helps.

Good luck,
Robert Stacy McCain
Co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of
DONKEY CONS: Sex, Crime &
Corruption in the Democratic Party

P.S.: I CC this to my co-blogger Smitty, and will also publish it in its entirety on my blog, just so you can't play cut-and-paste games on your own blog, Griffin.
P.P.S.: Is the name of your blog a play on words? One thing I could never resist is a double-entendre, but I'll wait.

Wait, and keep watching Dan Riehl's site. I spoke to Dan about an hour ago, and we agreed that when he goes with what he's got, I'll take a look at it and then decide what I need to go with. So Dan's got the lead on this story now, and he's the man to watch.

UPDATE: Dan Riehl goes live:

School-aged children who were PC literate apparently could have had access to information posted on his blog . . .
Because of this apparent portal between his MySpace real identiity and his "Gryphen" alter-ego, the allegedly anonymous Gryphen appears to have been out all along. . . .
The blog appears to have routinely displayed content such as describing then Governor and VP candidate Sarah Palin as wearing "f*ck me pumps" or debating the acceptability of such concepts as referring to former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice as a "c*nt" . . .

Read the whole thing. Hey, how's that "praying to Nothing" workin' out for you, Griffin? What was it the Moe Lane said? Me, I can put anything on my blog. I'm a private citizen, a mere entrepreneurial journalist, First Amendment and all that. But a public-school kindergarten teaching assistant . . .? Not so much.

Oh, and good luck trying to flush it down the Memory Hole. We've got plenty of screen-capture JPGs.

Have a nice day! :D

THE GRYPHEN FILES:Notes on the Delay

Given the unexpected delay in publication of the reports that Dan Riehl and I have been working on, I have asked and received permission from Dan to do what I had been planning to do before, namely examine the bogusness of the "reporting" provided by Jesse Griffin and Dennis Zaki.

However, I wanted to begin with a note apologizing for the delay, which unfortunately led to threats from Griffin. As I told you last night, Griffin, Dan Riehl is not a man you want to make angry. Dan has now posted the text of the e-mail, and please pay attention to this paragraph of Griffin's e-mail:

And hey for future reference if you think an allegation or rumor is incorrect then just wait it out and make fun of the person after it proves to be false. That keeps your integrity intact and makes you seem like the better man.

When Dan read me that sentence last night, I became furious. "Integrity"? You phony loser, you think you are the guy to lecture people about "integrity"?

Collaborating on this project has been extremely difficult. There are very important considerations, and Dan doesn't want to mess up.

One reason Dan decided to hit the brakes yesterday was that we'd both been working practically non-stop since Saturday and needed some sleep. Trying to coordinate action between two blogs required a lot of e-mail and phone calls.

We were both extremely irritable, and I was getting impatient. Delaying the story would make it seem as if we were bluffing or threatening. So I had to fight the temptation of saying, "Aw, the hell with it" -- just start publishing stuff and let Dan worry about his own end of it. But that would make Dan angry, and I don't want to make Dan angry.

While I was asleep last night, however, there were new developments which will now require further delays.

Grrrrrr. I'm missing out on other stories I should be covering. Tomorrow, no matter what, I'm going to Capitol Hill to get back on IG-Gate. No doubt Byron York will scoop me again because of this distraction caused by Griffin and Zaki, the Woodward and Bernstein of Anchorage. But look at what Griffin says in his e-mail:

By the way watch the local Alaskan papers closely for the next week, you may learn something.

See? Griffin remains obsessed with taking down Palin and asserting his own superiority by insinuating he knows things nobody else does. That little innuendo is Griffin saying, "I'm smarter than you. I'm smarter than Palin. I'm smarter than everybody. Hahaha."

So . . . wait.

Don't Threaten Dan, Griffin

Dan Riehl and I have an agreement to work together on the Jesse Griffin story. If we hadn't both been so blind with exhaustion today, we might have agreed to go with what we had about 6 p.m.

