Editorials
The terrorists' wish
Suicide bombings over the weekend succeeded in provoking an overwhelming Israeli response and undercutting Yasser Arafat's authority.
Cautious use of emergency fund
A visitor accustomed to rational government would find it hard to understand why Florida is imposing more than $1-billion in midyear budget cuts on its schools and other essential services without using a single penny from its $941-million emergency fund. Perhaps the recession might have been foreseen when the budget was enacted last spring, but not the terrorism of Sept. 11. If that doesn't qualify as an emergency, what would?
Don't put modern designs in Ybor
It's good to see the momentum behind a mega-bar and office complex in Ybor City lose steam. The modern project is not a good fit for the historic district. Developers also have shown a lack of community concern. Tampa's Barrio Latino Commission is right to insist on a design consistent with the character of the old Latin Quarter. After all, that ambiance is what locals and tourists go to Ybor for.
Letters
Secret tribunals speak ill of our system of justice
For many years now, American administrations and private citizens have condemned civil liberties abuses in Chile, China, the Soviet Union, Iran, South Africa and many others. Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes have rightly been criticized for secret trials, arresting people and holding them indefinitely with no charges being pressed, no rights of habeas corpus, withholding evidence from prisoners, denying any right of appeals, eavesdropping on private consultations between the prisoner and his attorney, and even imposing the death penalty without a unanimous decision of the court or providing any recourse to a higher court or tribunal.
