Steve Flowers: Inside The Statehouse: Sizing up Alabama's Congressional representation

  Exactly 60 years ago in 1961 Alabama had nine congressmen and two U.S. senators. All eleven members of our congressional delegation were Democrats. They were also all white and all male. Incidentally, there were all old white men. However, in Washington, old is good. It generally translates into seniority, which translates into power.

  Southerners have always tended to reelect their incumbent powerful congressmen. Therefore, seven of our nine congressmen had over 20 years of service. Several of these elderly gentlemen chaired powerful and prestigious committees. Most of these good old boys had come to Washington during the New Deal and were loyal FDR Democrats. It may surprise you to know that they were very progressive and liberal even by national standards. FDR and the New Deal had been good for these men and to Alabama. They were progressives who believed that a big federal government was not bad.

Ian M. MacIsaac: What is the United States to do about its relationship with Pakistan?

  The pull within Pakistan’s government between the officials who consider themselves in line with the U.S. and others who spiritually and politically ally with the Taliban and extremist forces has come to a head in the wake of Osama bin Laden's demise. Pakistan has gone from being the United States' number one ally in our declared war against terrorism to being perhaps the most disloyal and unstable nation the U.S. ever gave 4.5 billion dollars a year to.

Gary Palmer: The Tornado that destroyed my hometown

  I was in Dallas when the call from my sister came around 6:30 p.m. She said, "A tornado hit Hackleburg. Momma and Daddy are alright, but Hackleburg is gone. It's all gone."

  When my sister, her husband and my brother rushed to check on our parents, they were stunned by what they saw - complete and utter destruction. As she so accurately said to me, "You will have to see it to believe how bad it is."

  There are scores of pictures on the Internet and in the newspapers along with several sites with video footage of what once was Hackleburg, Alabama. But anyone who has been there will tell you that not one of those images comes close to what you see in person.

Marta Cook , Katie Wright: Conservatives should practice what they preach

  Any day now Governor of Texas Rick Perry is expected to sign into law a bill that would require pregnant women to have a sonogram and to hear a physician describe the fetus before they are allowed to have an abortion. A similar bill is waiting to be signed in Florida.

  Many states across the country are doing their best to find ways to limit access to abortions for women. In Oklahoma, for example, legislators have even gone so far as to amend nutrition legislation to prohibit Planned Parenthood from administering nutrition assistance to low-income expectant mothers. The state law would make nutrition vouchers inaccessible to thousands of mothers as part of the federal Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, program, in the state.

Gene Policinski: Opposing flag-burning with violence trashes freedom

  What part of patriotism makes it okay to trash one of our nation’s most-treasured rights, free speech?

  A graduate student and part-time instructor at Louisiana State University, Benjamin Haas, tried yesterday to stage a protest that he initially said would involve burning an American flag.  Haas said he was protesting the arrest last week of another student for stealing and burning a U.S. flag from the LSU War Memorial.

Laurence M. Vance: Not even the sky is the limit

  The scheduled launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour last month was supposed to be notable, not just because it was to be the last launch of this particular shuttle, but because of two special guests who traveled to the Space Center to witness the now-delayed launch.

  President Obama traveled to Florida for the launch, as did Gabrielle Giffords, the member of Congress who was shot on January 8 in Tucson, Arizona. Giffords is the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. She is also the wife of Mark Kelly, the pilot of the Space Shuttle.

Steve Flowers: Inside The Statehouse: From the Hunts to the Bentleys

  Many of you have suggested that Dr. Robert Bentley and his wife Diane remind you of Guy and Helen Hunt. Although the Bentleys are more educated than the Hunts, they do have similarities. Both are devoutly religious, humble and sincere and seem uncomfortable with the trappings and deference surrounding the auspices of being governor and first lady.

  Guy and Helen Hunt were childhood sweethearts in rural Cullman County. They lived a very simple life. Helen assumed that she and Guy would have a happy rural religious life on their small North Alabama farm. Her expectations were met as she raised their children and kept their family home.  Guy, who was a primitive Baptist preacher in their community, led a more diverse and conspicuous existence than Helen.

Lisa Curtis: The bin Laden Aftermath: The U.S. and Pakistan are still stuck with each other

  Many things could have gone wrong. The Osama bin Laden mission could have turned out like Operation Desert One, the failed 1980 attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran that left eight U.S. servicemen dead. Instead, all of the heroic U.S. Navy SEALs escaped safely from Pakistan after taking out the world's most wanted terrorist leader.  That the U.S. soldiers apparently went undetected by Pakistani forces, and thus avoided a potentially disastrous military confrontation with our so-called "ally" in the fight against terrorism, is noteworthy.

  But avoiding these pitfalls was only half the battle. Now the U.S. must deal with the fallout from the momentous event that has once again exposed deep fissures in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. In spite of these fault lines, neither the U.S. nor Pakistan can afford to allow the partnership to rupture.

Jordan Eizenga: What you need to know about the federal debt limit

  Over the past decade, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has borrowed trillions of dollars to finance military interventions in two countries, unfunded tax cuts, and, most recently, efforts to rescue our financial system from collapse and help our economy recover from the Great Recession. But there is a limit to this borrowing, which the Treasury expects to reach by no later than early July.

  As this debt-limit deadline approaches, the American people are wondering what the effects will be should Congress not raise the debt limit. This Debt Limit 101 briefly outlines everything you need to know about our debt limit, as well as the potential consequences of failing to raise it.

Charles C. Haynes: Memo to Sumner County: Local schools aren’t local churches

  If only a fraction of the allegations are true, public school officials in Sumner County, Tenn., are treating their school district like a missionary field for the Christian faith.

  Nine students — who understandably wish to remain anonymous — have filed suit with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union seeking to end school promotion of religion. The laundry list of allegations reads like a description of public schools in the Deep South of the 1950s with everything from prayers over the PA system to teacher-led Bible study.