Peggy Noonan, who writes an interesting column in the Wall Street Journal has taken me to task in her recent column in the Wall Street Journal (July 16.) The title is “Youth Has Outlived Its Usefulness.” She nailed me right in the gut.

I’m not talking about my present “me” but my “me” of more than half a century ago when I was writing a column entitled “Pepper on the Side” for a weekly newspaper in Long Island of which I was the editor.

I was in my early twenties, filled up to the brim with my know-it-all self, on a narcissistic binge that pushed me to believe that the sun rose and set on my brilliance, insight and wisdom. I was intoxicated with the power of my words which sailed out weekly to what I believed was a readership that hung on my every word.

What Noonan wrote about in her column was the depressing lack of “adult wisdom” that had been cast aside in recent years by younger people who were now in charge of making all the crucial decisions in government and in every other walk of life.

Her implication was mostly political, since she was despairing of the recent course of depressing events now afflicting the country. But it was her larger message that I took personally.

In the column, for example, she cites the imaginary advice of an older man to a younger man.

“Son,” she wrote in the voice of the older man, “being an enraged, profane, unmoderated, unmediated, hit-loving, trash-talking rage monkey is no way to go through life.” Whack, whack on the exposed tush of the old me.

What Peggy saw was millions upon millions of old “mes” parading around in the government, on the internet, shouting through their technological bullhorns, raging everywhere, on social networking sites, wading in the fetid swamp of the infinite blogosphere, fulminating on op-ed columns, on TV, YouTube and videos and everywhere that talking head pontificators opine in loud and ugly rants as if they truly knew what they were talking about.

What it amounts to is an insane tsunami of bullshit, putrefying the air from the White House, the Halls of Congress, the media, the Internet in a running open sewer of garbage, “unmoderated and unmediated”.

Don’t you just love the way Peggy put it?

The operative word is “change”, change everything, toss away the wise, the good, the proven, bludgeon those grey-haired fools who can be conveniently blamed for all those rotten decisions that have brought us to despair and on the verge of a financial precipice and in the bullseye of a terrorist madness that could atomize us into radioactive dust.

Does one detect the old “me” in this diatribe?

What Peggy means is that the balance between the old and the young is out of sync in every field of endeavor that “change” requires. She implies that intelligent decisions are made not by youthful impatience alone, but tempered with hard experience and historical insight.

Part of the problem may be that the divide between the generations has become too wide to effectively bridge. The speed of technological development has left many of the older generation technologically illiterate, relegated to perceived irrelevance by those brought up on computers who are now leading the charge in the digital revolution.

Therefore in the mind of the younger hotshots those of us without the technological skills are therefore just plain irrelevant and stupid and shunted aside when important life changing decisions must be made.

Of course, it can be argued that it is the young that have brought us these technological advances. Think Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook and on and on.

Have all of these truly amazing technological advances made it a better world? You be the judge? As the argument goes: Aren’t we living longer? You bet. But are we living better?

I believe what Peggy was getting at, perhaps subconsciously, is that technological change does not trump human nature, which has remained constant and consistent throughout the ages. Why not heed the lessons of those who have traveled a long distance on the rocky road of life? This appears to be the central question at the heart of her essay.

Do we simply obliterate the old values altogether and superimpose totally new and untested changes on our society. What do we really want in terms of a future for our progeny?

Yes, my old me deserves the rebuke Peggy has perpetrated through her words. I hope that the old me did not do any terrible harm. Luckily, I self-corrected sometime later when I felt the sting of experience affirm the truth that I was a hot-headed immature semi-idiot at the time. But then, I was a rookie in life. Thankfully, I didn’t have my hands on any of the levers of power.

It is not often that one finds a wise head embedded in our overwrought media. Her column is worth a hard look.

If a world-wide survey were taken as to the accuracy and relevance of Helen Thomas’s remarks about sending the Jews of Israel back to Poland and Germany “where they came from”, my guess is that there would be a lot more people who agree with her than disagree.

Judging by the lynch mob of nations, commentators and bloggers that have been moved to condemn Israel for its “outrageous, disproportionate, barbaric and savage response” against a gaggle of alleged well-meaning “peace activists” Thomas’s remarks might be characterized as “appropriate, accurate and truthful.”

