Exhibit A: Silencing

And, in today's Post we have an article showing an actual case where political force was exerted in order to censor a person. Assuming, of course, that the ex-Surgeon General is telling the truth, which given this administration, I'm inclined to believe that he is.

Ex-Surgeon General Says the White House Hushed Him

"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored, marginalized or simply buried," he said. "The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds."

But, I mean, it's perfectly okay to censor information about the effectiveness of teaching kids how to use condoms in high school sex ed classes, or the facts about emergency contraception, or stem cell research. After all, you're not actually playing with people's lives and health when you do that. And if you are, well, you prayed about it with Pat Robertson or James Dobson, Jesus wants you to do it, right? Besides it's mostly kids and women who are hurt, and they aren't actually people, you know.

I commented earlier to a friend regarding the Pope announcing Catholicism to be the only true church, that Jesus must have popped a couple of migraine pills and is laid out flat on his back in a darkened room in heaven praying to himself for it to just stop. I think that expression works here too.