This is an e-mail from Seattle trial lawyer Jan Peterson which I would like to share with you because it is insightful and gives another perspective: Paul, I was at that meeting you refer too and was somewhat stunned to be included in the group of old founders by the younger bucks in our group as I have always thought of myself as a youngster mentored by the likes of my old employers Schroeter and Sullivan, and Art, and you,…
An E-mail from my friend, Seattle trial lawyer Jan Peterson, about retirement in response to my last post about it prompted me to search for this wonderful prayer which captures so well a healthy attitude about retirment generally: Prayer of an Aging Jesuit Dearest Lord, teach me to grow old gracefully. Help me to see that my community does me no wrong when gradually it takes from me my duties; when it no longer seems to seek my views Rid…
Discovery Magazine in the June 2007 issue published a list of speech errors composed by Scott Kim. He lists the following: Malapropisms which is substituting the wrong word for a similar sounding one. For example: "I am sure I have done everything in my power since I exploded the affair." Spoonerisms which is switching the first sounds of two close words. For example, "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride." A better example is George Bush’s May 4, 2007 Washington…
We are in Scottsdale where the temperature is perfect and the weather beautiful. We were at mass this morning, Sunday and the priest spoke of a Carmelite nun who said that even though she is in a convent where prayer and meditation is an around the clock activity there are annoyances that come with living with other people. I thought of one of my favorite saints, Theresa of Lisieux, the little flower, who became a saint by the way she…
I was at a professional meeting the other night which included friends I’ve known since I started practicing law. A couple were older then I am, another my age and others a little younger. As I looked around the room from my view point of seventy two years of age I was aware of our aging together as fellow trial lawyers. I remembered an article I had read in the 1991 issue of California Lawyer about Melvin Belli entitled "Lion…
I’m listening to a book on tape The Life You Save May be Your Own by Paul Elie. It deals with four Catholic writers and literary figures of the mid twentieth century, Flannery O’Connor, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and Walker Percy. I am familiar with Day and Merton, having read their work and books about them, but not O’Connor or Percy. The book is well written and I am interested in their contribution to literature, religion and intelligent investigation of…
George Bush and his administration have continuously denied global warming even existed until the evidence was so overwhelming it became their pink elephant in the room. The Bush Administration went as far as revising scientific reports and muzzling scientists from talking about the subject, after first appointing agency heads whose job was to silence any talk about the problem. (See 4/18/07) Now, forced by world wide concern and overwhelming evidence Mr. Bush does a 180 degree turn in order to…
I have a mixed attitude about the war in Iraq. On the one hand I have tremendous sympathy and compassion for both American young people who are sacrificing their normal life and actual life and limb as well as the civilians of Iraq. On the other, I don’t want to hear any more about deaths, injuries and the total catastrophe this war represents because it is too painful and seems to be a situation without a solution. I just want…
John L. Smith has written a book, Running Scared, about Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas casino king which I read on our recent trip. It’s not particularly well written and paints Wynn in an unfavorable light. In fact, the whole Las Vegas scene comes across as unsavory with a dark side most people don’t see. I wouldn’t recommend the book, but I was interested in a few sections. One dealt with the impact of the high roller "whales" from Japan…
A letter to the editor in the May 4th issue of the National Catholic Reporter captured my thinking about freedom of conscience and Catholic Bishops and the Vatican. I read the letter after having just read a position paper by Bishop Alex Brunett in the Catholic Northwest Progress about freedom of conscience. As I understood the bishop, freedom of conscience really means agreeing with the bishops and Vatican. The letter in the NCR quoted the Catholic bishops on birth control…
