Veteran Journalist (Helen) Thomas Resumes Column Today in News-Press

Source: Falls Church News-Press

Legendary journalist and 50-year veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to resume her weekly political affairs column today, published in print and online exclusively in the Falls Church News-Press.

Thomas' first column back appears on Page 13 of this edition, and its subject is Social Security reform.

Now age 90, Thomas began her journalistic career in 1942 and has covered every U.S. president one a day-to-day basis as a White House correspondent since 1960. She declared her retirement abruptly on June 8, 2010 following a firestorm of criticism that arose from spontaneous taped comments she made the day before that some claimed to be anti-Semitic.

But in a statement also published in today's edition, News-Press owner-editor Nicholas F. Benton writes that, as one who has known Ms. Thomas since 1991, "She is progressive, and following my more than eight hours of direct, one-on-one talks with her since the events of last June, I remain firmly convinced that she is neither bigoted, nor racist, nor anti-Semitic."

Read more: http://www.fcnp.com/news/8196-veteran-journalist-thomas-resumes-column-today-in-news-press.html

lifeblood back to her and a real Dem back to us.

wow

I really hope Mr. Benton gets socked in the wallet for hiring this bigot

There's a difference between the two.

Then, of course, there's the ones who scream "bigot". You get the picture.

"We are owned by propagandists against the Arabs. There's no question about that. Congress, the White House, and Hollywood, Wall Street, are owned by the Zionists. No question in my opinion. They put their money where their mouth is.... We're being pushed into a wrong direction in every way."

I'm pretty old but I remember way back in the 60s hearing about how the Jews controlled every seat of power...most of the time it was Wall St.

Practically every Jew that I know (and have spoken to about this) supports the existence of the state of Israel. You could say they were Zionists in that regard. However, they differ intheir support of one or another of the political parties in Israel.

The question really gets down to whether supporting the continued existence of the state of Israel makes one a Zionist.

Do YOU support the continued existence of the state of Israel...not the current political situation, but the VERY EXISTENCE of a state of Israel?

Here's Helen's quote:

"We are owned by propagandists against the Arabs. There's no question about that. Congress, the White House, and Hollywood, Wall Street, are owned by the Zionists. No question in my opinion. They put their money where their mouth is.... We're being pushed into a wrong direction in every way."

I'm pretty old but I remember way back in the 60s hearing about how the Jews controlled every seat of power...most of the time it was Wall St. I note she just tweaked the wording a bit.

Practically every Jew that I know (and have spoken to about this) supports the existence of the state of Israel. You could say they were Zionists in that regard. However, they differ in their support of one or another of the political parties in Israel.

The question really gets down to whether supporting the continued existence of the state of Israel makes one a Zionist.

Do YOU support the continued existence of the state of Israel...not the current political situation, but the VERY EXISTENCE of a state of Israel? And, do you think Helen Thomas does?

The Arabs owned that land for the last several centuries, stealing it from them was obviously going to create bloodshed for multiple generations.

Does the hatred and violence heaped upon Jews in Europe, America and the ME really justify all this?

It would be rather like if America had lost WW2 very badly because Japan thought of the nuke first, and then gave several of our states back to the Native Americans. Sure every NA tribe deserves their homeland, but would you really give up yours peacefully for them?

Now that multiple generations of Jewish children have grown up there as well, I cannot say I would end the existence of Israel either, if I could. Now it's their home too. No, it is just a giant fucking tragedy until both sides either get tired of killing or learn to get along.

But historically they have as much a claim as the Arabs there do. There are plenty of Jews who disagree with a lot of the RW policies of the current Israeli state. But contrary to your statement about native Americans, Jews have been persecuted throughout world history. Their incineration at the hands of the Nazis was just another reiteration of that persecution and Jew hatred. And it still goes on today.

Your comparison is apples and oranges...

Historically the NAs have a MUCH BETTER claim on Connecticut than we do, while the Jews and Arabs both have a historical claim to that land. So, since we are in the business of righting past wrongs, give up your state peacefully.

Fact is Americans and British felt guilty about what happened to the Jews, but not about fucking over a lot of Arabs. So which Semitic group is really more hated in America now, Jews or Arabs? Which is more likely to be burned today, a mosque or a synagogue? Do you really believe Arab hatred of Jews is at an all time high solely because of tradition? That the the occupation of that land is not a legitimate fuel for some of their anger?

