My Orwellian Morning

I was driving to work the other day in my typical 8:40am zombified trance, glancing around mindlessly, when my eyes found and locked onto a large white van several car-lengths in front of me at a red light. As I inspected it futher, more and more bizarre details came into focus. The windows were painted over white, although they were translucent enough to see that there was some sort of steel caged bar pattern over the back set. As I moved closer to pass the van, I saw that a large, seemingly powerful light was affixed near the roof, just above the side door. Even more peculiar, there was an area for what seemed to be a wired video device, although it was vacant at the moment. When I pulled past it, I saw the most frightening accessory... the big, brightly colored "Department of Homeland Security" logo, happily painted over the front door panel. Visions of dozens of these trucks surrounding a house, hurling bags over heads and quickly, quietly escorting defenseless suspects to the "security" of Guantanamo Bay suddenly filled my head. Big Brother had come to Bradenton. When the van turned off the main road a few moments later, I didn't dare follow.