• American Constitution Society: ACS Launches New Judicial Nominations Website.
• Ian Millhiser @ Wonk Room: Report: Obama’s Judges Confirmed At Half The Rate Of Past Presidents.
• Kilian Melloy @ Edge Boston: Anti-Gay Blogger Opens Up On Radio.
• Good As You: One man (who celebrates Christmas), one woman (who observes Easter).
• Jonathan Chait: Reagan Worship For Fun And Profit.
• Timothy Kincaid @ Box Turtle Bulletin: Why the Cornyn meeting matters.
• Justin Elliott: Gingrich aide: Mosque at Ground Zero is like statue of Marx at Arlington.

• The ACLJ isn't just opposing Islam at home, they are opposing it abroad as well.
• The Washington Post has a long profile of Ken Cuccinelli.
• Peter LaBarbera is still complaining that I accused him and his allies of hating gays ... and then turns right around and calls the Gay Liberation Network a "radical homosexual hate group."
• Randall Terry blasts Priests for Life and Americans United for Life as "useless; they are collaborators with the baby killers themselves."
• I will never understand why people who get caught saying something stupid try to claim that they never said exactly what they were caught saying.
• Larry Klayman has absolutely no reason to believe that the judge in the Arizona immigration case was pressured by the Obama administration, but that is not going to stop him from launching a fishing expedition.
• Finally, the Liberty Counsel continues to serve as the law firm of choice for woman seeking to keep their former partners away from their children because "Ohio law, like nature, makes no provision for a child to have two mothers."

You may recall that earlier this year Gary McCullough, director of Christian Newswire, declared that adding Ellen DeGeneres as a host to "American Idol" would doom the show because Americans reject "perverse behavior" and "young girls and their traditional families are uncomfortable with the topic of homosexuality."

He followed that up May with an "I told you so" statement claming that the show's declining popularity was due to DeGeneres' homosexuality, which was driving away "a significant market share of parents and teens who used to watch the show together, [as] mom and dad decided that the subtle promotion of an 'alternate lifestyle' to their kids was not worth the entertainment trade off."

Well, now that DeGeneres has announced that she will be leaving the show, McCullough is back to take a victory lap:

There is a moral to the story of this DeGeneres-Idol saga. There is a limit to what Christian viewers will tolerate, and I am using "Christian" in the broadest of definitions. The revenue generating ability of television programming that promotes homosexuality has its limits. If primetime network programming becomes indistinguishable from HBO and Showtime someone else will take ownership of the family-friendly entertainment market.

The encouragement I take from the firing of DeGeneres is that someone in Hollywood understands what I have been saying; that the promotion of homosexuality and the production of family entertainment do not mix. There is money to be made and there are cultural battles to be fought; if you try to do both you will lose twice. That has been my business advice.

Cultural battles have two sides, one of which is immoral. Choose to fight on the immoral side of a cultural battle and any victory you experience will only be temporary. That is my spiritual advice.

On September 11, the folks at Dove World Church in Gainesville, Florida (perhaps best known for their "No Homo Mayor" signs a few months back) will be hosting "International Burn A Quran Day."

And this move it apparently so extreme that even some Religious Right leaders are denouncing it:

"Dove World Outreach Center, shame on you," responded Angel Nuñez, vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

"If I want to win a Muslim to Christ, I surely won't do it by burning the Qur'an in public and provoking them to hate us more," said Nuñez. "The greatest weapon a Christian has is godly love."

The National Association for Evangelicals released a statement Thursday urging the church, which averages 50 attendees each Sunday, to call off the event.

"It sounds like the proposed Qu'ran burning is rooted in revenge," said NAE president Leith Anderson. "The most powerful statement by the organizers of the planned September 11th bonfire would be to call it off in the name and love of Jesus Christ."

"I think it is appalling, disgusting, and brainless," said Richard Land, director of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "I think that those of us who find what they are doing abhorrent should say so, and say so publicly and often."

Land added that the church's actions "besmirch the reputation of our Savior, and that makes it blasphemy."

