St. Petersburg Times Online: Opinion

Editorial
Don't rush a decision on airport
Planted amid the political yard signs in St. Petersburg's wealthy neighborhoods are placards for another campaign, one to "Support Albert Whitted Airport." By "support," airport backers mean "prop up with more tax dollars." Even though Albert Whitted is already a financial drain on the city, its most zealous proponents want the city to pour more money into a facility that serves a small number of privileged residents.

Editorial
Yes to Amendment 8
The option of a free pre-kindergarten program would help Florida's children get a good start on education.

Editorial
No exemptions in drug court
The glare of celebrity can be harsh, and Noelle Bush, 25-year-old daughter of Florida's governor, has faced her share of media attention since a drug arrest in February. But for a drug court to close its doors merely because a defendant asks for privacy would amount to a celebrity exemption to criminal justice.

Letters
Fla. government should solve BayCare fiasco
Re: BlueCross vs. BayCare.

Columns today
Howard Troxler
McBride's platforms still a few nails short
While taking a pleasant stroll through a warehouse district the other day, I heard a great ruckus and the sound of hammering and sawing coming from behind a half-open garage door.

Jan Glidewell
Even ardent ex-smoker isn't sure how to vote
Years ago the St. Petersburg Times began cracking down on smokers.

Gary Shelton
A new picture put on display by Lightning
SUNRISE -- Walk around the room to study the angles. Shift the light to get a better view. Squint and search for whatever patterns you can find.

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.