"Where is the outcry from PETA?"

Asks a commenter at the Isthmus post about the camel the "Daily Show" brought to the protest.

Where's the outcry? Probably hanging out with the outcry from the Freedom From Religion Foundation over the Reverend Jesse Jackson leading a prayer (with the crowd of protesters in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda):



(By the way, Jackson's prayer does not violate the Establishment Clause, and in fact, he has a free speech right to do what you see in that video. That is my official professorial opinion.)

By proclaiming a National Day of Prayer, "the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience."

So wrote Wisconsin's own Barbara Crabb, in a lawsuit brought by Madison's own Freedom From Religion Foundation.

But the injunction won't go into effect unless the ruling is upheld on appeal, which is, I think, unlikely. Meanwhile, the nefarious violator of the Establishment Clause is none other than our friendly President, Barack Obama, who says:

"I call upon the citizens of our nation to pray, or otherwise give thanks, in accordance with their own faiths and consciences, for our many freedoms and blessings, and I invite all people of faith to join me in asking for God's continued guidance, grace, and protection as we meet the challenges before us."

It's that special day when the President pushes you to pray... or otherwise give thanks... depending on how you feel about these things.

There, now, has anyone been made to feel "that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community"?

"We have a constitutional scholar in the White House who is disregarding the secular underpinnings of our government."

Said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of Freedom From Religion Foundation, which sued President Obama (and others) over the annual proclamation of a National Day of Prayer. Judge Barbara Crabb, here in the Western District of Wisconsin, agreed with the Foundation that there's a violation of the Establishment Clause. Obama will appeal that decision. So, it's Obama, pro-prayer. Are you surprised? (I'm not!)

"It is the ultimate Grinch to suggest there is no God during a holiday where millions of people around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ."

Said Mathew D. Staver, of Liberty University School of Law, reacting to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's "No god? ... No problem!" ads.

I like the way Staver blithely invokes a mythical character as he asserts that God is not a mythical character.