Saturday, March 02, 2013

“This study is proof enough that sugar is toxic. Now it’s time to do something about it.”

The study is

"The Relationship of Sugar to Population-Level Diabetes Prevalence: An Econometric Analysis of Repeated Cross-Sectional Data" by Sanjay Basu, Paula Yoffe, Nancy Hills,and Robert H. Lustig



Here's the study Abstract:   (A simpler NY Times version is just below)
While experimental and observational studies suggest that sugar intake is associated with the development of type 2 diabetes, independent of its role in obesity, it is unclear whether alterations in sugar intake can account for differences in diabetes prevalence among overall populations. Using econometric models of repeated cross-sectional data on diabetes and nutritional components of food from 175 countries, we found that every 150 kcal/person/day increase in sugar availability (about one can of soda/day) was associated with increased diabetes prevalence by 1.1% (p <0.001) after testing for potential selection biases and controlling for other food types (including fibers, meats, fruits, oils, cereals), total calories, overweight and obesity, period-effects, and several socioeconomic variables such as aging, urbanization and income. No other food types yielded significant individual associations with diabetes prevalence after controlling for obesity and other confounders. The impact of sugar on diabetes was independent of sedentary behavior and alcohol use, and the effect was modified but not confounded by obesity or overweight. Duration and degree of sugar exposure correlated significantly with diabetes prevalence in a dose-dependent manner, while declines in sugar exposure correlated with significant subsequent declines in diabetes rates independently of other socioeconomic, dietary and obesity prevalence changes. Differences in sugar availability statistically explain variations in diabetes prevalence rates at a population level that are not explained by physical activity, overweight or obesity. 

The NY Times article translates this into less academic language:
Sugar is indeed toxic. It may not be the only problem with the Standard American Diet, but it’s fast becoming clear that it’s the major one.
A study published in the Feb. 27 issue of the journal PLoS One links increased consumption of sugar with increased rates of diabetes by examining the data on sugar availability and the rate of diabetes in 175 countries over the past decade. And after accounting for many other factors, the researchers found that increased sugar in a population’s food supply was linked to higher diabetes rates independent of rates of obesity.
The Times reported just a few days ago that the Mediterranean diet helped prevent heart attacks and strokes.
About 30 percent of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from heart disease can be prevented in people at high risk if they switch to a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, fish, fruits and vegetables, and even drink wine with meals, a large and rigorous new study has found.

People have known for a long time that fat and sugar weren't good for health.  Dean Ornish's  Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease, came out in 1990 arguing for a low fat diet.  The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook  came out in 1994.

It's hard to 'prove' that one political party has a more sensible program than another.  And it takes a certain level of scientific savvy to see why evolution and global climate change caused by humans make far more sense than alternative explanations.

But everyone understands that obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and strokes are not good things.  And it's not hard to understand that sugar and fat lead to those conditions and that the incidence of obesity and diabetes can be dramatically reduced by intelligent diet. 

This knowledge has been around for years.  So I would argue that many of the people who are obese and/or have diabetes probably also eat an unhealthy selection of foods.  Either because they don't know any better or because they don't have enough self control and discipline to resist the call of the junk food industry and buy and cook healthy food.   I also must acknowledge that junk food is often cheaper than healthy food, so some poor folks may eat junk food for economic reasons.  Though smart poor folks find ways to feed their family well. 

So I'd offer this chart of the ten most and least obese US states color coded to show how they voted in the last presidential election. Some might argue that the quality of their choices in food reflect the quality of their political choices as well. 

Most Obese U.S. States Least Obese U.S. States
State% Obese
1. Mississippi34.9%
2. Louisiana33.4%
3. West Virginia32.4%
4. Alabama32.0%
5. Michigan31.3%
6. Oklahoma31.1%
7. Arkansas30.9%
8. Indiana30.8%
8. South Carolina30.8%
10. Kentucky30.4%
10. Texas30.4%

State% Obese
1. Colorado20.7%
2. Hawaii21.8%
3. Massachussetts22.7%
4. New Jersey23.7%
4. Washington, D.C.23.7%
6. California23.8%
7. Utah24.4%
8. New York24.5%
8. Nevada24.5%
8. Connecticut24.5%

Friday, March 01, 2013

Devangelical and Debt - Newish Books at Eliot Bay Book Store

Browsing a good book store is one of the great pleasures in life.   A giant bazaar of ideas and adventure beckoning for one's attention.  It's the chance to climb into other people's brains and find out what the world looks like to them.  So when I was the designated driver on a doctor's visit in Seattle, I got to go to the Eliot Bay Book Company, a very good bookstore on Capitol Hill, for an hour of adventure.

So here are a few of the books that caught my attention.

Devangelical by Erika Rae



From an online interview at The Rumpus with another former Evangelical: 

"Not wanting to understand the Evangelical culture in our current political climate is a bit like not wanting to understand, say, the Mexican-American community in the middle of the immigration debates. But also, I believe that a lot of the issues I deal with in the book are a bit more universal to other religion—or religious culture—defectors. I have heard recovering Catholics, Jews, or even former members of the L.D.S. Church who say they can relate."

Rumpus also asks her about her somewhat provocative pose on the cover of the book.  The video below is about the photo shoot.


The discussion of the Rapture helps explain a lot of (to me) perplexing behavior:
"Rumpus: We both grew up waiting on the world to come to an end, and you make the point in Devangelical that Evangelical culture welcomes the end of the world. How do you think this paradigm express itself in today’s political climate?
Rae: The debate over global warming is a good example. This is because the general church has been approaching the issue from the angle that only God will destroy the earth, and not humans. This isn’t too different from the distrust of recycling back in the 1980s. Again, only God could destroy the earth, so we had better focus our time on saving souls rather than the Redwoods. Plus, it didn’t help that people who were into “saving the earth” were “a bunch of pagans who worshipped the earth as mother.” Luckily, a growing number within the church has realized that they can still take care of the “creation” without slapping the “creator” in the face.
It is also critical to understand that most Evangelicals (like other Christian branches) may be citizens in the world, but they do not consider themselves citizens “of” the world. For many, this essentially means that they do not feel this is their true home. Heaven is their true home. Therefore, they don’t really belong here, and they long for the day when they will be taken away to a place where they will be cherished and understood by a loving God. When they disagree with “the world” on certain issues, it really doesn’t matter since their citizenship is in Heaven. It is more important that their perception of God’s laws be enforced via legislation. It seems to me that this does not always open the door for peace or tolerance, which again, is not the goal. This may help to explain the current state of polarization our country finds itself in."