Me? You can ask anybody who's ever worked with me, I'm a hotheaded loose cannon. Dan is sensibly cautious, and here is one very important fact: I would never want to have Dan Riehl angry at me. Never threaten such a man:

As I've just received a threat which seems to be from Jesse Griffin and suggests lawyers are already involved, please refrain from making any comments here that suggest Jesse Griffin is guilty of any crime, particularly as regards children. I have suggested no such thing.

That is correct. I've got no idea what has been suggested. But let me explain something an editor told me a long time ago, "As long as you've got your facts right, they can't touch you." Please don't even try that threatening crap with me, Griffin.

GRIFFIN INVESTIGATION

Just got off the phone with Dan Riehl, with whom I'm co-blogging a project about anti-Palin blogger "Gryphen," a/k/a Jesse Griffin, Anchorage kindergarten teacher.

Given the serious nature of this story, Dan has decided to seek legal advice before publishing, a decision in which I concur. Readers are requested to visit Riehl World View or back here, where updates will be posted as soon as possible.

I guess I'm sort of a Birther...

by Smitty

UPDATE: of course I meant 44th POTUS, not 43rd.

How can you deny the documentation? The facts? The history? After you consider

• Kneecappin'Trade
• The Healthcare Prevention Legislation
• Cash for Clunkers

I just don't see how anyone can begin to deny that all the POTUS's ideas have Born in Keynesia written all over them.

OK, everyone put the blunt instruments down and listen to me. Barack Obama has been sworn in as the the 44th POTUS by the Chief Justice of the SCOTUS. That's just the way it (ahem) is. There are plenty of worthwhile questions pertaining to school records and such. Focus on those. They're legitimate. They're interesting. They're the due diligence that magically didn't happen pre-election.

Winning generals don't pick crappy ground for the battle. Even if you could show that Barack Obama was really a sweet transvestite from Trans-sexual, Transylvania, it wouldn't matter. He's sworn in. You can't get the 111th Congress to deal honestly with the 10th Amendment, and that's cut and dried. Getting all of DC to admit, in the purely-for-argument's-sake-case that birtherism is valid, that DC had completely screwed up is simply impossible. Crow on that scale is inedible. So quit the pissing into the wind, people.

A Spiritual Message for Jesse Griffin, From Blog-Fu Sensei Moe Lane

"Karma. It’s what’s for dinner."
-- Moe Lane

Yeah, Moe, what a totally random coincidence, huh? I was at home working this weekend, my feelings bruised from my conspicuous non-invitation to Atlanta, when Jesse Griffin and Dennis Zaki -- the Woodward and Bernstein of Anchorage -- decided to post "explosive new information" about Sarah Palin from Griffin's "best source," that is instantly confirmed by Zaki's "multiple sources."

What a million-to-one coincidence that, if true, the Griffin-Zaki scoop would mean that I'd somehow failed to get a call from my own "best source," who maybe owes me a favor or two.

A reporter never burns his sources, but a source never burns a reporter, either. So I was feeling kind of burned when I made that call Saturday and was told that Griffin and Zaki were totally full of crap. So if I got the worldwide exclusive quote . . .

"Divorce Todd? Have you seen Todd? I may be just a renegade hockey mom, but I’m not blind!"
-- Sarah Palin

That wasn't exactly a coincidence. That black hole of misery now approaching Griffin the Wanker and Zaki the Bozo? Also not a coincidence.

Because my sources . . . well, wait. Just wait. Working hard. I'm not "making stuff up."

Sometimes kharma is an all-you-can eat buffet.

How to Apologize (If You Must)

Two of my bad habits seem to have intersected recently, as I allowed myself to become distracted by an argument, rather than to focus on following up the matter of Jesse Griffin.

Being able to resist neither arguments nor distractions, there was yet another temptation -- humor -- awaiting at this particular intersection, and again I did not resist. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.

