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To prove that the U.S news media “distort the truth and mislead the public opinion to curry favor with power,” a North Korean newspaper used Helen Thomas’s 2010 retirement as an example. Only problem is that Thomas (pictured right) was once a female columnist for Hearst Newspapers, not a man.

Madonna offered a profanity-laced endorsement of President Obama at her concert Monday night, which involved the singer stripping down to her underwear to reveal the president's name written on her body. “You all better vote for f---ing Obama okay,” she told the crowd at Washington's Verizon center.

A group of about 25 journalists and friends got together in the National Press Club to celebrate the life and birthday of ground breaking journalist Helen Thomas. We met in the McLendon Room, which was appropriate. When I came into the White House press corps, in l968, Helen and Sarah McClendon were the senior correspondents. Helen's mind and voice are as sharp as ever, but her body is more delicate (that happens to many of us). Our one rule of the get together was -- no politics! We have enough of that the rest of the time. In addition, none...

CHARLOTTE - Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) will lacerate Mitt Romney on foreign policy in a major speech tonight at the Democratic National Convention. "In this campaign, we have a fundamental choice," Kerry will say, according to speech excerpts provided to The Cable. "Will we protect our country and our allies, advance our interests and ideals, do battle where we must, and make peace where we can? Or will we entrust our place in the world to someone who just hasn't learned the lessons of the last decade?"

Sen. John Kerry has the perfect audition piece for the secretary of state job he appears to covet — the long-stalled Law of the Sea treaty. He’s come armed with a throng of industry backers and pleas from the country’s top officials. But a cadre of conservatives remains determined to sink it.

Our weekly look at the loudest screech from the mainstream media features former CBS News anchor Katie Couric, giving the commencement at the University of Virginia, claiming to have been cheated by sexists. She said, “One of the problems with being a trailblazer is, sometimes you get burned. In those first few months at CBS, TV critics wrote about my clothes, my hair, my makeup, even the way I held my hands. Some said I lacked ‘gravitas,' which I've since decided is Latin for ‘testicles.'...My story may have played out in the public eye, but it's by no means unique....

Hillary Clinton can’t be bothered by chatter about her physical appearance, the secretary of state told CNN’s Jill Dougherty in an interview on Tuesday. Asked about a photo of her wearing very little make-up that was tauntingly posted on yesterday’s Drudge Report, Clinton replied, “I feel so relieved to be at the stage I'm at in my life right now, Jill, because if I want to wear my glasses, I'm wearing my glasses.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday she wanted to see a female US president during her lifetime -- but insisted she was ready to "get off the high wire" of top-level politics. "I hope so. I really want to see that in my lifetime," Clinton said during a town hall meeting at a girls school in India's Kolkata, when asked about the prospects of a woman taking America's top job for the first time. Clinton praised India's "great display of women empowerment" due to the prominent role played by female politicians over the years but said that in the...

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James Carville chose these colorful words to describe Rick Santorum after Mitt Romney swept three Republican primaries Tuesday: “He was like a chicken with his head chopped off. The chicken is dead. The only person that don’t know it is the chicken.” The Democratic strategist, not known to mince his words, said in a late-night interview with CNN that Santorum “can flop around all he wants to [but] they’re not going to nominate him.”

Former White House Reporter Awarded for Being Friend to Palestinians Helen Thomas, who covered the White House for 50 years before being forced to resign over anti-Semitic comments, can add another distinction to her resume, reports Haartez. The Lebanese-American reporter was honored by the Palestinian Authority on Sunday for her, “long career in the field of journalism, during which she defended the Palestinian position every step of the way.” Perhaps the most famous member of the White House press corps, Thomas was forced to resign in 2010 after she said to a reporter on camera regarding the Jews in Israel,...

Journalist Helen Thomas put in a request in February that she have her own table at this year‘s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Unfortunately for her, she was denied by the White House Correspondents’ Association, which Thomas once presided over. “I would appreciate — particularly this year as we celebrate the 50 year anniversary of women being admitted to the WHCA dinner — to share this celebration with my family and close friends one last time,” she wrote in a letter to the WHCA board.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney finally released his tax returns last week, revealing that less than 14 percent in federal taxes was paid, of his more than $20 million income earned last year. Once again, the question Warren Buffett first asked this past summer is being raised: Why do the super wealthy in this country pay less in taxes than the working class? How do people making millions of dollars a year pay roughly 15 percent in taxes, while someone with a salary of $100,000 per year will pay as much as 28 percent in taxes? This is because of...

