One of the loudest cries of big business, in their tort reform campaign, is that of limiting the fees of contingent fee tort lawyers. Big business talks about the "greedy trial lawyers" and "outrageous fees" they want to limit to an amount which would effectively close the court house doors to injured citizens. So what about their own salaries? We have seen as common place, big corporations giving a wink and a nod to golden parachutes for departing CEO’s even…
I enjoyed reading the book,Disaster at the Pole. It’s a story about Umberto Nobile, an Italian aeronautical engineer and pioneer in Arctic aviation. He had designed and built dirigibles for Italy during the Italo-Turkish war in 1912. The book is a discription of his historic flights in airships across the North Pole. Born in 1885 in Italy, he died in Rome in 1978. During his life he made two flights in balloons over the pole without landing on either flight….
A few days ago, my wife Lita and I, along with our two Bischons’s, Napoleon and Josephine, were being driven to the Scottsdale airport for our flight back to Gig Harbor. During the drive our driver (call me "Sammy"), said he had been in Iraq for two years eight months and had recently returned. He was a translator for the military. He said he had been born in Iraq where his father was an engineer with the oil industry and…
In argument, "selective observation" uses the technique of only focusing on part of what is said and ignoring the rest. This type of response in argument might be called "cherry picking." It creates distraction from the overall point and is used by politicians defending themselves. However, a much more common technique, especially with the Bush administration, is that of "personal attack." This form of response is well known in political and communication circles. It refers to the practice of responding…
I just finished The Darkest Jungle by Todd Balf which is a true account of the Darien Expedition and America’s role in trying to find a route for the Panama Canal in the 1850’s. An area known as the Darien Gap was thought to be the best route for construction and in 1854 the U.S. sent an expedition with maps of earlier explorations. The 27 member crew landed on the Atlantic side to start their exploration. Led by 33 year…
The announcement of the Mississippi Katrina damage settlement prompted reports about the shifting weather patterns due to global warming. An environmental scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy said "There’s a shift going on to more frequent, extreme weather events. It’s as much an issue in the heartland as on the coast." The Department of Energy says that weather caused damage has increased from $1 Billion a year in 1970’s to $17 Billion a year over the last decade. In…
I reported Senator Trent Lott’s (R-Miss) declaration of war on State Farm Fire & Casualty Company when it refused to cover his house damage after Katrina. (It depends upon whose ox is being gored 12/4/06) He went from the best friend the insurance industry ever had to Attila the Hun attacking the entire insurance industry and threatening to take away their sacred cow immunity from anti trust laws. Now it looks like the insurance company decided it wasn’t in their…
Global warming! What global warming? "Global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetetrated on the American people" Sen James Inhofe (R-Okla) Photo taken of record breaking snow fall in Scottsdale, AZ on January 21, 2007 at the home of Paul & Lita Luvera. [Click on photo for larger image]
Over the years of reading books, I’ve kept excerpts from some that amused me or interested me Here is a brief sampling of a few of the excerpts I saved. More to follow: All My Friends by George Burns. In the book, Burns related the story about the man and woman who were driving to a masquerade party. He was dressed like a bull and she as a cow. The car broke down and they were walking across a pasture…
Last night I was fascinated to watch, on television, bidding on a car which set a thirty six year record for the most money ever paid for an auctioned car at the Scottsdale, Arizona Barrett Jackson Classic Car Auction. The bidding for the 1966 Cobra began high and rapidly climbed to $1 million. As other bidders dropped out only two bidders competed against each other. One was seated close behind the other and as the numbers grew in size, the…
