Random Thoughts on California and Helen Thomas

California Kicks-off Two Big Races

The Primary is over



Governor’s mansion: It is Meg Whitman’s race to lose. If she plays her cards right, focusing on Jerry’s first two terms as Gov and his much less than astounding time as Mayor of Oakland, she could do it. She also needs to play up the disgust of the electorate with the giant union pension contracts that are strangling our cities, county, and state. Jerry Brown never saw a union contract he didn’t love. Even in San Jose, union might is waning. Any missteps by Meg and Jerry gets 4 years, heaven help us all. If that happens, California becomes the New Oakland.

Carly and Babs vie for the U.S. Senate Seat:Someone said the contest between Carly Fiorina and Babs Boxer will be a Cat Fight. Cat Fight? Baby, that’s a WWF No Holds Barred No Referee Cage Match looking for a place to happen. Who will be the first to fling a folding chair during the first debate? “Fiorina’s pounding Boxer, a right, a left, a right again. Fiorina is grabbing Boxer by her 70’s haircut, pulling her down and bouncing her face off her bony knees. Boxer is down! Fiorina goes to edge of the ring to play to the crowd; exhorting cheers. Look out! Boxer is up and has a folding chair!” That would be soooo much fun.

Helen Thomas


I knew she was a pain in the ass to many presidents, but I didn't know she was a Nazi. I was surprised by the cmoplete lack of decorum she showed in her recent comments on Israel (or Palestine as Helen so fondly refers to it).

Rabbi David Nesenoff is an independent filmmaker from Long Island and he runs the website RabbiLive.com. He approached Helen Thomas outside the White House after attending events for Jewish Heritage Day on May 27. He said he was there with his teenage son and a friend. They approached Thomas to talk.

Asked whether she had any comments on Israel, Thomas said, "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine." She continued, "Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not Germany, it's not Poland," she continued. Asked where they should go, she answered, "They should go home."

"Where's home?" Nesenoff asked.

"Poland, Germany and America, everywhere else," Thomas replied.

"Those remarks were offensive and reprehensible," Presidential Spokesperson Gibbs said during the Monday press briefing, saying that Thomas's comments "do not reflect certainly most of the people here and certainly not those of the administration."

"Helen Thomas announced Monday that she is retiring, effective immediately," read a statement from Hearst Newspapers on Monday. "Her decision came after her controversial comments about Israel and the Palestinians were captured on videotape and widely disseminated on the Internet."

Thomas said in a statement that, "I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon.’’

After hearing her yesterday, and assessing the commentary she has had in the past and how she has badgered Presidents regarding Israel for years, it is pretty evident that she was a biased ingrate with little regard for Jews. A sad end to such a storied career.

Had her reportage slanted UPI over the years prior to her resignation in 2000? Helen Thomas, former President of the White House Press Corps, leading anti Israel extremist I guess. How has her slanted and skewed view of the world effected younger reporters whom she had taken under her wing? The guys at MSNBC and John Stewart make jokes about there being a liberal slant to the news, as if Fox news and other conservative commentators were nuts or, worse, accusing the media of a liberal conspiracy. “Bias, no way! How foolish.” This is an American wake up call. It behooves us to look upon all mainstream news sources with a critical eye and search out varied sources for our news. If you reglularly get your news from FOX, take a look at CNN or the NY Times. It won't kill you. If you are a regular NY Times or Yahoo News addict, check out FOX or the Wall Street Journal once in a while to see the other side. Let's remember that we live in a big country where opinions are free to grow like leaves on trees. I read NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman a couple of times a week. I even agree with him... sometimes.



Helen Thomas is entitled to her point of view and may express it freely here. However, her soapbox has been yanked from under her feet for all time.



One last thought on Thomas: When she left the UPI in 2000 to become a columnist for Hearst, why was she still accorded the front seat of the White House Press Room? Why was she still allowed to ask the first question at each presidential press conference after leaving UPI? I thought GW Bush did the right thing in bypassing her questions in press conferences starting in 2003. She was no longer a reporter and did not deserve to be among the press corps at the time. Thomas should have gone to pasture, instead, she used her questioning opportunities to go on long accusatory political diatribes. By 2003, it was also apparent by her line of questioning that she was biased against American participation in the Arab world. I don't understand her love for those who would happily commit genocide once more against the Jewish people. I am not a Jew and I am not always the biggest backer of Israeli policies in the MidEast. However, I have to agree with White House Spokesman Gibbs, those were reprehensible and indefensible comments from someone many Americans had grown to trust. If our President really wants to kick some ass these days, perhaps he could start with Helen Thomas.

Some people are like Slinkys, they are more fun when you push them down some stairs.