We need DU flowers for Helen Thomas again!

[cascadiance]

DU I think really made Helen's day when we did it the first time. I think she could use that gesture even more now... I think now more than ever she needs to know the appreciation of her years of service from people like us! I want her to be happy in her retirement years, not living with any regrets from shoddy treatment by some out ther... Paging helderheid! I think there are many that would help with this!

Clips of our earlier event even showed up on her interview with James Zogby a while back...



Viewpoint with James Zogby show talking to Helen...
Part 1: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=94343
Part 2: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=94352
Part 3: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=94364
Part 4: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=94367



http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/comments/bouquets_for_a_firebrand/

Earlier thread from 2006 when we did it the first time...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x799674

[EFerrari]

1. Okay.

:kick:

[mimitabby]

77. well, while you guys are dithering, I'm going to buy one of her books.

[EFerrari]

79. I'm not dithering.

:)

[NanceGreggs]

2. Count me in ...

:kick:

[mimitabby]

71. count me in too. Details, please?

[peace13]

3. k&r

[cascadiance]

4. Already an unrec! Some of you people are really sad!

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

8. I can only speculate, but I think people might be interpreting your idea as support for her statemen

Some people on DU and other places in the blogosphere have said "We should thank her about speaking the truth about Israel!" and I think some people (myself included) would have a problem with that idea.


However, if I'm reading your post correctly, you're celebrating the whole Helen Thomas and not this incident.

[cascadiance]

14. Yes... If she weren't "retiring", then I wouldn't have started this thread...

I think we need to celebrate her history of questioning authority when it needed to be questioned.

She said some things emotionally that she apologized for later... Given the real opposite extreme of our accepting the horrendous remarks from Israeli leadership trying to turn their murderous acts of piracy as some sort of justifiable act to defend themselves from terrorism, its not hard to see how many of us may have said things in different places that we feel bad about later.

I feel bad about how some good Jewish friends of mine might interpret my comments too as being against their culture/religion, when I'm specifically against what this current government is doing of theirs, just like I've loved America but hated what Bush was doing earlier.

I felt the need to defend Turkish actions as well now, since I also have a lot of friends who are Turks, having lived in Turkey many years earlier, because as much as I've criticized what certain Turks have done in my efforts to help Sibel Edmonds, I'm also feeling the need to speak out for them now when they do the right thing.

Helen Thomas' emotions I think are why she's such a treasure. It's a shame that as a human being they can sometimes get the better of her judgment, but I still value them immensely.

If you put what Mike Malloy says each night on the radio under a microscope, you'd probably find far more that you feel he shouldn't have said too, though on a whole I value his emotions at other times when directed the right way. He just doesn't have the microscope on him or same job as Helen does with the same responsibilities.

Celebrate Helen Thomas the human being, and her many years of service!

[sabrina 1]

18. Nice post.

What I find far worse than Helen's not well thought out remark, is the willingness of Progressives to do the work of the rightwing against someone who stood up for them, who was their voice at one of the worse times in recent history. For that courage, she endured death threats, vile ethnic slurs, ageism and just about every kind of vile attack anyone could think of.

I have learned a lot about people I thought had the same values Helen and democrats in general profess to hold. I'm not sure I chose the right party anymore.

I thought we valued human rights above all else. But I found out this past few weeks, that many who claim to be Democrats lost total sight of that principle when it came to Israel, and attacked Helen for one angry remark more fiercely than any rightwinger has done.

Not a word against Ari Fleischer either, the man who got away with the crime of helping to leak the name of a U.S. undercover agent. He got a total free pass from progressives when he raised his treasonous head to go after Helen. I'm sure he and the rest of the Bush administration would have liked to get rid of her a long time ago.

The sad thing is, she survived the Bush criminal gang, but couldn't survive the progressive onslaught against her.

I've learned from this, from the ACORN situation, Van Jones and other situations that you cannot depend on the Democratic Party to stand up for you, on anything.

The WH, alone in the world for its refusal to condemn Israel's actions last weekend, had no problem condemning Helen. Even Bush didn't do that airc.

It's been a real awakening about a lot of things and food for thought as to where to go from here.

