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Month: March 2007

Givovanni Falcone & Paolo Borsellino vs The Mafia

Givovanni Falcone & Paolo Borsellino vs The Mafia

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In her book Elements of Italy Lisa St Aubin De Teran devotes a short chapter to two Italian’s, Givovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and their contribution to ending Mafia control in Sicily. The facts are worth repeating. The history of the Mafia probably dates to Giuseppe Garibaldi’s efforts to unite Italy when his red shirts arrived in Palermo in 1860. Young peasant supporters hid in caves called "maha" in Arabic which is believed to be the source of the name…

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Truth & The Poem The Blind Men & The Elephant

Truth & The Poem The Blind Men & The Elephant

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I’m giving a talk at a Seattle University seminar dealing with the topic of legal ethics. My talk deals with truth during jury selection. In preparing for the seminar I’ve come across some ideas that are worth pondering. Take the John Godfrey Saxe poem The Blind Man and the Elephant. It’s really a story, poem and metaphor about the how we can conclude, from limited information, that we have the whole truth whereas we really only have a part of…

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General George S. Patton Jr – Complex Military Genius

General George S. Patton Jr – Complex Military Genius

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I’ve just started reading Alan Axelrod’s biography Patton in which he points out General George S. Patton, Jr was known among his men, in the 3rd Army, as "Old blood and guts" but, they were quick to add: "his guts- our blood." He was also known as the "master of the sword" who said to his men "we fight where we are told and we win where we fight." This complex man was an outspoken racist who also was a…

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The Libby Jury Convicted The Wrong Man

The Libby Jury Convicted The Wrong Man

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The jury may have convicted Scooter Libby, but they convicted the wrong man. Hiding behind his skirts were three of the real culprits. The undisputed evidence demonstrates that Dick Cheney was the real perpetrator, with the assistance of Karl Rove and the cooperation of George Bush as his accomplices. In spite of their conspiracy of action you knew they were never be held accountable given their political protection. In fact, the prosecutor never even called the key witness in the…

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William Barclay on Praising Now & Persistence

William Barclay on Praising Now & Persistence

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I’ve quoted William Barclay (1907 – 1978) the Scottish bible scholar and one of my favorite spiritual writers, in past posts. See 2/1/07 & 2/11/06. Another Barclay observation worth repeating is from his mediation book, Day by Day, where he says: "If a word of praise or thanks has to be spoken, it had better be spoken now -for life is an uncertain business, and you may never get the chance to speak it again…There is an old Latin proverb…

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Take The Mask Off Senator Lieberman

Take The Mask Off Senator Lieberman

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It’s time for Senator Joe Lieberman to take off the mask and come out of the closet. He is not a Democrat nor an Independent. He is, and always has been, a Republican. The evidence overwhelming even though he caucuses with the Senate Democratic majority. President Bush has no stronger or more vocal supporter for his failed Iraq war policies then the good Senator. Of course, during the short time he was running for re-election and losing in the Democratic…

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Injustice in the Immigration Justice System

Injustice in the Immigration Justice System

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American poet Emma Lazarus wrote "The New Colossus" and the words appear on the Statue of Liberty. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door." However, the reality is often something quite different in our nation’s immigration courts. Issues dealing with asylum requests, deportation and immigration are largely processed by some two hundred…

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W.H. Auden’s – Stop all the Clocks & India.Arie’s Complicated Melody

W.H. Auden’s – Stop all the Clocks & India.Arie’s Complicated Melody

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There are volumes of beautiful words written about life, death & relationships, but here are a couple of examples worth reflecting upon. The first is W.H. Auden’s powerful poem about death which communicates so well the anguish of losing someone close to you. Here’s what he wrote: Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos with muffled drum; Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let airplanes…

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Joshua Slocum, First Person to Sail around the World Alone

Joshua Slocum, First Person to Sail around the World Alone

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One of the accounts in Tony Horwitrz’s book, The Devil May Care, is about a sailor with connections to Seattle. Joshua Slocum (1844 – 1909) was born in Nova Scotia and left home at age sixteen to work on sailing ships. Through years of experience, he became a captain of cargo ships and ran a schooner between Seattle and San Francisco in 1869. He also was the captain on cargo ships running to Australia and the Philippines. In 1882 he…

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Black Discrimination of the 1900’s

Black Discrimination of the 1900’s

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Discrimination over race is nothing new for America. David Pietrusza describes the "Jim Crow" situation of the 1900’s in his book 1920 The Year of Six Presidents. As an illustration of the strong bias against blacks in the United States, he points out that in October of 1901 Teddy Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to the White House for a private dinner. The white South was enraged. The Memphis Scimitar fumed that the President had committed "the most damnable outrage…

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