Specter & Santorum Reject "Bipartisan" Global Warming Letter

PennEnvironment complains that Senators Specter and Santorum have opted out of signing a letter to President Bush calling for action on global warming.

According to their news item, the anti-global warming message of the letter enjoyed bipartisan support. As proof of the bipartisanship, PennEnvironment points out that stalwart conservative Republicans such as Senators Lincoln Chafee and Susan Collins have signed the letter.

In other news, Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman spoke in favor of the Iraq War, revealing the bipartisan support for the war. Right.

Department of Defense & WMDs

American Forces Press Service

The 500 munitions discovered throughout Iraq since 2003 and discussed in a National Ground Intelligence Center report meet the criteria of weapons of mass destruction, the center's commander said here today.

"These are chemical weapons as defined under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and yes ... they do constitute weapons of mass destruction," Army Col. John Chu told the House Armed Services Committee.

The Chemical Weapons Convention is an arms control agreement which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. It was signed in 1993 and entered into force in 1997.

...

The munitions addressed in the report were produced in the 1980s, Maples said. Badly corroded, they could not currently be used as originally intended, Chu added.

While that's reassuring, the agent remaining in the weapons would be very valuable to terrorists and insurgents, Maples said. "We're talking chemical agents here that could be packaged in a different format and have a great effect," he said, referencing the sarin-gas attack on a Japanese subway in the mid-1990s.

This is true even considering any degradation of the chemical agents that may have occurred, Chu said. It's not known exactly how sarin breaks down, but no matter how degraded the agent is, it's still toxic.

"Regardless of (how much material in the weapon is actually chemical agent), any remaining agent is toxic," he said. "Anything above zero (percent agent) would prove to be toxic, and if you were exposed to it long enough, lethal."

What Change?

Perry Christopher wonders what changes Bob Casey is promising to bring to Washington.

"Bob thinks it's important to go out and travel the state, especially some of the smaller areas, and get out his message of change in Washington and focusing on Pennsylvania priorities," said Casey spokesman Larry Smar.

What changes will Bob Casey, Jr bring to Washington, DC?

• more power for Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy and others
• more power for pro-abortion groups
• another advocate for gay/lesbian and transgender(?) groups
• another supporter of amnesty for illegal aliens
• Bob Casey is another politician who will look the other way when congressional pay raises are voted on!

No thanks! Rick Santorum shares our values, voted against amnesty for illegal aliens, and voted against congressional pay raises.

Braille Coins

A Braille Silver Dollar will be issued in three years.

The legislation, which passed the Senate on Thursday after receiving approval in the House in February, authorizes the Mint to issue up to 400,000 silver-dollar commemorative coins in 2009. Braille was born in France in 1809.

The coins will feature Louis Braille's image and the first Braille symbol ever minted by the U.S. Treasury, raised dots that will spell out "Brl," the contraction for Braille.

Under the legislation, a $10 surcharge will be added to each coin, with money from the coin sales going to support programs to help the blind.

The National Federation of the Blind said that it will match the money raised through the coin sales with its own fundraising efforts to support Braille literacy programs.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who sponsored the Senate bill along with Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said the coin sales would help spread the benefits of teaching the Braille system.

"We need to ensure that more people _ blind and sighted _ are educated and well aware of Braille's amazing system and the vast benefits associated with it," Dodd said in a statement.

Catholic Church Stem Cell Non-Story

The Telegraph tells us something about the Catholic Church and embryonic stem cell research which is not news:

"Scientists who carry out embryonic stem cell research and politicians who pass laws permitting the practice will be excommunicated, the Vatican said yesterday.

"Destroying human embryos is equivalent to an abortion. It is the same thing," said Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family.

"Excommunication will be applied to the women, doctors and researchers who eliminate embryos [and to the] politicians that approve the law," he said in an interview with Famiglia Christiana, an official Vatican magazine."

This statement caused some 'Catholics' to ignorantly shake their fists at the Vatican:

"Prof Galli likened the Vatican to the Taliban and added: "I can bear excommunication. I was raised as a Catholic, I share Catholic values, but I am able to make my own judgment on some issues and I do not need to be told by the Church what to do or to think.

"I will be, together with Elena Cattaneo [a scientist working in the University of Milan] the first to be affected by the excommunication and then there are two other labs that I know using imported embryonic stem cells.""

If you as a Catholic commit a grave sin against the Catholic Church, you become ineligible to receive the Sacraments until you repent. If you offend the Taliban, you get your head chopped off. The hyperbole involved in comparing the two is quite ridiculous.

No, Galli, you will not be the first to be excommunicated, because you have already been excommunicated. By taking part in something which is the equivalent of abortion, you excommunicate yourself:

"Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense.
The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae," "by the very commission of the offense," and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society."

