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Monday, May 12th, 2008
Posted by David Seago @ 07:02:41 pm
Maritime cargo engineer Bill Casper didn't get much traction in his Tacoma Port Commission campaign last fall by emphasizing the need to step up anti-terrorist security on the docks. He made his point by carrying around a small bag to show how easily a nuclear device could be stowed inside a cargo container. Casper still stays in touch, though, with advice on things nuclear. His latest note lauded our May 7 editorial on the ethanol boondoggle. He proposed converting Afghanistan's lucrative poppy crop – the feedstock for heroin – to biofuel. And he touted nuclear energy:
Well, there might be a problem with the "cheap" part. This article in today's Wall Street Journal (available to nonn-subscribers)says big U.S. utilities interested in building new nuclear power plants are stunned by sticker shock: The latest estimates for plants now on the drawing boards range from $5 billion to $9 billion – two to four times previous estimates. A big Georgia utility plans to spend $6.4 billion for a half-share in two new nuclear plants proposed in that state. The article notes:
Categories: Taking notice
Posted by Patrick O'Callahan @ 06:12:35 pm
When I read Jason Hagey's story about the guy who claimed the ordinance forbidding "hogs" in Tacoma didn't apply to his "pig," I almost laughed out loud. That man must have the hair-splittingest lawyer this side of Bill Clinton, I thought. It turns out, however, "Pig-pig" – the Vietnamese pot-belly from the genus Sus (we can all agree on the scientific term) – may be less of a hog than I assumed. The city attorney insisted that "hog," "pig," and "swine" mean the same thing. But Harold Withrow and his attorney, Guarav Sharma, actually got a vet to certify that Pig-pig was not a hog because it was a sow, and hogs are castrated male swine. Darned if the dictionaries, some of them anyway, don't back up Withrow, Sharma and the vet. The Collins Essential English Dictionary's first definition of "hog" is a "castrated male pig." Pig-pig is neither male, nor castrated. Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary has hog as "a castrated boar." That's a 1913 edition, but Encarta defines hog as "a full-grown domestic pig, especially a castrated male pig." The history of the word "hog" doesn't help the city ordinance, either. It's apparently a close cousin of the Old Norse "hoggva" – which means "to cut" (as in castrate). A few pertinent factoids: A "boar" is an uncastrated male pig. A castrated male is not a boar but a "barrow." A female pig isn't a sow until she has "farrowed" a litter of piglets; before then, she's a "gilt." Got that all straight? Neither does the City of Tacoma.
Categories: Taking notice
Posted by David Seago @ 12:00:58 pm
A reader who identifies himself only as “Ken” writes:
Enclosed was a clipping of our May 3 editorial, “Rice shortages here, but a crisis abroad.” Circled in ink was this offending sentence, labeled as a “totally unfounded statement!”
Global-warming deniers make me crazy. Of course the editorial writer – Cheryl Tucker in this case – didn’t just make it up. The prediction comes from scientists at Britain’s government-funded Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research. Yes, a handful of scientists dispute the prevailing scientific view that human activities are affecting the world’s climate and that the long-term effects could be potentially disastrous, especially for the world’s poorest nations. But they are in a tiny minority, and their views are seized upon by those of a conservative bent opposed to government “interference” with economic activity. (The scientific consensus can be found in the latest report of the authoritative, United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.) The best – and highly readable – book I've found on climate change is "The Weather Makers," by Tim Flannery. I recommend it to people who aren't sure whether to take the threat of climate change seriously.
Categories: Taking notice
Posted by David Seago @ 11:57:28 am
Complaints from Puyallup’s downtown merchants about parking problems associated with the Sounder station in Puyallup should be kept in perspective. Over the long term, the station will be a big asset to Puyallup. Short-term solution would be promoting shuttle bus service, timed to train arrivals, from outlying park and ride lots. We endorse Central Pierce Fire & Rescue's $36 million bond proposal for upgrading facililties used to protect the lives and property of 160,000 residents. About our editorials:
Categories: What's coming
Posted by Kim Bradford @ 11:43:45 am
The Olympian reported Saturday that the Health Care Authority plans to spend another $9 million on a computer project that the Legislature meant to cancel. The state already has spent $7 million to replace the 30-year-old system that handles public employee health insurance. But in March, budget writers who were trying to scare up extra dollars spied the project and grabbed the $14 million that had been earmarked for it. As it turns out, that wasn't enough to kill it. Lawmakers missed $9 million left over from the original budget. Now the Health Care Authority is taking a gamble that the Legislature will think better of its decision to call off the project. The agency plans to sink millions more into a new computer system that lawmakers don't want, despite a warning from Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Bellevue. He opposed canceling the project, but says there is no mistaking that's exactly what the Legislature intended to do. State bureaucrats might just be borrowing a page from lawmakers' playbook. The same budget that supposedly defunded the health insurance computer system also spent $7.5 million to build computer systems for two programs – paid family leave and working family tax rebates – that might never get off the ground. Perhaps the state can sell off the spare parts to help cover the $2 billion budget shortfall it will be facing next year. Hat tip to Jason Mercier at the Washington Policy Center. See his blog here.
