AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Netherlands votes on the European constitution on Wednesday with polls pointing to a resounding “No” that would compound the crisis of confidence in the bloc triggered by France’s rejection of the treaty.

Most mainstream Dutch parties from right and left have campaigned for a “Yes” vote but opinion polls give the “No” camp a huge lead, with opposition to the treaty rising in most surveys since the French shunned the charter on Sunday.

Support for the European Union in the Netherlands, like France one of the bloc’s six founding members in the 1950s, was traditionally strong but has taken a knock in recent years against a backdrop of rising political and social tensions.

Opposition to the treaty has been driven by a plethora of issues ranging from deep Dutch dislike of the euro, fears of a loss of control over immigration, opposition to Turkey’s bid to join the bloc and concerns Brussels might undermine liberal Dutch policies on gay marriage, soft drugs and abortion. “It would be a miracle if a majority of the Dutch population said ‘Yes’,” said pollster Maurice de Hond.
link here>

New anger towards immigration, especially after the killing of a filmaker critical of Islam six months ago, has led to anti-government anger, which might be fueling the No vote. Also, the seldom reported higher unemployment in Europe might also have led to the lead in the “No” camp.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former FBI No. 2 Mark Felt is “Deep Throat,” the legendary source who leaked Watergate scandal secrets to the Washington Post and helped bring down President Richard Nixon, journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein said on Tuesday after 30 years of secrecy. The two Post reporters, whose aggressive stories on Watergate led to Nixon’s August 1974 resignation, confirmed Felt was “Deep Throat” after Vanity Fair magazine and Felt’s family members made his role public.

The unmasking of “Deep Throat” solves one of the greatest political and journalistic mysteries of modern times and ends three decades of speculation on his identity by historians and political observers. “W. Mark Felt was ‘Deep Throat’ and helped us immeasurably in our Watergate coverage,” Woodward and Bernstein said in a joint statement posted on the Post’s Web site.

Vanity Fair had reported earlier on Tuesday that Felt, now a 91-year-old retiree living in Santa Rosa, California, had told the magazine and his family that he was the Post’s anonymous source. “I’m the guy they used to call Deep Throat,” Felt told lawyer John O’Connor, author of the magazine story.
from Yahoo News>

Like the Terri Shivo case, it’s all how you word it. The latest Zogby poll finds that 52% of Americans supported Social Security reform, including private accounts, when they were told that private accounts could generate a higher rate of return than Social Security. Here is an excerpt from Zogby.

“The thing that is compelling in this poll is that this is the response you get when you use a positive approach on Social Security reform,” Mr. Zogby said. “If you use the ‘Chicken Little, sky-is-falling’ approach, then voters understand that something has to be done, but don’t see the connection between personal accounts and fundamental reform of Social Security.”

Among supporters, the most popular reason for supporting private accounts was, “It’s my money; I should control it,” Mr. Zogby said. “This was true for every group except African-Americans, who chose inheritability as their biggest reason for supporting accounts.” hat tip, Powerline>

Again, it’s all how you word it. And Mr. Bush needs to learn this it he has any hope of selling this plan, because the MSM is going to try to disinform the public at every turn.

I have often noted the liberals hatred of Christianity and defence of Muslim extremists. It seems they are at it again. Here is an article from the St. Louis dispatch.

They are Muslims, anarchists and peace activists. They may not have much in common, but two dozen groups and individuals in the St. Louis area united this month to denounce the FBI, claiming the agency is carrying out unwarranted investigations for religious or political reasons.

A series of FBI inquiries across the country shows that the agency has sunk back into the kind of political monitoring it did in the 1960s and 1970s, says the American Civil Liberties Union.

The conduct of the FBI is “eerily reminiscent of the days of J. Edgar Hoover,” its controversial first director, said Denise Lieberman, legal director for the ACLU affiliate in St. Louis.

“They are conducting investigations based on groups’ political activities and affiliations, or their religious affiliations,” she said. “Under our Constitution, government is supposed to have cause to believe that you are involved in criminal activity before they put you under investigation.”

The FBI vigorously rejects the complaints. “We investigate when we have a specific and credible threat, and we do not have the resources nor the time to monitor the activities of people just for the sake of monitoring their activities,” said Roland Corvington, special agent in charge of the FBI office in St. Louis.