Now, onto  Debt by David Graeber.  This one probably has the most audacious and exciting ideas to contribute.  It questions our modern notions of debt as something that must be repaid.  It contrasts ideas like the biblical jubilee and the modern bankruptcy as two methods of forgiving debt.

It's a big book. 

 From Benjamin Kunkel in the London Review of Books:
"Graeber’s first proposition is that debt can’t be considered apart from the history of money, when it is money that distinguishes a debt from a mere obligation or promise. Obligations are immemorial and incalculable, but until the advent of money such relations of mutual obligation evade mathematical specification. Only through money do nebulous obligations condense into numerically precise debts, which can and – according to ‘our accustomed morality’ – must one day be paid off." [emphasis added]
Think about this - the distinction between a debt and an obligation.

Then he talks about three  types of human economic relationships.  Again from Kunkel's London Review of Books review (I'm using his words, but reformatting them a little differently on the page so these concepts don't get lost):
"The theoretical core of Debt is a loose schema of three types of human economic relationship.
  • Communism (Graeber admits his use of the word ‘is a bit provocative’), 
  • exchange and 
  • hierarchy 
don’t describe distinct types of society but different ‘modalities’ of behaviour that operate to a greater or lesser degree in all societies, monetised or not.

Graeber’s communism, which bears a resemblance to Kropotkin’s ‘mutual aid’, covers relationships answering to Marx’s dictum: to each according to his needs, from each according to his abilities. People act as communists not only towards friends and family but often towards guests, neighbours and strangers: ‘What is equal on both sides is the knowledge that the other person would do the same for you, not that they necessarily will.’

Relationships of exchange, by contrast, entail that each party gets from the other a more or less exact equivalent to whatever it’s given. Because exchange ‘gives us a way to call it even: hence, to end the relationship’, it takes place mostly among strangers.

Hierarchy is, like communism, a mode of ongoing relationship, but between unequals. Enforced by custom, hierarchy requires that social inferiors make repeated material tribute to their betters in caste or status.
And about the author, Kunkel writes:
". . . the American press, content to ignore Debt when it first appeared (published as it was by a small press and animated by a radical politics), has hailed Graeber as the most intellectually imposing voice of Occupy. In person Graeber is brilliant, if somewhat hectic, plain-spoken, erudite, quick to indignation as to well as to laughter, and – minus the laugh – he offers much the same heady experience on the page. Debt is probably best considered as a long, written-out lecture, informal in style, not as a conventional work of history, economics or anthropology."
Here's Graeber with Charlie Rose:




I'm afraid I got carried away here.

There are ten more books I was going to share, but these two should give you more than enough to think about.





But I'll add two more titles that caught my attention and are relevant to the first book particularly - given the importance of religion in the US today, its divisive role, and Rae's warning that Americans should understand what drives Evangelicals (assuming people can be grouped like that.)  Clearly, religion serves important needs for people.






And it appears that religion plays a role in  Debt, as well. Judging from Kunkel's review, it alludes not only to Christianity, but also to Islam. 










Note on spelling:  When I pasted the quote on Devangelical that included the word 'worshipped,' Blogger's spellchecker flagged it and said it should only have one "p".  So I looked it up at Future Perfect:


Verbs ending in ‘p’

Most verbs ending in ‘p’, after an unstressed vowel, have no doubling of that final consonant in standard received British English or American English.
Here are some which follow the ‘most verbs’ rule: ‘develop’, ‘gossip’, ‘gallop’ – these become just ‘developing/developed’, ‘gossiping/gossiped’, ‘galloping/galloped’.
Even here, there are pesky exceptions: ‘worship’, ‘handicap’ and ‘kidnap’ become ‘worshipping/worshipped’, ‘handicapping/handicapped’ and ‘kidnapping/kidnapped’ in standard received British English.
The spellchecker doesn't mind handicapping or kidnapping, but it doesn't like worshipping. Obviously Blogspot and its owner Google are anti-religious.  :)


And finally, here's a shot as we leave Seattle on the 5:25 pm ferry for Bainbridge Island. 





Cool Stuff On the Internet - Clever Storage, Pencil Sharpening, Skullduggery, Typography Glossary

Here are some sites I found interesting and maybe some of you will too.




This site has a lot of ideas presented in pictures.  I thought this chair and table storage system was pretty clever.  Look carefully if it doesn't make sense right away.  It's very clever.  There are a lot of other interesting ideas on the page. 








Pencil Sharpening doesn't seem like that big a deal, but this site reminds us once again that anything done really well is interesting. Matthew James Taylor is an artist and the graphics in this post are great.

image from Matthew James Taylor
I would note that my daughter has helped me see - as in actually notice it for what it is and not let it pass by as if it were normal - all the minor episodes of violence against women in movies.  Can you name some major or minor films you've seen lately that didn't have at least one scene without a woman being at least hit or otherwise degraded by a man?  Think about it when you watch your next movie.  I tell you all this because there is a pencil sharpener in this post that could be seen as clever in a sick way, but is totally unacceptable. 

This is not a free speech issue.  He has the right to post what he wants.  But I'm just trying to point out the little things that normalize or desensitize us to portrayals of violence against women which leads to the appalling amount of actual violence against women in the US and the world.  And Alaska is one of the leaders in this grim statistic.  Good graphic design, very bad message about women.  Nevertheless, I'm linking there because I think that overall the post is worth seeing and with this message, perhaps some people will start 'seeing' such images for what they are and not accept them casually as we seem to do.


Anamorphic sculptures at Ignant. What does it take to think so that you can do this?  What if our eyes worked this way instead of how they do?  Stuff like this forces us to rethink what we take for granted, something we should do frequently. The artist, Jonty Hurwitz, talks about this sort of work at the link. 
"One of the commenters on Anamorphic  post linked to a West Highland Museum exhibit of Jacobean art which included a similar kind of work which was done this way with good reason:
"After the the Battle of Culloden in 1746, it was treasonable to support the Stuart claim to the throne. When the ladies and servants had left the room after dinner, the loyal friends of Prince Charles would place the tray on the table and raise their glasses in a toast to his likeness reflected in the cylinder (or in a goblet of claret). If there was a danger of interruption and discovery, the device could quickly be dismantled and the tray would appear as a meaningless blur, or be replaced by a similar decoy tray."



 Skull Appreciation Society -  If you created a website with that title, what would you post on it?   Everything skull.  Like this photo of a buffalo skull.

