Re-election just got tougher for Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett. It seems that when he was the state's Attorney General a few years back he ran a loose ship and hired some pretty raunchy guys.
NBC reports the current Keystone State AG, Kathleen Kane was conducting a review of the prosecution of Jerry Sandusky, AKA the Tickle Monster, when she discovered a little over 300 emails containing pornographic images. The emails had been swapped back and forth by at least eight members of Corbett's staff between 2005 and 2011. One of those people is State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan. Another was Christopher Abruzzo, who, after his stint working for Corbett in the Attorney Generals office, became the governor's Secretary of Environmental Protection. In addition the chief counsel of the same agency, Glenn Parno was also named as a recipient of the juicy electronic correspondence.
No one has accused Corbett, a republican, of sending, receiving, or even knowing about the emails. However, he was the man in charge of that band of merry pervs who, in theory, were supposed to be enforcing the laws of the Commonwealth, as opposed to spending their time ogling naked bodies.
Kane, a democrat, released the emails to the press sans the images. The details highlight the never ending quest to appeal to minorities by these local GOP hotshots. They sent messages to each other, along with the photos, which at times, included ugly slurs directed at Arab-Americans and gays.
Abruzzo and Parno have resigned in the wake of the revelations. Noonan is still on the job and was last seen holding a news conference concerning the deadly September ambush at a state police barracks which ended with one trooper dead and another severely wounded.
Meanwhile, the Secret Service is continuing its less than sterling record of keeping the President of the United States safe. NBC is reporting when Obama showed up at a gathering of the Black Congressional Caucus the other night some unidentified guy pretending to be New Jersey representative Donald Payne waltzed right into the back stage area with him and the first lady. The eagle eyed agents on duty never did figure it out. It took a White House staffer to realize the man was an impostor.
Last month the Secret Service allowed an armed security contractor with a criminal record into an elevator carrying the president and of course before that there was the unhinged veteran who climbed the fence at the White House and took an unauthorized tour of the premises. All of this comes only a few years after the commander in chief's security detail went on a wild bender in a Colombian bar prior to his visit. That dizzying incident involved massive quantities of alcohol and at least one hooker who cried foul when she was stiffed by an agent the next morning.
Given the circumstances Obama might want to consider going all NRA--take a carry and conceal class, get his license, then start packing like everyone else in the country. Why not? If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Finally in Dallas, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital claims there was no human error involved when members of the staff sent Michael Eric Duncan home from the Emergency Room on September 26th. Duncan is the Liberian national who flew into DFW on the 19th of the month and by the 24th began suffering symptoms of the Ebola virus.
According to the hospital a computer glitch caused the problem. Apparently there were two separate health history apps involved--one for nurses and one for doctors. The nurse recorded Duncan was from Liberia, but that little detail didn't make it to the attending physician's program and he didn't bother to ask.
All of which begs the question, why didn't the nurse just talk to the doc. Hey, right now, if someone from Liberia shows up in my ER complaining of anything, screw the protocols, I'm screaming my fucking head off to everyone.
NBC is reporting the hospital claims Duncan denied he had been around anyone who was sick in his home country. He is accused of doing the same thing in Liberia before he boarded the plane and now faces criminal charges as soon as he returns. Yes, yes, but he still admitted he was from a country ravaged by Ebola. So why did this awful thing happen? Well, NBC also reports Texas Health Presbyterian has been penalized the last three years running by the feds. That would be because they have an unacceptable number of patients who must be checked back in within 30 days of their release.
Obviously there was a perfect storm of circumstances which allowed the horrifying genie out of the bottle. The patient lied, the medical apps were flawed and the hospital ER involved is suspect. Now children are being pulled out of schools and some others are in quarantine. In Dallas, various clean up companies are reluctant to sterilize the apartment Duncan was staying at, and right wing hacks on Fox News are claiming if we don't ban everyone from west Africa every person in America will die.
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After all this, it is easy to understand why the good Lord invented the martini.
Ladies and gentlemen, the bar is open.
10-3-14
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