News and Follow-up, Both Good and Odd

Helen Thomas. After a week of near universal recrimination for her blatantly anti-Semitic remarks, Helen Thomas made the right decision and retired. Read more here. Rabbi David Nesenoff (RabbiLive.com) today released the complete video of Thomas' comments. The rabbi spotted her on the White House Lawn while attending a celebration of American Jewish Heritage Day and conducted the impromptu interview. I'd like to be able to claim that Ms. Thomas' retirement decision was the direct result of my advice of three days ago, but I think I can safely say that she's never read this blog. Heck, almost no one reads this blog, including me.

Nancy Pelosi. Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), is one very strange Catholic. Despite all the lip-service, all the self-serving comments about her status as a believing Catholic, she obviously doesn't have a clue when it comes to the magisterial teachings of the Catholic Church. And so she continues to be not only an embarrassment to actual believing Catholics, but also a source of scandal to others. Last month, during an address to the Catholic Community Conference in Washington, DC, she said the following:

"They ask me all the time, ‘What is your favorite this? What is your favorite that? What is your favorite that?’ And one time, ‘What is your favorite word?’ And I said, ‘My favorite word? That is really easy. My favorite word is the Word, is the Word. And that is everything. It says it all for us. And you know the biblical reference, you know the Gospel reference of the Word.

“And that Word is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word. The Word. Isn’t it a beautiful word when you think of it? It just covers everything. The Word.

“Fill it in with anything you want. But, of course, we know it means: ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.’ And that’s the great mystery of our faith. He will come again. He will come again. So, we have to make sure we’re prepared to answer in this life, or otherwise, as to how we have measured up.”

You can listen and watch her yourself...



Sadly, Speaker Pelosi's actions run contrary to her own words, not to mention The Word. She claims to be a faithful Catholic and yet completely disregards Church teaching on virtually all life issues. She is pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage in the extreme. One simply cannot be a faithful Catholic and do what she has done in direct conflict with the Church's continual teaching on these moral issues.

Yes, Ms. Pelosi, "and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" first in Mary's womb. The Incarnate Word was an unborn child. Did you ever think about that? I suspect you have. Perhaps that's why you're never very articulate when you address the subject of your faith.

Pope Benedict XVI at Fatima. A few days after Speaker Pelosi's odd comments, the Holy Father, during a visit to Fatima, Portugal, spoke to a group of Catholic social workers and health care providers. In his comments Pope Benedict said he appreciated their efforts fighting abortion and promoting the family based on the "indissoluble marriage between a man and woman." He then said that their work will "help respond to some of the most insidious and dangerous threats to the common good today." (Read more about the pope's comments here.)

Too bad Ms. Pelosi didn't make the trip to Fatima. Maybe she would have learned something about her faith.

Fr. David O'Connell named Coadjutor Bishop of Trenton, New Jersey. Father O'Connell, 55, a Vincentian priest and the retiring president of Catholic University in Washington, DC, was named by Pope Benedict XVI to be the next bishop of the Diocese of Trenton. The current bishop of Trenton, Bishop John M. Smith, will turn 75 this month and is required by canon law to submit his letter of retirement to the pope. The assignment of Fr. O'Connell is terrific news. As president of Catholic University he has been a strong defender of the faith and worked hard to ensure Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Constitution on Catholic Universities -- Ex Corde Ecclesiae  -- was implemented at the university he led so well. The university will miss his leadership, but the people of the Diocese of Trenton are fortunate to receive so faithful a shepherd. Read more here.

More on Bishop's Murder. On Sunday I posted some comments on the murder of Bishop Padovese in Turkey. As reported earlier, he was killed by his driver, a young Muslim named Murat Altun who told the police he killed the bishop as the result of a "divine revelation" he had received. The murder, however, was even more brutal than previously reported. The bishop was not only stabbed multiple times but was also beheaded. And those who heard his cries for help also heard his assailant shout, "I killed the great Satan! Allah Akbar!" The killer apparently shouted this from the roof of the building. These words and the type of murder (beheading) are in keeping with the approach used by ultranationalist groups and Islamic fundamentalists that have the goal of eliminating Christians from Turkey. The Turkish authorities, who have stated publicly that there was no political or religious motivation behind the killing, may now have to change their tune. We'll see.

How did the old Chinese curse go? "May you live in interesting times..."

The "New" Antisemitism

Helen Thomas, the leftist icon of the White House press corps, let her true feelings show the other day when she told the Jews of Israel to get out of Palestine and go back to Poland and Germany. Given the source, such comments shouldn't surprise. As a long-time Jew-hater, Thomas' animosity toward Israel is no secret, but for once her comments were not covered up by her media colleagues. This time she was caught off guard when a rabbi with a camcorder happened upon her and simply asked a few questions. And now her comments are here on the Worldwide Web for all to see. Surprisingly, I would have expected a sounder understanding of the history of the Middle East from so prominent a journalist, but perhaps her Lebanese heritage has colored her views. Thomas, of course, should be fired, and sent off to wherever they send over-the-hill leftest journalists...Havana perhaps...or maybe Gaza?