Image from Skull Appreciation Society


How do you make a living off of fonts?  I'm not exactly sure, but the Danish Playtype's website is beautiful a window into a company that apparently does.

Click to enlarge and read clearly


Thursday, February 28, 2013

Locking Up Kids Doesn't Work

The same people whose mantra is 'cut the budget' also tend to have a simplistic model about crime and punishment.  There's an assumption that people who behave badly are best handled by punishment.  Jails and prisons are convenient ways to get the criminal element off the streets, and the more you do that, the less crime you'll have.

But a new study just out Wednesday, has monitored the data and says that's not really the case.  The Annie E. Casey Foundation sponsored research has found that the rate of juvenile incarceration in the US has gone down.  AND so has the rate of crime by this population.

But first, a short quiz.  Look at the chart below.  On the left is a list of countries.  On the right is a list of numbers.  I want you to try to match the countries with their incarceration rate.  You can copy and print the chart or just right down the countries and the numbers you think match each country. 


Match the Country and Rate of Youth Incarceration
Country  Your Guess Incarcerated Youth/
100,000 Youth
1. Australia
a.  51.3
2.  England/Wales
b.  11.3
3. Finland
c.  23.1
4. France
d.  33.0
5. Germany
e.  0.1
6.  Italy
f.  24.9
7.  Japan
g.  18.6
8.  Netherlands
h.  3.6
9.  New Zealand
i.  336
10. Scotland
j.  69.0
11.  South Africa
k.  46.8
12.  Sweden
l.  68.0
13. USA
m.  4.1
HTML Tables  - See chart at bottom for the answers




What’s Wrong With America’s Juvenile Corrections Facilities?
  • Dangerous    
  • Ineffective    
  • Unnecessary    
  • Obsolete    
  • Wasteful    
  • Inadequate    
Basically, the studies says that contrary to the expectations of many, when detention levels went down, so did crime.  
Kids that get into serious trouble tend to have serious problems.  The answer isn't prisons, it's finding ways to help the kids deal with the issues they're facing. 
Their recommendations?
Priority 1:  Limit Eligibility for Correctional Placements
Priority 2:  Invest in Promising Non-Residential Alternatives
Priority 3:  Change the Financial Incentives
Priority 4:  Adopt Best Practice Reforms for Managing Youth Offenders
Priority 5:  Replace Large Institutions with Small, Treatment-Oriented Facilities for the Dangerous Few
Priority 6:  Use Data to Hold Systems Accountable


Life isn't simple.  Doing the right thing, not the ideological thing, actually saves far more money in the long run than it costs.  Good treatment for the kids in the beginning, means far lower costs to deal with this population later on.  

Better yet, lots of programs for young kids and their parents so they never need to face juvenile detention facilities in the first place.  But, instead, we're facing the possibility of huge across-the-board federal cuts that will create huge costs in the future.  
 

To see the whole study, click here.  It fills in the details.

Oh, yeah.  The answers to the short quiz:

Click on Image to Enlarge and Sharpen

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Shell Cancels 2013 Arctic Drilling

 In case you didn't hear, from Shell's statement today:

Shell announces pause in Alaska drilling programme

Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”) today announced it will pause its exploration drilling activity for 2013 in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas to prepare equipment and plans for a resumption of activity at a later stage.
“We’ve made progress in Alaska, but this is a long-term programme that we are pursuing in a safe and measured way,” said  Marvin Odum, Director, Upstream Americas.  “Our decision to pause in 2013 will give us time to ensure the readiness of all our equipment and people following the drilling season in 2012.”
Alaska holds important energy resources. At the same time, securing access to those resources requires special expertise, technology and an in depth understanding of the environmental and societal sensitivities unique to the region. Shell is one of the leaders in an industry move into offshore Arctic exploration. The company continues to use its extensive experience in Arctic and sub-Arctic environments to prepare for safe activities in Alaska.
Alaska remains an area with high potential for Shell over the long term, and the company is committed to drill there again in the future. If exploration proves successful, resources there would take years to develop.
Shell completed top-hole drilling on two wells in 2012 in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, marking the industry’s return to offshore drilling in the Alaskan Arctic after more than a decade. This drilling was completed safely, with no serious injuries or environmental impact.  After the drilling season ended, however, one of Shell’s drilling rigs, the Kulluk, was damaged in a maritime incident related to strong weather conditions. The Kulluk and the second drilling rig, the Noble Discoverer, will be towed to locations in Asia for maintenance and repairs.
“Shell remains committed to building an Arctic exploration program that provides confidence to stakeholders and regulators, and meets the high standards the company applies to its operations around the world,” said Odum. “We continue to believe that a measured and responsible pace, especially in the exploration phase, fits best in this remote area.

Many people were speculating that with the two Arctic oil rigs on the way to Asia for repairs, it wasn't likely they would be drilling summer of 2013. 


From the NY Times piece on this:

The Interior Department, the Coast Guard and the Justice Department are reviewing Shell’s operations, which have included groundings, environmental and safety violations, weather delays, the collapse of its spill-containment equipment and other failures. . .

“This is not a surprise, as Shell has had numerous serious problems in getting to and from the Arctic, as well as problems operating in the Arctic,” said Lois N. Epstein, Arctic program director for the Wilderness Society and a member of the Interior Department panel reviewing Shell’s operations.
“Shell’s managers have not been straight with the American public, and possibly even with its own investors, on how difficult its Arctic Ocean operations have been this past year,” she said. [Whole article here]






"I'm A Happy Lady" Famous People Born In 1913 Part IV



This is a special post in my Famous People Born in 1913.  It's the result of a chance meeting I had with Ruth Ungar Marx who turns 100 on May 26, 2013.  When she told me that I was blown away.  I'd have never guessed it.  She was out on her own taking a walk  on a rare sunny Bainbridge February day last week.  Here's the video.






 Post I gives background on the year 1913, including a link to an interesting video with a panel talking about the cultural situation of 1913.  It was very much a time of change.  

 Post II has video of the two folks that appear to still be alive (both opera singers), Risë Stevens and Licia Albanese.   It also has the list of all 44 that I chose in birth order.  So the 'oldest' born January 4, 1913, Rosa Parks, starts the list.

Post III includes short bios and images in the order of their deaths, beginning with Albert Camus (1960) and ending with William Casey (1987).  Since these posts are so long, I'll divide them up into shorter posts.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Alaska's Stake in Shelby County v. Holder - Before US Supreme Court Wednesday - Updated

[UPDATE Feb. 27 8:30am AK TimeSCOTUSBlog's coverage of the arguments before the court today suggests a majority appears ready to invalidate Section 5.]