Europe it seems has joined in the fun.

British MP George “Burn in Hell” Galloway calls for an alliance between global “progressives” and radical Muslims: There Is An Unholy Alliance.

Mohammad Basirul Haq Sinha: “You often call for uniting Muslim and progressive forces globally. How far is it possible under current situation?”

Galloway: “Not only do I think it’s possible but I think it is vitally necessary and I think it is happening already. It is possible because the progressive movement around the world and the Muslims have the same enemies. Their enemies are the Zionist occupation, American occupation, British occupation of poor countries mainly Muslim countries. They have the same interest in opposing savage capitalist globalization which is intent upon homogenizing the entire world turning us basically into factory chickens which can be forced fed the American diet of everything from food to Coca-Cola to movies and TV culture. And whose only role in life is to consume the things produced endlessly by the multinational corporations. And the progressive organizations & movements agree on that with the Muslims.

“Otherwise we believe that we should all have to speak as Texan and eat McDonalds and be ruled by Bush and Blair. So on the very grave big issues of the day-issues of war, occupation, justice, opposition to globalization-the Muslims and the progressives are on the same side.”
Yahoo Newsa>

Once again the blindness of the left is staggering. If the radical muslims ever did take over, they would be in as much trouble as we would be.

WASHINGTON — President Bush laid a red, white and blue-flowered wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns on Monday as he vowed to honor the nation’s war dead by pursing peace and freedom throughout the world.

“The names of the men buried there are known only to God but their courage and sacrifice will never be forgotten by our nation,” Bush said in remarks after a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, which featured songs like “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Taps.”

They “answered the call of service in their nation’s hour of need. They stood to fight for America’s highest ideals. And when the sun came up this morning, the flag flew at half staff in solemn gratitude and a deep respect,” the president added.
from Fox News >

Everybody should have that solemn gratitude, but they do not. but those who bash this country are only able to do so because of the sacrifice of brave men and women, though they disdain them anyway. However, it is a simple fact that the freedoms of this country are preserved only by the American soldier, though you would never know that by today’s media. I truely believe we would have lost most of the wars we have fought if today’s media reported them like they do now. Everyone should remember the sacrifice of our soldiers.

PARIS (Reuters) – France overwhelmingly rejected the European Union constitution on Sunday, pitching the EU deep into crisis and dealing a potentially fatal blow to a charter designed to make the enlarged bloc run smoothly.

EU leaders said after a referendum “no” vote that the treaty was not dead and member states should continue the ratification process. But British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the rejection raised profound questions about the future of the EU.

The heavy defeat dreaded by EU leaders could weaken France in the 25-member bloc, stall European integration and unsettle some financial markets. It also wounds President Jacques Chirac two years before presidential and parliamentary elections.

“The French people have given a huge smack in the face to an entire system that has the nerve to tell us what to think,” said nationalist French politician Philippe de Villiers, a leading opponent of the charter. “The constitution is no more.”
Read the whole thing at Yahoo Newsa>

Oh my God, I agree with the French. However, it seems they won’t take no for an answer. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Union, stated: “If at the end of the ratification process, we do not manage to solve the problems, the countries that would have said No, would have to ask themselves the question again,” “President” Juncker told the Belgian newspaper Le Soir.

by Instapundit

JOURNALIST AND NEWSPAPER GUILD MEMBER HIAWATHA BRAY is challenging Linda Foley to back up her Eason-Jordan-like statements, or to apologize:

Since then, you have failed to provide supporting evidence for your remarks, but neither have you retracted them. I spoke with you at 11:10 AM today by telephone; union secretary-treasurer Bernard Lunzer was also on the call.

When I told you that I would publish your response to me on the Internet, you declined further comment–except for the following: “I am not going to discuss this with you on the eve of Memorial Day weekend.”

This remark strikes me as extremely odd. I can’t think of a better time to redeem the honor of the US military by beginning a serious investigation of outrageous conduct on its part. If our soldiers are deliberately killing journalists, it’s our duty to publicize it, so that such a terrible stain on our nation’s integrity may be quickly cleansed.

If, as I believe, your charge is false, I can think of no better time to retract this slander.

Read the whole thing at instapundit.

click here.

