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 print edition.
One more time: No vaccine-autism link
Parents endanger their children when they don't allow them to be immunized against dread diseases.
Many parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated aren't paying attention to scientists, choosing to give more credence to anecdotal "evidence" and Hollywood celebrities. So there's probably little chance they'll have any more faith in a U.S. Court of Claims, which last week concluded no link exists between autism and childhood vaccinations.
One of the court's "special masters" said that the petitioners seeking compensation for their children's autism "have been the victims of bad science conducted to support litigation rather than to advance medical and scientific understanding" of the condition.
Indeed, the Sunday Times of London reported last week that the original 1998 study linking autism to the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine – the one that touched off the whole controversy in the first place – had been manipulated for litigation purposes.
This editorial will appear in Tuesday's print edition.
Aid in dying needs careful regulation
Rules being drafted to implement I-1000 don't adequately address mortality disclosure and patient mental health.
On March 4, terminally ill Washingtonians over the age of 18 will be able to start putting the voter-approved Death With Dignity Act into action by requesting a lethal prescription to end their lives on their own terms.
But not all the details for implementing the voters' will have been ironed out – and some of the wrinkles are likely to remain after the act goes into effect.
Now here's a restaurant that is using some creativity to get diners in the door during hard times: Endolyne Joe's in West Seattle has tied the price of its blue plate special to the most recent Dow Industrial Average closing mark.
For instance, on Friday (the most recent active day on Wall Street), the Dow closed at 7850. So tonight (Monday), diners can get Seth's Mama's Beef Stroganoff over egg noodles with sauteed green beans for $7.85.
Read more about the special – which is only available till it runs out – here.
I've eaten at this restaurant several times; it goes with a theme for several months. Right now, it's featuring "the down-home flavors of Georgia, U.S.A."
Two other Seattle restaurants in the Chow Foods chain, the Hi-Life in Ballard and the 5 Spot on Queen Anne, are also offering the same "closing bell" special. I haven't eaten at either, so you're on your own. But I highly recommend Endolyne Joe's – a favorite with its West Seattle neighbors. It's just up the hill from the Fauntleroy ferry dock.
There hasn't exactly been a blizzard of hats flying into the ring for Tacoma City Council races this fall, even though five seats, including the mayor's post, are up for grabs.
Architect Jim Merritt has announced for mayor, and Beckie Summers-Kirby has declared for the South Tacoma council seat to be vacated by Connie Ladenburg.
Marty Campbell, active in community and business issues and owner of Stadium Video and Buzzard Records, has filed with the Public Disclosure Commission for the East Side district seat to be vacated by Rick Talbert. But he hasn't made a public declaration of candidacy yet.
Considering that four of the five contests are for open seats and the August primary is only six months away, that's not much action. As always, though, there's plenty of unconfirmed gossip and speculation.
We know Norm Dicks, the Sixth District's man in the other Washington, as a friend of the environment and defense contractors. But who knew he was such a staunch supporter of the arts?
Today's The New York Times has a story citing U.S. Rep. Dicks as playing a key role in preserving $50 million for the arts in the massive economic stimulus bill Congress passed last week.
Dicks swung into action behind the scenes, The Times reports, after Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn inserted an amendment that excluded museums, theaters and arts centers, along with casinos and golf courses, from stimulus funding.
It's Presidents Day, so here's a quiz to see how well you know our commanders in chief.
Match the following quotes with the correct president. Your choices are:
Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
Franklin Roosevelt
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson
Richard Nixon
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Barack Obama
1. "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
2. "Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies."
3. "I believe that God has planted in every heart the desire to live in freedom."
4. "Be sincere; be brief; be seated."
5. "If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress."
6. "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind."
7. "Sometimes I feel like a fire hydrant looking at a pack of dogs."
8. "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
9. "We can draw lessons from the past, but we cannot live in it."
10. "If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together."
ANSWERS:
