Oooohhh, look what TwoSparkles started

[T Roosevelt]

Seems she's made the Des Moines Register (at least the online site). Of course they didn't delve far enough to find out he's a she:



Is he Johnny Gosch?

By ERIN CRAWFORD
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
April 5, 2005

Johnny Gosch may finally have been found, thanks to Rush Limbaugh.

The Iowa paperboy was kidnapped in 1982, with unsubstantiated stories emerging later from his mother that he was abducted into a child pedophilia ring. No trace of him has ever been found, and no suspects have been arrested.

Nearly 23 years later, White House correspondent Jeff Gannon, who wrote for a conservative Web site, was exposed in February as James D. Guckert, a man with no journalism experience and links to several gay escort addresses online.

If you have the time to read a few hundred Web postings, you will see how Johnny Gosch and Jeff Gannon, two completely unrelated individuals, became the same person on the Web. The way the theory developed says much about the anything-goes nature of the blogosphere and self-proclaimed reporters on the Internet, who seem to find accuracy and proof a nuisance in uncovering fantastical conspiracies.

<snip>

But here's how the Internet can feed a rumor until a bunch of people actually believe it.

The Gannon-Gosch conspiracy theory first appeared on the message board of a liberal political site called The Democratic Underground on Feb. 26. A site regular, using the name TwoSparkles, speculated that Jeff Gannon was victimized by a government-organized child pornography ring.

Then he foreshadowed the future with this note: "I found this picture of Johnny Gosch. I looked at it and almost thought it looked like Gannon! It must be getting late." The image was a school picture of Gosch taken in the 1980s and later enhanced.

The same poster noted that Gannon/Guckert and Gosch had the same initials. Before long, other site members were trying to figure out whether the ages matched. (In fact, there would be more than 10 years' age difference between Gannon and Gosch.)

<more>

[Crankie Avalon]

1. Must be a slow news day in Des Moines...

...but then, what day wouldn't be, if it's not campaign season in Iowa?

A traditional print journalist (from a rinky-dink little paper, at that) is using one of the most-off-the-wall conspiracy theories she can find to tar all of the "blogosphere." :shrug:

[sam sarrha]

2. what was the name of the story about the child sex ring, Boy's Town was

was used as a source and some church i believe, it was all covered by quite well...

help me out if you can..

If this is true then Gannon knows WHO WAS INVOLVED IN ALL THAT.

I met a young homosexual guy who was part of that ring, his mother was a Madam and he set up the parties and had a list of what age boys the Senators preferred as their party favors.. he had tried to commit suicide several times, he ended up blackmailing them with a trust fund for life.