Personally, I don't really care. People have always been evil, always been selfish, always used violence to get what we want. So if Israel must exist, fine. We are living on stolen land as well, and I ain't about to give mine up. But don't act like you couldn't have seen all this coming in the 1940s, like the Arabs are more wrong than the Jews or our own evil empire.

In fact, I believe there is a lot wrong with this current Israeli regime. The Palestinians who suffer at the hands of Israel's RW administration have traditionally been betrayed or ignored by other, stronger and richer, Arab nations. I think there has to be some reconciliation of the claims of Jews and Arabs. However, when you get right down to it, the Palestinians will not agree that a Jewish state should exist AT ALL, even one that is willing to live peacefully and equitably next to them. Until that is resolved, you will never see reconciliation...

Occupying lands that are not your own, and settling them with your peoples, is a war crime.

I don't think Helen Thomas supports this, however, as she tends more towards the line against western and European colonization of other lands for their exploitation.

saying that "zionists" run the gov't media and Hollywood, is classic. I'm glad she's resuming her career. I'm sorry she said that shit.

you only hate some of the Jews but not all like if you're anti-Semite?

...to maintain its existence, is not the same as hating an entire ethnic group, any more than being anti-Nazi is anti-German.

Holding anyone blameless is absurd.

Of course, that doesn't mean that any party gets to escape blame for their actions, because "the others were doing it too".

Eventually, the adults will have to step in, and stop the children from fighting.

throughout history. This is just the latest in a long tradition...

The West has been beating them (Arab groups) down since the fall of the Ottoman empire, and the west was fighting them long before then.

Many parties in the conflict can lay claim to persecutions, and should also claim responsibility for acting like vengeful children, and "fighting back", in this multi-thousand-year game of "MOOOOoom! She's hitting me!".

I have a different perspective of what happens when irrational hatred of Jews gets going (and it doesn't take much)...as it has again and again in the past.

Really, if you were Jewish, how do you think you would view the situation? And after what has happened to them, do you blame them for defending themselves?

My mindset towards people being irrational is to flee, and rebuild, but not to take on large scale wars of vengeance.

I don't blame folks for defending themselves, I blame them for "pre-emptive" wars.

When warfare is happening, that's different from attacking others, because they are living in a perpetual cultural state of fear, so that "if we don't attack you, you will attack us".

I don't also consider a tank, vs. a child throwing stones, to be "defense".

Oh, and if you don't know who the Bielski's (the subject line) were, you should spend some time looking them up. It totally deflates the "all Jews were weak folks led to slaughter" mythos.

But...they didn't exactly throw a dart on a world map and decide that where it landed was "it." There's a complicated history. And Jews had been there for a pretty long time throughout history.

That aside, again I want to stress that Jews I know do not uniformly support the current politcal party in Israel. They do support the homeland for the Jews. What you need to do is figure out what exactly you are objecting to: the current political situation or the idea of a Jewish homeland at all.

Another thing to consider: getting back the Helen Thomas, whose rant I have heard my entire life ("Jews control (fill in the blanks") and I am a WASP originally from Texas where I knew only a handful of Jews growing up...Helen's statement referred to Jews that, as she perceived it, have been highly successful in American society. The really interesting thing about such Jew hatred is how much of it is based on successful Jewish individuals in many fields: government, entertainment and other arts, science, business. This strikes me as a very significant point. It always seems to pop up, though. Why is that?

'they didn't exactly throw a dart on a world map and decide that where it landed was "it."'

Not exactly. There were multiple candidates, with multiple advocates.

'What you need to do is figure out what exactly you are objecting to: the current political situation or the idea of a Jewish homeland at all.'

See my above post. They had a UN-designated homeland, the government of Israel decided it wasn't enough, other nations decided it was too much, and war happened.

I'm fine with religions having a homeland like the Catholics do, give them all 1 mile square, and be done with theocracy in a nation for all but the most extreme zealots. I'm also fine with nations united by language, which may require more than 1 square mile, but I am not comfortable with the mingling of democracy and theology... let alone democracy, theology, culture, social status, and cultural tradition defining who is, and isn't, a "citizen".