-Catechism of the Catholic Church 2272

There's nothing new about that, but the media sure do hyperventilate every time someone at the Vatican talks about established Catholic social teaching.

On the Road...

John Micek writes about the Swann & Casey bus tours.

Unlike Swann, who's starting in the southeast, Casey's "New Direction" tour starts out in southwestern Pennsylvania, and he'll swing through central Pennsylvania later this month, The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reports this morning.

"Bob thinks it's important to go out and travel the state, especially some of the smaller areas and get out his message of change in Washington and focusing on Pennsylvania priorities," Casey spokesguy Larry Smar said, even as we lost interest in transcribing his remarks.

The first leg of Casey's tour has him in southwestern Pennsylvania through Wednesday. From there, he'll hook up with the recently reunited Pink Floyd for a series of dates in Europe and Scandinavia.

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

The SMS Effect

Senator Santorum is the first to use SMS in a Senate campaign.

Santorum debuted his SMS campaign at a Women For Rick breakfast last week hosted by Mary Matalin, who demonstrated the new technology for the open event. Internet director Mindy Finn said they chose the all-female crowd because women tend to be busier and use their cell phones in more creative ways. Santorum's camp asked for cell phone numbers at the door, and later sent guests a thank-you message for attending. Starting in July, the campaign plans to use more of the technology with issue-based messages, such as a text on Santorum's work on immigration. They also have plans to integrate SMS into their direct mail and perhaps television and radio ads. As Finn put it, the opportunities are "limitness."

...

But the new medium comes with its 128-character-limit concerns. Primarily, will voters reject a message from a politician that they must pay for on their cell phone bill? And will only core supporters, i.e. not undecided voters, sign up for the messages? The platform is more expensive than e-mail, both in startup and transaction fees. But most supporters of the platform look to international examples to prove otherwise. South Korean youth used the new technology during last year's election to gather for rallies under the conservative media's radar. And because U.S. campaigns like Edwards and Santorum are only beginning to experiment with it, it will be months -- perhaps even until '08 -- until it's determined to be an effective medium for political communication

Former Senator John Edwards is using it with his "One America Committee."

A Bit More on the Stem Cell Bill

Morning Call

The bill also would require the National Institutes of Health to find new methods for obtaining human embryonic stem cells, and federal funds would be provided. Along with other stem-cell bills being considered, it is not a matter of either-or for Congress, but of using both.

There are Republicans who feel that Sen. Santorum's involvement with this issue has political risks, but he appears to have avoided criticism in Pennsylvania so far. Sen. Santorum is being challenged by Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., a pro-life Democrat. Mr. Casey also opposes embryonic stem-cell research, but he has not made it a campaign issue.

The President still is opposed to wide-open research and his veto of bills to undo his 2001 controls is expected. Thus, eventual passage of the Specter-Santorum bill might be the only practical hope for expanding this promising research this year.

Letter to the Editor

Scranton Times-Tribune

Editor: Soon after winning the Democratic nomination to face Sen. Rick Santorum this November, state Treasurer Bob Casey astoundingly claimed that political contests are “contact sports.” I suppose that Mr. Casey is now hoping that the electorate will not remember that he has decided to support a Senate immigration proposal that would provide amnesty to over 11 million illegal aliens.

Senate Bill 2611, which Mr. Casey supports, would allow illegal aliens to stay with only a slap on the wrist. Shockingly, this bill would forgive much of the back taxes they owe and even provide them with Social Security benefits for the time they’ve spent here illegally.

As the daughter of German and Welsh immigrants, a taxpayer, a Social Security recipient, and a voter, I believe this is unfair to the millions of Americans who obey the law. Furthermore, it is an insult to the millions of immigrants who are following the proper channels to citizenship.

Mr. Casey’s support for this legislation shows that he does not understand that our nation, while one of immigrants, is also a nation of laws. If Mr. Casey thinks that this is a political football that he can carry to victory in November’s “contact sport,” I believe he will be sorely mistaken when he’s tackled by an incumbent linebacker, Rick Santorum.

Analyzing the Polls

Political Arithmetik looks at the Senate race polling, and analyzes what the descrepancies mean.

The triangular symbols for Quinnipiac polls shows that they have mostly fallen into the lower right quadrant, overstating Casey and understating Santorum. Worse, the most recent poll by Quinnipiac (circled) is quite far away from the trend, producing an estimate that is even further from the poll's average house effect. Three of the earlier Quinnipiac polls were quite close to trend for both candidates (they are close to the intersection of the "zero" lines in the graph.) But there has been a strong pattern of Quinnipiac results that are well below trend for Santorum while a bit above for Casey.