Therefore, for the benefit of those who do not read my posts at the Hot Air Green Room, I wish to share my formal apology to C.K. MacLeod:

Your criticism is acknowledged and I have no desire, by further dispute, to alienate whatever esteem I might otherwise retain by ceasing to argue.
Perhaps I should explain how an indifference to my own notorious reputation has become habitual. I arrived in Washington in 1997, and in subsequent years various individuals, choosing me as their particular enemy, decided to advance themselves by maligning me. It was therefore as a matter of self-interest — indeed, at times, a matter of professional survival — that I learned to flaunt a disdainful attitude about the reputation these enemies purposefully damaged. It became my custom to jest cheerfully about the harm to my career and the insult to my good name, so as never to give these vile two-faced slanderers the satisfaction of thinking they had inflicted any blow worthy of my notice.
Of course, I understand that most other people, having never suffered from such treatment, can never truly empathize with those who have suffered thus. Like Coriolanus, my pride is wounded to be required to display my scars.
Pride is my great flaw, and you will note the irony that one so naturally proud should choose to take pride in an undeserved shame, rather than be obliged to explain or defend himself, when considerations of honor ought to have required that the many who had benefitted from his labors would have leapt unbidden to his defense. Alas, as Burke said, the age of chivalry died long ago, and the man is rightly thought a sentimental fool who expects nowadays to be treated with an old-fashioned sense of justice
It was by no desire to reduce the prestige of others, and certainly not to embarrass the Palin family, that the above satire was composed. The object was to lampoon the ridiculous way in which Messrs. “Gryphen” and Zaki resorted to what I call Cargo Cult Journalism, with their alleged “sources” to justify their lies.
Although my intent was innocent — indeed, my personal feelings toward the Palins are entirely those of admiration and affection, as with one’s fellow sufferers — it is evident that my judgment was so inferior that it constituted an offense to “standards of decency,” as you say.
Accepting the superiority of your judgment in such matters, Mr. MacLeod, I have this moment resolved not to risk further offense to Hot Air readers. Therefore, I shall post nothing further at the Green Room without your express prior permission.
Thank you for your courtesy and kindness, sir, and with sincere apology for every previous offense given, it is with the warmest regard that I assure you I remain
Your most humble and obedient servant,
ROBERT STACY McCAIN

And I will further assure my regular readers here that the "express prior permission" mentioned shall never be requested. When I told Mr. MacLeod that pride is my great fault, it was with complete sincerity. At some point, further argument becomes insult, a cruel attempt to humiliate another by impugning his judgment, thus to enhance one's own reputation at his expense.

Rather than to engage in such un-Christian and uncivilized behavior, to behave like an arrogant bully, insisting on the rightness of my own judgment (which I have always freely admitted is not always perfect), I bowed gracefully, and exited the room.

Those who concern themselves with standards of decency should feel free to pass judgment as to whether my exit was accomplished with as much good cheer as anyone might be expected to muster on such an unfortunate occasion, and with the dignity of a gentleman.

LEAVE JESSE GRIFFIN ALONE!

Time to address something that came up in the comments at a previous post, and deserving of a separate post: People are making violent threats against Jesse Griffin, the anti-Palin blogger who finally published one too many libels and inadvertantly outed himself as a result.

First: Stop the threats, everybody. Some threats were inadvertantly approved in the earlier thread, only because I'm so dog-tired I can barely see straight.

Second: Don't let Griffin get away with his "martyr for truth" schtick. Anybody with any knowledge of libel law could see that, by passing along third-hand salacious gossip about the Palins' marriage, Griffin was not merely on thin ice, he was treading water with a legal millstone around his neck. (No, "multiple sources" are not magic words.)

However, given my own personal experience with Internet-induced madness, and given the even more frightening experiences of such friends as Michelle Malkin and Jeff Goldstein, I don't want to see anyone, even a lying idiot like Griffin/"Gryphen," suffer threats of personal retaliation on account of what they've posted on a blog.

