My son, Nick Luvera, sent me an email alerting me to a series in the Washington Post about vice president Richard Cheney. I began reading the articles on the internet and was reminded that he causes in me all the intense objections I have for elected officials who believe they alone know what’s best for all of us, who care nothing for public opinion or public interests and believe they are above the law, free to do whatever they think…
It was revealed the oil industry had numerous secret meetings in 2001 with Vice President Cheney to help create a national energy policy that would apply to big oil. (See Washington Post) The Bush white house and the oil industry immediately denied the oil industry was allowed to draft national energy policy. The vice president refused to produce documents relating to the development of the energy policy in an attempt to cover it up but, documents surfaced which proved it…
Vice President Cheney has made the astounding claim that his office, Vice President of the United States, is not a part of the executive branch of government. Flying in the face of the United States Constitution and history as taught in American schools since the country was founded, Mr. Cheney insists that his office really isn’t part of the executive branch after all. So, why would he make such a silly claim? The vice president, who has never been reluctant…
The National Law Journal reports that thirty two of the ninety two federal districts use an electronic case filing program that hides the existence of existing files. If the search involves a sealed file, instead of disclosing it’s existence the electronic response is "case does not exist" or "number is not valid." The NLJ reports that the Judicial Conference of the United States, which makes policy for federal courts, has "strongly urged" federal courts to eliminate these false and fraudulent…
In the book Elements of Italy, the author notes that family in Italy means much more than grown up children taking trays of cakes specially wrapped to the parental home for Sunday lunch or major holidays. The family relationship in Italy is unique. The family represents the network of the most important relationships of Italian society. The relationship of loyalty is so strong that it can be rightly called the basic building block of Italian society. The most stable of…
In my readings I came across a short account of Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez. Curious to learn more about this Mexican priest and martyr I found a home page about him. He was born in 1891 in Guadalupe, Mexico and entered the Jesuit seminary in 1911. However, the Mexican revolution had begun in 1910 and the fighting lasted until 1921, killing some 900,000 people in the process. After studying in Mexico he was forced to leave when the tidal wave…
The front page headline in the Wednesday Seattle PI was "Chief blasts oversight report." Seattle police chief Gil Kerlikowske was angry at a report from a civilian review board report critical of his involvement in an internal investigation of a controversial drug bust. But, the conclusion of the report was that police officers should not police themselves and the current system Seattle has for monitoring police behavior may not be working. I agree. As the attorney for the Judson family…
I’m not much of a horse racing fan, but I admire the courage of jockey’s and the competitive spirit of the horses. The recent record setting win at Belmont by Rags to Riches brought this to mind. Only two fillies before Rags to Riches had ever won the Belmont one, Ruthless, in 1867 and the other, Tanya, in 1905. The June 139th Belmont stakes was an amazing win for this great horse. When reading about the race, I thought of…
The Seattle PI reports that the new CEO of the Eddie Bauer Company will be paid over $3 Million dollars for his three year contract even though it is a financially failing company. I previously commented on the company’s payment of a golden parachute of $8.4 million to it’s departing CEO. (2/7/2007). This was an overpayment by a company that was fighting going under to a departing CEO even though his job performance was below expectations and the company was…
Some poetry is inspiring and some tell a story of a life. Francis Thompson (1859-1907), who wrote the famous poem Hound of Heaven, was born into a well to do Roman Catholic family. He studied for the priesthood, but then left. He attended medical school only to please his parents but failed the examinations three times. In dispair he went to London where he tried different occupations, but was a failure at everything he tried. He became destitute and an…
