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Editorials
Flexible benefit comes up short
The fact that more than 2-million Floridians lack health insurance betrays a moral and economic crisis the Legislature should address. But the measure the House intends to debate today is not the right remedy. The insurance might be "affordable," as sponsors say, but it could turn out to be not worth even the low price.

Remember the fallen
Our soldiers, our fallen heroes, should be remembered and honored for their sacrifice and keep us aware of our duty.

New steps needed for Indian trust
The federal courts have waited long enough for the U.S. government to sort out its sorry management of the American Indian trust fund system. Continuing problems with the accounting, security and administration of Indian lands and money call for the job to be taken from the Interior Department and given to a court-appointed receiver. Even if taken as a temporary step, this move could speed the necessary reforms and restore confidence in the government's ability to manage the trust accounts.

Letters
Bill addresses crisis in access to health care
Re: The mini med: John Q and You, by Martin Dyckman, Feb. 24.  

Columns today
Mary Jo Melone
From a mother's pain, some peace
Some people are called upon in life to suffer more than others. Janice Myles is one of those people.

Tampa Uncuffed
Romanians turn to us to restore justice
File this one under Things To Be Grateful For. 

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.