The Zogby polls have generally been well above the Santorum trend, while only a little low on Casey. The most recent Zogby poll is actually closer to both trends than has been the case with most of his polling in this race.

So that is the solution to the puzzle of the Pennsylvania polls. When compared to all the polling, the discrepancies become rather clear. Both polls have been discrepant and in opposite directions, on average. The latest results exaggerate this already clear tendency, with the quite discrepant Quinnipiac poll far from the estimated trends. When the two polls appear on the same day, this conflict is more apparent than when they are released well apart.

Bottom line: I much prefer my trend estimates, which use all the available polling information. Those trends currently stand at 49.7% for Casey and 40.4% for Santorum.

Read the whole thing, especially if you're interested in the numbers.

Update: DB Light:

Prof. Franklin prefers to use a trend analysis that currently has the race at 49.7% for Casey and 40.4% for Santorum. That seems quite reasonable to me and suggests that the race is far from over. The postmortems on Santorum are premature, but despite determined efforts he has not been able to close the gap much in recent months. As the campaigns move into their final months Santorum still has a hard row to hoe, but it is not an impossible task as some have argued.

Mushrooms after a Rainstorm

Reuters

The U.S. military has found more Iraqi weapons in recent months, in addition to the 500 chemical munitions recently reported by the Pentagon, a top defense intelligence official said on Thursday.

Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, did not specify if the newly found weapons were also chemical munitions. But he said he expected more.

"I do not believe we have found all the weapons," he told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, offering few details in an open session that preceded a classified briefing to lawmakers.

These things turning up this month is very odd.

Republican lawmakers, some facing tough election battles amid growing anti-war sentiment, called the discovery of the weapons significant.

Republican Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania suggested the munitions were in fact the weapons of mass destruction that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein lied about, leading the United States to war.

"For those who claim that these weapons are not the weapons of mass destruction that the United States went to war over, I would refer them to 17 United Nations Security Council resolutions that Saddam Hussein violated," Weldon said. "It didn't say pre-'91 chemical weapons. It didn't say post-'91 chemical weapons. It said chemical weapons."

But Democrats dismissed such arguments and said the weapons were not the "imminent threat" used to justify the war.

"It's very difficult to characterize these as the imminent threat weapons that we were told we were looking for," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat.

Ugh. For the thousandth time...

Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option.

That's the 2003 State of the Union.

Pa Flooding

A couple of links...

Santorum: Donate to the Red Cross

I applaud the Governor for authorizing state agencies to use the resources and personnel necessary to cope with the magnitude of this emergency. I also applaud our local and state emergency responders and volunteers for all their hard work to help their fellow Pennsylvanians in this time of need.

BobCasey.com's Blog: Donate to the Red Cross

PhillyFuture links to a number of blogs taking pictures in the Southeast part of the state.

Northeast Pa's Gort42 has a couple of posts.
Memories of 1972

Back from the Hills

Update: NBC10

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has asked President George W. Bush to declare 34 counties eligible for federal disaster assistance.

With thousands of homes and businesses likely damaged, Rendell declared a disaster emergency in 46 of the state's 67 counties.

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said the assistance would likely be approved within two days.

Rendell praised the evacuation of Wilkes-Barre, even though it turned out that the levees held and there was little damage.

Rendell said there was no guarantee that things would go as well as they did, and there was the potential for what he called "a New Orleans-type situation in Wilkes-Barre."

Santorum/Sharansky

The Jewish Exponent writes about the Santorum/Sharasky Middle East forum event last week.

But early in the evening, Santorum - first elected to the Senate in 1994 - did have some mild criticism for close ally and supporter President George W. Bush.

"The president describes it [the Islamist situation] as a war on terrorism, but terrorism is a tactic," he said. "It's like FDR saying we are making a war on Blitzkrieg. What we are fighting is Islamic fascists."

Like Bush, Santorum has of late been having a difficult time in the polls. The latest Quinipiac University Poll has Santorum trailing his Democratic challenger, State Treasurer Bob Casey, by 18 percentage points, with 12 percent undecided. That number is up from a 13 point deficit from a similar poll released on May 11.

Are such events designed to boost poll numbers and possible fiscal contributions, especially from the Jewish community?

"Look, we are in an election year. It is almost impossible to separate the so-called nonpolitical events from the political ones," replied Terry G. Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College.

"Is there a political component? Of course," said Madonna, who's written extensively about Santorum's political career. But "that doesn't mean that he's not sincere in his beliefs" about and support for Israel. "If you look at his career, I think he is sincere."

Video of this still hasn't turned up.

Stems Cells in July

Reuters / ABCNews

Nearly a year after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist made his surprise endorsement of a bill to allow federally backed stem cell research, he has whittled down many obstacles to Senate passage, senators and aides said on Thursday.

