Let Them Read Orwell

I just came across the "creative protest" launched by a group called the Ministry of Love. Their goal is to collect, then mail out, 315 copies of Orwell's 1984-- one for each member of Congress who voted for the Military Commissions Act. Check out their short documentary above and send in a book-- perhaps yours will be the lucky edition sent to habeas turn-coat Arlen Specter.

If I may, I'd advise members of Congress to turn directly to page 253 of the 1990 Penguin edition (Ok!-- just skim around for it if you've received a different version). Here Orwell describes the early stages of Winston Smith's detention. At first, Smith is beaten by violent inquisitors. Over time, these ‘ruffians in black’ are replaced by men in spectacles. According to Orwell:

These other questioners saw to it that he was in constant slight pain, but it was not chiefly pain they relied on. They slapped his face, wrung his ears, pulled his hair, made him stand on one leg, refused him leave to urinate, shone glaring lights in his face until his eyes ran with water; but the aim of this was simply to humiliate him and destroy his power of arguing and reasoning.

The Military Commissions Act (MCA)-- in addition to it's habeas stripping provisions-- legalizes these coercive techniques. Prior to October 2006, the War Crimes Act outlawed cruel or inhuman acts including ‘outrages upon personal dignity’ and ‘humiliating and degrading treatment’. Today, for a physical act to be considered cruel or inhuman it must inflict a "bodily injury" and involve either "(a) substantial risk of death; (b) extreme physical pain; (c) a burn or disfigurement of a serious nature (other than cuts, abrasions, or bruises); or (d) significant loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty". Post-MCA tortures that inflict "constant slight pain" are now arguably legal.