Editorials
An 'axis of evil'?
The war against terrorism won't end in Afghanistan, but President Bush may have complicated matters with language linking Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

Charity makes things worse
Metropolitan Ministries blew a wonderful opportunity to live up to its public image. Last week's disclosure that non-Christians were barred from its governing board should have embarrassed Tampa's best-known charity enough to do the right thing. But Metropolitan now is trying to have it both ways. On Thursday, it opened its board to people of different faiths but capped the number of non-Christians. The move is a moral equivocation. Using tokenism to mollify any charitable backlash is an affront to the community.

Knockout victory in Tyson ban
Perhaps it is a fleeting phenomenon, but ethical judgment showed up in an unlikely place. Two of the more disreputable institutions in America -- professional boxing and the Las Vegas gambling industry -- actually chose principle over money when the Nevada State Athletic Commission denied Mike Tyson a license to fight heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. The April bout would have been worth $100-million or more to the depressed Las Vegas economy, which is why many observers thought the license would be automatic.

Letters
U.S. Israel policy not to blame
Re: The Sept. 11 attacks have left us behaving in un-American ways, by Bill Maxwell, Jan. 13.

Philip Gailey
Discouraging news for Democrats
The big political story last week was that Janet Reno fainted during a speech in Rochester, N.Y. It was front-page news in Florida, where some Democrats went public with their concerns about her health -- and electability. Reno has fainted before, on at least two occasions when she was U.S. Attorney General, and there is no reason to believe she won't faint again in public. It's not a big deal, Reno insisted. After all, she reminded reporters, President Bush fainted the other day after choking on a pretzel.

Martin Dyckman
Florida can't afford a bad attorney general
TALLAHASSEE -- William Allen White, a small-town newspaper editor, won instant fame with his scathing anti-Populist editorial of 1896, What's The Matter With Kansas? Among his many complaints: The Populists had "discovered a kid without a law practice and have decided to run him for attorney general."

Robyn E. Blumner
USF president's decisions have stained the school's reputation
If you are looking for a blueprint on how to take an up-and-coming research university and turn it into a handmaiden for opponents to academic freedom, just take a look at the University of South Florida. Since the arrival of its new president, Judy Genshaft, USF has been the scene of two untoward decisions that have stained the university's reputation so indelibly one has to wonder if a solvent exists that can clean it up.

Bill Maxwell
Blacks share a duty to one another
DAYTONA BEACH -- When I was an undergraduate here at Bethune-Cookman College during the 1969-1970 term, my friends and I used joke that we would know we had "made it" when our alma mater invited us back to campus as a keynote speaker.