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August 11, 2000

Editorials
Dillinger's mistake
It is disappointing to see Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger squirm and equivocate over his decision first to accept campaign contributions from his employees and then to return the money. His actions say he erred, but his words still won't admit it.

Equal compensation
Blue-collar workers shouldn't be left out of additional benefits offered to workers in special-risk jobs, and Gov. Jeb Bush should do something about it.

Letters
State's high court deserves rebuke from the voters
Through the hard work of Florida volunteers during the last year, more than 200,000 signatures were collected from citizens wishing to place the Florida Civil Rights Initiative on the ballot. If approved, the initiative would outlaw the practice of racial and gender discrimination that our government engages in routinely.  

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.