The Tennessee Republican, a potential presidential candidate and a physician, says research on cells derived from human embryos leftover from fertility treatments has vast potential to treat deadly diseases.

Many of his fellow anti-abortion conservatives, however, oppose the research because the embryos are destroyed. Frist has said he would like the Senate to vote as early as next month, although President George W. Bush has vowed to veto it.

Would this be the President's first veto? It's only been five years coming.

Senator Santorum has promised a vote against this bill.

More Answers

The Reading Eagle is looking for more WMD answers.

The Issue: A report summary is released on the discovery in 2003 of caches of munitions in Iraq containing degraded mustard gas and serin nerve agents.

Our Opinion: The motive for releasing the summary and the White House response to it are puzzling.

Do 500 pre-Persian Gulf War shells, canisters and other types of munitions containing degraded mustard gas and sarin nerve agents constitute a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction that would justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq?

That’s one of the questions raised last week by the release of a declassified summary of an Army report. Another question is why are we finding about it only now.

...

In any case, the officials said if the insurgents could get their hands on them, the degraded devices still could be used to create improvised weapons that could be deadly to people nearby.

The release of the summary has raised many questions, but few answers have been provided.

At this point, these weapons hardly can be considered the smok-ing gun that would justify the invasion — not without a lot more answers.

Prospects

National Review's John J Miller rounds up all of the 2006 Senate races worth watching.

PENNSYLVANIA: There is some evidence to suggest that Republican senator Rick Santorum has closed gap that separates him from Democratic state treasurer Bob Casey Jr. to single digits. Last week, however, a poll of registered voters gave Casey a surprisingly large lead, 52 percent to 34 percent. If those numbers are accurate, then Santorum’s biggest problem may be with his own party: 20 percent of Republicans in that survey said they’re for Casey, who is pro-life. Earlier this month, a GOP poll suggested a tighter contest: 49 percent for Casey and 40 percent for Santorum. TOSS UP

Disclosure: I recently started blogging at National Review's blog SIXERS, "the right eyes on 2006 elections."

Linkagery

MediaBiasWatch is rapidly becoming one of my favorite blogs... and not just because it provides a bunch of Santorum/Casey stuff.

It's good.

But anyway... here's the latest Senate related stuff.

Ringing Endorsement 1

Endorsement or Satire?

Casey Would Hurt the Pro-Life Movement

Casey & liberal special interests

Sheeple

Newsbusters

Olbermann, during the Worst Person segment: "But the winner, Brent Bozell. Red Beard. Again. From the rabid right spin machine, the Media Research Council. He has targeted this show now for his latest 'MRC Action Alert.' You know, sending us impotent emails that make everybody here laugh. Our inbox now has literally dozens of them demanding that we, quote, 'tell the truth about the WMD that were found in Iraq.' Okay, we'll do it again. There weren't any, Rick Santorum tried to pretend there were, and if you believed him, you may actually be a sheep. Thanks for writing! Brent Bozell of the Media Research Council, today's 'Worst Person in the World'!"

Baaaaaaaaah!

More on the first Ads

PennLive/AP

Santorum has budgeted only about $1,000 for a commercial running in the Harrisburg market and $660 for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, according to TV stations and campaign insiders. [is that per commercial, or total? -ed]

WGAL-TV, the largest station in the Harrisburg market, has had inquiries, but no air time has been purchased, a spokesman said.

Campaign media experts say that a solid statewide television campaign costs at least $600,000 per week.

Casey, the state treasurer, followed Santorum's lead yesterday, launching his first commercial, which will air on broadcast stations in Pittsburgh, the only market where Santorum's ad is running on more expensive broadcast stations.

I'd be interested to see how they spend their money in the Southeast. Between the House races, the Governor's race, stuff happening in New Jersey AND Pennsylvania, we'll be inundated with ads.

Instead of taking shots at each other, as they've done in other formats, the candidates' first television commercials are mostly positive and discuss their proposals.

"They're soft and not hard-edged," said Franklin & Marshall College political analyst G. Terry Madonna, who called them the "perfect first commercials" to run in the summer, when few voters are paying attention.

The headline is actually Santorum, Casey launch mellow ads.

Ahhhhhh....

Just So We Know

In a letter to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Suzan Seamans tells us of her support for Joey Vento and his Philly Cheesesteaks. Before doing so, she informs us that she's a Republican who is absolutely disgusted with Senator Santorum. Just so we know!

Interestingly, in its editorial about Cheesesteak politics on which Ms. Seamans was commenting, the Post-Gazette claims:

"It didn't take long for Rick Santorum to sink his teeth into the Geno's cheesesteak imbroglio.

