Open thread

and other bizarre right-wing craziness. Read the comments. Did you know the health reform would also give Texas back to Mexico and force you to have gay sex?

A fascinating map about the global "center of gravity" for carbon emissions. No big surprise ... it's moving fast toward China, along with the global center of gravity for economic output.

Gotta love that good old fashioned capitalistic environmental exploitation!

The latest report from PPP, distributed today by email from the Marshall campaign.

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall is in a very strong position to win the Democratic nomination for the US Senate from North Carolina next year. In fact she starts out in a considerably better place than Senator Kay Hagan did two years ago before her eventual 60-18 victory in the primary over Jim Neal.

Our polling finds Marshall begins the primary with an overwhelming lead, polling at 42% to 7% for Kenneth Lewis and 5% for Cal Cunningham. Her standing already exceeds the threshold for winning the nomination without a runoff.

For sake of comparison Hagan led Neal by only a 24-13 margin in November of 2007,
and never polled as high as Marshall’s current 42% standing until the weekend before the primary.
There are several factors that bode well for Marshall in these numbers:

-Marshall leads with every subgroup of the electorate along demographic lines, an
indication she is likely to be successful regardless of the makeup of primary voters. She has a 39 point lead with men, a 37 point edge with whites, a 32 point lead with women, and a 29 point advantage with African Americans. Additionally she leads by at least 26 points in every section of the state.

-Among high information voters- those who have a favorable opinion of all three
candidates- Marshall leads with 46% to 14% for Cunningham and 7% for Lewis. This is
an indication that Marshall’s early lead is not strictly a result of higher name recognition since she is strongly preferred even by voters who do know the other candidates.

In summary Marshall’s 13 years of service in statewide office allow her to begin the
primary campaign as the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nomination to take
on Richard Burr. Polling has repeatedly shown Burr as the most vulnerable Republican
incumbent in the country for 2010 and already Democratic voters in the state are leaning strongly toward Marshall as the standard bearer they would like in making that challenge.

Public Policy Polling surveyed 667 likely Democratic primary voters on November 23rd
and 24th. The survey’s margin of error is +/-3.8%.

Looks like we're going to need that war tax I wrote about yesterday.

Good luck with that.

Had Bush Jr. have taken the time Obama has taken in determining our efforts with regard to Iraq, our country might very well be far better off fiscally. War is not cheap. Iraq has been expensive and very deadly. America could not afford the efforts we made in Iraq. Yes, I realize it looks like it is working out as time goes by and that the Iraqi forces are taking over many of the responsibilities American forces had to take on initially. But, Why??? Is that not the question in the first place? "Nation building" comes to mind as an answer, sad to say.

Had Bush gone into Afghanistan with the determination we have put forward in Iraq, the Taliban might, hell WOULD be under control and we would have done what we should have done in the first place which is to go "right backatcha" at the actual perps of 911 in the first place. Anyone here truly believe that Bush did not put so many of our troops in harms way just because it was believed that Saddam had a contract out on Bush Sr.'s life? Only an idiot believes otherwise. Good son, lousy president/commander-in-chief in my view.

Now, as much as it is becoming politically incorrect to say "yes, but it was Bush's fault", I have to say that the situation we're now facing in Afghanistan and in particular with regard to the Taliban IS Bush's fault.

Funny stuff over at NC Policy Watch today ... a new rating scale for political sleaze. Richard Burr's latest fundraising letter takes top honors. Got take a look. Does his missive deserve four or five Burrs?

You decide.