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 Friday's print edition.
Sonia Sotomayor made history Thursday.
Hispanic Americans, the nation’s largest and fastest-growing minority, finally have one of their own on the U.S. Supreme Court. Sotomayor is their Thurgood Marshall, their Sandra Day O’Connor – proof that the highest court of the land is not off limits.
But behind the barrier-shattering nature of Sotomayor’s confirmation by the U.S. Senate, there is the 68-31 vote that elevated her to the august bench.
This editorial will appear in Friday's print edition.
State parks need that $5 donation from drivers
To opt out or not opt out. Beginning next month, that will be the question for Washington drivers as they renew their license tabs.
If they check a box on the renewal form, they opt out of paying $5 toward operation of state parks. If they don’t opt out, they’ll automatically make the donation.
So who shouldn’t opt out?
Here's what we're planning for tomorrow's editorials:
The confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor today is a historic occasion, especially for Latinos who had long awaited this moment. In the end, nine Republicans recognized crossed the aisle, but the 68-31 vote is the third nominee in a row to be opposed by at least half the minority party’s senators. The Senate's tradition of deference to the president's nominations, which has served the nation well, is in peril.
It's understandable that folks in two Tacoma neighborhoods are upset about the prospect of losing their local post office. Closures are especially hard on people who don't drive and depend on their local post office as a safe place to receive and send mail. But like any business, the Postal Service is being forced to make some hard decisions in these tough economic times. UPDATE: We're holding this editorial pending the results of a public meeting about the post office closures tonight. We're substituting a piece that encourages Washingtonians to remain opted-in to the new state parks license tab fee.
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.
Today, on the 64th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Tom Karlin of Lakewood and his fellow pacifists took folded paper cranes to a peace ceremony in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
The "Journey of Repentance" led by Karlin and Father Bill Bichsel has stirred angry reactions in this community (which have not gone unnoticed in Japan). A recent poll underscores why.
Quinnipiac University recently surveyed American voters and found they believe 3-1 that the United States did the right thing in bombing Japan. Pollsters found that American voters supported President Harry Truman's decision 61-22 percent, with 16 percent undecided.
As you might expect, support increases with age. Voters over 55 years old approve 73 percent, while voters 35 to 54 approve 60 percent. Only 50 percent voters of 18 to 34 years old approve.
"Voters who remember the horrors of World War II overwhelmingly support Truman's decision," Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said. "Support drops with age, from the generation that grew up with the nuclear fear of the Cold War to the youngest voters, who know less about WW II or the Cold War."
What the poll doesn't capture is the the number of Americans who believe the bombing was the right course for the times, but nonetheless regret that the war had came to such measures and are sympathetic to the cost paid by Japanese civilians. Even those who fully support Truman's decision aren't indifferent to human suffering.
But an apology, as the Journey of Repentance proposed, assumes the action was wrong in the first place. Some Americans believe it was. The majority don't.
