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Virtual Editorial Blog
See what users wrote about our upcoming editorials.
Previous virtual editorial blogs
· PI-TV: Seattle City Council, the year ahead, David Horsey on Inauguration; Plus weekend plans (1/16/2009)
· State jobs bill (1/15/2009)
· Treasury Secretary and shell fish beds. (1/14/2009)
· Viaduct plans -- enough big sky thinking? (1/13/2009)
· David Horsey, UW at Qwest (1/12/2009)
· Seat belts & cell phones, Viaduct to to, plus reader comments about Intelligent Design (1/8/2009)
D. Parvaz
Parvaz is away on a fellowship.
Cathy Sorbo
Inevitable? It's still a shock
Also:
· Snark Attack
· Krugman: Don't let Bushies get away with crime
Joel Connelly
· Plan for worst from Mother Nature
more columns
Robert L. Jamieson Jr.
· Mayor Nickels, thanks for the reality checkmore columns
Mary Swift
· You can track his career by the characters in itmore columns
Anthony B. Robinson
· Articles of Faith: Inviting Warren fits Obama's inclusive idealsmore columns
Opinion Leaders
Our editorial board interviews key newsmakers.
'Paramount duty' should be just that
P-I Editorial: Washington constitutional history: Write a farsighted, inspiring document proclaiming that "ample provision" for the education of all children is the "paramount duty" of state government. Spend decades ignoring it. Here we go again.
Sunday Shorts
On Afghanistan's war, teen pregnancies and more.
Horsey: Will Obama measure up as a Great Man?
David Horsey: A few days before I left Seattle, I had lunch with Frank Greer at a window-side table looking out on chilly Lake Union and a sullen gray sky.
Chi-Dooh Li: 'Idols' move over for Nickels & Ninepence
Chi-Dooh Li: Check out this scoop from my "deep-croak" source in the bowels of City Hall: Mayor Greg Nickels has made it into the semifinal round on "American Idol."
Guest Columnist: Don't go down without a fight
Jim McDermott, guest columnist:Like you, I shuddered when I heard the news about the P-I. And probably like you, I continue to go through several phases that I could describe in excruciating detail as a psychiatrist, but would prefer to summarize instead: denial, anger, grief and fear -- for our community and our country.
The Economist: Debutante balls are back in business
The Economist: The coming-of-age ritual of the debutante ball, in which they were taking part, is still alive and well in some bits of the U.S.
Guest Columnist: Government finds itself in hole, keeps digging
Confronted with a fiscal situation that is bad and getting worse, what's the government to do? Even some groups dedicated to fiscal discipline concede the government has a responsibility to offset the decline in private demand.
Bookman: Unity, hope and the Obama presidency
There's also a whiff of desperation to the fervor, a sense that the crowd wants more from Obama than any one person can deliver.
Guest Columnist: Bush's record may improve when historians write his story
Llewellyn King, guest columnist: History is tricky. Although it has tended to give presidents the benefit of the doubt -- once aspersions are cast, they can stick and grow.
Rather: Public dissatisfaction grows over bank bailouts
The near-complete lack of accounting for just how the bailout's recipients have used the money has left an extremely bad taste in taxpayers' mouths.
Shlaes: Israel's Gaza venture hits chord in wounded India
Israel hasn't won much praise for invading Gaza. This unpopularity abides although Israel is bombing Gaza to stop rockets from hitting its own towns. Still, Israel has at least some supporters in what might seem an unlikely place: India.
Will: Revisiting the '65 Voting Rights Act
George Will: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that concerns a manifestly anachronistic and therefore now constitutionally dubious provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2009
Independent: Farewell to this flawed and unpopular president
It has been the fate of almost every recent president not only to be confronted by issues different from the ones they prepared for, but also -- by virtue of failings in office -- to open the way for a successor in many ways their opposite.
Vennochi: Hoping for a Laura Bush tell-all
Laura Bush's publisher can only hope the former librarian will get lost in the pages of her own life and reveal the human being behind the political wife.
McFeatters: Investigation of Bush administration hardly worth it
Historians will get at the truth about Bush's legacy. But we cannot afford the distraction, time or energy that would be required to be invested in anti-Bush investigations. They probably wouldn't result in convictions for criminality.
Bookman: Uncovering the dark secrets of torture
Counter-terror experts will tell you that what happened at Guantanamo and Abu Graib has radicalized hundreds and more likely thousands of Muslims, many more times than the 18 who have allegedly returned to violence.
