I have three artificial joints as a result of being a mediocre football player in high school and college. I carry around two total knee and one hip joint replacement. There are no airports in the world I can pass through security without setting off the alarm. That’s why I was impressed when I read in the Seattle PI that Dave Kopay, the former Husky football and pro football great, has had two hip joint replacements, and a knee and…
From time to time I read about people and I stop and think, "I wish I had known that person." A recent obituary in the Seattle P.I. struck me that way. It showed a picture of a older couple. The obituary started out "Bill and Gladys Willams passed away within a day of each other" which immediately caught my interest. It went on to say the couple had been born only a month a part and met in Eastern Oregon…
Jennet Conant has written a book, Tuxedo Park, about Alfred Lee Loomis who lived during the "roaring twenties" and, as a former Wall Street tycoon, played an important semi secret role during World War II as a scientist. Loomis was an extremely wealthy man who had used his law degree in financial investment activities. This multi millionaire had been wise enough to see the 1929 crash coming and escaped the disaster with his fortune intact. He went through the depression…
This map shows the location of the Island of Brac where the village of Splitska is located. This is where my mother’s family immigrated from. It is now in Croatia, but was then part of Austria-Hungry. The map of Italy shows the location of the town of Reggio where dad and his family immigrated from. See previous post for the story of mom.
Seven years ago today, on an early Friday morning, July 7th 2000, my mother Mary Thelma Babarovich, died in her sleep at the San Juan Care Center. Her death was not unexpected. After all, she was born on December 28, 1905 and was ninety four years old when she died. She had been in failing health for some time. Her passing was, in fact, a personal blessing to her as she had been ready for a number of weeks. My…
The Skagit Valley Argus publishes a column by the President of the Association of Washington Business. His writings follow the usual "party line" of the Chamber of Commerce in promoting tort reform and attacking trial lawyers and the civil justice system. This my response to one of his recent diatribes: Dear Editor: The President of the Association of Washington Business, Don Brunell, has once again used his guest column (June 20th) to make another attack on the American civil justice…
As might be expected, Vice President Cheney’s ridiculous claim that his office is not part of the executive branch as an excuse for not complying with federal disclosure laws has been lampooned everywhere. Seattle PI political cartoonist David Horsey political cartoon in the Seattle PI of June 26th hits the nail right on the head. It shows the vice president lecturing students about federal government structure with a blackboard drawing. The drawing diagrams the three branches of government in boxes,…
In the book Elements of Italy, the author notes that family in Italy means much more than grown up children taking trays of cakes specially wrapped to the parental home for Sunday lunch or major holidays. The family relationship in Italy is unique. The family represents the network of the most important relationships of Italian society. The relationship of loyalty is so strong that it can be rightly called the basic building block of Italian society. The most stable of…
Harry Bernstein is a published author whose first book "The Invisible Wall" has been published by Random house is receiving excellent reviews. The book, about his early childhood in a poverty stricken street where Jews and Christians were strictly divided, was rejected by a number of publishing houses before being accepted by Random House. So what’s so unusual about this? Well, Harry is 96 years old! Harry says "I’m more of an expert on failure then I am success." (For…
George Bush has exercised only two veto’s at this point in his two term administration. The first was his July 2006 veto of a bill which would lift funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. The second veto occurred this week of the $124 Billion wear funding bill which also would order troop withdrawal from Iraq by October. Only two vetoes is a unique feat given the history of presidential vetoes. Mr. Bush’s father, for example, vetoed 44 bills in…
