Cross posted from Scaling Green, with a speeeecial shout-out to fossil fuel/Keystone-supporting Mark Warner.

Given the relentless push by friends of the fossil fuel industry in Congress to force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, you might think that this was an overwhelmingly popular project with the American people. Yet, according to recent polling by the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Americans are divided about whether the pipeline should be built. 31% of Americans say they favor the building of the pipeline and 18% oppose its construction. Meanwhile, half of Americans haven’t made up their mind: 31% say they neither favor nor oppose the Keystone XL pipeline, while 19% say they are not sure whether they favor or oppose it (19%).

Americans are split along party lines, with Republicans significantly more likely to support building the pipeline than Democrats (51% vs. 15%).

In short, Americans are deeply divided on this Canadian tar sands export project, with just 31% favoring it.  Perhaps most surprisingly, given the huge amounts of money that pro-Keystone forces have spent in pushing this project to the public, most Americans have no opinion one way or the other on Keystone, or aren’t sure whether they favor or oppose it.  Also somewhat surprising is that all that pro-Keystone propaganda doesn’t seem to be increasing public support for the pipeline. For instance, the Yale/AP-NORC polling finds significantly lower support for this pipeline than a November Pew poll showing 59% support for Keystone.  Even more striking, both the Pew and Yale/AP-NORC results from late 2014 indicate a shap drop in public support for Keystone, for instance compared to a March 2014 Washington Post-ABC News poll, which found 65% support for Keystone.

Is support for Keystone softening? Based on the polling noted above, that certainly appears to be the case. Why might that be? First, perhaps the facts about this pipeline’s potential environmental and economic harm are getting out more broadly. Second, the recent plunge in oil prices may very well have made Americans less willing to support a dirty tar sands export project than they once were. Regardless of the reason, it’s clear that Keystone – in addition to being a loser on policy grounds – isn’t the political winner it once might have seemed to be.  Hopefully, Congress and President Obama are receiving this message loud and clear.

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, January 11.

*France at ‘war’ with radical Islam, prime minister says

*Huge Crowds Expected for Antiterror Rally (“World leaders and hundreds of thousands of people were expected to rally and march under extraordinary security in Paris on Sunday after a series of terrorist attacks in the city.”)

*Bush, Romney are already in a tense two-step (I’m stocking up on popcorn for this one!)

*George Zimmerman Arrested Again For Assault And Domestic Violence (Remind me again, why isn’t this murdering thug behind bars?!?)

*Iowa Republicans vote to continue Ames straw poll (As a Democrat who loves watching Republicans expose themselves for who they really are, I say “excelllllllent!” LOL)

*Coal ash rules must be stronger (While we’re at it, how about banning the abomination of mountaintop removal coal mining?)

*Schapiro: Getting answers for getting rid of Morrissey (House of Delegates Clerk Paul Nardo “has been combing the files in recent days, trying to determine how the House of Delegates goes about expelling a member should it decide to do so for the first time since 1876, when R.D. Ruffin of Dinwiddie County, a lawyer, got the boot for embezzling $30 from the House to buy shoes and groceries.”)

*Voters go to polls Tuesday in ‘bizarre’ contest for Morrissey’s seat

*In Chesapeake, a fight’s coming down the pipeline (“The Sunray neighborhood faces a project backed by Dominion Virginia Power, which is leading a group of energy companies that want to put a natural gas pipeline through the community.”)

*Politics might rule Virginia legislative session despite McAuliffe’s hopes (“He wants to focus on jobs, but the state’s elections this year might test his relationships with lawmakers.”)

*Issues to watch in the Virginia legislature (“Gun control, Medicaid expansion and ethics reform are among the topics likely to dominate the 2015 session.”)

*General Assembly prepares for partisan showdowns

*Ethics key focus of General Assembly (We’ll see how tough – or more likely way too weak – they are on ethics reform, campaign finance reform, redistricting reform, etc.)

*General Assembly 2015: A load of issues at session’s start (Actually, it could end up being more a battle among Republicans – between the right and the far right- since they control both chambers.)

*Casey: Real legislation vs. political hokum (“You can tell what’s real and meaningful here, and what’s fake. Respectively, that’s Kaine’s proposal followed by Goodlatte’s.” Yet again, Goodlatte’s name really should be BADlatte. He’s horrendous.)

*For Bob McDonnell, prison life won’t be like anything on TV

*Fairfax County book lovers: Stop shrinking the library collection

*Local government and schools salaries rise slightly

*A slightly warmer Sunday before freezing rain moves in tonight

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, January 10. Also see President Obama’s weekly address, about “the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s” and on “building on the progress we’ve made.”

*Economy Up, G.O.P. Wants a Little Credit (Sure, and while we’re at it, let’s give credit to arsonists for putting out the fire. LOL)

*A violent conclusion in France (“With 3 suspects dead, 1 at large, security worries loom”)

*Days of Fear and Blood Turn France ‘Upside Down’

*Boko Haram may have just killed 2,000 people: ‘Killing went on and on and on’ (Horrifying. What is the international community doing about this?)