How dare these pesky Jews protect themselves from the humane, just and peace loving people in Gaza whose founding documents vow to destroy the Jewish state and whose rocket attacks on Israel territory are ignored by the very people who allege their peacemaking activism and support Gaza’s assaults on Israel? Indeed, is this the prevailing opinion of most of the countries of the world? God help us.

Now that the present American administration has shown its not quite subtle disdain for the Jewish state, the world has nothing to fear from displaying what they really feel about those stiff-necked annoying Jews. Imagine, on a planet of six and one half billion people, thirteen million Jews, less than half in Israel, are now cited as the source of all injustice and the major threat to peace everywhere.

If all the Jews of Israel, as Helen Thomas fondly wishes, were to suddenly disappear from Israel and go back to Poland and Germany, the world will be a better place. Wouldn’t it? Peace would reign. And, of course, the Poles and the Germans would welcome them with open arms. Indeed, they are just panting to have their Jews back.

By Helen’s lights, people would then join hands and dance together in peace and prosperity.

Shiites would embrace Sunnis, Turks would no longer murder Kurds, Christian Cyprus would no longer fear for their total island takeover by the Turks, Iran would cease its nuclear ambitions, the Taliban would surrender their arms, Lebanon would allow their Palestinians to leave their isolated camps, Afghans would forego corruption, the Indians and Pakistanis will no longer fight over Kashmir, the refugees of Darfur would return to their villages, the Chechen Muslims and the Russians would kiss and makeup, Somalia would no longer harbor pirates,  combat all over Africa would cease, the Iraqis will unite in brotherhood, North Korea would destroy their atomic bombs and reconcile with South Korea, Taiwan would join peaceably with mainland China, Tibet would be freed from Chinese rule, the Muslim Brotherhood and Mubarak would reconcile, Syria will overturn its Assad dictatorship, Hezbollah will destroy their rockets,  Hamas will reconcile with Fatah, Al Qaeda will disappear, Bin Laden will be welcomed back to Saudi Arabia.

Suicide bombing would cease, beheadings will end. No more bombs in shoes and underwear. No terror watchlists. No screening of visas. No fear of  subway and Times Square bombings. No more bloody bombing in London and Spain.  Airline passengers will no longer have to go through security checks. No baggage will be x-rayed, billions will be saved on eliminating terror surveillance. America can reduce its defense budget.

And on and on.

If only those Jews would leave the Middle East and go back to where they came from. Burn your bibles, brother. Its just a pack of lies.  Who doesn’t know that Moses led the Jews to Poland with a side trip to Berlin?

As for Helen Thomas, maybe her future lies with some high post in the UN. After all, she has the right attitude and represents the prevailing mindset of that august and largely bigoted and clueless body.

For the eight odd million Jews scattered over the planet and not living in Israel, events concerning Israel cannot be dismissed as if they were occurring in someone else’s back yard.

Whether a Jew is right-wing or left-wing, extreme or moderate, orthodox, conservative, reformed, atheist, academic, intellectual, poor or rich, whatever gender, whatever orientation, whatever country in which he or she is a citizen, whether he or she hates Israel or loves it, feels empathy or none, whether his name is Chomsky or Rabin or has changed his name from Zimmerman to Dylan, whether he stands cheering on a boat where people are yelling death to the Jews, whether he belongs to J Street, AIPAC or the hundreds of Jewish groups of every persuasion, whether he has changed his religion, his appearance or his underwear, he or she is by international fiat and historical reality, forever and eternally, the “Jew”, the world’s whipping boy, the persecuted and reviled, the loathsome and malevolent, the greedy, grasping and cunning, no matter how much charity, compassion and selflessness he exhibits, no matter how he abides by the rules of law and civilized society, no matter how he professes his love for humanity, no matter his long history of victimization and brutal persecution.

There is no escape from the brand, wherever a Jew resides. He has been branded by destiny and history. No Jew can escape, no matter how hard he tries to lose himself into the vast pool of humanity.  On a planet occupied by six and half billion people why, one wonders, is the miniscule population of 13 million Jews, give or take, singled out for perpetual censure?

