Paul Luvera Journal

In may of this year I wrote about the fascinating story of Paul Satko and his family going to Alaska on a home built boat during the depression. See https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2011/05/university-of-washington-tacoma-history-professor-michael-sullivan-called-me-about-something-that-happened-in-anacortes-bac.html  Professor Michael  Sullivan has been researching the story and publishing it for some time. He has just notified me that there will be a broadcast on public radio which I recommend you listen to. Professor Sullivan said: Hello Mr. Luvera. I hope those with an interest in the story of…

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David Carroll Cochran has written a very proactive article, Plutocracy or Democracy? In the February 10th issue of Commonweal magazine http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/. What is plutocracy? Cochran says it is a system in which political influence is used to maximize the interests of the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the rest of society. It is a political corruption of the Golden rule – a society in which those with the Gold, rule. In the plutocratic scenario all costs and risks…

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So, how's your Washington state history knowledge? Do you remember learning about "Fifty Four Forty or Fight" in school? The slogan comes from a boundary dispute in the 1840's between the U.S. and Great Britain involving an area including the modern states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and parts of Montana, Wyoming and even British Columbia- generally known as the Oregon territory. It referred to the latitude line of fifty four degrees and forty minutes North which the U.S. wanted as…

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I was blown away by Brent Lundsford's book Croation Fishing Families of Anacortes. As someone who worked every summer on the purse boats from high school through college this wonderful book with pictures captured the experience and brought back many fond memoriess. I've written before about purse seine fishing.https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2011/04/purse-seineing-.html and https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2008/05/purse-seine-fis.html In this book Lundsford covers a hundred years of fishing in Anacortes with vintage photographs and histories of Croation families including my mother's family. If you want to know anything about…

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Dr. Joseph Voegtlin was born in Seattle in 1926. He died on November 5, 2011. Joe was my long time friend and family physician until his retirement in 1992. He lived in Mount Vernon with his wife Gerine and had three children. He was my medical witness  in countless trials because he had so many patients they often were my clients in auto and other injury cases. No one could explain complex medical issues than Joe. He had a gift for drawing…

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There will be a delay in posting to this blog over the next few weeks while I undergo my third knee surgery this year next week. God willing I will resume on my recovery.

 A year ago Phoenix bishop Thomas J. Olmsted excommunicated Sister Margaret Mary McBride, a member of St. Joseph Hospital's Ethics Committee and declared St Joseph’s was no longer "a Catholic" hospital. He did this after a committee of health care professionals including Sister McBride authorized an abortion in a case where it was concluded continued pregnancy would mean that the chance for survival for both mother and fetus "approached zero" According to the National Catholic Reporter,  a  recent survey was conducted by a fellow…

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This is the story of the maiden voyage of a warship designed by a king and built to his specifications, so what could go wrong? Construction of the warship Vasa began in Sweden in 1626. King Gustafus Adolphus wanted a large war ship with great fire power. It was a huge ship 226 feet (69 meters) long and 38 feet wide. It stood 172 feet high. There were ten sails and was intended for a crew of 145 sailors plus 300 soldiers….

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 As I watched the devastation in Japan I thought of one of my favorite quotes from Shakespeare dealing with missed opportunities. Yes, I know he wasn't talking about a tsunami,  but it still came to my mind because of the reference to tides: Brutus:There is a tide in the affairs of men.Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;Omitted, all the voyage of their lifeIs bound in shallows and in miseries.On such a full sea are we now afloat,And we must…

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"Shoot Pirates on Sight"? That was the title of an article by Amital Etzioni for CNN about the most recent Samali pirates shooting of the hostages. http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/26/etzioni.stop.piracy/index.html Certainly, pirates were considered "enemies of mankind" in ancient times because they posed a threat to maritime safety. Therefore, anyone could punish captured pirates and they were ordinarily excuted on the spot. The usual method was hanging them from the yardarm. In 1790 the First American Congress passed a law allowing federal authorities…

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