Net Nanny Jane

Rep. Jane Harman's homepage plays up her "caring lady" image and omits mention of her Congressional maneuverings on whether to apply federal controls to internet speech.

On Wednesday, the Homeland Security Committee held a hearing tellingly entitled Internet terror recruitment and tradecraft: how can we address an evolving tool while protecting free speech? Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson said that though such hearings are worthwhile, he strongly cautioned that no on should fear that security or law enforcement organizations would target a person's freedom of speech.

Harman, however, seemed to be walking a line between freedom of speech and unspecified cyber controls needed to nip terrorists in the bud. While upholding the right of free speech and saying she consults with ACLU chief Anthony Romero regularly, she cited a litany of recent terrorist actions by disgruntled loners who had somehow or other used the internet.

Romero suggested that closing down jihad talk sites made less sense than letting intelligence agencies monitor them.

Harman, who has unswerving support from the Israel lobby, once conducted a similar hearing in which Marc Weitzman, an official with the Simon Weisenthal Center, backed curbs on terrorist propaganda web sites, which the record showed included Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. Her statement Wednesday showed she continues to endorse the official coverup.

Personally, I think her concerns area about on a par with saying cell phones are often used by terrorists and so therefore cell phone talk should come under government controls.

I wonder whether this push to come up with a means to steal into net liberty is related to a number of other nearly simultaneous maneuvers to impose net nanny censorship on democratic nations.

I wonder whether this sly maneuvering has anything to do with the Justice Dept's spate of prosecutions of whistleblowers who leaked data to the press? Is some covert group trying to send out "we're in control" signals to try to dissuade a recent upsurge in demands for press liberty?

Salon and the Center for Investigative Journalism have a strong piece on the latest crackdown and point out that federal managers and White House appointees have been routinely flouting the whistleblower law, designed to protect honest civil servants and promote good government. Instead, as one lawmaker put it, they are treated "like a skunk at a picnic."

South Africa's Globe and Mail expressed regrets over the outrage sparked by a Zapiro cartoon showing Mohammed on a psychiatric couch lamenting, "Other prophets have followers with a sense of humor."

Though Zapiro denied there was a connection, his cartoon appeared on May 20, which had been designated Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, in response to censorship of a South Park episode.

It seems that only Moslems went ballistic over Zapiro's cartooning. There was no similar outcry over a cartoon showing three little boys nailed to crosses as Pilate-like pope washes his hands concerning child abuse. Nor did Jews freak out over a cartoon poking fun at religious Jewish hypocrisy or showing Netanyahu driving a speeding construction vehicle bearing down on a tiny, fragile auto dubbed "peace process."

This sort of culture clash -- between pre-20th century mindsets and freedom-loving types -- is why America must be cautious about the rate of immigration from such cultures.

A Globe and Mail commenter said that he was really offended by the Muslim husband who beats his wife for showing an inch of skin. Point.

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council of Islamic Relations, said the best way to counter such "bigoted campaigns" as Everybody Draw... day was with more communication, not censorship of sites like Facebook.

Lars Vilks, the Swedish cartoonist whose Mohammed cartoons launched Jihad Jane (Colleen LaRose) and a group of seven Muslim men in Ireland in murder conspiracies, has taken to sleeping elsewhere after two Muslim youths were arrested in an arson attack on his residence. The molotov cocktails apparently fizzled.

Harman mentioned Jihad Jane in her statement Wednesday.