2007 — “the year of shutting up”?

Diana West labels 2006 “the year of speaking dangerously.” She’s referring to the global assault against those who criticize “the religion of peace.”
Now, in light of that assault, Diana fears that 2007 will be “the year of shutting up.” After all, “why speak dangerously when you can simply not speak at all?” In fact, she suggests that the year of shutting up began a few months ago when Pope Benedict backed down under pressure from his argument that the practice of forced conversion