Categories: Taking notice
Sunday, May 11th, 2008
Posted by David Seago @ 05:35:47 am
This won't come as any surprise to working mothers, but the truth is that they have two jobs: one at home, and another in the workplace. In time for Mother's Day, the conservative Heritage Foundation reports that mothers put in the equivalent of 150 eight-hour work days a year on household and parental responsibilities. Making meals accounts for 52.5 days, housework for 50.7 days, caring for children 31.5 days and "engaging with children" 22.2 days. I'm not sure how that last one counts as work, but hey, these aren't my numbers. A couple more Heritage factoids:
Not so long ago, the topic of motherhood was a political battleground between conservatives and feminists. Now both sides recognize the issue is more complex for women who want to balance careers and families. This column by Heritage's Jennifer Marshall on moms and careers reflects the more nuanced view that conservative commentators offer these days.
Categories: Taking notice
• 2 comments
Saturday, May 10th, 2008
Posted by David Seago @ 05:47:35 am
I read government meeting agendas. It's a bad habit, but I learn things. Like the fact that Tacoma Rail plans to run five excursion trains from Freighthouse Square to Northwest Trek this summer – if Metro Parks Tacoma gives its blessing Monday. If the park board approves, the all-day excursions will run June 7, July 12, Aug. 9, Sept. 20 and Oct. 11, departing at 9 a.m. and returning to Tacoma at 5:30 p.m.
Passengers will be shuttled to the wildlife park by school buses and have three hours for the visit. Ticket prices will be $40 for outh, $55 for seniors and $60 for adults. Here's what makes my eyebrows shoot up: Staff believes each trip will net $4,000 for Trek. Sounds pretty optimistic to me. But this will be a good test of the excursion market that Tacoma Rail and city officials hope to tap with a "Train to the Mountain" operation some day. The biggest hurdle is finding upwards of $20 million to upgrade rail tracks to handle a faster, passenger-speed train. I'm skeptical that there's enough demand for a train on a route that for the most part is not especially scenic and would involve a bus ride from the Elbe area to Paradise at Mount Rainier. But the dream just won't die . . .
Categories: Taking notice
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Posted by David Seago @ 05:07:07 pm
Tacoman Nick Briejer has a big heart and knows how to swing a hammer. He’s pretty good with words, too, so you’ll enjoy his freelance article about poverty in Haiti on the cover of Sunday’s Insight section (online here beginning Sunday). Briejer has previously done some opinion articles for us, but it wasn’t until I talked to him about this one (via email) that I realized how much of a humanitarian he is. Here’s what Briejer told me when I asked to know more about his involvement with Haiti and his life in Tacoma:
Categories: What's coming
Posted by David Seago @ 03:05:43 pm
What everybody wants to know – well, me at least – is when the Metro Parks board is finally going to decide where and how to replace the aging Titlow Pool? That's what I asked parks commissioner Victoria Woodards when I caught up with her at a community event this week. After all, it's been two years since voters approved an $84 million bond issue that included $6 million for a pool replacement. The longer the board dallies, the less that $6 million will buy due to rising construction costs. Woodards was braced for the question. In about a month, she said, the board may approve a plan aimed at building both a family play pool and a 50-meter lap pool. The park district will concentrate on finishing other major bond projects, including new South End Community Center, allowing to time to seek the additional funding – about $4 million to $6 million – that will be needed to build both pools, she said. Woodard's response suggests the board doesn't want to anger the influential Tacoma Swim Club and fitness swimmers who want a pool suitable for competitive training. Given their druthers, parks administrators probably would rather build a family-style play pool like the district's popular East Side community pool. I happen to favor the latter option: Kandle Playfield on the West Side is a good, well-located spot for it. But I'm not the one who'd feel the heat from the competitive swimmers. And nearby residents don't want the added traffic and loss of open space. I know that Commissioner Ryan Mello, for one, doesn't want to locate a new pool complex at Titlow because environmentalists would like to restore the lagoon there for salmon habitat. New regulations might rule out the existing site anyway. That leaves district-owned property on the hill south of Metro Parks headquarters, near Cheney Stadium, but the topography is challenging and it's probably the most expensive construction option. If the board pursues a two-pool strategy, it will be banking on getting future appropriations from the Legislature. And next year, lawmakers will face a projected $2.4 billion shortfall. Strikes me as a risky bet. Bottom line:Taxpayers are already paying for a new pool with an opening date nowhere in sight.
