Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Helen Thomas is Playboy's April Interview

Hi. This morning’s Democracy Now interviews a U. of Michigan professor Massawi,

who states my own position on the current intervention in Libya, but with far greater

knowledge.  Amy is to be commended for this, as it’s the very first I’ve heard from

the barrage/din of ‘progressive’ sources.  Thank you, Amy.  My sense is that

by the time peaceful steps had been discussed, voted upon, agreed to, an emergency

delegation organized and a visit to Libya arranged and then met in Tripoli, Benghazi

would already have been razed, hundreds killed and the organizers/leaders of the

insurrection, already identified by spies, assassinated.  There is no doubt in my mind

that this scenario is reality.  I can state, un-equivocally, that the movement in Benghazi

agrees with that assessment. This is not to support the motives and aims of imperialism,

including those of the Obama administration.  Rather, this particular intervention allows

this greatest of our time democratic revolution to continue.  Listen or watch the debate

on today’s Democracy Now.  Below, is another great truth-sayer and maverick.

 

Ed

 

 

From: Sid Shniad
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2011 3:50 PM

http://www.bradenton.com/2011/03/17/3041886/helen-thomas-is-playboys-april.html

 

Bradenton Herald

Mar. 17, 2011

 

Helen Thomas is Playboy's April Interview A Candid Conversation with the

Disgraced Dean of the White House Press Corps About her Rage against Israel,

her Sympathy for Palestinians and Why she was Fired Playboy

 

/PRNewswire/ -- "I knew exactly what I was doing – I was going for broke.  I

had reached the point of no return.  You finally get fed up…I finally wanted

to speak the truth," explains former dean of the White House Press Corps

Helen Thomas when asked about her now infamous May 27, 2010 comments on

Israel in *Playboy*'s April *Interview* *(issue on newsstands and online at

**www.playboydigital.com* <http://www.playboydigital.com/>* Friday, March

18).*  The outspoken journalist sparked controversy when a rabbi and blogger

asked her for remarks on Israel and she responded "Tell them to get the hell

out of Palestine," adding that the Jews "can go home" to "Poland, Germany

and America and everywhere else."  Shortly thereafter her comments went

viral and Thomas abruptly resigned from her post at Hearst Newspapers on

June 7, 2010.

 

The 90-year-old veteran reporter sat down with *Playboy *Contributing Editor

David Hochman for her first in-depth interview following her contentious

remarks.  Not only did she share her thoughts on Israel and Palestine, she

also discussed her sentiments towards Jews, her supposed retirement,

President Obama, Congress's anti-Arab agenda and her obituary.  Following

are selected quotes from the interview:

 

*On the aftermath of her May 27 remarks about Israel: *"I went into

self-imposed house arrest for two weeks…Every columnist and commentator

jumped on me immediately as anti-Semitic.  Nobody asked me to explain

myself.  Nobody said, 'What did you really mean?'"

 

*On the situation in Palestine:* "Everybody knows my feelings that the

Palestinians have been shortchanged in every way.  Sure, the Israelis have a

right to exist – but where they were born, not to come and take someone

else's home.  I've had it up to here with the violations against the

Palestinians…[The Palestinians] are incarcerated and living in an open

prison.  I say to the Israelis, 'Get out of people's homes!'  It's

unacceptable to have soldiers knocking on a door at three in the morning and

saying, 'This is my home.'  And forcing people out of homes they've lived in

for centuries?  What is this?  How can anybody accept it?  I mean,

Jewish-only roads?  [*She later corrected herself to say Israeli-only roads.

*] Would anyone tolerate something like that in America?  White-only roads?"

 

*On Palestinian violence against the Israelis: *"Of course I don't condone

any violence against anyone.  But who wouldn't fight for their country?

 What would any American do if their land was being taken?  Remember Pearl

Harbor.  The Palestinian violence is to protect what little remains of

Palestine.  The suicide bombers act out of despair and desperation.  Three

generations of Palestinians have been forced out of their homes – by

Israelis – and into refugee camps."

 

*On American support of Israel:* "We keep giving Israel everything.  Our

government bribes the Israelis by saying, 'Please come to the [negotiating]

table and we'll give you this and we'll give you that'…Why do you have to

bribe people to do the right thing?  I don't want my government bribing

anybody.  I want them demanding.  Stop all this aid to Israel when they're

killing people!...Why do they send my American tax dollars to perpetuate

it?"

 

*On Jews:* "I think they're wonderful people.  They had to have the most

depth.  They were leaders in civil rights.  They've always had the heart for

others but not for Arabs, for some reason.  I'm not anti-Jewish; I'm

anti-Zionist."

 

*On Jewish persecution and victimization:* "The slaughter of Jews stopped

with World War II…They were liberated since then.  And yet they carry on the

victimization.  American people do not know that the Israeli lobbyists have

intimidated them into believing every Jew is a persecuted victim forever –

while they are victimizing Palestinians…Why do they inflict the same pain on

people who did nothing to them?"

 

*On memorializing the Holocaust:* "There's nothing wrong with remembering

it, but why do we have to constantly remember? We're not at fault.  I mean,

if they're going to put a Holocaust museum in every city in Germany, that's

fine with me.  But we didn't do this to the Jews.  Why do we have to keep

paying the price and why do they keep oppressing the Palestinians?  Do the

Jews ever look at themselves?  Why are they always right? Because they have

been oppressed throughout history, I know.  And they have this persecution.

