Editorial
Overkill in the name of security
Some elements of the Bush administration's proposed department for homeland defense are being hacked at by members of Congress protecting their turf, but there's one part of the administration's draft bill they should all set their axes upon: the section that would keep damaging industry records and reports from public eyes.

Editorial
Patients as pocketbooks
The state's investigation of Eckerd Corp. shows the extent to which personal medical information has become a valuable commodity for drug manufacturers.

Letters
Formula writing teaches conformity
Re: Taught to remove all thought, by Lynn Stratton, July 7.

Frederick R. Strobel
Stock market turnaround might take longer than we thought
With new revelations of corporate accounting scandals and with investors knee-deep in a market swamp, President Bush traveled to Wall Street on Tuesday to try to soothe the markets with tough talk about corporate miscreants. It didn't work. The Dow plunged 1.5 percent by the close of business and another 3 percent on Wednesday.

Adam C. Smith
Princes of politics have a lot in common
The Bushes aren't the only dynasty making big political waves in Florida.

Bill Maxwell
'I saw myself as a boy out of school for the summer'
Every year about this time, I am compelled to write about the summers of my childhood -- when school let out from June to late August, when my buddies and I took off our shirts and shoes and took to the woods and lakes.

Martin Dyckman
Judges who reveal bias on a case should be disqualified
TALLAHASSEE -- The Christian Coalition and other ax-carrying interest groups in Florida are rejoicing over a U.S. Supreme Court decision, in a Minnesota case, that said judicial candidates can't be stopped from talking about such controversial issues as abortion and gun control. The majority opinion did not overturn a separate rule which, like one in Florida, bars candidates from saying how they would decide cases. But as the dissenters said -- with much the better argument -- that is a distinction without a difference.

Robyn E. Blumner
When faith rules over reasoned judgment, we've adopted the Saudi way
When the Pledge of Allegiance ruling was announced and then the tumult to follow, I had just left Saudi Arabia, a place where religion infuses every aspect of life.