Categories: Taking notice
Posted by Patrick O'Callahan @ 02:00:50 pm
This is the Superdelegate Moment. So why are seven of Washington's Democratic superdelegates still sitting on the fence? Here's the AP's breakdown of which superdelegate is committed to which candidate: For Clinton: For Obama: You can really understand where Murray and Cantwell are coming from. They're going to have to live with Clinton in the U.S. Senate for who knows how many years to come. Now here are the Profiles in Courage, i.e., the Still Undecided: U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, Former House Speaker Tom Foley, State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz, Vice Chairwoman Eileen Macoll, DNC member Ed Cote, DNC member Sharon Mast, DNC member David McDonald At this point, you've got to wonder what these Hamlets are holding out for. More cage-fighting between Obama and Clinton? More backlash from Hillary's "hardworking Americans, white Americans"? A steel press to crush what remains of her grasping, steel Terminator skeleton? A tropical cyclone to tell them which way the wind's blowing? John McCain's inauguration?
Categories: Taking notice
Posted by Kim Bradford @ 12:03:51 pm
The possible redevelopment of the large swath of land that includes Cheney Stadium, Foss High School, Metro Parks headquarters and Heidelberg Park doesn't appear to be on the fast track that some in the community have feared. At today's Joint Municipal Action Committee meeting, representatives from Metro Parks and the City of Tacoma asked staff to put the brakes on a plan to hold public brainstorming sessions later this month. Councilman Jake Fey and parks Commissioner Tim Reid both said they want to wait until a title search is complete so deed restrictions can be part of the public discussion about what's possible at 19th Street and Tyler. That search should be complete soon. The new plan is to schedule two public meetings in mid- and late June. Among the JMAC members present, it was Tacoma City Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg who seemed to be most itching to get the project going – not surprising given her husband, Pierce County executive John Ladenburg, first suggested remaking the site. She quizzed city staff about how long it would take to change allowable density and height restrictions to permit construction of a mixed use center that includes retail and housing. (Answer: Two years, one for a comp plan amendment and one for zoning changes). At one point, when a JMAC member said there is no reason to rush the proposal, Connie replied half-jokingly, "I would disagree because I'm running out of time." (Maybe. She's hoping to get the city to toss council term limits.) Connie got some ribbing from fellow members for wanting to get going on "Ladenburg Square." Reid, the parks commissioner, suggested she shouldn't be in such a hurry. In Metro Parks' world, no one gets anything named after them until they're dead.
