St. Petersburg Times Online: Opinion

Editorial: The cost of free speech
Though it is understandable why Supreme Court justices are sympathetic to a statute banning cross-burning, they should strike it down and let free speech prevail.

Letters: All leaders should be held to same standard
On the front page of the Dec. 22 St. Petersburg Times, the Bush takes the power, bears responsibility story says the White House officially denied any involvement in Sen. Trent Lott's decision to remove himself as Senate leader. At the same time, it lauded the potent White House political machinery for working behind the scenes to throw out Sen. Lott, R-Miss., and replace him with Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

Columns today
Sandra Thompson: That old ball and chain: group health benefits
When I went to the orthopedic surgeon for my post-op appointment, my husband said, "Be sure to take the crutches back."

Steve Bousquet: Bush's No. 2 surely knows his place in history
Does the name Tom Adams ring a bell?

Gary Shelton: We need a leader to bring us playoff
A new president has been hired at Florida State University, and the old one at South Florida has received a raise that qualifies as "big, stinking," and I'm certain your first question is pretty much the same as mine.

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.