St. Petersburg Times Online: Opinion

Don Addis
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May 10, 2000

Editorials
Is there a doctor in the Senate?
Mere mortals who lose their medical licenses must pass a series of exams and interviews before having their licenses restored. But the exalted members of the Florida Legislature obviously are not mere mortals. So the colleagues of Sen. William "Doc" Myers, who lost his medical license more than two years ago when he inexplicably failed to renew it, passed a bill that allows Myers -- and only Myers -- to renew his license automatically.

Africa's man-made pain
U.S. support will be crucial to the United Nations' efforts to restore order and avert a crisis of international leadership in Sierra Leone.

Lost in the ozone again
For those who believe Elvis is alive and the Earth is flat, this from state lawmakers: Air pollution is a hoax. By approving a bill to end auto emissions testing, the Legislature may cause air pollution to increase throughout Tampa Bay and cost Florida millions of dollars in federal highway aid. Gov. Jeb Bush has financial and political reasons to encourage lawmakers to improve the testing, not kill the program outright.

Bill Maxwell
Youth programs need community aid
When Colin Powell, the retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came to Florida in January to help kick off a mentoring program for youngsters, Gov. Jeb Bush, Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan and a group of other dignitaries were front and center. No matter where Powell goes, huge crowds turn out to help him promote his foundation, America's Promise: the Alliance for Youth.

Letters
Improve tests of emissions, don't end them
Re: Bill ends exhaust tests, April 6.

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.