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President Bush is coming to Kernersville Monday to tout ... the economy and tax cuts?

Kernersville lies in the Heart of the Triad. It's close to the new Dell plant. And Dell has gotten some big tax breaks from the state.

Still, the location for the president's visit seems a bit odd, given the stated reason for his trip. The economy isn't really motoring around here just yet, and tax cuts aren't on the top of everyone's mind.

I'm not complaining. A presidential visit to the Triad is a good thing. You can be sure the White House will put our economy in the best possible light.

Details of his visit aren't out yet. We don't know how long Mr. Bush will be staying in our area. Maybe his schedule is flexible. So, how about suggestions?

What do you think he should do and talk about in the Triad?

You never know. The White House may be monitoring this blog for ideas.

Gary Pearce, former Jim Hunt political adviser, and Carter Wrenn, a one-time Jesse Helms protege, have teamed up on a Raleigh-based blog called Talking About Politics. They take turns spouting off from opposite sides of the political divide.

On most issues.

Not so on the proposed Triangle light-rail project.

Both view it as a boondoggle.

In their most recent posts, Pearce takes aim at Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole for supporting federal funding of this "billion-dollar budget-buster," while Wrenn directs his fire at Raleigh's Democrat mayor, Charles Meeker, as well as Dole.

I can't wait for the commuter rail issue to get on track in the Triad. It will open the way for a lot of lively commentary.

Congratulations to Carolyn Coleman, the new chairwoman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.

She's certainly capable and experienced, and I wish her well in the position.

However, I would have voted for Paul Gibson.

The primary reason: He was elected to the board countywide and not from a district.

Gibson won his seat with the votes of 96,554 Guilford County citizens. Coleman won hers with 10,664 votes. By that measure, it's pretty clear who has a better claim to serve as the county's top elected official.

Gibson campaigned all across the county and is accountable to all Guilford County voters. Coleman ran in one district comprising approximately one-ninth of the county's population, and is only accountable to that small portion of the electorate.

I think the chairman of the board always should be someone who was elected at-large, in the same way that the mayor of a city is elected by all the voters of the city.

That's better for the voters, and it's better for the chairman.

If I were chairman, I'd feel a lot more confident having been elected by 96,000 voters than 10,000.

This is just tacky.

I can appreciate that it's sometimes hard to get a teenager's attention. Cherie Myers tried normal disciplinary measures to deal with her 15-year-old daughter's habit of cutting classes. She thought a little public humiliation would help.

I'm sorry. This was the wrong way to go.

Don't misunderstand me. I don't think holding a sign in downtown Greensboro at midday (yes, during school) is going to cause any psychological trauma in young Allie or anything like that.

It's just that this isn't the public's business. I don't want to see this girl out on the street carrying this sign. I'd be embarrassed.

I'd think it would be even more embarrassing for the mom. She wasn't holding a sign, but if she were it would say, "I couldn't get my daughter to go to school so now we're both standing out here making a spectacle of ourselves."

But, wait a minute. If Cherie Myers couldn't get Allie to go to school, how in the world did she get her to stand out with the sign?

Anyway, that's my take on it. What's yours?

Term limits is not a partisan issue, at least not on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.

A resolution calling for a limit of two consecutive four-year terms was defeated on a 6-5 vote last night, with Republicans and Democrats taking both sides.

The resolution was introduced by Republican Mike Winstead and seconded by Democrat Paul Gibson. Democrat Kirk Perkins spoke in favor.

Speaking against were Democrats Skip Alston and Bruce Davis and Republican Steve Arnold.

The argument against is a compelling one: Voters can impose their own term limits by not re-electing commissioners they don't like.

As a practical matter, of course, it's not always so easy to dump an entrenched incumbent. The longer someone stays in office, the harder it is to get him out. Name recognition alone creates a big advantage, and incumbents usually raise more campaign money.

Winstead's resolution had some other problems. It only asked the Guilford County legislative delegation to introduce a local bill at the earliest opportunity to allow Guilford County to set term limits for its commissioners. Even that might have required an amendment to the state constitution.

Still, it was interesting that the resolution's leading supporters -- Winstead, Gibson and Perkins -- are in their first term, while two of the most vocal opponents -- Alston and Arnold -- are the board's longest-serving members.

The desire to stay in office is common to Democrats and Republicans alike.

I found this story a little frustrating.

I wasn't bothered by the news that attendance at the October furniture market in High Point was said to have been down 8-10 percent from October 2004.

Everyone knew attendance was down, and some observers offered much larger estimates.

The frustration is that the market authority won't or can't provide more specific attendance numbers.

Like, well, how many people came to the market. ...

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is really hammering UNC-Chapel Hill for alleged abuse of lab animals.

Twice the group has placed undercover operatives in UNC labs as employees. Its reports certainly look bad.

PETA comes at this with a radical agenda: animal liberation.

I don't really feel like an Old South plantation overseer because I own a dog. I also don't think it's immoral to use animals for medical research. I don't equate the value of an animal's life with that of a human's; therefore, I'm OK with sacrificing animals' lives to save people's.

That said, research should be conducted in as humane and ethical a manner as possible. PETA has found deficiencies, and at least some of its claims have been supported by the National Institutes of Health -- though violations apparently were not serious enough for NIH to take punitive action.

UNC-CH is a great research institution. Its medical center and medical research programs are a big part of what it does. Here in North Carolina, especially, we should be proud of its work. We shouldn't want any of its actions to detract from that.

By the way, the university has an office of animal care and use.

It may be impossible to use thousands of mice, rats and other animials and never allow treatment that could be construed as cruel or abusive. Such instances should be kept to a minimum. But occasional problems do not argue for an end to animal experimentation.

Who's good at reading body language?

This photo presents an interesting collection of people. What sort of story does it tell?

President Bush shows a definite lean to his right, toward Tina Turner.

She, in turn, is leaning away from Bush, toward Robert Redford.

Redford is tilting his head toward Tina, and his arm is linked with her (and with Rosemany Harris' on his right).

Tina's other arm is NOT linked with Bush's. But Laura Bush, on the president's left, is angling her head in the president's direction, like she's watching him out of the corner of her eye.

Why does Redford look so short?

And what's with Tina wearing a long dress? That's a disappointment.

You can read President Bush's Kernersville remarks here.

We have a photo gallery from the visit on our Web site.

The president apparently was a hit at the Deere-Hitachi plant. (Granted, it was a closed audience.)

He delivered a good speech, which actually included some news: His call for businesses to meet pension obligations to their workers.

He also glossed over a few unpleasant details, such as the growing national debt and trade deficits.

His comments about the global economy were apt, and new jobs are being created.

