Here's a lead paragraph to turn your blood to ice:

DES MOINES, Iowa -- In what may be the first subpoena of its kind since the Communist-hunting days of the 1950s, a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a gathering of anti-war activists....

(We're looking for the name of that federal judge. We'll google him.)

Subpoenas were served on "four activists" as well as on Drake University last week for a Nov. 15 forum at the school. The subpoena orders the university to divulge all records relating to the local chapter of the National Lawyer's Guild, a New York-based legal activist organization that sponsored the forum.

The group, once targeted for alleged ties to communism in the 1950s, announced Friday it will ask a federal court to quash the subpoena on Monday.

Those served subpoenas include the leader of the Catholic Peace Ministry, the former coordinator of the Iowa Peace Network, a member of the Catholic Worker House, and an anti-war activist who visited Iraq in 2002.

It's getting more than merely serious out there, folks. Matt Robinson's series of articles on the Patriot Act, that have been running on the editorial page of the Watauga Democrat ... more TIMELY than ever!