Helen Thomas and the Definitive Answer to Why the First Holocaust Happened

NewsRealBlog

2010 June 5

by Jeanette Pryor

 

On January 27, 1998, Yehuda Bauer, Director of Research at Yad Vashem, concluded his Holocaust commemoration address at the Bundestag in Germany with the following:

“Thou shalt not be a perpetrator.”

“Thou shalt not be a victim.”

“And Thou shalt never, but never be a bystander.”

It is remarkable that Bauer saved the strongest admonition for bystanders.
On Friday May 27, at the White House Jewish Heritage Celebration, Helen Thomas, the “Dean” of the White House Press Corps, answered a journalist’s request for an opinion on Israel:

“Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied and it’s their land…not German and not Poland.”
“So, where should they go?”
“Go home. Poland, Germany.”
“So, you think the Jews should go back to Poland and Germany?”
“And America and everywhere else.”

Helen Thomas is a perpetrator.  Perpetrator, because the most important aspect of the War Against Israel is the War to erode American support for Israel, the War for public opinion.  As in Vietnam, the Marxist Press in America will bring about the fall of Israel and the annihilation of her people long before and more surely than those seeking the physical destruction of the Gaza Blockade.

In spite of this, Helen does not fully explain the “Why” of the Holocausts.  Within hours of Thomas’ Reichstag-worthy revelation, the video evidence circled the globe.  It is safe to assume that the people who come in daily contact with Helen knew what she said.

These journalists and reporters, as every educated American, have seen pictures of the Holocaust; they have probably looked in horror at images of the selection at Auschwitz, the mass-shootings in Ukraine, the portraits of Eichmann and Mengele.  This contemplation probably led to self-reassuring oaths that, “Had I been there, I would have resisted.  I would have spoken out.  The Nazis were evil monsters. HOW could this have happened?”

Certainly, the White House Press Corps is full of those who have thus reacted to the Nazi Holocaust.  And yet, they will sit down to dinner with Helen Thomas.  They will continue to say, “Good Morning,” to her, and will treat her like an icon worthy of respect.  She will stoop in her throne in the Press Corps galley.  She will not be shunned in the halls of the White House, and senators and representatives will still curry her favor or, at the very worst, attribute her rant to notorious spunk.

This is why the Holocaust happened.  A dozen average men and women weighed their careers against the consequence of protest and permitted the penetration of respectable society by anti-Semitism. The looming destruction of Israel is not to be attributed to hate-filled sectarian ideologues like Thomas, but to the reporters and journalists who will avoid nasty personal consequences, and refuse to treat her with the utter contempt she merits.  If ever Eichmann and Mengele and Goebbels deserved to be shunned as enemies of civilization, then likewise a woman pretending to exemplify investigative excellence while suppressing the truth of the Jews’ tri-millennial claim to a homeland in the Holy Land, ought to be ostracized by anyone with a conscience.

The path to the first Holocaust was that of politically justified anti-Semitism.  Hitler began his crusade against the Jews under the pretext that they had caused, through self-interest, the defeat of Germany in the First World War.  We, fleeing precipitously towards a Second “Final Solution,” witness a similar attempt to disguise racial hatred of the Jews as dissenting political opinion.  We hear words such as “occupation, apartheid, human rights violations,” only because they camouflage an embarrassing, crass hatred.  Penetration of respectable society by this “classy, political” anti-Semitism is the first step to Genocide.

The choice to become a bystander faces each member of the White House Press Corps.  Together, they should demand Helen Thomas’ expulsion from their midst, if they wish to retain their integrity and honor.

Should authorities refuse, for the obvious reason that anti-Semitism has been given the green light (no pun intended) by the example of the Administration, then it is the personal responsibility of each member to treat the “Queen,” and her supporters as they claim they would have treated the last batch of Selectors who favored deporting the Jews to their “homeland” in the ovens of Poland.

 ani ma'amin

This song was composed by a young man on the cattle-train to the death camps. He taught it to two young men and asked them to "bring it" to his rabbi(of Modzhiz). The two succeeded to jump off and the train.They survived the war and kept their promise - came to America and sang it to that man's rabbi. The rabbi burst in crying. Though he never heard the song before, he recognised who made it. That young man perished in the Holocaust, but his song and his spirit live on. Yehe zichro baruch.

Obamadowop, Obamadowop, Obamadowop-dowah

Note:  The Blogmocracy presented a little humor last night and wanted to share with everyone, o here it is - a little "aggravation" brought to you by Obama!  (Not sure if clicking on the photo will work, so included the song Aggravation with this posting.  Bee Sting

“I’ve met Norman Fox & the Rob Roys, and I can tell you that Barrack Obama is no Norman Fox.” –Senator Lloyd Benson, 2006.

If you want some Aggravation, click on the image and then we’ll have an Overnight Open Thread.  ..... The Blogmocracy

 Aggravation -Norman Fox & The Rob Roys 

 

Obama is Dangerously Deranged

Planck's Constant
By Bernie on 12 Apr 2010

Photo Credit: Maries Two Cents

In a previous article I wrote that President Obama is "the stupidest, most incompetent, most back-dealing, least transparent, most socialist, and worst US President we have ever had."