Parents who stopped a new sex-education curriculum in Montgomery County, Maryland are at the nexus of a national trend in parental activism in school matters.
“Montgomery County has become a symbol for parental activism,” said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute, an affiliate of Concerned Women for America.
Warren Throckmorton, a psychology professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, said parents “are beginning to take matters into their own hands and are looking for ways to collaborate with other like-minded parents to protect their kids.”
The Montgomery County school board voted 7-1 Monday to dissolve the curriculum and the citizens committee that approved the course. In November, the board had voted 6-0 to adopt the course.
Curriculum supporters said the course taught tolerance for homosexuals and included factual instruction on how to deal with homosexual feelings.
But parents who formed the group Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum (CRC) said the course promoted homosexuality and promiscuity, disregarded scientifically proven health risks and denigrated traditional, religious views about sex.
The Montgomery County school board voted 7-1 Monday to dissolve the curriculum and the citizens committee that approved the course. In November, the board had voted 6-0 to adopt the course.
Curriculum supporters said the course taught tolerance for homosexuals and included factual instruction on how to deal with homosexual feelings.
But parents who formed the group Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum (CRC) said the course promoted homosexuality and promiscuity, disregarded scientifically proven health risks and denigrated traditional, religious views about sex.
from the Washington Times.

Another question to ask is who has the responsibility to teach values to their kids, the parents or the schools?

by Dave Wissing

Maryland Republican Party Chairman John Kane said last night that he expects Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele (R) will soon announce the launch of a committee to explore a 2006 U.S. Senate bid. “I think that’s what he will do,” Kane said in an interview, adding, “He represents the best hope of the Republican Party to win that seat.”

Asked later if he had formed a committee, Steele said: “You can quote me: ‘I have not formed anything. I have not made any decision.’ “

I would love to see Steele run and I think he will, but why on earth is the MD GOP chairman stepping all over Steele’s future announcement. from the Hedgehog>

by Powerline
Reader Dean Henderson pointed out Danielle Crittenden’s evisceration of lefty “novelist” Erica Jong, who compared the status of women in the United States unfavorably with that in the Arab world:

Of course women in the Middle East need the vote, an end to domestic violence and free access to contraception. But so do we. Odd that it is always easier to proselytize for feminism abroad while ignoring deteriorating women’s rights at home.
Crittenden says:

Myself, I’ve never understood why women’s groups weren’t out front cheering the wars against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Were there ever more feminist wars than these? You’d think the National Organization for Women would be egging the administration on to Saudi Arabia and Iran. But no, and for the same reason that organized feminists have refused to applaud George Bush’s historic appointments of women to positions of high office, including most recently his nomination of two women, one of them black, to appellate judgeships. Bush is a Republican. The organized feminists are Democrats. It’s as simple as that.
That’s true, I think. The real fisking begins, though, with Crittenden’s 24-question “yes/no” quiz. As Crittenden concludes: “If you answered “yes” to questions 1, 5, 6, 8, 10, 16, 17, 18, 22,23, and 25, congratulations! You live in the freest society for women in the history of Planet Earth. If you answered “yes” to any of the other questions, Allahu Akbar!”
from Powerline.>

The logic of feminists has all the turns of an Escher painting. I remember going out with a girl who turned out to be a feminist. Needless to say, the evening turned out bad. By the end she was insulting my values while in the same breath admitting she had an affair with a married women. As I stated before, feminism, like liberalism, is basically a selfish philosophy. Where in their values do they ask what is best for society, or the family? Or is it, like I believe, what is best for them?

Melvin Mora, Rafael Palmeiro and Miguel Tejada homered to back a strong pitching performance by Daniel Cabrera, and the Baltimore Orioles completed a three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners with a 5-2 victory Thursday night. Mora had three hits for the Orioles, whose eighth win in 11 games moved them a season-high 14 games over .500. However, Lopez and Bedard on the disabled list makes the victory quiet costly.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. signed into a law a bill designed to combat witness intimidation today, although Baltimore State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy said the law is no more than a “toothless tiger.”

The bill was among several public safety measures Ehrlich and the leaders of the Senate and House of Delegates signed today, including tougher restrictions on teen drivers, a new program for collecting DNA samples from criminals and stricter monitoring of sex offenders

Ehrlich signed 171 bills in all, including restrictions on the sale of state land and a law allowing businesses to pay employees by crediting their debit card accounts.

