"Michael Moore's cookie-wielding Fresno peace activists look almost dangerous in comparison." -- My fave legal columnist, Dahlia Lithwick, has a guest spot over at the NYTimes op/ed page this month, la de da! Today's piece rails against the "speech-free zones" so popular at the political conventions, and the growing abuse of the Patriot Act and the Secret Service to squelch lawful dissent. For more on the overreachingly long arm of the law in the Era of Terror (*thunderclap*), check out this anecdote of attempted confiscation of reading material on...gasp...a ferry to Manhattan! Grrrrrr.