[UPDATE Feb. 28 7:00am AK Time:  Alaska US Senator Mark Begich released this statement on the Voting Rights Act:
“I hope the Supreme Court will carefully consider the case made by Alaska Natives that we still need protections of the Voting Rights Act. I am especially concerned about protecting VRA in light of recent steps by the State and some legislators to create new barriers to voting. Unfortunately, there are still many obstacles when it comes to voting in Alaska and especially in rural Alaska where Native languages are still the primary language for elders.  The Voting Rights Act has protected thousands of Alaskans from voter disenfranchisement that does still persist today.”]


Alaska is one of 16 states required to get pre-clearance from the Department of Justice for their redistricting plans.  It's one of just seven states who are covered in their entirety by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA).  The other states only have some jurisdictions that are covered.  

Alaska's Redistricting Board has been ordered to redraw their redistricting plan (already used in the 2012 election) because they drew it first with the VRA as their guide rather than using the Alaska Constitution as their guide.   If Section 5 of the VRA were to be thrown out, it would signifiantly change the redidistricting proceaa in Alaska. 

On Wednesday, February 27, the US Supreme Court hears a case that challenges the continuing validity of Section 5.



Here's a case overview from the NAACP's LDF (Legal and Educational Defense Fund):

Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, et al.
On February 27, 2013, the United States Supreme Court will hold oral argument in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, et al.   Shelby County is challenging the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), one of our nation’s most effective civil rights laws. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (“LDF”) will argue before the court in defense of the Voting Rights Act and repre sents Defendant-Intervenors, including five Black ministers and a councilman from Shelby County whose district was eliminated, but later restored because of the VRA. Shelby County seeks to strike down the heart of theVoting Rights Act, Section 5, which requires jurisdictions with the worst histories of persistent racial discrimination in voting to obtain federal approval, or “preclearance” before any voting changes become legally enforceable. The process of preclearance ensures that proposed voting changes in these places do not harm the voting rights of voters of color. Shelby County seeks to invalidate Section 5 not only in Alabama, but in all of the 16 states that are covered either in whole or in part.
In 2008, Calera, a city in Shelby County, conducted a legally unenforceable election after it redrew its political boundaries without receiving the required preclearance. As a result, the city’s only Black councilman, Ernest Montgomery, lost his seat. Councilman Montgomery’s district consisted of 70% registered Black voters before Calera redrew its political boundaries. After the district was redrawn, registered Black voters were just 29.5% of the population. Because it did not comply with the Voting Rights Act, Calera was required to draw a nondiscriminatory redistricting plan and to conduct another election with the legally - approved plan. In this lawful election, Calera’s voters re-elected Mr. Montgomery

SCOTUS Blog discusses this case and explains that in a previous case - NAMUDNO - the Court did not invalidate Section 5, but it did hint that Congress should revisit the need for it, which Congress has not done. SCOTUS continued:
Moreover, the Court continued, the Act’s role in improving minority voting in the past does not, standing alone, mean that the preclearance requirement can or should remain in effect going forward:  rather, “the Act imposes current burdens and must be justified by current needs.”  And in particular, the Court emphasized, because the formula that the Act uses to determine which state and local governments must obtain preclearance appeared to the Court to be outdated, the problems that Section 5 was enacted to prevent are not necessarily most prevalent in the states that are required to obtain preclearance.  To the contrary, the Court explained, states that are covered by Section 5 have a lower gap between voter registration and turnout for white and black voters than the national average.
In response, Congress left the statute unchanged; it did not modify the coverage formula.  That set the stage for Wednesday’s case.
Shelby County, Alabama, is required to obtain preclearance for any changes to its voting procedures because Alabama has been covered by the Act since 1965.  In 2010, Shelby County filed papers asking a federal court to issue the ruling that the utility district did not get in NAMUDNO:  that Section 5 is unconstitutional.
- See more at: http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/court-to-return-to-constitutionality-of-voting-rights-act-in-plain-english/#sthash.PMHNvI0F.dpuf
Moreover, the Court continued, the Act’s role in improving minority voting in the past does not, standing alone, mean that the preclearance requirement can or should remain in effect going forward:  rather, “the Act imposes current burdens and must be justified by current needs.”  And in particular, the Court emphasized, because the formula that the Act uses to determine which state and local governments must obtain preclearance appeared to the Court to be outdated, the problems that Section 5 was enacted to prevent are not necessarily most prevalent in the states that are required to obtain preclearance.  To the contrary, the Court explained, states that are covered by Section 5 have a lower gap between voter registration and turnout for white and black voters than the national average. 
In response, Congress left the statute unchanged; it did not modify the coverage formula.  That set the stage for Wednesday’s case. 
Shelby County, Alabama, is required to obtain preclearance for any changes to its voting procedures because Alabama has been covered by the Act since 1965.  In 2010, Shelby County filed papers asking a federal court to issue the ruling that the utility district did not get in NAMUDNO:  that Section 5 is unconstitutional.
The kink in the current Alaska redistricting process stems from the fact that Alaska is also required to get pre-clearance for redistricting because of Section 5.  If the Board hadn't needed to maintain the existing number of Native districts in Alaska, they wouldn't have the conflict they now have between meeting the VRA and the State Constitutional requirements.  (That doesn't mean they wouldn't have had other problems.) 

So one issue that came up at the last Board meeting was the possibility that Sec. 5 would be thrown out by the US Supreme Court and they should wait to redraw their lines until that decision is published.

Of course, that doesn't prevent them from doing the first part the Alaska Supreme Court ordered - making a plan that complies with the Alaska State Constitution.  That would be step one in the Court mandated "Hickel Process."  Then, if Sec. 5 of the VRA is upheld, they could go on to make the necessary changes to their plan to comply with the Voting Rights Act.    If Sec. 5 is thrown out, I'm not sure what the next steps are.  Other sections of the VRA are not being challenged in this case.

If the Board did not retain the same number of Native districts, presumably Native organizations would go to court arguing that even though they didn't need pre-clearance, they are still are forbidden to discriminate.  Except the other parts of the VRA, if I understand this, are about intentional discrimination, which is harder to prove.  If they didn't come up with the same number of Native districts, it would also strongly suggest that they were less interested in not discriminating than in not having their plan rejected by the DOJ.  Once that threat was gone, well, we should just wait and see.

