Archive → June, 2010
RIP Nearly a century of hate
It’s not often considered good form to speak ill of the dead; yet with the passing of Democratic Senator Robert C. Byrd, one could almost make an exception. The eldest and longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate at age 92 at the time of his passing, Senator Byrd of West Virginia was at one time a Kleagle and an Exalted Cyclops in the Ku Klux Klan.
Although he later claimed to have been involved for only a year or so, documents have surfaced showing his fascination with the KKK lasted for perhaps as much as a decade. Also, his public voting record of opposing black nominees while in officer certainly does little to ameliorate his claims to a changed heart.
As the politics of the nation shifted, Byrd made public claims to changing with them, but as recently as 2001 had made public comments in which the “N-word” was uttered by him, though in that case it was uttered in reference to white people. Despite the Democratic party’s modern image as the party of racial diversity, they tolerated Byrd and his record of bigotry right up until his death, throwing out every possible defense to protect him, including Kohler kitchen sinks.
While WonderfulPessimist.com appreciates the grief of those who will miss Byrd as an individual – a father, grandfather and so forth – it would be disingenuous to pretend this site mourns his passing. His membership in the U.S. Senate was a stain on this nation’s history, and only as time goes by can it ever be expected to fade from memory.
That being said, we do hope he made peace with his creator and found truth and forgiveness with him prior to his passing.
Asking for lower taxes is “being a smart-ass” to VP Biden
Vice President Joe Biden could soon be earning the nickname, Walk Away Joe after an exchange with a custard shop owner in Wisconsin. According to online reports, during his visit the store manager offered Biden a cone. Biden asked the manager what he owed him.
“Don’t worry about it,” the manager told him. “Lower our taxes and we’ll call it even.”
Joe walked away without comment and later told the manager, “Why can’t you say something nice instead of trying to be a smart-ass all the time?”
All the time? Unless he’s met this guy before, that’s a bit presumptuous of Biden. And if he considers asking for lower taxes being a smart-ass, it’s no wonder Biden is no favorite of the Tea Party Movement.
Maybe the manager should have offered Biden some free pool filters or something…
Van der Sloot a serial killer?
Five years after the murder/disappearance of Natalee Holloway, Joran Van der Sloot has been arrested in connection to the murder of Stephany Flores in Chile, and investigators behind his arrest have labeled him a serial killer.
Van der Sloot was the primary suspect five years ago when Holloway disappeared in Aruba, her body never recovered. A lack of evidence connecting him to the crime kept the Dutch national free of jail, if not exactly free of suspicion. Van der Sloot allegedly snapped the neck of Flores in his Lima hotel room on the fifth anniversary of Holloway’s disappearance.
According to online reports, “Flores, 21, was beaten so brutally that her neck was broken, and her battered body bore multiple bruises and scratches. No weapon was found, indicating the killer used his bare hands.”
When Holloway disappeared, Van der Sloot escaped due to a lack of connecting evidence; that’s not likely to be the outcome this time. Even a visit to www.naturaltestosterone.org won’t save Slick Vandy this time.
Egypt to strip citizenship from men married to Israeli Jewish women
An Egyptian judge has supported a ruling that will allow Egypt to strip Egyptian men married to Israeli Jewish women of their Egyptian citizenship, a landmark ruling that stands in stark contrast to the official peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, which has been in place since the late 1970s.
Judge Mohammed al-Husseini, who allegedly could use a good dose of acne body wash, ruled that this ruling would not apply to Egyptian men married to Israeli Arab women.
“The case for (Egyptian) men married to Israeli Arab women is different to those married to Israeli women of Jewish origin because (Israeli Arabs) have lived under Israeli occupation,” Husseini told the court.
Husseini has ruled that each case would be considered separately, but as a judge on the Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court, his ruling cannot be appealed.
Between Helen Thomas and Judge Husseini, what the heck, did the whole world wake up on the anti-Semitic side of the bed today? Yeesh!
Thomas’ “deep regret?”
Since uttering the most anti-Semitic statements since, well, the last time Iranian president Mahmoud Achmadinijad last took a breath, the phentermine-spouting Helen Thomas has issued a by-rote, boilerplate statement saying she “deeply regrets” her comments about how the Jewish people should “get the hell out of Palestine” and go “home to Germany and Poland.”
One can only assume Thomas has never so much as even cracked a Gideon’s Bible in all her decades in journalism, but be that as it may, there’s something a bit hollow about her call for the religious cleansing of the Holy Land of its first and most native people.
Can Thomas honestly regret such comments, or is it far more believable to say that she regrets getting caught on tape spouting them? Furthermore, can anyone expect her to report in a fair and unbiased manner on the White House at this point, especially on US-Israeli issues, after stating such a clear pro-Palestinian bias?
Thomas should be forced to sit in the next year’s worth of public addresses by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Not report on them. Just listen.
She should also be forced into retirement by Hearst Newspapers. Immediately.
Helen Thomas displays anti-Semitic bias
White House press corps veteran Helen Thomas has long been known for her outspokenness. Many of my generation remember her questioning then-President Bill Clinton why his presidency was “going down the drain.” That would have seemed to seal her fate, but here we are a couple decades later and the 89-year-old is still there, giving journalism and the White House a bruised and dishonorable appearance.
Her latest gaffe – which would cost anyone else their job in a hot second – has nothing to do with suggesting the best fat burning supplement or anything useful like that, but has the old Hearst Newspapers columnist huffing and puffing with a decidedly anti-Semitic flair.
Reportedly, Thomas said the Jewish people should, “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go back home to Germany and Poland.”
The uneducated, idiotic nature of her comments should qualify her for immediate dismissal by Hearst Newspapers, but any reprisal is unlikely. In fact, given the lack of any word of condemnation by the anti-Israel Obama White House, look for Thomas to be nominated and likely win the Nobel Peace Prize for her latest gem of hate speech.
