NEWS FLASH

Big Business Front Group Kills 26 Of 30 Bills It Targeted In California Legislature | The California Chamber of Commerce, a big business lobbying group that represents companies like Microsoft, Citibank, WellPoint, Bank of America, Chevron, and others, dominated yet another session of the California state legislature, the Sacramento Bee reports. Every year, the Cal Chamber puts out a list of “Job Killers,” bills opposed by the Chamber even if they create jobs, and those bills are often lobbied into oblivion. As the session ends, it appears the Cal Chamber was successful in defeating 26 of the 30 bills it opposed. Like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the largest corporate lobbying organizations in the world, the Cal Chamber provides a convenient front for Fortune 500 companies to ensure that popular bills never become law.

NEWS FLASH

Poll: Cutting Medicaid Is The Least Popular Option For Deficit Reduction | The same Bloomberg National poll which found that only 34 percent of Americans support repealing the Affordable Care Act also shows that a majority — 51 percent — believe the super committee should “focus more on raising taxes on Americans earning more than $250,000″ than “cutting spending on entitlement programs such as Medicare to meet its goal of trimming an additional $1.5 trillion from the federal debt over the next decade.” In fact, shifting Medicare spending to beneficiaries and cutting Medicaid rank as the least popular options for reducing the deficit:

NEWS FLASH

The Whole Constitution Pledge | Today, the Constitutional Accountability Center released a “Whole Constitution Pledge” as a direct contrast to the many conservative lawmakers who think the Constitution is awful and must be changed by eliminating democracy, defunding government, stripping people of their citizenship and locking in Tea Party policies forever. The pledge provides that:

Building on the achievements of the Founding generation, successive generations of Americans have created a “more perfect union” through constitutional Amendments. These Amendments have improved our Constitution by ending slavery, enshrining guarantees of equality and citizenship, expanding the right to vote, and ensuring that the national government has the power and resources necessary to protect the nation, address national challenges and secure civil rights.

Some have advocated repeal of Amendments, including the 14th Amendment, the 16th Amendment, and the 17th Amendment, that make our Constitution better and this country great. Some have even failed to heed the lessons of the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement and have advocated a return to ideas of secession and nullification.

I believe that our Constitution has been improved by the Amendments adopted over the last 220 years. I pledge to support the whole Constitution.

You can sign the Whole Constitution Pledge here.

NEWS FLASH

Less Than 1 Percent Of Young Adult Novels Feature LGBT Characters | Malinda Lo offers some interesting data about LGBT books for children and young adults published in English from 1969 to 2011. Even as the number of LGBT YA novels has risen somewhat steadily, with a few dips along the way, less than 1 percent of all young adult novels have LGBT characters:

By publisher:

By gender:

NEWS FLASH

After Leaving Emory In Shame, Researcher With Ties To Drug Industry Continues To Solicit Funds From Drug Makers | Writing in Forbes today, investigator Paul Thacker details the latest ventures of Dr. Charles Nemeroff, a professor at Emory University who was forced to leave his post as chairman of psychiatry when it was revealed that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in drugmaker money while conducting NIH-funded research for some of the same drugmakers. The e-mail uncovered by Thacker shows that although Nemeroff left Emory University for the University of Miami, he has continued his illicit practice of accepting larger checks from pharmaceutical corporations, even at one point bragging that his new university affiliation would protect the relationship:

“You will recall that thus far as chair of the SAB, I have received only $10,000 of the promised $40,000 due to the limitations I had during my affiliation with Emory University. You can, however, now go ahead and remunerate me for the remaining $30,000….”