I've embedded the video of her remarks below:



Helen Thomas has since apologized, but how sincere can such an apology be? I mean, really, she can't claim she simply "misspoke" or that her words were reported out of context. Telling the Jews to "go back to Germany" is hardly one of those phrases that rolls off the tongue unintentionally. And its meaning doesn't really change with the context. It means exactly the same thing in any context. One gets the impression, too, that she wasn't referring to 21st century Poland or Germany, but rather to the Poland or Germany of 1939. Maybe she should offer a version of the Mel Gibson defense and just blame it on that second Manhattan at lunch.

It would be a mistake, however, to view this incident in isolation. Over the past few decades the American left's attitude toward Israel and the Jews has undergone a major change. The causes? I'm not exactly sure, but I'll hazard a guess and offer a few. First, many of the old-line Jewish leftists, secular Jews who, prior to 1967, had a soft spot for Israel and the Zionist movement, are no longer with us. They have been replaced by a whole new crop of young ideologues, those indoctrinated in our colleges and universities by professors who were the once young leftists of the sixties. These folks -- some now populate offices in the White House, the Executive Office Building, and the State Department -- have no love for Israel which they view as a clone of the USA. To them Israel is just another capitalist state, but one run by Jews, that is guilty of oppressing the non-Jews among its population and making war on its neighbors. And, of course, the left has a certain ideological affinity with the oppressed Muslim masses and those who are fighting for their liberation -- aka, Al Queda and friends. That's why a Hugo Chavez and a Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can hug and kiss in front of the cameras even though one is, at best, an agnostic and the other a religious fanatic. Ironically, Chavez, like most leftists, is basically suicidal and doesn't realize that Ahmadinejad would slit his throat if he weren't so useful.

We're seeing evidence of this Antisemitism creeping into our own foreign policy. Israel, the one truly democratic state in the Middle East, is being treated as a pariah while we cuddle up to Islamic theocracies and even downplay the continued terrorist activity of organizations like Hamas. This same Antisemitism provides one of the foundational elements of the foreign policies of many European states, those nations so admired by our current administration. It's why an Ahmadinejad can call publicly for the destruction of Israel and the killing of all Jews and yet be tolerated by European heads of state. But watch what happens in those same countries when one of their own citizens says anything derogatory about Islam. We're talking hate crime, followed by arrest, conviction and jail time...

I'm no knee-jerk fan of Israel. Over years its political leadership has done some truly stupid things, but so has ours. I still scratch my head over the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty during the 1967 War, one of the all-time dumb moves by an allied government. But even this, and other similar actions, pale in comparison to the sins of Israel's enemies who either support or, at some level, tolerate Jihadist terrorists. And the big secret, the one that is never addressed publicly, is that Israel is the only nation in the Mideast that would gladly live in peace surrounded by its Muslim neighbors, assuming its neighbors would permit it. But no, these Islamic states cannot abide Israel's existence and continue to do everything in their power to bring about its complete destruction. Like Helen Thomas they'd love to see the Jews go back to Germany and Poland.

Indeed, I'm assuming Ms. Thomas was merely following Ahmadinejad's lead. Back in December he made some similar recommendations, about which Thomas, as a journalist, was no doubt aware. The Iranian president said that if Germany and Austria feel responsible for massacring Jews during World War II, a state of Israel should be established on their soil. He also repeated his view that the Jewish state was a "tumor".

"Now that you believe the Jews were oppressed, why should the Palestinian Muslims have to pay the price?...Why did you come to give a piece of Islamic land and the territory of the Palestinian people to them? You oppressed them, so give a part of Europe to the Zionist regime so they can establish any government they want. We would support it...So, Germany and Austria, come and give one, two or any number of your provinces to the Zionist regime so they can create a country there which all of Europe will support and the problem will be solved at its root...Why do they insist on imposing themselves on other powers and creating a tumor so there is always tension and conflict?"

(For more on these comments by Ahmadinejad, click here.)

Odd isn't it? There's really little difference between far left and far right. The Hitlers and Stalins of the world are all cut from the same cloth, and so apparently are their ideological children. And one common element seems to be a virulent Antisemitism.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122):

A song of ascents. Of David. I rejoiced when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD." And now our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem. Jerusalem, built as a city, walled round about. Here the tribes have come, the tribes of the LORD, As it was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD. Here are the thrones of justice, the thrones of the house of David. For the peace of Jerusalem pray: "May those who love you prosper! May peace be within your ramparts, prosperity within your towers." For family and friends I say, "May peace be yours." For the house of the LORD, our God, I pray, "May blessings be yours."

Amen.