Could It Happen Here? Sure!

According to a report on the web site nbcmiami.com, a Cuban blogger was seized and beaten by government types last Friday while on her way to a peaceable march against violence.

Trail-blazing Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez says she was headed to a peaceable march against violence with friends in Havana Friday when she and fellow writer Orlando Luis Pardo were confronted by three men in plainclothes presumed to be state security, forced into a car, and assaulted.

"No blood," she reported to El Nuevo Herald. "But black and blues, punches, pulled hairs, blows to the head, kidneys, knee and chest...[after being] thrown head-first inside, they applied judo or karate holds to us and the punches . . . kept raining down."

Sánchez says she and Pardo were driven around for about 20 minutes before being "violently thrown on the street" near where they were first accosted. Their friends reported being taken to a police station in a second car, where they were questioned and released.

Apparently she had blogged safely until she began signing her name to her posts.

Since she began signing her name to blog posts she composes in Cuba and e-mails to friends in other countries for publication, Sánchez has received critical acclaim and several awards for her social commentary and missives about every day life on the island from the government to food to baseball. Though awarded Spain's Ortega y Gasset Journalism Award and Columbia University's Maria Moors Cabot Prize, she has been denied permission to leave Cuba to accept. In 2008, Sánchez, a philologist by training, was named one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People.

Could this happen in the United States? Sure it can, and I predict it will.

The bloggers in the United States are hitting fast and furious at the corruption, backroom deals, and total disregard of our government for the people. Bloggers are reporting what the main stream media won't. Sooner or later, an effort will be made to shut us down. It may come as regulated content on the internet, IRS harassment, or violence. The test then will be whether or not we are brave enough to continue our work in the face of adversity. I think we will.