President Barack Obama painted the state of the union as strong and safe in his third address to the nation, but glossed over solutions to some of the nation's biggest problems. The President, running for reelection, touched base on all major issues including the economy, energy, regulation, immigration and education. He exuded confidence and laid out many points he is expected to hit on the campaign trail. Although Obama has failed in the past at every attempt to work with the Republicans in the Congress, he still attempted to reach out to the opposition. Most Republicans and Democrats could agree...

The leading Republican candidates made their last-minute blitz for supporters in Iowa. They each personalized their credentials. The election struggle was a classic, with the candidates trying to out-rival each other over their dedication to conservatism. A call for smaller government, lower taxes, and balancing the budget topped the agendas of nearly all the ultra-conservative candidates. One wonders why they seek to be at the helm of a powerless federal government. Candidate Ron Paul hopes to eliminate the Social Security system, which has been in effect since 1935 when former President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed the Social Security Act in...

Pioneering White House correspondent Helen Thomas told a National Press Club audience Dec. 7 that the country is endangered by what she called government leaders' greed, fear, and subservience to war-mongers. “I came here in 1943,” she told a dinner audience of 30, “and I don’t think I’ve ever seen our country so bereft of ideals and ideas. I don’t see anything on the horizon that can pull us out. I hope I’m wrong.” Shown at left in a 2009 photo courtesy of Wikipeda, she described current leaders as weak and selfish. The self-described liberal doled out criticism to all...

The U.S. is pulling its troops out of Iraq by the end of the year. Well, not quite.There will still be a large group of soldiers left behind to train Iraqis and to repair the war-damaged sites. Now, will someone from the White House hierarchy, past or present, please tell the American people why we invaded Iraq in March 2003? The truth and nothing but the truth - that will be the day. Why are we still speculating on the reasons we went to war in the first place, other than to hunt down and kill Saddam Hussein, the brutal...

U.S. leaders haven't spoken of disarmament lately. Why not? Iran is on the verge of creating a nuclear weapon. This is bad news for the U.S. and Israel, who have warned Tehran against holding nuclear power. The U.S. needs to step in and mollify at the crucial moment. Israel has been able to sabotage any Iranian progress in developing nuclear prowess, but no one has produced a key to a more peaceful route to reconciliation. So where are the peacemakers? Israel wants the U.S. to step in or even lead the way to block Iran's new nuclear ambitions. Iran, which...

President Barack Obama is finally setting goals to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's about time. Americans are coming around to the futility of all that killing and dying. The timetables are admittedly loose and flexible. Some interests would keep us in the hostile sites forever. We still have troops in Japan and Germany - thousands of soldiers are still there, so many years after World War II ended. We also have 700 military outposts around the world, some big and some small. Why? We have yet to hear the real reason we invaded Iraq. I have heard several...

Helen Thomas is troubled by the lack of leadership from the top in Washington. At an appearance at Busboys and Poets bookstore on Sunday, Thomas was asked her opinion on the state of the country. "I went through the Great Depression, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Vietnam and now Iraq and Afghanistan. What the hell is going on? Don’t we ever learn anything? I think that we are — there is no inspiration from the top. President Obama doesn’t have enough courage to do the right thing. And I think there is no real leadership in this country and there...

President Barack Obama took a giant and courageous step when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to call. He literally told the Israeli leader where to jump. Actually, he told Netanyahu that the 1967 borders should be the starting point for peace negotiations with Palestinian leaders. As expected, the Israeli leader rejected the proposal outright. Why? Because of the "facts on the ground" - facts incidentally created by the Israelis, who have illegally usurped land and water from the Palestinians, by sheer military aggression. Israel now has 78 percent of Palestinian land, taken in violation of the international law that...