How quickly people forget and how even Ari Fleischer is now an acceptable spokesperson for Progressives it seems. All that pretend outrage I remember against his and the Bush gang's treasonous behavior, gone because of a comment by a real champion of progressive ideals! Otoh, it's best to know these things, painful as they are, rather than waste time believing in something that was a myth all along.

Love you Helen! Thanks for your support and I support you now for what it's worth.

[leftofcool]

19. Very nice. Did you enjoy Turkey?

Along with India, Turkey is one of the places on our wish list of places we would visit if we could afford to.

edited spelling

[cascadiance]

23. Living there was a very formative event as I was growing up...

It is a very interesting and unappreciated place. It is a place that you need to understand before you can judge, but many hasten to judge Turkey and Turks before fully understanding it. I'm thankful for the chance to live there and know what it was like then. There are many things there I really criticize, and that's why one of my better friends from San Diego I used to work with is Armenian. But there are also many things about Turks to value a lot too, and I always value studying history like their times with Ataturk, etc. I think he can appreciate my way of trying to look at Turkey and its history more in depth, but not trying to take sides in controversies like those of the Armenians and Turkey, and appreciate individuals for their own worth, not just the country/culture they are from.

I've not been to Turkey for many years, but would like to travel back there again when I get more time and am employed again. I'm hoping to be at a reunion of other classmates of mine from there then soon...

I really like Turkish food and try to track it down wherever I go. Make sure and get Iskender Doner kebab if you like gyros... It's a real decent variant of that sort of dish...

[Kajsa]

47. Count me in.

Please let me know where to make the donation.

[northzax]

74. she didn't 'retire'

she got fired for making ridiculous anti-semitic remarks. and no matter how legendary your career, saying things that are both racist (and frankly stupid as all hell) at the end forfeits your ride off into the sunset moment. seriously, the jews in Israel should go back to Germany?

[cascadiance]

80. if you look at her comments she made it could also be interpreted that she really meant...

That those that are recently immigrating to Israel under Israel's very flexible immigration policies for those of Jewish faith that move there to take advantage of going in to settlements in occupied Palestinian territory should not immigrate to Israel and go home instead of contributing to the mess that the occupied territories are making of occupied Palestine. Look at the interview more closely. Though Thomas isn't as explicit about that as she probably should have been, you could easily see how that would be what she meant. And those wouldn't be racist and would be a proper admonition for really horrendous policies that Israeli's government's regarding their settlements in Palestinian territory. If I were Arab or Palestinian, I'd feel the same way with that definition and that would not be racist.

So she should have been more explicit that she wasn't talking about Jews that have lived for a long time in Israel itself to make sure that the wrong conclusion wasn't made. But its a total valid and important criticism that Israel should be admonished for encourage immigration from the outside world to occupy the settlements. And yes, those people should be told to move back to where they came from recently instead of occupying the settlement areas. Those recent immigrants aren't living in intolerable conditions like those Jewish people that were forcibly displaced from Germany after WWII. Totally different situation then. The context of the question was what she felt about "Palestine", not what she felt about "Israel", which is probably why she felt she could answer the way she did.

[northzax]

82. she specifically said "Germany" and 'Poland'

right? exactly how many Jews are emigrating from Germany to Israel these days? or since, say, 1945 or so? there aren't all that many Jews left in Germany (about 100,000 in 2009 and only about 25,000 in Poland. why's that? oh right, THEY WERE ALL KILLED. yes, she said 'and America' but her first comments were about German and Polish Jews, who frankly, aren't emigrating to Israel, that's almost entirely Russians and Americans right now. The only Israelis of German or Polish descent in any large number came after WWII. and of course, the loaded connotations of using the name "palestine"

So either Helen Thomas doesn't understand those connotations, or she doesn't care. either one is unacceptable.

plus, if she meant what you imply she meant, why isn't she saying so? that she was misunderstood?

