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Editorial: Budget meltdown
The end of the legislative session is approaching and the House and Senate have yet to agree on a budget, thanks mostly to House Speaker Johnnie Byrd's refusal to raise taxes.

Editorial: Dysfunctional 'family' economics
House Speaker Johnnie Byrd says he is "especially proud" of the spending plan he has produced for next year, so proud that he calls it "Florida's family budget." His fondness for this slogan, given the demonstrable harm his budget will create, raises a fair question about his own view of the family: Does he think Florida families are so cheap and heartless they would let their elderly relatives die?

Letters: Tax cut will only boost debt and reward the rich
Those who support the proposed Bush tax cut -- to "stimulate the economy" -- demolish their own argument.

 

Columns today
Mary Jo Melone: The Senate musters up an ounce of compassion
What the Florida State Senate did Wednesday will not change some of the terrible realities of William Goforth's life. He still will be financing much of his existence through a credit card. But at least he'll get his medications. At least his visits to the cardiologist will be paid for.

Ernest Hooper: Piccadilly departs; an auction to grow on
Easter is supposed to be a time of renewal, but that was hardly the case at the longstanding Piccadilly Cafeteria on S Dale Mabry.

Gary Shelton: A litany of Lightning thoughts past, present
If I were Bill Davidson, I'd call the Lightning to offer congratulations. Also, to ask where I might buy a ticket.

John Romano: Gimme five, on ice
TALK OF THE TOWN

Susan Taylor Martin: Road grim testament to war
AL QADIAAIYA, Iraq -- Last chance for gas.

 

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.