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…
One of the several books I read on our recent trip was Between Salt Water and Holy Water by Tommaso Astarita. It’s a history of southern Italy which unfortunately, was more informative then entertaining reading. It is a description of the many invasions and occupations of this part of Italy and the politics of the area. Both the Romans and the Greeks were interested in the beautiful coasts and fertile ground of the area, but many other cultures also occupied…
Tom Standage has written a short book about an eighteenth century chess playing machine that was the hit of Europe. The Turk tells the story about a Hungarian nobleman Wolfgang von Kempelen who was an inventor during an age of great interest in clever mechanical devices. He created a machine which was named "The Turk" in 1769. It won almost all of the time in contests with human challengers. The machine was an instant success and it’s playing career extended…
I’ve added two more weblogs. One is a site where I have posted a collection of photographs. Some are more for personal enjoyment and some are photos that I like. Some of the photos were taken by Lita and some by me. I intend to load photos from our most recent trip as soon as I have time. This site is Paul Luvera Photo Album: http://www.paulluveraphotoalbum.com/. With some reservation I’ve also created a weblog for plaintiff trial lawyer tips. I’m…
A high school friend sent me an email with a story about marbles that I found useful to think about. In summary the story dealt with a man who calculated that the average person lives 75 years. He multiplied 75 times 52 weeks in the year and came up with 3900 weekends a person has available during an average life. He was 55 years old so he decided if he lived to be 75 years he had about 1000 weekends…
