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January 29, 2002
Editorials
Caution over arsenic-treated wood
The government and the lumber industry are talking about halting the manufacture of arsenic-treated wood. Such a move makes sense. Bad press and lawsuits over the wood's health risks have taken a toll on the industry, and the government's own inability to limit the wood's use in a clear, consistent way has not inspired consumer confidence.
Indigent health plan needs support
The debate over how to save Hillsborough County's indigent health care plan needs to start with an acknowledgement of how it got into trouble. Here's the short answer: A few years ago, the County Commission, playing to conservative voters, cut tax support for the program, raided the trust fund for nonrelated expenses and sold the public a bill of goods about a projected growth in sales tax revenue that would keep the program running.
Delivering a message
Black leaders in St. Petersburg have joined with the mayor and police chief to show their support for responsible law enforcement throughout the city.
Letters
Enron penalties should make an impression
Re: Arthur Andersen and Enron.
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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