'I am a WASP originally from Texas where I knew only a handful of Jews growing up'

....okay, that's just weird to me. Then again, I have spent only 9 days of my life in Texas, 2 of which were spent on driving in and getting out. (It's freaking HUGE).

'The really interesting thing about such Jew hatred is how much of it is based on successful Jewish individuals in many fields: government, entertainment and other arts, science, business. This strikes me as a very significant point. It always seems to pop up, though. Why is that?'

I would guess that the issue can be found by chopping up your phrase as follows:
'The really interesting thing about such hatred is how much of it is based on successful individuals in many fields: government, entertainment and other arts, science, business.'

The hatred is because of success, the excuse for hatred is being Jewish.*

*I'm glossing over some historical points here, in modern terms, for modern reasons. **

**Okay, two splats deep, if you're really curious, you should investigate usury, taxation, cultural values about preserving information, fields that were "allowed" for Jews, and religious exemptions.

between church and state. I wouldn't want to live in Israel for that reason alone. But within that structure, political regimes in Israel have, in its brief modern history, veered right and left. So has the U.S. During the Bush years I feared he would blow up the world, us included. But I didn't become an anarchist or apolitical...I kept pushing for the right thing to do and I don't think Israelis are that different...if anything politics there tend to be much more vitriolic...you don't even have to go there to experience this. My Jewish son in law gets into horrendous shouting matches with his father about Israeli policies, I've witnessed them at big family get togethers...and I and my daughter tiptoe out of the room...

OK, on your second major point: I have travelled in Europe and been to some of the Jewish ghettos, learning about the experience different countries have with Jews who live in their midst. Spain is one such country with a long history of both peaceful coexistence and persecution/expulsion (travelling across the Pyrenees in 08 I was struck by the idea of Jews exiting via them into France when Isabella expelled them, and their descendants escape route back into Spain centuries later during the Nazi occupation of France). Also, I have visited Jewish ghettos in various Italian cities. In April, I will be doing some art research in Paris and will seek information there.

A post script: up until the time the Medicis invented the modern banking system, the Catholic Church strictly forbade usury, on penalty of eternal damnation. Jews were not under such a prohibition. Is that the Jews fault? How could Christians get around this? I read "Medici Money" last year before I went to study Italian Renaissance art in Florence. I recommend it to you. It is fascinating how the Medicis figured out a way for Christians to "get around" the usury thing...tricks and semantics, smoke and mirrors...

But I am always learning...

They figured out some rather creative ways around the banking laws, within the church. It did not end well for them.

As far as politics within Israel, and within Jewish communities, much of it would be labelled "anti-semitic" in the US... and, indeed, it's often labelled anti-semitic in Israel, but it's tolerated.

As far as the long history of assimilation/tolerance/expulsion of peoples within Europe and the middle east, it's a sad state of human existence mirrored around the world.

ask the Greeks, Spanish, and other western areas who have suffered under Muslim rule at one time or another

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if I had a nickle for every time I heard a conservative say the same exact thing about gays, women, Muslims, etc I'd be rich

what she said was anti-Semitic

“Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by the Zionists,” Thomas said. “No question.”

who gives a flying fuck about Ari Fleischer-damn good try at deflection here

I've admired and loved Helen Thomas for decades! I've missed her horribly.

Source: Ny Times

Helen Thomas, who was a tenacious and irascible presence in the White House press corps for a half-century before being forced out last summer over culturally insensitive comments about Jews, has returned to journalism.

And her new employer, The Falls Church News-Press, has come out in forceful defense of her on her first day on the job, insisting that she is not the anti-Semite that her critics have accused her of being.

Ms. Thomas, 90, broke her seven-month hiatus from writing on Thursday and inaugurated her new weekly column with The News-Press, a newspaper based in the Washington suburbs.

The paper’s founder, Nicholas F. Benton, announced her hiring by the paper in a note to readers that directly addressed the controversy Ms. Thomas ignited when video of her saying that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” surfaced in June. But Mr. Benton dismissed the notion that Ms. Thomas harbored any ill will toward Jews, writing, “Following my more than eight hours of direct, one-on-one talks with her since the events of last June, I remain firmly convinced that she is neither bigoted, nor racist, nor anti-Semitic.”

