The Sex Lives of Cannibals, a book by J. Maarten Troost, is not what the title would suggest. In fact, the book has nothing about sex or cannibals, but rather is a description of how a young man and his girl friend left the fast city life of the East Coast and moved to the remote South Pacific Tarawa Atoll. Those of us who lived through World War II will recall that the Tarawa Atoll is a series of small…
We have all been reading about the CIA destroying the video tapes of their interrogation of two al-Qaida suspects in order to keep them from being seen and to conceal their probable torture methods. This happened after a federal judge had ordered that such information be preserved and following evasive responses from the Bush administration about it’s knowledge and role in the matter. The videotapes were made in 2002 and showed the CIA’s interrogations of the two prisoners. The CIA…
Readers of this blog know that I have never been a fan of Senator Joe Lieberman because I have always seen him as a fraud. (3/29/07) He represented himself as a Democrat only to get elected, but has consistently voted, as well as supported, the Republican agenda. Joe never saw a tort reform bill he didn’t like and was a consistent friend of George Bush as well as the Republican agenda. The only thing Democratic about the Senator is the…
When I was in high school,a half a century ago, I enjoyed the literature class taught by Mrs. Farnam. I memorized poetry for her and one poem, in particular, from that class has stuck with me: Eldorado by Edgar Allan Poe. Gaily benight, a gallant knight, in sunshine and in shadow, had journed long, singing a song, in search of Eldorado. But he grew old – this knight so bold – and o’er his heart a shadow fell, as he…
In reading my Bible this morning I read the following passage: "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. (Isaiah 10:1) It made me think about the gutless legislators who support unjust laws which they know are improper because they want to be re-elected or because they have accepted financial support…
The Huffington Post had an interview with Thom Hartmann that was not only politically interesting, but had some good insight on communications. Hartmann has written a book Cracking the Code involving communications. Regarding politics, he says that the Bush administration was totally sleeping at the switch regarding the threat of terrorist activity. He was quoted as saying: "There’s considerable evidence that before the 2001 attack, whether it was intentional or not, nobody was paying attention and everybody was asleep at…
I admit to being a big fan of Arianna Huffington’s political views. She has a way of expressing her views that are clear and simple. Her ability to find the right metaphor is a big part of why I like to read what she writes. Her blog has a piece about the Democratic’s caving in to the Republicans on key issues. As she quotes from the Washington Post, "mostly quiet acquiescence, if not outright support" of Republican positions. Nancy Pelosi…
The Sunday newspaper published a letter to the editor which was a brief, but accurate, summary of why our dollar growing weaker. The writer pointed out that our national debt has doubled in the last seven years. He writes that the federal reserve prints more dollars to cover the United States’ deficit spending and thus devalues the dollar through inflation. He notes that the oil producing countries of the Persian Gulf are considering the abandonment of the dollar as their…
IF YOU ARE AS OLD AS I AM AND A PLAINTIFF’S LAWYER YOU SHOULD RECOGNIZE THESE TRIAL LAWYERS – THE YEAR WAS 1966 AMERICIAN TRIAL LAWYERS
My friend, attorney Murry Kleist gave me this photo of the Board for the Washington State Trial Lawyer’s Association. I don’t know the date, but I suspect it was in the late 1960’s. I think I’ve identified everyone correctly. Starting in the back row from the left are: Edward Dawson, Spokane; Duane Lund, deceased;J. Peter Tonkoff, Yakima, deceased; Nelvin Bettis, deceased. Herb Freise, deceased; Aaron May, Tacoma, deceased. In the front row from the left are: Paul Luvera, Gig Harbor;…