History has shown that this blind cruel destructive hatred is beyond denial, beyond rationalization, beyond reason. Whether it is the blood libel of the Protocols of Zion, or the simplistic canard that the Jews killed Jesus, their fellow Jew, or the Muslim massacre of the Jews or Hitler’s horror, or the Spanish Inquisition, or a hundred other bizarre events, the historical record is always the same, isolation, exile or destruction.

The avalanche of opinions, pro or con, the plethora of blogs on the Internet, the parsing of every side of the Flotilla incident misses the essential point. The effort was just another aspect of the grand design of the never ending war against the Jews. Death to the Jews was the cry heard on the boats. The Flotilla was not about Gaza or charity or humanitarian concerns. It was about destroying the state of Israel, a form of “judenrein”, the avowed goal of the terrorist state of Hamas. Apparently the gaggle of so called humanitarians believed it as well. It is no secret aspiration. It is a stated goal.

Of all the peoples of the world, only the Jews are criticized for defending themselves. Everyone with half a brain knows that open sea lanes will be used to arm Hamas in its avowed mission to destroy the Jewish state.

Frankly, I am not at all shocked by the outcry. I have seen enough of it in my long life. Hitler murdered the Jews and no one lifted a finger. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were expelled from Arab lands and no one lifted a finger. If there was no Jewish state who would have accepted them? Does this question need an answer?

Indeed, it is doubtful that this current administration whose pious words talk of one hundred percent support will, when push comes to shove, voluntarily lift a finger if Israel is attacked or threatened with extinction. If they really believed in their piety, why did they not raise any protest to our fellow NATO member Turkey in advance of this scurrilous act of deliberate provocation, and call them to task for aiding and abetting a terrorist group in attempting to run the Israel blockade?

Why did our President and our Secretary of State, alleged Israeli allies remain silent when every one knew that the Flotilla was a clearly a ruse.  Any Jew who holds this administration in high regard should think twice about its sincerity in terms of Israel.  Their conduct on this and most other issues regarding Israel has been less than admirable and I’m being kind.

Every country who is a member of the morally bankrupt United Nations knew the motives of the Flotilla sponsors well in advance. If they were really sincere why didn’t they send their humanitarian aid, for example, to Haiti which is truly suffering and bleeding to death?

Of all nations, Turkey, who had by military conquest divided the island of Cyprus and occupies half of it in a violation of a United Nations resolution seems to be having a major hypocrisy problem, an affliction that is approaching a terminal disease in the halls of the UN. Perhaps it is time to move the UN to another venue, say Yemen or Afghanistan.

Above all I am an American by birth loyalty and love. But I carry the Jewish brand, just as other religions carry their brand. Indeed our brand does not kill people to avenge a cartoon of ridicule of which there have been millions featuring Jews as monsters.

As a Jew I am insulted, deeply insulted, by the tsunami of hatred rolling down on Israel and the Jews. Make no mistake about it, however you confront the issue, the hatred is the old bugaboo of anti-Semitism. We must stop calling it anything else. No Jew is immune. Under Hitler’s master plan Jews all go to the “showers” in lock step. The Nazis did not distinguish by anything other than the brand which went back three generations.

Many well meaning critiques decry Israel for its lack of public relations savvy, a so-called image problem. Are they calling on Israel to contrive a kind of informational mask to paper over its true intent, which is to save itself from extinction. Public Relations is a manipulation, a spin, which implies deception and half truths that deliberately parse the truth and shroud transparency. Our politics are riddled with it.  Image is never the truth. I know. I used to be in Public Relations.

It is not a question of Israel right or wrong. Israel is a sovereign democracy and like us will make its mistakes, but above all it is a free state far freer than all the Arab states combined that surround it.  Jews of all nations have every right to protect their brand through every means necessary. Most Jews know in their gut that if the brand dies in Israel, it will be on a spiral to extinction. Some with the brand will welcome such an outcome.

If this sounds paranoid, over the top and just a routine display of emotional hysterics, so be it. In my opinion it is exactly the moment for such a diatribe.  It is about time we called all this faux high dudgeon by its real name, anti-Semitism.