Of course, it should also be noted that while Land thinks burning the Koran is blasphemous, he's not exactly defender of Muslims or their rights, as he's also vehemently opposed to the proposed "Ground Zero Mosque": 

As a Baptist who believes in religious freedom and separation of church and state, I strongly support religious communities' right to have places of worship within reasonable distance of where they live. However, no religious community has an absolute right to have a place of worship wherever they choose, regardless of the community's objections.

I believe that putting a mosque at Ground Zero, or very close to Ground Zero, is unacceptable ... Having a mosque at Ground Zero would be the equivalent of having a Japanese Shinto shrine built next to the USS Arizona.

Of all the fear-mongering fundraising efforts I have seen from the Religious Right during Elena Kagan's confirmation process, this new email from the Liberty Counsel has got to be among the most absurd.

It starts off like any typical right-wing pitch:

We believe that Elena Kagan is a dangerous, radical activist whose ideologies run counter to virtually everything we hold dear as advocates of pro-family, pro-life and pro-faith values ... [T]here can be no doubt that, if confirmed, she would "Kaganize" the High Court by giving place to her political activism. Even worse, she would implement Barack Obama's dangerous socialist ideologies into law long after he is out of office.

But from there it goes completely off the rails, claiming that the organization needs donations because its budget and resources have been stretched thin not just from fighting the Kagan nomination, but because they have also been forced to fight a veritable army of "Kaganites" who are on a mission to destroy this nation:

Our litigation team has encountered Kagan's former students and colleagues, many of whom now work for the ACLU and other leftist organizations. I frequently come face to face with activists like Elena Kagan in courtrooms and in the media.

We have learned over the years that activists with Kagan's ideology fully intend to destroy the foundations of American faith, family and freedom.

We see firsthand the devastation these "Kaganites" cause in the lives of God-fearing citizens who love the principles upon which this nation was founded and want to lead honest, peaceable lives in a free nation.

Make no mistake, an intentional and strategic assault on our nation's core values of life, liberty and family has been underway for many years now. Today, the assault is being lead by the Obama Administration, its leftist allies, and thousands of radical activists like Elena Kagan. Sadly, many are Kagan's students and protégés who now hold office in our federal government.

Poor Liberty Counsel, all they want is to live honest, peaceable lives ... but they can't because they are constantly under attack by Elena Kagan clones.

Maybe after Janet Porter gets her anti-abortion movie made, she can get to work on turning LC's horror story into her next screenplay.

Via Joe.My.God it looks like we can expect yet another round of layoffs at Focus on the Family:

I’ve gotten a few calls from people saying Focus on the Family is planning to announce layoffs, more than 100, on Friday.

I called Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger on Monday. He did not confirm or deny the rumors. Later he sent me a statement, which you can read below.

“We are still working out the details of fitting our FY ‘11 budget to the figure our board of directors established,” Schneeberger wrote. “As soon as those decisions are final — we’re aiming for next week — we’ll share them with our ministry family first and then with our constituents and friends in the media.”

Focus has laid off hundreds of employees since 2002, when its workforce was about 1,400. Currently Focus has 860 employees. It’s latest round of layoffs was in September 2009, when 75 employees were let go.

Let's all hope that Adam Holz of Plugged In survives the cut so that he can continue his important work exposing how the new movie "The Kids Are Alight" is "even more subversive than Brokeback Mountain":

Focus on the Family's Plugged In is raising a warning flag about a movie called The Kids Are All Right, which is making its way into American theaters ... Plugged In spokesman Adam Holz tells OneNewsNow the comedy paints the idea of a "modern family" -- one stemmed from a same-sex couple -- in a positive light.

"The upshot of it all is not only does that cause some conflict in the family, but the man that they discover is their father, a man named Paul, ends up having an affair with one of the women in the couple," Holz reports.

Holz explains the film is a story about how infidelity can devastate a family -- but certainly not a family that viewers are used to seeing on screen by any way, shape, or form. So the conservative spokesman feels those are among several reasons why Christians should object.

"Not the least of which are several really explicit sex scenes -- one between two women and several between a man and a woman," the Plugged In spokesman gives as an example. "And so there's all kind of content here on top of the philosophical problems."

Holz rates the movie as a "hard R" and adds that the film is even more subversive than Brokeback Mountain.

