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Editorial: McCabe's ethical resolve
Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe should be commended for ordering a review of autopsy evidence in a child abuse case that had sent a man to prison. As it turned out, two medical experts did not support an earlier conclusion by then Medical Examiner Joan Wood that the infant died after being shaken by his father, John W. Peel. Given that new evidence, McCabe asked a judge to throw out the conviction and Peel walked free last month, after four years in prison.

Editorial: Sheriff losing grip
The Hillsborough County sheriff seems to be losing the leadership he needs to raise the ethical and professional standards of the Sheriff's Office staff.

Letters: Video lottery is a good way to fund education
After reading several letters from your readers on Nov. 21 opposing the expansion of gambling in Florida, I am deeply moved to comment.

 

Columns today
Howard Troxler: We are not masters, we are partners in evolution
The dog Harry, a mixture of yellow Labrador and German shepherd, loves us with all of his being. He hangs his head when we leave. He wags all over and cries in a great joy-fit when we return. To all those he knows, he is a sweet and good-hearted puppy; when a stranger knocks on the front door he hurls himself against it with a terrifying bang and explodes in barks with fangs bared.

Gary Shelton: Defense just keeps reaching for stars
TAMPA -- It was over quicker than you think. The last 20 minutes, it turns out, were just for show.

John Romano: Gimme Five
TALK OF THE TOWN

Sara Fritz: Iran-Contra players return to power
WASHINGTON -- When Rear Adm. John Poindexter, President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser, was asked in 1987 why he failed to tell Congress about covert U.S. support of the Nicaraguan rebels, he replied: "I simply did not want any outside interference."

 

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.