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Virtual Editorial Blog
See what users wrote about our upcoming editorials.
Previous virtual editorial blogs
· Israel editorial board, Governor's trip to Iraq and reader comments about economy (1/6/2009)
· Jobs first, tax cuts later; reader comments on Obama, state budget and snow removal (1/5/2009)
· Reader comments, weekend plans (1/2/2009)
· Preview topics: Honey, housing prices and viaduct; plus reader comments 401k (12/31/2008)
· Bailout at work; State Parks and 401k plans; reader comments on Gaza, Border civil rights (12/30/2008)
· WaMu, plus reader comments on health care and state budget (12/29/2008)
D. Parvaz
Parvaz is away on a fellowship until June 2009.
Cathy Sorbo
Aplets/Cotlets state candy? A sour idea
Also:
· Snark Attack
· How can Obama fix so much that went wrong?
Joel Connelly
· Time to plow away bureaucratic snow defenses
more columns
Robert L. Jamieson Jr.
· Without a windfall, ex-WaMu workers say so longmore columns
Mary Swift
· He's another living reminder to learn CPRmore columns
Anthony B. Robinson
· Articles of Faith: Inviting Warren fits Obama's inclusive idealsmore columns
Opinion Leaders
Our editorial board interviews key newsmakers.
Governor's visit to Iraq: Good secrets
P-I Editorial: No matter what you think of the war, it's hard to argue against the commitment of so many American servicemen and women. That's why it's appropriate for three governors to visit the war zone.
King County jails: Must-do standard
P-I Editorial: There are some government programs that fall into the "must" category. As in, government must fund. Or government must make sure the program is safe. Add county jails to that list.
Hunt: Pledges fraught with promise, peril
Albert R. Hunt, columnist: Bold or out-of-the-box measures will be forthcoming, advisers to the 44th president promise, to demonstrate change. These will be selective and not ideologically driven, they say.
Economist: Reality bites for Gen Y workers
Those old enough to have passed from school and university into work got used to a world in which jobs were plentiful and firms fell over one another to recruit them. Now their prospects are grimmer.
McFeatters: Happy 2009 from a futuristic point of view
Every year the Futurist magazine compiles the forecasts and predictions of assorted visionaries and is now out with its "Outlook for 2009 and Beyond."
Herbert: Sending more troops to Afghanistan would be madness
Bob Herbert: Sending thousands of additional men and women (some to die, some to be horribly wounded) on a fool's errand in the rural, mountainous guerrilla paradise of Afghanistan would be madness.
The Independent: Kennedy likened to Palin for bungling interviews
While a certain rough-around-the-edges quality does not necessarily harm political newcomers if they have some populist pitch -- think Palin -- it hardly fits with the likes of Kennedy, whose pedigree is not the hockey rink variety.
Schram: Help Bush write his legacy
Bush clearly needs help writing his legacy. What he has given us so far has all the credibility of pulp fiction, or perhaps a humorless attempt at satire.
The Independent: There wouldn't have been Gaza rockets without blockade
It is unreasonable to attack Gaza because it does not respect a cease-fire that brings it no benefit, but only further pain. It is unreasonable to undermine the democratic choices its people have made, because we do not approve of them.
Brooks: Israel waging the confidence game
David Brooks: This new game isn't a war of attrition. It's a struggle for confidence, a series of psychological exchanges designed to shift the balance of morale.
Teepen: There's one good thing about Blagojevich appointment
Blagojevich's gambit, with the flick of a signature, set racial calculation into full animation.
Guest Columnists: School closures disrupt families
Pat Bailey and Robert Femiano, guest columnists: Will Seattle Public Schools closures really bring "excellence for all"? This fast-forwarding of the plan seems illogical, even risky.
Guest Columnist: Hamas' war against children
Hamas and Fatah in their charters call for the total destruction of Israel and promise it to their children. Until they negotiate in good faith, the only outcome of a "two-state solution" will be the next Middle East war.
Guest Columnist: Seattle merely inconvenienced while Pakistanis fight to survive
Seattle's experience with the weather will make great story telling in holiday get-togethers. But we are definitely not having a developing world experience, like the survivors of the recent Pakistan earthquake.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2009
Obama's Economic Plan: Fresh thinking
P-I Editorial: The first duty for President-elect Barack Obama and the Congress is to use every available tool to try to resuscitate the economy.
Collins: Blasts from the not-too-distant past: 2008 events too memorable to forget
Despite all the carping, there's a lot that is good to say about 2008. Britney seems to be improving. George W. Bush is leaving. Eventually. Before we move on, one last blast from the past. See how much you've failed to repress about 2008.
