TED WILLIAMS, AN AMERICAN BASEBALL LEGEND

TED WILLIAMS, AN AMERICAN BASEBALL LEGEND

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Ted Williams has always been a sports hero I’ve admired since childhood. Not for his personality, as he was certainly lacking in social skills, but for his determined discipline to be the best he could be. He didn’t just play baseball, he made it a science. He studied every pitcher as scientist might study something through a microscope. He practiced swinging the bat with great discipline. He set the example of striving for excellence through hard work. Leigh Montville has…

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PIRATES AND CRUISE SHIPS

PIRATES AND CRUISE SHIPS

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Today’s news reports that Somalia pirates have captured the French pleasure yacht LePonant off the coast of Somalia. The 288 foot cruise ship was stormed by the pirates who are holding the 30 crew members captive. It was returning from the Seychelles, without passengers, on it’s way for a voyage with passengers from Alexandria, Egypt to Malta. This is an area Lita and I have cruised in. We have gone on a cruise ship from Alexandria through Turkey, Greece and…

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Port Orchard Washington & L. Ron Hubbard, Founder of Scientology

Port Orchard Washington & L. Ron Hubbard, Founder of Scientology

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Russell Miller has written a book Bare-Faced Messiah, The true story of L. Ron Hubbard. As we all know, Hubbard was the founder of Scientology – think Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Hubbard began as a writer of science fiction stories. Then he claimed he had made a discovery that would change the world – Dianetics. In 1950 he published a book Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health. In his book Hubbard claimed memories were a "time track" where…

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Shakespeare & Eliot Sptizer

Shakespeare & Eliot Sptizer

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P.I. Columnist Chi-Dooh Li recently wrote about "arrogance and infallibility" referring to New York former governor Eliot Spitzer and others. In discussing hypocrisy, Li referred to Shake speare’s measure for Measure. The play involves a character, Angelo, who rigidly enforces morality laws while secretly carrying on in an immoral way. It does have some wonderful lines about hypocrisy: "O, what may man within him hide, though angel on the outward side!" Again, in Act III Shakespeare writes: "The jury, passing…

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THE LONELY QUEEN OF THE NORTH -The German Battleship Tirpitz

THE LONELY QUEEN OF THE NORTH -The German Battleship Tirpitz

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The German battleship Tirpitz was launched in 1939. In World War II she was sent to Norway to be used to attack naval commerce of allied shipping in the North Atlantic. She was regarded as a serious threat by the British and their allies to supply shipping which was vital to the British in particular. The Germans moored the ship in a narrow fjord where underwater nets were rigged to prevent submarines from entering and anti aircraft guns protected her…

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SEN. JOHN McCAIN, NOT CONTENT WITH IRAQ FIGHTING RATTLES THE SWORD ABOUT IRAN

SEN. JOHN McCAIN, NOT CONTENT WITH IRAQ FIGHTING RATTLES THE SWORD ABOUT IRAN

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Today’s Seattle PI editorial comment on Iran is on point regarding the increasing drum beat regarding Iran. As it points out, on Sunday Face the Nation Sen. Lindsey Graham called Iran "The cancer of the Mideast" and Republican hopeful Sen. John McCain, has repeatedly blurred the lines between al-Qaida in Iraq with Iran. We forget the history of America’s role in that region. As the comment notes, we orchestrated the coup in Iran overthrowing an elected leader and re-installed the…

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SWINDOLL’S BOOK OF STORIES

SWINDOLL’S BOOK OF STORIES

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Charles R. Swindoll has collected stories and quotes in his book The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart. He talks about a story from Robert Coleman’s book Written in Blood involving a young girl who had a disease and needed a transfusion of some of her brother’s blood to overcome it. The doctor explained the need to the young boy and asked "Would you be willing to give your blood to your sister?" The boy hesitated a minute and said: "Yes,…

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FRED McFEELY ROGERS & PEOPLE WHO HAVE HELPED US IN LIFE

FRED McFEELY ROGERS & PEOPLE WHO HAVE HELPED US IN LIFE

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Christopher de Vinck has written an interesting article about the late children’s TV host Fred Rogers in the March 21st edition of the National Catholic Reporter. Fred McFeely Rogers, who died February 27, 2003 had been the host of an internationally successful children’s television show Mr Rogers Neighborhood. What I didn’t know was that he was also an ordained Presbyterian minister. I had remembered reading somewhere that Rogers had been a Marine and war hero, but this turns out to…

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The Country Humor of Jimmy Dean

The Country Humor of Jimmy Dean

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I’ve finished an easily read book Jimmy Dean’s Own Story which does not represent an intellectual challenge, but which has it’s amusing moments. He’s subtitled it "Thirty Years of Sausage, Fifty Years of Ham." Some passages I thought worth repeating include his comment about having been brought up in the Seth Ward Baptist Church in a small town in Texas. He said about that religious experience: "I’ve always maintained that being a Baptist won’t keep you from sinnin’ but it’ll…

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COMPELLING AND INFORMATIVE TALKS

COMPELLING AND INFORMATIVE TALKS

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Two of the talks at the legal convention we are attending were particularly notable. One was by James Comey who is now Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Lockeed Martin Corporation. He is a the former Deputy Attorney General of the U.S. and former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He was responsible for prosecutions of the mob and for high profile white collar crime such as Enron and Martha Stewart. A very bright and entertaining…

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