Independent: Still in search of the bottom line
Until the shipwrecked traders of the financial markets can feel solid ground under their feet, the "real" economy of jobs and living standards exists, as Tony Blair put it last week, in "an era of very low predictability."
Brooks: An economy of faith and trust
David Brooks: Right now political and economic confidence levels are running in opposite directions. Politically, we're in a season of optimism, but despite a trillion spent and a trillion more about to be, the economic spirit cowers.
Hart: Gardosil vaccine for boys?
Here we go again: Merck is seeking approval from the FDA for boys as young as 9 to get the Gardasil vaccine, which prevents some strains of the Human Papilloma Virus, a virus which can cause cervical cancer in women.
Independent: Whisky sales pour new life into old Scottish distilleries
Most recession-blighted manufacturers worry that their next order is likely to be for mothballs. Not so Scotland's whisky makers: They are busy bringing old distilleries back to life and building new ones.
Guest Columnist: Assault on Gaza proves Israel's weakness, not might
Israel has to realize that it cannot have peace while it continues imposing its will on another people. Israel's military supremacy has not, and will not, bring it any closer to peace, even as it tries to prove this supremacy in Gaza.
Articles of Faith: Obama's day recaptures promise of JFK inaugural
Next week's inauguration brings to mind, for me at least, another inaugural day, one that took place 48 years ago on Jan. 20, 1961.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2009
Governor's plan: It's only a start
P-I Editorial: Gov. Chris Gregoire is offering a solid but limited program for stimulating jobs and recovery in Washington. Legislators should move quickly to implement her ideas, while continuing on with further options.
Guest Columnists: Climate the loser in tunnel choice
We had an opportunity to press forward with a package of new transit, street improvements and a better Interstate 5 that would have met our future transportation needs.
Teepen: Rebirth for right-wing radio
Brace yourself, ye sane. The right-wing radio barkers are about to enter a golden era. Not to hear them tell it, of course.
Murdock: Bush fades to black as mitigated disaster
As George W. Bush fades to black, his presidency can be summarized with six Cs: Credit, Carter, Core, Communications, Cheek, Crawford.
Bloomberg: Hillary's trapped by Bill's big web of donors
The opposition party prefers to wage war over minor infractions that are YouTube-friendly rather than major ones that people don't quite grasp. This partly explains the difference between Clinton's and Geithner's confirmations this week.
Marcus: The race card has been played
So Roland Burris, who represents the people of Illinois, believes that it is "not really my purview" to say if he thinks Rod Blagojevich should resign? Just one more bit of evidence that he has no business being a senator.
Crouch: Obama pushes aside race talk
Obama is too shrewd to be amused by unqualified and doofus black people being given positions in order to curry favors from him. He will see that as an insult.
Nothing to fear but no health care
Obama is in charge now. Whom will he emulate -- Nixon or FDR? People across the political and economic spectrum, from big business to the little guy, are dying to know.
Guest Columnist: Honor civilian service with public service academy
The visibility of the Public Service Academy as a national college would raise the visibility and prestige of public service in a way that is unmatched by any other public or private college.
Guest Columnists: Fighting for Puget Sound's future
Nineteen West Coast officials, including seven Washingtonians, have asked the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, a national voice for ocean policy reform, for practical ways communities can protect the health of West Coast ecosystems.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009
State lands: Political shellfish
P-I Editorial: Public Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland can't finish all the work on resolving a trespass case involving geoduck plantings on state land That's the best possible course in a politically charged case.
Obama Administration: Taxing us all
P-I Editorial: Should tax problems derail the nomination of Timothy Geithner? Probably not. But it sure ought to be "Exhibit A" for tax code clarity. On the other hand, perhaps we all have a new defense come April 16.
Friedman: What are Israel's goals in Gaza?
Thomas L. Friedman: I have only one question about Israel's military operation in Gaza: What is the goal? Is it the education of Hamas or the eradication of Hamas? I hope that it's the education of Hamas.
Herbert: Go where the money is
Bob Herbert: According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, the fees would raise a ton of money, perhaps $100 billion or more annually -- money that the government sorely needs. There's another intriguing element to the proposal.
Erbe: Race still trumps gender in politics
If nothing else, the November election showed us with laser-like precision that sexism is still alive and well in politics, in business and in society at large while racism is, we all hope, breathing its last.
Independent: Too early to start losing faith in Obama
We've had the period of excessive hope for Obama. We've been through the time when the critics pointed out the limitations of what he is likely to achieve on the international stage. So maybe it's time to express a bit of hope again.
