Jacob G. Hornberger: Should we have prayer in public schools?

  Suppose someone proposed a law requiring every child in America to report to a government facility to receive Christian indoctrination. How many Americans would support such a law?

  Actually, most Americans would. According an article in Lifestyle, 57 percent of Americans favor prayer in public schools. 54 percent of Americans believe that there isn’t enough religion in public schools. A whopping 76 percent of American adults believe that Christmas should be celebrated in public schools; that figure rises to 82 percent among parents with children.

Michael Josephson: Good ethics make better relationships

  While I believe that good things tend to happen to people who consistently choose the high road, the correlation between ethics and success is a loose one at best. Thus, it’s pretty hard to sincerely promote ethics by appeals to self-interest.

  What’s more, when self-interest is the controlling justification for moral behavior, moral reasoning is replaced by a pragmatic cost-benefit analysis that invites rationalizations and condones selfishness. When people are kind, honest, or respectful only when there’s a pay-off, or obey rules only when they think the risk of punishment is too great, ethical behavior is just an investment.

Craig Ford: Why lottery revenue must go to scholarships

  Over the last year or so, the lottery has been getting more and more attention and support from Alabama legislators. The lottery is extremely popular, getting over 60 percent favorable support in all the public opinion polls that I’ve seen. The debate these days isn’t so much over whether we should have a lottery but how we should spend the revenue the lottery will create.

  There are three ways the lottery revenue can be spent: Spend all of it on education, spend all of it in the general fund, or split it between the two budgets. Considering all the problems with Medicaid and the general fund budget, some legislators see the lottery as their ticket out of a no-win situation. But the fact is the lottery won’t save Medicaid or the general fund—and there are several reasons why it won’t.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1520: Do black lives really matter?

  Black lives matter. This three-word phrase is so powerful. It evokes powerful hopes and powerful fears. Some see this phrase as strongly asserting value to lives that have been historically devalued. Others see this phrase as strongly urging violent attacks on law enforcement. And many hold various positions in between. "Black lives matter" is a powerful phrase that expresses a powerful concept.

  Why is this simple three-word phrase so controversial? Let’s start with the basic question: Do Black lives matter? Do Black lives matter as much as White lives? If we can rationally respond to these questions, perhaps we can discuss the issues that embroil law enforcement and the Black community. We are all entitled to our opinions. We are not entitled to our own facts.  Can we deal with the facts? "Black lives matter" is a powerful concept.  

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: What 2016 means for the SCOTUS

  As we have watched and participated in the presidential foray this entire year, an equally important event occurred. The death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in February is a very important event in American government.

  Scalia’s unexpected death at 79 could affect the ideological tilt of the Supreme Court and could essentially have a profound impact on our nation’s public policy.

Jacob G. Hornberger: Help the poor by abolishing the income tax

  The standard leftist position on helping the poor is: Increase income taxes on the rich and give the money to the poor in the form of welfare. The idea is that it’s just not fair that someone has more money when someone has less money. By equalizing people’s financial conditions, through the force of a progressive income tax and a welfare state, the financial plight of the poor will be improved.

  The left, however, is wrong. As our American ancestors, who lived without income taxation for more than a century, learned, the best way to help the poor would be by abolishing the income tax (and the IRS).

Gene Policinski: What is “free speech” on the web — in theory and in practice?

  Who can say what, on the Web?

  Twitter has raised questions anew with reports of a lifetime ban on tweets from conservative blogger Milo Yiannopoulos — reportedly after complaints that he engineered a wave of racist and sexist comments directed against comedian and actress Leslie Jones, who is co-starring in the latest “Ghostbusters” movie.

  Yiannopoulos is an editor on the conservative blog site Breitbart.com whose posts frequently create controversy on the web. He responded to the reported Twitter action by saying, “Anyone who cares about free speech has been sent a clear message: You’re not welcome on Twitter.” He also called the ban “cowardly.”

Michael Josephson: Parents are teachers first

  When John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach, referred to the last game he “ever taught,” he was asked about this phrasing. He said simply that a coach is first and foremost a teacher who should not only improve his players’ athletic skills, but also help them become better people. And he was a superb teacher whose lasting influence is reflected in the values he instilled, not the championships he won.

Maggie Jo Buchanan: Anti-choice efforts to divide women

  For decades, anti-choice politicians have sought to erode women’s reproductive rights by structuring legislation in a way that allows some women to access comprehensive reproductive care, while blocking others from doing so. These efforts implicitly divide women into distinct groups in order to help many opponents of choice advance their ultimate goal of ending access for every woman in an incremental, more politically palatable manner.

  Two cases that went before the U.S. Supreme Court this past term—Zubik v. Burwell and Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt—also demonstrate the anti-choice movement’s systematic efforts to divide women into groups and limit each group’s rights step by step.

Craig Ford: Gov. Bentley has doomed the special session before it even begins

  Members of the Alabama Legislature were treated to a bit of déjà vu this week when we found out through the newspaper – and not directly from Gov. Bentley – that the governor is planning to call the legislature back into a special legislative session within the next month or two.

  Last summer, Gov. Bentley used a similar strategy (he called it using “the element of surprise”) when he called the legislature back to Montgomery without talking with legislators or reaching any kind of agreement on any issues. Needless to say, nothing was accomplished in that special legislative session. In fact, the legislature met on the first day and immediately “recessed” for a month to buy some time to try to work out a solution.

  Now here we are again. The governor has said he will call a special session without talking with any legislators and without reaching any compromises. He hasn’t even proposed any solutions of his own for legislators to consider, and the House of Representatives has no leader yet to negotiate a solution even if the governor had offered one.