"I got a call yesterday," he says, nearly as weary as I of this whole mess. "They got a complaint about something political you'd put on your on-call sign."

Perhaps I should explain. I work at a hospital and share a rotating call schedule with the other technologists in my department. Each time we take call, we put up a sheet with our name, hours we're on call for that night, and contact information. It's out of the way - and definitely not in a "patient area".. Over the last year, I've added in a cartoon, news article, or brief editorial, just as a little something "extra". Usually they've had a political slant to them - Boondocks, Doonesbury, a Molly Ivins article, or a graph demonstrating what states have lost jobs (and how many) in the last three years. The years that George W. Bush has been President.

The last was the graphic that generated the complaint.

This is a longstanding point of contention, though. I've been bringing my magazines in for waiting rooms since I was in the military. They're often a bit left-of-center; Mother Jones, the Nation, that sort of thing. Strangely, I never recieved a complaint about them while I was in the military. There were plenty of people who disagreed with what the magazines had to say, and I had interesting discussions with many of them, but there was no-one who claimed they shouldn't be there.

When I recieved my discharge, I came to the hospital I'm working at now. I've been here a little under two and a half years. As before, I brought in my magazines when I was done reading them, especially when my department (among others) was begging for any magazine to put in the waiting room. I also put some cartoons on my locker.

And then there started to be complaints. Not because of language, but because the cartoons and magazines criticized George W. Bush's leadership. I had one co-worker say that he found them "offensive" because they didn't "support the President". So, bit by bit, magazine by magazine, comic by comic, I've been told that my magazines - and, by extension, my point-of-view - is not allowed here. That criticizing the President or his actions is offensive.

Being a major newsweekly doesn't make them immune either. Time, Newsweek, and US News & World Reports are subscribed to by the hospital to place in the waiting rooms. Yet I've noticed that those with covers critical of this Administration - about Abu Gharib, about Condaleeza Rice's controversial testimony, questioning George W. Bush's knowledge about WMD - disappear preternaturally quickly. The issue of Time with Michael Moore on the cover lasted less than a day before ending up in the trashcan. They, presumably, are offensive as well.

This is in contrast to the "women's" and "men's" magazines, that might as well be labeled soft porn magazines. In contrast to the tabloids full of unverified gossip, in contrast to the explicit soap operas or daytime talk shows.

And I wonder what kind of country we live in, where political disagreement is more offensive than gossip magazines.

All of this means that it isn't very surprising that my manager is standing in front of me, almost apologetic. "Could you leave the political things off your on-call sign?"

I already know the answer I have to give. The selectively-enforced employee guidelines list a number of "immediate termination" offenses. Among them is "refusing to comply with a reasonable request from a superior". My point of view has to disappear, quietly, without a trace. Someone conveniently found it "offensive" - and therefore, it must go.

"Sure," I reply.

We don't need a Ministry of Truth where I work.

After all, everything's doubleplusgood here.