Independent: Obama is first serious hope for our climate
There is a massive vacancy for a world leader in the fight to preserve the atmosphere and the habitability of the Earth; many people in many countries are fervently hoping that Obama is willing and able to fill it.
Thomas: Almost done with bizarre Bushisms
Helen Thomas: Here's a bizarre Bushism. In one of his strangest statements as president, Bush said Iraq's "not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment." Wait a minute. The absence of those weapons should have been good news.
Bloomberg: Save Gaza by destroying the heart of terror
Just as in 2002, Israel has chosen to fight the heart of terror, in the face of worldwide denunciation, mass demonstrations, UN resolutions, and talk of crimes against humanity. Now, as then, it is the right decision.
Dowd: Even 'hot nerds' have to pay taxes
Maureen Dowd: Politics is a place where really smart people often get caught doing really dumb things. The hot nerd tapped by Obama to fix the colossal mess left by W. and Henry Paulson, a man who played with live snakes and dead-on-arrival ideas.
Jackson: Forging new social contract with the environment
Lubchenco represents Obama's claim of forging a new social contract with the environment, after eight years where the Bush administration had a contract out on it.
Schram: Reid steps on rake with Burris appointment
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was eager to hit the ground running in 2009. Then, with cameras rolling, he planted his first step firmly on an upturned rake. We can only hope the Lesson of Roland Burris left a lasting impression on him.
Economist: A failing grade for financial aid
With unemployment rising, house sales falling and retirement accounts shriveling, college students are not at the top of most people's worry lists. But they face a miserable set of financial circumstances.
Jerry Brown's gambit on Prop. 8
George Will: Jerry Brown's audacious argument is a viscous soup of natural-law and natural-rights philosophizing, utterly untethered from case law. It is designed to effect a constitutional revolution by creating an unchallengeable judicial hegemony.
Guest Columnist: Leaders who hold the community together
The world has changed, and the Jackson Foundation, with Bill Van Ness' leadership, has sought to stay ahead of those transformations and be a force for good, commensurate with the legacy of the late Sen. Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson.
Guest Column: State schools need full funding
As a united coalition of school district administrators and teachers union leaders, we believe we need a comprehensive plan to fully fund public education.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009
Alaskan Way Viaduct: May be best deal
P-I Editorial: As much as we like the idea of a deep-bore tunnel under Seattle, the actual proposal leaves us somewhat cold. In fact, the initial discussion leaves a surface-transit option still looking attractive.
Brooks: In defense of death
David Brooks: While most people might use the science of life to demystify death, Richard John Neuhaus used death to mystify life.
Canellos: CNN journalist lacks independent voice to be surgeon general
The prospect of Gupta applying CNN-honed skills in the service of Obama's agenda is a bit of a concern, especially in an administration top-heavy with politicians but relatively short on senior figures with independent expertise.
Independent: We always take the wrong ideas from the U.S.
If there was ever an idea -- all-American in its breadth, ambition and inspirational purpose -- that cried out for imitation here, Obama's new Rooseveltism is surely it.
Independent: The world's hottest ticket
The parties are being toned down because the incoming Obama administration is serious about changing the way Washington lobbyists conduct business.
Bloomberg: Some late Bush rules may survive
A tough economy and the prospect of Cass Sunstein as regulatory czar may moderate the Obama administration's wholesale elimination of Bush's last-minute rules and the direction of U.S. health and safety policy.
Friedman: Give U.S. teachers stimulus to train knowledge-ready workers
Thomas L. Friedman: If China and America each give birth to a pig -- a big, energy-devouring, climate-spoiling stimulus hog -- our kids are done for. It will be the burden of their lifetimes.
Herbert: Put the people back to work!
Bob Herbert: Put people back to work! To do that, Democrats will have to overcome their natural timidity. They will have to fend off GOP opposition in Congress and set in motion an enormous surge of public spending aimed at creating jobs, jobs, jobs.
Teepen: Rigamarole entangles issues facing Obama
With appointments of retired Admiral Dennis Blair as director of National Intelligence and Leon Panetta to head the CIA, Obama has his two Big Shovels in place to start cleaning out national security operations badly fouled by the Bush lot.
Kristof: Striking the brothels' bottom line
Nicholas D. Kristof: There are ways we can make enslaving girls more risky and less profitable, so that traffickers give up in disgust.
