Ken Paulson: How obscene is video-game violence?

  My generation blew up blobs.

  Sure, the multicolored objects on the screen of my Atari 2600 video game system were supposed to represent alien invaders or menacing spaceships, but they were pretty much indistinguishable blobs with an occasional appendage or two. In the heat of battle, pixels would scatter, but nobody got hurt.

  Contrast that 1980 technology with the imagery of the highly sophisticated video games that are now the subject of a pivotal Supreme Court case (Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association). The justices are grappling with whether to uphold a California law that bans sales or rentals to minors of highly violent video games such as Postal 2, which graphically depicts beheadings, amputations and young girls pleading for mercy.

  It's not pretty stuff.

Laurence M. Vance: Why don’t conservatives oppose the War on Drugs?

  The war on drugs is a failure.

  According to the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: “Drug use in the United States increased in 2009, reversing downward trends since 2002. ” There was a spike in the number of Americans admitting to using marijuana, ecstasy, and methamphetamine.

  Yet, no matter how much it costs to wage the federal drug war (more than $41 billion according to a just-released Cato Institute study), conservatives generally support it. I know of no prominent conservative who publicly calls for drug legalization. I know of no Republican candidate in the recent election (outside of Ron Paul) who has ever publicly voiced his support for the decriminalization of drug possession. Republicans in Congress — by an overwhelming majority — have even criminalized the purchase of over-the-counter allergy-relief products like Sudafed because they contain pseudoephedrine.

Heather Boushey and Jordan Eizenga: The Economic case for unemployment insurance and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

  Businesses can expect a dreary holiday shopping season if Congress does not continue benefits for the long-term unemployed. These benefits help families to weather hard times, and right now millions of American families remain out of work or underemployed. They help families keep a roof over their head and food on the table while they search for work and wait for the economy to improve.

  Unemployment insurance, or UI, along with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, stabilize the economy by increasing the demand for basic goods and services. Stabilizing demand remains critical to saving and creating jobs and boosting earnings at this point in the economic recovery. If Congress allows benefits for the long-term unemployed to expire at the end of November, this could potentially reduce the gains in retail sales in December by 14 percent compared to December 2009.

Michael Ciamarra: The Business of Alabama is small business

  A national ranking of Alabama was released that could become the blueprint to follow over the next decade but it was little noticed. The prestigious news was elbowed out by Cam Newton, political corruption, and ongoing saga of the BP oil spill.

  Alabama was ranked the 10th best place in the nation by the industry journal Site Selection. This ranking was the culmination of excellent workforce skills, necessary low taxes, transportation infrastructure, incentives and access to utility networks. Those criteria appear to be a template for consistent success. But do all politicians pay attention to this minimalist government approach?

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Inside the Iron Bowl

  It is Alabama vs. Auburn week in Alabama. It is the fiercest of college football rivalries. It is the game of the year. It is a state civil war that divides friends and even families. It is bragging rights for the entire year. The loser has to live with his boasting next door neighbor for 364 days. It seems that one must choose a side regardless of whether you despise college football and could care less who wins. Newcomers to our state are bewildered on this fall day each year. They cannot comprehend the madness that surrounds this epic war. It is truly that – a war. It is the game of the year!

  Young boys all over Alabama grow up playing football in their front yards and dreaming of playing in this big game. It is said that when these two rivals meet one can throw out the record books. However, that is not true. In fact, in 90 percent of the games the favorite wins. A lot of SEC championships and bowl games have been decided by this game. It has made many Alabamians’ Thanksgiving holidays either joyous or sad.

Charles C. Haynes: Sharia fear-mongering threatens religious freedom

  Much of the news media seemed bemused or bewildered when Sharron Angle warned of an Islamic-law takeover in America during her unsuccessful bid to unseat Sen. Harry Reid.

  Angle was widely ridiculed for citing Frankford, Texas (a town that no longer exists), and Dearborn, Mich. (with a large population of Arab-Americans living under American law), as examples of the imposition of Islamic or sharia law.

  On Election Day, Angle lost in Nevada. But a thousand miles away in Oklahoma, voters took the issue seriously and adopted a state constitutional amendment barring courts from considering sharia law or international law when deciding cases. The amendment passed with 70 percent of the vote.

Gary Palmer: An empty place at the Thanksgiving table

  With so many American men and women deployed in the war against terror, it is fitting and appropriate in this Thanksgiving season to give special attention to, and thanks for, the sacrifices made by many American families who will have an empty place at their table on this Thanksgiving Day. Normally, we do not think of Thanksgiving in the context of war. But as an official United States holiday, Thanksgiving is inextricably linked to our nation's founding and to our times of war.

  The first official thanksgiving proclamation was issued in 1777 by the Continental Congress after the American victory in the Battle of Saratoga. The proclamation asked God to "...smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war, for the defense and establishment of our unalienable rights and liberties."

Eric Alterman: When money talks, who listens (besides politicians)?

  Everybody knows money talks in politics, but people—and particularly the press—rarely pay attention to exactly how. It can define potential alternatives, invent arguments, inundate with propaganda, and threaten with merely hypothetical opposition.

  Politicians do not need to "switch" their votes to meet its demands. They can bury bills, rewrite the language of bills that are presented, convince certain congressmen to schedule a golf tournament back home on a day of a key committee vote, confuse debate, and bankroll primary opposition.

  The manner and means through which money can operate is almost as infinite as its uses in any bordello, casino, or Wall Street brokerage. Just about the only thing money can't buy in politics is love. But that’s okay because, as Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) or ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer can tell you, politics provides plenty of substitutes.

Sheldon Richman: Blood on his hands

  As George W. Bush hawks his memoir, “Decision Points,” he seems especially driven to justify his decision to invade and occupy Iraq. He emphasizes how sickened he was at learning that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, though not too sick to kid about it at the White House correspondents’ dinner. While he refuses to say whether he would have ordered the invasion had he known the truth — and there’s good reason to suspect that he did know the truth — Bush insists that 25 million Iraqis are better off without Saddam in power.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Corruption not as rampant as it once was

  In addition to being a gubernatorial election year, this year has seen its share of political scandal and corruption.

  The junior college scandal led by Roy Johnson was one for the record books as far as outright open greed and blatant thievery. The indictment of 11 lobbyists, senators and casino owners four weeks before the election stole the headlines but seemed to have a negligible effect on the statewide races for governor and only minimal impact on the four senate races involved with the indictments.

  It might appear that Alabamians are becoming somewhat blasé and accustomed to corruption and indictments in Montgomery. It has been said by many a professional prosecutor that you can pretty much indict almost anyone for anything. The bar for an indictment is a lot lower than for a conviction. It is often said by prosecutors that you can indict a potato.