Michael Linden: Rich people’s taxes have little to do with job creation

  We’ve pointed out that even though conservatives seem obsessed with the top income tax rate, overall economic growth was actually stronger during periods of higher tax rates. But maybe we missed the point. Maybe what conservatives are really concerned about is job growth, not overall economic growth. Maybe they have some convoluted argument about how the tax rate for rich people is incredibly important for creating jobs.

Steve Flowers: Inside The Statehouse” The Free State of Winston

  When Alabama was being settled in the early 1800’s our first settlers were diverse in their origins. Our river regions were the most desirable lands. Indeed this is where the Indians lived. They realized the importance of water and the abundant fishing for their sustenance besides the natural advantage offered by these waters. The river basins also offered the most fertile soil for cultivation.

  Among these river basins is a swath of land across the middle of the state that extends from Georgia to Mississippi. This area is known as the Black Belt. This region of our state is called the Black Belt because of the rich, black, luminous soil found there. This rich black soil is perfect for growing cotton. The people who settled the Black Belt were looking for new cotton lands. They had burned up their soil in the east coast of Virginia by planting the cash crop cotton continuously year after year. The soil they found in the Black Belt was much better than their worn out soil in the tidelands. Therefore, the people who settled in the Black Belt were primarily planters from Virginia and Georgia.

Ian M. MacIsaac: The Misdeeds of Clarence Thomas

  For the majority of this country’s history, the Supreme Court has stood as our national model of impartiality and justice. Our High Court was the last forum of decision-making in Washington removed from the petty political concerns of things like lobbying and reelection campaigns and all the money-grubbing.
   
  But it seems that truly nothing is sacred anymore in today’s post-American era of conservative radicalism, not even the Supreme Court.

Eric Alterman: Network on the verge of a nervous breakdown

  Fox News is nothing if not impressive. No matter how harsh the criticism it endures, the network somehow always manages to prove itself even worse than we had previously imagined. In the wake of some devastating reporting on the internal operations of the outfit, discussed here, Chris Wallace of “Fox News Sunday” invited comedian/wise man Jon Stewart on the show this past Sunday.

  Fox did not have the nerve to allow the interview to run in a coherent fashion. “Fox edited me to seem like a woman having a nervous breakdown,” Stewart said on “The Daily Show” Monday night following the broadcast.

Cameron Smith: Fetal pain law likely viable

  This month Governor Robert Bentley signed the Alabama Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act into law. Alabama follows Nebraska, Idaho, Oklahoma, Kansas and Indiana with legislation designed to restrict abortions based on scientific evidence that a fetus may feel pain as early as 20 weeks after fertilization.    

  Research has shown that, as early as 20 weeks of gestation, a fetus has physiological and behavioral responses to pain stimuli. While opponents argue that the fetal experience is qualitatively distinct from the sensation most adults experience as pain, many concede that a human fetus has both hormonal and neural responses to pain stimulus.    

Steve Flowers: Inside The Statehouse: Alabama and the GOP presidential primary

  The month of June in Alabama has seen the culmination of one of the most productive legislative sessions in state history, the beginning of a sensational gambling trial and record breaking sweltering heat.

  Next year will be an election year but it is a presidential election year, which is not the big year for Alabama voters. Historically we have not gotten too excited about presidential politics. This is probably because we have never been a factor.

Gene Policinski: Breitbart is one in long line of reviled, revered media gadflies

  Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart is highly partisan, frequently newsworthy — and, likely depending on your political views, to be roundly admired or soundly criticized.

  But Breitbart is credited by all with first reporting the indiscreet tweets of Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.  It’s the latest in a series of headline incidents involving the digital entrepreneur and his unique new-media mix of publishing, sensationalism and political advocacy.

Ian M. MacIsaac: A Study in Michele Bachmann, crazy lady of the 2012 Republican primary

Author's note: This is the final piece in a three-part series on Republican presidential candidates. The first concerned Newt Gingrich, and was published May 20; the second concerned Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, and Jon Huntsman , and was published May 26.

  I was surprised to see Michele Bachmann on the screen as I tuned in for the June 13 Republican presidential primary debate… She hasn’t even announced, has she? I thought to myself.

  I could barely believe her presidential candidacy had become a legitimate possibility—and then reality—in the first place.

Gary Palmer and Cameron Smith: Immigration: Feds fail and Alabama acts

  Recently Alabama enacted an immigration law characterized as "Arizona-style," "tough," and even "troubling" by political pundits and interested stakeholders. Unfortunately the most radical aspect of many of the recently passed state immigration laws, including Alabama's, is not their content but rather that they seek to enforce immigration laws in the first place.

  Enforcement of our federal immigration law has been so weak for so long that most people do not realize that many of the "novel" provisions of Alabama's law have been on the federal books for years. Lost in the many inflammatory critiques of the state's new immigration law is that it mostly mirrors existing provisions in Title 8 of the United States Code.

Jennifer Marshall: Federal budget no easy moral question

  "Budgets are moral documents." So religious voices, rightly, have reminded us in recent months. Now, Catholic and Protestant leaders have launched an initiative called "Circle of Protection" to make federal antipoverty spending untouchable in the ongoing conversation about how to save future generations of Americans from crushing debt.

  "As Christians, we believe the moral measure of the debate is how the most poor and vulnerable people fare," argues a statement on Circle of Protection's website. "Funding focused on reducing poverty should not be cut."