Cameron Smith: Marketplace Fairness Act might hurt Alabama’s web-based businesses

  As our state government continues to face fiscal challenges, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and a number of other lawmakers are pushing the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) as an integral part of the revenue solution.

  In 1939, Alabama enacted a use tax to prevent businesses outside of the state from enjoying a competitive advantage over in-state businesses required to charge, collect and pay sales tax. Almost 75 years later, interstate commerce has changed radically. Lawmakers imposing the 1939 tax could never have anticipated the relatively recent explosive growth in e-commerce.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The politics of roads

  It seemed to go under the radar last year, but the Bentley administration quietly inaugurated the largest road-building program seen in the state in over six decades.

  Gov. Bentley launched the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (ATRIP). The ATRIP program, coupled with another road program, the Rural Assistance Match Program, will bring the total for road and bridge construction in Bentley’s first term to well over $1 billion.

Our Stand: Missing in action: Robert Bentley's conscience

  Monday Governor Robert Bentley engaged in one of the most unconscionable acts to date during his time as governor. After appearing at a statewide news conference in which he stressed the severity of the coming winter storm and admonished Alabama drivers to stay off the roads Bentley - inexplicably and in the same breath - ordered the state's public servants to report to work Tuesday despite the threat, and in doing so placed many lives in danger without apology.

Ken Paulson: Bloggers enjoy First Amendment protection against libel suits

  A website that castigates others as "evil doers" and "thugs" has exactly the same First Amendment protection as USA TODAY and the New York Times – and that’s a good thing.

  In a landmark decision on Friday, a federal appellate court held for the first time that blogs enjoy the same First Amendment protection from libel suits as traditional news media.

  At issue were the blog posts of Crystal Cox, who accused Bend, Oregon attorney Kevin Padrick and his firm Obsidian Finance Group of misconduct in connection with his role as a trustee in a bankruptcy case. A jury awarded the plaintiffs $2.5 million in damages.

Michael Josephson: Loopholes and slippery slopes

  As a former law professor, I know all about loopholes.

  I trained students to find omissions and ambiguities in wording — a perfectly legal way to evade the clear intent of laws and agreements. After all, that’s what lawyers are paid to do. And, despite commonly expressed disdain when lawyers do this, that’s precisely what most clients want and expect when they hire a lawyer.

Five more items for President Obama’s climate change to-do list

  On the eve of President Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013, the Center for American Progress recommended 10 energy and environmental priorities for President Obama’s second term to build on his first-term clean energy successes. Now, one year later, with the annual State of the Union address coming up, we can assess the status of these recommendations and add five new actions that would further enhance our health and safety, grow our economy, and protect our air, water, and climate.

Katherine Green Robertson: Alabama must guard against attempts to restrain political speech

  For those who thought the exposure of the IRS as a political weapon was an exaggerated anomaly, think again. During Congress’s Thanksgiving recess, the U.S. Treasury and the IRS quietly published a new rule to change the parameters of permissible activities for 501(c) (4) organizations that could severely weaken these groups leading up to the 2014 elections.

  Currently, a 501(c) (4) organization must be operated "exclusively to promote social welfare." IRS guidance explains that a 501(c) (4) organization must be "primarily engaged in promoting in some way the common good and general welfare of the people in the community."

Robert Wilkerson: Making the poor poorer

  "What are those men doing in my backyard?" she said, looking out her kitchen window. After watching them a few minutes, she charged out into the yard. There were three big white men out there with a wrecker that didn’t have a name on it. She yelled, "Get out of my backyard! Get out!" She had an envelope stuffed with money in her hand and said, "Here. Here’s the money. Take it and leave me alone!" The men ignored her. They didn’t say a word, and they didn’t take her money. She told them, "I got to that office one minute late yesterday, and I saw people inside. I banged and banged on the door, but nobody would come or take my money.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Alabama GOP targets last Democratic toehold

  It looks like our good doctor Gov. Robert Bentley will escape a serious challenge to his reelection bid this year. The GOP primary, which is tantamount to election in a statewide race in the Heart of Dixie, is less than five months away. If Gov. Bentley were going to get a significant opponent they would have surfaced by now. In fact, to mount a credible race, an opponent would have already started at least six months ago and raised over a million dollars. That probably would not have been enough. Bentley’s favorability and reelection polling numbers are through the roof.

Michael Josephson: Can we make Martin Luther King Day meaningful?

  Today we celebrate the legacy of one of my heroes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For many, it will be a time to enjoy a three-day weekend out of town with friends or family. Or perhaps it means an extra day to catch up on work around the house and in the yard.

  There is an uplifting aspect to the day when we think about the difference one man made to awaken the conscious of a nation founded on principles of equality and human rights. Let us never doubt the need for and power of passionate, persistent, idealistic, fearless leadership.