Is Michael Arcuri saying one thing to one group of people and another thing somewhere else? It sure looks that way.

At the recent debate at the Donovan Middle School in Utica Arcuri says that we need to set a definite timetable to exit Iraq. Look at this, according to the Rome Sentinel:

Regarding the war in Iraq, Arcuri said a phased withdrawal plan is needed, and if one is not presented then a troop withdrawal should begin in 2006 and be completed in 2007.
Meier told Arcuri “your position has changed,” and said Arcuri previously was opposed to a withdrawal timetable. He said a public timetable would be a “recipe for stepped-up terrorist activity.”

Is Ray Meier speaking the truth? Did Michael Arcuri’s position change?

Well, actually, it looks like his position did change, and not that long ago. Just over a month ago, Arcuri spoke at a forum hosted by local veterans. NCPR has a clip on their website. Here is the relevant part of the transcript, starting at time 3:40:

Reporter: Here’s one of the questions that was put to the candidates by a local TV anchor, Andy Jenks.

Anchor: Do you support a date specific pullout of the US military in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why? We’ll start with Senator Meier.

Meier: No. If you announce a date certain for a pullout it will vastly make more dangerous the lives of the servicemen and women who are currently who are serving in those two theatres of operation. But, i would say the mission needs to be more clearly delineated. And I think that means putting much more pressure on the Iraqi coalition government to get it’s own armed forces and security forces standing up and operating. And if you look at the events of the last few days that means we have to take much more direct action against both the Sunni and Shii militias who are waging not just an insurgency but what now borders on a civil war.

Arcuri: In Iraq I don’t believe we should have a date certain. I think that that would jeaporadize the safety of the troops. However, I do believe that we need a plan for bringing our troops home. They a done a fine job there. They have done a magnificent job. They’ve removed a dicatator. They’ve instituted a democracy. We are training an army. They have about a two hundred seventy thousand person army and police force there. We have done a good job. Our soldiers have acted valiently. It’s time that we have a plan and start to bring them home. And I think that this administration owes it to the American people and owes it to our military to develop a plan to bring our soldiers home and to bring them home soon.

A couple days ago Senator Frist tried to free the Child Custody Protection Act by filing for cloture. This bill would have made it illegal to transport a minor across state lines to get an abortion without her parents consent.

Neither the pro-life side or the pro-choice side were expecting Frist to file for cloture. However, the National Right to Life Committee and the Susan B. Anthony List sprung into action. The bill had passed the Senate by a large margin earlier this year, so we were hopeful we could get the sixty votes.Jill Stanek of Prolife Blogs was actually in D.C, and able to report on the bill.

However, it seems though all our efforts were in vain. Last night Santorum Blog reported that the cloture vote had failed. The yeas and nays are here. I’ve posted the senators who voted against cloture below the fold. (more…)

Lately Senator Allen has been mired in controversy and attacked from all sides. However, he is back in momentum, partly it seems, because of this ad.

These are the kinds of ads Republicans need to run.

Biggus Dickus liveblogged some of the Meier-Arcuri debate. Arcuri is for withdrawing from Iraq. Meier doesn’t seem to have a very high opinion of the UN — he thinks it’s a debating society for crackpots, according to what Dickus reports.

You can find the whole report here. I’m not sure if there is an audio copy or video tape of the event, but I’ll keep an eye out and post it here if I find one.

A couple days ago I wrote about an oppurtunity to volunteer with Rick Santorum’s campaign. His campaign uses a cool new online service called Team Volunteer, which allows volunteers to sign in and get phone numbers to call instead of having to drive to a phone bank. I’m not sure why other campaigns such as Ray Meiers or any of the other Republican senatorial or house campaigns haven’t been using it. It’s a lot easier than the traditional way of setting up phone banks at different locations.

You can either use your local phone or your free minutes on your cell phone. However, there is even an easier way. You can use Skype, the free internet phone that’s available for Windows, Apple, and even Linux.

Usually Skype is only free from one computer to another. However, till the end of this year, Skype has made it free to call anywhere in the United States.

This means that you don’t have to have use a cellphone or live in Pennsylvania. With Skype you can call voters in Pennsylvania at no cost.

Interested? Sign up for Santorum’s campaign.

Disclosure: See link in right hand column.

I’ve come across a couple blogs of varying quality covering the Meier vs. Arcuri race. Most of them support Michael Arcuri. Here is a list of some of the more interesting ones.

