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October 26, 2001
Editorials
Less bad, but not good
There's little good news in the budget bills facing the Florida Legislature, but thankfully the governor is offering some much-needed leadership.
Offended by patriotism
Patriotism can bring out the worst as well as the best in people, a fact displayed again this week by the Florida House of Representatives as it capitalized on current events to demand that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited daily in every school and to encourage student-led prayers. Both seriously offend the core freedoms that America is fighting to preserve.
Letters
Don't let cuts further hurt the disadvantaged
As a result of three years of cutting taxes for affluent businesses and investors, Florida has a $1.3-billion budget deficit. Lawmakers, led by the ultra-conservative Speaker of the House Tom Feeney and Gov. Jeb Bush, have responded to this deficit not by repealing these lavish tax cuts, but, rather, by proposing deep social spending cuts.
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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