First it was then White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer post 9/11 saying in a press briefing that people "need to watch what they say, watch what they do." Then we had a high school kid in Kentucky arrested for writing a story of fiction about a high school attacked by zombies. Now once again, we have a member of the current administration warning people to watch their tongues. This time it's SecDef Donald Rumsfeld who in reponse the Newsweek story about the Koran flushing said, "People are dead, and that's unfortunate. People need to be very careful about what they say just as people need to be careful about what they do."

Am I the only one who finds these activities and this sort of rhetoric ominous? Nevermind that the head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers told reporters at the Pentagon May 12 that he has been told that the Jalalabad, Afghanistan, rioting was related more to the ongoing political reconciliation process in Afghanistan than anything else. That would require a modicum of respect for the truth.

It appears to me that these statements and the ideology that belies them combined with the undermining of the traditional media and the current Republican judical power grab that is occurring in the Senate at the behest of the White House and the religous right is a very toxic brew for democracy.