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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Sacha Baron Cohen’s films “Borat” or rather, “Borat: Cultural Learnings From America Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” his 2006 box office hit, and now his latest release “Bruno” seem to have two main objectives: to shock and to awe.
If you don’t walk out of the theater after seeing a Sacha Baron Cohen film feeling as if your sensibilities have just been terribly violated then the movie didn’t succeed as it intended.
One look at Borat in his “mankini” or Bruno in his sexy Hassidic uniform and you’ll get a hint of what I mean. Both “Borat” and now “Bruno” hold political correctness and polite prejudices up to the light and then proceed to – gee, there’s no nice way to put this – shove them where the sun don’t shine.
Rolling Stone called "Borat" “one of the greatest comedies of the last decade, and perhaps even a whole new genre of film.” Not sure about "Borat" being the greatest comedy, but a new genre of film may be point on.
Sure there have been mockumentaries like "Borat"; Christopher Guest’s “Best in Show” comes to mind. But no one, I mean no one, manipulates people on screen and in the audience into such uncomfortable positions as Sacha Baron Cohen.
Think of Baron Cohen’s work as Candid Camera with a pornographic mean streak.
On Sunday, we'll make our endorsements in the three Puyallup City Council races on the August primary ballot. Check here Saturday evening for an early posting of our picks.
Our editorial on Monday marks the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. For Americans who are middle-aged or older, the events of July 1969 – when man went to the moon and came back – are the stuff of vivid memory.
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to kim.bradford@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.
John Miles, our pick for Tacoma City Council's District 5, sent us a copy of a message he received this morning from a former neighbor in the 8th and I neighborhood, where Neighbors' Park is. We said in our editorial that he "helped develop" the park. The neighbor took issue with that statement.
John,
I am happy for you that you received the endorsement. However, I feel that it is wrong to take credit for developing the park. Neighbors' Park was developed by the intensive hard work of neighbors even before I became an 8th & I Neighbor in 2000. John, a few work parties does not equal developing a park.
John's response:
I’m so sorry that they wrote it this way. I did not tell them that I “developed” the park; I told them that I carted wheelbarrows of bark mulch when the new playground went in. I agree with you that it would be wrong to take credit for the park. I used my work as an example of my civic involvement from before my years with Edison.
Please accept my apology. Your group has made a tremendous difference and will never be recognized sufficiently. In fact, you should take credit for training me in making a difference.
- John Miles
We rechecked our interview notes. Miles told us he "worked" on the park. "Helped develop" might have been too strong a description, but any mistake is ours, not John's.
Community organizers put in a lot of work, so I can understand the sensitivity to giving credit where credit is due. For the record, we did contact people Miles has worked with in the Edison neighborhood who gave him good reviews.