Remember when all you heard was how many jobs had been lost during Bush's presidency? The Democrats who blamed him for every lost job aren't willing to give him credit for jobs created.

Of course, he never deserved much blame or credit. Presidents don't run the economy. Maybe they can influence it a little bit this way or that.

It's still a concern that some new jobs aren't as good as the old ones, that workers are losing health-care and pension benefits, and that overseas competitors are poised to beat us out for high-tech jobs because they have more workers who are better educated. Bush didn't talk much about that, although he did mention North Carolina's community college system and its worker retraining programs.

Congratulations, Kernersville and Deere-Hitachi, for hosting a presidential visit. The last time something like this happened there was when George Washington had breakfast at Dobson's Tavern in 1791. (Scroll down to History.)

A couple of years ago, Al Sharpton was a presidential candidate. Some people in the Democratic Party even took him seriously.

Now he's a TV pitchman for a company that critics, like the liberal consumer watchdog U.S. PIRG, say engages in predatory lending.

Here's a link to legislative efforts in Iowa to end "car title loan ripoffs."

I'm surprised Sharpton is shilling for this outfit only because it should end any hope he has for renewing his political ambitions.

But ever since he emerged as a national figure in the Tawana Brawley case, I've considered Sharpton to be completely lacking in scruples or credibility. So this is par for the course.

As it happens, my wife and I saw Sharpton's commercial on TV last night. At first we wondered whether it was a lookalike posing as Sharpton, it was so ridiculous.

I wonder if John Kerry would have given Sharpton a job in his administration if he'd been elected. Obviously, Al needs a job. He must be desperate to have made this ad.

Angel Schroeder, a liberal columnist for the High Point Enterprise, has made the assertion several times since last November that John Kerry beat George W. Bush in High Point.

That would be astounding, if it were true, because High Point had been reliably Red in presidential elections for 60 years. The last Democrat to carry the city was FDR in 1944.

Yet, it seemed that Kerry broke the GOP domination in the 2004 election, by the most narrow of margins.

The Guilford County Board of Elections doesn't break down presidential election returns by city. So, you add up the numbers for all the "H" precincts -- those that lie entirely within High Point city limits -- and you come up with 10,179 votes for Kerry and 10,139 votes for Bush. Kerry wins by 40!

Well, not so fast. ...

My column today:

I hope Board of Education member Amos Quick does pull together a "suspension summit" featuring students who have been removed from school.

The views of troubled young people need to be heard. Understanding their problems can be the first step toward correcting them. ...

I hope you read the excellent column today by Kathleen Parker on our Second Opinion page.

If not, here's a link to an online version, thanks to the Salt Lake Tribune.

I think she's absolutely right that only a liberal media bias explains why John Murtha's views about Iraq have gotten so much more ink than Joe Lieberman's.

Lieberman has been strongly criticized by war opponents, but he bases his conclusions on four visits in the last 17 months.

Meanwhile, a leading terrorist is heard from again, reminding us of the stakes in Iraq. What began as a war against Saddam Hussein now is a struggle against al-Qaida.

Yesterday, Mark Binker reported that state lottery director Tom Shaheen intends to get the games up and running by April 5.

I'll bet he does. He'll get a $50,000 bonus if he achieves that deadline.

Bonuses are common for state lottery directors.

But why? Why not other state employees?

Should legislative leaders Jim Black and Marc Basnight get $50,000 bonuses if the General Assembly meets the annual budget deadline and promptly adjourns? After all, it costs taxpayers a lot of money when the legislative session drags on and on. Instead of paying lawmakers to stay in Raleigh, why don't we pay them to go home?

How about bonuses for road construction managers who finish a job on time? How much do lengthy delays end up costing the taxpayers? We could save a lot of money by paying a one-time bonus to supervisors who hurry it up.

Or maybe you think this is a bad idea. We pay state employees to do a good job and to meet reasonable deadlines. Why should we pay them bonuses just for doing what they're hired to do in the first place?

I think that, too.

The lottery director's salary is $235,000 a year. That's about a 100 grand more than we pay the governor, chief justice and other top state officials. And he needs a $50,000 bonus to make a deadline?

Addendum: Holy smokes, look at this.

I wonder how many of these people will make campaign contributions to various pro-lottery politicians.

Our governor surely said this tongue-in-cheek at his Raleigh press conference Tuesday:

"I think everybody's accepted the fact that we've got a lottery, we're going to have one, and it's going to be good for North Carolina."

Sorry if I'm driving this issue into the ground, but I can't let it go.

Is Easley suggesting that everyone thinks a lottery is going to be good for North Carolina?

Not everyone thought so a few months ago. In fact, only 23 out of 50 members of the state Senate voted to create a lottery. The bill only passed because leader Marc Basnight called senators back to Raleigh, after initially sending them home for the year, when he knew two opponents couldn't attend. Then Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue broke a 23-23 tie in favor of the lottery.

The House approved the lottery legislation by the vast margin of 61-59.

Since then, of course, we've learned how much influence-peddling was going on. We've already seen how corrupting the presence of organized gambling can be in North Carolina.

But, no matter to the governor. It will produce income for the state. To him, that's reason enough to think "everybody" has conceded that the lottery is going to be good for North Carolina.

Sure, governor. Wink, wink. Whatever you say.

American universities are safe havens for all sorts of ideas, right?

Well, not the University of Connecticut, where conservative writer Ann Coulter had to cut short a speech yesterday because of protests, chants and heckling.

Some of the demonstrators actually cried against "intolerance," apparently without any awareness of irony.

It kind of reminds me of demands we hear occasionally that we shouldn't publish the opinions of one writer or another. Sometimes the target is Cal Thomas or Thomas Sowell, sometimes Molly Ivins or Rosemary Roberts.

Now, Ann Coulter gets people fired up, no doubt. But I have to worry about college students who think you just ought to shout down ideas you don't like. Haven't they learned anything about freedom of expression?

When I was a student at Carolina in the '70s, I attended the famous David Duke speech. Actually, there was no speech at all because hundreds of demonstrators raised such an uproar that it was impossible for Duke, the nation's most prominent Ku Klux Klansman, to be heard.

The fact is, it was insulting for Duke to be invited at all. Virtually all of the speakers invited to UNC in those days were extreme left-wingers: Angela Davis, Jane Fonda, Stokely Carmichael and so on. Duke was supposed to provide "balance." But he didn't represent anyone's views at Carolina.

Nevertheless, once he was invited to come as a guest of the university, he should have been allowed to speak. People who didn't want to hear him didn't have to come.

Those Connecticut brats who didn't like Coulter simply should have stayed away.