The Republicans have tough solutions to meet the nation's financial crisis. The GOP leaders at first targeted their favorite nemesis - Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and Social Security. But then reality set in, and they retreated from major hopes of serving those programs at the altar of fiscal reform. Then, too, they may have been influenced by the national election in 2012. There is also the obvious input of the Tea Partiers who became incensed when the GOP appeared to be backing away from slashing social programs that help the poor and sick. Social Security, dating back to 1935, a...

Osama bin Laden wasn't killed by a Navy SEAL team, he was straight up executed, Michael Moore told TheWrap on Wednesday. The "Fahrenheit 9/11" director has been setting Twitter aflame Wednesday afternoon urging the Obama administration to come clean about the circumstances surrounding the terrorist leader's death -- particularly in light of the White House's shifting account of last weekend's firefight in Abbottabad. The Oscar-winning director has been tweeting about his belief that Bin Laden should have received a trial, and his theory that Pakistan was keeping the Al Qaeda head under house arrest.

"He may be dead, but in a way, he won. We gave up our rights. We passed a PatriotAct. We spent trillions on needless wars. Fear now rules us." "BREAKING: All Repub candidates drop out of 2012 race, citing "aversion to losing badly." Would u make Pleasantville play the South Bronx?" "The monster we created-yes, WE-in the 1980s by ARMING, FUNDING, &TRAINING him in the art of terror agnst the USSR, finally had 2 b put down."

President Obama has finally taken a stand in favor of the revolt of the masses in Libya. It's good and wise, but not, he said, a stand to depose of Muammar Gaddafi by military means. Obama hopes to force his ouster by other means. Obama's goals - using jet air strikes and missiles to help the out-gunned - is aimed at saving lives. "Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries," Obama said in a national televised address Monday night, "but, the United States is different." He also noted that he was not...

Helen Thomas is not sorry, nor were the comments that ended her career accidental. “I knew exactly what I was doing – I was going for broke,” she told Playboy in the magazine’s April interview. “I had reached the point of no return. You finally get fed up … I finally wanted to speak the truth.” Thomas, of course, left her perch as the dean of the White House press corps last year after telling a rabbi and blogger that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go home” to “Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else.” Her...

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas told a national conference of campus journalists that President Obama owes her an apology for his criticism last year of her comments about Israel. "I want an apology from the president," Thomas, 90, said Tuesday to the hundreds of student journalists and their advisers attending the keynote session of the annual spring convention of College Media Advisers (CMA) at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Shin Inouye, director of specialty media in the presidential press office, said the White House would not comment on Thomas' demand for a presidential apology.

During an interview with Joy Behar last night, Helen Thomas made it clear that she was standing behind her statements that Israeli Jews should “go back” to Germany and Poland. However, she did make a couple of additions to the list of countries that Jews should “return” to, such as Russia and the United States. “They’ve been free ever since,” said Thomas, referring to the Jews after the Holocaust. “They didn’t have to go anywhere really, because they weren’t being persecuted anymore, but they were taking other people’s land.” A visibly uncomfortable Behar then asked Thomas whether she considered herself...

The fall of Helen Thomas has been a storied and sad tale and almost every day it seems like another chapter is added. An article by Michael Miner, which appeared in the March 3 Chicago Reader, detailed some of the fallout that occurred following the Society of Professional Journalists’ decision to retire its “Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement.” The story describes some of the internal friction within the SPJ over the decision to retire the award, but also pointed out Thomas’ reaction to that decision. It wasn’t pretty. (h/t Alana Goodman, Commentary magazine) According to Miner’s article, in a...

No stranger to controversy for speaking her mind, Rosie O'Donnell was one of the few to offer veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas comfort last summer, when Thomas retired under fire for speaking out against Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands in a manner that was falsely alleged to be anti-Semitic. O'Donnell sent Thomas, now age 90, flowers in sympathy for the highly upsetting incident and, along with President Jimmy Carter, was one of only a handful of her longtime colleagues and friends to reach out to her. So, it turned out to be quite the unexpected encounter at the studios...

News-Press columnist and legendary White House correspondent Helen Thomas has had the name plate affixed to her historic front row center seat in the White House press briefing room returned, albeit mysteriously, the news outlet Mediaite has reported. The item disappeared last August with apparently no one in the White House press office or with the White House Correspondents Association aware of it. Last week, following the report that Thomas had been hired by the News-Press and is seeking a renewal of her White House press pass, the name plate has suddenly reappeared, equally mysteriously.

