Tuesday, June 08, 2010
A Jumble of Opinions
It's election night in June, 2010. I was going to write two blogs about recent events. Then I looked at early election returns, abou 8:20. The polls had closed only 20 minutes earlier. There was nothing unusual or surprising about the race for governor. Democrats were nominating Jerry Brown. Republicans were nominating Meg Whitman. Everything is as expected. The world is good, God's in His heaven, etc.
Then I looked at the results for the five propositions and I was appalled. Every one that I had voted against was ahead. The one that I had voted for was behind. Pacific Gas and Electric was on the way to cementing its place as the electric power provider for San Francisco and other parts of the State. Mercury Insurance was winning. Why did voters vote this way? And why are they opposed to the idea of public financing of elections? The gods must be crazy tonight.
What was I going to kvetch about? Helen Thomas, for one. She said something publicly in criticism of Israel. All at once she's forced into early retirement at age 89. What she said was that the Israelis shouldn't continue taking land away from the Palestinians; those Israelis living in land reserved for the Palestinians by the rest of the world should relinquish it and go back to their homes. Then she said something that she shouldn't have said: their homes are in Germany and Poland and America. The implication was that all of Israel should simply pack up and leave the area and the people return to the places from whence they came. Of course, by now many Israelis were born and raised in Israel and speak Hebrew as their native language. They have no other home to return to. In its entirety Helen Thomas's comment was intemperate. By no means was it anti-Semitic or expressing hatred for Jews as Jews.
The whole episode shows the strength of the Israeli spin machine in the United States. According to the Israeli spin,
Then I looked at the results for the five propositions and I was appalled. Every one that I had voted against was ahead. The one that I had voted for was behind. Pacific Gas and Electric was on the way to cementing its place as the electric power provider for San Francisco and other parts of the State. Mercury Insurance was winning. Why did voters vote this way? And why are they opposed to the idea of public financing of elections? The gods must be crazy tonight.
What was I going to kvetch about? Helen Thomas, for one. She said something publicly in criticism of Israel. All at once she's forced into early retirement at age 89. What she said was that the Israelis shouldn't continue taking land away from the Palestinians; those Israelis living in land reserved for the Palestinians by the rest of the world should relinquish it and go back to their homes. Then she said something that she shouldn't have said: their homes are in Germany and Poland and America. The implication was that all of Israel should simply pack up and leave the area and the people return to the places from whence they came. Of course, by now many Israelis were born and raised in Israel and speak Hebrew as their native language. They have no other home to return to. In its entirety Helen Thomas's comment was intemperate. By no means was it anti-Semitic or expressing hatred for Jews as Jews.
The whole episode shows the strength of the Israeli spin machine in the United States. According to the Israeli spin,
criticism of Israel = hatred of Jews, or anti-Semitism
This is an illustration of the power of the Israeli lobby in the United States. Our news media as well as our elected officials cower before this power.
I was going to comment about something else. Perhaps I'll remember it tomorrow.
Labels: Helen Thomas; anti-Semitism; California primary election
