Sunday, April 24, 2005

I Can't Register For Justice Sunday!

This is freaking me out. Even on the Family Research Council (FRC) web page, they somehow know it's me as, no matter which browser I have tried, I can't get the form that allows me to get more information on where I can view Justice Sunday: Stop the Filibuster Against People of Faith.

I'm kind of a technical person, so I can picture the background code being something like this:


if $USER = "Yellow Dog" then $DONT-LET-LIBERAL-SCUM-IN done.


But maybe I'm just getting paranoid, with the way the United States is looking these days.


So, it's Justice Sunday and time for the Religious Right's Hateapaloooza in prime time, 7:00 PM, EDT.


It'll be interesting to hear what Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and his crew of self-righteous boobs have to say. We already know how FRC President Tony Perkins – loved him in Psycho – has been promoting this event.


In his latest e-mail to his twisted flock, he ominously intones that "A day of decision is upon us. Whether it was the legalization of abortion, the banning of school prayer, the expulsion of the 10 Commandments from public spaces, or the starvation of Terri Schiavo, decisions by the courts have not only changed our nation's course, but even led to the taking of human lives. As the liberal, anti-Christian dogma of the left has been repudiated in almost every recent election, the courts have become the last great bastion for liberalism."


Tony, babe, aren't most of the judges you're pissed at about the Terri Schiavo episode Reagan and Bush (Senior) appointees?


But here's where he really gets them revved up: "For years activist courts, aided by liberal interest groups like the ACLU, have been quietly working under the veil of the judiciary, like thieves in the night, to rob us of our Christian heritage and our religious freedoms."


And he sternly informs them of what will happen if the filibuster is left in place – like it was when the Right spent eight years harassing Bill Clinton: "If this effort fails, the best we can hope for are likely to be mediocre judges who meet the approval of Ted Kennedy, Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton."


In today's New York Times, Frank Rich tries to clear the air by pointing out how hypocritical the Republicans are to complain about the structure of the Senate filibuster mechanism.


"In truth, Bush judicial nominees have been approved in exactly the same numbers as were Clinton second-term nominees. Of the 13 federal appeals courts, 10 already have a majority of Republican appointees. So does the Supreme Court. It's a lie to argue, as Tom DeLay did last week, that such a judiciary is the "left's last legislative body," and that Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Reagan appointee, is the poster child for "outrageous" judicial overreach. Our courts are as highly populated by Republicans as the other two branches of government."


Do your best to tune in tonight, folks... I have yet to find out where I can see it given that I live in a fairly liberal area of Southern Westchester County. But I'm going to try to find it somewhere.


As Tony Perkins gravely warns us: "[the judiciary] poses a greater threat to representative government than terrorist groups."


This is a little bit like watching a car accident in real-time. I'm horrified by what is happening but, at the same time, I can't wait to see what happens with this spectacle.