What I mistakenly left off is that Obama is also "dangerously deranged," or in the words of French President Nicolas Sarkozy "dangerous[ly] aliéné” ¹. Some of you may object that the American people would not be so stupid as to elect a dangerous lunatic as head of their country. I need only remind you that it happened once before in another country not so long ago.
Many bloggers have already called Obama an anti-Semite, which of course he is, and wonder why such a large percentage (78% - Israel National News) of Jews voted for him.
As I explained in Obama and the Nazis, much of this can be blamed on the Holocaust syndrome similar to the Stockholm syndrome where hostages express adulation towards those who are most likely to destroy them. And Jewish adoration and adulation of Obama continues despite Obama's shameful treatment of our most vital and trusted ally in the world ² and the recent denial of visas to Israeli scientists who want to attend seminars in America ³: amazingly a majority of American Jews still support Obama ⁴. How stupid can these Jews be?
Blogger Daniel Greenfield believes Obama and his fellow travelers in the Democratic Party and the EU again want to impose a final solution on all us pesky Jews ⁵.
Recall how Obama bowed obsequiously to the King of Saudi Arabia, yet here we see him talking down to Netanyahu, this is how he treats Muslims, this is how he treats Jews.

Photo Credit: Atlas Shrugs

Disclaimer: I should mention that I too voted for Obama but not because I believe he would be good for our country but precisely and sadly for the opposite reason: because I expect him to bring this country to the brink of destruction. Liberalism in this country must be killed and the only way to do it is to give the entire dose of the disease to the American people before they get so slowly used to it in bits and pieces that someday we will find all our freedoms gone and not realize it while it was happening. At the same time I am betting that he will be such a mad buffoon in foreign policy, especially in regard to Iran, that gold will rise to unprecedented levels (which will make me rich as Midas). If Americans are such idiots to vote for him, why shouldn't I profit as well? I will need the money to escape to another place just in case my fellow Americans do not learn their lesson.

---

Notes

(1):

European Union Times, French Leader Sarkozy Slams Obama, Warns He Might Be Insane

A new report circulating in the Kremlin today authored by France’s Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) and recently “obtained” by the FSB shockingly quotes French President Nicolas Sarkozy as stating that President Barack Obama is “a dangerous[ly] aliéné”, which translates into his, Obama, being a “mad lunatic”, or in the American vernacular, “insane”.
According to this report, Sarkozy was “appalled” at Obama’s “vision” of what the World should be under his “guidance” and “amazed” at the American Presidents unwillingness to listen to either “reason” or “logic”. Sarkozy’s meeting where these impressions of Obama were formed took place nearly a fortnight ago at the White House in Washington D.C., and upon his leaving he “scolded” Obama and the US for not listening closely enough to what the rest of the World has to say.

A tip of the turban to Always On Watch
It should be noted that the EU Times is anti-Israel and anti-Semitic itself, but so far I tend to believe this part of the story nonetheless mainly because of this video.

(2):

Solomonia, 25 Mar 2010, Obama Snubs Netanyahu at White House Dinner?

Benjamin Netanyahu was left to stew in a White House meeting room for over an hour after President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of tense talks to have supper with his family, it emerged on Thursday...
The Israeli prime minister arrived at the White House on Tuesday evening brimming with confidence that the worst of the crisis in his country's relationship with the United States was over...
...Mr Obama...immediately presented Mr Netanyahu with a list of 13 demands designed both to the end the feud with his administration and to build Palestinian confidence ahead of the resumption of peace talks. Key among those demands was a previously-made call to halt all new settlement construction in east Jerusalem.
When the Israeli prime minister stalled, Mr Obama rose from his seat declaring: "I'm going to the residential wing to have dinner with Michelle and the girls."
As he left, Mr Netanyahu was told to consider the error of his ways. "I'm still around," Mr Obama is quoted by Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper as having said. "Let me know if there is anything new."
For over an hour, Mr Netanyahu and his aides closeted themselves in the Roosevelt Room on the first floor of the White House to map out a response to the president's demands.
Although the two men then met again, at 8.20 pm, for a brief second meeting, it appeared that they failed to break the impasse. White House officials were quoted as saying that disagreements remained. Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, added: "Apparently they did not reach an understanding with the United States."...
..."There is no humiliation exercise that the Americans did not try on the prime minister and his entourage," Israel's Maariv newspaper reported. "Bibi received in the White House the treatment reserved for the president of Equatorial Guinea."...

(3):

Israel Matzav, 8 Apr 2010, Dimona nuke reactor employees having trouble getting US visas?

Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor's employees have told Israel's Maariv daily that they have been having problems recently getting visas to the United States where they have for years attended seminars in Chemistry, Physics and Nuclear Engineering (link in Hebrew, Hat Tip: BA Wilson). They also complain of being treated in an 'insulting manner' by President Obama's people. Until recently, employees of the Nuclear Research Center routinely traveled to the United States for seminars and courses.

(4):

ynet news, 12 Apr 2010, Jews support Obama despite tensions with Israel

Despite recent friction with Israel, a majority of America's Jews still support their president. The Jewish community continues to be a strong support base for President Obama.
Some 57% of US Jews support Obama versus 38% who are opposed to his policies.