Sometimes, my dear online friends, we need to step away from the keyboard, relax a minute and ask ourselves: "What Would Chris Crocker Do?"

Had to remove some information here, if you get my drift.

UPDATE: One of my sources had a problem with something I'd posted previously here, and it was very important to take it down immediately, for reasons I can't explain. Because I didn't have time to go through the sentences and try to find exactly the part that had to be deleted, I just deleted everything below the video.

Better safe than sorry, according to multiple sources. And a basic rule is that a reporter never burns his sources, especially sources who are giving him really great stuff.

By the way, I'm loving how some of the commenters are picking up on the Cargo Cult Journalism trick that Dennis Zaki and Jesse Griffin have used to smear the Palins. It's the "sources said" voodoo, where the magic words are an incantation empowering you to say anything you want.

It's a game that's fun to play. Like you could play it with your wife: "Honey, those jeans make you look fat, sources said." And then when she clobbers you, she's violating your First Amendment rights.

'Mommy, Why Does My Kindergarten Teacher Lie About Sarah Palin?'

(BUMPED; SEE UPDATE BELOW)
UPDATE 10:53 p.m.: The identification of "Gryphen" as Jesse Griffin, part-time kindergarten teacher at Trailside Elementary in Anchorage, is now confirmed. And let me add an overdue thanks to Dan Riehl, who got the same information and followed up with research and sources of his own.

Dan is one of the best document-research guys in the conservative blogosphere, and his standards of verification make Dennis Zaki look like a clown in floppy shoes. (Of course, Zaki doesn't need much help in that regard.) I've been a reporter for more than 20 years, the past 12 years in D.C. Dan is "just some blog dude" who only moved to the D.C. area two years ago, and in some respects, he's got better sources than I do.

Will update later with more below . . .

11:24 p.m.: LEAVE JESSE GRIFFIN ALONE!

ORIGINAL (6:39 p.m. ET): An anonymous e-mailer forwards to me this communication, which I post without editing, except for formatting purposes:

I would like you to know that Gryphen of Immoral Minority (Palin divorce smear) is actually one Jesse Griffin. He must value his identity because he had his fellow Palin Hater, Dennis Zaki, black out his name in this document:
http://alaskareport.com/news39/x71285_letter.htm
Zaki reveals that Gryphen is a kindergarten teacher of some kind:
Thomas Van Flein, Sarah Palin's lawyer, threatened Saturday to serve libel papers at a kindergarten to the owner of the highly trafficked "ImmoralMinority" blog for a divorce story on the Palins. The blog was given until 3pm Saturday to remove the story and post a retraction. The blogger stands by the story.
He also admitted in his most recent post that he is a teacher, but note that he won't post his name

Here is the evidence that he is one Jesse Griffin:

Gym forum page where Jesse Griffin's handle is "Gryphen:" (bottom of page)http://dailyburn.com/buddies/location?city=Anchorage&gym=Powerhouse+Gym&page=2&state=Alaska
Facebook page (friends with other Palin haters)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jesse-Griffin/1226950380
Donated to "Alaskans for Truth," a group created to smear the Palins:
http://images.nictusa.com/pdf/944/29030031944/29030031944.pdf#navpanes=0
Now here is the disturbing part, he is a teacher's aide to small children:
http://web.mac.com/freeman_patrick/Trailside_Web_Site/Staff.html#6

How this person can be allowed children is beyond me. He has written absolutely sick things about the Palins. He once posted a cartoon of Governor Palin holding a gun to her head. He once stated that he hoped that the "bitch would snap her ankle" walking off of a curb. This person is absolutely disgusting and should not be around children. At the most, his identity should be exposed in order for Alaskan parents to see who their children are around during the school day. If you look back through his website you will notice a disturbing obsession with the Palin family. He is also a Trig Truther person who thinks Palin's son Trig is not really hers.
These Palin Haters are liars who are trying to destroy a good conservative. I'm sick of this crap.