Earlier this week I wrote about the absurd hypocrisy of Newt Gingrich decrying efforts by Muslims to impose their religious views on the world through Sharia while his very own organization is seeking to impose its religious views on the world through Dominionism.

One of the other points that Gingrich made in that same article was that Sharia tolerates marital rape, but I didn't bother to include that as it was not related to the point I was making at the time. 

But now that Gingrich made the same point in his speech yesterday at the American Enterprise Institute, let's revisit it:

In June 2009, a New Jersey state judge rejected an allegation that a Muslim man who punished his wife with pain for hours and then raped her repeatedly was guilty of criminal sexual assault, citing his religious beliefs as proof that he did not believe he was acting in a criminal matter. “This court believes that he was operating under his belief that it is, as the husband, his desire to have sex when and whether he wanted to, was something that was consistent with his practices and it was something that was not prohibited.” Thankfully, this ruling was reversed in an appellate court.

As I pointed out earlier this week, you know who else supports marital rape?  Phyllis Schlafly:

At one point, Schlafly also contended that married women cannot be sexually assaulted by their husbands.

"By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don't think you can call it rape," she said.

Schlafly said that back in 2007.  In 2008, Washington University in St. Louis decided to honor Schlafly with an honorary doctorate, which set off protests on campus ... to which Schlafly responsed by reiterating this view:

Could you clarify some of the statements that you made in Maine last year about martial rape?

I think that when you get married you have consented to sex. That's what marriage is all about, I don't know if maybe these girls missed sex ed. That doesn't mean the husband can beat you up, we have plenty of laws against assault and battery. If there is any violence or mistreatment that can be dealt with by criminal prosecution, by divorce or in various ways. When it gets down to calling it rape though, it isn't rape, it's a he said-she said where it's just too easy to lie about it.

Was the way in which your statement was portrayed correct?

Yes. Feminists, if they get tired of a husband or if they want to fight over child custody, they can make an accusation of marital rape and they want that to be there, available to them.

So you see this as more of a tool used by people to get out of marriages than as legitimate-

Yes, I certainly do.

And it's not like this was some anomaly, as Schlafly has a long history of making outrageous statements. I mean, doesn't anyone remember when she blamed the Virginia Tech massacre on the university's English Department?

And how does the Religious Right respond to such views?  By awarding Schlafly the James C. Dobson Vision and Leadership Award at last year's Values Voter Summit.

So, to sum up:  conservatives are outraged that Sharia says husbands are free to rape their wives, which is proof that Muslim values are at odds with our cherished America values ... while Phyllis Schlafly believes the exact same thing and she is honored a visionary and leader of the conservative movement.

• Miranda @ PFAW Blog: GOP Blocks 20 Judicial Nominees, Rebuffs Goodwin Liu Again
• Evan McMorris-Santoro @ TPM: Anti-Mosque Protester To TPM: Muslims Hate Dogs And America Too.
• Bartholomew's Notes On Religion: Karl Rove at Apocalyptic Christian Right Rally in Canada.
• Towleroad: Ruben Diaz Sr. Calls on Biblical Warriors to Fight Gay Marriage.
• Good As You: NOM featured speaker Brad Brandon's extremist quips.
• Tanya Somanader @ Think Progress: Iowa GOP Supports Amendment To Strip Obama’s Citizenship Because He Won The Nobel Peace Prize.
• Joe.My.God: Jerusalem's Deputy Mayor Plans Donkey Parade To Counter Gay Pride.
• Jim Burroway @ Box Turtle Bulletin: Scott Lively on the Daily Show.
• Jillian Rayfield @ TPM: TPM Braves Week Four Of Beck University.

• FRC needs donations to fight ENDA, which is "the pot of gold at the end of the homosexual 'rights' rainbow ... the end of moral opposition to counterfeit marriage, homosexuals in the military, the indoctrination of school children, the rest of the homosexual rights agenda, and the lottery for trial lawyers."
• The Christian Coalition takes credit for stopping the DISCLOSE Act.
• Phyllis Schlafly has endorsed Todd Tiahrt.
• Benny Hinn needs $2 million and insists he's not in a relationship with fellow evangelist Paula White.
• The Liberty Counsel stands alone in supporting the court decision striking down Arizona's anti-immigrant law.
• The Western Center for Law & Policy has released a "Voters Guide for the Serious Christian" [PDF].
• Gary Bauer support efforts to boost development and production of electric cars, but wants it known that he's not going "whacko green."

