Today's Fresh Meat

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

An op-ed in the Los Angeles Times argues that the Constitution is in need of an overhaul. David O. Stewart walks us through the wince-inducing history of theelectoral college and makes a powerful case for doing away with it. One of the best arguments against the electoral system is itsunfairness:  "In 2004, each California electoral vote represented226,000 votes cast by Californians, while Alaska's electoral votesrepresented 104,000 Alaskan votes. One person, one vote? Hardly."

State Senator Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) has introduced a bill that would address mental illness in California prison inmates. Every year 3,000 seriously mentally ill people are sent to prison.  Thebill would invest in programs that identify and treat offenders' mentalhealth problems.  The bill would also create "mental health courts"that could decide if mandatory treatment and services would be aneffective alternative to jail time.  "If we expect to reduce recidivismand we expect to release inmates with a chance of succeeding insociety, then we need to address psychiatric issues that often led themto commit crimes in the first place," said Steinberg.

A new study finds that Southern Californian neighborhoods near rail yards are at a significant risk of cancer. Soot from the yards increases the cancer rate by 70% to 140%.  "Livingnext to a rail yard is like having a factory with 100 smokestacks goingall the time," said Angelo Logan, head of East Yard Communities forEnvironmental Justice.

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