Why, at age 90, and after a devastating departure from her last job, is Helen Thomas returning to the battlefield of punditry? [SNIP] We spoke to Thomas on Friday, a day after she emerged from seven months of unwilling retirement with a new column in the weekly Falls Church News-Press. While she initially agreed to speak only about her new gig, Thomas was the one to bring up the circumstances that led to her downfall - her videotaped comments that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine." She told us her words were "distorted": "I didn't tell the Zionists...

This year, 2011, marks the beginning of baby boomers receiving Social Security checks and they should be alerted of past perennial Republican attempts to partially privatize the program. Heaven forbid that plans prevail to invest a certain amount of those checks in the stock market, as many pension plans have taken a bath in the current meltdown. While there have been past GOP plans to partially privatize the program, fortunately they have all failed. So far the Social Security trust fund remains tempting for the gamblers and other risk takers on the market. As a Detroiter, I remember the Great...

After a seven-month retirement, Helen Thomas has a new journalism gig: columnist for the Falls Church News-Press in Virginia, as the ARLnow blog in Arlington, Va., reports. The 90-year-old retired from Hearst newspapers in June after a media uproar over controversial comments she made about Israel. That move sent shock waves through the press corps and left White House reporters scrambling to see who'd get Thomas' front-row seat in the briefing room. So why'd the News-Press give her another chance?

So unfolds the latest chapter in Alec Baldwin’s ongoing flirtation with public office: The “30 Rock” actor told CNN’s Eliot Spitzer that he’s “very interested” in a political run. Of course, Baldwin knows there are plenty of obstacles in his way: He loves acting and his current state of New York is flooded with established political players. “It’s something that I’m very, very interested in,” said Baldwin in an interview set to air Wednesday night. He said what he wants to see from elected leaders is “people who have not lost sight about what the middle class in this country...

Pro-Israel activists launch all-out war against Helen Thomas and American Arabs It is all out war between Jews and Arabs. Make no mistake about it. American Jewish organizations have launched a vicious campaign to silence Helen Thomas, the 91 year old, 80 pound champion of Palestinian and Arab rights who fearlessly has chosen to take on one of the most powerful organizations in America. Thomas has criticized and denounced Zionism, a political movement with headquarters in new York City. The purpose of the organization is to champion the interests of a foreign country, Israel.

November 15, 2010 - The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Research Institute (ADCRI) is delighted to announce that world-renowned Composer and Pianist, Mr. Malek Jandali, will be making a special appearance at the Thursday, November 18, 2010, Gala in honor of Helen Thomas. Mr. Jandali will perform a piano composition exclusively dedicated to Ms. Thomas. Yesterday, at the Kennedy Center, Mr. Jandali premiered his musical project Echoes from Ugarit. The beautiful composition was based on the oldest music notation in the world (discovered in Ugarit, Syria). The Gala evening will also feature testimonial remarks by friends and admirers of Ms. Thomas, and...

Six months after her legendary journalism career ended when she said that the Jews should leave Israel and "go home" -- comments she later apologized for -- Helen Thomas will give the keynote address at a workshop hosted by Arab Detroit. The event is called "Images and Perceptions of Arab Americans: The New America: Mom, Apple Pie, and Arab Bashing."

Per copyright restrictions and FR posting guidelines, can't display the article. So, here's a link: http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2010/12/graydon-201012

Arab American National Museum in Michigan launches campaign to raise money for statue of veteran White House correspondent who ended career by saying Jews should 'get the hell out of Palestine' WASHINGTON - Ahead of her 90th birthday, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas, who resigned following her offensive remarks against Israel, may be getting a statue in her honor at the Arab American National Museum in Michigan. Supporters of the initiative in Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit and the town with the second largest Arab community in the United States, are trying to raise money to have the copper...

THE shocking images of oil-covered wildlife and ruined beaches across the Gulf of Mexico have horrified millions. But passionate green campaigner Sir Paul McCartney believes the environmental disaster may have a silver lining, with the search for clean, renewable energy now being pushed forward. The Beatles legend said: "Sadly we need disasters like this to show people. Some people don't believe in climate warming - like those who don't believe there was a Holocaust."