More on Shelby from Scotus Blog:
In its brief in the merits, Shelby County echoes the Court’s admonition in NAMUDNO that Section 5 imposes “current burdens,” which must be justified by “current needs.”  Even if the states covered by Section 5 may have discriminated in the past, it argues, that does not automatically mean that they are still discriminating now, and Congress shouldn’t have passed new legislation renewing Section 5 until 2031 unless it put together evidence showing that the extension of the law was actually necessary – which it did not.  And if some isolated problems do remain, there are other, less draconian remedies to combat them, such as filing a lawsuit under another provision of the VRA to challenge the discriminatory practice or procedure.  Finally, even if Congress did accurately identify some instances of racial discrimination in voting, Shelby County asserts, there is no guarantee that Section 5 will help:  because the criteria used to determine which states must comply with Section 5 use voter registration and turn-out data from the early 1970s, states that adopt discriminatory practices now may not be subject to Section 5 at all and vice versa. - See more at: http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/court-to-return-to-constitutionality-of-voting-rights-act-in-plain-english/#sthash.PMHNvI0F.dpuf
In its brief in the merits, Shelby County echoes the Court’s admonition in NAMUDNO that Section 5 imposes “current burdens,” which must be justified by “current needs.”  Even if the states covered by Section 5 may have discriminated in the past, it argues, that does not automatically mean that they are still discriminating now, and Congress shouldn’t have passed new legislation renewing Section 5 until 2031 unless it put together evidence showing that the extension of the law was actually necessary – which it did not.  And if some isolated problems do remain, there are other, less draconian remedies to combat them, such as filing a lawsuit under another provision of the VRA to challenge the discriminatory practice or procedure.  Finally, even if Congress did accurately identify some instances of racial discrimination in voting, Shelby County asserts, there is no guarantee that Section 5 will help:  because the criteria used to determine which states must comply with Section 5 use voter registration and turn-out data from the early 1970s, states that adopt discriminatory practices now may not be subject to Section 5 at all and vice versa.
Now maybe there is a higher standard for laws that require states to get permission from the federal government before they can do something like redistricting.  But I don't think that Congress is required to justify their laws through research.  If that were the case, it seems like the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which is challenged in another case coming up before the Supreme Court would stand little chance of surviving.

But then there's the government's strategy (still from SCOTUS):
When Solicitor General Don Verrilli goes to the Court on Wednesday to defend Section 5, the government’s pleas to “trust Congress” may fall flat with a majority of the Court, which is likely to be genuinely frustrated that Congress hasn’t heeded the warnings that it issued in NAMUDNO four years ago.  Moreover, the oral argument comes just a few months after Chief Justice administered the oath of office to the nation’s first African-American president for the second time, which opponents of Section 5 read as an indication that the strict measures of the Voting Rights Act are unnecessary. - See more at: http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/court-to-return-to-constitutionality-of-voting-rights-act-in-plain-english/#sthash.PMHNvI0F.dpuf
When Solicitor General Don Verrilli goes to the Court on Wednesday to defend Section 5, the government’s pleas to “trust Congress” may fall flat with a majority of the Court, which is likely to be genuinely frustrated that Congress hasn’t heeded the warnings that it issued in NAMUDNO four years ago.  Moreover, the oral argument comes just a few months after Chief Justice administered the oath of office to the nation’s first African-American president for the second time, which opponents of Section 5 read as an indication that the strict measures of the Voting Rights Act are unnecessary.
Irony after irony.  In the DOMA case, the government will definitely not being arguing to trust Congress.  But the Obama argument seems to fall flat, because of the 16 states that need pre-clearance, most voted against Obama.  Based on a formula which included whether the states had 'tests' which served as obstacles to voting and looked at the percentage of eligible voters who actually voted.  Seven states are covered in their entirety:  Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia.  Only Virginia voted for Obama.  The other nine states are have only a portion of their states covered by Sec. 5:  Arizona,  Hawaii, Idaho, North Carolina, California, Florida, Michigan, New York, South Dakota. Of these nine, five - California, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, and New York voted for Obama.


In California's case,  Kings, Merced, Monterey, and Yuba counties are covered because, according to the California State Senate (I think) website:
Results of the 1970 census led to four California counties – Kings, Merced, Monterey, and Yuba – triggering Section 5 voter thresholds and falling under the protection of the Department of Justice. What did these counties have in common? Each was a largely rural county that housed a US military base. High numbers of minority soldiers drafted and mobilized for deployment to Vietnam, with low rates of voter participation skewed voting statistics and triggered Section 5 protections.
Three of the four counties voted for Obama.   There is a provision in the Act that allows for jurisdictions to bail out of Section 5.  According to the Leadership Conference:
The VRA rewards progress in these covered jurisdictions by allowing them to “bail out” or have their coverage under Section 5 terminated after achieving a clean record of nondiscriminatory voting practices for ten years.  This flexibility ensures that the geographic reach of Section 5 applies only to jurisdictions that continue efforts to discriminate in voting based on race. Not a single jurisdiction that has sought the opportunity to leave Section 5 coverage since 1982 has been turned down. 
The Supreme Court previously clarified the bailout provision in its ruling on NAMUDNO v. Holder in 2009. Since then, more than 125 jurisdictions have bailed out.
 They had a press conference with the author of an amicus brief in the Shelby County case who they describe this way:
"Gerry Hebert, attorney to 174 bailed out jurisdictions and author of an amicus brief filed by jurisdictions that have bailed out"
When Solicitor General Don Verrilli goes to the Court on Wednesday to defend Section 5, the government’s pleas to “trust Congress” may fall flat with a majority of the Court, which is likely to be genuinely frustrated that Congress hasn’t heeded the warnings that it issued in NAMUDNO four years ago.  Moreover, the oral argument comes just a few months after Chief Justice administered the oath of office to the nation’s first African-American president for the second time, which opponents of Section 5 read as an indication that the strict measures of the Voting Rights Act are unnecessary. - See more at: http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/court-to-return-to-constitutionality-of-voting-rights-act-in-plain-english/#sthash.PMHNvI0F.dpuf
Just three years ago, in a case called NAMUDNO v. Holder, the Court considered a challenge to the constitutionality of the preclearance requirement brought by a small utility district in Texas.  Although the utility district did not itself have any history of racial discrimination in voting, it was still required to get “preclearance” under Section 5 for any changes because it has an elected board.  When the Court issued its opinion, it declined to decide whether Section 5 was constitutional.  Instead, it held simply that the utility district could and should apply for a “bailout” from the preclearance requirement – that is, a declaration that it was no longer subject to Section 5 because it no longer discriminated against minority voters – which in turn eliminated the need for the Court to weigh in on the constitutionality of Section 5 in that case. - See more at: http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/court-to-return-to-constitutionality-of-voting-rights-act-in-plain-english/#sthash.PMHNvI0F.dpuf
 The link takes you to the amicus brief which discusses the bail out process.  Here's a short excerpt of the page brief:

Petitioner denies that there is a “nexus” between
bailout under the current Act and the coverage for-
mula, but this claim is contradicted by the structure
and history of the bailout provisions. Pet. Br. at 57.
The current requirements of the bailout provisions
reflect the criteria of the coverage formula: both
inquire as to the use of discriminatory “tests or
devices,” and look to voter registration rates and
voter turnout. 42 U.S.C. § 1973b(a), (b).  See Section
I.B. infra. Furthermore, throughout the history of the
Act, jurisdictions in different states of varying sizes,
political compositions and demographics have suc-
cessfully bailed out of Section 5, belying Petitioner’s
contention that bailout serves to tailor the scope of
[page]4
the coverage formula “only at the margin.” Pet. Br. at
54-55.  See  Section I.A.  infra
.
Petitioners also claim that the bailout option is in
fact illusory, and too burdensome and expensive for
most jurisdictions to achieve.  Pet. Br. at 54. But this
is decidedly not the experience of amici.

Amici Bailed Out Jurisdictions found the bailout
process both administratively feasible and cost-
effective.  Amici simply had to gather the necessary
information and data supporting bailout from records
we maintained in the ordinary course of business,
submit these materials to the U.S. Department of
Justice, and publicize the bailout in our community
media and post offices. After we were notified by the
Department of Justice that our jurisdiction had met
the bailout requirements, our legal counsel filed suit
and the necessary bailout papers in court. As for
expense, our experience is that the total cost of ob-
taining a bailout was approximately $5,000, which
includes staff time gathering the relevant data and
the filing of bailout documents in court.  See Section II
infra.
Further, contrary to Petitioner’s suggestion,
bailout is also achievable even if a jurisdiction discov-
ers during the bailout process that one or more of its
political subunits is not in full compliance with the
Act. In the course of the bailout process, numerous
jurisdictions have discovered that some of their
political subunits had inadvertently failed to timely
submit minor voting changes for Section 5 review, but
[page] 5
were able to resolve this issue with a prompt pre-
clearance submission of the changes to the Depart-
ment of Justice.  See Section III  infra

You can see the whole brief here.

Of course, this is an attorney who has expertise in bailing jurisdictions out from Section 5.  So if Section 5 were thrown out, he presumably would lose some business.  However, that doesn't invalidate what he writes.

But even if Alaska were to be released from Section 5 of the VRA, I would guess that the Board would still be required to redo the plan based on the standards of the Alaska Constitution.  


return to constitutionality of Voting Rights Act: In Plain English

On Wednesday, the Court will hear oral argument in a potentially historic case that has both civil rights activists and conservatives on the edge of their seats:  Shelby County v. Holder, a challenge t
- See more at: http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/court-to-return-to-constitutionality-of-voting-rights-act-in-plain-english/#sthash.PMHNvI0F.dpuf
Another provision of the Act, Section 5, was intended to prevent discrimination against African-American voters through more subtle means:  it prohibits specified jurisdictions – selected because they have a history of discrimination – from changing their election procedures unless and until they receive permission from either a special three-judge panel of a federal district court in Washington, D.C., or the Department of Justice – a provision known as the “preclearance” requirement. - See more at: http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/court-to-return-to-constitutionality-of-voting-rights-act-in-plain-english/#sthash.PMHNvI0F.dpuf
Another provision of the Act, Section 5, was intended to prevent discrimination against African-American voters through more subtle means:  it prohibits specified jurisdictions – selected because they have a history of discrimination – from changing their election procedures unless and until they receive permission from either a special three-judge panel of a federal district court in Washington, D.C., or the Department of Justice – a provision known as the “preclearance” requirement. - See more at: http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/court-to-return-to-constitutionality-of-voting-rights-act-in-plain-english/#sthash.PMHNvI0F.dpuf
Another provision of the Act, Section 5, was intended to prevent discrimination against African-American voters through more subtle means:  it prohibits specified jurisdictions – selected because they have a history of discrimination – from changing their election procedures unless and until they receive permission from either a special three-judge panel of a federal district court in Washington, D.C., or the Department of Justice – a provision known as the “preclearance” requirement. - See more at: http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/court-to-return-to-constitutionality-of-voting-rights-act-in-plain-english/#sthash.PMHNvI0F.dpuf
Another provision of the Act, Section 5, was intended to prevent discrimination against African-American voters through more subtle means:  it prohibits specified jurisdictions – selected because they have a history of discrimination – from changing their election procedures unless and until they receive permission from either a special three-judge panel of a federal district court in Washington, D.C., or the Department of Justice – a provision known as the “preclearance” requirement. - See more at: http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/court-to-return-to-constitutionality-of-voting-rights-act-in-plain-english/#sthash.PMHNvI0F.dpuf
Another provision of the Act, Section 5, was intended to prevent discrimination against African-American voters through more subtle means:  it prohibits specified jurisdictions – selected because they have a history of discrimination – from changing their election procedures unless and until they receive permission from either a special three-judge panel of a federal district court in Washington, D.C., or the Department of Justice – a provision known as the “preclearance” requirement. - See more at: http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/court-to-return-to-constitutionality-of-voting-rights-act-in-plain-english/#sthash.PMHNvI0F.dpuf

How Many Ways Can You Cut Vegies and Fruit?

I found a recipe for a salad online - we went to a neighbor's for a pot luck dinner.  I thought it was interesting that each item that needed cutting had a different verb for the idea of cutting.
  • 1 mango - peeled, seeded and cubed 
  • 1 avocado - peeled, pitted and diced 
  • 1 tomato, cut into wedges 
  • 1/2 red onion, julienned 
  • 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced  
Fortunately, there's a YouTube available for each verb.

How to cube a mango.

How to dice an avocado

How to cut tomato into wedges

How to julienne an onion

How to slice mushrooms

[I tried to find videos that don't require you to watch a commercial first.  If I couldn't, then I picked ones that allow you to skip commercial after 5 seconds.]

Monday, February 25, 2013

How Important Is The Arctic? “. . . if this were a ball game, the US wouldn’t be on the field, in the stands, or even in the stadium.”