(5):

Sultan Knish, 11 Apr 2010, Imposing Another Final Solution

Obama is moving to impose his own final solution, after a meeting with six national security advisors who like the missing participants at the Wannsee Conference all agreed that solving the Jewish problem was key to solving all other problems.
Of course it is impolitic outside the Middle East to call it the Jewish problem. Instead it's usually described as the problem caused by Israel, which unlike Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and the rest of the otherwise peaceful region, is governed by an intractable people who are responsible for all the region's and all the world's problems.
The same columnists and reporters who gasped breathlessly each time Obama glanced at his teleprompter, have already explained to us that all the problems in the Middle East can be boiled down to that awful Mr. Netanyahu and his pack of fanatical Jews building their fanatical houses in Jerusalem. Never mind the legions of suicide bombers, Shiites slaughtering Sunnis, Yemen's civil war, genocide in the Sudan, street riots in Iran, ethnic cleansing threats in Turkey and all the other lovely byproducts of the Religion of Peace... the problem is Jews ruling themselves in a tiny strip of land, that used to be ruled by Muslims.

---

Islamic Nazi Quote of the Day: Jews are Bacteria

From Memri:

NewsReal.com

Abdallah Jarbu‘: “[The Jews] suffer from a mental disorder, because they are thieves and aggressors. A thief or an aggressor, who took property or land, develops a psychological disorder and pangs of conscience, because he took something that wasn’t his.

“They want to present themselves to the world as if they have rights, but, in fact, they are foreign bacteria – a microbe unparalleled in the world. It’s not me who says this. The Koran itself says that they have no parallel: ‘You shall find the strongest men in enmity to the believers to be the Jews.’

“May He annihilate this filthy people who have neither religion nor conscience. I condemn whoever believes in normalizing relations with them, whoever supports sitting down with them, and whoever believes that they are human beings. They are not human beings. They are not people. They have no religion, no conscience, and no moral values.”

and from MEMRI:

On Al-Aqsa TV, Hamas Deputy Minister of Religious Calls for Jews to be Annihilated, Saying They Are Bacteria, Not Human Beings; Following President Obama's Election, Said in Friday Sermon: We Must 'First Check if His Heart is Black or White'

Below are excerpts from an interview with Abdallah Jarbu', Hamas deputy minister of religious endowments. The interview aired on Al-Aqsa TV on February 28, 2010 (to view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2415.htm).

Following that are excerpts from Friday sermon by Abdallah Jarbu’, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on November 7, 2008 (to view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1904.htm).

February 28, 2010: "The Jews are Foreign Bacteria... The Koran Itself Says That They Have No Parallel... May He Annihilate This Filthy People"

Abdallah Jarbu': "[The Jews] suffer from a mental disorder, because they are thieves and aggressors. A thief or an aggressor, who took property or land, develops a psychological disorder and pangs of conscience, because he took something that wasn't his.

"They want to present themselves to the world as if they have rights, but, in fact, they are foreign bacteria – a microbe unparalleled in the world. It's not me who says this. The Koran itself says that they have no parallel: 'You shall find the strongest men in enmity to the believers to be the Jews.'

"May He annihilate this filthy people who have neither religion nor conscience. I condemn whoever believes in normalizing relations with them, whoever supports sitting down with them, and whoever believes that they are human beings. They are not human beings. They are not people. They have no religion, no conscience, and no moral values."

November 7, 2008: Following U.S. Election, Jarbu' Attacks Obama in a Friday Sermon: We Must "First Check Whether His Heart is Black or White"

Abdallah Jarbu': "Barack Obama has won. Is he good or bad for the Arabs? Before you talk about this or that, you should know that no American leader has ever won their elections unless he pledged his loyalty to the Jews in advance.

" Obama went to the Wailing Wall, put on their skullcap, shed tears just like they do, and lamented their sorrow, but he did not mention the Palestinian people at all. He talked about the suffering of the Jews and about the Holocaust, but he did not even mention the people of Beit Hanoun, who were killed while sleeping in their homes.

[...]

"Before you talk about a black leader reaching such a high post, I say that you must first check whether his heart is black or white. His heart cried over the suffering of the Jews, but did not cry over our suffering."

Obama Now Selling Judgeships for Health Care Votes?

TheWeeklyStandard.com
March 4th, 2010

BY JOHN MCCORMACK, The Weekly Standard

Obama is wheeling and dealing to get healthcare through

Tonight, Barack Obama will host ten House Democrats who voted against the health care bill in November at the White House; he’s obviously trying to persuade them to switch their votes to yes. One of the ten is Jim Matheson of Utah. The White House just sent out a press release announcing that today President Obama nominated Matheson’s brother Scott M. Matheson, Jr. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

“Scott Matheson is a distinguished candidate for the Tenth Circuit court,” President Obama said. “Both his legal and academic credentials are impressive and his commitment to judicial integrity is unwavering. I am honored to nominate this lifelong Utahn to the federal bench.”

So, Scott Matheson appears to have the credentials to be a judge, but was his nomination used to buy off his brother’s vote?

The timing of this nomination looks suspicious, especially in light of Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak’s claim that he was offered a federal job not to run against Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania primary. Many speculated that Sestak, a former admiral, was offered the Secretary of the Navy job.

Messiah-less, but NOT Leaderless…

Canada Free Press.com

Patriot way or the highway for DC elitists in both political parties

By JB Williams Saturday, February 13, 2010

The real grass-roots patriot movement has a clear message for Washington DC…

In 2010 and 2012, it’s going to be the patriot way or the highway for DC elitists in both political parties and there is nothing the DC establishment can do to stop it or hijack it!

