. . . if it existed.

That’s right: the number of stories about Helen Thomas’s May 27 call for the Jews to “get the hell out of Palestine” in the L.A. Times print edition is . . . zero. (The one story that comes up in the search mentioning her name since May 27 does not address her call for the ethnic cleansing of Israel’s Jews.)

Kind of says it all, doesn’t it?

[Guest post by DRJ]

I started today with a post entitled Remembering D-Day so I’ll end it by noting President Obama and the White House apparently did not remember D-Day — because I can’t find any mention of D-Day at his official website or in Politico’s coverage of his activities today.

How odd.

Last year on the 65th Anniversary of D-Day, President Obama went to Normandy and spoke about D-Day’s importance then and for the future. Here is an excerpt from his 2009 D-Day remarks, just 365 days ago:

“I’m not the first American President to come and mark this anniversary, and I likely will not be the last. This is an event that has long brought to this coast both heads of state and grateful citizens; veterans and their loved ones; the liberated and their liberators. It’s been written about and spoken of and depicted in countless books and films and speeches. And long after our time on this Earth has passed, one word will still bring forth the pride and awe of men and women who will never meet the heroes who sit before us: D-Day.

Why is this? Of all the battles in all the wars across the span of human history, why does this day hold such a revered place in our memory? What is it about the struggle that took place on the sands a few short steps from here that brings us back to remember year after year after year?
***
But despite all the years of planning and preparation, despite the inspiration of our leaders, the skill of our generals, the strength of our firepower and the unyielding support from our home front, the outcome of the entire struggle would ultimately rest on the success of one day in June.

Lyndon Johnson once said that there are certain moments when “history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom.”

D-Day was such a moment. One newspaper noted that “we have come to the hour for which we were born.” Had the Allies failed here, Hitler’s occupation of this continent might have continued indefinitely. Instead, victory here secured a foothold in France. It opened a path to Berlin. It made possible the achievements that followed the liberation of Europe: the Marshall Plan, the NATO alliance, the shared prosperity and security that flowed from each.

It was unknowable then, but so much of the progress that would define the 20th century, on both sides of the Atlantic, came down to the battle for a slice of beach only six miles long and two miles wide.”

Speaking before French President Sarkozy and other foreign dignitaries, President Obama concluded his 2009 speech with the admonition that we should never forget D-Day:

“I know this trip doesn’t get any easier as the years pass, but for those of you who make it, there’s nothing that could keep you away. One such veteran, a man named Jim Norene, was a member of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Division of the 101st Airborne. Last night, after visiting this cemetery for one last time, he passed away in his sleep. Jim was gravely ill when he left his home, and he knew that he might not return. But just as he did 65 years ago, he came anyway. May he now rest in peace with the boys he once bled with, and may his family always find solace in the heroism he showed here.

In the end, Jim Norene came back to Normandy for the same reason we all come back. He came for the reason articulated by Howard Huebner, another former paratrooper who is here with us today. When asked why he made the trip, Howard said, “It’s important that we tell our stories. It doesn’t have to be something big; just a little story about what happened — so people don’t forget.”

So people don’t forget.

Friends and veterans, we cannot forget. What we must not forget is that D-Day was a time and a place where the bravery and the selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century. At an hour of maximum danger, amid the bleakest of circumstances, men who thought themselves ordinary found within themselves the ability to do something extraordinary. They fought for their moms and sweethearts back home, for the fellow warriors they came to know as brothers. And they fought out of a simple sense of duty — a duty sustained by the same ideals for which their countrymen had once fought and bled for over two centuries.”

Until today, that is. Unless President Obama remembered D-Day at his Ford Theatre appearance tonight, an appearance that will be telecast in July in celebration of our nation’s independence, then it seems he forgot about D-Day this year.

H/T Dana.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Doug Ross wonders if disgruntled Democratic insiders are trying to sabotage the Obama Administration:

“Inquiring minds are considering the surprising series of self-inflicted gaffes that have plagued the White House of late:

The [May 2010] Jobs Report Blunder

The Romanoff Leak

The Brutally Deficient Sestak Statement

Even taken separately, these blunders are bizarre. Placed together, a pattern emerges: an insider (or insiders) may be sandbagging the President.

Is there a patriotic Democrat mole, burrowed inside the power structure, who realizes the disastrous Leftist agenda must be stopped? Is there a cadre of Hillary loyalists planting land-mines for the administration to step on in preparation for 2012?”

Click the link for descriptions of each “blunder.”

I doubt it’s a patriotic Democrat but it could be a disillusioned one, especially among the many Clintonistas in the Obama Administration.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

NRO links a Little Green Footballs post that claims Reuters cropped a photo of a wounded Israeli commando in a way that deleted a nearby activist holding a knife. The photos can be seen at this NRO link.

An update at LGF says the AP posted the same photo without the crop.

— DRJ

Unbelievable:

It bears mentioning that the players in this little drama are not equals. I’ve known Folks, a take-no-prisoners political blogger, for years and take him at his word when he says that a story was about to break about his alleged relationship. Recently married and a new father, he says he was attempting damage control when he broke the story himself.

I don’t condone or agree with his decision, but he’s no Marchant, whose earnest confession reeks of the self-service to which he has now consigned himself.