I picked up Bob Reiss' The Eskimo and the Oil Man (May 2012)  at the library the other day.  The Eskimo in the title is Edward Itta, whaling captain and former Mayor of Barrow.  The oil man is Pete Slaiby, Shell's lead man in Alaska.  I figured it might give me some insight into who this man leading Shell's troubled project to drill the Arctic. 

I'm about one-third of the way in, but it's already clear this book has information that every American should know.  And Alaskans, who think they know about the North, should be paying attention too. 

While some are still denying global climate change and humans' role in it, the world is changing fast and the North is going to take on a very big role in the world we will soon be living in. 

I suspect I'll be giving you bits and pieces as I go through this book.  Here's stuff on the importance of the Arctic and how far behind the US is compared to other Arctic nations.


Will the Northwest Passage become the new Panama Canal?
“. . . the Northwest Passage - the long-dreamed-of trade route between Europe and Asia, and the US, around the top of Canada and Alaska - could open to ships in summers as soon as 2020, some computer models predicted.

“If that happened up to 25 percent of the earth’s shipping might be passing Barrow within ten years, and if the specter of one drill rig could bother whalers, the idea of hundreds of unregulated ships out there was a nightmare.  (p. 29)
 “A single Chinese container ship sailing between Shanghai and New York could save up to $2 million on fuel and fees each way, using the northern route instead of the Panama Canal,”  Scott Borgerson, Oceans Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, had told me." (p. 30 )
There's no permanent Coast Guard base in Arctic.  
 '[The Coast Guard has [n]o way to monitor ship traffic or know whether or not a vessel was friendly, or about to rupture and spill oil, or whether it carried proper lifeboats for passengers.'

"Arctic could become pivotal place like Arabian Peninsula, Panama Canal."  (p. 30 )
Barrow the next Singapore?
"Borgerson predicted, “In twenty years the Arctic coast of Alaska may look like the Coast of Louisiana today, lit by the lights of ships and oil rigs.  One port there may become a trade hub as important as Singapore.  Singapore, once a mangrove swamp, is now the biggest seaport in the world.”(p. 31)






The US lags way behind other Arctic nations

“By spring 2010 many offshore oil advoates and opponents could agree on one thing at least:  the United States was notoriously unprepared for changes occurring in the region.  The nation had not signed the Law of the Sea Treaty.  It had not filed a claim for territory.  The US had one functioning icebreaker to address emergencies, while the Russians had twenty.  The US lacked proper communications equipment, lacked a deepwater port, lacked even basic science that could inform decision makers as to natural processes in the region before they made plans.  There was no cohesive national policy for addressing Arctic energy extraction. 

“In contrast other Arctic countries - Russia, Canada, Norway, Denmark - were much further along when it came to purchasing new icebreakers and awarding undersea oil and gas leases, and they had begun the process of expanding their national territories through the Law of the Sea Treaty.
“‘The Arctic is crucial and the Arctic is now,”  said Adm Gene Brooks of the Coast Guard.  “But if this were a ball game, the US wouldn’t be on the field, in the stands, or even in the stadium.” (pp. 38-39)

 People make grandiose claims all the time, but Alaskans, because we travel a lot, understand that although we look remote on flat maps of the world, we are a in the middle of the shortest routes between Europe, Asia, and the US East Coast - about 8 hours by air to each.  From Europe to Asia via Barrow would be much shorter than the Panama Canal as the example above so clearly demonstrates.

Barrow might not become the new Singapore, but it will soon be on everyone's map.  I know a few people in Anchorage who have been very involved with Arctic issues and they are always telling me this same message.

It's understandable that the US is behind.  Alaska is the only Arctic state and we're not even attached to the other states.  The other nations - Russia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland,  and Denmark (representing Greenland and the Faroe Islands) - have a much larger proportion of their land on or near the Arctic.  You can learn more about the organization of Arctic nations - the Arctic Council - here.

But for us to ignore what we have, as these quotes suggest, will cost us dearly in the future.


Sunday, February 24, 2013

Alaska Supreme Court Says No To Redistricting Board - But Changes 36 to 22

[See Alaska Redistricting Board tab above for annotated index of all posts on the Board.]

Sorry folks, I've fallen asleep on the job.  Being out of state is taking its toll and I totally missed the Alaska Supreme Court's rejection of the Redistricting Board's petition for a rehearing.  They made two minor changes, substituting the number 22 for the original 36 in two places. 


Here's the decision (the rest of the 50 pages were the same except for these numbers):
Before:    Fabe, Chief Justice, Winfree and Stowers, Justices, and Matthews and Carpeneti, Senior Justices' [Maassen and Bolger, Justices, not participating]
On consideration of the Petition for Rehearing filed by the Alaska Redistricting Board on 1/7/13,

IT IS ORDERED:    The petitionfor rehearing is GRANTED to the following extent:
On page 12 of the Opinion, "36 unchanged house districts" is modified to read "22 unchanged house districts," and on page 13 "these 36 districts" is changed to "these 22 districts."

In all other respects, the petition for rehearing is DENIED. Entered by the direction of the court.

Supreme Court No. S-14721 Order Petition for Rehearing
Date of Order: 2/15/13



Let's look at that in context:

From the original decision:

Thus, upon remand, the Board was instructed to consider the requirements of the Alaska Constitution first when constructing districts.20    However, what the Board actually did upon remand was to create a Hickel template that maintained the boundaries of unchallenged districts from the original Proclamation Plan, resulting in 36 unchanged house districts. The Board asserts that these districts “were drawn with only the Alaska Constitution in mind” and thus they complied with the Hickel process.21

Moreover, when the Board first created these 36 districts, it did so in order to comply with the VRA; this is a clear violation of Hickel’s plain language. Although these districts went unchallenged, that does not change the fact that they were drawn with VRA considerations as the first priority. We do not know if these districts will meet the Alaska Constitution’s requirements of compactness, contiguity, and socio-economic integration, but they were not drawn with this purpose as the primary consideration.

From the Feb. 15 decision:
Thus, upon remand, the Board was instructed to consider the requirements of the Alaska Constitution first when constructing districts.20    However, what the Board actually did upon remand was to create a Hickel template that maintained the boundaries of unchallenged districts from the original Proclamation Plan, resulting in 22 unchanged house districts. The Board asserts that these districts “were drawn with only the Alaska Constitution in mind” and thus they complied with the Hickel process.21

Moreover, when the Board first created these 22 districts, it did so in order to comply with the VRA; this is a clear violation of Hickel’s plain language. Although these districts went unchallenged, that does not change the fact that they were drawn with VRA considerations as the first priority. We do not know if these districts will meet the Alaska Constitution’s requirements of compactness, contiguity, and socio-economic integration, but they were not drawn with this purpose as the primary consideration.