Kristol: Israel, Hamas -- and Iran
Israel -- assuming it succeeds -- is doing the United States a favor by taking on Hamas now. A defeat of Hamas in Gaza -- following on the heels of our success in Iraq -- would be a real setback for Iran.
Rich: A president forgotten but not gone
Frank Rich: Bush keeps trying to hawk his goods in these final days, like a salesman who hasn't been told by the home office that his product has been discontinued. Though no one is listening, he has given more exit interviews thanClinton or Reagan.
Thomasson: Auto bailout will be early test for Obama
What American needs the most right now is a responsible Congress. Don't hold your breath, especially if you're Barack Obama and you have big plans to create three million new jobs and spend nearly a trillion dollars doing so.
Krugman: Swift action needed now to fight off depression
Paul Krugman: GOP leaders are setting up roadblocks to stimulus legislation while posing as the champions of careful congressional deliberation -- which is pretty rich considering their party's behavior over the past eight years.
The Independent: This healthy industry has the printed word in its sight
Just as the Internet has killed the CD, is killing the newspaper, the DVD and the TV, so it will eventually kill the book.
Hari: When piracy is only self-defense
Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our toxic waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome?
Bloomberg: This year will be crazier than 2008
By the time 2009 ends, things might get even more bizarre and farcical. Here is how a calendar of key events may look this year.
The Economist: Safety net needs repair
Under a bill by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, the government would offer cash incentives to states to expand eligibility to part-time workers and make the benefit formula more generous.
Economist: U.S. losing R&D edge to Asia
The biggest and most technically clever firms are American and European but their predominance in research, innovation and production is being challenged by Asian companies.
Guest Columnist: Time to update schools' reading lists
John Foley, guest columnist: The time has arrived to update the literature we use in high school classrooms. Barack Obama is president-elect of the United States, and novels that use the "N-word" repeatedly need to go.
Guest Columnist: Israel must recognize will of international community
John McCarthy, guest columnist: Hamas must stop its rocket attacks. But surely, above all, it is time for Israel to be taken to task and charged with recognizing the will of the international community.
Guest Columnist: Gaza risks becoming densely populated graveyard
Even so far removed in Seattle, we have a moral imperative to speak out for a cease-fire, to allow aid into Gaza and to avoid the increasing possibility that Gaza will be the most densely populated graveyard on the planet.
Guest Columnist: Nursing cuts not a healthy plan
To meet the demand, we would need to increase graduation rates by 400 per year, every year, for the next 15 years. Budget cuts have to come from somewhere, but this is not an area where we can sacrifice.
Guest Columnist: Congress must safeguard American landscape's 'crown jewels'
When it begins its new session in January, Congress will have a chance to rectify this alarming situation by passing the National Landscape Conservation System Permanence Act.
MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 2009
Affordable housing: Only results matter
P-I Editorial: Good intentions count when you're talking about the first days of a New Year's resolution. But for something like the city's affordable housing program, only the results matter.
President-elect Obama has room to be bold
Paul Krugman: Barring some huge missteps by President-elect Barack Obama, the GOP won't be back until they look at what really went wrong. And when they do, they will discover they need to get in touch with the real "real America."
Recession, depression -- what's in a word?
The U.S. economy once again has a distinct whiff of bananas -- or depression.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 2009
Snowy Aftermath: Conduct a reasoned review
P-I Editorial: We continue to be contrarians in our view that, given the winter storms' scale, the region has a good deal for which to be thankful. But the City Council must lead a focused, disciplined review of Seattle's response.
Guest Columnist: Will banks and financial markets recover in 2009?
Nouriel Roubini, guest columnist: What lies ahead in 2009? Is the worst behind us or ahead of us?
Oceans comprise a sea of troubles
The Economist: Not much is known about the sea, it is said; the surface of Mars is better mapped. But 2,000 holes have now been drilled in the bottom, 100,000 photographs have been taken, satellites monitor the five oceans and everywhere floats fitted with instruments rise and fall like perpetual yo-yos. Quite a lot is known, and very little is reassuring.
The voices of resistance still singing
Strong voices for peace have left us last year, people who used their art for social change, often at a high personal price.
Let's hope Obama can bring a better 2009
The thin shoulders of one man seem an insufficient mantel on which to place our yearning and our trust. But we've done it before this year. We were talking the other night about Abraham Lincoln and his amazing life.
Looking ahead and making things better than yesterday
Jay Bookman, guest columnist: We cannot look back and hope that Obama or anyone else can restore what used to be. The Dow at 13,000, home values doubling every 10 years, easy credit -- that world is gone. Time flows only in one direction, and what was can never be again.