[cascadiance]

87. Actually the German Jewish population has grown 10 fold since the fall of the Berlin wall...

... according to this article here.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3558319/Israels-anxiety-as-Jews-prefer-Germany.html

It would appear that many German jews are in fact doing what Helen Thomas was asking and leaving Israel back for Germany. This article says that Israel is basically concerned about is brain drain of citizenry leaving with this movement, and makes one wonder if perhaps they are trying to entice the German jews to stay by offering them nice houses in the settlement areas, which would explain Helen's comments too.

And she also advocated they go back to the U.S. When were Jews leaving a holocaust from the U.S.?

Many of us find that the settlement activity pushing out Palestinians from their homes to allow others to take their land is far more "unacceptable" than asking some recent immigrants to Israel to go back to where they moved from. It is that kind of behavior that is fomenting much of the dislike that I'm sure Helen and others have felt, especially when it comparatively is far more immune from needed criticism than what Helen said.

But this thread isn't about trying to rationalize what Helen Thomas' comments or Israel's policies of settlements, etc. It's more about trying to honor a woman for a great career in working for Democratic values and keeping our leadership accountable over the years.

If you don't want ot participate, fine, no one says you have to. Go away and complain in other threads! Please don't pollute this thread with your biases...

[cascadiance]

26. Perhaps to help those questioning our intentions, have flowers sent to a Jewish children's hospital.

... much like I think the flowers for the first effort were sent on to vets at the local VA hospital.

That way, hopefully people won't question the motivation for honoring her as being motivated by "anti-semitic" intentions. Perhaps Helen might want to help with this gesture too to help her show where he heart really is too.

Anyone know of a Jewish children's hospital near to Washington DC?

[midnight]

55. While your opinion may differ from Helen's you can't believe she is not entitled to hers?

[SemiCharmedQuark]

61. Of course she is. I just would not want to send her flowers to show that I support said opinion

But that was not what the OP is about anyway.

[northzax]

76. of course she can have an opinion

and I can think she's an idiot who's time has passed for holding that opinion.

[stray cat]

15. Maybe we can send some to Pat Buchannan?

[AnArmyVeteran]

29. I noticed in other forums rightwingers would give thumbs down to hide your post.

I have sadly seen where some of my posts have 5 recommendations, and then within a minute they are all gone. There must be trolls patrolling these boards who do nothing but unrecommmend posts. Why even have the unrecommend feature? It's not constructive and it skews any true interest in a thread.

[mimitabby]

72. has hapapened to me too

[dipsydoodle]

64. Probably gone back

to playing with themselves. I can't see any justication at all for doing that.

[sabrina 1]

5. Sounds like a nice idea ~

Those are great pictures. She certainly deserved those flowers for her courage to stand up to Bush. It's hard to remember now the atmosphere of fear that existed in the country.

Ironic that it would Ari {they better watch what they say, they better watch what they do} Fleischer who would once again surface to call for censoring the U.S. media.

[laughingliberal]

7. +1 nt

[PBS Poll-435]

9. Can't decide who is more deserving: Helen Thomas or Tony Hayward

:shrug:

[laughingliberal]

10. I'm in.

[tango-tee]

11. Count me in!

A smart, courageous, wonderful woman deserves our tribute!

[Individualist]

12. Count me in.

[juajen]

13. Count me in!

[inna]

16. K&R, and... now is the time when she really needs something like this.

[Dinger]

17. I Think That's A Great Idea!

:patriot: :thumbsup:

[Jim__]

20. How do we contribute to this?

[cascadiance]

25. I'm in Portland...

and as someone who's unemployed and has a lot of things occupying my time and resources now, I probably couldn't do this effort on my own. If some are willing to work with me on this, I'd volunteer working with a group of folk to help with this. Especially if perhaps we can get some of those from the first effort who are familiar with what was needed before to help make it work as well this time again too.

We probably need some folk that live near Washington DC (I live near the state Washington, but that probably doesn't count! :) ). Others PM me if you want to work together, and perhaps we can get something started soon.

[MiniMe]

36. Helderheid set up a paypal account for contributions

With permission from Skinner.

[Go2Peace]

21. Excellent idea

Despite the purists with no respect for History Helen was a great woman and deserves a send off.