Why does it seem that every time something happens that doesn't fit with Bryan Fischer's political agenda, his response is to warn that said development will lead to violence? 

For instance, he has insisted that the country must deport entire families because it "makes vigilante justice unnecessary." Similarly, when Congress passed health care reform, he responded by comparing the federal government to trespassers and squatters who should be shot, while warning that only representative who take seriously the 10th Amendment can save this nation from impending bloodshed.  Shortly thereafter, he followed that up with another warning that citizens will "use all the morally and constitutionally justified means at their disposal to defend their inalienable rights to life, liberty and property" and "resist the tyranny imposed on us by the Intolerable Act of 2010."

And now is he issuing similar warnings in response to the court decision striking down Arizona's immigration law:

We have reached a point now where as a culture we are on the verge of civil unrest for one reason: the ruling class is determined not to let us govern ourselves.

We are on the verge of collapsing into violence and vigilante justice, as more and more Americans come to realize that the ruling class is their enemy and not their friend. More and more of them are becoming convinced that their government will not protect them and will not punish the guilty, and they will conclude that they must now protect themselves not only from criminals but from their own government.

...

What I am saying is that it is inevitable that people, whether rightly or wrongly, will begin taking the law into their own hands if their own government will not protect them from the bad guys and “punish those who do evil" ... We are already at a place where more Americans are afraid of their government than they are of criminals. Our government in many ways is now a terror to those who do good and a protector of those who do evil. This state of affairs cannot long endure.

Notice how Fischer always frames these warnings so that, if violence does happen, it will be the government's fault because it has pushed the citizens too far?  

Fischer is always quick to assert that he does not support such violence ... but he sure does seem to think that violence would not only be an understandable response, but actually a justified response to the increasing "tyranny" of the federal government. 

You know who we haven't mentioned here in a while?  James Dobson. 

Ever since he left Focus on the Family, he has sort of fallen off the radar, but rest assured that he is still hard at work advancing his Religious Right agenda, only on a much smaller scale with his new effort "Family Talk With James Dobson."

For instance, earlier this month he hosted a two-day discussion with Tony Perkins and Gary Bauer about how President Obama is on a mission to systematically destroy the Christian faith and another two-day discussion with Chuck Colson and Robert George about the same thing.

And he has also penned a new memo explaining that God told him he was not allowed to retire because "there is still too much work to be done" and to that end Family Talk will soon be launching a 501c4 political organization so that they can take a more active role in the fight: 

I have never been more concerned about this great nation and its families than I am right now. Every day, it seems, another tenant of traditional morality goes down in flames. When I left Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles and USC School of Medicine, the institution of the family was already showing signs of cracking. I’m not claiming to be a prophet, but I foresaw three decades ago what we are experiencing as a nation today. The Judeo-Christian system of values was despised even then in some circles. The only thing that has changed is that the assault on the family and cultural morality has become much more vicious.

The institution of marriage is undergoing a complete overhaul. For example, despite the fact that 30 out of 30 states have voted to define marriage as being exclusively between one man and one woman, various courts have begun chipping away at that foundation. One of them, a district court in Massachusetts, struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, DOMA, on July 8th, which was passed by the votes of 427 members in Congress, and signed by President Bill Clinton. It has been the law of the land since 1996. A single, arrogant, imperious judge has decided to declare the law null and void. The Obama Administration might not choose to appeal the ruling, which causes me anguish.

On another front, the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court is considering the constitutionality of Proposition 8, by which the exclusivity of traditional marriage between one man and one woman was affirmed by the people of California. The Ninth Court is the most liberal appellate court in the land, yet the future of marriage rests in its hands, at least for now. A decision is expected any day.

The attack on America’s institutions continues in full swing. The National Day of Prayer has been declared unconstitutional, and Congress is about to end the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy for the military, which will make open homosexuality legal in all branches of our Armed Forces.

