We are going to Rome on Sunday (Iceland’s volcano permitting) for a three day legal meeting and then on to Amalfi for a week with our return overnight in London before returning home. We’ve been to Rome often. Big cities, including Rome, are not my favorite places. The exceptions are London and Paris. We’ve done our touring of Rome previously and plan only a visit to the Vatican & the Sistine Chapel during our three days in the city. The…
A book I'm reading says that Poncho Villa’s last words before dying were: "Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something." I found that very amusing. He knew he was dying, but had nothing significant to say as his last words so he asked that they make up something instead. That made me curious about "last words" so I did some checking. Here’s some information I found interesting. There was Luther Burbank’s last words, that turned out to…
Bill Gates Sr is advocating a state income tax and it will probably be on the ballot. What makes this attractive to most people is that it is being promoted on the basis that it is a tax only on the wealthy. Everyone else gets off scot free, they claim. This inome tax wouldn't impact the great majority of people the proponents say. However, we all know that there are only two things you can't avoid and taxes is one of them. Once…
Frank Rich wrote a column in the New York Times a week ago entitled "No one is to Blame for Anything." Boy, is he right about that. When the Washington ferry system wasted millions of dollars a few years ago, no heads rolled. When the Port of Seattle was exposed by the Seattle Times for it's waste of money and incompetence, nothing really happened. When corporate heads are exposed for their stupid and expensive errors they are given a golden parachute with…
I 'd like to be immodest and tell you that my wife Lita and I just returned from Las Vegas where I was inducted into the 2010 American Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame. What made it such an honor for me personally were the other members. Last year Bobby Lee Cook, Morris Dees, Fred Levin, stanley Preiser and Gerry Spence were inducted. Non living members include Melvin Belli,Clarence Darrow, William Kunstler and Johnnie Cochran. This year Phillip Corboy, Richard "Racehorse" Haynes, Russ Herman,…
Anyone reading this blog could conclude that I have a chip on my shoulder about my Catholic Church. They would be entirely right when we are talking about Vatican politics and the politics of Church authorities. What brings me to write a second posting involving the Church is an opinion piece in the Sunday New York Times by Nicholas D. Kristof "A church Mary can love." I laughed at his opening paragraph dealing with the joke about the pious Catholic who…
I’ve expressed my opposition to the Vatican's position on birth control before – one example: (https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2009/03/pope-benedict-condoms-and-hivaids.html) What brings it up again is the fact that when I was at Mass this morning at the Gig Harbor St Nicholas Catholic church a young mother gave a talk before it started. She spoke in favor of "natural" rhythm birth control and insisted other means such as condoms was "a serious sin." She said it was a serious sin because the Church said so…
My friend Jeff Tolman is a lawyer in Paulsbo, Washington. We are talking about a town with about 7500 people and a strong Norwegian heritage about 1.5 hours from Seattle if you take the Bremerton ferry to get to this charming town on Puget Sound. Jeff has been a friend for many years. He is very creative. Many years ago he decided that the Paulsbo Bar Association, consisting of hand full of lawyers at the time, should hold an annual legal seminar…
On Good Friday, April 2, 2010 there was an enormous explosion and fire at the Tesoro Refinery at March Point, near Anacortes. Five people died and two survived with serious burns. Several families involved have hired my law firm along with a Texas law firm to represent them. When the media reported the families had contacted lawyers there were those who were critical of the families for doing so. Let me respond to that criticism by saying the refineries are very familiar to…
My weekend readings brought up a couple of things worth mentioning. I liked the idea used by Ms. Norris Church Mailer in an article about her in the New York Times Magazine. She was the sixth and last wife of Normal Mailer who led a very bohemian life style which explains why he was married six times. She suffered through all of his many activities that were not supportive of their marriage. When asked about her reaction to Norman’s conduct…