A year after the Republican senator mounted his soapbox outside Terri Schiavo's hospice in Florida, we shouldn't be surprised that he's weighing in on another populist issue for political gain."

Wow. Not much to say about that, except that if saving Terri Schiavo from a barbaric thirteen day dehydration death truly was a "populist issue", she would be alive today.

The Post-Gazette continues:

"Mr. Vento remains defiant, while conservative commentators and others upset about the presence of illegal immigrants rally to his cause. Now Mr. Santorum has jumped on the bandwagon, serving up his own brand of cheese and onions.

"It makes all the sense in the world to have a sign like this," the senator told the Philadelphia Daily News. "There's not really an extensive menu here. I mean, come on, it's cheese-steaks, onions, etc. It's not that hard."

We're relieved Mr. Santorum thinks so. Maybe Mr. Vento will be so kind as to give him a job if things don't work out in November."

Just so we know.

Another Shot at Immigration

The Hill...

[T]here is disagreement among the conservatives over how best to quash Senate provisions that would allow many of the illegal immigrants already here to become citizens.

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) wants to the Senate to pass a new bill that deals only with border enforcement, which would give conservative critics of the “path to citizenship” an immigration bill to support and could establish a framework for an enforcement-only conference.

“I urge my colleagues in both the House and Senate to move this bill so we can secure our borders while we work on the remaining issues related to illegal immigration,” Santorum said yesterday.

Many conservatives are steadfastly opposed to provisions that would allow illegal immigrants to become citizens, a component that supporters say they are unwilling to discard.

Rewarding Allies

The Washington Times argues that the visa waiver policy is too narrow and doesn't reward all of our allies.

What exactly constitutes a good ally? Good allies are a bit like good friends; you only really know them in your time of need. After September 11, the United States needed friends to stand with us. The countries that have done so faithfully deserve to be recognized.

This question of the value of friendship has been raised recently in the debate over the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, problems with which were recently discussed in a column in this space. Only residents of 27 countries can at this time travel without visas to the United States. Meanwhile, the program excludes many of our dependable allies in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as some in Asia. Needless to say, this rankles with those who are excluded.

To recap: An amendment to the Senate immigration bill recently introduced by Sens. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland has proposed to grant exemptions to the normal rules of this program to allies of the United States who are members of the European Union and who have contributed "material support" (defined as a battalion) to Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

The way it's written only Poland qualifies for this waiver, the rest of "New" Europe does not.

Haggling over the value of friendship seems an odd way to write immigration legislation. Yet, at least the Santorum amendment has brought the discussion out into the open and caused some thinking on how the problem can be fixed. This can be done by either an adjustment in the criteria for eligibility that would be more inclusive or by rethinking the basis for the Visa Waiver Program altogether, outdated as it has clearly become. It is worth noting, by the way, that not one of the countries in question is agitating for allowing illegals to stay in the United States, but they are offering to cooperate with U.S. law enforcement.

We are living in world more unpredictable than it used to be. At least let us try not to alienate countries that want to be on our side.

Casey in Philly

Bob Casey visited the Continental Mid-town last wednesday night.

"Santorum called me a thug on a radio show," said Casey. "That's outrageous! And insulting to thugs everywhere!" [ok, kind of clever. -ed]

Casey then called for a new direction in leadership. "Sen. Santorum has voted with President George W. Bush 98 percent of the time and has been aligning himself with Bush and supporting the federal marriage amendment," he said. "And it's time for them to tell the truth about Iraq." [about those wmds... -ed]

Casey was cautiously optimistic about a Quinnipiac University poll released last week showing he had a 18 percentage-point lead. After the results were released, Santorum's campaign issued a press release dismissing all current polling as "unreliable." They also referred to a Zogby Interactive poll from later that same week where Casey had 48 percent to Santorum's 41 percent. Either way, Santorum is really going to need that TV time. The next polls will tell if the incumbent's media blitz has helped him.

Another Tax Cut

The Senate Finance Committee voted to approve the repeal of the Telephone Excise Tax today.

Santorum statement:

"Today we took an important step to hang up the telephone tax. Simple common sense dictates that repeal of the telephone excise tax is long overdue. In our modern world, communication is not a luxury. Rather, telecommunications have become part of the basic fabric of our social and economic life. The telephone tax is a regressive, inequitable, inefficient and unnecessary tax that Congressional policy makers have found to serve no rational policy purpose. I am very pleased that my colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee voted today to repeal the telephone excise tax. I look forward to taking this measure to the full Senate for final approval, and hope we can do that before the August recess."

Casey Ad

The AP's Kim Hefling writes about the Treasurer's first ad buy.