Well, this is one idea.

Or, he could just invite all the Palestinians to live in Iran.

Problem solved.

Jim Black's political donation ethics:

Strip club money bad.

Video poker money good. (Plus, there's a lot more of it.)

The New York-based Coalition for a Secure Driver's License has picked North Carolina for its initial billboard campaign.

The first billboard, containing the message "Don't license terrorists, North Carolina," will go up soon in Raleigh, the group told The News & Observer.

It will show Arab terrorists on a winding mountain road.

As if they're preparing to attack some tourists from Florida.

All right, it's not funny. This organization has a point, which it makes in this effective ad showing 9/11 terrorist leader Mohammad Atta with his Florida license.

Contrary to mythology, none of the 9/11 terrorists had a North Carolina driver's license. I'm not aware that our state has licensed any terrorists.

Illegal immigrants are another story. They come by the busloads for N.C. licenses. We need to tighten our requirements to make sure that only U.S. citizens obtain driver's licenses. We still allow use of the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which doesn't screen out illegal aliens. So, we easily could allow terrorists to obtain driver's licenses.

It's unfortunate this group has picked North Carolina to launch its campaign. It's too bad it had a reason to.

It was cold and dreary out at early this morning, but Shirley Caesar warmed up the Millis Athletic Convocation Center at High Point University.

The First Lady of Gospel -- a Durham native, Raleigh pastor and winner of 11 Grammy Awards -- filled the place with some powerful music, highlighting the Community Prayer Breakfast attended by more than 700 people.

Now I feel the Christmas season has really begun.

The program was a great gift to the community, thanks to Tom and Buren Haggai and High Point University.

And dozens of students were on hand to help out, despite the early hour. One told me he got there at 4:30 to start setting up.

Like many a college student, Shirley herself said she normally doesn't roll out of bed until about 11. But she was in top form this morning.

Oh, yes. Energetic HPU President Nido Qubein was at the front door, greeting everyone as they came in. He's really thriving in this job.

Yesterday's Vexed in the City column by Suzanne Meehan should be required reading for middle-aged men.

She's in her early 20s. She's writing, with understandable disgust, about being hit on by much older men -- one in his "upper 50s."

Message to that guy: Grow up. You're ridiculous.

If I were single, I wouldn't hit on a woman younger than 40, maybe 45.

As I've gotten older, and older, my perspective definitely has changed.

When I see a cute 20something girl, I have two thoughts:

1. I wish my sons could meet her; and

2. Wow, I bet her mother's good-looking.

Usually, it can take the High Point Central girls' basketball team two or three years to lose four games.

This season, the Lady Bison dropped their first four.

Their hard-driving coach, Kenny Carter, could not have been pleased.

Central finally won last night.

What a relief. I was afraid, after another loss, you'd see the girls on Main Street holding signs saying:

"We didn't listen to our coach, and now we're 0-5"

I pray that the terrorists threatening to kill kidnapped Christian peace activists let them go them unharmed.

I give Sunni Muslim clerics in Iraq credit for joining voices around the world calling for their release.

But not too much credit.

The clerics say these four men should be spared because of their work against the war and their condemnation of U.S. and British government policies.

That apparently distinguishes the four from other kidnapped Westerners who don't merit an appeal for mercy from the clerics.

These Sunni clerics, by not speaking out for others, give their implicit approval of those abductions and murders.

Fox and his colleagues should be released. Killing them would be an act of inhumanity that would further expose the terrorists' cause in the eyes of the world as murderous and immoral. The clerics are astute enough to know that.

It's no less barbaric to kidnap and murder other Western civilians who may not be peace activists opposed to the war but are no less innocent.

Why don't the Sunni clerics demand and end to all the killing?

Appalachian State beats Furman 29-23 in the NCAA 1-AA national semifinals, and December graduation is held ... but not at the same time.

ASU moved back its scheduled 1 p.m. graduation to 6 p.m. to avoid a conflict with the noon football game.

That apparently made it impossible for scheduled keynote speaker, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, to make it.

No problem. Incoming UNC system president Erskine Bowles filled in for Perdue.

Good job, Erskine.

Good job, Mountaineers.

Congratulations, Erika!

It takes more than a Category 4 to knock the party out of New Orleans.

Mardi Gras is on.

But not without controversy this time. Some New Orleans people say it's insulting for the city to stage its usual celebration when many residents are still suffering without homes or basic services and thousands remain exiled, unable to return.

Mayor Ray Nagin hasn't called for a Mardi Gras cancellation, but he did urge the hospitality industry to use profits to help displaced residents return. The business community responded, in effect, by saying, "Hey, we've lost a lot of money. We're trying to get back on our own feet here."

Let's be realistic. Mardi Gras will not be scrubbed. Sure, it's a big party, and that doesn't seem to convey the right mood after such a huge tragedy. But nobody canceled Christmas during World War II (or even the World Series). Sometimes, happy events can lift spirits just when a lift is needed.

Besides, Mardi Gras is really a business event. The more money it brings into New Orleans, the better for the city's recovery.

Today's editorial says North Carolina law is too lenient in allowing state candidates to use campaign funds pretty much however they like.

Former Rep. Joanne Bowie used leftover money to buy a car and computer and invest in a personal retirement account.

Rep. Earl Jones has the view that campaign funds can be used more or less to supplement the meager pay legislators get.

Speaker Jim Black had more than $1.3 million in his campaign account at the end of the last reporting period. He can do just about whatever he wants with it. He typically uses most of his campaign money to fund campaigns for other Democratic legislators who, when elected, keep him in power.

What's wrong with this?

First, people who give money to campaigns should expect it to be used for campaign purposes, not as a personal expense account for politicians to draw on when they fill up the car with gas, eat at a nice restaurant or stay in a hotel.

More worrisome, however, is the idea that special interests make campaign contributions knowing full well that the money won't be used for a campaign at all but really amounts to a personal gift to the legislator. Remember, most legislators in this state are elected either without opposition or with only token opposition, thanks to safe districts drawn to favor the incumbents. So campaign contributions offer an easy way to bestow a gift on a lawmaker, who in turn might be more inclined to advance the donor's legislative cause.

Rep. John Blust is trying to reform this system, but his bill was buried in committee without even a hearing. It's safe to assume most legislators don't want to cut themselves off from this campaign cash cow -- especially the most powerful legislators, who accumulate the most cash.

One legislator to watch is Richard Morgan, the Republican who was co-speaker with Black a couple of years ago. It didn't take him long to put together quite a war chest. Now, because of his collaboration with Black, his own party is targeting him for defeat. Will he use his tremendous resources -- almost $700,000 -- to keep his seat, or simply retire and take it with him?