The country is being systematically bankrupt, and beginning January 1, 2011, every family is going to be hit with draconian new taxes. Even the marriage penalty tax is scheduled to be reinstated. We MUST fight this attempt to undermine the financial integrity of the family!

Judge Elena Kagan, President Obama’s selection for the open seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, may be confirmed by the time you get this letter. She has encountered little opposition from Republicans to this point. Kagan is a supporter of partial birth abortion and holds numerous other leftist positions.

And on it goes. This is a time for Christian people to be in fervent prayer for our country.

Family Talk will fight with all its resources to defend the family against those who would destroy it. We will wage war on those who would manipulate children for political purposes, or try to weaken the military. These and other institutions of our democracy need all the help they can get. We want to be counted among those who will stand firm against the forces that are trying to bring Western Civilization down.

In order to do that job more effectively, we hope to start a 501(c)(4) organization just as soon as we are able to accomplish it financially. This will be a vitally important addition to the Family Talk tool chest, helping us do even more to address the moral and cultural issues confronting the family. Our day will come, but it is not here yet.

Of course, that might have to wait a bit because elsewhere in the memo, Dobson reports that "only 25% of the required funds are coming in to support Family Talk even at current levels."

But perhaps the most interesting revelation is that Dobson admits that though he intended to eventually step away from Focus on the Family, the Board basically forced him out this year:  

There is another reason for my departure. There is wisdom in the old adage that two captains can sink a ship. Jim Daly was my choice to succeed me, and we saw many things similarly. It gradually became clear, however, that we had significant philosophical differences. Jim has expressed his views on these matters in numerous articles and interviews. I have not spoken about them until now, but my perspectives are quite different, especially when it comes to confronting those who would weaken the family and undermine our faith. When I recognized these divergent views, therefore, I knew that I would be leaving, probably on June 1st or August 27th of this year. Our board of directors agreed but asked us to complete the transition on February 26th. Thus, my tenure at Focus on the Family suddenly came to an end.

The Family Research Council has recently been uploading selected clips from the anti-DADT repeal webcast it hosted last week ... and they are selecting which videos to highlight very carefully.

For some reason, they haven't chosen to highlight Oliver North claiming that repealing DADT will lead to NAMBLA members being welcomed into the military or Perkins and Sergeant First Class Benjamin Ratcliff warning that soldiers might be reluctant to "spoon" in a life-threatening situation because they might have concerns about the guy next to them.

Instead, they are highlighting things like this clip of Ratcliff saying that the military should not be used to advance a social agenda and that if DADT is repealed, it'll make it much harder to fill recruitment goals:

The interesting thing is that in between these statements that FRC edited together, Ratcliff stated that even if DADT was repealed, he would continue to serve in the military and that he would urge others to do so as well because even though he would disagree with the policy, he loves his country more. I even made a video of it, juxtaposing Ratcliff's statement with the Bryan Fischer parroting this standard right-wing talking point during the webcast:

But FRC completely edited out Ratcliff's statement - in fact, the statement they did include from Ratcliff saying recruitment would be made harder came about because Tony Perkins was trying to get Ratcliff back on message.  Here is the transcript of the entire exchange:

MR. PERKINS: I’m sure this thought has come to you and you may have even been asked about it. If someone considering getting into the military were to ask you if this policy changes, what are you going to say to them?

BENJAMIN RATCLIFF: I would tell them to serve anyway. If all men of courage and men that had a moral compass were to leave the military, then we wouldn’t have a military. There’d be nobody left to serve and protect. So I don’t really – I would serve regardless of what comes out of Washington. Even though I disagree with it strongly, I love my country more. So I would understand if parents had concerns. I was recruited for several years and I sat and listened to parents’ concerns, talked with them. They asked me a lot of questions about the wars and a lot about the liberal agenda. But I would tell them, serve anyway, absolutely.

MR. PERKINS: But you bring up an important point, and I do think as long as there’s a country here and there are those who love this country, there are going to be those who are willing to serve. But as a recruiter, you know that in an all-volunteer force, it’s very difficult to meet those quotas to keep the ranks filled with the young men and women who are willing to serve. Is this going to make it easier or is it going to make it harder?