Democrats would not be playing the blame game with one another for the loss or for the healthcare debacle if they had only pointed fingers at those (or in this case, the one) who put Americans (and most of the world) in the predicament we’re in: George W. Bush.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is a much wiser man as he starts his second year in office. When he arrived at the White House, Obama inherited an insurmountable legacy of a deep recession and two wars in the Middle East. These are issues hardly adaptable to instant solutions for an impatient public. He was flying high as a presidential candidate offering "change" from the heavy hand of conservatives empowered from the days of Ronald Reagan, who had turned the country to the right. Since those halcyon inaugural days the president surely has learned that there is no such thing...

WASHINGTON -- The spirit of Christmas seems to have escaped Congress, maybe even the country. Have you ever encountered such mean spiritedness and political conniving as are now on display on Capitol Hill? In the past, we have had great philosophical divisions in the struggle for civil rights, especially when southern legislators ran the show. In praise of democracy, fortunately they lost. And of course there also was the "red scare" fomented by Sen. Joe McCarthy, R-Wis., in the 1950s when he led the commie-hunting movement that ended up victimizing government officials, academia and Hollywood. We recovered from that, too....

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama had a golden opportunity to become a peacemaker compared to his hawkish predecessor. But he has let that opening evaporate by escalating the war in Afghanistan. Now he is called a "war president" -- a dubious title that former President George W. Bush personally embraced after starting two devastating wars, one in Afghanistan, the other in Iraq. In both cases, the U.S. is touting its exit plans. In Iraq, Obama has declared a victory and plans to pull out many troops next year, though leaving thousands behind to secure the Baghdad government. In Afghanistan, Obama...

President Obama May Not Remember Vietnam Turmoil WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama insists that his decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan by sending in 30,000 more troops is not Vietnam all over again. Well, it sure reminds me of the perils and the price of that unwinnable war in Southeast Asia and the political chaos it wreaked at home. In Afghanistan, the designated enemies are remnants of the weakened al-Qaida network and the native Taliban, which has been growing in strength despite the eight-year war started by President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 catastrophe....

WASHINGTON -- The Nobel Peace crown lies uneasy on President Barack Obama’s head as he ponders the next U.S. move in Afghanistan, with hints and leaks showering down to tell us that he will eventually send thousands more troops there. His decision -- which could be announced soon -- was triggered by the request from Gen. Stanley McChrystal for 40,000 more troops to secure the cities and protect the citizens of Afghanistan, in addition to the 68,000 U.S. troops there now. Obama has been reviewing the U.S. role in Afghanistan for months, a time-consuming study that has led to accusations...

WASHINGTON -- The Palestinians had hoped they would see a new day coming after the Bush administration’s eight-year capitulation to all that Israel wanted. But they were wrong. The Obama administration is moving down the same Bush road -- perhaps a little slower -- but nonetheless still enabling the Israelis to continue to violate international law and the U.N. Charter by annexing occupied Arab land. First, the new administration made it clear that U.S. policy opposed new Jewish settlements on the West Bank. This declaration was met with a thumping rejection from the Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu. Then,...

RUSH: It is apparent, ladies and gentlemen, that General John "Swifty" Kerry has taken over Obama foreign policy. You people who thought you were voting for Obama to change foreign policy were wrong. You know, I still can't get over that last sound bite. President Obama, there aren't Bush troops, and there aren't Obama troops. Those are American soldiers, and you've abandoned them, while claiming to these naval people in Jacksonville yesterday you never -- he's embarrassing. Worse than that, it's dangerous. We got John "Swifty" Kerry, who served in Vietnam, by the way, yesterday afternoon at the Council on...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama’s leadership is being tested on two historic fronts: health care reform and U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. By the time he has made decisions on these two titanic issues, we will know whether he has the courage to make tough calls and we will know more about his bottom-line principles. On health care, Obama thought he had learned lessons from 1993 when Hillary Clinton, then the first lady, was put in charge of developing a universal health plan when her husband was president. She flunked partly because she did not touch base with Congress. She didn’t...