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April 5, 2001
Martin Dyckman
Destroying past solutions for no good
TALLAHASSEE -- The Tallahassee Taleban yields nothing to its Afghan counterpart in its passion to destroy old things that transgress some new version of holy writ. As one lobbyist said of them recently, "Time began two years ago."
Editorials
A standoff with China
Only after China releases a U.S. plane and crew can Washington and Beijing begin to deal constructively with broader issues raised by this crisis.
Another divisive prayer bill
Democratic state Rep. Frank Peterman Jr. is harming the interests of his St. Petersburg area constituents by sponsoring a school prayer bill that will do nothing but throw school boards into a fractious debate over religion at public school events. Peterman and three fellow House freshmen are proposing a bill to give school boards around the state the discretion to allow "nonsectarian and nonproselytizing" student-initiated prayer at non-compulsory school events, such as graduation ceremonies and sporting events. Their bill, H.B. 1199, is expected to be voted on today in the House Council for Lifelong Learning. The Council is made up of lawmakers from five House committees; once legislation is approved there, it can go directly to the full House for a vote.
Billboards or constituents?
The billboard lobby may lack for friends in Florida's city halls and courthouses and in the courtrooms where sign-removal ordinances are put to the test. But in politics, as in war, it's the last battle that counts, and the cartel is about to win that one in the hospitable halls of the Legislature.
Letters
Race-based admissions can hurt diversity
Re: University chief says Talented 20 has "fatal flaw," March 22.
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.
© Copyright 2001 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.
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