It seems hard to believe in a country that honors church-state separation, but Prison Fellowship Ministries, founded by ex-Watergate felon Charles Colson, was effectively given an entire wing of Iowa’s Newton Correctional Facility a few years ago, and Colson’s group created what was basically a state-sponsored evangelism program (called InnerChange).

A federal court struck down funding for the program as a blatant violation of the First Amendment, explaining, “For all practical purposes, the state has literally established an Evangelical Christian congregation within the walls of one of its penal institutions.... There are no adequate safeguards present, nor could there be, to ensure that state funds are not being directly spent to indoctrinate Iowa inmates.”

The case (filed by my former employer, Americans United for Separation of Church and State) went to the 8th Circuit on appeal, and today the appeals court agreed that the faith-based program is unconstitutional.

Americans United presented evidence that inmates who took part in InnerChange were given better treatment and perks that were not available to others, including better housing and expedited access to classes required for parole…. At trial, inmates testified that they were pressured to convert to evangelical Christianity, and that the beliefs of Roman Catholics and other faiths were ridiculed. The court record showed that non-Christians were frequently referred to as “unsaved,” “lost,” “pagan” and “sinful” by InnerChange staff. The program required staffers to abide by an evangelical statement of faith.

In a unanimous decision joined by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the appeals court upheld a lower court ruling issued on June 2, 2006, except that it reversed a portion of the lower court ruling that required InnerChange to return funds it received prior to June 2006. InnerChange will still need to return funds it received after the June 2006 ruling.

It's the latest major setback for Bush's faith-based initiative.

Happy Tuesday, harlots and hooligans. Melissa McEwan, trash-talking proprietress of Shakesville, here again, coming to you live from my parents' basement, where I dream up elaborate conspiracy theories while geeked on Bush Derangement Syndrome, clad in my pink footie pajamas and subsisting on handfuls of Dirty Hippie brand granola. But enough about Howard Kurtz's fever dreams. Back in reality, here's today's collection of shiny pennies:

Taylor Marsh explains how Obama isn't the anti-Hillary—and Christopher couldn't agree more. Mike the Mad Biologist says Obama has lost his vote.

Bint Alshamsa reports that public housing may be another victim in the very long line of them left in NOLA by Katrina, incompetence, and institutional apathy. Meanwhile, Scout Prime notes that a homeless encampment by New Orleans City Hall has tripled in size, and there are now an estimated 12,000 people homeless in the metro area.

Chet Scoville would like you to know that the corporate state owns you now. And here I've been bitching about the government trying to take over just my womb when they were planning to take over all of me!

Steven Hart discovers that the Creation Museum is about to become an even bigger, better moron magnet. In other weep-for-our-future news, Comandante Agí reports that automatic flush toilets will destroy America by giving children anxiety. Rachel updates the story of Katelyn Kampf, the girl whose parents abducted her last year to try to force her to get an abortion, because her baby's father is black.

As the action of the writer's union continues to make news, Linkmeister looks at the state of American unionism. (Hint: With Wal-Mart now being America's largest private employer, it ain't pretty.)

And some Quick Hits: Women Can't Cook … Bill Clinton is Emperor Palpatine … Beth Ditto Pukes on Homophobes … and David Broder's a Dick!

Seeya tomorrow! If you've got any hot tips, email me at shakespeares_sister at Comcast dot net.

Via ABC:

A federal prosecutor accused of flying to Detroit last month to have sex with a 5-year-old girl committed suicide Friday in his cell in a Milan federal prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John D.R. Atchison was found unresponsive, taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead at 10:17 a.m., Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Felicia Ponce said.

Atchison, of Gulf Breeze, Fla., was being held in a special housing unit in the prison, about 36 miles southwest of Detroit. Read more...

Melissa McEwan at Shakesville thinks Rudy Giuliani is a weirdo. That's Miss Weirdo to you.

If Alexis Debat, the ABC terrorism analyst who made up interviews, had been a liberal, conservative blogs would be all over this scandal. Well, at least you have Media Bloodhound, who is still on the case.

Man Eegee tells us the good people of Virginia want to build brand new housing for illegal immigrants. By Neddie Jingo says it all sounds eerily familiar.

Ali Etarez reports on a group pursuing a superterrorist who is completely invisible. Terrifying.

Only Sayin' thinks that America is a little girl.

Mahablog and the Moderate Voice have extensive coverage of the violent crackdown on the monks' protest in Burma. The Osterley Times has some video of the protests. But I agree with the vast majority of liberal blogs (present company excepted), who have given this story a collective yawn and not bothered to cover it at all even though the rest of the world thinks it's pretty important. Burma Schmurma, I say.

This has been another Blog Round Up hosted by noted conservative blogger Jon Swift. Send your tips to me at modestjonswift [at] gmail [dot] com, but please stop flooding me with all those Burma stories.

SteveAudio: Petraeus is blowing smoke out of his ass. And the only ones buying it are TeeVee talking heads, and the BushCo 28%.

