Intimidation

The Secret Service decided to "investigate" Julia Wilson, a McClatchy High School freshman, for ill-advised anti-Bush comments. You would think that they could tell from other MySpace evidence that they weren't dealing with Lee Harvey Oswald, and I'm sure they understood that from the very beginning. The Secret Service's real purpose was to intimidate: prevent others from making threats, or indeed, express any opinions at all. The thinking supposedly will be "Wow! If they go after high school students, who won't they go after?"

Secret Service heavy-handedness will backfire, though. Think they won any friends yesterday?