Economist: World's 8th-biggest economy nears fiscal oblivion
As the politicians squabble, California's budget hole deepens. The governor has put a deficit counter on his Web site, like the national debt clock in New York. It does not appear to be concentrating minds.
Guest Columnists: Divided we fail
AARP, the National Federation of Independent Business, Service Employees International Union and the Business Roundtable have put aside our vast differences and come together in a single-minded initiative called "Divided We Fail."
Guest Columnist: Obama takes on a sacred issue
At a news conference last week, Obama pledged to make Social Security and Medicare reform "a central part" of his administration's strategy to constrain federal spending. He did not offer details.
Guest Columnist: Twitterers and followers
Anyway, on Twitter, you just write in whatever it is that you are doing and send it off to your "followers." As of Friday morning, I had 334 followers. Fortunately, so far, they haven't found my house.
Guest Columnist: The N-word and Huckleberry Finn
I can't think of a better book to read with adolescents who are struggling with the concepts of "Otherness," in a wide context in their lives. The use of the N-word offers the careful teacher a perfect chance to open the discussion.
Guest Columnist: U.S. strategy for Mideast peace misguided
The U.S. must make clear that we will not support Israel or Hamas when it uses violence beyond its borders.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2009
UW football: A train ride away
P-I Editorial: We like the generous willingness of the Seattle Seahawks to let the University of Washington play football at Qwest Field in 2010. But shouldn't a Husky move to Qwest be for a good long time?
Gender and society: Paycheck fairness
P-I Editorial: The U.S. Supreme Court kicked female workers in the teeth with a ruling that made it impossible for them to sue over employment discrimination that, as often happens, they don't learn about until later. Time for Congress to fix the mess.
The Independent: The perils of failure in Afghanistan
We must be in no doubt what a perilous and difficult job it will be for the international community to put Afghanistan back on the right track. Militarily, the Taliban is anything but beaten.
Krugman: Obama's stimulus plan must do more
Paul Krugman: My advice to Obama's team is to scrap the business tax cuts and deal with the threat of doing too little by doing more. The way to do more is to stop talking about jump-starts and look broadly at the possibilities for government investment.
Rich: Eight years of Madoffs
Frank Rich: While our new president indeed must move on and address the urgent crises that cannot wait, Bush administration malfeasance can't be merely forgotten or finessed.
Vamoosing Vice says he has no reason to be sorry
Maureen Dowd: The vamoosing Vice has no apologies about turning America into a country that tortured; indeed, he denies it ever happened.
The Independent: How Israel gets away with murder
Zionist toughness has worked for a long time, but it could be that Israel will one day discover that there's something to be said for Jewish solutions.
Kristol: Continuity we can believe in
A mini-Aussie would have fit right into a White House populated by Rahm Emanuel, Larry Summers, Joe Biden et al. Instead, Obama's going with a no-drama canine alternative.
Collins: Obama to make nice
The endless transition period is giving us a little clearer picture of how the next president is going to govern. If somebody forgets to tell the Intelligencechairman who the next CIA director is going to be, he will apologize.
Hunt: Obama, not Congress, will drive nation's agenda
Runaway Congresses are the stuff of scare tactics for direct-mail campaigns, not real American political science.
Thomasson: Unprecedented but necessary security for Obama
Is the Secret Service overreacting? No. And the slight inconveniences these measures cause us are a small price to pay for the new president's safety.
Guest Columnist: Hamas pursuing war plan to 'obliterate' Israel
Hamas actually has a comprehensive war plan that it published years ago for all to see. It sets the unambiguous goal of "obliterating" Israel and states that any method other than jihad in pursuit of this goal is a "waste of time."
Guest Columnist: Worst domestic abusers belong behind bars
It's time to confront the disturbing reality that state law requires more serious punishments for serial car thieves and drug dealers than for serial domestic abusers.
Guest Columnist: Forging the next generation of air traffic control
Our next president has smartly identified transportation as a centerpiece of his plan to stimulate growth and create jobs. It is vital that in the first 100 days of his term, he move aggressively to do both.
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2009
Afghanistan: Schools that last
P-I Editorial: We worry that the United States does not have the resources necessary to secure Afghanistan unless there is a major shift in strategy. And we're not talking about a surge.
First Person: Government ignores constitutional principles
By ignoring the Constitution's constraining principles, the U.S. government has become a fertile breeding ground for corruption, lawlessness and incompetence. The struggle over concentrated power always erodes the rule of law.