*In shift, Romney tells GOP donors he is considering a 2016 run (LOL, this should be fun.)

*A sober Snowden deems life in Russia ‘great’ (This guy is so full of it. He loves life in the ultra-repressive Russia, where there are close to ZERO personal liberties, close to ZERO freedom of the press/speech/etc? Massive hypocrite.)

*Ken Cuccinelli’s unappetizing next course (That article also should have noted the fact that Cooch is a climate science denier, and that climate change threatens to devastate oysters.)

*Webb recovering after knee surgery (“The aide said that Webb had a full knee replacement, removing a knee that had carried shrapnel since Webb weathered a grenade attack in 1969.”)

*3 Va. lawmakers push for faster purges of license plate data (“Local police officials said they will try to defeat the bills.”)

*Prosecutors: Keep McDonnell imprisoned during appeal (“If the judge agrees, the former governor of Virginia could find himself behind bars within a month.”)

*Gag order request denied in Matthew’s Fairfax case

*At Virginia budget hearings, real life struggles emerge

*Paris attacks a betrayal of Islamic values, local Muslims say (“In the wake of a deadly terrorist attack in Paris on Wednesday, the leader of a Hampton mosque told local Muslims on Friday that the violence is not representative of Islam, and Muslims have a duty to educate others about their faith.”)

*Busy port shows stability, profit (“By nearly any measure, the Port of Virginia appears to be moving in the right direction.”)

*Documents shed light on 2013 Norfolk police shooting at bank

*Virginia Tech gains enrollment to becomesstate’s second largest public university

*Too cold for comfort today. Temps won’t rise above freezing.

I’m 100% with former 11th CD Democratic Congressional candidate Andrew Hurst on this one (bolding added by me). Go Rip!

Feeling reflective after attending an event for my former partner, and newly elected Delegate Rip Sullivan last night.

Rip will make an amazing representative, and he is a real credit to the Virginia House of Delegates. He is honest, well spoken, practical, passionate, considerate, and very intelligent.

He told some really funny stories about his first few weeks after winning. How he started writing speeches and preparing to speak a lot from the floor, and how inspired he was to advocate for causes he was passionate about. But then he described his meeting with the Speaker of the House, who told him he hoped Rip wouldn’t be “that guy” who speaks from the floor all the time and drives his colleagues crazy. Rip described how his own caucus essentially rolled its eyes at his enthusiasm to fight and introduce legislation. And how the more experienced folks in Richmond were giving him good advice about pulling back, following the “Virginia Way,” and not making waves as the new guy.

I get that a legislature is a working group, and that the newest person has things to learn. But Rip worked hard to be elected, and a majority of voters in his District believe in the ideas he espoused, and believe in HIM.

I really hope he becomes “that guy.” That he speaks his mind on the issues he is impassioned about. That he pounds the table from time to time, and even tips it over on rare occasion. That he shakes up the status quo, introduces commonsense bills that his constituents would be for, and vehemently opposes bad ideas, pulling out all stops to prevent bad action. That he brings some thunder on the left to Richmond…

The “Virginia Way?” The last governor is going to jail. He’ll be joining two former members of the House who disgraced themselves. There hasn’t been a piece of legislation of consequence successfully introduced by a Democratic delegate in recent memory. The coastline of Virginia is going to be erased in the next fifty years, and you can’t even say the words “climate change” in Richmond. The Commonwealth has essentially left hundreds of millions of dollars of Medicaid funds on the table because idealogues don’t like Obamacare. And so on… The NoVa Democrats in the Virginia Assembly, a group of men and women who are incredibly accomplished and talented, have become utterly irrelevant. I can’t see that there is anything to lose by being “that guy,” and I would love to give my support to one...

See below for a graphic summing up the amazing progress we’ve made since Barack Obama took office, compared to the economic free fall we were in when Bush/Cheney handed over the reins. But never forget, this situation could have been far better, and improved much faster, if it weren’t for Republicans’ #1 priority being making “Obama fail.” As Dave Roberts tweets, “Just imagine what Obama could have accomplished w/out the millstone of an insane GOP hung around his neck.” In fairness, I’d add, “…and a handful of austerity-loving conservadems.” Finally, note this poll: “The problem for Democrats was that among the less well-off, that support usually wasn’t translating into votes. Among those facing the most financial stress, for example, 42% said they favored a Democrat, but only 12% seemed likely to show up and vote for one in the midterm election, the study’s pre-election survey indicated.” That’s a huge problem, the latest evidence being this past November’s elections, which insanely rewarded the very people who have been holding our country back, sabotating the economic recovery every step of the way, etc. Why did that happen? Simple: because Democrats apparently didn’t motivate/inspire their voters to show up at the polls in large enough numbers relative to Republicans. Classic case: Mark Warner, who did just about everything he could to signal he was NOT a progressive, environmentalist, etc., then came within a whisker of losing a race he was supposed to win easily, as “base” Democratic voters stayed home in droves. Brilliant, eh?