Political Points — Russ, Ralph, and the surfin’ Rabbi

Welcome to Political Points, where every weekday by 10:30 am, we count down the minutes to next Tuesday.

**Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.), he of the footnote-in-history appointment to the U.S. Senate*, tries hard to preserve his legacy by naming his best buddies in the august body.

Unfortunately, according to the Hill, he mistakes Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) for someone named Ralph Feinberg.

Hey, it could have been worse — he might have named him as Ralph Fiennes, best known for playing a Nazi war criminal.

*Appointed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has since sought to preserve his legacy as a reality show star.

**From Ha’aretz, Rabbi Nachum Shifren, the "surfing rabbi" and Tea Partier vying for a seat in the California state senate, campaigns far, far afield and joins the uber-nationalist English Defense League in a demonstration outside Israel’s embassy in London.

Shifren tells the Jewish Chronicle:

I am coming to the UK to express my solidarity with the patriots in England who are on the front line in the war on jihad and stealth jihad.

No word on his views on surf nazis.

**Florida State Sen. Dan Gelber, who is Jewish, is in the odd position of refuting claims he is opposed to funding Jewish schooling by relaying the full context of remarks — opposing funding for Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The Sun-Sentinel reports that Committee for Florida’s Education, one of those new groups that don’t have to reveal funding, is behind a mass mailing targeting Gelber, a Democrat who is running for state attorney general, as "toxic to Jewish education." 

The mailer pulls quotes Gelber in which called for tighter controls on vouchers, Gelber’s campaign says, and did not oppose vouchers per se. In one case, Gelber’s remarks stemmed from his concerns that funds for the Islamic Academy of Florida were headed for terrorists. The school was linked to Sami Al-Arian, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to charges of assisting PIJ.

**And Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) tells me yesterday that a Republican congress would pull Israel funding out of the foreign operations budget:

"Part of the dilemma is that Israel has been put in the overall foreign aid looping," he said when asked about the increasing tendency of Republicans in recent years to vote against foreign operations appropriations. "I’m hoping we can see some kind of separation in terms of tax dollars going to Israel."

Cantor also wants to link funding for the Palestinian Authority to its recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. More in stories coming later today and tomorrow.