The rest of the 48 page written decision remained the same.  The only other difference I can see is that because of the new language explaining this modification, what was on pages 12 and 13 was bumped to pages 13 and 14.  And the new document is now 50 pages instead of 48.

And I'm not even sure the switch is correct.  In my post Fact Checking the Alaska Redistricting Board's Petition to the Alaska Supreme Court  I pointed out there was a difference between the "Hickel Template" and the "Hickel Plan" and that in the template 36 was the right number, but in the plan 22 was, but the Board switched back and forth between those terms in their argument.



My Take On What It Means

[You can see more background on all the issues including the Board's petition in a January 10, 2013 post Alaska Redistricting: 2010-2013 Overview.  This post covers some of the same ground, but focuses specifically on this decision.]

Basically, the court had told the Board that they needed to start out by making a redistricting map that is based on meeting the requirements of the Alaska Constitution - mainly that all districts be compact, contiguous, and socio-economically integrated.  These are not exactly objective standards, particularly the last one.  And in a state as big as Alaska with so much of the land sparsely populated, it is also difficult to keep the rural redistricts compact.  [There are other federal and state requirements but they aren't an issue in this.]

The Board also had to draw the map so that it would meet the requirements of the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA).  [Alaska Redistricting for the Masses Part 1 has a section explaining VRA] Because of past law suits, Alaska (along with 15 other, mostly Southern, states) must get pre-clearance from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) before its plan can become final.  To get approved, the new plan could not have fewer "Native" districts than in the previous map.  These are districts in which Alaska Natives have sufficient voting power to elect the candidate of their choice. 

The Board, as it began, decided that it should configure the Native districts first and then, they figured, everything else would be relatively easy.  There are enough people in the urban areas that they wouldn't have trouble creating viable districts there.  So that's what they did.  There was one board member Bob Brodie of Kodiak, who argued against this, saying the Board would be spending 90% of its time on 10% of the population.  But he was voted down.

Then, when they finished getting the Native districts drawn, they went on to do the rest.

Their justification for this was that without approval from the DOJ, their map wouldn't be legal.  The federal law takes precedence here over the state Constitution.  So if it's not possible to meet both the federal law and the state Constitution, then the Constitution loses.  So, therefore, they should do the Native Districts first.

Here's what they did:

Step 1:  Blank slate


Step 2:  Draw in Alaska Native districts (this map is completely fictional for demonstration only)






Step 3:  Draw the rest of the districts.

The Court wants them to do the 40 districts using the Alaska constitutional requirements first, and then adjust them to get the Native districts.

The Court's reasoning:

1.   Once you draw these (Native) districts, you've taken this geography and the population in it, out of the picture, limiting your options for the rest of the state.  Thus, these Native Districts affect how the rest are drawn and could affect whether they are constitutional or not.

2.  If you start this way, the Court says it has no way to determine if your deviations from the Alaska Constitution are the least they can be.  They argue that they need to see a constitutional map first,  and then the VRA compliant map drawn from the constitutional map.  That way they can compare the two maps to see if the deviations are the least possible.

The Court, using a 1992 Alaska Supreme Court decision, told the Board, at several points in this marathon, to follow the "Hickel Process."  That means that first they draw a map just using the Alaska Constitutional requirements.  THEN, they make adjustments to that map to meet the VRA.  In the end, the Supreme Court believes it can look at the two maps,  to determine if there was the least deviation possible.

My sense of the Redistricting Board is that they are frustrated.  They believe that they have worked hard and done their job.  They have managed to switch enough district lines to break the Bi-partisan Senate coalition and put in a Republican majority, but they believe they did that fairly.  I suspect they believe that the Supreme Court (the then Supreme Court Chief Justice appointed the only Democrat on the Board) is acting as partisan as they did (particularly the Chair and Member Holms) and they're not happy.

Why do I say this?  Well, last March when they were told to follow the Hickel plan, they sort of responded - You want a Hickel Plan?  We'll give you a Hickel Plan, and went through the motions without conviction.  They came up with four options - the one they wanted and three more that were so ridiculous there was no way they could be approved.  But even then, when they evaluated their preferred option, they explained why the oddest parts were clearly constitutional, but when they looked at the other three they focused on why they were unconstitutional.  [You can see my post on that meeting for more detail.]

And the most recent meeting showed no statesmanship toward the Court by (particularly) Mr. Torgerson and Mr. Holm.   Board chair Torgerson didn't seem to make any effort to conceal his disgust with the Court.  He said things like (these are from my rough notes of the meeting and not quite verbatim based on listening online.  I couldn't find anything up  transcripts of the meeting on the Board's website):

"History with this judge, he allows everything, truth, untruth, no one seen it, bring it on."

Instead of Separation of Powers, it was Usurpation of Powers.

"Clear as mud."

And from Board member Holm:

"I don’t understand how they can have it both ways.  You aren’t required to submit it, but you are required to have Hickel plan.  Makes no sense to me."

And they talked about appealing the decision to the US Supreme Court.  I was wondering if these guys had even read the decision.  I saw no ability on their parts to see anything but their own view of the world.  I'm not saying they need to agree with the Court on every point, but they should at least be able to understand the reasoning and recognize there's a valid difference of opinion.

They've decided to wait to hear what the US Supreme Court does in the Shelby County v.  Holder case (pdf) which is scheduled to be heard on February 27.  It's a case in which the County is suing to be released from pre-clearance by the Department of Justice based on Sec. 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

In the meantime they are meeting again to choose a new Executive Director since the original staff needed to find other jobs since last June.

Their rough schedule (see post on their Feb. 12, 2013 meeting)  has them meeting to draft a Hickel plan from April 2-5.  Given how long it took last year, this seems like a very unrealistic schedule, unless they draw their maps privately before the meetings start.


At Wickersham's Conscience the title of his post on the decision is "Alaska Supreme Court Bitch Slaps Redistricting Board."  He concludes the post:

It’s WC’s fond hope that after an adequate interval, the supreme court will step up and write a lawful redistricting plan. After all, that’s what has happened in each of the prior redistricting efforts. It’s increasingly clear that the current Board has no interest in following the law. 

I have to say, if the new plans reflect the attitude I heard at the Feb. 12 board meeting, the Court is likely to lose its patience with the Board completely.