In the most recent polling in Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum is trailing his Democratic opponent, Bob Casey Jr., by ten-percent. According to CNN, a poll conducted September 14-20 by Temple University and the Philadelphia Inquirer, Bob Casey Jr. has 49 percent of the vote to Santorum’s 39 percent with 3 percent voting for the Green Party candidate.

Keep your eye on this race. The Republicants are desperate to keep this seat and we should see all of the stops pulled for this one. This race, and a few others, should give Democrats a taste of what 2008 will be like. I say that somewhere in the October 15-21 period we will see some mud flying from Santorum and Rove and that some bombshell revelation will turn the election upside down.

As if on cue, the price of oil is steadily falling. Many bloggers around the country are noting the irony that prices are dropping just in time for the November elections. I believe firmly that there is no such thing as a coincidence.

It is no secret the closeness of the GOP and the oil companies, so there should be little to question. The GOP needed help in this election and turned to their good friends in the oil fields and refineries, it’s as simple as that. It just goes to show how the party in control can remain in control through social engineering at its finest.

According to a piece in the Houston Chronicle today, less than 125 donors account for 40% of all money raised in the Texas governor’s race so far, with those contributions ranging between $50,000 and $850,000. This astonishing figure highlights how influential just a few people are how only the rich get a chance to control elections and what legislative agendas are set.  Who stands to gain the most from these contributions? 

The governor [Rick Perry] has raised nearly $13 million over the past two years. About one-third of that came from 75 donors who gave $50,000 or more. This year’s legislative and gubernatorial elections in Texas are pivotal for the average Texan, simply because so much is at stake when it comes to healthcare, product and company liability, and property rights as they relate to land-grabs for the TransTexas Corridor highway. For the GLBT community, this election is critical since same-sex couples wishing to adopt children will most likely see their rights stripped further in the next legislative session. Who stands to profit the most from this agenda? Fewer than 125 people apparently. 

Chris Bell, the Democratic candidate for governor has raised a paltry $2 million with seven individuals or committees accounting for roughly one-third of that amount. (Naturally democrats represent the forgotten who can barely afford to buy gas and groceries, so contributing to the expensive political process is out of the question.) 

Last Friday was officially dubbed “doughnut hole day” by Democrats as that was the date an average senior citizen on the most-popular Medicare Drug Program would no longer be covered. The gap in coverage was designed by the Republican controlled Congress and Administration as to force millions of Americans to absorb the entire cost of their prescription drugs without any insured benefits until they spend $3,600 of their own money.

Despite having to continue to pay $24 a month in insurance premiums even during the blackout period for which no benefits are paid out, it is now estimated that 3 million Americans will be left without a drug coverage plan.

For those Republicans who claim this was the right thing to do, it should be noted that this designed “gap” in coverage is not aimed at the rich who can afford to buy their own drugs, or to select a higher premium in drug coverage, nor is this the program that the poor are a part of (their coverage has no gap). The gap program is targeted squarely at the working and middle-class of America. The Washington Post has an excellent article citing many examples of seniors and working-class Americans who are shocked and awed by dramatic increase in the drug costs as their benefits run out for the time-being.

What is interesting about the WP article is that for the most part the citizens profiled are working seniors who are struggling to cope with higher gas prices, increased prices in the grocery market and other living expenses. So, while the GOP has continually spent this country into unbelievable debt fighting a “different kind of war” and lowering taxes for some of the wealthiest among us, our middle-class and working seniors are left out in the cold.

Would you like some coffee with that doughnut?

For years the Republicans have run around screaming about the wonderful job they are doing with terrorism, and how the country would not be in this mess were it not for Bill Clinton. Earlier this month they coaxed ABC to run a mocumentary about the lead up to the attacks on 9/11, with many parts that were out right fictional, much to the pleasure of the likes of Rush “Drug King” Limbaugh.

So, finally, Bill Clinton has his say, and he has it on Fox News, where it tells Chris Wallace to “sit there with that smug look on your face”. (By the way, there is a point where Bill Clinton asks Chris Wallace why he has never asked a Bush administration representative the same questions he is asking him, to which Wallace replies that he has and Clinton basically calls him a liar. Think Progress has done fact checking, and it looks like Clinton wins this round. Wallace in fact has had at least three opporunities to ask the same questions surrounding the 9/11 attacks and has never done so.)

And so the Republicans line up to cheer on Fox News (the same people who jeered them last week for contributing money to a gay journalists group), and point at Clinton as coming unhinged on the program. To me Bill Clinton appears to be more eloquent, more articulate and demonstrates a greater grasp of reality than George W. Bush ever has. Over on YouTube, there is a right-head who actually said:

His [Clinton's] narcissism, rambling answers and physical intimidation of Wallace are ridiculously embarrassing and far beneath a President.

WTF Mary! Um, if you exchanged “Wallace” with any global leader’s name you would have described George W. Bush.

In a speech delivered on Friday to the gathering of Christian political operatives at the “Values Voter Summit”, Jerry Falwell said that he hoped Hillary Clinton is the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008. According to the L.A. Times, Falwell says that no other candidate could mobilize the GOP “base” (the neo-conservative religious base) like Clinton. Falwell went on to say that Clinton has a “war chest” of $300 million (a complete exageration, she has $47 million according to recent filings), and that Republicans should be prepared to give until it hurts.

“I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate,” Falwell said, according to the recording. “She has $300 million so far. But I hope she’s the candidate. Because nothing will energize my [constituency] like Hillary Clinton.”

Cheers and laughter filled the room as Falwell continued: “If Lucifer ran, he wouldn’t.”

At that moment in the recording, Falwell’s voice is drowned out by hoots of approval. But two in attendance, including a Falwell staff member, confirmed that Falwell said that even Lucifer, the fallen angel synonymous with Satan in Christian theology, would not mobilize his followers as much as the New York senator and former first lady would.

And there it is — the GOP strategy for 2008 and beyond. It is a very simple plan, one that has been in the works for decades — Christians vs. non-Christians (perceived or real). Drawing the connection between someone who has diligently served others to the devil.

And what does Falwell say about the 2006 mid-term elections and the challenges facing Republicans across the country?

Falwell predicted that this year’s midterm elections would go in the GOP’s favor, despite polls showing Democrats in position to make gains.

“I think we’re going to keep the House and the Senate,” he said. “I think the Lord will take care of that.”

I am so sick and tired of hearing someone say that the Lord will do this or that, or has done this or that to punish anyone not aligning themselves with the neo-conservative Kool-Aid brigade. Do people really believe this stuff? I mean, doesn’t the Lord have more important things to worry about than who wins a congressional election?

For all of the self-serving pat on the backs that the Republicans give themselves for being “tough” on terrorism, there seems to be a back story to the E. coli spinach disaster that the MSM has missed:

Shouldn’t the protection of our food supply be a part of this new war on terror? Imagine for a moment that somehow a terrorist released a batch of germ cells on spinach, or oranges, or in the cattle feed yards. One would think that the U.S. government has taken great steps to prevent, or at the very least catch, such occurrences.

Apparently that line of thinking is wrong. It seems that the only way the federal government knows that there is a problem with the food chain is when people start dying.  So how is it again that we are safer under this administration? The food chain is still exposed, our sea ports are still largely unchecked, the borders with Mexico and Canada are a joke, the freight carried on airliners is sorely unmonitored. Wow! That leaves only two obvious steps to “protect” the American people: airport passenger screening, and wiretapping on any form of communication which is a clear violation of the Constitution.