LOOK, I'M NOT ONE TO SCREAM McCARTHYISM IN A CROWDED THEATER, but there's something in this story that I find mighty disturbing. The piece, which was linked to off Zorak's blog, is about a conservative professor who suffered various indignities for being conservative. Disturbing enough. But what really creeped me out was this passage, regarding one of her liberal tormenters:

"The man who made that call, Dr. Mokerrom Hossain, may himself get to spend some quality time outside the office. The FBI is investigating the sociology department chairman for possible links to Al Qaeda. One tip-off was the fact that his office computer had an Al Qaeda screen saver. Dr. Hossain, a Sunni Muslim, made the excuse that his son put it there, without explaining how his son had access to the university computer."

I'm sorry: waaah? I hope that they've got something more on this guy than that. Look, I want to prevent al-Qaeda attacks as much as the next guy, and I understand that there are probably some number of al-Qaeda sleepers and sympathizers in the United States. But are we really at the point where the FBI gets involved every time a Sunni pops up with an al-Qaeda screen saver on his office computer? Not to go all Mark Shea on your collective ass, or anything, but might that not be a bit of an overreaction?