The Supreme Court's decision to review the Texas redistricting case gives Democrats hope of overturning Tom DeLay's political masterpiece.

DeLay, the former majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, is charged with illegally channeling money to Texas legislative candidates. Their success allowed them to redraw congressional districts in 2003, resulting in a net gain of five Republican congressmen in the 2004 elections.

None of that means, however, that DeLay crafted "an illegal redistricting scheme," as Democrats allege. The Supreme Court will rule whether it was permissible for the Texas legislature to redraw the districts when and how it did.

A couple of points Democrats are making seem dubious to me. ...

My column today (with a nod to Charles Dickens):

Scrooge went to bed in a sour mood, even worse than his usual funk. ...

Speaking of campaign accounts, Gov. Mike Easley's committee is still active and recorded $885,000 in cash on hand at the end of the last reporting period.

The governor says he has no plans to run for another office after his term expires in three years.

Of course, North Carolina Democrats will be looking for someone to take on Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole in 2008.

But Easley also has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate. He's been speaking out on national issues lately, but usually only to the extent that they impact North Carolina.

Maybe he has higher ambitions. But I think he's just as likely to retire from politics.

That was the headline over an interesting column by George Bisharat on our Second Opinion page today.

It's not on our site, but you can read it here at latimes.com.

The author says the U.S. applies a double standard when it comes to nuclear nonproliferation: friends, OK; enemies, no.

Well, yes. Our friends, after all, are friendly.

The examples at hand are Israel and Iran.

Israel has nuclear weapons. Iran is working on it.

My goodness. How can we get all in a snit about Iran and overlook Israel? On what grounds can we try to deny Iran the right to develop the same kind of weapons Israel already has?

Well, we can because the president of Iran seems to be a very dangerous person who says Israel ought to be wiped off the map. Is that someone who should have his finger on the nuclear trigger?

Israel isn't threatening to wipe out anyone.

That's not to say Israel won't use its nuclear arsenal. It's a small country surrounded by enemies. In order to defend itself, if need be, it would drop the bomb on Damascus or Tehran.

It certainly isn't going to wait to be wiped out by the Iranians.

Israel doesn't have to worry about Baghdad anymore, at least for the time being.

The U.S. should do everything in its power to prevent nuclear war anywhere in the world. That means working with the international community to deny hostile states such as Iran and North Korea from obtaining nuclear weapons, and also working to stabilize relations between Israel and its neighbors so that no war of any kind is likely to break out.

Should Israel give up its nukes? Eventually, yes. When there is no possibility that its very existence is so threatened that it believes a nuclear deterrent is the only means of protection it has.

Today's letter, "Some churches make gay youth feel inferior," drew one very interesting statement on the blog.

It was: "The suicide rate for gay and lesbian children (is) off the charts for those who grow up in fundamentalist homes."

The writer identified himself or herself as progressivexian.

The suicide rate myth has been around for a long time. It says that gay teens kill themselves at much higher-than-average rate, and this "fact" is used as an argument to show that these young people are being psychologically abused.

Undoubtedly such abuse and suicides occur, but a higher suicide rate for gay teens than for other teens is simply not an established fact.

The statement about the suicide rate for gay and lesbian children raised in fundamentalist homes being "off the charts" is a new twist. I have no idea where it comes from, but I can guess: From people who want Americans to believe that fundamentalist Christians are killing gay youth with their "intolerant and hateful" attitudes.

Lately, the "fundamentalists" targeted are Southern Baptists. But more moderate Protestant denominations, including Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians, also bar same-sex marriages and prohibit ordination of practicing homosexuals. Throw in the Catholics, and the vast majority of U.S. Christians are pretty much in agreement on these issues.

I don't see them as punitive toward gay teens. At the same time, it would be appropriate for churches to counsel these young people, who may be confused about their sexuality. I think most churches hope everyone develops opposite-sex attractions, marries, has children and raises his or her family in the church. No Christians I know believe people can't change their behavior -- even sexual behavior -- with God's help.

By far the greatest threat to the lives of gay teens in the long run is not suicide but AIDS. HIV infections among men having sex with men continue at an alarming pace, despite the volumes of public information about the dangers of high-risk behavior.

Maybe someone will blame fundamentalist churches for that, too. But I don't think that's the cause. People who want to change destructive behaviors can find a warm welcome and help at many, many churches.

North Carolina public school students and teachers were delighted that classes didn't start until Aug. 25 this year.

Now that the Christmas holiday -- oops, better make that winter break -- is almost here, they might be having second thoughts.

Their vacation is short and, in some systems, getting shorter thanks to today's cancellations.

Guilford County's last day was scheduled to be Tuesday, Dec. 20, with a return set for Tuesday, Jan. 3. However, possible make-up days include Dec. 21 and Jan. 2. The system will make an announcement tomorrow. It's likely that the break will shrink by one of those days.

Update: With school also out Friday, Guilford is taking BOTH those days as make-ups.

Similarly, Rockingham County's last day was supposed to be the 20th, but students now could go the 21st to make up for today.

Davidson's schedule calls for the break to begin after the 21st, but the 22nd is a designated make-up day.

Alamance County's last day is already late, the 22nd. As I read the calendar, there shouldn't be any further encroachment on the winter break. The next designated make-up day is Jan. 18.

The last day for Winston-Forsyth is the 22nd. The 23rd had been a designated make-up day but the board of education changed that this week. Students already are scheduled to return on Jan. 2 as it is.

Enjoy your day off today, kids and teachers. For a lot of you, payback is coming off your already meager Christmas holiday.

Everything is going badly in Iraq and getting worse.

That's what we Americans tend to think based on most of what we hear.

The people who actually live there, however, have a much different view.

So says a poll conducted for TIME, ABC News, the BBC, NHK and Der Spiegel by Oxford Research International.

Make no mistake. Most Iraqis are not happy with the United States and want us out of their country as soon as possible. Although not today. They realize they're not ready for that yet.

But, the remarkable results of this survey show that:

71 percent of Iraqis say things are going very well or quite well in their own lives.

Only 44 percent say the same about Iraq in general, but ...

69 percent believe things will be better in Iraq a year from now.

46 percent say the U.S. was right to invade Iraq.

In Kurdish areas, that's 80 percent. In Shi'ite areas, it's 58 percent. In Sunni areas, it's only 25 percent.

63 percent feel very safe in the neighborhoods where they live.

57 percent want a democracy now, 64 percent within five years.

76 percent have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence that today's elections will create a stable government.

Only 26 percent say the U.S. should leave now.

