X does not equal X

The convoluted logic of recent political squabbling between the Democrits and Republicons is producing even more grist for the comedic mills of late-night television. We, the Sheeple, are supposed to seriously ponder whether it was Shrub who misled or the Dems who misfollowed.

The fracas over torture is equally bizzare. When we find out (over and over) that torture is common practice among both the U.S. troops and the Shiites they've installed in power, we're told to turn a blind eye. When U.S forces engage in this sort of thing, after all, it really isn't torture. (And then with a wink), even if it were, we're surely torturing people for a good purpose--to maintain order in a country ready to fall into civil war. (Wait a minute . . . Isn't this the same reason that Saddam was using torture?)

It's taken two and a half millennia but the Orwellian forces of spin and obfuscation have finally overturned Aristotle's basic rule of logic--the idea that something is identical to itself. In the current version of NewSpeak, torture isn't torture and leaders can somehow all escape guilt by blaming each other. Within this verbal and conceptual morass, the sheeple can hardly be blamed if they feel misenfranchised.