Sure, if the movement really was about six hundred Palin fans in Nashville, it would be easily hijacked and frankly, if that was the case, why bother to hijack it?

Contrary to media efforts to paint the patriot movement as a fractured “leaderless movement” headed for the ash heap or the anti-establishment political bone yard, the patriot movement is far from leaderless. In fact, unlike the political left always in search of a messiah, the right is full of leaders, all over the country.

It is however, without any particular political messiah… and that’s what makes politicos nervous. Political messiahs are for the political left, not the right.

While some new patriots are enamored with the star power of a Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck, the patriots of old are under no illusions about the status quo politics that aims to misdirect attention away from a true grass-roots reclaiming of the country, onto the latest media darling of the moment.

Politicos can’t fathom that average American patriots can muster the power to reclaim their country without a political messiah to lead the way. They can’t begin to imagine the true power of a real grass-roots movement committed to real patriotic change, or maybe they simply dare not imagine such an insurmountable force.

In the old political paradigm, one could always follow the money trail to find the power behind a political movement. But there is no real money trail to follow behind the patriot movement, and that’s driving political analysts stark raving mad.

In fact, if there is a money trail to follow, it probably isn’t a grass-roots movement. That might be the easiest way to separate the real movement from the profit or power driven poseurs trying to ride the wave of millions of patriots currently fed up with all of the poseurs.

The American people do not need a political messiah, nor do they need a billionaire George Soros in order to take their country back from the international socialists now in control.

All they need is millions of average American patriots, unified in a tangible strategy, who share a common take-no-prisoners commitment to protecting and preserving individual freedom and liberty.

Leaderless? Not exactly…

The patriot movement is made up of millions of American citizens from all fifty states, not six hundred Palin groupies televised from Nashville last weekend. Nothing against Sarah - I’m sure she makes a mean moose stew. But defacto messiah of the Tea Party she ain’t… and believe me, if you’re willing to pay $500 to $1000 each to listen to Sarah read from the palm of her hand at a rate of $2500 per minute - you’re a Sarah groupie…

There are local leaders, county leaders, state leaders, regional leaders and national leaders. They are in Tea Party, 912, Town Hall and We the People groups. Leadership is easy to find in the political right, and that in part, is what makes unifying the right somewhat of a challenge, like herding cats, so to speak.

The Unifying Convention

What aimed to be nothing more than a profit venture in Nashville has indeed turned out to be a unifying event. The millions who declined to attend the event in Nashville are more unified than ever, to some degree, as a direct result of the media circus in Nashville.

Palin’s effort to create an impression of RNC Tea Party unity before heading off to campaign for Tea Party archenemy John McCain, backfired. It has instead, been reported as a failed palm cluttered crib note attempt to hijack the movement, or more accurately, create that impression for the press.

The applause lines were all in place, but the obvious lack of substance was overwhelming. Sarah had to remind herself to “be uplifting.” No, seriously…

Patriots vs. Poseurs

A January 26, 2010 Politico article reports – “Newt Gingrich wants a new Contract for America. - Dick Armey and his tea party allies want a Contract from America. - House Minority Leader John Boehner has his own ideas along these lines, and he just hired the guy who was in charge of the original Contract for America to help out.”

But the American patriots already have a “contract with and for America….” It’s called the US Constitution. It provides certain unalienable rights to states and individuals, along with very specific limited enumerated powers to the federal government, which is to exist and perform at the pleasure of the people and the states.

The Tenth Amendment was added for those with poor comprehension skills. “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

The patriot movement exists because neither political party recognizes the terms and conditions of that contract as of today, and if any DC politicians want to keep their job, that is going to have to change.

The idea that Gingrich or Army can come up with a better Contract for America than the US Constitution overestimates the talents of two well-known inside the beltway politicos, and underestimates the brilliance of our Founding Fathers. Honestly, the effort looks more like a campaign launching pad for Gingrich-Army 2012, than any grass-roots organization.

The patriot movement is not about Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Gingrich, Army, Palin or Beck. It’s about the US Constitution, our free-market economy and the future of freedom, liberty and prosperity in America.

It’s not about Republicans and Democrats - it’s about patriots and poseurs.

Elitists Had Better Prepare for the Worst

The unwashed masses are awake, they are aware, they are engaged, and that’s what has everyone talking, and some retiring before they can lose their re-election bid.

But it’s about to get much worse for the elitist poseurs in DC and the lame stream press…

If you think they are worried about the patriot movement today, just wait until they see all of those patriot groups unified in purpose, moving together as one, headed in the same direction, at the same time, by the millions, with one goal in mind…. Taking their nation back from the poseurs!

They say it can’t happen, because they hope it won’t happen and they will say or do anything to keep it from happening. But in the end, they can’t stop it and they can’t hijack it.

This day is near… First they woke up, then they became aware, then they engaged and then, they united…

The left fears nothing more than a unified right. But this day is coming, and it is coming very soon. The poseurs will fall by the wayside and the patriots will coalesce. Early signs are visible, and the urgency is growing. The more the left tries to divide the right, the more united the right will become. The more the RNC tries to harness the movement, the more the movement will seize control of the RNC.

The time is near, the moment is right. The United States of America does not belong to a handful of career politicos or international thugs. This country belongs to American patriots and some DC elites have mistaken tolerance for acceptance.