Right or wrong, the United States has paid a high price to give the Iraqis the chance to create a better country for themselves. It's good to know that most of them think it's happening.

This is going to be fun.

As Mark Binker reported earlier this afternoon, the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law has filed its suit against the state lottery.

I think former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr has a strong case.

We knew that the lottery bill was passed in a sleazy way. Orr makes a convincing argument that the hurry-up manner in which it was approved also violated the state constitution.

A paragraph in the constitution about "revenue bills" says that laws "enacted to raise money on the credit of the state or to pledge the faith of the state directly or indirectly for the payment of any debt, or to impose any tax upon the people" must have been read three times in each house of the General Assembly and passed three times on three separate days.

In both the House and Senate, bills were given their second and third readings on the same day. The margins were so close that leaders knew they had to pass the bills as quickly as they could. In the Senate particularly, the final two votes were taken when two lottery opponents couldn't be there. The vote resulted in a 24-24 tie, which was broken in favor of the lottery by Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue.

Gov. Mike Easley and other lottery defenders say the constitutional provision doesn't apply because the lottery isn't a tax. Lottery tickets will be bought freely by willing players.

That doesn't matter, according to my reading. The lottery bill calls the lottery commission a "revenue-raising agency of the state." In addition, the bill also mandates that taxes must be withheld from lottery winnings. It is clearly a tax bill.

I spoke to Orr this afternoon. He knows he's a bit of a spoilsport, but he insists an important principle is at stake. The constitution requires the legislature to space out the passing of revenue bills to give citizens time to see where their representatives stand before a final vote is taken. In other words, the authors of the constitution made an explicit effort to prevent the sort of shenanigans that were employed in the legislature this year.

Orr's suit could block the lottery. I hope it does.

Or the governor could convene a special session of the General Assembly and ask legislators to take up lottery legislation again -- by the rules this time.

But, oh gosh. If the votes are taken fairly, with all members present, it might not pass.

This billboard, which I've written about before, is getting decidedly mixed reviews.

Some critics say it's racist.

"The message of the ad says that Arabs are dangerous and violent people and that therefore they should not get driver's licenses and I think it's bigoted. It's racist," said Christine Saah Nazer of the Washington D.C.-based Arab American Institute.

But it doesn't say that at all.

It says terrorists are dangerous and violent people and therefore should not get driver's licenses.

There's a pretty big difference.

Of course most Arabs are not terrorists.

But an awful lot of terrorists are Arabs.

The real complaint about this billboard should be its sensationalism. The illegal immigrants getting North Carolina driver's licenses are not Arab terrorists. They're mostly Mexicans -- who are not terrorists.

There's no record that any terrorists have obtained a North Carolina driver's license.

Although, if they wanted to, it probably wouldn't be hard.

One of the most horrifying and shameful episodes in North Carolina history is thoroughly documented in the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Report.

It's a product of the Wilmington Race Riot Commission, created by an act of the state legislature in 2000.

This news release provides basic explanation.

Naturally, readers in Greensboro may compare the Wilmington Race Riot Commission to the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

There are some similarities. But the differences are greater.

The Wilmington effort is state-sanctioned. The Greensboro work is being conducted privately and was expressly not endorsed by the Greensboro City Council.

The Wilmington incident occurred 107 years ago; everyone involved is long dead. Many of the participants and witnesses in Greensboro are still alive.

The Wilmington riots were perpetrated by the city's white power structure, which set out to violently take control of city government as well as property and economic interests of black citizens and their white political allies. Blacks still enjoyed voting rights in 1898. They made up a majority of Wilmington's population and included a healthy middle class of small business owners. The riots turned all that upside down.

In Greensboro, violence occurred between small, extremist groups, mostly composed of outsiders and not connected to government or any power structure.

Both episodes certainly reverberate through time. Despite its magnitude, less has been known about the Wilmington riots, even though at least 22 people -- all of them black -- were killed, compared to five in Greensboro. The commission set out to produce the best historical record of those 1898 events and their impact. Unlike the Greensboro commission, it did not establish "reconciliation" as a goal. Its objectives were less ambitious in that respect, and more realistic. A historical record is tangible, full of facts, hopefully objective. "Reconciliation" as a goal is much harder to grasp. What is it, and how do you know you've got it?

The Wilmington commission has not asked for reparations, although it continues to study tax records to determine the financial cost of the riots to black business and property owners. You could argue that Wilmington people whose families seized property from black residents murdered or forced to leave the city carry a debt today. The commission's vice chairman, Irving Joyner, told the Wilmington Star-News that the state owes an official apology for its inaction during the riots.

The Wilmington riot was one of the events that led to a radical transformation across North Carolina and the South. It put an end to Reconstruction reforms and to black voting rights for nearly 70 years. It fueled the White Supremacy movement and led to Jim Crow laws. It set back the cause of civil rights and equality for many decades. It should be studied and understood for the tremendous impact it had on our society.

The 1979 shootings in Greensboro were like a sudden, destructive tornado that tore into the city. The 1898 riot in Wilmington was an earthquake of cataclysmic proportations that broke apart the landscape and scarred the state forever.

If any of my fellow Tar Heel basketball fans haven't read this yet, I recommend "Going Home Again: Roy Williams, the North Carolina Tar Heels, and a Season to Remember."

Author Adam Lucas delivers lots of inside information, and he writes darn well.

I love the scene he describes from the 2004 NCAA tournament game against Texas. A Longhorn player has just crashed into a cooler behind the Carolina bench, drenching the whole area with sports drink. Immediately a team of officials rushes to clean up the mess. Lucas writes:

"Roy Williams, meanwhile, is unable to appreciate the efficiency taking place just behind the bench. He is too busy watching Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants run some type of foreign offense with which he is not familiar."

The book's only fault is its subtitle. The "Season to Remember" of the book was 2003-04, Williams' first as Tar Heel coach. In reality, it was a season to forget. But this book may increase your appreciation for Williams' coaching ability. As talented a team as he inherited, it was one whose players didn't know how to blend their collective abilities into high-performing unit. It took a year, but ol' Roy managed to turn a group of exceptional individuals into champions.

Now, 2004-05, THAT was a season to remember.

I really hate those diamond ads on TV ... especially the one where the guy rides a tow truck through a snowstorm so he can get home in time to give his wife her special Christmas present: a diamond bracelet that probably cost more than your kid's college tuition.

The worst part is how she looks at him. Her adoring expression says, "Oh, darling, diamonds. Yes, I do love you after all!"

Well, I'm not falling for it.

How about it, guys? Are you with me? If we stick together, we can beat this.

I hope President Bush is correct that our forces in Iraq are on the road to victory, and that's the road that will bring them home.

