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January 1, 2002
Editorials
Turning history's page
The tragedy of Sept. 11 has left us irrevocably changed and will perhaps put more resolve into our vows -- national as well as personal -- to improve in the new year.
Detainees wrongly treated
As reports come in from some of the 1,200 people the Justice Department has detained in the course of its investigation into the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, it becomes clear that the FBI has mishandled some of the cases. That probably was to be expected. We have asked the agency to do a near impossible task: root out a clandestine group of murderers and their accomplices, many of whom have melded into American society. Mistakes and misidentifications are bound to occur, which is part of the reason why we have been critical of the secrecy surrounding these detentions.
The real state of race relations
Local black leaders and Marriott International have taken an important step to move beyond an ugly incident in Tampa several months ago.
Letters
For 2002, reduce the negative and boost the positive
In the new year of 2002, we should resolve to reduce the negative aspects of our society. We have far too much criminal behavior, broken and unhappy homes and injustice everywhere. We must ignite a "torch of tenderness" with love, kindness and compassion. Folks should reach out and help the helpless.
Perspective
Taking jobs, alienating customers
For weeks Americans have been told that the outsourcing of high-tech jobs is good for our economy. So said Greg Mankiw, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers in a recent report signed by President Bush. So, too, writes Thomas Friedman of the New York Times in articles praising the rise of call centers in India used for everything from making airline reservations and reading medical X-ray films to providing tech support for American computer firms.
Philip Gailey: Democrats fall off campaign finance reform wagon
Well, what do you know. Soft money is back, and it's making hypocrites of all those Democrats who fervently championed the McCain-Feingold campaign reform law, not to mention those Republicans who objected to the law's restrictions on issue advocacy.
Bill Maxwell: Who is for the farm worker?
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is touting legislation to improve the lives of Florida's 300,000-plus farm workers, who endure institutional and systemic injustices each day in our fields and groves and their personal lives.
Robyn E. Blumner: For some defendants, an American gulag
In Bernard Malamud's masterpiece The Fixer, inmate Yakov Bok was subjected to psychological torture in a Soviet gulag through the humiliations of constant shackling and repeated strip searches.
© Copyright 2001 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.
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