I also know Haley and take her at her word when she denies the allegations. . . . This isn’t only politics at its worst. It’s a persecution, a witch hunt, a political rape.

This is beyond incoherent. Parker is saying: Folks is a good guy who is nothing like that nasty Marchant. Also, he’s a liar engaging in a political rape, as he is claiming to have had an affair that I don’t believe he had.

Parker says she “resisted commenting on the Gores’ decision to split after 40 years of marriage because what possibly could I know?” However, she says, “I reluctantly decided to weigh in on the Haley story because therein lie issues of more general consequence.”

You should have resisted, Ms. Parker, if this drivel is the most insightful commentary you could churn out.

Thanks to Allahpundit.

Helen Thomas’s agent has dumped her (via Hot Air):

In the wake of the incident, Thomas’ agent Nine Speaker Inc. announced that it would no longer represent her.

“It is with a heavy heart that Nine Speakers Inc. announces its resignation as the agent for Helen Thomas, Dean of the White House Press Corps,” wrote Diane Nine, agency president.

“Ms. Thomas has had an esteemed career as a journalist, and she has been a trailblazer for women, helping others in her profession, and beyond. However, in light of recent events, Nine Speakers is no longer able to represent Ms. Thomas, nor can we condone her comments on the Middle East,” wrote Nine.

What exactly has she done in her “esteemed career as a journalist”? As far as I can tell, she has routinely asked loaded and tendentious questions, often portraying Israel as an interloper in lands belonging to Palestinians. Not impressed.

For a less mealy-mouthed response, let’s look to Clinton sidekick Lanny Davis:

“Helen Thomas, who I used to consider a close friend and who I used to respect, has showed herself to be an anti-Semitic bigot,” wrote Davis in a statement.. “She has a right to criticize Israel…. However, her statement that Jews in Israel should leave Israel and go back to Poland or Germany is an ancient and well-known anti-Semitic stereotype of the alien Jew not belonging in the land of Israel that began 2,600 years with the first tragic and violent Diaspora caused by the Romans.”

“If she had asked all blacks to go back to Africa, what would the White House Correspondents Association’s position be as to whether she deserved White House press room credentials – much less a privileged honorary seat?” wrote Davis, referring to Thomas’ seat in the middle of the front row at the White House briefing room.

One can only hope that the next people to turn on her will be the people responsible for providing her with press credentials.

Helen Thomas, get the hell out of the White House press room.

[Guest post by DRJ]

A California mother found her two missing children using Facebook. The father reportedly called the mother days after abducting their children to tell her they were in Mexico and she would never see them again. Fifteen years later, the mother, Prince Segala, tracked her daughter’s name on Facebook and started a conversation.

There really must be a fine line between love and hate.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

It’s hard not to like Mickey Kaus:

“Kaus Names Jobs He’d Accept From Obama … as a backroom bribe.
***
“There are in fact only three jobs I would accept as a backroom bribe.

“First, the White House could put me in charge of ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of Homeland Security. Then I could push to build an actual, physical fence that might work instead of the fancy, ineffectual “virtual” fence promoted by pro-amnesty types who worry that efforts to secure the border might finally be successful.

“I could also point out that Senator Boxer’s obsessive talk of amnesty … sorry, a “path to citizenship,” acts as a powerful lure for potential illegal immigrants to try to cross the border in order to qualify for this amnesty–or the next one.

“Second, President Obama offer me a seat on the National Labor Relations Board, where I could oppose Big Labor’s attempt to add to their dwindling memberships by avoiding secret ballots in union organizing drives. Barbara Boxer–needless to say–salutes and says yes to this union plan. But it’s a bad idea on process grounds and substance grounds. Secret ballots are important to democracy. And more UAW-style unions aren’t what the economy needs.

“Third, the White House could give me a job in the Department of Education, where I could pressure the Obama administration into writing a scathing report explaining why opposition to reform from California teachers’ unions cost the state $700 million in “Race to the Top” … Oh wait. Sorry. They already wrote that report .

“On second thought, I’ll stick with contested elections and democratic debate. It’s the only thing they are scared of.”

[Note to Rep. Issa: Joke!]”

At this point I doubt the Obama Administration will make an offer to Kaus (or anyone), but Boxer may hope he does. Some believe Kaus will play the role of a Nader-like spoiler in Boxer’s Senate race.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

A patriotic and religious moment at last Friday’s Douglas County, Georgia, Tea Party:

Do most Americans accept differences in race, creed, color, national origin, sex, politics and religion? Sometimes I think our biggest differences arise from those who put secular government first and those who don’t.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Last December, I posted on a Vermont court decision that awarded custody of a 7-year-old girl to her birth mother’s lesbian partner. The court treated this as a traditional child custody case in which the birth mother, Miller, was originally awarded custody with liberal visitation to her lesbian partner, Jenkins. Custody was changed after Miller refused to allow Jenkin’s visitation.

The December report noted that Miller did not transfer custody of Isabella to Jenkins as directed by the court. There was speculation Miller may have tried to flee the country with Isabella. Now, six months later, authorities say Miller may have taken Isabella to Central America as early as last September. According to this Washington Post report, Isabella hasn’t seen Jenkins since she was 2-1/2 years old and may not even know who she is.

— DRJ