POPE BENEDICT, CONDOMS AND HIV/AIDS

POPE BENEDICT, CONDOMS AND HIV/AIDS

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It’s reported this week that Pope Benedict XVI, flying on the papal airplane to Africa, told reporters that condoms were not the answer to Africa’s problem of HIV. He claimed that the Church was "in the forefront" of the battle against AIDS and that the Vatican’s answer to this problem was "sexual abstinence. The Vatican hasn’t budged from its position that the use of condoms is immoral since the1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae. As recently as 2003 a Vatican document Values…

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My BOOK REPORT

My BOOK REPORT

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Here is a report of some books I’ve recently read. Zen and the Art of Anything Hal W. French has written Zen and the Art of Anything and, in it, he tells about his teacher Edwin Prince Booth, who told a story of his childhood. He had been on a picnic with his father and had wandered unto a train trestle when a train whistle sounded. It was too far for the father to get to him in time so …

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PETER BABAROVICH 1861 – 1935

PETER BABAROVICH 1861 – 1935

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 My maternal grandfather Peter (Petar) Babarovich was born April 12, 1861 in the village of Splitska on the island of Brac in the Adriatic Sea. He died in Anacortes, Washington March 5, 1935. Peter was the second child Ernest Babarovich and his wife Louise Setelich. The family exported wine and olive oil which they grew in their vineyards and olive orchards. He married Marija Mattia Vulic) in 1888, who was also born in Splitska. Peter's wife, my grandmother, was born September…

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POETRY EXCERPTS FOR TODAY

POETRY EXCERPTS FOR TODAY

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This is my selection of excerpts from the world of writing. The first was a favorite of my father in law, Hollis Barnett. Having watched pelicans feed it makes sense. Limericks A wonderful bird is the pelican. His mouth can hold more then his belican; He takes in his beak enough food for a week and I’m damned if I know how the helican Jabberwocky One of the stanza's from Carroll's poem has always come to mind when I am about to…

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MORE ON THE MYSTERY OF THE SARAH JOE

MORE ON THE MYSTERY OF THE SARAH JOE

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A helpful reader has shared with me additional information on the story I reported about five young men who disappeared during a storm while fishing in Hawaii. (The Mystery of the Sarah Joe https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2009/02/the-mystery-of-the-sarah-joe.html ) The reader has directed me to a website and a report written by a friend of the missing men about the situation. For more information on this tragic mystery see "Phantoms: a true story" at http://www.writersbeat.com/showthread.php?t=1628. And thank you to the alert reader who found…

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EVEN THE EXPENSIVE HOUSES AREN’T SELLING WELL

EVEN THE EXPENSIVE HOUSES AREN’T SELLING WELL

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I admit to having a deep seated dislike of the Wall Street Journal as a biased in favor of big business and the rich. However, I don't like passing up a free gift, so when the paper was delivered to us at our hotel in Hawaii while we were there I read it – reluctantly. Every article confirmed economic disaster on every page as well as an intense dislike of our new Democratic administration.  So, why am I telling you this? Well, because I want…

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THE GREAT BUSTER KEATON – SILENT FILM STAR

THE GREAT BUSTER KEATON – SILENT FILM STAR

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Buster Keaton was a world renown actor in the 1920's. He made nineteen shorts and twelve full length movies in a matter of only eight years. He became a famous filmmaker and star of his comedy films. He was called "the great stone face" because of the hang dog expression he kept while all kinds of things were happening to him in his movies.Buster Keaton was an amazing movie star. In the 1920's he made nineteen shorts and twelve full…

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THE MYSTERY OF THE SARAH JOE

THE MYSTERY OF THE SARAH JOE

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Reporter Gary Kubota has written a story in the Hawaii Star Bulletin about five men who went fishing in a small boat, the Sarah Joe, off Wailuku in Hawaii some thirty years ago and were never seen again. What makes the story compelling is that nine years after their disappearance a grave with a cross was found two thousand miles away in the Marshall Islands that held the remains of one of the men, but no one knows what happened to…

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I’M NOT ANYONE – Paul Anka & Sammy Davis Jr

I’M NOT ANYONE – Paul Anka & Sammy Davis Jr

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 Reporter Bill Kown wrote an article in the Honolulu Advertiser about  "Corky" Trinidad who died recently.  He quoted the lyrics from Paul Anka's song written for Sammy Davis Jr. I'm not anyone which are worth considering for all of us:  I'm not anyone, no  not anyone I have the right to lead a life fulfilled with every need. I'm not any man designed to fit someone's plan. I have my own desires: all the things a man aspires. No, I…

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THE NINE BY JEFFERY TOOBIN – OUR SUPREME COURT IN ACTION

THE NINE BY JEFFERY TOOBIN – OUR SUPREME COURT IN ACTION

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I’ve read a book about the U.S. Supreme court, The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin. It is a very well written and interesting book about the justice’s on the court. Frankly, I came away from the reading thinking how our highest court has become an embarrassment to the legal system. It was intended to be an equal branch of the American system with the legislative and executive. It was supposed to be an objective branch whose role primarily was to require…

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