Less than a week after Sen. Rick Santorum started running his first television ad, his Democratic opponent started running his.

State Treasurer Bob Casey's campaign is spending more than $50,000 to run the 30-second ad in the Pittsburgh market beginning Wednesday.

...

Santorum's ad argues that he has been tough in cracking down on illegal immigration.

Virginia Davis, Santorum's spokeswoman, said Casey's "talk on reducing the deficit is completely hypocritical." She accused Casey of advocating for "monstrous spending increases that will bust the federal budget or result in an enormous tax hike."

Neither campaign ad mentions the opponent.

Reaching Out

Vince Galko, Santorum Campaign Manager reaches out to Jay Reiff, Casey's campaign manager.

Our initial conversations with Mr. Romanelli have been positive, and we are grateful that at least one of our opponents has come forward and is willing to discuss the issues. We hope that you will follow Mr. Romanelli’s lead and be willing to debate. The voters of Pennsylvania deserve no less.

With regards to Mr. Romanelli’s request for Democrats and Republicans to help him in his efforts to get on the ballot, I believe our campaigns should encourage our supporters to help Mr. Romanelli garner the necessary signatures he needs. Democrats, Republicans and Independents all agree that the democratic process should be open and welcoming to people of differing positions. Although I assume Mr. Romanelli and Sen. Santorum differ on many issues, we welcome a candidate to the debate who has the courage of his convictions.

As far as we are aware, the Santorum, Casey and Romanelli campaigns are the only campaigns on file with the Federal Election Commission for the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania. Based on published reports, it also appears that Mr. Romanelli has already exceeded the number of signatures collected and filed by the Santorum and Casey campaigns in March of this year. Should Mr. Romanelli collect enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot, our campaign will support his full participation in campaign debates. We hope neither the Casey campaign nor your allies within the Democratic Party will challenge his right to be on the ballot.

Rednecks for Robert

John Micek

Speaking of grandstanding, we've also learned that Hermetic Bob is going to be the Grand Marshal at the Jennerstown, Pa. speedway on July 1. This may be, apparently, some attempt by the Casey campaign to pander to the NASCAR vote as Our Rick is already doing. We've affectionately christened that effort Rednecks For Rick.

The news prompted one of the kids [that's me, not a kid though. -ed] who runs Santorum 'Blog to wonder whether we might tag this new Casey outreach as Rednecks for Robert.

Sorry, fellas. It just doesn't role off the tongue the same way.

But we are concerned about all those drivers falling asleep at the wheel during Casey's remarks. The carnage could be massive.

Casey's First Ad

Bob Casey's first TV ad of the season is out.

"I think the priorities in Washington have gotten completely turned around.

I believe in a balanced budget ... government should live within its means like any small business.

It's why these tax cuts on top of tax cuts for multi-millionaires just don't make any sense.

Or giving corporations tax breaks for sending jobs overseas.

We need to reduce the deficit, lower interest rates, and invest in people again.

We can do a lot better in Washington. And we will."

In other words, don't cut spending! Soak the rich!

No word on where it's playing.

It's available here.

(tip to Big Fat Slob)

Santorum on Immigration

Senator Santorum wrote to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

"George F. Will, long a conservative intellectual force, recently suggested that by joining 31 of my Republican colleagues in voting against the Senate immigration bill, I have made a political choice that will damage the Republican Party in the future ("Calculating Immigration Politics," June 19). Frankly, based on his history, it surprises me that Mr. Will ascribes more weight to political considerations than to the enforcement of our laws and the financial viability of some of our most important governmental programs.

Problems abound within the bill the Senate passed just a few weeks ago. No one can predict the precise number by which this bill will increase illegal immigration, but it is certainly several times more than any of the bill's supporters suggest. It is terribly complex and will be nearly impossible for the current federal bureaucracy to administer. According to the Robert Rector study that Mr. Will himself cites, the cost to American taxpayers in federal dollars alone will be a stunning $19 billion every year. It will place a significant financial burden on Social Security, granting benefits to millions who have not spent a working lifetime paying into the system. And because of the tiered manner in which amnesty is granted, it will create a booming forgery industry in response to the vast incentives for illegal immigrants to prove they broke the law longer.

Much societal good stems from legal immigration. It benefits our culture, our economy and our relationship with the world, and it needs to be expanded.

I support a temporary worker program, as long as it truly is temporary. I support increasing the number of green cards we distribute, as long as they are distributed to those who follow our laws. But I cannot, in good conscience, support an amnesty proposal such as was included in the recent Senate bill."

U.S. SEN. RICK SANTORUM
Washington, D.C.

