Froth Slosh B'Gosh

Happy Thanksgiving!

Employees?? What Employees?

UPMC blames its non-existent employees for compromising sensitive patient data.

Port Authority Sued For Not Running Atheist Ad

They never learn.

The Washington, D.C.-based United Coalition of Reason filed the lawsuit in  U.S. District Court, describing an ad-buying effort that started in 2011. Late  that year, according to the complaint, the organization reached out to Port  Authority and asked to place on buses an ad that “consisted of a background of  blue sky and white clouds with the following text: ‘Don’t believe in God? You  are not alone,’ and the website address of a local group.”

According to the complaint, Port Authority attorney Michael Cetra rejected  the proposed ad, indicating that the agency doesn’t run “non-commercial” material.

Except when they do.

If you click on the above link, you'll see a Port Authority bus bearing an informational advertisement for Pennsylvania's suspended Voter ID law.  I'm pretty sure that qualifies as "non-commercial" material.

And that's why the Port Authority should just run the UCR's ad, because they're very likely to lose the lawsuit.

Pope Calls Out Trickle-Down

Wow.  This may be the first Pope since John XXIII that I can actually respect.

"In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world," he said. "This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting."

Doesn't mean I plan on turning religious anytime soon though.

Morons Burn Down Historic Home

What were they doing?  Looking for "ghosts."  Then they got frustrated when they couldn't find the imaginary things they were looking for, and decided to have a little bonfire.  Needless to say, drugs and alcohol were involved.

The Sixties

There's been much typed about JFK's assassination over the past several days.  I was just over a year old when it happened, so I have no memories of that tragic event.  However, I think a memory that I do have is a fitting commentary on the 'sixties. 

I was seven years old in 1969, and living in Knoxville TN, where my father taught at the Webb School.  Dwight Eisenhower had died.  School was cancelled on the Monday following his death.  When I asked my father why there was no school, he told me it was because a great man had died.

I then asked, "Who shot him?"

Harry Drops The Big One

Wow.  I didn't think he'd do it.

The partisan battles that have paralyzed Washington in recent years took a historic turn Thursday, as Senate Democrats eliminated filibusters for most presidential nominations, severely curtailing the political leverage of the Republican minority in the Senate and assuring an escalation of partisan warfare.

While I lament the fact that the Democrats may have given up the opportunity to block odious Republican nominees should they lose a majority in the Senate under a Republican president, I'm also convinced that the Republicans would have done the exact same thing if even a single one of their nominees were filibustered, so, might as well make hay while the sun shines.

Zimmerman Arrested

What a surprise!

George Zimmerman was arrested Monday afternoon in central Florida "after deputies responded to a disturbance call," the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

Further details about Zimmerman's arrest in Apopka, Florida, were not immediately released. He will be booked at the county's correctional facility, the sheriff's office said.

Quinn And Rose Dropped At WPGB

Some are saying they were fired.

PA Gay Marriage Ban Heads To Federal Court

Very interesting, especially with some of Judge Jones' comments:

A lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s ban on gay marriage cleared an early  hurdle today as a federal judge ruled against three motions to dismiss that were  filed by state and county-level officials...

U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III, of the Middle District of  Pennsylvania, noted that there was a time when federal courts did not weigh in  on gay rights claims, but that time has passed.

“The Supreme Court has decided several cases since [1972] which demonstrate  that it no longer views constitutional challenges based on sex or sexual  identity classifications as unsubstantial,” he wrote. “Finally, in June of this  year, the Supreme Court held that a federal statute defining marriage as only  between heterosexual couples violated the equal protection and due process  rights of same-sex couples who had married in states where same-sex marriage is  legally recognized.”

Of course, trying to divine how a judge is going to rule based on statements issued before the case is even heard is a fool's game, but it sure sounds like the judge will carefully weigh the arguments.