Until he becomes unpopular, Obama can have his way
As Obamamania grips the planet, it is easy to forget that power in America is divided. The president cannot do much, especially at home, without a willing legislature.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2009
State Budget: Legislature has unique opportunity
P-I Editorial: The state is facing a generational crisis -- the ideal opportunity moment for real reform.
Thomas: Bush is a nice guy but he flubbed 9/11 twice
Helen Thomas: He is confident that those future historians will vindicate him and his presidency. But no one is expecting him to wind up on Mount Rushmore.
Confidence in nation's economic future must be re-established
The U.S. economy is in the throes of a deepening recession and needs a really big dose of fiscal stimulus to help stabilize it.
Conner: The first day we saw an Earthrise
A British cosmologist rightly predicted in 1948 that the first images of Earth from space would change forever our view of our own planet.
Jackson: Bush strikes last blow to environment head 36pt
What could possibly be left of the environment for the Bush administration to degrade on its way out the door? Leave it to the Forest Service not to see the forest or the trees.
Rather: White House lunch bunch was loaded with experience
One hopes this lunch bunch didn't spend their time together asking after spouses and discussing golf. Because Obama, who apparently requested the meeting, will enter the presidency faced with at least five presidents' worth of challenges.
Antilla: Thanks, Bernie, now we see the light about the SEC
Bernie Madoff's alleged misdeeds are so over the top, even for these times, that Congress might actually do something about the hopeless operation we know as the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Thomasson: Sidelined Richardson may be in trouble
Whether his ambition to become the country's first Hispanic to reach such heights caused him to involve himself heavily in the "pay for play" atmosphere that has been part of N.M. politics is what a federal grand jury is trying to determine.
Will: Weep for the death of common sense
George Will: Today's entitlement culture inculcates the idea that everyone is entitled to a life without danger, disappointment or aggravation. Any disagreement or annoyance can be aggressively "framed in the language of legal deprivation."
McCarthy: World comes together to save itself
Known as the U.N.'s Framework Convention on Climate Change, the meeting will try to work out a way for the world to act together to preserve the thin envelope of atmosphere, soil and sea that surrounds our planet and enables us to live.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2009
Bookman: Spiral deepens into dark familiar violence
Somehow, Israel has to stop sacrificing its long-term survival hopes for short-term returns. But it will not do so without outside pressure, and that help can come from only one place -- the United States.
Bloomberg: Gaza silence shows U.N. lack of power
Twice in the past five months, the United Nations Security Council has failed to call for an early stop to small wars that put the international community on edge. It isn't for want of trying.
Krugman: Right diagnosis; anemic prescription
Paul Krugman: Obama's prescription doesn't live up to his diagnosis. The economic plan he's offering isn't as strong as his language about the economic threat. In fact, it falls well short of what's needed.
McFeatters: Obama's presidency may not be a feel-good one
We will not have a feel-good presidency in Barack Obama.
Let's be honest about Abe, shall we?
Before we're all swept away in a paroxysm of national ecstasy, a few inconvenient truths must be noted about "Honest Abe."
Lehigh: Obama's misguided tax cut plan
For the sake of the next generation, Washington policy-makers need to tackle our short-term plight in a way that doesn't do unnecessary long-term harm. That means steering away from permanent tax cuts.
Independent: When there's a male crisis, blame the women
Except the Scandinavian countries, where women are cajoled and bribed into motherhood, low birth rates are a sign of affluence and power. In the West, we eat like there's no tomorrow, but we wait for tomorrow to breed.
Brooks: The confidence surplus
David Brooks: Today there is wide support for fiscal stimulus. It's just that there is no historical experience to tell us how to do it, and there is no agreement on how to make it work. The economists' prescriptions are all over the map.
Guest Columnist: Credit crunch gives 'borrowing' a bad name
No one pretends any borrowing is a cost-free "solution" to economic difficulties. But because getting rid of short-term credit options does nothing to reduce debt, neither are they the culprit.
Guest Columnist: The Milli Vanilli president
There is no better comparison for Karl Rove and the packagers of President George W. Bush than Frank Farian and Milli Vanilli.
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Board members conduct research, including interviewing people who represent various points of view on a topic, and meet together to decide the newspaper’s positions. A board member is assigned to write each editorial, expressing the board’s viewpoint on the subject.
Members of the board are Ken Bunting, Joe Copeland, David Horsey, Kimberly Mills, Roger Oglesby, D. Parvaz and Mark Trahant. (To send them an e-mail, click on their names.)
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