Gordon T. Belt: Banned Books Week: Defending our freedom to read

  “I cannot live without books.” — Thomas Jefferson.

  Of all Jefferson’s inspiring and thought-provoking quotes, this one is among my favorites. As the First Amendment Center’s librarian, I have a special affinity for books, and as someone academically trained as a historian, I have an appreciation for the Founding Fathers and for the important words they left behind.

  Banned Books Week — Sept. 24 through Oct. 1 — is an annual recognition by librarians and book-minded people that the First Amendment should never be taken for granted. I believe the freedoms embraced by the Founding Fathers in the 45 words of the First Amendment also speak to an implied freedom to read, yet history shows us that the struggle to maintain that freedom has never been easy.

Eric Alterman: The Media and climate science: ADHD or deliberate deception?

  Dr. François Gonon, a neurobiologist at the University of Bordeaux, together with his colleagues recently published an article in The Public Library of Science, taking a foray into media criticism. Using attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, for his experiment metaphor, Gonon and company searched the databases PubMed and Factiva for articles on ADHD. They found that 47 papers on ADHD received coverage in 347 articles in English-language newspapers during the 1990s. From these, The Economist reports, Gonon’s team picked 10 papers that had enjoyed fully 223 of the news articles.

  What happened next, if you’ll forgive me, turned out to be a case of journalistic ADHD. While 67 later studies examined those selected 10, the second batch received attention in only 57 newspaper articles total, with most of them focusing on only two such studies. Gonon’s conclusion: An “almost complete amnesia in the newspaper coverage of biomedical findings.”

Gary Palmer: Elections reflect our values

  In just over a month people will be going to the polls to vote for president and for other candidates. The presidential election will primarily center on these issues: economic growth; jobs and unemployment; government debt and spending; and health care and taxes.

  All of these issues are to a certain extent measurable in that we have a sense of how these issues will impact us individually and how they define the overall well-being of the country. But are these the real measures of the health and well-being of America? Does annual economic growth or our unemployment rate, our national debt or the level of government spending or even our tax rates and health care options determine the health and well-being of America?

  The answer is no.

Mike Walker: Voter suppression – The Real devil in the details!

  Recently I was involved in a conversation on Facebook about voting rights. I had shared a link about Hank Sanders, a Democratic State Senator from Alabama, being denied the right to vote and I commented that this situation was the result of Republican efforts to limit voting by certain minority groups. Senator Sanders represents the city of Selma in the Alabama State Senate and has been a leader in civil and voting rights in this southern state for decades. As it turns out, in the cited case, Senator Sanders was not denied access to a ballot for identity or racial purposes, but was allowed to file a provisional ballot pending the resolution of a dispute regarding his place of residence. A good friend rightly pointed out my error and I apologized. I had failed to do my homework.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Another amendment is on the way

  There will be an amendment on the November ballot that will probably be approved by Alabama voters. The amendment will reduce legislative compensation. This proposition may garner more votes than Romney does against Obama.

  Most voters disapprove of the very controversial 61% pay raise the legislature gave itself in 2007. That legislative vote, which occurred during the opening session of 2007 and increased legislative compensation from $36,660 annually to $53,338, has been a festering issue for over five years. The sustained outrage is extremely unusual. In past years, an egregious legislative act has been passed early in the quadrennium and late into the night usually on a voice vote.

Michael Josephson: Kids like to win; adults need to win

  Whether you’re a sports fan or not, you have to acknowledge the powerful cultural influence that sports have on our culture. The values of millions of participants and spectators are shaped by the values conveyed in sports, including our views of what is permissible and proper in the competitive pursuit of personal goals.

Sheldon Richman: Romney, taxes, and dependence on government

  Mitt Romney isn’t just out of touch; he’s also out of sync with the movement to shrink government. In an interview clarifying his now-infamous speech to donors, captured on clandestine video, Romney said, “I think people would like to be paying taxes.”

  Come again? He also said, “The good news is if you are doing well enough financially that you can pay a tax.”

  That’s good news?

Ken Paulson: When police kill, public has right to information

  There’s often tension between government and the press about access to public information. Typically, the news media strive to use public-records laws to obtain information about government expenditures and decision-making.

  What’s on the mayor’s city-issued credit card? Does that ambitious new developer have business ties to members of the city council? Will plans for this development have a potential impact on the environment?

  Getting answers to questions like those are almost always in the public interest, but scrutinizing the actions of government is never more important than when a member of the public is killed.

Gary Palmer: The Other message of the September 18 amendment vote

  The voters of Alabama have spoken and decided to give Alabama’s elected officials more time to sort out the reforms needed to put Alabama’s fiscal house in order. The message from the proponents of the September 18 constitutional amendment was this: taking $437.4 million ($145.8 million per year for three years) out of the ATF and cutting by more than half the oil and gas royalties that flow into the ATF was the only way to avoid certain calamity in the state of Alabama. By outspending opponents of the amendment by a factor of ten, that message was heard loud and clear.

  But that was not the only message from this vote. The way some key Republican leaders in the Alabama Legislature are interpreting the vote, the people of Alabama didn’t just vote to give the legislature more money to avert a budget crisis, they voted to give the legislature an opportunity to make sensible budget reforms instead of forcing across-the-board cuts had the amendment failed.

Mike Walker: The Real story behind Romney’s 47%

Let Them Eat Cake

  “There are 47% of the people who will vote for the President, no matter what. Alright, there are 47% who are with him, who depend on government, who believe that they are victims, who believe government has the responsibility to care for them, who believe they are entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing.”

  - Mitt Romney caught on an open mike in September 2012

  You have got to be kidding me! Goddamn this pompous, arrogant asshole and the silver spoon he rode in on. He’s the guy who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. Do you want to know the REAL issue in this country with the 47% worthless, miserable, human beings who Romney wants to scrape off the soles of his $1500 shoes? Here it is in a nutshell.