Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1452 I pray that we have real prison reform in Alabama

  A half loaf is better than no loaf. This is an old saying that contains much wisdom. However, the challenge is knowing when the choice is truly between a half loaf and no loaf. The choice is even more difficult when it’s a quarter loaf or a fifth of a loaf or sometimes just a few slices. The loaf/slices choice is one I struggled with in the Alabama Senate last week.

  The issue was prison reform. Republicans appointed a nearly 30 member Alabama Prison Reform Task Force. Only two members were African American in spite of race being a central issue. The Task force developed a series of recommendations, but the bill was filed before the Task Force made its recommendation. Suffice it to say that the bill is way, way less than a half loaf.

The Business case for the Green Climate Fund

  Since 2014, more than 30 countries have pledged support to launch the Green Climate Fund, or GCF, a new multilateral fund that will invest in projects that help developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to climate effects. More than $10 billion has been pledged by countries from both developed and developing regions for the fund’s preliminary capitalization. The Obama administration requested $500 million in the fiscal year 2016 federal budget as an initial contribution toward the $3 billion U.S. pledge. Now is the time for Congress to appropriate this initial contribution and continue the bipartisan legacy of multilateral climate finance.

Steven P. Bucci, Ph.D.: The conditions are ripe for a major Middle Eastern war

  For years, the great nations of Europe spent huge sums of money to build their military might. They assembled themselves into blocs, all the better to play a dangerous game of power politics.  Slowly, surely, they were stumbling toward war.

  In June 1914, an assassin shot the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the powder keg was lit. The results were disastrous.

  The Middle East today looks frighteningly similar to the Europe of the early 20th Century.

Sarah McBride: A return to the status quo: Indiana’s so-called RFRA fix

  Indiana legislators recently announced their much-anticipated fix to the state’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA. The amendment was prompted by a national outcry from businesses, faith communities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, Americans and their allies in response to the discriminatory consequences of the bill, which could nullify existing municipal sexual-orientation and gender-identity nondiscrimination protections in Indiana.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Rescuing online tax revenue

  Alabama’s senior and premier political reporter, Phil Rawls, has retired. Phil spent 35 years reporting on Alabama politics for the Associated Press. He was simply the best. He was fair and accurate. His 40 years of covering the state capitol made him easily the longest serving member of Alabama’s capitol press corps.

Laurence M. Vance: The root of support for the drug war

  Although many states have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, some states have decriminalized the possession of certain amounts of marijuana, and four states (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington) have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, bipartisan support for the drug war throughout the United States continues unabated and unquestioned.

Michael Josephson: Curing Victimitis

  Watch your thoughts; they lead to attitudes.
  Watch your attitudes; they lead to words.
  Watch your words; they lead to actions.
  Watch your actions; they lead to habits.
  Watch your habits; they form your character.
  Watch your character; it determines your destiny.

  These words of unknown origin tell us that our silent and often subconscious choices shape our future. Every aspect of our lives, at home and at work, can be improved if we use our power to think, reflect, and make conscious choices about our thoughts, attitudes, words, actions, and habits.

Sally Steenland: State religious freedom restoration acts threaten true religious liberty

  There’s an important debate going on in our country that lots of folks aren’t paying much attention to. I can’t say that I blame them. After all, with work, kids, bills, errands, and more—how much energy is left over to think about religious freedom?

  But here’s the thing: The current debate about religious freedom is already shaping laws and policies that will affect each one of us. Many of these laws and policies are harmful and will have far-reaching consequences that affect the everyday details of our lives—from our ability to shop at certain businesses to the cost of our health care—that even the supporters of these laws are likely to regret.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1451: Answering the question, "Why did you go to Selma?"

  Why did you go to Selma? How did you end up in Selma? What made you go to Selma? I have been asked various forms of these question many times. My wife, Faya Rose Toure’, formerly known as Rose M. Sanders, has also been asked these questions numerous times. Leading up to the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March, we were asked these questions even more. Last week we were again asked these questions during a joint documentary interview with Black Entertainment Television, better known as BET. These questions got me to thinking.

President Obama’s visit to Alabama highlights need to regulate payday, title loan lenders

  President Obama’s visit to Alabama last week to discuss proposals to rein in predatory lenders underscores the need to regulate an industry the Southern Poverty Law Center has found traps low-income people in a crushing cycle of debt.

  The proposals from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau include common-sense safeguards for consumers who take out payday or car title loans. Lenders would be required, for example, to determine if a borrower can actually afford to pay back a loan.