The other night I was flipping through channels looking for something to watch when my interest was caught by a film documentary about Arthur Kane. I had never heard of him or the band he help create. Kane, it turns out, was an original member of the punk bank the New York Dolls and played base guitar. So why would I be interested in a former member of a punk rock band? Because the story of how this man turned…
"Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job" President Bush told then FEMA director Michael Brown after Bush had flown to the Gulf Coast a few days after Katrina. It turned out that was an very wrong evaluation of Brown’s work who was soon after relieved of his position. Tens of thousands of empty trailers are stored on vacant lands, in industrial parks and a warehouse. They were purchased by FEMA to assist in disasters. FEMA has 8,420 brand new, fully furnished,…
We've been on the road. We left last week for Los Angeles for the annual Inner Circle of Advocates Meeting. On Wednesday we flew to our home in Scottsdale for a couple of days and on Friday flew to Las Vegas where I was giving a talk Saturday to the California Trial Lawyers annual convention. On Sunday we return home. The Inner Circle meeting was stimulating and enjoyable. A small group (100 members) of great plaintiff trial lawyers from around the…
As we move close to the voting for presidential and other candidates I anticipate the conservative Catholic bishops along with the Evangelical church’s to urge that it is immoral to vote for a candidate that doesn’t stand foursquare against abortion and gay marriage as the sole test for voting. I anticipate reading pronouncements in my diocesan newspaper applying moral tests to how Catholics should vote. I’ve commented previously about my views regarding this kind of convoluted, myopic vision of what’s…
Drew Westen on the Huffington Post blog (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/drew-westen/from-nuanced-to-principle_b_119810.html) suggests that Obama might have replied to Pastor Rick Warren on the abortion issue better than Obama's response. He says he might have said: "We need to find the common ground on abortion, reflecting our shared moral beliefs, not the beliefs that divide us. We are all united in the belief that we should do everything we can to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, teen pregnancies, and abortions, starting with instilling in…
Twenty one year old Henry Cejudo, called by the press "Whiz Kid," won a gold medal in Olympic free style 55 kilogram (121 pounds) wrestling yesterday. What’s unusual about this athlete is not only his unique wrestling style and skill, but his family background. According to the Associated Press,(http://www.nbcolympics.com/wrestling/news/newsid=233761.html?_source=rss&cid=) his parents were undocumented Mexicans. There were six children to feed, four with his father who was in and out of prison until dying at age 44 last year. In fact,…
I recently read Peter Aleshire’s book The Fox and The Whirlwind about General George Crook and Geronimo. Geronimo was an Apache born in the modern day state of Arizona. George Crook was an U.S. Army General who, in 1875, was given responsibility of an area that stretched from Missouri to the western shore of the Great Salt Lake. It included Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and apart of Idaho. His area of responsibility was expanded as he was given the job of putting a…
My favorite spiritual writer, William Barclay, has written about the mottos of Scottish families and observations about those mottos. Some of the mottos are noteworthy. Take the Robertson’s from the Scottish Atholl countryside. Their family motto is "Virtutis Gloria" or "Glory is the reward of virtue."Some mottos were only one word. For the Cumming’s it was "Courage." For the Fraser family the motto was the French "jesuis pret" or "I am ready." In checking on family motto’s I found a website,…
There has been a lot of publicity about the amazing swimmer Michael Phelps winning a record number of gold medals in the China Olympics. As part of the reporting, the name of Paavo Nurmi has been mentioned because he had a record number of medals in his day. Not many people today recognize Nurmi’s name or know about the "Flying Finn" and "The King of Runners." During the 1920's Nurmi, from Finland, was setting all kinds of running records and was a source of…
A 92 year old man died in a nursing home near Bristol in England on July 21st. He died only a day before his 93rd birthday. His name was Eric Dowling. That would not be very significant news, except for the fact that Mr. Dowling was the leader of a mass escape from a German prison camp during World War II. Seventy six Allied prisoners escaped from Stalag Luft III prison camp on March 24, 1944. They escaped in a…