That's true, but they shouldn't use that to dominate."

 

*On the Jews' influence and power:* "[The Jews are] using their power, and

they have power in every direction…Power over the White House, power over

Congress…Everybody is in the pocket of the Israeli lobbies, which are funded

by wealthy supporters, including those from Hollywood.  Same thing with the

financial markets.  There's total control…It isn't the two percent.  It's

real power when you own the White House, when you own these other places in

terms of your political persuasion.  Of course they have power.  [*To the

interviewer*] You don't deny that.  You're Jewish, aren't you?"

 

*On Congress's anti-Arab sentiments:* "I want you to look at the Congress

that just came in.  Do you think [New York Democratic senator Charles]

Schumer and Lehtinen – whatever her name is – in Florida [Republican

representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a strong supporter of Israel] are going

to be pro-Arab?  No.  But they're going to be very influential.  Eric

Cantor, the majority leader of the Republicans, do you think he's going to

be for the Arabs?  Hell no!  I'm telling you, you cannot get 330 votes in

Congress for anything that's pro-Arab.  Nothing."

 

*On the uprisings and demonstrations sweeping through the Arab world:* "I

love the new revolutionary spirit in the Middle East and North Africa.  The

power of the people is removing ruthless dictators in Tunisia and Egypt

and that's only the beginning.  There is no stopping this free new movement.

 The Arab world is waking up to the possibilities of democratic life and

freedom for its people, and I am happy to see this happening in my

lifetime."

 

*On what her obituary will say:* "[*Eyes suddenly fill with tears*] Oh, I

know what they're going to say: 'anti-Semite'…They don't give a damn about

the truth.  They have to have it their way, and they'll be writing my

obituary…I don't care what they write about me…Because of what happened

recently, people are going to remember me a certain way.  The truth is, I

don't hate anybody.  I care deeply about people.  I care for the poor, the

sick, the lame, the harmed, those who've been treated unjustly."

 

*On whether or not she has lost her mind: *"I resent that question!  I

thoroughly resent it.  Why are you interviewing me if I'm crazy?  It

wouldn't be worth it to you, would it?...You should apologize."

 

*On her supposed retirement:* "I'm not retired! I was fired.  In fact, I'll

die with my boots on.  I'm still writing and I'll continue to write and ask

hard questions.  I will never bow out of journalism."

 

*On why she became a journalist:* "I got into it because I am very nosy,

very curious, and because I thought it was a great profession.  It's an

education every day to be in journalism, and it's given me a great life."

 

*On the changing nature of journalism:* "Everyone with a laptop thinks

they're a journalist and everyone with a camera thinks they're a news

photographer.  Where are the standards?  How can we get back to the ethics

and standards of journalism?  There's no editing, no oversight.  It's just

thrown to the wind.  I'm afraid of what's happening."

 

*On WikiLeaks:* "I think it's great.  It's important to reveal what's going

on behind the scenes.  We wouldn't have known half this stuff without this

information, and it's going to change everything as far as diplomacy."

 

*On Obama's conservatism:* "People are unhappy.  The trouble is, swinging to

the right is always dangerous.  We end up losing so much in the rush to

conservatism.  But even Obama has fallen down that hole.  He's pushing a

conservative agenda…Look at Guantanamo.  With a stroke of a pen, the day

after Obama took the oath he should have said, 'We're getting the hell out

of here.'  Same thing with Iraq and Afghanistan.  There's no reason for us

to be in war…I thought Obama would be for peace, but he's not."

 

*On her belief that Hillary Clinton and President Obama would be

liberal:*"I thought, naively perhaps, that [Hillary Clinton] and Obama

would bring

change, that they would be different.  I assumed wrongly that they would be

liberal because he's black and she's a woman.  It's maddening."

 

*On George W. Bush's handling of the war in Iraq:* "George Sr. had been head

of the CIA and chairman of the Republican National Committee. He knew

politics and he knew foreign policy, but he didn't give any of that to his

son.  Dubya was a hip-shooter.  If you look at the Downing Street Memo from

2002, you see the chief of British intelligence had come here just before

George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq.  It concludes that the president simply

was determined to go to war and that he wanted to fix the facts to do it.

 But there were no facts.  We just went to war for no reason."

 

*On the hanging of Saddam Hussein:* "I think it was wrong to hang Saddam

Hussein.  He should have been put before an international court for war

crimes and everything else. But for us to just bypass the law and have him

hanged was wrong.  Not that the press called the president on it.  The press

rallied around the flag on that one."

 

*On Dick Cheney:* "Now, there was a vice president. [*laughs*]  The idea

that he could have been president.  I think Cheney is diabolical."

 

*On George Stephanopoulos:* "He started closing the door to the press

secretary's office his first week on the job.  'Journalists keep out!'…He

didn't treat [journalists] civilly.  But then immediately after he's out of

the White House, he wants to go into our profession.  It's like he couldn't

stand being out of the limelight.  I mean, why should George Stephanopoulos

have been a great journalist?  Well, he's not, in my book."

 

SOURCE Playboy

 © 2011 Bradenton.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.bradenton.com

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