He delivered a strong, confident speech from the Oval Office a few minutes ago. He laid out our options: victory or defeat.

Defeat could leave Iraq in the hands of terrorists, Bush said, pointing to the consequences of a premature U.S. withdrawal.

If that's true, it means the Iraqi government and security forces are still too weak to stand up to Saddamist insurgents and terrorists.

Yet the president also castigated the defeatists -- read: Howard Dean and like-minded Democrats -- whose negativity is undermining the morale of our troops.

But then, after the speech, I'm listening to Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham tell Larry King that we can't win militarily in Iraq. Only a political solution will guarantee an end to the insurgency and stave off a civil war. Graham just returned from Iraq, where he observed Thursday's impressive elections.

Democrat Sen. Joe Biden, who joined Graham, agrees that defeat would have disastrous consequences, but he notes that "the jury is still out" on the ultimate outcome. The Iraqis themselves could end up choosing a government that is just about as hostile to the U.S. and the West in general as was Saddam's. Just look at Iran and imagine the possibilities for Iraq.

Bush insists we're pursuring a "noble and necessary cause." He convinces me that it is necessary to stay the course until a free and independent Iraqi government can stand on its own. Noble? Let's wait and see what we have when this is all over with.

You've got to love our legal system.

According to a mailing I received the other day, I may be due a legal settlement from Time Warner Cable for offenses committed against me between 1994 and 1998.

This would have gone completely unnoticed by myself were it not for the vigilent efforts on my behalf by George W. Sampson, Esq. of Hagens Berman Sobel Shapiro, LLP, of Seattle, Wash., my Class Counsel.

If indeed I am included in the settlement, I will be compensated for damages, plus the requisite pain and suffering, which I can't even begin to describe, with my choice of the following:

1) One free month of any Time Warner Cable service that I don't already have; or

2) Two free Movies on Demand.

The Class Counsel gets $5 million.

Justice will be done.

It appears that the lottery aspect of the High Point high school choice plan has been discarded. So be it.

Congratulations to the parents who have fought this so vociferously.

To the extent they succeeded through political organization, petitioning their elected officials, airing their grievances in public forums and vigorously expressing legitimate criticisms, I salute them. That's the way the system is supposed to work.

I'm less impressed with the tactics of personal insult, ridicule and intimidation, which were also employed by some during this emotional battle.

The opposition to the choice plan in north High Point and Jamestown was a force to be reckoned with, no doubt.

Unfortunately, I think other people who supported the choice plan, at least in principle, became afraid to say so. That's certainly true for the community leaders who originally endorsed the plan, then faded into the background rather than show the courage of their convictions.

For now, the school board intends to keep the special academic programs in place at the three high schools. That won't please the critics. Nevertheless, I hope the board will give these programs a chance to work, and I hope it will be possible for an inner-city student who would like to participate in the arts curriculum at Southwest High to do so. If that's only allowed on a "space available" basis, Southwest will be a school that for all practical purposes is only open to students who live in its designated attendance zone.

I don't happen to believe that living in a particular neighborhood should give one student a greater "right" to attend a certain school than any other student. All Guilford County schools belong equally to all the people of Guilford County; a school doesn't belong only to the people who live in this neighborhood or that.

At the same time, it's extremely difficult to balance these rights when it's impossible to simply allow open enrollment at every school. Some means must be employed to decide where students can go. Maybe there will be another "lottery" to determine which students from outside the Southwest attendance district can enroll there.

High Point has problems that are not the same as Greensboro's, which is why the choice plan could not be translated to Greensboro. It only has three high schools, and two of them are in danger of becoming more socioeconomically isolated. There are a lot of poor people in High Point, and if all their children are concentrated in the inner-city schools, academic challenges can become overwhelming. You can't "fix them" by forcing more privileged children to attend those schools, but at least that has the effect of transferring more parental and community support to those schools, encouraging the best teachers to stay and allowing the school to offer more high-level courses and raise academic standards in general for all its students. What High Point needs is for the entire city to take ownership of all its schools, not for individual neighborhoods to show concern only for their own neighborhood schools.

All that said, the school system needs to do its part by providing strong academic programs in all schools. It hasn't lived up to that obligation yet. Ideally, by improving the technology programs at Andrews and the international studies programs at Central, those schools will draw students voluntarily from throughout the city, creating a better balance at those schools, building communitywide support for them and better preparing students for higher education and the challenges of a rapidly changing economy. (But Andrews also needs a more favorable attendance zone.)

High Point's future really depends on the quality of all three high schools.

Mark Binker reported today that North Carolina will join the multistate Powerball games.

Our Easley Money Lottery Director Tom Shaheen said Powerball is critical to our effort to quickly create revenue and reach the $1 billion in gross sales widely used as an estimate among North Carolina policymakers.

Funny, I don't remember Powerball being in the equation when that $1 billion was promised.

Powerball offers jackpots that run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Which means it takes more losers to support it.

And the jackpots have to keep growing in order to maintain the desired level of excitement and participation.

Lottery veteran Shaheen said he remembered when a $22 million jackpot in Georgia drew lines of would-be multimillionaires waiting to buy tickets. "You couldn't get anyone to leave their house for $22 million right now," he said.

Tell me he's kidding.

What I want to know is how this is going to meet the requirements of North Carolina's lottery law. It says 50 percent of income has to be paid out in winnings.

How can that be guaranteed in a multistate game? North Carolinians are going to spend millions on Powerball tickets, but if the winning ticket is drawn in another state -- which is likely, after all -- no winnings come back here. Our lottery law simply doesn't account for that circumstance.

Oh, but wait. Our lottery law is going to be struck down anyway.

In the meantime, the lottery commission keeps hiring employees with big salaries, as if their jobs are more important than those of other state employees who get paid much less.

I think the lottery might be hiring janitors for $60,000 a year, with a bonus if they actually get their work done on time.

So what? It's all for education.

Whatever the merits of Judge John E. Jones' decision in the Pennsylvania "intelligent design" case, I prefer the remedy employed by Dover voters in November: They got rid of the school board members who implemented the controversial policy.

Judges -- even if they're right -- should not decide what is or isn't science and what schools should teach. That's what educators are supposed to do, guided by elected leaders.

This whole issue is vexing. In some ways, it matches two groups of inerrantists against each other: Those who believe the biblical account of creation is literally true vs. those who believe the theory of evolution is sacrosanct and beyond question.

Where is the place for those of us who think there are still a few things about the origin and development of life on earth we don't understand?

I accept the theory of evolution and believe it should be taught -- along with an honest acknowledgment that it doesn't answer every question.

I also believe in the Creator, or "intelligent designer" if you will.

