if anyone has the stomach to watch Difi, let me know if she goes off on her, “no one should be building in CA… you shouldn’t be using shake roofs and shingle siding” routine…

I couldn’t believe what was coming out of her mouth the other day… no one has used those building materials in more than 20 years out here and just where exactly does she think everyone should live in So Cal?

Maybe in No Cal? I swear, she must be suffering some form of dementia.

DiFi is basically creating bad will amongst all her constituencies and showing just how out of touch she is with the realities of Californias life TODAY. Everyone in SoCal would be offended by those comments…implying that THEY were responsible for the burning down of their own homes. There are probably a lot of old model homes that may still have shake shingles, but they aren’t common in new developments. In some areas they are banned unless they are impregnated with retardant.

Better that people who include fire resistant materials in their homes and undertake activities that reduce the threats of fire in their landscaping get breaks in their property tax rates. If a developer does it then they could have special benefits related to approvals or reduction of certain fees. Plus that reduced property tax rate would be something that is attractive to buyers…and such would have to be noted in sales materials whether such materials exist and the benefit that accrues.

When Howard Dean spoke at DemocracyFest one of the things he spoke of at length about was how the Democratic National Committee was reaching out to find common ground among evangelical and other Christian groups. He made the point that these folks are moving away from the hard right positions of “God, Guns and Gays,” and moving toward issues of the occupation of Iraq, poverty, social justice and environmental stewardship. Dean said that there is much common ground that can be explored in the next election cycle.

Last night I found this in the
“>New York Times:

The extraordinary evangelical love affair with Bush has ended, for many, in heartbreak over the Iraq war and what they see as his meager domestic accomplishments. That disappointment, in turn, has sharpened latent divisions within the evangelical world — over the evangelical alliance with the Republican Party, among approaches to ministry and theology, and between the generations.

(Snip)

Meanwhile, a younger generation of evangelical pastors — including the widely emulated preachers Rick Warren and Bill Hybels — are pushing the movement and its theology in new directions. However conceived, though, the result is a new interest in public policies that address problems of peace, health and poverty — problems, unlike abortion and same-sex marriage, where left and right compete to present the best answers.

The backlash on the right against Bush and the war has emboldened some previously circumspect evangelical leaders to criticize the leadership of the Christian conservative political movement. “The quickness to arms, the quickness to invade, I think that caused a kind of desertion of what has been known as the Christian right,” Hybels, whose Willow Creek Association now includes 12,000 churches, told me over the summer. “People who might be called progressive evangelicals or centrist evangelicals are one stirring away from a real awakening.”

This ten page article in the Sunday Magazine offers much to consider as progressives try to find common ground with a constituency that was led astray by wolves in sheep’s clothing (Fallwell, Dobson et al) that for far too long has held sway over the public presentation and perception of American Christianity.

“There was a time when evangelical churches were becoming largely and almost exclusively the Republican Party at prayer,” said Marvin Olasky, the editor of the evangelical magazine World and an informal adviser to George W. Bush when he was governor. “To some extent — we have to see how much — the Republicans have blown it. That opportunity to lock up that constituency has vanished. The ball now really is in the Democrats’ court.”

Amen.

you know, not too much going on this morning in politics, I think I am going to be able to spend one of the last outdoor tennis days actually playing some tennins

go figure

see all later

Sounds terrific! Do you ever put a face on a ball and just whack it into the middle of next week? Very therapeutic! ;->

dodd’s doing very well, and i’m glad to hear him address some of the important topics brought up. but i really can’t stand timmeh… tv off again. i’ll listen to the podcast where i can skip the non-dodd parts.

I’m already ticked at MTP. In the voiceover intro Dodd was referred to as “Chris Dodd” twice. Never “Senator Chris Dodd”. Then in Russert’s opening remark it went something like “A democrat who has moved his family….. Welcome.” Still no “Senator”

but the Plunger is always Americas mayor
and Senator Clinton is Mrs. Clinton or Hillary

I think I’m gonna take the easy route this a.m. and zone in on Dodd telling Timmeh what questions he ought to have asked. That should be just the ticket till I git my coffee. Dodd’s so good at un-muddling the bubblegroupies.

Aren’t rufous hummers regular fare in S. TX? Mebbe one mosied up north a bit & hitched a ride on the bikemobile. Beautiful little fellas.
Beautiful pix, Julie! Thanks. ;->

katherine Graham Cracker @ 79

duifi –shouldn’t be building in fire areas?
what about her house in Western Sonoma County?

yeah, we’ll all move up there next door to her…

14 Northern Cal counties have serious sudden oak death problems and the two wet winters have made the problems worse. Senator Dif’s house is near a big stand of tanoak now dead — I hope she is planning on spending soem of dickies money on making her property fire safe