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Sotomayor’s Supposedly High Reversal Rate = 0.8%

By TWAY Kris

Again, my conservative friends who only read headlines are being duped…I’ve seen Judge Sotomayor’s supposed 60% reversal rate at the Supreme Court cited by several people now, and the number is just utterly ridiculous. Even in the news source they use as a citation (The Washington Times mind you…) you read this additional context.

Mr. Gibbs dismissed questions about Judge Sotomayor’s reversal rate, saying she wrote 380 majority opinions during her 11 years on the appeals court. Of those 380 opinions, the Supreme Court heard five of the cases and overturned her on three.

“The totality of the record is one that’s more important to look at, rather than, like I said, some out-of-context or clipped way of looking at it,” Mr. Gibbs said.

It would be just as accurate to say her reversal rate is 3/380 (or more), or 0.8%…disagree with the appointment, but let’s find something in her record to disagree about, instead of just making up facts.

May 28th, 2009 | Tags: , , | Category: Politics | 8 comments

Some Praise for Rep. Mike Rogers: Cap and Trade Can Work

By TWAY Kris

If you read the letter our congressional delegation sent to the President on cap and trade, you will see the same nuance that Rep. Mike Rogers expresses here:

As currently written, this bill could raise our utility bills right when gas prices are also rising.

Like it or not, the South still relies on coal for much of its energy. Coal, of course, is high in carbon emissions, and under a cap and trade system would be “taxed” heavily. Those costs likely would be passed on to Alabama consumers and our vital manufacturing sector.

That’s why this legislation could be harmful to East Alabama families. It’s also why I will continue to oppose it unless the bill improves for Alabama.

As gas prices rise, I also plan to keep my focus on renewable and alternative energy initiatives Congress should support.

Lots of “likely”s and “could”s and “as written” there. I give Rep. Rogers high marks for nuance here and understanding that a bill is a work in progress and there are modifications that could be made that would satisfy the Alabama delegations concerns.

He goes on to discuss his FREE Act, which tackles one of the thornier issues out there in the energy sector, drilling in ANWR. I think that bill is likely dead on arrival, but give him credit as well for trying to do something positive with the royalities that would be realized from such drilling (though I am still not at this time in support of exploration in ANWR).

via Mike Rogers: Time for energy independence upon U.S. | Opelika-Auburn News.

May 27th, 2009 | Tags: , , | Category: Alabama, Politics | 4 comments

We Couldn’t Afford NOT to Take the Unemployment Money

By TWAY Kris

Governor Riley and the Republicans in the legislature said we couldn’t afford to take the $99 million in the federal stimulus package for unemployment compensation because of the long-term cost. Now, we find out, we’re going to have to borrow $50 million to keep the fund solvent…are you kidding me?

The whole point I was making at the time is that the short-term need was greater than the long-term cost and this just proves the point. How long has DIR known they were going to have this shortfall? I find it very interesting that this comes out two weeks after the legislature is out of session…

Stewart Burkhalter, president of the Alabama AFL-CIO, noted that Alabama could have qualified for $99 million in federal stimulus money for its unemployment compensation trust fund if lawmakers this spring had passed a bill to extend jobless benefits to more laid-off Alabamians.

But Gov. Bob Riley and Republican legislators opposed the bill, saying it would have cost employers too much money. The bill died, and Alabama isn’t getting the $99 million, which could have prevented the cash-flow problem that Surtees expects.

Alabama’s unemployment compensation trust fund totaled $309.7 million on Dec. 31. It totaled as much as $623.2 million in 1990. It tends to fall in times of high unemployment, when benefits paid to out-of-work people exceed taxes paid into the trust fund by employers.

Alabama’s state jobless rate has soared from 3.8 percent in December 2007 to 9 percent last month. The department expects the trust fund to have a balance of $133.8 million on June 30, falling to $3.75 million on Dec. 31.

Department officials now assume the state will have to borrow $50 million from the federal government in the first three months of 2010. If it does, the trust fund would have an estimated balance of just $1.3 million on March 31, since benefits paid from the trust fund are projected to exceed taxes paid into it by about $53 million in those three months.

Alabama likely to borrow about $50 million early next year for unemployment compensation trust fund – al.com.

May 26th, 2009 | Tags: , , | Category: Alabama, Politics | 8 comments

Typical Defense of AG King

By TWAY Kris

I have a significant number of clear-thinking conservative friends, who disagree vehemently on most political questions, but there seems to be wide consensus that anyone would be better than Troy King in the Alabama Attorney General’s office. So when people ask, who is still supporting Troy King? My answer is his friends and people who aren’t paying attention. A letter in this morning’s Montgomery Advertiser proves the point.

He is the top prosecutor of the state, writes legislative packages to propose to the Legislature, issues advisory legal opinions to clarify scenarios, offers comfort to the families of 23 police officers who died in the line of duty in the last five years, witnesses execution on death row, leads the complicated investigations of serious crimes from murder on down, oversees the work of 15-20 investigators and other staff and travels with security guards to protect his life.

Years before his election, a generous, appropriate salary was approved for the position of attorney general. In my opinion, King did not sell his soul for the price of tickets to a Braves baseball game or for the invitation among other politicians to a party to simply garner publicity for a project, or for his attempt to locate a job for a friend’s mother.

The first paragraph isn’t an argument for him doing a good job, it is simply a statement of the responsibilities of the job. So simply because the office has gone on operating, he is a good Attorney General? I think not.

The second paragraph doesn’t even really make an argument, it just states the belief of the letter writer that he COULDN’T have sold his soul for Braves tickets (and only God can judge his soul, the rest of us are simply making a judgement on his ethical standards). The reality is that those who have been paying attention, know:

a) A significant number of long-time staffers in the attorney general’s office left in the aftermath of Troy’s appointment

b) Those positions were filled with his law school buddies, many of whom don’t have a clue how to do the jobs they were placed in

c) He doesn’t seem to understand the importance of the highest ethical standards when serving in that office. The appearance of impropriety is the ballgame, it doesn’t matter in the least whether he “did” anything, the attorney general should be working tirelessly every day to ensure there is never an appearance that he would show favoritism to one side or the other.

d) And on that same point (though some of my conservative friends would disagree with me on this one), he consistently shows a complete disregard for the rights of the accused and claims that is a service to the victims of crime. Yes, crime victims should be treated with the utmost respect and care, but the foundation of our system is that that same respect for the rights of the defendant should also be extended.

I desperately hope we have a change in leadership in the attorney general’s office in the fall, and I hope we know that will happen after the primaries, when Luther Strange defeats the sitting attorney general for the Republican nomination.

King in 'kitchen,' but will prevail | montgomeryadvertiser.com | Montgomery Advertiser.

May 25th, 2009 | Tags: , , | Category: Alabama, Politics | 2 comments
 
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