World must help U.S. to shut down Guantanamo
The Independent: If the majority of Guantanamo inmates present no threat, as European leaders have long argued, why should some of them not be given asylum on this side of the Atlantic?
2009: The year when the EU awakes
The Independent: Sarkozy, in his unquenchable determination to be at the center of any game he is playing, put the European Union at the center of the world game. There is a lesson here.
Court rulings radiate ripples of consequences
Like pebbles tossed into ponds, important Supreme Court rulings radiate ripples of consequences. Consider a 1971 Supreme Court decision that supposedly applied but actually altered the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Obama has plate of Middle East foreign policy woes
The Economist: On Jan. 20 the world will start to discover what approach Obama will take towards the problems of Israel and Palestine, the source of so much tension in the Middle East and beyond.
The news business is also a casualty
The absence of a long-term, consistent journalistic presence in entire regions of the globe means that coverage of breaking news too often lacks the context and depth needed to truly understand events as they develop.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 2009
Renaming America: Obama is already making a mark on cities
Fueled by a deluge of Obama products from commemorative coins to hand towels, from bobbing-head dolls to glossy books, the Obama industry is one of the economy's bright spots.
The Sidney Awards
David Brooks: Everything becomes a shorter version of itself. Essays become op-eds. Op-eds become blog posts. The Sidney Awards stand athwart technology, yelling stop. They are awarded to some of the best examples of long-form journalism and thought.
Hamas rockets blew away Gaza opportunity
Israel's recent military retaliation violence would have been unnecessary had the leaders of Gaza capitalized on the excellent hand they were dealt.
Rotten state of Egypt too powerless and corrupt to act
Egypt's malaise is in many ways as dark as that of the Palestinians. Its impotence in the face of Gaza's suffering is a symbol of its own political sickness.
Articles of Faith: Inviting Warren fits Obama's inclusive ideals
When President-elect Obama chose Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation, he was doing what he told us he'd be doing.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2009
Unhealthy trading
From ancient times, honey has been reputed to be healthy. Adulteration with a dangerous antibiotic provides a shocking contrast, and a new illustration of how an industrialized, global food system turns public expectations on their head.
The Boston Globe: Sustainable food for Obama's menu
A PRIUS in every garage and a farmers market in every neighborhood! This is our moment! This is our time for slow food! Or so, people hope from President-elect Obama.
Don't give state lawmakers a bailout
Michael Reitz, Amber Gunn: The tab is coming due, and the beholden seek to dig deep into the wallets of taxpayers rather than properly prioritize with the money they have. Lawmakers quietly are looking to the Supreme Court of Washington to make that happen.
A tax on hope chills the next generation of investors
To a lot of investors, 2009 looks like twilight at the bottom of the ski run. Ahead is the icy walk down to the parking lot and the challenge of maneuvering the car out of the resort without crushing someone's fender.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 2009
Alaskan Way Viaduct: Recurring dream
P-I Editorial: Could this be the Year of the Tunnel for Seattle? An idea that seemed buried could make a decisive comeback.
Bush on trial? Might not be worth it
Should Bush administration officials be put on trial for crimes such as authorizing torture? I'm doubtful -- and skeptical, too, that the symbolic benefit of any such prosecution would outweigh the inevitable costs.
Helen Thomas: Give Caroline Kennedy a chance
Helen Thomas: What's in a name? Plenty if it's Kennedy.
Free health care would cost plenty
As Michael Leavitt ends four years as secretary of health and human services, he offers this attention-arresting arithmetic: Absent fundamental reforms, over the next two decades the average American household's health care spending, including the portion of its taxes that pays for Medicare and Medicaid, will go from 23 percent to 41 percent of average household income.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2008
Closing state parks
P-I Editorial: State parks are essential to the region's quality of life. We see the need for a new balance between additional user fees -- something we've opposed in the past -- and tax dollars. People who use parks should be asked to pay more.
Guest Columnist: Israel engages in self-defense
David Brumer, guest columnist: Those of us who still work and hope for a two-state solution understand that Hamas stands in the way of progress toward that goal.
Guest Columnist: Hard to justify deadly attacks
Richard Falk, guest columnist: The magnitude of Palestinian suffering and the deliberate violations of international humanitarian law by Israel are indefensible. They should be addressed forcefully by the international community.
The lure of opulent desolation
As an unrebellious, cautious, anxious generation, many of us are living lives not all that different from those of the parents of the early 1960s, yet without the seeming ease, privileges and benefits.
Geithner's 2009 resolution may be alcohol rule
Consumer advocates are toasting the New Year arrival of Timothy Geithner as President-elect Obama's choice to be the new Treasury secretary by urging him to fix -- along with the economy -- labels on alcoholic drinks.
So what have the Palestinians got to complain about?