[Arkansas Granny]

22. Count me in . . . .

[mzmolly]

24. K and R.

:kick:

[Peregrine Took]

27. I'm game!

[Political_Junkie]

28. Count me in.

nt

[Hell Hath No Fury]

30. I'm in --

Perhaps we could find an online florist tha takes PayPal? Funds could be sent to one person, who then sends them to the florist with the order?

We woudl also need to find a location to send them -- perhaps not so easy, now. :(

[alstephenson]

31. I'm interested in participating.

[Catherina]

32. I'm in but the flowers must go to Helen and Helen only. With Love

You can put me down for $40

[MiniMe]

34. Helen kept a few dozen roses, she sent the rest to the soldiers at Walter Reed

It was what she wanted to do with them. They were sent to Helen last time.

[Catherina]

35. Which is fine, if it's her choice. I just want to make sure she sees the love

after what she's been through.

Thanks MiniMe

[cascadiance]

41. You are right. We should give her the choice if we give them to her...

I'd like to think that she could give them to someplace like a Jewish children's Hospital as a sign we're all tired of the hate that's been fed us every day and engenders as human beings those emotions in us too which she got caught having to deal with herself. What better way than to send love to some innocent kids suffering whatever ailments they've been dealt, whether they be Palestinian, Israeli or others. It would be nice to have such an event find a way to transcend the crap that's been happening lately and show that we all care about common values and want to change them back towards fostering community between diverse cultures instead of war, hate, and exploitation...

Perhaps she might have an even better idea... Just think perhaps if we have that plan prepared in advance to offer to her as a suggestion, then we don't have to do things at the last minute if the last minute request is impossible to achieve.

[fascisthunter]

67. embarrassing, because I didn't even know that

wow... what a lady!!!!

[MiniMe]

33. Wow, I didn't realize that my picture got picked up by so many organizations

I got to be a part of the last roses for Helen drive, I took my camera and snapped a bunch of pics of that day. The last pic in the OP was mine. It was wonderful to speak with her. It was a lot of work that day because the roses came boxed and with thorns. Several DUers and a few Kos people spent all day cleaning and putting the flowers in water. And somehow the vases got lost in delivery. Hearst was great about letting us take over the conference room to get everything ready for her. I think everybody from Hearst stopped by to see what we were doing at some point during the day. I don't know how they kept Helen away because she seemed to be truly surprised by it. She took a few dozen home with her, and donated the rest to the soldiers at Walter Reed. Something that we guessed that she would do.

[flyarm]

37. Count me in!! Anything i can do for the Queen of journalism..and to me she will always be a queen!

Thank you Helen for all you have done for truth! You will always have my utmost respect and love!

fly

[helderheid]

38. I'm in. :)

[Patsy Stone]

40. If I were you...

I'd keep that quiet. :hi:

I still have those pictures up in my cubicle. What great thing that was. Thanks!

[helderheid]

44. :D

[Jim Sagle]

39. Ppppfffffbbbbbbtttttt!!!!!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

42. Yup. I'm in. K&

[tavalon]

89. Well count you as a no vote

Thanks for kicking the thread.

[CLANG]

43. I can help

[bertman]

45. Helen is a treasure and an American hero. One of the few in the media who stand up

for truth, honesty, and accountability in government. I'm definitely in.

Rec.

[xxqqqzme]

46. Hopefully I will see the post about how to contribute.

You can count me in.

[cascadiance]

48. Logistics questions...

I probably don't have as much of a structured day as I do when I was working before, so I can help more than other times we had flower drives... About the closest I got to starting and helping a flower ceremony was when I gave the idea to folks at Progressive Post who did most of the work, to help Carol Lam get flowers the day or so before she was forced to leave her position on Valentine's Day and when she indicted Dusty Foggo, Brent Wilkes, and a few others then...



http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070216-9999-1m16lam.html

But it seems like we need to get the following variables solved:
- a paypal account, etc. and someone to "own" it to take in donations.
- a group of people in Washington DC and some folks that are able to travel there (not sure about myself just yet, but could get talked into it)...
- a target date of when to do this and where... How quickly would we need to do this, but how soon would be practical given time constraints of organizing this, etc.
- find out when Helen's last day at Hearst is, if she hasn't left there already.
- if doing this at Hearst isn't practical, where would the best alternative location be for this to happen.
- Can we give her a surprise someplace else? Maybe she could be interviewed on James Zogby's show again (it's a callin show too BTW), and we could get the flowers in his studio for her and that could be a surprise for her there then too...