As a former newspaper editor and reporter I am always intrigued at the decisions made by editors and reporters in the placement and writing of stories.

In a recent issue of the New York Times a chilling story appeared buried on page 15 that, in my opinion, deserved far more prominence than it received. I suppose I should have registered my complaint with the official Times ombudsman, but then if it was heeded at all it would have been relegated to the limbo of a journalistic slush pile.

The story dealt with the disclosure that three naturalized American Muslims who had planned to become suicide bombers and bomb the New York subway system were recruited by Saleh al-Somali and Rashid Rauf, key Al Qaeda operatives killed by a drone attack in Pakistan. The recruited men had been High School buddies in Queens, a borough of New York City who went off to Pakistan for the purposes of being trained by Al Qaeda to carry out their deadly suicide mission. Continue Reading

If you want to give people apoplexy in the circles I travel in on my daily rounds all you need to say, however bland or unthreatening, is that you admire Sarah Palin. Their faces flush with indignation, their fists clench, their eyes dart fire and anger, and one has the impression that you are suddenly relegated in their view to the absolute lowest rung of Dante’s inferno.

Since I have never learned the art of social diplomacy and my tongue sometimes acts independently of my natural sense of caution, I find myself in a perpetual single-issue state of conflict with some of my dearest friends and relations.

Thus, I have learned every single laundry list argument against Sarah, a repetitive drumbeat of invective, most of it emotional, indignant and overwrought and, from my perspective, baffling.

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Once you filter out the hyperbolic and toxic comments of what passes for political discourse these days, you come up with the only thing that really matters in the recent health care debate…the truth.

To expect politicians to tell the truth is an exercise in misplaced optimism. At its heart the health care debate, however it was couched, was simply a matter of distorting the perfect science of mathematics since there is absolutely positively no way to pay for it without raising income taxes or cutting spending bloated by entitlements and subsidies created by political manipulators on both sides of the aisle.

Why oh why do they lie to us most of the time, perhaps all of the time? Worse. Why do we believe them?

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The plight of a Marine K Company slugging it out in Afghanistan under hardships and conditions of which we sitting here comfortably in the States haven’t a clue, puts me in mind of another Marine K Company, cited in one of the greatest combat memoirs ever written, With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge.

Sledge’s account of his ordeal as a nineteen year old combat Marine in the bloody battles against the Imperial Japanese Army while taking the islands of Pelelui and Okinawa in the closing weeks of World War II offers startling insights into the bloody nature of war and the horrific sacrifices required of those we send into battle. The comparison of then and now is essential if we are to make any sense out of what the “new breed” of Marine must face in the baffling revised rules of combat.

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The older I get, the less I believe. If there were such a thing as a Believer Quotient, a BQ as in IQ, I would have, on most subjects, an ever-descending score.

Years ago, I believed in a vast array of professional people. My BQ for politicians, journalists, pill makers, advertisers, doctors, teachers, rabbis, priests, ministers, generals, policemen, college professors, and other traditional authority figures was quite high. It was also high for milk, salt, steaks, liver, butter, cream, peanuts, white bread, fried items, and a long menu of foods my mother deemed essential for a growing boy.

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If I were a PR guy for the jihadists, hell bent on humiliating and eventually destroying the Great Satan, I would be jumping for joy at the events of the past year.

On Christmas Day, the most important of all Christian religious holidays, an alleged jihadist suicide bomber rattled our security cage without even killing a single American. He didn’t have to, and who knows if that was his real intention. He got through our vaunted security apparatus revealing how vulnerable and inefficient we are, illustrating to his vast pool of wannabe jihadists that we can, indeed, be defeated. Is that a great recruitment tool or what?

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My wife and I flew on Christmas day. We entered the West Palm Beach airport at ten a.m. approximately an hour after the terrorist incident in Detroit. Having no knowledge of what was occurring, we did notice some heightened concern with dogs sniffing around and what seemed like tighter controls.

Seeing all those around us dutifully emptying their pockets and removing their shoes and outer clothing, I remember thinking how bizarre it all was, people obediently led like sheep to the slaughter, stoically allowing their privacy invaded as strangers pored over the contents of their suitcases and checked them for foreign substances as they moved through machines.

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