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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This editorial will appear in Tuesday's printed edition.
The rumors have been dispelled time and time again – but still the delusional e-mails make their rounds.
It is the Internet rumor that will not die.
It goes something like this: Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he (pick one or more) was not really born in Hawaii, he relinquished his U.S. citizenship as a child in Indonesia, his mother was too young or – for those who allow that he might have been born in Hawaii – he was born before Hawaii became a state.
Wrong, wrong, wrong and so wrong.
Jim Merritt, an architect who's had a hand in the redevelopment of downtown Tacoma, is looking seriously at a run to succeed Mayor Bill Baarsma next year. He's in serious "exploratory" mode, as he confirms below:
Pat:
What you heard is true. For the last few months I have had serious discussions about running for mayor with a number of community people. I guess you would say that I am still in the exploratory phase.
The key issues for me at this point is what I do with my architectural practice and a couple of other commitments. These issues are manageable, but it just takes time to work out the details. I have to think through what I would do, whether I win or lose the election. These items affect my employees and their families so it is not an easy issue. I was hoping to have all the elements figured out by the end of the year, but it may take a bit longer.
This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.
Maybe we missed them, but we haven't seen any placards in Christmas-season displays that go something like:
"Atheism releases human beings from all traditional moral constraints. Such atheists as Mao Zedong, Josef Stalin and Pol Pot murdered countless millions of people in the 20th century.
"As the founders of this nation said, religion is a necessity for good government and the happiness of mankind. The founders of science included such devout believers as Galileo and Newton, who searched for and found a divine order in the universe."
Merry Christmas."
Incendiary? Sweepingly judgmental? Contemptuous? Guilty on all counts. But that's the precise equivalent of the anti-religious placard Freedom from Religion, an atheist group, has placed in the state Capitol building. It reads, in part, "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."
Aren't you tired of them? I know I am.
Hardly a day goes by that I don't get an e-mail or letter from someone trying to convince me that Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he was actually born in Kenya, or that his birth certificate is a forgery, or that he is not a natural-born citizen because his mother was only 18 when she gave birth.
I thought the delusions would taper off after the election, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
The best rebuttals to the rumors can be found at Snopes.com. Just keyword Obama on the site and you'll find an array of rumors about the president-elect. I've heard most of them, but one – that he said he'd visited "57 states" – was a new one on me.
And it turns out to be true! Click here.
