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September 29, 2001
Editorials
Parent's complaint goes too far
The Chocolate War is a book about a freshman boy's struggle for individuality in a tradition-bound Catholic high school for boys run by an ambitious administrator and a secret student society, the Vigils. The way the boy chooses to express his individuality -- he refuses to sell candy in the school's annual fundraiser -- pits him against the administrator and leads to savage beatings at the hands of the Vigils.
An authoritarian agenda
Tom Warner, a candidate for state attorney general, advocates intrusive changes that would trample Floridians' constitutional protections.
A joke in his own courtroom
It was a good move for Polk State Attorney Jerry Hill to send the Florida Supreme Court his scathing grand jury report on disgraced Hillsborough Circuit Judge Robert Bonanno.
Letters
Don't let excess security cripple our airlines
I believe all Americans recognize the need for additional security following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. However, some of the restrictions being implemented, particularly by the Federal Aviation Administration, seem to be typical knee-jerk reactions implemented in order to "do something," rather than thought-out solutions to the problem. In addition to penknives and box cutters, the airlines are now screening passengers for items such as nail clippers, sewing needles, etc. What about pens and pencils; they are sharp objects? What about car keys? What about people who have black belts in the martial arts? Where does it stop?
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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