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Editorial
Generosity and accountability
The only thing as mind-boggling as the generosity of Americans is the complexity of the efforts to help victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. According to a recent Washington Post report, two-thirds of American households made a donation, and 40 percent of the $2.3-billion raised remains to be spent. This was the largest charitable response in the nation's history, and the government and private charities have a special obligation to ensure the money is spent for its intended purposes. The money came from bake sales, solicitations and boot drives on the streets of communities across the nation, and even today, many charities are still receiving donations even though collection drives ended months ago.

Editorial
World con
The WorldCom fraud case treads an all-too-familiar path into an ethical swamp. The only way out is to crack down on accountants and corporations, and to prosecute violators.

Letters
Students, schools are improving thanks to FCAT
Since school and FCAT results have been out, I have been faced with nothing but negative articles and editorials as I read the paper each morning. As a teacher in Pinellas County schools for 16 years, I have seen great improvements in the classroom due to Florida's new standards and FCAT.

 

Columns today
Steve Bousquet
Class size initiative may be biggest foe for Bush
Gov. Jeb Bush's toughest opponent this fall may not be Janet Reno or Bill McBride.

Bill Varian and David Karp
Grandstanding? Sniping? Must be an election year
Brian Blair may be the only former professional wrestler running for a Hillsborough County Commission seat. But sitting Commissioners Ronda Storms and Stacey Easterling appear to be the most likely contestants for a steel cage match.

 

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.