The witness intimidation bill, which allows judges to admit some statements from witnesses who cannot appear in court, was Ehrlich’s most difficult victory in the 90-day legislative session that ended in April.
“Your prosecutors will have the tools, will have the means to do their job,” he said to Jessamy, who came to Annapolis to appear with him at the signing. The Baltimore Sun.>

On the Negative side, House obstructionist M. Busch ruled out a special session on slots after meeting with industry officials. It seems M.B. cares more about defeating Ehrlich then he cares about jobs and the Md. horseracing industry.

Powerline wrote this story about Premier Allawi’s cataloging of Saddam’s support for al Qaeda:

The number two of the al-Qaeda network, Ayman al-Zawahiri, visited Iraq under a false name in September 1999 to take part in the ninth Popular Islamic Congress, former Iraqi premier Iyad Allawi has revealed to pan-Arab daily al-Hayat. In an interview, Allawi made public information discovered by the Iraqi secret service in the archives of the Saddam Hussein regime, which sheds light on the relationship between Saddam Hussein and the Islamic terrorist network. He also said that both al-Zawahiri and Jordanian militant al-Zarqawi probably entered Iraq in the same period.
Zawahiri was summoned by Izza Ibrahim Al-Douri – then deputy head of the council of the leadership of the revolution – to take part in the congress, along with some 150 other Islamic figures from 50 Muslim countries,” Allawi said.

According to Allawi, important information has been gathered regarding the presence of another key terrorist figure operating in Iraq – the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

“The Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi entered Iraq secretly in the same period,” Allawi affirmed, “and began to form a terrorist cell, even though the Iraqi services do not have precise information on his entry into the country,” he said.

Allawi’s remarks come after statements to al-Hayat by King Abdallah II of Jordan over Saddam’s refusal to hand over al-Zarqawi to the authorities in Amman.

On this question Allawi said: ”The words of the Jordanian King are correct and important. We have proof of al-Zawahiri’s visit to Iraq, but we do not have the precise date or information on al-Zarqawi’s entry, though it is likely that he arrived around the same time.”

In Allawi’s view, Saddam’s government “sponsored” the birth of al-Qaeda in Iraq, coordinating with other terrorist groups, both Arab and Muslim. “The Iraqi secret services had links to these groups through a person called Faruq Hajizi, later named Iraq’s ambassador to Turkey and arrested after the fall of Saddam’s regime as he tried to re-enter Iraq. Iraqi secret agents helped terrorists enter the country and directed them to the Ansar al-Islam camps in the Halbija area,” he said.

Allawi also says that Saddam’s mysterious murder of Abu Nidal was the result of the veteran terrorist’s refusal to cooperate with Islamist groups like al Qaeda.

It will be interesting to see how much of this will be verified in the coming months. I assume that every day, more documents from the Iraqi secret service, which is said to have kept meticulous records, are being reviewed and translated. There is no doubt about Saddam’s support for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, as we have noted many times; the question is one of degree. link here.>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Guantanamo detainee who told an FBI agent in 2002 that U.S. personnel there had flushed a Koran in a toilet retracted his allegation when questioned this month by military investigators, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

“We’ve gone back to the detainee who allegedly made the allegation and he has said it didn’t happen. So the underlying allegation, the detainee himself, within the last two weeks, said that didn’t happen,” chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told a briefing.
from Yahoo News>

ROME — Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, who has made waves by denouncing Islam in her books, is to face trial for purportedly insulting the Muslim faith in her latest work, a court in Northern Italy ruled yesterday.
A judge refused a request by prosecutors to throw out the case, brought by the president of the Muslim Union of Italy, Adel Smith, and ordered magistrates to proceed in the matter, Agence France-Presse reported.
The magistrates have until tomorrow to formally charge Miss Fallaci, the author of “The Rage and the Pride,” a post-September 11 polemic over the dangers of Islamic extremism, with “insulting religion.”
The accusations stem from her last book called “La Forza della Ragione,” (“The Force of Reason”). Mr. Smith says the book — not yet available in English — contains “words that are without doubt offensive toward Islam.”
Miss Fallaci, who is known for her provocative style of writing, got into trouble two weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, when she published the strongly pro-American and anti-Islam book “The Rage and the Pride.” The Washington Times.>

This is a real danger to not only freedon of speech but religious freedom. If we are not careful, America will not be far behind.

