Flap’s Links and Comments for July 26th on 07:07

These are my links for July 26th from 07:07 to 07:09:

• Dan Walters: Redistricting commission makes California’s divisions official – California's evolution into one of the planet's most economically, culturally and ethnically diverse societies sparks ceaseless political debate, touching everything from illegal immigration to the plight of public education.

  We Californians have been less willing to discuss a particularly sensitive aspect of that diversity – the emergence of what can only be called segregation.

  Although the state long ago abolished legal segregation, we nevertheless tend to collect ourselves into enclaves, sometimes due to economic necessity but more often reflecting personal preferences to live among others with similar cultural, economic, linguistic, ethnic, generational or even political traits.

  The geographic dividing lines among what are euphemistically called "communities" can be very stark, especially in densely populated urban areas, reaching an extreme level in the block-by-block turf wars of street gangs.
  They pose a particularly vexing problem for political policymakers: To what extent should they reinforce segregation by giving these enclaves official status in the name of community empowerment?

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  Read it all

• Poll: 70 percent unhappy with economy, want incumbents replaced – The 2012 election could prove to be another voter referendum on Congress' handling of the economy, according to a new poll released Tuesday.

  The new ABC News/Washington Post survey found that 70 percent of voters who are unhappy with the state of the economy are looking to replace incumbent members of Congress with someone new.

  Voters are blaming both Republicans and Democrats for the slow recovery and difficulty finding jobs.

  The election in 2010, in which the GOP took the majority in the House, was widely considered a referendum on the way Democrats were handling the government and specifically healthcare and the economy. But the survey finds that just 30 percent of Republicans and 28 percent of conservatives polled think the Republicans in Congress are making things better.

  Obama and Democrats still take some of the blame, with Obama’s approval rating now at 39 percent, the poll found. According to 37 percent of respondents, Obama’s actions have made the economy worse, while 41 percent approve of how he’s handling job creation—which is still higher than the 26 percent who approve of the GOP’s job creation efforts.

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  A POX on both of the parties