Home of the Brave

(http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/subversive-thrills-a-review-of-gaither-stewarts-new-novel-the-trojan-spy/#more-131538)

In 1952, was the average American still squeamish…reluctant to talk about…Pearl Harbour?
I realize that WW2 was, and is, widely regarded as a Just and Necessary War…despite the costs, in lives and treasure…and despite the sacrifices, of Liberty and Comfort, at home. 60 years on, I largely agree with such sentiments…even after the growing academic acceptance of FDR’s shadier side, in provoking and all but encouraging that attack. The Historical Record, regarding the Nazis, and Imperial Japan, certainly goes a long way towards justifying such subterfuge.
Same question, 11 years after the Maine, in Havanna Harbour?
The record, here, of subterfuge, is much more damning…and lacks the “benefit” of a heartfelt Existential Threat…the Spanish “Empire”, at the time, was all but dead…certainly it was no real threat to the nascent American Empire.
There is little information, readily available, regarding Public Sentiment, 11 years after that version of “They Attacked Us! Man the Barricades!” Indeed, the whole Spanish-American War is mostly relegated to Footnote Status.
(an interesting feature of that story, from a 2012 perspective, is that Republicans, and Big Business, were Against(!) Imperial Expansion…)
The appearance of this new Spy Novel…which I’m certain I would have completely missed, had I not wandered into Dandelion Salad, this morning….bring up this mess of half-formed questions.
Never has National Unity of Opinion been so enforced, for so long…save maybe during the Red Scares, and McCarthyism…
Even then, there was vigorous and courageous resistance…that eventually won the day. Indeed, the sixties could be viewed, in part, as a backlash against the attempts at enforcing Unity of Opinion…and Smacking Down Dissent.
The Global War on Terror(sic) is different, somehow…now that Lil George and Darth are out of the day-to-day news cycle(where’s Rummy? Wolfowitz?lol)…the GWOT is all but forgotten, receding into the Background of the “New Normal”. All the apparatus are still in place(does anyone really believe that we’ve Left Iraq?Ha!) from Guantanimo, to Yemen to the horn of Africa, to the Persian Gulf …Black Sites and Drone Attacks, arguably against International Law…all are firmly in place. Yet, we don’t talk about the horrible event that started all of this…by Tuesday Afternoon, the Official Narrative was in place…and one was, and is, Unamerican to question it.
It didn’t take 10-20 years for the inconsistencies to present themselves…like in Pearl harbour…these were evident, as it was happening.
I won’t belabour…the information is readily available…and has been, since 9-12….ever expanding. (see:(( http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20041221155307646) for compelling Counternarrative)

Hell, the History of the whole Bush2 “Administration is an all but Forbidden Topic. We willfully Forget all the Crazy…the fire at one of Cheney’s Offices, for instance. Nothing to see, here, folks….
It is not my Purpose, here, to assert the veracity of any Narrative…merely to Question the Wisdom of swallowing the Official Narrative Whole. In my Heart of Hearts, the “Lihop” Narrative looks more likely(“Let It Happen On Purpose”)…placed squarely on a plate of Peak Oil, growing Climate Instability, and the utter Failure of Corporate Capitalism(Financialisation Stage)…this makes much more sense, to me, than the Official Story, which is childish in it’s ignorance of recent history(Charlie Wilson,etc etc), and it’s reliance on Belief, at gunpoint, if necessary, over verifiable Facts.
Recently, I was in Clear Lake, Texas…on a boat not 300 feet from the Channel where they were bringing in a Space Shuttle Mockup(the tires had, reportedly, been in Space,lol). The radio on the boat had much Coast Guard chatter, as well as mentions of “Homeland Security”, FBI, and even Secret Service…as well as what I recognize (being a Scanner Nut) as being Scrambled Communications. The sky was alive with CG helicopters…hovering 100 feet above the crowds…and 50+ boats containing all manner of Law Enforcement. What appeared to be “Agents” were mingling with the crowds on shore(body language and ear-buds)…and all around the area, there were Cops, Cops, Cops…they even closed the Kemah Bridge while the Shuttle passed laboriously underneath. While it was Neat to see the Shuttle, Mockup or no…(I come from a family of Nasa-Geeks)…I couldn’t help but wonder at all the “Security”. What were they afraid of? Was there a “Credible Threat”?
Was there something that they knew, or feared, that justified such Expenditure, and curtailing of Freedom of Movement?
I kept my mouth shut, mostly…and quietly surveyed the scene through Dad’s Awesome Binoculars. It was obvious that no one on the boat entertained such thoughts(perhaps Dad)…and a political row with family was the last thing I wanted.
It is my Leaning, to think of this Show of Force…this Exposition of the Police/Surveillance State…as for the benefit of the Masses, there gathered….not because of any Threat, but in order to reinforce the New Normal.

The “Security Forces” were justifying their existence…and in this largely Tea Party area, no one questioned the Public Money it cost to put on this Show. Curious.

This is no longer America.