Gene Policinski: How not to protect religious liberty

  Here’s a quick primer on a recent proposal by two North Carolina legislators to permit the state to designate a state religion:

  First, the North Carolina Speaker of the House effectively killed the proposal one day after it was filed, saying it “will not advance” to a committee hearing.

  Second, even if enacted, it would not survive constitutional scrutiny under existing Supreme Court decisions.

Michael Linden: The President’s budget is another attempt to reach a fiscal deal

  President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2014 budget is unlike any previous presidential budget request in recent history. It is not a statement of the president’s vision for the federal budget. It does not represent what he thinks is the best course of action for spending, taxation, and broader federal fiscal policy. It is not, in short, his preferred budget plan. Rather, for the first time ever, it is a preemptive compromise budget.

  It includes more than $1 trillion in additional spending cuts, on top of the $1.9 trillion that the president has already accepted and signed into law. It includes significant changes to entitlement programs, as well as further cuts to a portion of the budget that was already cut down to historic lows. And it includes far less new revenue than the president has called for in the past. All told, President Obama’s compromise budget would raise less revenue and set government spending at approximately the same levels as the much-ballyhooed bipartisan plan proposed by former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles in 2010. By that standard, the president’s compromise budget is to the right of Simpson-Bowles.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Who will they target next?

  The 2013 Legislative Session is heading into the homestretch. Balancing the State General Fund Budget will again be the paramount problem this year as they put the final pieces of the puzzle together. It is apparent that there is not enough revenue to meet the basic needs of state government.

  The governor and the legislature have adamantly declared that they will oppose any new tax increase measures. It is obvious to even the most casual observer that this cavalier ostrich approach cannot prevail forever. If the state survives until after the 2014 election, when the governor and legislature will not have to run on a no new tax pledge, what new revenue sources will be on the table?

Jacob G. Hornberger: The National-security state, not North Korea, is the root of our woes

  In the current crisis with North Korea, what you see coming out of the mainstream media is the same mindset that characterizes the Pentagon and the CIA. The communists are engaging in provocation and threats of aggression and the U.S. national-security state, just minding its own business, now has to take the time and trouble to respond.

Charles C. Haynes: Ground Zero Cross: A display is not a shrine

  On March 28, a group of atheists in New York lost round one in their legal battle to keep the “Ground Zero Cross” out of the National September 11 Museum in lower Manhattan.

  Federal Judge Deborah Batts ruled that the object – two steel beams in the shape of a cross that survived the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11 – may be displayed in the memorial museum without violating the Establishment clause of the First Amendment. (American Atheists, Inc. v. Port Authority of NY and NJ).

Melissa Boteach: House budget cuts to nutrition assistance are bad for the economy

  The House Republican budget for fiscal year 2014 proposes converting the nation’s bedrock nutrition-assistance program into a capped block grant to the states that would result in approximately $125 billion in cuts over the next 10 years. Forcing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to become a block grant, in addition to the extra $10 billion in cuts to the program within the budget proposal, could result in up to 12 million to 13 million people—mainly children, seniors, and people with disabilities—losing their nutrition aid.

Cameron Smith: The AEA is only one perspective in Alabama education

  After years of the status quo in public education, the Alabama Legislature and Governor Bentley enacted the Alabama Accountability Act to create alternative public education options for students trapped in Alabama’s worst schools. But over the past several weeks, the Alabama Education Association (AEA) has waged an all-out war against the Accountability Act through telephone robocalls, radio ads and newspapers.

Sally Steenland: The Dark side of ‘Bright Young Things’

  The other day I saw a little girl—probably no older than 6 or 7 years old—dressed in a vinyl leopard-print miniskirt, a skinny hot pink tank top, and platform shoes. She was holding the hand of a woman who appeared to be her mother, who was wearing jeans, an oversized t-shirt, and running shoes. The mom looked like a tourist. The little girl looked like a hooker.

  It’s not news that children are being sexualized at younger and younger ages or that marketers see the youth population as ripe to exploit. Recently Victoria’s Secret’s PINK brand came under fire for allegedly targeting teen girls in its ad campaign for “Bright Young Things”—an underwear line whose bikini panties say things such as “call me” on the front and “wild” on the back.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The crux of low taxes

  As the Alabama Legislature wrestles with the crafting of next year’s budget the perennial issue of whether to cut vital services or raise new revenue is debated.

  A study released late last year revealed that state and local governments in Alabama collect less tax dollars than any other state, with the exception of Idaho. This ranking of income means Alabamians have fewer tax dollars to spend on schools, police, roads and all government services than 48 other states.

Michael Josephson: Establishing a culture of kindness

  Though intensive media attention on bullying has died down, the problem persists in many forms, and it continues to diminish the lives of tens of thousands of young people every day. According to a recent survey, roughly half of all high school students said that in the past year they were bullied in a manner that seriously upset them. A similar number said they had bullied someone else.

  That’s an awful lot of meanness.