Sign of the Times

Coming True? (Photo credit: beachblogger42)

 

According to the Washington Examiner, sales of 1984 have increased dramatically recently.

 

Sales of George Orwell’s “1984” are up 69 percent on Amazon, according to a list on the website.

The book marked its 60th anniversary on June 6 amid a flurry of real-world news stories on secret government surveillance.

Amazon lists the paperback version of the sci-fi classic as the 19th biggest book on its Movers and Shakers list. The current sales rank is 110.

The list identifies the biggest gainers in sales rank compared to 24 hours ago.

Update: As of 3:22 p.m. EDT, sales of Orwell’s “1984” are up 91 percent on the Amazon Movers and Shakers list.

 

I guess that George Orwell’s dark vision of a totalitarian government that watches its citizen’s every move doesn’t seem like fiction anymore. Incidentally, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged has also been making record sales for the past several years, for the same reason.

 

Interesting times we’re living in.

 

Related articles

 

• Orwell’s ‘1984′ sales boom in wake of NSA scandal (rare.us)
• Sales of Orwell’s “1984″ spike in wake of NSA security leaks (redalertpolitics.com)
• Is Orwell’s 1984 Here and Now? (syneidesys.wordpress.com)
• NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: I do not want to live in a society that does these sort of things ! (annlrd.wordpress.com)

 

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Two Revolutions

Rand Paul gives his opinion on two recent populist movements, the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street. I read about his comments at the Washington Examiner.

Speaking yesterday at a National Review breakfast, Sen. Rand Paul R-Ky. explained what he thought about the Tea Party movement vs. the Occupy Wall Street movement, as Jon Ward reports in the Huffington Post.
“The Tea Party, I always say, is more like the American Revolution, and Occupy Wall Street is more the French Revolution,” Paul said.

Paul explained that the Tea Party looked back to the rule of law.

“We hearken back to sort of rules,” Paul said, identifying with the Tea Party. “We weren’t unhappy with people just because they were rich; we weren’t happy with you if you were making money off of our taxes and we were bailing you out. If you were making $100 million, your bank goes bankrupt and all of a sudden we bail you out and you’re still making $100 million — that upset us.”

Occupy Wall Street, Paul suggested was more of an emotional protest.

“I think Occupy Wall Street was more of a generic sort of, ‘We just hate people who have any money, and why can’t they give it to us?’ kind of thing,” he said.

I agree, though I would identify the two movements in slightly different terms, orcs vs. hobbits.

Related articles

• The Tea Party Is Not Extreme; The Snarky Leftwing Media Are (sago.com)
• Rand Paul filibuster energizes Tea Party against GOP establishment (GOP Panics) (grumpyelder.com)
• American factions are coming together over drones (patheos.com)
• Interview With a Countermoonbat: Rand Paul (moonbattery.com)
• RAND PAUL: ‘Having a monarch is what we fought the American Revolution over’… (redflagnews.com)

 

Gallup Predicts Obama Loss

I saw this piece in the Washington Examiner last week and have been meaning to mention it. Essentially the argument is that if Obama wins only the states where he has a positive approval rating, he will be looking for a new home on January 20, 2013. Here is the map they provide.

Of course it is really to early to make any predictions, especially when it is not entirely certain who he will be running against. Yes, it looks like it will be Romney, but he hasn’t gotten the nomination yet. It looks like they got that map from 270towin. I’ve been playing around with the map and based on the past voting history of the states, I think it will be a whole lot harder for any republican to defeat Obama than this map indicates. In any case I hope no one in the RNC sees this. They do not need to be getting overconfident.

Related articles

• Gallup state numbers predict huge Obama loss (tarpon.wordpress.com)
• President Obama’s re-election map looking more challenging (worldviewtonight.wordpress.com)
• US-2012 President: 48% Obama (D), 48% Romney (R)(Gallup 1/27-28) (huffingtonpost.com) One thing. National polls on how popular Obama vs a Republican is, are almost useless. American Presidential elections aren’t really national but 51 little elections. It is possible for a candidate to get a majority and still lose. (2000).
• Obama Crusin’ For A November Bruisin’? (outsidethebeltway.com)