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Month: April 2007

Selected Poetry

Selected Poetry

God Give Us Men God give us men! A time like this demands strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands! Men whom the lust of office does not kill. Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy. Men who love honour, men who cannot lie.                                       J. G. Holland (1794-1872) Four Things Four things a man must learn to do if he would make his record true: To…

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More Bush Administration Corruption of Scientific Data – This Time Involving the Spotted Owl

More Bush Administration Corruption of Scientific Data – This Time Involving the Spotted Owl

The Bush Administration has a long record of bold face lies, falsification & interference when its official policy positions are in conflict with scientific proof. I’ve cited numerous examples from media reports. (See 4/18/07) The Seattle P.I. today exposes another instance involving the timber industry and the endangered spotted owl. The newspaper reports that a high level team of Bush administration appointees in Washington, DC – including a former timber industry lobbyist – ordered changes in a plan produced by…

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Public Citizen Has it Right About Health & Safety Regulatory Agencies & the Bush White House

Public Citizen Has it Right About Health & Safety Regulatory Agencies & the Bush White House

Joan Claybrook has an excellent editorial in Public Citizen News entitled "Bush steps up his attack on the regulatory system, endangering important health and safety protections." She gives the chronology of the attacks and notes that there is a stepped up effort to undermine the federal regulatory system. In January, Mr. Bush issued a new executive order requiring agencies to submit to the White House "significant guidance documents." It had already required them to submit to the White House proposed…

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Ameriocan Bishops and Priest Sexual Abuse

Ameriocan Bishops and Priest Sexual Abuse

The April 20th Edition of the National Catholic Reporter has an editorial entitled "Little Genuine Progress on Sex Abuse." It relates that the executive director of the Bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection" provided a 2006 audit with an accompanying letter. The letter, the editorial points out, which is signed by the executive director, says there is a: "Surrounding atmosphere that one might describe as Refusal to See the Evidence. It takes two forms. Those who see the bishops…

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More on White House Correspondent’s Dinner & Karl Rove

More on White House Correspondent’s Dinner & Karl Rove

Joe Scarborough’s blog is posted in the Huffington Post and has some clever observations this week about the confrontation between Cheryl Crow, Laurie David and Karl Rove. I commented yesterday about this subject. Here’s part of what he had to say: "But apparently Team Bush is tired of talking and has adapted a bunker mentality. Seven years of bad press, foreign wars and personal attacks (every bit as nasty as those Bill Clinton endured) have left people like Karl Rove…

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Arianna Huffington & the White House Correspondent’s Dinner

Arianna Huffington & the White House Correspondent’s Dinner

I greatly admire Arianna Huffington’s ability to write very witty comments with metaphors and analogies that ring true. I’ve even made a list from her books of phrases I thought were brilliant. In her blog The Huffington Post she discusses her attendance at the recent White House Correspondent’s Association dinner where Cheryl Crow, Laurie David and Karl Rove had a heated exchange over global warming. Huffington said "The entire evening had the surrealistic feel of a Salvador Dali movie." Here’s…

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Once Again, The FDA Abandons It’s Duty – The Danger of Ketek

Once Again, The FDA Abandons It’s Duty – The Danger of Ketek

The Federal Drug Administration is only a shadow of it’s original power as a regulatory watchdog over the pharmaceutical industry. Weakened by the hand picked Bush administration appointees and corrupted by the lobbying of the industry the FDA has become the lap dog of the pharmaceutical companies rather then the watchdog it is supposed to be for Americans. I’ve pointed out their failure to do their job before. (See 11/23/06 and 12/5/06 postings) Now the New England Journal of Medicine…

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Bishop Brunett Pressures Governor to Veto SSB 5336

Bishop Brunett Pressures Governor to Veto SSB 5336

I previously reported about Seattle Archbishop Alex Brunett’s opposition to a bill which would grant same sex couples limited legal rights, including the right to make medical decisions about the other person in the relationship. (See 3/21/07) There is ample legal justification for passage of the bill which is now awaiting signature by the Governor. However, The Catholic Northwest Progress reports Brunett is urging Catholics to contact the Governor to request that she veto the bill. He has written the…

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The Pain of Losing a Trial

The Pain of Losing a Trial

One of the lawyers in the office lost a medical malpractice trial recently. His pain for his client’s loss is palpable. Dealing with losing is always agony and something we never get used to if we are competitive trial lawyers striving for our client’s rights. I’ve often said: losing hurts worse then winning feels good. My personal rule is that I rejoice for my victories only twenty four hours and limit remorse for losing to forty eight hours. After that,…

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Pope Benedict Shows He is the Same Arch Conservative

Pope Benedict Shows He is the Same Arch Conservative

I’ve commented before about Pope Benedict starting to expose his real arch-conservative beliefs after first trying to present himself as a moderate. (See post 3/14/07) When first elected he seemed to be reaching out to dissidents and other faiths. Now Vatican observers are reporting that since turning 80 years of age and after three years at the job he has more and more frequently shown that his views are the same as when he was the late Pope John’s junk…

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