No one is ever going to accuse Jane Harman of being a liberal or a progressive, but she still calls herself a democrat. Has she lost her mind to the dark side? Just when the majority of Americans are moving away from the authoritarian, neocon, Bush administration and the republican party Ms. Harman seems to be working to filling the gap, for them.

Here Come The thought Police
Ms. Harman, a California Democrat, thinks it likely that the United States will face a native brand of terrorism in the immediate future and offers a plan to deal with ideologically based violence.

But her plan is a greater danger to us than the threats she fears. Her bill tramples constitutional rights by creating a commission with sweeping investigative power and a mandate to propose laws prohibiting whatever the commission labels "homegrown terrorism."

The proposed commission is a menace through its power to hold hearings, take testimony and administer oaths, an authority granted to even individual members of the commission - little Joe McCarthys - who will tour the country to hold their own private hearings. An aura of authority will automatically accompany this congressionally authorized mandate to expose native terrorism.

Ms. Harman's proposal includes an absurd attack on the Internet, criticizing it for providing Americans with "access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda," and legalizes an insidious infiltration of targeted organizations. The misnamed "Center of Excellence," which would function after the commission is disbanded in 18 months, gives the semblance of intellectual research to what is otherwise the suppression of dissent.

The title, "Center of Excellence" sends chills through the mind and heart of anyone who remembers the Mc Carthy hearings. Orwell must be spinning in his grave. As usual the MSM is silent. Where is the forth estate?