Categories: Taking notice
• 1 comment
Posted by David Seago @ 10:46:13 am
Saturday: We’ve always strongly supported bans on smoking in restaurants and other public spaces. But we had no idea that one of the side benefits would be a reduction in teen smoking. All the better! Sunday: We expect our solidiers in Iraq to face deadly dangers in combat or on patrol. But we don’t expect them to risk death when they take a shower. Authorities should go full bore in investigating the failure of giant U.S. contractor KBR to address complaints about faulty wiring that has killed a number of Gis in base showers. Outrageous is too mild a word for this. We’re just tickled that one of Washington’s trophy wildlife species, the rare giant Palouse earthworm, may not be so rare after all, according to scientists. This critter grows up to three feet long, but it’s almost as elusive as the Sasquatch. Who knew such wonders lurked under our state’s soil? Monday: The WSU football team will be penalized eight scholarships due to poor academic progress among players during the tenure of retired WSU coach Bill Doba. It’s not hard to conclude – and Doba all but admits – that the program lowered standards for the sake of winning. About our editorials:
Categories: What's coming
Posted by Patrick O'Callahan @ 06:59:06 am
Democrat Darcy Burner's chronic campaign to unseat Rep. Dave Reichert in the Eighth Congressional District has come up with an ingenious appeal for donations. Burner isn't asking for money to fill an all-purpose war chest to pay for generic campaign expenses. In a hypertexted e-mail, she gives you a choice of which particular expense you'd prefer to cover. E.g.:
The inspiration here has to be those charities that advertise a winsome-but-hungry-looking Guatamalan girl named Maria, or equally winsome Malaysian girl named Nurul, or whatever, and ask if you are willing to let the waif starve when you could sustain her life for $32 a year. Your donation, of course, goes into the charity's general operating fund, where it probably belongs. Question for the Burner campaign: What if too many donors want to buy pizzas for the volunteers and too few want to buy boxes of mailing labels? Do the volunteers get fat and the mailers not go out? Not that I wouldn't trust Burner to earmark my $39 strictly for that case of recycled paper. But to keep all the donations straight, she's going to have to add another donation opportunity:
Categories: Taking notice
• 8 comments
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
Posted by David Seago @ 03:05:04 pm
One of the arguments U.S. Sen. Patty Murray has raised against allowing Airbus/Northrop Grumman to build Air Force refueling tankers is that it will put sensitive U.S. military technology in foreign hands. Let's see if she raises a similar stink about an Italian company's plans to buy DRS Technologies, a U.S. company that is a major technology supplier to the U.S. military. Today's Wall Street Journal reports that Finmeccanica SpA, an Italian aerospace and defense firm, is negotiating to purchase DRS, which supplies advanced technology for the Aegis destroyer and the Abrams tank, among other things. The Journal notes:
Elsewhere, the Journal also notes that U.S. defense contractors are going after lucrative contracts to provide border-security technology to foreign nations. My point: Our defense companies want to sell to the world. Foreign defense companies want to sell to the U.S. It's a two-way street.
Categories: Taking notice
Posted by David Seago @ 12:59:55 pm
If you’re planning to attend the re-opening celebration for Tacoma’s spiffed-up Wright Park Saturday, you might bring your laptop. Turns out Metro Parks has already turned the century-old park into a giant free hotspot for wireless Internet service. Now you can commune with nature and do your email or spreadsheets at the same time. I saw a “wireless pilot program” mentioned in an invitation to the re-opening event, which starts at 1 p.m. Metro Parks spokeswoman Nancy Johnson explained:
Categories: Taking notice
• 4 comments
Posted by David Seago @ 10:14:55 am
Is the junta in Myanmar really so depraved that it would prevent or hinder relief from getting to a nation devastated by a cyclone? Lakewood’s plans to make over Ponders Corner is a big step forward in the city’s effort to shore up its most troubled neighborhoods. About our editorials:
Categories: What's coming
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
Posted by David Seago @ 04:18:37 pm
Want to party with Mike Lonergan? Here's your chance. Running for Pierce County executive as the standard bearer of the "Executive Excellence Party," the current Tacoma City Council member will hold his nominating convention at 10 a.m. Saturday at Oscar's Restaurant, 8820 S. Hosmer St., Tacoma. Breakfast with Lonergan and friends starts at 9 a.m. He didn't say whether it's free. His announcement also says it's a "photo opportunity." That was probably a hint for us media types, but he surely wouldn't mind if the party faithful or even the merely curious want to take a few snaps. Lonergan decided to run as a minor-party candidate after his bid to run as a Republican was rejected by the county GOP. He says:
If Dems have the donkey and the Republicans have the elephant, what should be the symbol of the Executive Excellence Party? A Blackberry? An expensive fountain pen? That's a hard one . . . Mike, do you have the answer?
Categories: Taking notice
• 3 comments
Posted by David Seago @ 11:08:48 am
The outcome of Tuesday’s Democratic primaries in North Carolina and Indiana was what the Democratic Party needed: A clear signal that Hillary Clinton has no good reason to prolong the debilitating battle with Obama. A graceful concession would enhance her stature and leave her well-positioned for the future. The state Public Disclosure Commission has shamefully ignored blatant election fraud by gambling interests in Tacoma’s vote on casinos. About our editorials:
Categories: What's coming
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