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 David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.
Editorial board bloggers
Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com
Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.
Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.
Guest bloggers
Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.
Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.
Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.
Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.
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The irony gene, unique to homo sapiens, is located at position 19 on the short arm of chromosome 13.
In most humans, it is entirely absent, as evidenced by this week's angry reactions to the satirical depiction of Barack Obama on the current New Yorker cover.
In other humans, the gene is weak but operative. But in certain populations – comedians and sarcastic girlfriends, for example – it is excessively active, and indeed dominates the entire personality. The common designation of such individuals as "wits" is only half accurate. The irony gene has no known link to intelligence.
Exposed to irony, those who carry the strongly expressed gene will typically chortle or smirk.
Those with the weakly expressed gene will appear dumbfounded for several seconds, then say, "Oh, I get it." Those who lack it will remain dumbfounded or become annoyed. Common responses: "What the hell ...?" and "You are one sick puppy."
Genetic sampling suggests that 73 percent of Americans are unable to "get" irony even in its most elementary forms.
The New Yorker, for example, presents Obama in the Oval Office wearing a turban and Middle Eastern robe. He stands in front of a portrait of Osama bin Laden, below which an American flag is burning in the fireplace.
A year after the new Narrows bridge opened, the span has lived up to its billing, dramatically improving safety and clearing one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in the state. Before it was built, resistance was fierce; today, protests are few and far between.
The City of Puyallup didn’t have to build a wheelchair-accessible playground at Bradley Lake Park – it did it because the right thing to do, and succeeded with the help of a determined mother.
About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@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.
ChangMook Sohn knows a thing or two about Washington's economy. As the state's chief economist for more than two decades, Sohn had a knack for delivering revenue forecasts that proved at times more accurate than state lawmakers would have liked.
Sohn is running for state treasurer this year and stopped by the office this week for an endorsement interview. He might be out of the revenue forecast business, but he hasn't given up trying to predict where the state's economy is headed.
Sohn has bad news for anyone hoping for a quick economic rebound. Too many factors – oil prices and Wall Street woes among them – are in play for the economy to follow the usual path of hitting bottom and then immediately heading skyward again, he said.
Sohn expects the state's financial outlook to continue its freefall into 2009, and then even out. Economic recovery won't come quickly. We are in for, in Sohn's view, a period of prolonged pain.