Supporting Arcuri
Daily Kos NY-24 Diary
Take Back New York’s 24th
WFP Blog
Central New York Political Insider

Supporting Ray Meier
CNY Underground

Our friend at Take Back New York’s 24th actually wrote a rather amusing post about us. He’s been having a hard time coming up with a list of thirty good reasons to vote against Meiers, so he decided to add us to his list.

Update: You can find all our posts on the race here, at Meier v. Arcuri.

Chuck Colson’s Break Point from Prison Fellowship has started a new blog that sounds very exciting from it’s description and the posts already up: According to Colson, the bloggers The Point:

represent many different ages, denominations, backgrounds, and walks of life. But they’re all committed to the vision that all of life come under the Lordship of Christ.

That means that whether they are discussing the president’s speech to the UN or the new Macy’s commercial, they’re thinking about how to apply Christian truth in every situation and how to speak those truths in a winsome manner that draws both believers and nonbelievers back for more.

Lately they’ve had several posts on the fear of being fooled.

Check it out!

Redstate has a fascinating podcast with Romney’s stance on different issues. Mitt Romney will possibly be one of the contenders for the Republican nomination and has been trying to burnish his conservative credentials. In the podcast, Romney discusses his relatively recent move into the pro-life camp, his pro-life work as a governor in Massachusetts, and his work to cut government spending.

The First Lady, Laura Bush hosted a fundraiser for Ray Meier in Utica yesterday. More than 300 people showed up, and Ray Meier’s campaign raised about $150,000.

The Utica Observer - Dispatch has more on the event, as well as a clip from Bush’s speech.

Uncommon Descent just revealed that Michael Behe is coming out with a new book on evolution and intelligent design. Although his has written much in defense of his first book in articles on and offline, this will be his second book after his famous Darwin’s Black Box.

Behe’s book is coming out next year. However, this year intelligent design proponents will be treated to the first in a series of three volumes on the questions of intelligent design by MikeGene. MikeGene, although not necessarily a design advocate, nevertheless has done serious thinking about how intelligent design can be useful in helping us understand more about science.

One of the top House races in this midterm election is right in our backyard, in NY -24. This is actually an open seat because Sherwood Boehlart, the Republican who held the seat since 1982, has retired.

Boehlart was probably one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress. He voted several times against the ban on partial birth abortion, and got a %100 rating from NARAL for 2005 and 2006. Club for Growth tried unsuccessfully to oust him during a primary by supporting his opponent David Walrath the last two elections.

However, now we finally have a candidate that conservatives can be proud of — Ray Meier. He’s prolife, been endorsed by the Republican Study Committee and New York’s Conservative Party. (In New York you can be endorsed by two parties.)

What about Ray Meiers opponent, Mike Arcuri? So far it looks like he’s pretty left wing — he’s pro-choice and supports gay marriage. He also hates the Bush tax cuts.

You can donate to Meiers campaign here. I’ve posted a map of the district below. (If you would like to see a bigger version, click here.)

Rick Santorum has been one of the strongest voices for family, traditional values and the war on terrorism in the Senate. As one of the top three leaders of the Senate, he has not only articulated conservative values but also been able to effectively advance the conservative cause.

All these things made Santorum a huge target in the Senate.

Should we give this campaign up? Certainly not. It’s still forty-five days until the election, and Bob Casey has been sliding in the polls ever since voters have been turning in the race. Santorum is also a veteran campaigner who knows how to turn close races into wins.

How can you help his campaign? If you have money, give. He’ll need every cent.

However, if you can’t give money, you can still volunteer. The Santorum campaign has made it very easy to call voters with your own phone — just click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page where it mentions “calling from your home”. You can also register here.

Even if you can only make a call a day using your free minutes, it will make a difference.

Only forty-three days till the general election. Political disputes have become noisier, ads are starting to fill up the airways, and the blogosphere has revved up in support of their favorite candidate or in opposition to their worst fears.

Where is the best place to get a handle on what is happening? I’ve been turning most days to Real Clear Politics. I find it’s the best place to go for the latest polls on any race. It’s also chock full of analysis, both from Real Clear Politics writers and other columnists who are linked to in their front page.

I also find the Sixers useful.

Just a quick note. Since Coyote hasn’t blogged recently, I’ve decided (with his kind permission) to take his name. So I’m now Coyote II, or just Coyote.

P.S. Oops, I made the change to the backend too quickly, which made this post confusing. I’m originally blogged as the Gerbil (or the Grey Gerbil), but now have taken the name Coyote II.