Marxism (aka progressivism) will never be acceptable in America, and the people’s tolerance is at end.

It’s not a revolution, it’s a restoration, and it just can’t end well for those foolish enough to back a rattlesnake or an American patriot into a corner.

JB Williams Most recent columns

JB Williams is a business man, a husband, a father, and a writer. A no nonsense commentator on American politics, American history, and American philosophy. He is published nationwide and in many countries around the world. JB Williams’ website is jb-williams.com/

JB Williams can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com

Older articles by JB Williams

Voters to Obama and Congress: Stop!

Jennifer Rubin - 02.10.2010 - 9:42 AM

Summing up its latest poll results, the Washington Post reports:

The survey paints a portrait of a restless and dissatisfied electorate at the beginning of a critical election year. More than seven in 10 Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing, and as many say they’re inclined to look for new congressional representation as said so in 1994 and 2006, the last times that control of Congress shifted.

Asked how they would vote in the November House elections, Americans split evenly — 46 percent siding with the Democrats, 46 percent with the Republicans. As recently as four months ago, Democrats held a 51 to 39 percent advantage on this question.

(Other surveys show a lead for Republicans in generic congressional polling.) Many of the poll’s details should cause the Obami, were they inclined to actually pay attention to bad news, some alarm. On health care, the deficit, jobs, and the economy more than 50 percent disapprove of Obama’s performance. By a 55-to-39 percent margin, respondents favor military tribunals over civilian trials for terrorists.

Democrats in Congress should take note as well. By a 57-to-36 percent margin, voters are pleased that the Democrats no longer have a filibuster majority. Ominously for incumbent Democrats, 56 percent are looking around for an alternative to their representative and only 26 percent approve of the job Congress is doing.

These numbers are even worse than they might appear, considering that the respondents were “adults” — not registered or likely voters. Moreover, the sample included only 26 percent Republicans. (Rasmussen shows GOP party identification at 32 percent, Gallup, at 41 percent.)

Simply put, what this and other polls tell us is that Americans don’t like what Obama and the Democrats are doing. It is the substance of their agenda that is unpopular. They don’t mind “gridlock” — in fact, they seem to welcome it, if the alternative is more of what they have seen coming out of Washington. Those incumbents on the ballot in 2010 better be able to make the case to voters that they understand their aversion to the “big bang” agenda of Obama-Pelosi-Reid and that they will do their part to curb, not facilitate, the big government proposals that have frightened voters. That’s a hard case to make for the Democrats, who have already voted repeatedly for that now unpopular agenda. And that is why 2010 promises to be a very scary election for anyone with a “D” next to his or her name.

Blizzard paralyzes Washington, but is that really news?

By Shashank Bengali | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Back-to back storms have turned snow day in the nation's capital to snow week. Federal agencies have been closed since Friday afternoon, the House of Representatives and the Senate have canceled all votes and the endless stream of luncheons, congressional hearings, press conferences and cocktail parties — the lifeblood of political Washington — is frozen.

Forgive most Americans if they haven't noticed.

Far from Washington's snowiest winter in more than a century, Social Security recipients are still getting their checks. Tax returns and Medicare claims are being processed without interruption at regional centers around the country. Constituents can still contact their members of Congress through district field offices, and military commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq are going about their duties, albeit with fewer interrupting e-mails and phone calls from the Pentagon, the White House and Capitol Hill.

As Wednesday's blizzard buried the capital under another foot of snow, almost certainly shuttering federal offices until after President's Day next Monday, it also raised a question that Washington might not want answered.

Does anyone out there care that the seat of political power in the United States has been in hibernation for nearly a week?

Or, for many Americans, is the image of a capital helplessly encased in ice, a snow globe sealed off from its surroundings, a fitting metaphor for Washington's glacial pace, dysfunction and narcissism?

"There is a belief often in Washington, D.C., that it is the center of the universe," said Danny Rotert, an aide to Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., in the congressman's Kansas City office. "I don't think most people think about Washington on a day-to-day basis."

To some, the winter gridlock might seem appropriate for this particularly stagnant moment in national politics, with President Barack Obama struggling to win support for his economic and health care plans from Republicans — and from some members of his own party.

Senate leaders had planned this week to take up a multibillion-dollar bill to create jobs, while the House was scheduled to vote on a bill to end an antitrust exemption for health insurers, which supporters said would lead to more competitive insurance rates.

The House gave up on Tuesday, saying that it wouldn't hold any votes this week. Hours later, with snow and sleet pelting the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said there probably wouldn't be any action there this week, either. Next week, both chambers are in recess for the President's Day holiday.

The jokes about Washington inaction practically write themselves.

"No activity. No signs of life. Absolutely nothing going on," David Letterman said in his late night monologue Monday. "Well, how can you tell the difference?"

"Where every day is a snow day," quipped cartoonist Tom Toles in Tuesday's Washington Post.

Thankfully, a blizzard isn't like a hurricane or an earthquake; it's an awesome display of nature's might that usually doesn't do permanent damage. So it's understandable that some Americans were unmoved, if not gleeful, to see their capital ground to a halt.

For military commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, Washington is the turning point of what some call "the 8,000-mile long screwdriver," the source of endless e-mails and videoconference calls from the halls of political power with ideas on how to conduct the wars — almost all of them unsolicited.

