[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Morgan Lucas
Southern California Vice President
California College Democrats

4.3 million more voters under the age of thirty cast their ballots in the 2004 election than had in 2000. The youth vote is becoming increasingly important to electoral success; in 2004 more 18-30 year olds voted than those over 65. Last year Democrats took back Congress because of 4 million new young voters.

Young voters are already paying attention to the 2008 election and acknowledge that its outcome has serious implications for the direction of our country. That is why with one year to go until Election Day, the California College Democrats begins its campaign to take back the White House. On over 22 college campuses throughout the state, thousands of college students have become involved in the political process – many for the first time – by registering to vote.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

[Editor's note: This is an introductory summary from Dangerous Development: Wildfire and Rural Sprawl in the Sierra Nevada, a report written before the Southern California fires that deals with policy issues in the Sierra and which has implications for other areas of California.]

By Autumn Bernstein
Land Use Coordinator
Sierra Nevada Alliance

New research by Sierra Nevada Alliance finds that large numbers of people are moving to very high fire hazard areas of the Sierra, leading to more wildfires, more taxpayer expense, and more loss of life.

In the next 20-40 years, even more people and homes will be in harm’s way. The population of the Sierra is expected to triple by the year 2040, and new research by Sierra Nevada Alliance finds that 94% of the land slated for rural residential development is classified as very high or extreme fire hazard by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (also known as CDF or CalFire).

At the same time, climate change is already making summers in the Sierra hotter and drier, leading to an increase in the frequency and severity of catastrophic wildfire (Westerling, 2006).

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...

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Calitics, maintained by Brian Leubitz and Jeremy Woodburn, is a community blog site that focuses on California public policy issues and politics at a state and local level.

If you visit the site, you will see many different authors with distinct voices and approaches and a lot of comments from Californians (and elsewhere).

Since the fires have broken out in Southern California, they have had a variety of insights--dozens--that you can read by clicking here and going to their "fire" tagged posts. These include some "live blogging" by Lucas, who lives in San Diego and gave hour by hour observations of the fire.

There is also an excellent "Blog Roundup" where hundreds of postings in California and from outside our state but about California are sifted--and those that relate to current issues and politics in the state are listed with links many times per week, approaching a daily basis. Because of the hundreds of postings on other sites pertaining to the fires, there have been separate listings on that topic that is worth looking at to see what those with unique perspectives are thinking about the fire, its implications, how it is affecting them, and what can be done to help out.

A great site in ordinary times--and to get information about the fire.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Better late than never, right? The San Francisco Chronicle reports today that while the Democratic presidential candidates have weighed in with monetary donations, messages of support and have urged Californians to offer assistance to the fire victims, the top-tier GOP wannabes haven't said or done a thing.

All political calculations aside (but seriously, aren't these guys somewhat interested in competing for votes in the Golden State?), the Republicans' silence on the issue seems to indicate an overall lack of human touch. While they may not be interested in assisting with the relief efforts, how difficult is it to at least issue a press release in support of the firefighters or to offer condolences to the many Californians whose lives have been impacted by the fires?

Today we learned that two of the Republican candidates will in fact be visiting California. Both John McCain, whose home state borders Southern California, and Fred Thompson are scheduled to make stops in the Golden State over the next few days .... to raise money for their struggling campaigns.

There's more...

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Sara S. Nichols

Although the job of (statewide elected California) Insurance Commissioner is not often associated with environmental issues, both the current and the immediate past job holders ran green. With the Southern California firestorms highlighting the effect of global climate change on the possibility of disasters and their attendant insurance claims, one wonders, what will/have these insurance commissioners done to move the insurance industry into political/economic reality?

In Europe, the insurance industry has been a crucial partner with environmentalists to pursue sane environmental policies that stem the production of greenhouse gases, thereby slowing global climate change, and protecting their bottom line.

In the U.S., the insurance industry routinely acts in lockstep with the Chamber of Commerce to oppose environmental bills which inconvenience polluters.

Past (Democratic) Insurance Commissioner and current Lt. Governor John Garamendi wants to be governor of California. He calls himself an environmentalist and campaigns on the need to do something about global climate change. Yet, when he was Insurance Commissioner did he use his position to nudge the insurance industry out of its historically anti-environmental stance? I don't recall hearing about such efforts.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

(Hat-tip to David Dayen at Calitics)

After four days of wildfires in Southern California, the presidential field can be roughly divided between those that care about the tragedy and those that don't. Amazingly, almost to a person, the divide falls along partisan lines. Let's browse...

Senator Hillary Clinton's homepage features ways people can donate. She also issued this statement:

"I have been following the news about the wildfires that are affecting seven counties in Southern California. My heart and prayers go out to the families who have been displaced, have lost their homes, businesses or worse -- have lost a loved one to these ravaging wildfires.

My thoughts are also with the thousands of brave firefighters and first responders who are risking their lives in battling the flames and helping the victims. We are praying for your safety."

read more »