On a place to start organizing this? I just heard on KPOJ up here in Portland that Ed Schultz is having an event at the Bagdad theater here in Portland on this Thursday night. Thinking of going to that. Perhaps if others are here in Portland, we could meet there to talk about this then...

The Portland Turkish American association here has a picnic here later this month, so if some want to meet there we could also do that too. Got a link to this article in an email from them yesterday...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704025304575284721280274694.html?mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular

There was just another thread on Gulen's influence here in the US the last week, so not sure how to read this article. He seemed concerned about whether the flotilla should have gone down there and "defied" Israel. Not sure how the local organization feels about him, his comments, or what happened with the flotilla here. I guess I'll find out later.

[madrchsod]

49. count me in....

[shireen]

50. i love Helen

and it would be an honor to donate to the flowers.

[gateley]

51. I'm in. nt

[sabrina 1]

52. I hope she doesn't see this, it would spoil the surprise.

:kick:

[Senator]

53. K&+R+$

[emsimon33]

54. Count me in

[earth mom]

56. I'm in.

Post the link and info as soon as you have it. :hi:

[earcandle]

57. Firing Helen is fucking rude. Sorry I jumped to the end, but gotta ask...

what was the NAME of the man who fired her? Or were there a few of them?

Some agency. What was the name of the agency?

How dare they!

[Dragonbreathp9d]

58. I was thinking same, K&R

[Laughing Mirror]

59. Pass the collection plate this way please

[cornermouse]

60. I think she's wonderful but I wouldn't want her to come here

for probably a long time. I'm embarrassed about some of the things that have been said and attitudes that have been shown.

[Egnever]

62. Lets do it!

[UpInArms]

63. count me in

:kick:

[go west young man]

65. I bought some last time and would love to do it again. She's great.

[fascisthunter]

66. great post... I'd be honored to send her flowers

I really wish I could meet her in person, just to listen and chat for a bit.

[Proud_Lefty]

68. I'm in too

Let me know what to do. Helen is awesome and I'm really going to miss her.

[Sentath]

69. Ok, How?

I'll check in as something is organized.

[Wizard777]

70. We will always love you Helen!

[Hekate]

73. One frustrated blowup doesn't negate a lifetime of good work. Please post details of how to chip in.

[ismnotwasm]

75. Great idea n/t

[Synnical]

78. Nice Idea. Where would you send them? n/t

[cascadiance]

81. Raw Story is noting that Reddit is also talking about giving Helen flowers again...

Of course they gave flowers the first time two years after we did it (2008)! Copycats! I wonder if one of them saw this thread and thought they should jump ahead of us now! :)

Raw Story:
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0608/report-helen-thomas-decided-her-own-retire/


Reddit thread:
http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/ccf6s/remember_when_reddit_sent_helen_thomas_flowers/

All joking aside on us "competing" with Reddit, it occurred to me that they face the same challenge we do of finding a place where we can give these to her (not necessarily at Thomas's house) since Hearst as a location might be out this time. Perhaps we should propose joining forces together to give her letters in a more powerful gesture of unity here. That would be more likely to get the press to see both of us working together to promote decency instead of the hate that's been going on.

[helderheid]

83. has anyone set up a paypal account?

I'm on vacation but could work on something so we could get this going again.

[cascadiance]

85. Does anyone have a reddit account? I'm trying to get one or send a feedback message...

to this site but their image code trap seems to be broken and doesn't let anything through, so I can't find any way to send a message to those on the other thread to talk about how to work together with them. I still think it would be cool to join forces with them together this time.

[bdamomma]

84. What a nice gesture she would love it!!

[johnaries]

86. As long as somehow it's made clear that they are NOT in support

of her recent statements, but in appreciation for her long years of service. In that case, count me in!

[rhett o rick]

88. Count me in. nm

[Heywood J]

90. How is it being done this time?

I'd like to get in on this.