Time Is Energy

George Orwell was a time traveler...

I remember reading several George Orwell books (over 20 years ago). I loved how he was able to craft a narrative that made preposterous things seem imaginable. Back then we called it satire.

Today (and I mean today) I was struck by the odd notion that perhaps G.O. was really a time traveller. Could he simply have lived through the '00s and traveled back to a simpler time before what we see in our country on a daily basis had happened?

For example, this piece in Slate by Lithwick eloquently sums up the state of torture in on 2/8/2008 in our fair country. Go read it and tell me your head doesn't spin in just the way it does when reading a George Orwell novel.

The other thing I read was a post on Daily Kos about some comments by Dick Cheney's recent speech to CPAC. The double-speak is quite simply profound.

Among the rhetorical gems:

"In his State of the Union message last week, the President set out a confident path forward -- and on that path we're guided by principle. As conservatives, we believe in a government that takes up a smaller share of the national income, that treats tax dollars with respect and restraint. And we believe in a government that keeps to its limits under the Constitution, never expanding beyond the consent of the governed. "

"The United States is a country that takes human rights seriously. We do not torture -- it's against our laws and against our values. We're proud of our country and what it stands for. We expect all of those who serve America to conduct themselves with honor. And we enforce those rules. Some years ago, when abuses were committed at Abu Ghraib prison, a facility that had nothing to do with the CIA program, the abuses that came to light were, in fact, investigated, and those responsible were prosecuted."

If only!

Mr. Orwell, if you are out there...can you take me with you?

posted by Daniel @ 3:04 PM