Inside the editorial page

What's on the minds of TNT editorial writers

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:

The deal would be the latest strategic move by European aerospace and defense companies maneuving for better footholds in the world's biggest defense maret. It also would be a test for U.S. regulators, given the Italian government's roughly one-third ownership of Finmeccanica.

Elsewhere, the Journal also notes that U.S. defense contractors are going after lucrative contracts to provide border-security technology to foreign nations.
Raytheon Co. last fall beat out a British bidder for a $1.5 billion contract to build a new computer screening system designed to watch for terrorists and smugglers at British borders.

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

Feed the pigeons, do your email

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:

We’re conducting the wireless pilot project, in response to expressed community interest for expanded wifi access points throughout the city and our desire to help draw folks out of their homes and back into the outdoors.

We chose Wright Park for the pilot for a number of reasons – potential value for downtown business people, convention attendees and nearby students from Stadium and UPS campus.

We’ve been contemplating ways to combat the impact that technology seems to be having on the amount of time folks spend outdoors. Commissioner (Ryan) Mello initially brought the idea forward, so he may have more to add to that.

The tag line we came up with for the service is Parks, Where People Connect…intended obviously as a double entendre not only to mean connecting to the internet, but also connecting with nature, each other, etc.

=> Read more!

Categories: Taking notice • 4 comments

Friday editorials: Unimaginable tragedy in Myanmar

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?
It looks that way.

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:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to david.seago@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

Categories: What's coming

Inside the editorial page

Inside the editorial page

This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher Cheryl Dell and Executive Editor David Zeeck.

Contributing bloggers

Editorial page editor David Seago joined The News Tribune in 1967. He oversees the daily editorial and letters pages and the Sunday Insight section. E-mail him at david.seago@thenewstribune.com.

Chief editorial writer Patrick O’Callahan came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. He writes the editorial board’s annual civic agenda published at the beginning of each year. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com

Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. She is responsible for day-to-day production of the editorial and op-ed pages and editing letters to the editor. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.

Editorial writer Kim Bradford joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. She manages this blog. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.