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Editorials
McBride's trifecta
In proposing to raise the state tax on cigarettes, candidate Bill McBride has found a solid issue, one that promises better schools, better health and better politics.

Fairness demands a loyal attorney
Walter Mickens Jr. is not a man worthy of much sympathy. He was convicted by a Virginia jury of murdering Timothy Hall after forceably attempting to sodomize him, and sentenced to death. But what is fair and just in our criminal justice system does not depend on the defendant's character. Mickens' Sixth Amendment right to be effectively represented by an attorney free from any conflicts of interest should be respected regardless of his alleged crime. The principle at stake is an important one: A commited attorney is typically the only line of defense an innocent person has from being wrongly convicted.

Letters
Israel's military actions seek only self-preservation
Re: A message ignored, editorial, April 10.

 

Columns today
Susan Taylor Martin
A family torn apart
JERUSALEM -- In 1957, a Jew named Yosef Shemesh moved from his native Afghanistan to the young nation of Israel.

Jan Glidewell
Line between cast, fans blurs at cult film classic
There are some things some of us have to do on a regular basis.

John Romano
Hit-and-miss proposition
FINDING HIMSELF: A truer version of Ben Grieve might be on display, as the Rays rightfielder has gotten familiar with his surroundings.

 

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.