What line did Rep. Ilhan Omar really cross?

Rep. Ilhan Omar

We're hearing a lot about Ilhan Omar this morning (Tuesday, 2/12). Again I'll risk sounding like an outlier on these matters. I have had pleasant relationships with Jewish people all my life. Furthermore, I'm sure I've had pleasant relationships with Jewish people who I didn't know were Jewish. "Profiling" a group seems unacceptable on its face.
Maybe I'm an outlier because I'm not particularly religious. I have tried to build a bridge with Christianity since my mother died in April. She would want me to do this. It is something I will have to find a way to do someday. Right now it's difficult. I have handy "The New Testament in Modern English" by J.B. Phillips, and the novelization of the Christ story called "The Greatest Story Ever Told." As a story I feel it's quite lacking. A babe comes into the world with super powers. Comes across like science fiction. It seems to be not even good science fiction.
Somehow I got "confirmed" in my childhood church even though I couldn't tell you who John the Baptist was. A dude who goes around baptizing people. I get depressed reading the Bible story - so much violence and suffering. Mel Gibson made a caricature of this with his crucifixion movie. Worse yet, Christianity has become a springboard in the present for pushing a right wing agenda in politics. A whole new church springs up in the Morris area motivated by, according to common perception, an anti-gay agenda.
I want no part of this, any more than I would want to be backed into a corner supporting Israel. I'm rather on the same page with the late Helen Thomas on this. The Jewish people should just "go home" (from Israel), the pioneering female journalist said. "Go back to Europe." I'm rather inclined to side with the Palestinians.
If I were an aspiring mover and shaker in the "Beltway," I'd be ruined, wiped out, by having such feelings. And this really concerns me. The Democrats ganged up on Rep. Omar when she merely expressed opinions. Donald Trump has said far more offensive things with impunity from his Republican Party toadies.
Rep. Omar suggested that Israel's allies in American politics were motivated by money rather than principle. Well, why does Sheldon Adelson open his pocketbook so much? Why do so many Republicans seek to kiss his ring? And yet George Soros gets pilloried by the forces on the right. You would think Democrats would be more fair-minded than to gang up on Rep. Omar. Omar was backed into the corner and apologized, though not in the unequivocal way many wanted.
At one point she compared AIPAC to the likes of the NRA. So, why she felt compelled to apologize to the people in league with AIPAC and not also to the NRA, is a compelling question. Money as an influence source in politics? Next, they'll be telling me the Pope is Catholic.
 
A vocabulary lesson
Thanks to the Omar story, we are all learning the definition of "trope." So, while Omar may not have been directly prejudiced toward the Jewish people, she allegedly used a "trope," a sort of end run, to accomplish the same thing. Or, so the critics assert. It all makes me just that more irritated or offended by religion.
In college I was encouraged to respect just about every religious faith in the world except Christianity. My response was not to embrace Christianity but to just try to withdraw from all such matters as being more trouble than they're worth.
Rep. Omar said "It's all about the Benjamins, baby," a reference to $100 bills. Oh my. When I related my experience of paying a traffic ticket after the Morris Police Department had made a mistake - oh yes, not a matter of opinion - I joked about how I had to bring "dead presidents," i.e. cash, to the courthouse to pay the fine. It was a light manner of describing. But, Omar's statement is prejudiced? Oh no it wasn't.
I have lost some faith in the Democratic Party. I realize the party has a mountain to climb in trying to become the dominant party in D.C. again, very daunting in the face of a truly dangerous president and dangerous, reactionary Republican Party. So the Democrats are striving to be risk-averse. But I wish they'd respect the intelligence of the American people more. We can all understand legitimate criticism of Israel.
We can all back off from the kind of emotional response that some of our leaders feel is necessary on such matters.
We must always consider that Israel gets considerable support from so-called evangelicals in America who see the Jews and Israel as part of Biblical prophecy. Israel's advocates are happy to accept the support because it furthers their ends in the present. The irony is that if you were to ask the evangelicals whether Jews will enter the kingdom of heaven, well ahem. They might rationalize some response that isn't a clear "no." But these people are unequivocal in saying that accepting Christ as your savior is totally necessary. The babe from Bethlehem with the super powers.
So, there's a stereotype of "wealthy Jews?" What about the stereotype of wealthy real estate tycoons like Donald Trump, although his wealth is likely exaggerated. Seems to me, money has been awfully important in Trump's life. AIPAC spends millions on lobbying efforts for pro-Israel legislation every year. So, what's the issue? I repeat: what's the issue?
 
The Fairfax matter in Virginia
Ah, "old Virginny." The governor gets exposed for having connections to a photo that includes a dude in a KKK hood. It's in his medical school yearbook. I didn't know medical schools had yearbooks. I believe Gov. Northam from the initial statement he made on the matter, when he admitted culpability. After that, probably after consulting with an attorney, he realized he simply couldn't make this admission. As for people in the room when the photo was taken, they are probably "frat boys" and aren't going to rat on each other.
I don't care so much about the blackface thing. The media now talks about that aspect more than the KKK deal. I find the KKK hood image far more disturbing.

Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax

So, the result of the whole Northam dust-up is: His lieutenant governor being pressured to resign? Only in America, I guess. Were it not for Northam getting into trouble, the accusing women toward Lt. Gov. Fairfax probably would not speak up, right? Why are they speaking up now, were it not for the other controversy?
The truth in this whole matter, as happens so often, will probably not be aired in the media. It's too unsavory.
And here's the truth: How does a woman get "forced" to perform oral sex, what's commonly referred to as a "blow job?" It is possible that during the course of all that unseemly behavior, Fairfax placed his hands on the back of the woman's head. This is commonly seen in porn. But does this equal the woman being "forced" to perform the act? I'd say no.
I wonder if Bill Clinton ever placed his hands on the back of Monica Lewinsky's head. If he did, even lightly, she could now come out and assert, very credibly by our current standards, "assault," n'est-ce pas? If a woman truly does not want to perform oral sex, to do a "blow job," how could any man really "force" her to do it? I rest my case.
 
Addendum: This post includes the word "crucifixion." At first I spelled it "crucifiction," influenced I'm sure by the word "fiction." That got flagged by spell-check. So I did the appropriate checking and adjusted. It reminds me of when I tried spelling "ad nauseam" as "ad nauseum." The influence there was the word "museum." What a tangled web we weave when we get too many words in our head.
  
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
 

"Carry Me Back to Old Virginny"
by James A. Bland

Carry me back to old Virginny,
There's where the cotton and the corn and taters grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring time,
There's where the darkey's heart am longed to go.

There's where I labored so hard for old massa,
Day after day in the field of yellow corn,
No place on earth do I love more sincerely,
Than old Virginny, the state where I was born.

Carry me back to old Virginny,
There let me live 'till I wither and decay,
Long by the old Dismal Swamp have I wandered,
There's where this old darkies' life am passed away.

Massa and misses, have long gone before me,
Soon we will meet on that bright and golden shore.
There we'll be happy and free from all sorrow,
There's where we'll meet and we'll never part no more.

Carry me back to old Virginny,
There's where the cotton and the corn and tators grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring time,
There's where the old darkies' heart am longed to go