"Crushing of dissent"

I've found that many who blog will occasionally post articles decrying the "crushing of dissent".

Reynolds at Instapundit.com has more than his share of posts on the topic (here, here and here), as do Tim Blair, Boots and Sabers and The Volokh Conspiracy , to name but just a few.

The common thread woven through so many of these posts is the duplicitous attempt, especially by the left, to silence opposition.

Hypocrisy poured out more thickly than molasses on a cold day by those who love to point fingers at John Ashcroft for limiting freedom.