Well it appears that we see again more evidence of the corruption of public institutions in America.

It appears that the other day, retired reporter Helen Thomas made remarks about Zionists taking control of the various American institutions, including the White House, Hollywood, and so on.  She's been fairly consistent, and fairly harsh, in her assessments of the Zionist regime in Israel.

I have never heard her make any statements disparaging Jews or the Jewish religion, but as a woman of Lebanese descent, she vociferously objects to how the land in Israel was taken over by a large invasion of Zionists who still believe that Israel is their God-given land.  Israel is no more the God-given property of the Jews than it is the God-given property of the cave dwellers who lived there centuries before Judaism.  And it is not the God-given land of Muslims or Christians either.

Anyway, the other day she reiterated her various views, and the Anti Defamation League has once again trotted her out as an Anti-Semite (I believe her to be anti-zionist and not anti-semite) and Wayne State University has buckled to their demands and has decided to stop giving out some sort of Helen Thomas award.

This problem seems to equally affect Democratic as well as Republican sides of the spectrum.

Here's the deal:  In the United States, anytime you see ANYBODY speak out against the Zionist Israelis, there is an immediate outpouring of accusations that the person is an antisemite.  And the major institutions here in the USA get on the bandwagon and support it, just like Wayne State just did.

The time has come for the American public to see this for what it is, and to reject this silliness.  It does not serve our ideals and, quite frankly, our blind support for israel has caused the USA nothing but problems, for which we have gotten nothing in return.  Time to "end the madness" and let the Middle East problem take care of itself, without our aid to any party or meddling on anybody's behalf.

One can be anti-Zionist Israel and NOT antisemitic.  It is time for responsible leaders to speak out.

One group underrepresented in opposition to Zionist zeal: Israelis. 

That's right.  Israelis hold opinions as varied as Americans or anybody else regarding Israel.  A friend of mine who lives in Haifa and was born on a kibbutz in Palestine does not appreciate the zealous attitude of the American Right.  He sees right through the Armageddonist b.s. from the Christian dominionists who are rabidly anti-Semitic and want to provoke the apocalypse so they can be raptured away to heaven.  They don't love Israel, they're merely infatuated with the Book of Revelation.  They say Israeli Jews will be auto-converted to Christianity at the moment of the Apocalypse.  Utterly self-serving.  He also doesn't care much for the American Jews who stake out illegal settlements and provoke the ire of the Palestinians.  He is a native of northern Palestine.  As an older gentleman he was a young man during the 1967 war and the passage of U.N. Resolution 242.  Thanks to politics, he has to listen to rockets flying overhead when Lebanon acts up.  He has to worry about terrorist bus bombs.  Nobody likes it when rival gangs turn their neighborhoods into war zones and that's how my Israeli friend sees it.
::)

It happens to me all the time.  I am anti-Zionist and if I argue that the Palestinians are being treated abominably I have to keep a cool head when someone who is an anti-Semite presumes to think I am also anti-Semitic, and that is so very far from the truth. 

One group underrepresented in opposition to Zionist zeal: Israelis. 

That's right.  Israelis hold opinions as varied as Americans or anybody else regarding Israel.  A friend of mine who lives in Haifa and was born on a kibbutz in Palestine does not appreciate the zealous attitude of the American Right.  He sees right through the Armageddonist b.s. from the Christian dominionists who are rabidly anti-Semitic and want to provoke the apocalypse so they can be raptured away to heaven.  They don't love Israel, they're merely infatuated with the Book of Revelation.  They say Israeli Jews will be auto-converted to Christianity at the moment of the Apocalypse.  Utterly self-serving.  He also doesn't care much for the American Jews who stake out illegal settlements and provoke the ire of the Palestinians.  He is a native of northern Palestine.  As an older gentleman he was a young man during the 1967 war and the passage of U.N. Resolution 242.  Thanks to politics, he has to listen to rockets flying overhead when Lebanon acts up.  He has to worry about terrorist bus bombs.  Nobody likes it when rival gangs turn their neighborhoods into war zones and that's how my Israeli friend sees it.
::)


Somehow I think that when the crap hits the fan, it will not really matter what religion you followed and will be more judged on how you led your life.  And the only post-apocolyptic conversions will be to firewood.

Somehow I think that when the crap hits the fan, it will not really matter what religion you followed and will be more judged on how you led your life.  And the only post-apocolyptic conversions will be to firewood.


Jesus isn't your get-out-of-hell-free card like the Christian Right thinks. 

"You said you believed in me so you could get rich and frighten the children.  We don't like your kind, boy.  I want you to go sit on the Group W bench!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/07/nono.gif

Let me play Devil's Advocate here:

Why the big thing against Israel? They won their land through beating their enemies, in a way through ''conquest.''
How can Americans shun that, and dislike the nation of Israel for it, when we ourselves were guilty of it throughout our history--Manifest Destiny, anyone? Trail of Tears?

Let me play Devil's Advocate here:

Why the big thing against Israel? They won their land through beating their enemies, in a way through ''conquest.''
How can Americans shun that, and dislike the nation of Israel for it, when we ourselves were guilty of it throughout our history--Manifest Destiny, anyone? Trail of Tears?


Yes, and some of my ancestors were complicit on battlefields both military and ideological...

But since when do two wrongs make a right?

Yes, and some of my ancestors were complicit on battlefields both military and ideological...

But since when do two wrongs make a right?


No they don't.
In an ordeal world, I'd have us do NOTHING there--Nothing for the Arabs/Muslims, nor anything for Israel. Let 'em fend for themselves, and let's focus on America.
However, as long as the Middle East remains the seat of the Earth's oil, and as long as we are an oil dependent nation, we will have a vested interest in that region. Sad, but true.

I think God said there would be strife on the Israelites.

And the Israelites rebelled against God and they were all shipped to Babylon and Israel would be captured and not be a nation for 2000+ years!

It can happen again....

Jesus isn't your get-out-of-hell-free card like the Christian Right thinks. 

Nope

Nope




I had never been a Rowan Atkinson fan but that I thought was pretty funny.



Cat

I had never been a Rowan Atkinson fan but that I thought was pretty funny.

:)

..that version doesn't have the lines "Sodomites?  Over there, against the wall".. and "Americans?  God had a bit of a fracas with your founding fathers, and damned the entire race in perpetuity"