The gap between the might of Israel's F-16 bombers and Apache helicopters, and the Palestinians' catapulty thing, is so ridiculous that to try and portray the situation as between two equals requires the imagination of a children's writer.
Guest Columnist: Why Israel feels threatened
Many Israelis feel that the walls -- and history -- are closing in on their 60-year-old state, much as they felt in early June 1967, just before Israel launched the Six-Day War and destroyed the Egyptian, Jordanian and Syr
The Palestinian tilt toward self-destruction
The real asymmetry in the Israeli-Palestinian tragedy remains the persistent Palestinian tilt toward the self-destructive romance of martyrdom instead of toward the workaday business of nation-building.
Is a sustainable food strategy on Obama's menu?
Obama's nomination of former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack for Agriculture secretary further leaves unclear if he has a food strategy.
Let's raise a glass on New Year's Eve (but not at a party)
As far as I can tell, no one's having parties not because they're depressed, or broke, or despairing of the future, but because they've all given up on New Year's Eve. They just can't be bothered, and nor can I.
Choice of evangelical pastor shows Obama's inclusiveness
The liberals who oppose Obama's choice of a pastor to offer the inaugural invocation may or may not have misjudged Warren, but it seems clear that they have misjudged Obama.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2008
WaMu and housing: The power of yes
P-I Editorial: The more we know about WaMu's collapse, the more we wonder where that story will end. The New York Times' story says "insiders" questioned the "dubious legality" of paying real estate agent fees. We're wondering about that as well.
Guest Columnist: Metro puts nothing ahead of safety
Metro will never put anything before safety. Each day during the successive storms, our most experienced drivers and supervisors assessed driving conditions. When they said it was unsafe, we curtailed bus service and continually adjusted.
P-I Online Editorial: The shrinking 401(k)
The noble 401(k) experiment may be disappearing before our eyes. What does that leave left? Only Social Security.
Don't overlook Israel's vulnerability
The excesses in Gaza, as in Lebanon before, are the consequence of a much earlier failure: the failure to enforce international law and truly guarantee Israel's right to exist.
Egan: The pre-blame game
For just a few more weeks, Obama deserves none of the pre-emptive blame his less reasonable critics are trying to assign to him.
How can anyone believe there is 'progress' in the Middle East?
What is Obama talking about? "Building on progress?" What progress? On the verge of another civil war between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, Obama thinks there's "progress" to build on?
Editorial Commentary: Bombardment of Gaza will destroy lives, not Hamas
We hope Obama realizes a change of strategy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a priority and that he can discourage Israeli allies from using the kind of bloody but counterproductive tactics to which they are now resorting.
The true story behind this war is not the one Israel is telling
It is hypocritical for the Israeli government to claim now to speak out for the safety of civilians when it has been terrorizing civilians as a matter of state policy.
Rather: For Obama team, a stimulating new year
Infrastructure improvements generally mean construction work, which is overwhelmingly performed by men. In a time when men were the primary breadwinners of (intact) families, this may not have been a problem, but that time is long gone.
You're likable enough, gay people
Frank Rich: Bestowing this honor on Warren was a conscious -- and glib -- decision by Obama to spend political capital. It was made with the certitude that a leader with a mandate can do no wrong.
How long will euphoria over Obama last?
If the new young president manages to turn around our faltering belief in our own greatness, he will have accomplished enough to make his tenure in office a success.
Bush feels certain he will be vindicated
Helen Thomas: At the suggestion of Obama, Bush plans to host a luncheon gathering Jan. 7 with the three living past presidents -- Carter, the elder Bush and Clinton. They will do Obama a favor if they tell him where they went wrong. But that's not likely.
An Obama presidency that Kristol could believe in
My (generous) interpretation of Obama's choice of the Lincoln Bible is this: It's a homage to Lincoln, not a claim to be like him. Obama intends to look back to Lincoln for guidance and to look up to him as a model.
Women need U.S. to wage war on ignorance
The fact Obama is prepared to countenance a troop "surge" in Afghanistan comparable to the surge in Iraq has confounded expectations among some supporters, who would like to see him put an end to foreign military interventions.
Obama plays poker with homeowners, taxpayers
Don't make any hasty moves. Congress hasn't voted on Obama's proposals yet. Tax rates may not change much because of the recession. And moving income around may trigger the alternative minimum tax.
It was a 'game changer' of a year
This was the year that baby boomers for the first time experienced the kind of events that shaped the perceptions of past generations.
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The opinions in our daily editorials are the consensus views of the Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board.
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.)
It is the policy of the P-I’s Editorial Board to promptly correct factual errors in editorials and in opinion essays. Click here for details on how corrections are handled.
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