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 tomorrow's print edition:
Try this thought on for size: Osama bin Laden with thermonuclear weapons.
That may exaggerate the potential of what’s happening in Pakistan right now, but perhaps not by much.
The fanatical Taliban – Osama’s patrons in Afghanistan – are tightening their grip on large sections of Pakistan. Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal and the means to deliver it. The idea of a nuclear-armed Taliban should frighten every sane person on earth.
That prospect has begun looking all too possible in the last few weeks. The Pakistani government – apparently taking its cue from Neville Chamberlain – has decided to “make peace” with the county’s Taliban insurgency by turning over the immense Swat Valley to its tender mercies. The Taliban has since been imposing its vicious, totalitarian version of Islamic law on everyone in sight.
Women are already being flogged in public for the faintest acts of independence. It’s only a matter of time before a religious reign of terror begins. The Taliban’s response to female education includes bombing the schools and throwing acid into the face of girls. Its leaders don’t debate whether gays should marry or have civil unions; they debate whether to stone them to death or bury them alive.
It's hard to believe, but in Washington state the people who give tattoos and perform invasive piercings like the ones in the photo are virtually unregulated.
The person who gives you a manicure or cuts your hair must be licensed by the state and comply with health regulations, but the person who pierces navels, eyebrows, tongues and parts of the body that won't be mentioned here does not – at least for now.
Gov. Gregoire is expected to sign legislation (Senate Bill 5391) that would require people who pierce or tattoo to be licensed. And the state Health Department will have to adopt rules about the sterilization of needles and other instruments and jewelry used in body art. The law would go into effect July 1, 2010.
It's about time. Back in 2006 I editorialized in favor of regulating the body art industry. Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, was one of the sponsors of legislation then that did not pass. He was more successful this time around.
Here's what I wrote back in January 2006.