At the headquarters of the U.S.-led international force in Kabul, Afghanistan, commanders and their aides said the snow has done what distance couldn't do: It's shielded them, if temporarily, from an avalanche of advice.

E-mails from Washington have dropped by nearly two-thirds since the storms began. "Tele-commanding," the commanders' lingo for nagging questions that Google usually can answer and not-so-subtle reminders about the political implications of military decisions, has virtually ceased.

"I think everyone (in Washington) is just taking a snow day," said one senior military official, sounding quietly relieved.

Officials estimated that 230,000 Washington-area government employees — 15 percent of the federal work force — staying home costs roughly $100 million a day in lost productivity. Agencies and congressional aides were quick to point out, however, that many people were working from home, and that offices in other regions of the country were picking up any slack.

"There is a blizzard of work on my kitchen table to rival the weather conditions outside," said Gil Duran, a spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

Social Security payments are largely unaffected because 86 percent of recipients have their checks deposited directly into their bank accounts, said Mark Lassiter, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration in Baltimore who was working from home. For the remaining 14 percent who receive checks in the mail, the storm hasn't yet affected a payment date, Lassiter said.

Medicare and Medicaid recipients also should feel no impact from the closure of the services' Baltimore headquarters. Medicare claims are processed and paid by contractors across the country, while Medicaid bills are paid by agencies in each state.

With tax season now under way, the Internal Revenue Service is processing early returns at offices throughout the country. "The bottom line is that taxpayers are unaffected," said Michelle Eldridge, an IRS spokeswoman.

OK, OK — we get it. But this only raises another uncomfortable question.

If everything is running smoothly, just how badly do we need Washington at all?

"When you're in Washington, you feel like you're in the nerve center of the U.S.," said Betsy Rothstein, co-editor of FishBowlDC, a politics and media blog. "But when you're away from D.C., you feel like everyone there is just removed from the rest of the country.

"This weather makes it official."

(Lesley Clark, David Goldstein, Kevin G. Hall, David Lightman, Nancy A. Youssef and other reporters in the McClatchy Washington Bureau contributed to this article.)

Friday Afternoon Roundup -Principle or Politics?

This has been a week of the vague, with both Democrats and Republicans fumbling for an agenda. The Democratic left is growing tired of Obama's fumbling. Obama is trying to figure out how he can get the ball past the Republicans, but for all his angry rhetoric, he's low on courage. But the Republicans are demonstrating the same self-destructive behavior that gave rise to a Democratic congress in the first place. Shelby's hold, which should have been about the nominees themselves, now risks painting the GOP as the greedy party again, and the Supermajority, which was supposed to be a people's tool, risks turning into a pork tool. And the entire Tanker dispute only plays into Obama and Pelosi's promotion of defense spending cuts, by making national defense look like a drag on the economy.

If this goes on, the Republicans will destroy themselves before 2012, which will let Obama wait out his current setback, and return stronger than ever. And just as the Republicans need to wait Obama out, he may be willing to wait out the Republicans as well. Particularly if Republicans midterm victories in 2010 mean nothing more than a bipartisan spending spree that will disgust the public, turn off independent voters, and make the Democrats look good, because at least their spending comes back with promises about providing jobs and social benefits.
Then there was Palin's attempt to jump on the weakest possible criticism of Rahm Emanuel, not over the relevant corruption issues, but over his use of the word, "Retarded." It was supposed to be the liberals who played speech police, not conservatives. There are liberal blogs where even using the word "Lame" is off limits, because it's "ablist". I don't think we want to go down that road. I certainly don't.

And since just about everyone does use the word, "Retarded" to mean stupid, Palin found herself having to respond to Limbaugh's use of it, to avoid being called a hypocrite. And this entire mess could have been avoided, if she had kept her focus on making substantive criticisms of the Obama Administration. And it's substantive criticisms that we need.

There's no doubt that Obama and the people surrounding him are amoral jackasses at best. Just as there was no doubt that Bill Clinton was a serial adulterer. But to win you have to connect political wrongdoing to direct damage done to the public. Without that, your criticisms will remain impotent.

Then there's Tom Tancredo at the Tea Party Convention. I like his speeches, as always, but I have to question a man who endorsed Romney, saying that he's happy McCain lost, because he would have been terrible on immigration and budget discipline. I'm sorry, but there really isn't that much difference there. And is Obama any better on immigration and budget discipline?

I suppose I have a certain inborn suspicion of politicians. The art of politics very often seems to require staking out a principled position and then selling it out at the best price. And in the process people who look for principled politicians, all too often find just the politics underneath.

In California, Carly Fiorina and Tom Campbell are competing to prove which of them is the worst candidate. By the time they're done I suspect they'll convince a lot of people that both of them are. Which sadly is also true.

Sure the demon sheep ad is terrible, but consider how many people watch politics ads, vs how many people will see this one. From the "anything for a win" standpoint, the demon sheep is probably a victory, albeit a Pyrrhic one. "I'm sorry Carly, but we had to destroy your candidacy, to save your candidacy."

Meanwhile in Illinois, the Democratic Lt. Governor will be a pawnbroker with a history of violence toward women, and steroid abuse, who spent 2 million dollars getting elected. This of course is more proof that a party can't escape its past, until it actually cleans house.

And so I'd like to come back for a moment to the Kentucky GOP primary for a moment. The two big candidates in the race, Trey Grayson and Rand Paul have each raised a little under 2 million dollars. Together they're competing to see whether a former Democrat or the radical Mises libertarian who wanted to close Gitmo and release its terrorists "back into battle" will be the Republican candidate for the Kentucky Senate.

Mitch McConnell is backing Grayson. Sarah Palin is backing Paul, a move almost as cynical as her campaigning for McCain, or Tancredo's endorsement of Romney. But there's one authentic conservative candidate in the race-- and unsurprisingly, it's the one that no one is talking about. Bill Johnson.

This is Bill Johnson , the Republican Senate candidate that the media and many of the big bloggers won't talk about. This is what he stands for in his own words. And unlike Rand Paul, he hasn't transformed his views to fit in and win a Republican primary.

Fellow concerned citizens, we are at a turning point in the history of our nation. Jobs are moving offshore, the economy is weak, taxes are increasing, and prosperity is fading. Our elected officials offer expanded government, more spending, and industry takeovers as the solution. Socialism is taking hold.

I am not a politician. I am a concerned citizen, military veteran, and businessman who believes it is time for new leadership in Washington. I want to be a voice for concerned citizens across the Bluegrass State who have ‘had enough’ of politicians violating our trust. For that reason, I am running in the 2010 Republican primary for the United States Senate. I stand for limited government, low taxes, strong military, gun ownership, marriage between one man and one woman, and life begins at conception.

Now why don't you hear much about Bill Johnson? There's the key line right there. "I am not a politician". And it's the politicians who make the deals, who say one thing and do another, scratching each other's backs and writing checks to each other, trading off the public's support like it was a game of Monopoly.

And it's why Bill Johnson hasn't raised millions of dollars to run misleading ads like Rand Paul and Trey Grayson (in case you hadn't heard, the guy who talked about building a left-right coalition to roll back the American Empire is now a hawk on terrorism). Instead he's the real thing. Which is why he doesn't have the millions of dollars, the top flight political endorsements or the Obama style posters that have already been created for Rand Paul.

He's actually supported by the local Tea Party organizers, not by organizations who are cashing in on the brand.

Local Kentucky activists and bloggers like Genuine GOP Mom and Conservative KY Gal have done a great job of covering this race, and they're a much better resource on this election, than the "big bloggers" who are plugged into the national political game. Genuine GOP Mom has proven in detail which is the genuine pro-life candidate in this race.

But the problem can be summed up in Bill Johnson's own press release

"The Bill Johnson for U.S. Senate Campaign continues to run a low cost and fiscally responsible campaign. Rand Paul, a doctor, and Trey Grayson, a lawyer, are engaged in a battle about who can raise and spend the most money in a primary campaign. This conflict is typical Capitol Hill politics where tax and spend is the norm. How much money is enough?... 2010 is an important election. Voters have never been more challenged to examine carefully each candidate and their positions on issues independent of the size of their wallets. Any other course is just letting money determine the outcome. This lesson was learned in the 2008 presidential campaigns."

And if Grayson or Paul win, it will be the money determining the campaign. And instead of a reformist candidate, we'll be choosing whether a former Democrat or the next inheritor of the Paul political name gets to play the same old games in the Senate.

Bill Johnson is accepting donations for his fight to elect a Reagan conservative to the Senate in Kentucky, not a former Democrat or a candidate whose views on the War on Terror are virtually indistinguishable from Obama's.

Continuing the roundup, Debbie Schlussel has the larger story on the real role that Al Queda's female bomber and her circle of friends played in the United States.

The real insight: Siddiqui’s conviction for shooting at U.S. soldiers after they caught her in Afghanistan (with chemicals, a dirty bomb recipe, plans to blow up U.S. gas stations and major New York sites) is really not the story here. The story is Aafia Siddiqui’s part in the early stages of Al-Qaeda around the world, as it was formed by a close circle of friends, who were mostly Muslim students in Boston here on visas in the late 1980s and early to mid-’90s. One of those students, one of those friends, was Aafia Siddiqui, who would later become Al-Qaeda’s designated master terrorist in the U.S., until she was caught in Afghanistan. It’s the story of how America dropped the ball on the inchoate Al-Qaeda world leadership concentrated amongst a few Muslim visa holders concentrated in a major American city. And it’s the story of how America let those people leave the country and did nothing to stop them, even the one they caught after 9/11 and willingly gave up to the Syrians.

The whole thing is worth reading, because it shows just how unprepared we are to deal with the Muslim Jihad in our midst.

At Israel Matzav meanwhile, a copy of the letter that John Kerry provided to Code Pink and the Gaza Freedom March.

Code Pink co-founders Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin used Kerry’s letter at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt to pressure the Egyptian government to allow 1300 leftists passage into Gaza from Egypt. The leftists gathered in Cairo from around the world to mark the one-year anniversary of Israel’s defense against Hamas’ rocket and mortar attacks.

Essentially Kerry once again provided direct political aid to America and Israel's terrorist enemies. Gaza is held by the Muslim Brotherhood spawned Hamas. Anyone still remember his line about "masada?"

Carl also suggests that some of the Hamas 54 congressmen I wrote about are stepping away from their CAIR backed "open Gaza" letter. But I don't see them backing away, so much as covering their asses with some spin, particularly in New Jersey, where they might have some 'splaining to do come election day.