MR. RATCLIFF: Absolutely not. It’s going to make it very much harder; very much harder.

MR. PERKINS: And this is going to be at the forefront of many of those parents’ minds.

MR. RATCLIFF: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And recruiting and retention is at the top of all the commanders’ lists. Every commander across all the armed forces, recruiting is a top priority for all of them, so this would definitely degrade that fight.

Ratcliff clearly asserted that he and others like him who love their country would serve in the military regardless of the status of DADT, but FRC selectively edited that bit out because it undermined their agenda.

On Monday, a federal judge ruled in favor of Eastern Michigan University in a case brought by the Alliance Defense Fund of behalf of a former student in the university's counseling program who was dismissed from the program after she refused to counsel a gay client. 

The student contended that her religious views prohibited her from counseling such a patient and sued the university for discrimination while the university contended that it adheres to the American Counseling Association's code of ethics which requires counselors to provide nonjudgmental assistance to patients.

The court ruled in the school's favor ... and Lou Engle see it as a dangerous precedent:

So says prayer leader Lou Engle, who worries the decision this week could set "the precedent for Christian students being expelled in universities across America who refuse to compromise biblical views on morality" ..."The federal judge is declaring that Christian kids do not have a voice to stand for a moral truth [and their] biblical convictions on the issue of homosexuality and immorality in the nation," said Engle, founder of TheCall, a prayer movement that has drawn thousands of college-age youth. "This is a profound moment."

But Engle also sees a bright side, in that this coming persecution will provide good practice for Christians in refusing to accept the Mark of the Beast:

Engle said Christian students will be forced to take a stand. "We're in the days of Daniel. ... You've got to trust that God will bring you divine promotion when you refuse to bow down to the image," he said. "To compromise for the sake of getting a grade, you're practicing to receive the mark of the beast."

"In other words, if you can't stand in this day, how are you going to stand when the real pressure heats up?" Engle continued. "We're going to find out who the real Christians are."

Earlier this week we noted that Personhood Colorado had brought Alan Keyes into the state for a press conference at which it unveiled its new ad campaign featuring a fictitious slave speaking out against the evils of abortion.

Well, we've finally managed to track down the audio of the ad:

I'm George Stevens and I'm a person. I was held as property as a child. Even before my birth I was called a slave in an America you wouldn't recognize. But folks like you helped me escape North to freedom and in 1864, I joined the infantry to fight for my country. I fought so all slaves would be recognized as persons, not property. And we won.

But today in Colorado, there are still people called property - children - just like I was. And that America you thought you wouldn't recognize is all around you and these children are being killed.

This November, vote "yes" on Amendment 62. Amendment 62 declares unborn children persons, not property. And that's the America I fought for.

So visit PersonhoodColorado.com and in November, vote "yes" on 62. It's the right thing to do.

When this measure was on the ballot back in 2008, it lost by a 3 to 1 margin - it even lost in El Paso County, which is the home of Colorado Springs, Focus on the Family, and Dr. James Dobson, 65% to 35%.

But apparently Personhood Colorado organizers think that running ads with fake slaves comparing the measure to the Civil War is a winning strategy this time around. 

• PFAW Statement: Federal Judge Blocks Portions of Arizona’s SB1070.
• Alan Colmes: Florida Church Plans “Burn A Koran Day” September 11.
• Brian Beutler @ TPM: Sherrod Critic: She Used 'Lynching' To Gin Up Democratic Voters.
• Towleroad: FRC Hits Holland, MI with Anti-Gay Ad Based on Discredited Pamphlet as City Considers Anti-Discrimination Ordinance.
• The Advocate: Elisabeth Hasselbeck Cracks Lesbian Code.
• Alvin McEwen: Court knocks down latest religious right cause célèbre.
• Eric Boehlert: Why are RW pundits suddenly silent about NJ Gov. Christie? Or, paging Rush Limbaugh.
• The Big Picture: Fools Gold: Inside the Glenn Beck Goldline Scheme.
• Finally, the quote of the day from Jonathan Chait, responding to the Joe Klein quote I used as the QOTD yesterday: "My view is that Gingrich says dumb, angry things constantly and without regard to electoral ambitions. He is a dumb, angry man."