WASHINGTON – Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen won Senate confirmation as a federal appeals judge Wednesday after a ferocious four-year battle, a personal triumph that also marked a victory for President Bush in his drive to install conservatives on the nation’s highest courts.

The 55-43 vote was largely along party lines, and made the 50-year-old jurist the first of Bush’s long-blocked nominees to win approval under a newly minted agreement by Senate centrists meant to end years of partisan gridlock.

“We cannot stop with this single step,” Majority Leader Bill Frist said in a written statement soon after the vote. The Tennessee Republican resurrected a threat to strip Democrats of their right to filibuster Bush’s picks for the nation’s highest courts if they violate the 2-day-old accord.
Llink here.

Ruth Ginsberg was an ACLU activist , and there was no outcry there. It apperars that one is a radical only if one is conservative.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An FBI agent wrote in a 2002 document made public on Wednesday that a detainee held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had accused American jailers there of flushing the Koran down a toilet. The Pentagon said the allegation was not credible.

The declassified document’s release came the week after the Bush administration denounced as wrong a May 9 Newsweek article that stated U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo had flushed a Koran down a toilet to try to make detainees talk. The magazine retracted the article, which had triggered protests in Afghanistan in which 16 people died. from Yahoo News.

The newly released document, dated Aug. 1, 2002, contained a summary of statements made days earlier by a detainee, whose name was redacted, in two interviews with an FBI special agent, whose name also was withheld, at the Guantanamo prison for foreign terrorism suspects. The American Civil Liberties Union released the memo and other FBI documents it obtained from the government under court order through the Freedom of Information Act.

Has anyone ever tried to actually flush a book down a toilet. Most toilets stopped up with a bit of toiletpaper. It seems to me the MSM is looking for anything they can do to discredit the military and will latch on to any story they can find. And even if they did, is that a reason for 16 people to die? And where is the outrage by the MSM over the birning of Christian churches in Kosovo?

by LGF
Here is the text of the resolution proposed to Congress by US Representative John Conyers, Jr., a Detroit Democrat, taking a first tentative step toward a blasphemy law in the United States: Text of My Resolution Regarding Relgious [sic] Intolerance. (Hat tip: many LGF readers.)

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives condemning bigotry and religious intolerance, and recognizing that holy books of every religion should be treated with dignity and respect.

Whereas believers of all religions, including the Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, should be treated with respect and dignity;

Whereas the word Islam comes from the Arabic root word meaning “peace” and “submission”;

Whereas there are an estimated 7,000,000 Muslims in America, from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, forming an integral part of the social fabric of America;

Whereas the Quran is the holy book for Muslims who recite passages from it in prayer and learn valuable lessons about peace, humanity and spirituality;
Whereas it should never be official policy of the United States Government to disparage the Quran, Islam, or any religion in any way, shape, or form;

Whereas mistreatment of prisoners and disrespect toward the holy book of any religion is unacceptable and against civilized humanity;

Whereas the infringement of an individual’s right to freedom of religion violates the Constitution and laws of the United States: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

(1) condemns bigotry, acts of violence, and intolerance against any religious group, including our friends, neighbors, and citizens of the Islamic faith;

(2) declares that the civil rights and civil liberties of all individuals, including those of the Islamic faith, should be protected;

(3) recognizes that the Quran, the holy book of Islam, as any other holy book of any religion, should be treated with dignity and respect; and

(4) calls upon local, State, and Federal authorities to work to prevent bias-motivated crimes and acts against all individuals, including those of the Islamic faith.
LGF.

And who is do decide what is a violation of this act and what the penalty is? Does anyone see the dangere here? And why is it okay for liberals to burn the flag but is it bad to disrespect the Koran? I dispise hypocritical democrats. Wake up, America.

When the White House “encouraged” Newsweek to help repair the damage to America’s image caused by Newsweek’s false Koran-in-a-commode story, I don’t think this is what they had in mind.

Newsweek’s Washington Bureau Chief Daniel Klaidman appeared on Al Jazeera TV on May 19, and told the Arab world that, despite their retraction, Newsweek is “neutral” on whether any of this happened.
from LGF.