It may be Halloween, but even Mayor Annise Parker can’t mask her real agenda. The Houston leader couldn’t have been clearer [Wednesday] that while she may have withdrawn the churches’ subpoenas, she has no intention of withdrawing from the battle over fundamental democracy.

Remember, this whole saga began when the Mayor pushed a bad special rights ordinance, which morphed into a voting rights violation when she discarded over 30,000 signed citizen petitions. From there, it mushroomed into an attack on the First Amendment, and pastors started to challenge her totalitarian rule. “I didn’t do this to satisfy them,” an indignant Parker said. “I did it because it was not serving Houston.”

While we’d like to think [Wednesday’s] move was the result of the Mayor’s changed heart, it’s more likely the result of overwhelming public pressure. No doubt the Mayor would like the national scrutiny to go away, but as long as she continues to use her power to intimidate voters, the spotlight will remain.

“I don’t want to have a national debate about freedom of religion when my whole purpose is to defend a strong and wonderful and appropriate city ordinance against local attack, and by taking this step today we remove that discussion about freedom of religion.” If the Mayor wants to remove the distraction of the subpoenas and put the spotlight on the bill, that’s fine with us. In fact, she may be doing the entire debate a favor. Because in the end, it’s the ordinance – and the invalidation of the petitions to overturn it – that should outrage people. The subpoenas were just a symptom of a deeper problem in Houston: political intimidation.

For now, Parker explains, the focus is on protecting her proposal. “We are going to continue to vigorously defend our ordinance against repeal efforts.” Even if it means trampling the entire democratic process to do it. “People should have the right to have this on the ballot and vote for it,” Dave Welch told reporters – which is exactly what they lost when the city invalidated a record number of petitions for reasons people still don’t understand.

With the circus of the subpoenas out of the way, the country can start focusing on the real problem: the sexual tyranny that comes with redefining marriage. As far as the five pastors targeted by Parker are concerned, pulling the subpoenas makes room for the real debate over religious liberty. This week, the five released a joint statement about their intent to fight on. “If and when she withdraws these subpoenas does nothing to mitigate her willingness to trash the Constitution for her own agenda and covering up her crime of stealing our right to vote.”

Their attorney, Andy Taylor, is happy to bring the media’s attention back to the lawsuit at hand. “The truth is, she’s using this litigation to try to squelch the voting rights of over a million well-intentioned voters here in the city of Houston,” Taylor pointed out. “It’s very simple why we filed a lawsuit: Because they won’t do what the city constitutional charter requires them to do.”

That arrogance and abuse of power is what’s driving this new momentum. Even after the Mayor’s press conference, FRC was still being flooded by sign-ups for I Stand Sunday – with more than 500 churches and 2,500 home groups registered from 49 states. Together, we’ll send the message that we will stand united in defending our religious liberty and our Christian faith. Join us, this Sunday at 6:00 p.m. (CT), and support cities across the country who are dealing with ordinances just like Houston’s – that all threaten to destroy the most fundamental freedoms of America.

Obama’s Chicken Pox

No one has ever accused the Obama diplomatic team of competence – but civility? That was at least assumed, until this week. In an interview with The Atlantic, common courtesy took a holiday when the topic of Israel came up with a senior member of the White House team. What had been a chilly relationship between the two allies became almost Antarctic when the staffer called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu everything from a coward to chicken manure.

After six years of backbiting and sniping at Netanyahu (remember the hot mic heard around the world?), these latest slurs show a level of disrespect that even historians are calling unprecedented. From disagreements over Iran to deep divides over nuclear weapons and Palestine, the two administrations have never seen eye to eye. Still, said Alistair Baskey, part of the President’s PR clean-up crew, insisted that “The comments in the article do not represent the administration’s view, and we think such comments are inappropriate and counterproductive… We’ve had arguments before, and we’ll have them again, but this will not come at the expense of the deep connection between our peoples and our countries.”

While Israel stands alone facing the entire world, its oldest ally is too busy undermining Netanyahu to focus on the important issues at hand. Despite the cringe-worthy headlines, the White House seems surprisingly unconcerned about the insult – an irony for a President who unleashed his whole Justice Department on Fox News reporter James Rosen for not revealing a source critical of the administration.

Fox’s Ed Henry pointed out the hypocrisy in a press conference [Wednesday]. “The administration also has a long track record over the many months about complaining about leaks involving national security… Why then are you kind of sloughing off this idea that you kind don’t care who leaked that story that insulted the prime minister of Israel? You have gone after reporters again and again in this administration to find out who leaked information to them. And then when it comes to insulting the prime minister, you don’t seem to care who leaked it.”

Press Secretary Josh Earnest didn’t have an answer. For more on the controversy, check out Ken Blackwell and Bob Morrison’s new CNS column, “Obama’s Dove Crows: Israel’s Hawk ‘a Chicken—!’.”

FRCA: Driving Its Point Home

The FRC Action crew made its final stop on the seven-state “Faith, Family & Freedom” bus tour [Thursday]. Rounding the last corner in Charlotte, North Carolina – the heart of NASCAR country – the 10-day tour saw over 3,800 people attending at the 22 stops. The rubber meets the road on November 4th in key elections around the country, and the bus tour connected with the drivers on the track – pro-family candidates and leaders – reminding people to go out to the polls and vote biblical values.

While the view from the grandstands is keeping us all on the edge of seats as the Senate will be determined in the final laps, we heard firsthand that values voters across the nation are going to get out to the ballot box for this important election. Thanks to all who participated on social media using the #FFFTOUR14 hashtag during the tour, and be sure to check out our social media and follow @FRCAction as our pro-family candidates head toward the winners circle in Washington, D.C. to defend the American family.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.