So I’m reading Margaret Atwood’s ‘Year of the Flood’,– a dystopia that is all too real. If Atwood doesn’t turn me vegetarian, she might at least put me off fast food. ‘Oryx and Crake’ had ‘chickie-nobs’. They looked like something deep-fried you would buy at the Colonel, and were efficiently produced by fowl that had been genetically modified to grow tumors all over their bodies.

In ‘Year of the Flood’, Secret Burger franchise has no problem with supply. Any mammal unwary or unlucky might end up on the menu, they have grinders on site. But don’t ask about that–remember their slogan– ‘Everyone Loves a Secret’.

In related topics, we say that in politics we love transparency. Secret meetings closed to the press happen all the time, but not usually on a large scale. Sarah Palin, the former governor who took TMI to new levels when she gave the Anchorage Daily News a detailed account of her labor with her youngest son– (incidentally setting off a number of conspiracy theories by people who were incredulous that any mother could be so reckless) has something to say to Wisconsin Right to Life. But it’s secret. No press, no cameras, not even any strollers. I really wonder about that. I’d think that parents would be welcome to bring their little ones to such an event.

I wonder what went into the grinder to cook up that speech. Isn’t it funny? If the text were on the front page I wouldn’t even bother to read it. But there’s something about a secret.