Darrio Melton: We can't keep cutting our way out of a budget crisis

  As we're moving into the New Year, Alabama legislators are--once again--focused on old problems that have only been placated by patchwork solutions: namely, our state budget. The 2016 legislative session is right around the corner, and the Republican leadership is wasting no time saying how this session is going to be exactly like the last one.

  Remember the last one? The Republican supermajority's in-fighting sent us into two special sessions, spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars before we finally passed a make-shift budget.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: A nod to Alabama political players we lost in 2015

  As we close the final page on 2015, my year-end tradition is to reminisce about the passing of significant players on the Alabama political stage.

  The first obituary is not a person but an entity. The Alabama Education Association is essentially dead as a political organization. The king is dead. When Paul Hubbert died, the AEA died. It is as though it rose and fell with his life. He reigned as King of Goat Hill for over 30 years.

Charles C. Haynes: The First Amendment, our articles of peace

  In 2015, America’s increasingly crowded public square was often filled with hostility, becoming an angry arena where people shout past one another across religious and ideological divides.

  Incendiary rhetoric and personal attacks are now commonplace in culture war conflicts over everything from refugees and immigration to religious freedom and sexual identity.

  Any notion of the “common good” gets lost in the crossfire of charge and counter-charge – and, on the fringes, wars of words escalate into outbursts of hate and intolerance.

Laurence M. Vance: Five years is five years too long

  I mentioned in my article “The Prospects for Drug Freedom” back in 2012 that Oregon was one of the first states to legalize medical marijuana and that sixteen other states and the District of Columbia had done likewise. I am happy to report that after three years, that number is now up to 25 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia have also legalized marijuana for recreational use.

Vera Appleyard: Top 10 ways to make New Year's resolutions stick

  Another year rolls around and gyms across the country fill with newcomers. Gym regulars grouse about how the competition for the treadmills and elliptical machines has grown ten-fold, but they smile knowingly because they have seen it all before. In a month or two, the gym will be back to normal as all the New Year's resolution makers lose steam and go back to business as usual.

William D. Atkin: Christmas around the world

  Christmas is both a religious holiday and increasingly a secular holiday heavily influenced by local culture. As a result, Christmas traditions are as diverse as the world itself.

  In the United States, for example, Christmas traditions are a literal potpourri of the Christmas traditions brought by immigrants, mostly European. For example, Yule log (English), Christmas tree (German), carols or noels (France), Santa Claus (Dutch). In more recent times, newer Christmas traditions have arrived with the most recent immigrants such as luminaries (Mexico) and "Feliz Navidad!" greeting (Latin America generally).

  The following is a whirlwind tour of some of the fun and different Christmas traditions around the world.

Andrew A. Yerbey: The cultivation of our children

  Christmas is a time for rejoicing and reflection. Both are manifest in one of the last poems written by T. S. Eliot, “The Cultivation of Christmas Trees,” a majestic work that deserves revisiting every Christmastime.

  “The child wonders at the Christmas Tree,” the speaker of Eliot’s poem observes, recalling “the glittering rapture, the amazement / Of the first-remembered Christmas Tree” and “the surprises, delight in new possessions” found beneath it. The speaker wishes for the child to “continue in the spirit of wonder”—to hold tight to these moments, to the happiness and hope that accompanied them. In so doing, even when the innocence of childhood is inevitably replaced by the travails of adulthood, “the reverence and the gaiety / May not be forgotten” and “the accumulated memories of annual emotion / May be concentrated into a great joy.” Through the remembrance of Christmases past, joy can be kept evergreen.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Three events that continue to reverberate in Alabama politics

  As we look back over the past year’s political events one week stands out. During one week in the middle of 2015, three momentous events occurred. All three came down bang, bang, bang in the week leading up to the Fourth of July.

  First was the landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which deemed same sex marriage legal and the law of the land. Then the historic BP settlement, which granted Alabama $1.3 billion for environmental recovery and an additional $1 billion for economic losses. Finally, Governor Robert Bentley’s executive order removing all of the Confederate flags from the Capitol.

Darrio Melton: Even the Grinch understands the reason for the season

  Amidst the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, sometimes it's difficult to stop and remember the spirit of the season is about one thing: giving.

  It's easy to get caught up in the gifts, shopping and sales, making sure you've made your list and checked it twice, having to frantically run to the store for last minute items.

  But the "giving" of Christmas is best summed up by a childhood favorite by Dr. Seuss, when the Grinch finally realizes that he can't take Christmas from Whoville: "What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!”

Michael Josephson: Listening: A vital dimension of respect

  We demonstrate the virtue of respect for others by being courteous and civil and treating everyone in a manner that acknowledges and honors basic human dignity.

  An important but often neglected aspect of respect is listening to what others say. Respectful listening is more than hearing. It requires us to consider what’s being said. That’s hard when we’ve heard it before, aren’t interested, or don’t think much of the person talking. It’s even worse when we act like we’re listening but are just waiting for our turn to speak.