That's a quote from Will Rogers who said : "All I know is what I read in the papers…" Rogers was born in 1879 and was a vaudeville performer, comedian and motion picture actor. He died the year I was born in 1935. That year Wiley Post, a nationally known pilot, and Rogers left Lake Washington in Renton on a float plane for a tour of Alaska. In August they had left Fairbanks in bad weather. About 20 miles SW…
We have the Statue of Liberty with one message and then we have Donald Trump with another about immigration. Some of Donald Trumps statements about immigrants include these: “I will build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.” “When Mexico sends its people, they’re…
As the political candidates for president continue their propaganda trying to identify with the ideas of voters we hear more conservative agenda's. They try to win over the voting conservatives by supporting their viewpoints. Around the world, extremists continue to kill innocent children, women and people all in order to please God. Wars, motivated by religious beliefs, are raging in many parts of the world as well. Crimes against humanity are so common place we read them with the same reaction we have to the reports of traffic accidents or…
If you're like me, it's really hard to understand the extreme evil that religious terrorists inflict on innocent people, convinced it's what God wants. Here's my attempt to give a simplistic explanation. THE SHORT EXPLANATION The "short" explanation for their actions is that groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS believe in a "holy war" to establish a Islamic state encompassing not only the Middle East but in fact the entire world. The situation is made more dangerous by the fact that there is a…
A news article prompts this post. In my last post I set out my views about why I think it is important to maintain a separation of religion and public government in America. I believe that because our country has developed a very large mix of spiritual and religious beliefs in the last couple of decades so that any government imposed religious views are discriminatory towards conflicting religious views. We are all citizens. We have religious freedom. We have the right not…
There are many wonderful things about living in the United States. However, if I were given absolute power to be king for one day there are some things I'd change. I'm not including the huge issues like poverty homelessness and violence, just some of the smaller issues by comparison. By the way, this is a rant which won't be beneficial to you to read, but which is only intended to make me feel better. 1. Separation of church & State if I were given the power I…
We arrived in Scottsdale two days ago. It has been hot here, the temperatures are in the triple digits and yesterday it was 106° hot. We are here to open the house for the season and every time we do so it is inevitable that things don't work. We spend the first week finding and correcting problems as well as dealing with repair people. As to the heat, fortunately the report is that things will cool down starting this weekend…
I am going to violate the well-established wisdom of never talking to others about religion or politics because it causes controversy. I'm going to talk about both. The reason is because I think the clerk in Rowan County Kentucky where the county clerk, Kim Davis, refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because she has religious objections is misguided I am offended, as one trained in law, that this is being defended as a religious faith issue when it is not. That's because of her…
Last night the President gave his 15 minute speech about immigration reform. Let me digress to say that no matter which way you lean on this issue, as a trial lawyer, I need to comment on his skill of delivery and how much can be communicated well in only 15 minutes if prepared. His timing was perfect and his genuine sincerity was palpable. It is a model for learning to give a talk well in a very short time. We are in…
Lita and I are at our home in Scottsdale this week. We arrived during the Arizona political campaigns. When I turned on the TV I thought I had landed on another planet. It is as if aliens have taken over the television channels because the TV advertising is totally and completely dominated by back-to-back repetitive political attack ads. Apparently, in Arizona, campaigns for political office have no connection with the qualifications of the person running for office or relevant issues. You can't find an…
