The ouster of veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas, after an anti-Zionist comment Sunday, is yet another demonstration of the politically foul and utterly conformist milieu of official Washington. ...

Thomas' comments were clearly wrong, however they were also made by an aged reporter in an unguarded moment. In her decades-long career as a White House reporter, no one has suggested that Thomas, known for her opposition to US wars and Israeli policy, is anti-Semitic.

The resulting media uproar was predictable and disgusting. It was prompted not so much by Thomas's reference to Jews going back to Germany and Poland, but by her reference to the Palestinian people as suffering under occupation in the land they had lived in for centuries.

This is an example: Helen Thomas confronts Bush

She is mentioned as a trailblazer with respect to her being a woman and opening the door for other women. This is, of course, true.

But, in addition, she blazed a trail with respect to actually representing the interests of the American people as she saw them, and confronting those in power directly, with no mincing of words. That trail, has no one daring to pursue it - woman or man.

Fast forward, years later, having lived through two World Wars, he had had enough of Europe and, so, we came to America. My father was the kindest, gentlest, most honest man that ever lived. Someone once said about him that if he was the last man on earth, and he was driving through the Sahara desert at 3 o'clock in the morning, he would turn on his directional signal before making a turn.

But, now about Israel. Of course he loved Israel, and he loved the Israelis, and he supported them in any way he could. But, having the experience he had in two wars, living the horror up close and personal, he couldn't help becoming a pacifist. Nothing, and no one, should have to go through the murder, bloodshed, and devastation that war imposes. Being a very smart guy, he knew exactly what the 1948 establishment of Israel portended: endless war,  immutable hatred, and countless generations of shell shocked, neurotic, offspring. He would shout out, WHO NEEDS THIS?? Who cares what biblical fairy tale fantasies were bequeathed to the Jews. For a few stone relics, and some fables passed down through centuries, is it worth it? Who cares who's right or wrong, who cares what ancient geezers claimed "ownership." Is God an idiot? Only an idiot would demand of his "chosen people" infinite generations of maimed and killed children.

You hate the Arabs? Good! Then give them this godforsaken hellhole, this patch of worthless sand. Let them try to grow things under the 120 degree sun furnace, maybe they will learn how to drink sand. Is any piece of dirt worth your daughter's life, your son's legs, your wife`s sanity? Now, if you had any brains, and still insisted on living in a desert, I've got an idea for you. Go see Truman, tell'em you heard there's a nice patch of sand in Arizona, or New Mexico, even the tarantulas don't want it. How much could it cost? A whole lot less than the billions Uncle Sam will be shelling out for thousands of years to come I'll bet. It's perfect, and I hear they'll even cater in kosher Pizza to your son's Bar mitzvah.