"U.S. used spying, threats, and promises of aide..."

Seems to me the promises of an assistant or staff member wouldn't be that valuable in international negotiations.

@1 You obviously didn't see how hot she was...

The Seahawks' 31-14 victory was hardly "last minute".

Re: Bigmouth. Helen Thomas is 90 years old. She should be given a degree of slack and some benefit of doubt, in my opinion. I've got elderly Jewish relatives who say much worse things.

Having read her remarks as reported in the link, I don't see anything I'd call antisemitic, per se. What I see is a very strong opinion and frustration at Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a purely political perspective. While discussing any collateral negative results of Zionism is tricky without seeming anti-Jewish, I think she did about as well as she could, especially for 90-year-old.

Her advice to Jews to "return" to Europe is beyond silly, as most Israelis today were born in Israel, may not speak the language of their ancestral country, and don't have any assets they could transfer there. Worse, too many Europeans are actual antisemites, so it would be hard to expect a warm welcome or support. And, the results of her admonition for the U.S. to withdraw support for Israel, should it be followed, would be devastating in a bloodbath sort of way. But heck, she's not a diplomat or strategist, nor have any of them come up with a winning solution to bring peace to the Mideast conflict, either. She's just a 90 year old woman, tired of reading about the killing and suffering.

I'm tired of it, too, and would like to see a peaceful solution. The current leadership of Israel is too bellicose and arrogant, in my opinion, and they should be a little more sensible at trying to contribute to a solution. But, their neighbors aren't much better. Abandoning/disbanding Israel is no sort of solution, though, if only for strategic reasons. Our forceful toppling of Iraq's unsavory government only destabilized the region and set off a civil war between Sunni and Shia in that country, with far too many lives lost and displaced people. The Mideast is a house of cards, with all sorts of problems.

Helen Thomas' outburst was impolitic and her suggested solution is less than useless. I'm just not sure it means she's an antisemite.

CNN just ran a very nice interview with Kamora Herrington of True Colours about teen homosexual suicide.
She stressed that the best way to help these kids cope and thrive is to foster their relationship with their parents.
She said often the kids perception is that the parents 'hate' them when in fact that is not true at all (and in fact the parents are mortified that the kids feel that way) and some discussion facilitates both parties understanding each others' concerns better.
She said nurturing understanding between the kids and their parents was much more effective than any other way to address the situation.
It was a very positive and encouraging report.

Of course,
another approach is to tell the parents to FUCK OFF
and to call them HATEFUL HOMOPHOBIC BIGOTS.
Also to try to get between the parents and kids and destroy the relationship.
This has the advantage of getting the kids on the street and vulnerable sooner. And provides that always and much needed infusion of fresh meat into QueerInc.
Hate to disappoint the ChickenHawks and Johns looking for a ready supply of kids to exploit.....

Isn't that right, Dan?

*clicks mental ignore button, goes about business.*

Sorry, fed the troll yesterday, all out...

@6 Glad that those select parents felt mortified that their child thought they hated them. Then again there's plenty of people like former Arkansas school board member Clint McCance who publicly stated he'd disown his kids if they were to come out to him.

It is the job of parents to make it clear to their children that they will love them regardless of their sexual orientation, not the job of the kid to risk getting thrown out of the of the house or worse if they have a reasonable belief that their parents are intolerant bigots.

Can Helen Thomas explain the Jews' fascination with Scientologist actor-types?

Re: Seahawks - The entire 4th quarter was garbage time. How was that a last minute win?

People are surprised that the lovely and talented D. Schmader reported on the Seahawks with a poorly worded and (probably) inadvertently misleading headline? I am just consistently surprised David reports on them at all (except, of course, if it's to slam lesser seattle et al.).

What a wonderful catchy song by this young New Wave super group. This is my first exposure to their early line-up, which appears to feature the young Sean Nelson on vocals (looking very fit and homosexual) and Paul Weller on guitar. Super!

Don't confuse anti-zionism with anti-semitism.
For her, Israel is just another ill-considered European colony; one that happens to have been dropped on top of her country.

Casting Hollywood, the White House, Congress, etc. as being owned by Zionists means they're owned by Jews. She spreads the stereotypical view that Jews have lots of money and are sneaky oppressors. She is a hateful bitch that adds nothing remotely constructive to the conversation. Fuck you, Thomas.

Loved Stipe's pretty, pretty hair then.

And Buck rocks! I've run into him a few times in Seattle. Awesome gentleman. Once at a benefit show at the Crocodile years & years ago, he toasted me a drink from afar! Plus, Sean Nelson was there and accidentally spilled some of his beer on my coat hanging on a chair. Good times.

Re: hit and run taxi driver
If I were driving a cab and some crazy hooligan jumped on it while it was moving, I wouldn't stop to find out what he was about.

I love REM's music, but I can never understand the lyrics. Except for in their slow songs, like "Nightswimming".

@3

you didn't see that 17 point conversion with seconds left? AWESOME!

Thomas had the same opinions when she was 50. Being 90 doesn't excuse anything. The word "Zionist" is never used by anyone speaking objectively about Israelis or Jews; its used by cowards who can then claim they're not anti-Semitic because they're not talking about "Jews".

If only it hadn't been called the "Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity in the Media Award." I bet if it was just the Helen Thomes Longevity Award they could still hand it out with no sense of embarrassment...

The Huskies' victory was in the final minutes; the Seahawks was not. I think David just switched them up.

Wow, I totally forgot about Livewire, bringing incredibly smart music to future punks across America! And this reminds me of the first time I saw REM in a little theater in 1983: Everyone looked and danced just like that. It was fantastic.

Castration never solves the problem.

Anti-Zionism does not equal antisemitism. There are plenty of Jews in Israel and throughout the world who despise the fascist apartheid state that Israel is becoming.

@19 I'd guess that Thomas has had the same opinions since she was 28 (1948). She is, after all, older than Israel.

well schmader, you just nailed the video clip. absolutely the best vintage footage of REM on all of youtube, and believe me i've looked. that performance is just outstanding. classic classic classic stuff. and, happy b-day buckers!