Interesting Times: "Instructions" (yes, that was the word used) from the Office of the Vice-president to roll out a campaign for war with Iran in the week after Labor Day

The Moderate Voice: Built by imported workers on 42 hectares of land, nestled amongst burnt-out homes and shops wrecked by suicide bombs in Baghdad, a city in ruins. It's the new U. S. Embassy!

The Reaction: Part of an ongoing series on stories from around the world that deserve more attention than they are getting -- at least than they are getting here in North America.

Talking Points Memo: I know this might come as a shock to some Americans--namely, the 28%, Kool-Aid swilling zombies--but Chimpy's plan to assist homeowners who are poised to lose their homes in the midst of the nation's crunch and housing slump is very thin, leaves most affected homeowners behind, and duplicates efforts that are already underway. Some of us remember another one of his plans: His so-called 'ownership society' concept which, supposedly, encouraged Americans to 'buy' and 'own' their own houses.

Crooked Timber: Evil, capitalist airports

Back in 2001, Republican activist Linda Chavez was Bush’s first choice to serve as Secretary of Labor, looking out for the interests of working people nationwide. She ran into a little trouble when the White House learned that Chavez failed tell the Bush gang about housing a Guatemalan woman whom she hired illegally to clean her house, and then encouraged a neighbor not to talk about the cleaning woman to the FBI when agents asked questions during her background check. Oops.

But never fear, this was a temporary setback for Chavez, who has built a successful network of political action committees. The problem, as the WaPo reported in a fascinating front-page expose today, is that Chavez’s PACs don’t appear to do anything — except raise money.

In the years since she was forced to pull her nomination as Bush’s labor secretary after admitting payments to an illegal immigrant, Chavez and her immediate family members have used phone banks and direct-mail solicitations to raise tens of millions of dollars, founding several political action committees with bankable names: the Republican Issues Committee, the Latino Alliance, Stop Union Political Abuse and the Pro-Life Campaign Committee. Their solicitations promise direct action in the “fight to save unborn lives,” a vigorous struggle against “big labor bosses” and a crippling of “liberal politics in the country.”

That’s not where the bulk of the money wound up being spent, however.

Josh Marshall has more.

hi kids, skippy the bush kangaroo here, with the blog round up!

forget about the war on terror, what about the war on zombies? anyway, here's the top 20 things a presidential candidate can't say. and one thing we need more of, is limericks about democrats!

18 homosexuals face the death penalty in nigeria under islamic law, but don't worry, there's plenty of christian proselytizing in our own military (starring stephen baldwin). and jesus-shaped grease stains go for big bucks!

the angry bear wants to help you learn which candidate most agrees with you. but the gop figures scolding you is the best way to raise money. even worse, pavarotti is in the hospital!

concluding the economic questions of the week, how's your housing bubble? how's your stock market? how's your global economy? and just how smart are your economists?

well, kids, that does it for my guest stint at the round up. i want to thank mike for giving me this opportunity, and the lovely nicole for helping me with formatting, and also a big thanks to john for permission to steal the idea for skippy's late nite music club. it's been swell, and i'll see you all in blogtopia, and yes, i coined that phrase!

Ever since Kevin Drum invented it, centuries ago in blog years, Friday Cat Blogging has been a tradition in the reality-based community. So, here's a collection of Friday Felinity, in no particular order, they're all cute, dammit. (After giving image and the name of each cat, I've added a parenthetical that links to the cat's staffperson).

The Mighty Fang (Bad Tux, gold bug stomper).

Continue reading »

This op-ed appeared last week in a small newspaper and got a pretty big response. I suspect that the author's feelings are all too common right now and it has to make Republicans nervous:

I supported the Iraq War in the beginning, but as its mismanagement grew, so did my disillusionment. Yet I remained a Republican.

Then the rains came. When the New Orleans levees gave way, so did my belief in the Republican Party. This was an American city, pulverized by nature - though with plenty of notice, unlike an earthquake - and although the local and state authorities (which were Democrats) reacted with monumental ineptitude, I had confidence that a Republican administration would get the situation under control and lead a swift rebuilding.

That hasn't happened. Instead, a great American city has been left to pull itself out of the mess while thousands of American citizens haven't been able get decent housing or assistance from the federal government, which is firmly in the hands of the Republicans. Maybe the Republicans were grossly incompetent or simply indifferent because most of the hardest-hit victims were poor or non-white or both. No matter what, a Republican administration showed itself to be either monumentally inept or cruelly, methodically callous.

Either way, I didn't want anything more to do with the Republicans. So I declared myself an Independent and have been so since.

  Reuters:

A portion of a sixth-floor ABC News office housing "Good Morning America" was closed down for five hours Friday afternoon after an employee found a letter containing an unidentified white powder.

A portion of a floor in the building at 147 Columbus Ave. was shut down after 1 p.m. when the unnamed employee found the letter. Addressed to "Good Morning America" weatherman Sam Champion, the letter mentioned anthrax.[..]

ABC News said police were questioning a "person of interest" in connection with the case. The news organization said that "Good Morning America" operations would resume Friday and continue throughout the weekend. Even though tests for anthrax came back negative, the area would be thoroughly cleaned.

Although there was some discussion that Champion as to why was targeted, a former studio temp admitted to sending the letter and is being questioned.