I cannot vouch for the information alleged by my anonymous correspondent, and convey this message with the links provided, as a public service so that anyone may examine the available evidence and make up their own minds.

"Multiple sources"? Heh.

UPDATE 8:01 p.m. ET: The anonymous e-mailer also passes along examples of the kinds of NSFW things "Gryphen" has said about the Palins on his blog:

"So our trailer trash Barbie of a Governor is also a spoiled brat who blames her failings on the people around her? Nothing that I learn about this nasty bitch surprises me anymore."
-- Nov. 6, 2008

"She kind of reminds of that girl who did not get invited to the prom so she dresses up in a low cut dress and high heels and tries to get all of the boys to pay attention to her instead of their dates. And later you find her in a parked car giving a hand job to the captain of the football team. Pure class."
-- June 9, 2009

And, naturally, the obligatory Sully-style gynephobic Trig-Truther meme:

"Wherever Trig came from he has proved to be a very valuable asset to Sarah Palin indeed. But just where did Trig Palin come from? As of today, as of this minute, and after over a month of searching I cannot tell you. I simply do not know for certain. I do know however where he did not come from. He did not issue forth from Sarah Palin. He may have been conceived inside her house (The jury is still out on that one), but he was not conceived in her uterus. On that one fact I have absolutely no doubt."
-- June 6, 2009

Gym-buff guy obsessed with the uterus of a married woman you don't even know? NTTAWWT. IYKWIMAITYD.

Oh, yeah, Gryphen: The anonymous tipster sends along the screen-capture JPGs of all that crap, so the old "Memory Hole" trick won't help you.

"Sources"!

Have a nice day, Gryphen :D

Rule 5 Sunday

by Smitty

Rule 5 Sunday is upon us. And who would happen to be here to kick it off with a wonder discussion of ladies getting lovlier but the PJTV Trifecta.
Even though Stacy and I have been going over the entire concept of simple, positive appreciating of lovliness for a while now, these guys, Scott Ott in particular, lay down a wonderful lesson in just a few minutes that should be lost on none of us.

• VodkaPundit introduced the Trifecta clip mentioned above with an Angelina Jolie pic.


• Anorak is reporting that Jude Law is to become a father again by Samantha Burke. On a significant day. The question is whether this baby will be named "Stacy" upon arrival.


• Three Beers Later has a couple of Swedish Bikini Team pics. The latter has not so much bikini and is NSFW in more respectable locations.


• Paco, head of the Classical Rule 5 Research Department, contributes Virginia O'Brien. Ah, squids in dress whites. I have a few pictures of my own to get scanned.


• The Classic Liberal provides an overview of the whole BikiniFest.


• Rightofcourse heckles the judge for the premature ejaannouncement of the winner. Officially, I had to be in Chicago for a classmate's wedding. And Jeffords had guessed the Cosmic Winner. And we needed to build up posts for Sunday. Do I get understanding? No, I get nothing but a bitch. *sigh*
  


• The Camp of the Saints goes retro, as is his wont, with a Natalie Wood roundup. And then, showing Rightofcourse the proper way to heckle the judge, lays down a Raquel Welch roundup with which one cannot argue. "The Greatest Lady ever to don a bikini..." I could plead brunettes to redheads, pressing my Phoebe Cates claim, but the point here is that there just isn't a need to argue.

Here endeth the lesson.
Tomorrow, one hopes to return to the the FMJRA post that has been tragically delayed. But when you consider the heroic act of pity upon my friend J that was carried out in Chicago late Friday afternoon, you have to see that some things like marrying off an old buddy are worth delaying an FMJRA post.
Send more tasteful links to Smitty, if you'd be so kind.

NEW PALIN SCANDAL UPDATE:

GOV., HUSBAND RUMORED
PLANNING TO HAVE SEX
-- WITH EACH OTHER!
Dennis Zaki Asks: 'Where's My Pony?'

"Confimed by multiple sources?" As if . . .