For now only Yvette Clark has actually said the letter was a mistake, her Jewish constituents however are not buying it, by pointing to her record.

They say that when a politician says “Yes” they mean maybe, when they say “Maybe” they mean no, and if they say no, then they aren’t a politician. Walking this narrow line is sometimes a necessity for a politician trying to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, but from the viewpoint of the electorate, it is of utmost importance to cut away the political façade and make estimated calculations on where exactly they stand.

On January 3rd 2007 following a sweeping electoral victory that gave her a whopping 93% of the vote, Yvette Clarke assumed office as Congresswoman for New York’s 11th congressional district, which includes Brownsville,Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Heights

It is becoming increasingly clear for all to see that she is not a friend of Israel by any means. For some, the tell tale signs became clear early on, when she signed a bill that called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah during the second Lebanon war, effectively calling for pressure on Israel that would limit its efforts to fight for comprehensive security on its northern border.

Only six weeks ago, she was one of a small congress minority that voted against Res. 867 that “called on the President and the Secretary of State to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration of the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.” This fact-finding report that she did not oppose is more commonly known as the Goldstone Report, recently described by Alan Dershowitz as a “defamation written by an evil, evil man.“
But this week she continued her assault on Israel’s efforts to secure its citizens, when she signed a letter to the President, organized by Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison, who has been called out for his connections with CAIR a Muslim representative body that may have had affiliations with terror groups.

At the Grendel Report, a look at the latest status of the EPA's Cap and Trade Mafia

Soccer Dad argues that the Goldstone Report is the product of 40 years of perversion of international law.

Then there's Target's Pally globe, the inevitable result of outsourcing production to a Communist anti-Israel country. (Via Jack Kemp)

And Ted Belman has some thoughts on whether Sarah Palin should champion plug in hybrid car

by: SULTAN KNISH.COM
From NY to Jerusalem, Daniel Greenfield Covers the Stories Behind the News

Israel should not be calling inquiry into Gaza war to appease Goldstone It’s all about politics

Israpundit.com

By Giora Eiland

In recent days we have seen a renewed debate on whether Israel needs to establish a commission of inquiry to look into the Goldstone Report’s charges.

The debate is legitimate, yet it appears that supporters of such commission are being naïve. There are four good reasons why not to establish a commission of inquiry and there is not even one real reason why we should do so.

The first reason has to do with the subject matter. Operation Cast Lead can be examined according to military-professional criteria, moral criteria, or diplomatic criteria. It must not be examined in line with international law criteria, as Goldstone wants, for the simple reason that it’s irrelevant. International law that pertains to wars is premised on three assumptions: The war pits states against each other, both sides deploy soldiers in uniform, and both sides are committed to the same codes. None of the above conditions was present in Gaza.

As most military conflicts today have similar characteristics, the only criteria we should examine ourselves in line with is the global standard. If we wish to be even stricter, we should look at the American and British standard. We can agree to be examined based on the written American doctrine, in line with the operational orders issued in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, or according to American and British acts on the ground. This must not be done by attorneys, who use the laws of war as their criteria.

The second reason is the timing. Israel just handed over to the United Nations a detailed document that responds to each and every claim made by the Goldstone Report. Don’t we believe our own document?

The third reason is political. Those who appointed the Goldstone Committee are trying to push Israel into a situation whereby any effective military operation will be considered illegitimate. Goldstone specifically said that Israel can only utilize precise commando operations against the rocket threat. Adopting this approach completely contradicts the American interest. As opposed to the negative predictions, whereby the US won’t back us should we fail to establish a commission of inquiry, the US and other Western countries will be supporting us, if only because of their identical interests on this front.

The fourth reason is domestic. The Israeli public accepts the need for a commission of inquiry and even demands it when it turns out that the army’s and political leadership’s performance was disappointing (as was the case in the Yom Kippur War and in the Second Lebanon War,) or when genuine concerns emerge as to the army’s morality (as was the case in Sabra and Shalita.) The public will justifiably resist an inquiry aimed at appeasing the gentiles and placing the IDF at court for no good reason.

Supporters of a commission of inquiry argue that establishing it will serve to mitigate the international pressure and minimize the risk of indictments against senior Israeli officials overseas. This is baseless, as the pressure on Israel is political and not based on substantive reasons.

About two years ago, legal proceedings were launched in Spain against six senior Israeli officials charged with harming civilians in the operation to assassinate Salah Shahade. In that case, Israel conducted itself “well” – the issue was subjected to an inquiry outside the army and was even heard by the High Court of Justice. Yet all of that did not convince the Spaniards to lay off.

So why was the Spanish legal procedure annulled? The Spanish law drew dozens of lawsuits from across the world against the whole world. When legal proceedings were launched against Chinese generals charged with crimes against humanity, China made it clear to Spain that it better change the law. Spain got scared and indeed changed the law.

In 2002, the UN secretary general initiated a commission of inquiry over the “Jenin massacre.” Why was the commission called off even before it was established? Because Israel managed to enlist both the US Administration and Congress to the cause of resisting the move.

In other words, neither justice nor law are the tools of the trade here, but rather, pure politics. The establishment of a commission of inquiry in Israel will not mitigate the pressure against us, but rather, merely serve to encourage hostile elements to continue to press Israel.