Tony Perkins got the short shrift on Fox News' Rivera at Large tonight. Megyn Kendall was guest hosting for Geraldo and she had two guests, law professor Marci Hamilton and Family Research Council's Tony Perkins. Perkins was outside the Kentucky church where the Justice Sunday broadcast was televised. He got one less chance to talk than Marci, and Marci got the last word. At the very end, Perkins tried to break in but couldn't. Just as he was about to chime in, Megyn said, "Sorry, Tony, have to wrap it up." I'm sure it wasn't intentional, it was probably a hard break or time was just up, but still, Perkins was not pleased.

When he did get a chance to speak earlier in the segment, Perkins said that Sen. Harry Reid and Democrats were bringing faith into the judicial nominations issue by talking about their "closely held personal beliefs." He repeated that phrase three or four times, it was clearly his "talking point." Marci made short shrift of it and her last sentence was that the American people aren't buying it and Frist is making a mistake. And then time was up so Mr. Perkins couldn't repeat his talking point.

The Lexington Herald Leader has this editorial on Injustice Sunday, opining that the "Radical right's anti-filibuster show [is] an assault on truth."

It's great to see a MSM publication avoid the use of the phrase "Christian right." There's nothing Christian about them. They are radicals, pure and simple.

Today, if all goes as planned, Kentucky will play host to a well-scripted immorality play in which political and religious extremists pummel truth beyond recognition and twist Christianity into an ugly caricature of itself in their crusade to give Dubya the opportunity to perform an extreme makeover on the federal courts, packing their benches with enough "faith first, law last" judges to tilt our legal system dangerously toward the model of the Spanish Inquisition.

On the remarks Dobson and Frist will make:

Today is 'Justice Sunday.' Read Frank Rich in Sunday's New York Times, A High-Tech Lynching in Prime Time:

It may not boast a plume of smoke emerging from above the Sistine Chapel, but it will feature its share of smoke and mirrors as well as traditions that, while not dating back a couple of millenniums, do at least recall the 1920's immortalized in "Elmer Gantry." These traditions have less to do with the earnest practice of religion by an actual church, as we witnessed from Rome, than with the exploitation of religion by political operatives and other cynics with worldly ends.

by TChris

As Tom DeLay's Republican colleagues wonder whether they can muster the courage to stand up to DeLay before he destroys their party, some former House Republicans are making their views known. Ten former representatives sent this letter to Speaker Dennis Hastert last week, expressing their "grave concern" about the decision to change the rules of the House ethics committee so that a party-line vote can protect representatives from investigation of their ethical violations.

We saw it as an obvious action to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay who had been admonished three times by the Ethics Committee for well-publicized misuse of money and/or power.

We felt even greater concern when the leadership then fired Chairman Joel Hefley and two other members of the Committee, replacing them with Members who had either given to or received funds from Mr. DeLay.

One of the signers, former GOP congressman Caldwell Butler, explains why he felt compelled, albeit reluctantly, to criticize Republican leadership in the House:

by TChris

Apparently secure in the belief that Texas will forever be a red state, the Bush administration slapped the state for defying the mandates of the administration's signature piece of legislation: No Child Left Behind.

For the last two years, the Texas Education Agency has exceeded the federal cap on how many students with learning disabilities can be exempted from regular state testing, mandated by the act, in favor of an easier exam.

To quash the defiance, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings fined Texas $444,282 yesterday, a relatively small chunk of the state's $1.1 billion allotment of federal education funds, "and a sliver of the state's $33 billion annual public education budget." That letter imposing the fine was released yesterday evening, the administration's favored time for disclosing unpleasant news.

Texas isn't standing alone in its rebellion.

by TChris

Republican pandering to religious extremists may be endangering the filibuster, but it may also endanger Republican support from religious people who understand the need to keep church and state apart.

As the Senate battle over judicial confirmations became increasingly entwined with religious themes, officials of several major Protestant denominations on Thursday accused the Senate Republican leader, Bill Frist, of violating the principles of his own Presbyterian church and urged him to drop out of a Sunday telecast that depicts Democrats as "against people of faith."

[Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, a top official of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.,] said Dr. Frist's participation in the telecast undermined "the historical commitment in our nation and our church to an understanding of the First Amendment that elected officials should not be portraying public policies as being for or against people of faith."

Tony Perkins, organizer of the telecast, claims that “people of faith … see a connection between the filibuster and judicial activism.” But polls show that more Americans support than oppose the filibuster, and Republican senators may be starting to realize that “extremists of faith” aren’t supported by mainstream “people of faith.”

A confrontation had been expected as early as next week, but it now appears that the showdown may be delayed.

It was Pope Benedict XVI, formerly known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who inserted the Catholic church into the 2004 election by ordering bishops to deny communion to abortion rights supporters, including candidate John Kerry.

In a June 2004 letter to US bishops enunciating principles of worthiness for communion recipients, Ratzinger specified that strong and open supporters of abortion should be denied the Catholic sacrament, for being guilty of a "grave sin."

He specifically mentioned "the case of a Catholic politician consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws," a reference widely understood to mean Democratic candidate Kerry, a Catholic who has defended abortion rights. The letter said a priest confronted with such a person seeking communion "must refuse to distribute it."

I linked to the June, 2004 letter in my earlier post on the Pope here, and quoted other language. Here is the language about the Catholic politician:

Could Rep. Tom DeLay be any more irresponsible and ignorant at the same time? Today, he went after Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy:

We've got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States? That's just outrageous," DeLay told Fox News Radio. "And not only that, but he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet? That is just incredibly outrageous.

Words of advice for DeLay: Zip it. You've become a caricature and a laughing stock. You are making a mockery both of the office you hold and your party. You're on your last leg. Is it too much to ask that you go out with a little dignity?

Update: To understand the issue regarding international law, see this post regarding Justice Ginsberg's remarks on the subject in 2003. And in the comments, TChris's excellent analysis:

by TChris

Thwarting the administration's (and Sen. Lugar's) hope for a quick committee vote in favor of John Bolton, a Republican today joined Democrats who wanted more time to consider new complaints about Bolton.

"I've heard enough today that I don't feel comfortable about voting for Mr. Bolton," Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said.

Bolton may be called back to testify before the committee a second time.

Via Cursor: Media Transparency wonders how the radical right will spend the "deathbed dollars" it received from the Terri Schiavo case.

While Terri Schiavo was still alive, her parents agreed to sell their donor list to a right wing direct mail outfit, and radical right wing Christian groups were raising bundles off the case.

Congressman Henry Hyde (R-IL) announced Monday on his 81st birthday that he will not seek reelection. Rep. Hyde has served in the House for more than three decades.

Hyde was an unrelenting opponent of abortion. But, he did some good stuff too. He was the driving force behind civil asset forfeiture reform. Here are his congressional remarks from 2000 when CAFRA, the reform bill, passed.

Unfortunately, he will also be remembered for his "youthful indiscretion" that came to light following the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.

On a related note, one of the best series of news articles on the law enforcement abuses in the asset forfeiture area is this one, Taking Cash into Custody, from the 1999 Kansas City Star, still available free online.

Embattled Texas Congressman Tom DeLay has sent out a mass email presenting his side of the ethics controversy. But, Daily DeLay argues that the e-mail is carefully worded to avoid the fact that he's already admitted violating House ethics rules.

For starters, DeLay violated the House rule against accepting contributions to his legal defense fund from lobbyists - and he's already admitted it. On February 1, 2005, Public Citizen released a study of the Tom DeLay Legal Expense Trust which found that the trust had accepted contributions from lobbyists. The trust admitted that the lobbyist contributions violated House ethics rules and returned the contributions.