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June 7, 2000

Editorials
Mission of defense
The shapers of defense policy need to assure the people of this country that greater safety will be gained with its chosen missile defense system.

DNA testing increases certainty
When Texas Gov. George W. Bush granted convicted child killer Ricky McGinn a 30-day reprieve last week from his scheduled execution to allow for DNA testing of relevant evidence, some dismissed the move as just another calculated attempt to buff his image as a compassionate conservative. Whatever the motivation, the decision makes Bush appear one small step ahead of Al Gore (and his own brother Jeb Bush, for that matter) on the issue of post-conviction DNA testing.

Bill Maxwell
A favorite spot of quiet inspiration
"The affliction lacks a proper name, but a lot of us have it and most of us are not looking for a cure. It is a passion for libraries." -- PAUL DICKSON, Author

Letters
Our lawmakers shouldn't meddle with appeals
Re: Justice requires limits on appeals in death cases, Rep. Victor D. Crist's May 11 letter.  

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.