Sensitive teachers might tell students it's OK if they want to use their religious faith to fill in gaps in the scientific record.

Instead, I guess the courts will have science teachers tell students that, wherever we lack understanding about how this world and life upon it came to be, "We are required to say: 'God didn't do it!' "

Gov. Easley, isn't it time for you to get involved in fixing this lottery debacle?

It was your leadership that gave us the "N.C. Education Lottery." But your official position over the past few months as it's been revealed HOW the lottery came to be has been, "I don't care about any of that as long as it rakes in lots of money."

That's not good enough anymore, governor. You've got a lot of trouble on your hands.

First, you have Bob Orr and his N.C. Institute for Constitional Law. Their lawsuit contending that the lottery bill was passed improperly looks like a winner.

Second, you have companies bidding for lottery contracts starting to complain that the law was written to favor just one company -- Scientific Games.

What a surprise. It was Scientific Games that got to WRITE part of the lottery bill, thanks to its political connections.

How much are you willing to bet, governor, that those other companies won't file their own lawsuits charging they were excluded because of legislative influence-peddling?

Here's what you need to do: Call a special session of the General Assembly on the earliest feasible date in January and ask legislators to pass a new lottery bill -- WITHOUT undue influence and LEGALLY this time. (Hint: that means they can't rush it through in a single day.)

Oh, it might not pass that way? That is a problem, isn't it?

Maybe you could offer bonuses to legislators if they meet a deadline for approving a lottery bill. (That's meant to be a joke, governor. You can't really do it; it's too much like vote-buying, and that's never done openly in Raleigh.)

I will say this: I finally understand why this is called the "Education Lottery." This whole process sure has provided a good education for us all about the way things work in our state capital.

The way to get things done is through politically connected lobbyists, wining and dining and, when you don't quite have all the votes you need, any sort of legislative trickery you can get away with.

This time, however, the game is up. If you want your Easley Money Lottery, governor, you're going to have to call the gang back to Raleigh and try again.

Wearing kilts makes you look like a clown?

Well, maybe if you'e an English prince.

But Nathan Warmack wears 'em well.

Let him honor his Scottish heritage!

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

Bravo to Tony Griffey, the opera star from High Point who gave a benefit concert last week for Open Door Ministries.

Griffey is a top talent who has moved back to his hometown but continues to perform all over the world. His program of Christmas music may become an annual event, but it might be necessary to find a larger venue. First Baptist Church was overflowing.

The concert was free, but listeners were given the opportunity to make a donation to Open Door Ministries, which provides meals, shelter and various services to the homeless and others in need.

One complaint: People who drop in a $5 bill or less. Come on, the concert was worth 10 times that!

Also free was a concert by Bel Canto at First Presbyterian Church in High Point -- a gift to the community from the church.

A highlight of our Christmas weekend in Polk County was sister-in-law Kim McFarland's solo of "O Holy Night" at First Baptist Church in Tryon. Kim sings like an angel. A special ed teacher at Polk County High School, she no doubt can mesmerize her students by breaking into a song when needed.

The cross on Tryon Peak was lighted as usual and could be seen for miles by anyone driving up I-26 from South Carolina.

It has nothing to do with Christmas but I was able to cover one of my favorite runs on a chilly Christmas Eve morning: out Houston Road from Columbus, then following Skyuka Road along the base of the White Oak Mountain-Tryon Peak ridge, crossing N.C. 108, tracing the meandering Pacolet River to River Road, which is dirt and just as likely to carry a horse carriage as a car, then up, up, up Golden Road, and back to Columbus on Peniel Road -- 11.4 peaceful, hilly miles.

Our son Andrew, the Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, spent Christmas with fellow PCVs in Bukoba, on the western shore of Lake Victoria, near the Uganda border. He is stationed in Mwanza on the southern shore, where he'll be for the next two years. This was his first Christmas away from his family, but we were able to call him on Sunday and pass the phone around, giving everyone a minute or two to share greetings. He's doing very, very well over there.

Now, oh, man, I've got to get back to work tomorrow.

Tim Pritchard's "Ambush Alley: The Most Extraordinary Battle of the Iraq War" might remind readers of "Blackhawk Down" by Mark Bowden. It's an incredibly intense, detailed and gripping account of the fiercely chaotic fight for Nasiriyah by U.S. Marines on March 23, 2003.

But I'd compare the action itself to the Battle of the Little Big Horn on July 25, 1876.

George Armstrong Custer split his command into three sections and plunged into the stronghold of an enemy he misunderstood and badly underestimated. That's exactly what the Marines did in Nasiriyah on the third day of the Iraq war.

The result was less disastrous only because of armor and air power available to the Marines. Even then, air power was a mixed blessing.

"Ambush Alley" chronicles one action on one day, but it says a great deal about the U.S. experience in Iraq. Planners expected Iraqi army resistence in Nasiriyah to melt away in the face of American military superiority. Ordinary Iraqis, eager for an end to Saddam Hussein's regime, would welcome the Marines as liberators.

It didn't happen. Opposition was ferocious -- but not in the conventional sense. Urban guerrilla fighters were well-armed and well-prepared to put up a fight in "Ambush Alley" -- and the Americans charged straight into a hornet's nest, just like Custer at the Little Big Horn.

This battle foreshadowed the kind of war the Americans would be in for -- one where Iraqi fighters would literally shoot from behind women and children, stash weapons in mosques, and employ suicidal tactics to kill the invaders.

The Marines who finally prevailed that day -- at a cost far higher than anyone anticipated -- did so with incredible courage, skill, tenacity and, when necessary, brutality.

The grunts on the ground also endured communications failures, intelligence miscues and terrible blunders by their superiors -- including a horrifying friendly fire attack by their own aircraft.

Pritchard accounts for nearly every minute of this terrifying battle. It's a story of immense heroism and horrible suffering. Reading it, I was swept up in admiration for the Marines involved, and angry that they were thrown into such a maelstrom.

I readily admit that I don't understand much about climate change.

Which probably makes me a lot more honest than most laymen -- especially those who think we can reverse global warming if only more of us would start driving hybrids, or whatever.

The articles about the Atlantic Gulf Stream by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Anthony R. Wood, printed Sunday through today in the N&R, show some of the complexities involved in the science of climate change.

Wood explains the theory that warming can cause cooling -- perhaps dramatic cooling.

Of course, everyone knows the earth is warming. Even though this warming amounts to about one degree in the last century or so, the 10 warmest years "on record" reportedly have occurred since 1990.

