This editorial will appear in Thursday's print edition.

Watch those credit card bills.

That was solid advice for card-carrying Americans before Wednesday, and it’s good advice today now that Congress has approved new curbs on some of the credit card industry’s more dubious practices.

Provided President Barack Obama signs the bill as expected, banks will have nine months to gear up. Put another way, they have until February to extract money from card holders before they have to play, if not nice, then at least somewhat fair.

Banks have already started raising interest rates and upping fees in anticipation of the tighter regulations. Consumers would do well to read every scrap of paper they get from credit card companies, fine print and all.

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

When you try to do everything for everybody, you can wind up not doing enough for the neediest. With the best of intentions, some want to take early childhood education down that path.

While signing the state’s new basic education bill Tuesday, Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed a section that promised preschool for “at risk” children. She said she wanted to offer preschool to all of the state’s 3- and 4-year-olds children.

She’s echoing what’s become a mantra among some advocates of early learning. The idea is that all children would benefit, so it should be offered to everyone.

The case for that argument is weak.

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The photo above looks like a harbor bustling with commerce. It’s actually the opposite.

All those ships are parked, empty, outside Singapore – because there’s no cargo for them.

According to Tacoma’s port director, Tim Farrell, the global recession has sidelined about 12 percent of the world’s merchant ships. It’s hit the Port of Tacoma hard. Farrell, who stopped by today, said container volume has fallen 25 percent since 2007.

An expansion of Panama Canal is to be completed in 2013, which will make it more economical to ship many Pacific cargoes directly to the East Coast rather than transship them by rail via Tacoma and other West Coast ports. That, plus the expected ratcheting down of the international economy, means the Port of Tacoma may not see 2006-levels of cargo again until 2018.

At least we don’t have a hundred empty ships anchored for the duration in Commencement Bay.

I just finished writing tomorrow's editorial about the new credit card rules that passed Congress today. We generally like the new curbs on an industry that has been in recent years been making money hand over fist with gotcha schemes. Unfortunately, space didn't permit me to mention a troubling aspect of the legislation: Guns in national parks.

The price of getting reasonable safeguards for consumers through the Senate was overturning a longtime ban on concealed, loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. We were pretty fond of that ban. Visitors could still bring their weapons into the park, they just had to keep them unloaded in a secure place.

Call us crazy, but the thought of people walking around Mt. Rainier with loaded guns doesn't whisper peace and quiet. Then there's the whole matter of park employees' and the public's safety. Allowing people to pack loaded weapons could dangerously escalate conflicts between visitors or with park staff.

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Credit card companies, done under by their own outrageous gotcha schemes, will finally have to play, if not nice, then somewhat fair under new rules passed by Congress. Don’t believe the saber rattling that good customers will end up paying the price.

Gov. Gregoire appears to have become an advocate of universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds. But limited preschool money spent on at risk children, not creating a new middle class entitlement.

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.

Last Saturday night, The Tacoma Symphony Chorus sang Haydn’s Creation. It got a pretty poor review from this newspaper, leaving many folks in the seventy-plus chorus (of which I am a member,) a little disheartened. The reviewer was knowledgeable, fair and she called it as she saw it. But as they say in the philosophy biz “perspective is reality” And this is what I saw from where I was standing…

Christ Church Episcopal in Tacoma Washington is not a typical church. From floor to ceiling it is fashioned completely of cement; solid gray and round like a missile silo, or as it was recently described, “gray Brutalism.” Lit mostly from above by a large circle of light, nothing in particular is illuminated. Not a fine piece of Birch or marble to be found. Brutal indeed.

But then you sit down and notice the small panes of stained glass imbedded in the concrete. Bright and immovable, they tell a simple story, a story of a Creator in a material world. Literally and metaphorically they tell the story of the sacred in the concrete. God with us, in the rough and brutal world. Notice this, and see that Christ Church Episcopal is the perfect place to sing Haydn’s Creation.

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