Is there any “news”?

        

Beach sand pushes up against a wall and onto the Broadwalk Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007 on Fort Lauderdale Beach in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Rough surf warnings were in effect for much of South Florida as winds and rain from Tropical Storm Noel pelted the area. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Noel tears at sea walls from the late 50s, in South Palm Beach.  Lawns superimposed on dunes are claimed by the sea…

And then there is war.  But no news, not really:

Many of the same people who think George W. Bush is a war criminal who lied us into invading Iraq will nonetheless dutifully pull the lever for Hillary, who has criticized the president for being soft on the mullahs. 

Having already given her moral and political sanction for attacking Iran by voting for the Kyl-Lieberman resolution – which, even in the slightly watered-down version passed by the Senate, provides enough cover for the Bush administration, or its successor, to claim the authority to take military action – Hillary Clinton will inherit and continue the neocons’ wars, and will be no less committed to “victory.”

Americans see their leading politicians “debating,” but none of them are opposing war with Iran: indeed, they all seem to be going along with it, with a few exceptions – and these exceptions, precisely because they aren’t going along to get along, are invariably dismissed by the pundits as “minor” or “fringe” candidates, who cannot under any circumstances be taken seriously.

The majority of Americans now want a definite deadline for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, and yet not a single “major” candidate for president proposes such a course.

The debate, the course of it and the aftermath, was largely predictable…  yet she seemed surprised. I don’t look forward to seeing that face for years, under the inevitable siege…  

The candidates cannot claim, at this point, to be tired, fatigued, over booked, etc.  Not yet.  They can claim [bitch and moan] poor press coverage or lack of coverage (have a hankie) but as they inevitably become fatigued, Iowa approaches, then NH, it could, at the very least, get amusing.

Something to hope for in the utter wreckage.

Other than that, it is war. 

Bruce Fein writes wonderfully, the argument for reinstating Habeas Corpus.  He calls Bush and the congress the Jacobins.  He’s right, but it is not news.  By now the few who speak out, as do Fein and Turley and a few others, are begging.  By now it is begging.  That is what Bush and congress have left for us, to beg.

Bush and the congess do not care. And that is not news, either..

How can we be surprised?  We built lawns over sand dunes, in defiance of the open sea, purely for the sake of development…  It was only a matter of time.

Better to be as the monks of Burma, who risk their robes, their skulls, their temples and their lives:   They are not begging.

Fein spends two pages (in the WashTimes, no less) arguing for HC, delineating in faithful fashion the stats for Guantanamo. It is, as it always is, heartbreaking.  Oh, but if only those hapless souls, shanghai’d for bounty most of them, if only they mattered to most in the US, if only the correlation could be drawn.

HC is suspended, ultimately, for a smoother, easier detention ready USA!USA!.  I read at the tag end of some article about the hideous counter-insurgency manual – and the surge – that of course it was nothing in Baghdad, the purpose was as PR to quell a restive public at home and to separate and isolate the anti-war activists – where else?  at home – from the US citizenry.

If only US citizens could get it, it does not matter to the government WHO is in Quantanamo, as long as someone is.

As I finished reading one of the “sea lashes at the condo wall” articles… I think maybe I finally, fully got it… Of course I always knew it, just never settled for it…

Tourism leaders such as Broward’s Nicki Grossman and Miami-Dade’s William Talbert are quick to point out the importance of keeping South Florida’s beaches in shape.

”It’s one of the key reasons people visit South Florida,” Grossman said.

Talbert said polls of visitors consistently show Miami-Dade’s beaches are among the top three reasons the county has so many tourists.

”If our beaches aren’t up to snuff and in good condition, there is certainly a lot of competition out there,” he said.

America does understand, as long as you are a bona fide “tourist”, white skinned or at least flush with cash and proper ID, you won’t end up in Guantanamo.

If people look around, a lot of fictions erected behind old sea walls are washing out….  That one will go too..

‘Whiteness’ is thus a destructive ideology that prevents people from pursuing their class interests and encourages them to accept subordination, even while supposing that this ‘quality’ makes them superior.

This is why James Baldwin said, “As long as you think you’re white, there’s no hope for you”.

**************************************************************