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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Obama's change of heart on releasing "enhanced interrogation" photos is a simple issue for two camps.
It's being excoriated by the ACLU, anti-torture activists and people who want to put the Bush administration in the worst possible light. They want those photos out there.
It's an equally easy call for those who see the issue in terms of the safety of U.S. military personnel. Any images of Americans abusing Muslims under color of authority will inflame militants and probably lead to more attacks on soldiers.
It's a tougher issue when you care deeply – and simultaneously – about open government, the safety of the military and America's reputation in the Middle East.
The obvious parallel is Abu Ghraib. The photos of American guards humiliating Iraqis in that Baghdad hellhole was a staggering blow to the Islamic world's image of the United States. But the photos told a story that needed telling.
Could the story have been told without the pictures? I'm inclined to think that written accounts can expose abuses without poking a stick in the eye of Muslims.
I haven't seen any photographs of the factory-line murders inside Auschwitz, yet – having read the firsthand testimonies – I'm pretty clear on what happened there. I don't think my sense of moral revulsion is any less for not having seen images of it. But I'm a written-word kind of guy.
For some of us, Obama's about-face presents an exceptionally tough dilemma.
This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.
King County is going hog wild for tunnels these days. As always, South Sounders better keep a hand on their pocketbooks.
At the urging of East Side leaders, Sound Transit has been studying the possibility of sending light rail underground through Bellevue’s downtown core. The regional transit agency has already bored a hole through Beacon Hill and is about to start doing the same through Capitol Hill, to connect Seattle’s about-to-debut light rail line to the University of Washington.
Most controversially, the Legislature has decided to buy into a $4 billion-plus downtown Seattle tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
None of these tunnels is intrinsically wrongheaded. In terms of the final structure, all beat the surface-level or elevated alternatives. The question is, who pays?
This editorial will appear in Thursday's print edition.
Puyallup drivers to city: Message received
Comes now a bit of welcome news: Citations for red-light running in Puyallup are down 58 percent.
Well, that’s a relief. For a while there, we were kind of worried about you drivers in Meekerville.
That’s because early results from the City of Puyallup’s decision to install red-light cameras at three intersections last year weren’t encouraging.