Casey Meets with Vets

SignalItem

Casey, running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Rick Santorum, spoke after the governor and emphasized his gratefulness to all veterans while offering some programs to benefit vets.

The War on Terrorism, Casey said, is different than past wars because the enemy is without borders, without recognizable enemies and without an end in sight, but it is clearly a war because Americans are dying with the American flag on their uniform.

"Only three states have lost more lives in Iraq than Pennsylvania," he said.

Casey, who is leading in the preliminary polls against incumbent Rick Santorum, presented ideas for new programs, including a fully-funded veteran healthcare system to which the delegates erupted in applause.

"No vet in the U.S.. should have to choose between disability pay and retirement pay," he said. "The only 'either or' is that you support our vets or you don't."

WMDs Continued

Brent Bozell

When the USA Today-Gallup poll asked if the words "honest" and "trustworthy" applied to Bush in February of 2001, 64 percent said he was honest, while 29 percent said the words did not apply. By April of 2006, the numbers were 41 percent honest, 56 percent dishonest. It's an easy guess that a lot of that turnaround is our failure to find Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.

So it was surprising to Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., who were investigating whispers that weapons of mass destruction have actually been found by American troops in Iraq, to learn the rumors were true. After badgering administration officials for several months, the government gave the legislators a declassified memo stating that some 500 weapons of mass destruction have been found by coalition forces in Iraq, mostly sarin and mustard-gas agents, some of which "remain hazardous and potentially lethal."

But when the legislators released this information, some Bush administration officials poor-mouthed the findings, noting that these old WMDs were hardly evidence of an ongoing post-Gulf War WMD program by Saddam, the fearful scenario that dominated the pre-war debate. Others, like Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, emphatically declared that this was hard evidence. Regardless, this memo packs an important rhetorical punch. How many hundreds of times have our major media told us there were "no weapons of mass destruction" found? And how many thousands of times have leftists jumped off that springboard to an elaborate Bush-lied-people-died jeremiad?

This discovery should be a crucial, corrective turning point to the stuck-in-2003, pre-war obsessives. The hardened historical narrative needs to be amended. There were WMDs in Iraq that could have been used against our troops or acquired by terrorists.

Flag Amendment Fails

66-34

Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality

The Catholic Church shows how you can be anti-gay marriage without being anti-gay. In fact, a good Catholic should not be anti-gay. We must challenge the talking point that if we reject gay marriage, that means we hate gays. It's wrong. The official Catholic teaching is as follows:

"Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition."

-Catechism of the Catholic Church 2357 - 2358

I respect homosexuals as they are fellow human persons created in God's likeness. However, that doesn't mean that I support changing the definition of marriage. Marriage, the union of one man and one woman, is the fundamental building block of our society. Without it, our culture would collapse.

Senator Santorum understands that judicial activists seek to force homosexual marriage on the nation, and that's the reason why he supports the Constitutional Amendment to prevent this from happening. It is an issue only because activist judges have made it an issue.

Stem Cell Research

AP/PhillyBurbs

Sen. Arlen Specter praised Sen. Rick Santorum on Tuesday for coming up with an "ingenious" approach to the stem cell issue, but Democrats accused Santorum of pushing an unnecessary bill that is a decoy to block expansion of embryonic stem cell research funding.

Specter and Santorum - both Pennsylvania Republicans - are co-sponsors of a bill that would direct the National Institutes of Health to set aside funding for stem cell research that does not involve the destruction of embryos.

Before coming together in support of the bill, the two had sparred on the issue. Specter, who battled cancer last year, has backed embryonic stem cell research, while the conservative Santorum has opposed it on moral and religious grounds.

Santorum is facing a tough re-election fight against Democratic opponent state Treasurer Bob Casey, and Specter has said his top priority this year is getting Santorum re-elected.

Abortion & Homosexuality

Media Bias Watch comments on a pretty depraved blog posting.

A blogger named Cicero is my pick for “Wacko of the Week” for this post:


“You Can be Anti-Abortion or Anti-Gay, But Not Both

New research shows that the more male babies a woman has the greater the likelihood she will give birth to a gay baby (gaby for short). This puts conservatives in a tough spot. The only way to reduce the number of future gay men is to start aborting male babies when a woman has too many of them. What are people like Rick Santorum to do? I suspect they would gladly support a woman’s right to choose if they thought it would lead to less gabies.

No pro-lifer would ever endorse murder. That would be a morally reprehensible act. The suggestion that pro-lifers like Rick Santorum would support abortion if they thought it would reduce the number of homosexuals is both offensive and ridiculous. In fact, it is the pro-choice group that supports the creation of designer babies. Pro-lifers oppose any suggestion of eugenics and playing God.

It's a cheap swipe at Santorum, but it's an even cheaper swipe against conservatives.

More on Flag Burning

I haven't been able to find Bob Casey's position on this amendment. Surely he can come out with a position. Hillary did.

USA Today also did polling on the flag burning amendment.

They found that roughly 42% of Americans are in favor of the amendment, and 54% are opposed.

The poll also found that 40% of those who want it passed, would be upset if it did not pass. However, of those opposed to it only 20% would be upset if it did.

Strangely, 21% of those opposing passage would be upset if it didn't pass. Masochists? Or confused?

Interview with Santorum

John Hawkins at RightWingNews.com did a short telephone interview with the Senator.

John Hawkins: If someone said to you, "Rick, I am undecided between you and Casey. Give me three differences between the two of you that would convince me to vote for you." What would you tell them?

Rick Santorum: First, I'd say taxes are a big difference. He is against the tax reductions of 2001 and 2003. He said he would like to raise...rates up to 50% for the top bracket. He is absolutely a traditional tax and spend Democrat. So on taxes and spending, he is for spending a bunch more and taxing a bunch more....

The second issue that I think is especially important, particularly for Pennsylvanians, is medical liability reform. That's an issue that is just killing our commonwealth. We are losing doctors hand over fist. We had 9 maternity wards close down in the city of Philadelphia, 5 in the city of Pittsburgh. We have a real crisis on our hands and Bobby Casey is a trial lawyer. That's what he did. He sued doctors before he got into politics and there is a big difference between him and me on (that) issue.

...Those are the two big economic issues that are facing us. On the cultural side, probably the biggest difference is on the issue of marriage. I strongly believe we need to protect the traditional family in America and he does not feel that way. He is not in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment. He is not in favor of a State Marriage Amendment. He would do nothing to stop the courts from doing what they (inevitably seem to do), which is to...take this issue of what marriage is out of the hands of the people and have the courts decide it for us in a way that is against the way most Americans think it should be.

John Hawkins: Now, you're doubling Casey in fund raising and I'm hearing that you intend to run ads all the way from now until election day. If you had one concise message that you wanted to get out to people about Rick Santorum and one concise message that you had to let people know about Bob Casey, what would it be?

Rick Santorum: The concise message is that I am someone who has the courage of his convictions, who will stand up and tell you what I think, and I will deliver on what I promise.

He's someone who has (hardly ever) articulated a firm stance on...any issue. He's hiding behind his father's name in an attempt to fool the voters. That's how he has gotten elected to every office so far -- and the only race he ever lost was where he had to take positions and he lost badly. I think Pennsylvania deserves a fighter, who's going to tell you what he's going to do, and then has the courage, the fortitude, and the work ethic to go out and do it and Bob Casey has not shown that he has those (qualities) in his public life.

Read the rest...

Flag Burning Amendment

York Daily Record

"I'm against burning the flag," said Russell Hamme, a Korean War veteran from York, "but I can't support a federal law that would make it illegal."

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, introduced the latest resolution in 2005. The last Senate vote on a flag-burning amendment in 2000 fell four votes short, 63-37, of the two-thirds majority it needed to pass.

Pennsylvania Sens. Arlen Specter, who serves on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, and Rick Santorum, co-sponsored the amendment and voted for it in 2000.

"I think of the veteran's sanctity of the flag," Specter said, while speaking before the Senate on Monday. "I think of the flag as a symbol for what they fought for, for what they died for."

I believe there are 66 votes in the Senate.

Letters to the Editors

CentreDaily

I was shocked, as many Pennsylvanians were, by the U.S. Senate's decision to pass a sweeping amnesty bill. I have never witnessed government be more unresponsive to public outcry.

America wants immigration reform, but if this bill becomes law, they will receive amnesty.

I was glad to see that Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., took a stand and voted against amnesty. But Bob Casey, though he claims to be in touch with the views of Pennsylvanians, supported this irresponsible bill.

Pennsylvanians should be outraged at the passing of this bill and be glad to be represented by a strong leader like Santorum.

Casey should start acting like a candidate for the Senate and stop pandering to liberal friends who supply him with funding.

Worse, Casey claims in campaign ads that the bill offers no amnesty. The bill does provide amnesty, and Pennsylvanians should know the truth.

Real reform is what we need and Casey has fallen short.

CentreDaily

It's a midterm election year, and Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., thinks he's found the smoking gun that justifies this war in Iraq, which would make him a hero and guarantee his re-election.

He has chosen one of many intelligence reports about weapons of mass destruction and claims that it shows a stockpile of 500 chemical weapons being found in Iraq.

That's not exactly what the report says.

It says that a total of about 500 individual munitions have been found so far in Iraq, none of them useable, and probably relics from the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. Some of them may even contain traces of ch