by tface1000 [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

...the Calitics community did a great job of providing news and constantly updated information, often from the front lines of the wildfires. As the immediate emergency has settled into recovery, there have been diaries about the need to properly fund public fire safety infrastructure and the ugly politics of disaster, among others. All very well done. Thankfully, we can sit in our homes and have the luxury of thinking about the fires, and talking about the fires, and seeing the fires in the abstract, without having it immediately and directly impact our own lives. It becomes harder to think of it in the abstract once you hear the stories of people who were personally affected. Just like anything else in the news or the political arena, there are people behind the stories.

continued on the flip...

by Sheri Divers [courtesy of Blog for America]

Climate change disaster is upon us, warns UN

A record number of floods, droughts and storms around the world this year amount to a climate change "mega disaster", the United Nation's emergency relief coordinator, Sir John Holmes, has warned.

Sir John, a British diplomat who is also known as the UN's under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said dire predictions about the impact of global warming on humanity were already coming true.

"We are seeing the effects of climate change. Any year can be a freak but the pattern looks pretty clear to be honest. That's why we're trying ... to say, of course you've got to deal with mitigation of emissions, but this is here and now, this is with us already," he said.

Byrd warns of "chest pounding” on Iran

Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) took to the Senate floor on Thursday to decry recent provocations against Iran, warning his colleagues against “sleep-walking” into another military conflict.

Last week, the Senate passed a non-binding amendment to the defense authorization bill that designated a portion of the Iranian Armed Forces as a “terrorist organization.”

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

The coverage of the IBEW video has been pretty good in the local press. Here is a clip from KNBC on the video and the protest at the DWP meeting. It also has some good commentary from Working Californians' co-chair Brian D'Arcy.

For background, see my post from yesterday.