Read more: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/helen-thomas-after-a-stumble-returns-as-columnist/?hp

nt

K and R. Glad she's back.

Source: Falls Church News Press

Veteran Journalist Thomas Resumes Column Today in News-Press
Thursday, January 06 2011 08:00:00 AM


Legendary journalist and 50-year veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas has come out of a seven-month retirement to resume her weekly political affairs column today, http://www.fcnp.com/commentary/national/8197-privatizing-social-security-again.html published in print and online exclusively in the Falls Church News-Press.

Thomas' first column back appears on Page 13 of this edition, and its subject is Social Security reform.

Now age 90, Thomas began her journalistic career in 1942 and has covered every U.S. president one a day-to-day basis as a White House correspondent since 1960. She declared her retirement abruptly on June 8, 2010 following a firestorm of criticism that arose from spontaneous taped comments she made the day before that some claimed to be anti-Semitic.

But in a statement also published in today's edition, News-Press owner-editor Nicholas F. Benton writes that, as one who has known Ms. Thomas since 1991, "She is progressive, and following my more than eight hours of direct, one-on-one talks with her since the events of last June, I remain firmly convinced that she is neither bigoted, nor racist, nor anti-Semitic."

Read more: http://www.fcnp.com/news/8196-veteran-journalist-thomas-resumes-column-today-in-news-press.html

She told me about this a while ago, but I was not allowed to announce it until the Falls Church paper
made it public by themselves.

Some might say that it is a demeaning step down for her to accept a position with a small local paper.
I'd say look at it the other way around. Helen is a great catch for a small regional paper, and online,
she can be found from anywhere. The main thing, she is back, and her voice will be heard.

Yes, she remains strongly linked to her Arab roots, and the statements she made about who controls things
were a little over the top, but I have known her for some 40 years and she is no more "anti-semitic" than
she is twenty feet tall. She is pissed as hell about being shoved into that corner, and reacts angrily when
people try to do it to her, but she is a hell of a lot more interested in blasting Bonehead and his teabagger
House of Weepresentatives than she is about what label people try to attach to her. She is way more concerned
with the situation in the Midwest than the Middle East.

I will be having dinner with her next week in Washington, and will convey the good wishes of those DUers who
have asked me to do so. To any who harbor her ill will--that's your right, and I have no intention of trying
to get you to change your mind, but don't bother trying to blast me for not changing mine either. If you see her
as your enemy, so be it. I see her still as my friend.

not a big deal.

I did mention that certain kinds of comments would not get passed on to her. That is pretty typical of what I meant.

Do you see the disconnect there, shielding from critical comments someone who freely criticizes and judges?

that you don't need to hear.

You didn't address my main point, which is that Thomas has made her living criticizing. It's pretty irony-challenged to issue her an exemption.

Personally, I hope that none of my friends edits reality for me.

(If they want to soften the edges a little, I'm ok with that.) ;)

is to pass on criticism about the job you're doing.

That's not your friends job. There's nothing ironic in that and it's not editing reality. It's a different relationship. In fact, when your friends start weighing in on how you're doing your job, they're overstepping unless they're work friends. Tell them to butt out. :)

Life is messier than we wish sometimes.

That much said, I doubt many on DU are personal friends with Thomas. This is an opinion, praise, criticism, exhortation, and information site. It would seem ingenuous (or patronizing) to cherry pick posts under the friend clause. Helen is a big girl and, except for a few blind spots, a good journalist. She can handle reality.

Not that any of this matters. Her friend can and will do what s/he thinks best.

Lucky dog. :)

More power to her.

But she suffered more critical comments in the last year than she had gotten from angry right wingers
during the whole of her career. She heard every one of them. She surely doesn't need someone stationed
in Europe to shield her from anything. She does need friends, as does everyone who is not a total hermit.
She is not a hermit, and I am her friend. When I'm Stateside and we get together, we do not dissect (again)
all the angry words leveled toward her. I see no disconnect.

I'm glad she's found another home for her column. :hi:

were. I wish the best for Helen. She's been wonderful over the years.

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:nuke:

You must have spent way more time with her than I have, because she shows no signs of that when I visit.

- grocery store openings. Rather sad.