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June 22, 2000

Editorials
The bench is a serious seat
A complex trial to determine whether a wealthy businessman paid for the grisly murder of his ex-wife is hardly a laughing matter. But Edward Prado, the presiding judge in the trial of Allen Blackthorne, apparently thinks his San Antonio courtroom is an appropriate place to exhibit his off-the-wall hijinks. His injudicious conduct damages his own credibility and that of the legal proceeding itself. Prado needs to tone down his antics considerably if he expects jurors to take a responsible approach to the grave task that lies ahead.

Eckerd College's financial crisis
The financial crisis that Eckerd College board members became aware of only in the past week has its roots in questionable decisions Eckerd President Peter Armacost and his confidants made years ago. Armacost and Webster Hull, Eckerd's vice president for finance, are stepping down. Hull's predecessor, James Christison, whom some Eckerd officials now blame for the school's most egregious mistakes, has been gone for years. However, solving Eckerd's problems will require changes in policy, not just in personnel.

Now Bush faces a test
A number of Florida's public schools have tested out of their F status, but Gov. Jeb Bush's next step should be to measure students' progress.

Letters
No-helmet law adds to burden on the taxpayer
Re: Bikers may ride without helmets, June 17.  

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.