But "on record" is a mere snap of the fingers compared to the long scope of earth history. The earth has been much warmer in the past -- even the short-term past (1,000 years ago) -- than it is now. In fact, many scientisits say the earth is still in an "ice age" to the extent that much of the planet's water is frozen. The amount of ice is diminishing, but it will increase again.

An interesting book on the subject, accessible to laymen, is "Frozen Earth: The Once and Furture Story of Ice Ages" by Doug Macdougall.

Well, then, everyone also knows that atmospheric pollution causes temperatures to rise. Or, maybe not, according to a new study. How do we know what to believe?

While it may be true that human activity can have a marginal effect on climate, how much so is unknown. When climate continually changes, sometimes abruptly, it's pretty hard to sort out responsibility. To me, the idea that human beings can do a whole lot to "fix" the climate is pretty far-fetched.

I don't advocate wasteful expenditures of energy resources or unnecessarily polluting our environment. Nor do I support draconian reductions in the use of fuels on which our economy and way of life depend. It's inevitable that in the future we will develop more efficient and cleaner energy technologies as doing so becomes practicable. Our air and water will continue to improve, at least throughout the United States.

A lot of confusing information has been generated about global warming. Various computer models predict average temperatures will jump anywhere from from 2 to 10 degrees over the next century. It's going to be wetter or drier. Storms will be fiercer. Sea levels will rise. Or, conversely, parts of the world will get much colder -- which would seem to cause more freezing and drop sea levels.

If it's within man's power to control all this, let's figure out how to get it right.

Or maybe these forces of nature are just a little bigger than we are, after all.

All I know for sure is that anyone who claims to have all the answers may know even less than I do.

Not only is it raining at the moment in downtown Greensboro, but thunder is rumbling across the skies.

My colleague Ken Irons says that's a warning that snow will follow within eight days, at least according to folk wisdom.

Weather.com's 10-day forecast does not back up that theory this time.

What do you think?

When a politician says, "I'm not a crook," keep your hand on your wallet.

Yet, former Congressman Frank Ballance is regarded by some as a sort of folk hero. His friends and supporters gave him a nice send-off to prison Wednesday with a fund-raiser in Roanoke Rapids.

Ballance only tried to "help people" as a state senator who also ran a nonprofit organization funded by taxpayer dollars -- about $100,000 of which found their way to himself and his family.

Our state constitution lays out a commendable goal regarding higher education:

Sec. 9. Benefits of public institutions of higher education.

The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense.

Unfortunately, that principle finds itself under constant attack.

Tuition increases, year after year.

Efforts to admit more and more students from out of state.

And now state Senate leader Marc Basnight's proposal for tuition differential based on ability to pay.

Sounds fair to have those who can afford it pay higher tuition? Not so fast. If you get a break now, you should pay it back later, according to Basnight's idea.

So that's like a student loan from the state, right? I didn't read anything like that in the constitution.

One problem with the sliding scale argument is that people with more money already pay more to support the state university system through higher taxes. Their taxes also subsidize programs such as Pell grants for disadvantaged students.

We're also going to have college scholarships funded by lottery proceeds -- although it's likely to be poorer people paying for much of that, as the poor play the lottery in disproportionate numbers.

The bottom line, though, is this: The University of North Carolina system is a sound public investment. That's why we have it. It was created and is sustained for the benefit of the people of North Carolina. Tuition should be kept as low as possible, with the bulk of expenses carried by the taxpayers of North Carolina. We are creeping away from that responsibility by raising tuition by leaps and bounds and by giving consideration to proposals like Basnight's, which is nothing more than a plan for really big tuition increases and a way for legislators to evade their obligation to meet the constitutional mandate.

People in South Carolina are just learning that, if your state runs a lottery, you'd better watch it very closely.

An audit recently revealed that, in 2004, the lottery sold $20 million worth of tickets after all the big prizes had been awarded.

The Charleston Post and Courier gives some details in a story published today.

This has drawn a lawsuit alleging fraud and false advertising.

The state's lottery commission chairman explained this was no big deal because lots of players aren't interested in the big prizes anyway. They'd rather win the small ones.

More evidence that lottery states think their citizens are really, really stupid. In fact, they're banking on it.

But it is dishonest to keep selling tickets after the big prizes are awarded -- particularly if you're still advertising the availability of those prizes.

Is North Carolina going to run an honest lottery? Or is its purpose simply to rake in as much money as it can, any way it can?

Let's watch very, very closely.

Addendum: The Washington Post has an article today headlined:

"In N.C., scandal arrives before new state lottery."

Sure makes me proud.

We're going to see some interesting judicial races in North Carolina in 2006.

They may be more "political" than ever -- even though our judiciary is officially nonpartisan.

I just came across the Web site of an announced candidate for N.C. Supreme Court, Rachel Lea Hunter. She also ran unsuccessfully in 2004 -- although the Durham lawyer led the balloting (among eight candidates) in Guilford County. As it happened, women candidates led all the judicial races on the Guilford County ballot. Statewide, Hunter was beaten by candidates she describes as "machine" Democrats and Republicans.

Her Web site indicates that she's running on an anti-President Bush platform. That's odd for someone who wants to be a Supreme Court justice in North Carolina, but Hunter must feel that will be a successful formula in 2006.

She also wants to break up the court's majority of "Republican white guys."

At one time, North Carolina judicial candidates stayed away from political issues. Not anymore. Hunter is going to be aggressively political, from the left. You can expect the same from some candidates on the right.

It won't be pretty.

It's not a surprise that Gov. Easley appointed DA Stuart Albright to fill his father Doug Albright's seat on the Superior Court bench.

It was rumored around the Guilford County courthouse since last summer that Judge Albright would retire early, making room for the governor to appoint his son.

Stuart Albright was originally appointed to the DA's post by Easley, then was elected to a full term in 2004.

I think Albright has been a good DA, but he's certainly been given an easy path -- only 10 years out of law school and gathering his second major appointment.

I expect he'll have to defend it in November. District Court Judge Susan Bray has said she'd like to run for the Superior Court bench, and she'll be very tough.

The Albright name counts for a lot in judicial and political circles around here, so Stuart Albright should be favored to hold the seat on Election Day.

On the other hand, Guilford County voters showed a strong preference for women judicial candidates in the last election. Bray won her third term by a huge margin.

Doug Albright has been a judge -- a very good one -- for more than 30 years. Only 36, Stuart could match that.

Or his tenure could last all of one year.

Here's why North Carolina's 11th District Congressman Charles Taylor is in trouble.

Today is Heath Shuler's 34th birthday.

I predict he'll be sworn in as a member of Congress a few days after he turns 35.

Democrats scored a touchdown when they recruited this young man.

Shuler's football career ended early. His political career could last a long, long time.