Wows and Scowls
Scowl: There might not be a so-called litmus test for judges, but U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter succumbed to one in order to keep alive his dream of chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee. Anti-abortionists were after Specter once he pointed out the reality that Democrats were likely to filibuster judicial nominees that they thought were ultra conservative. The extreme right – still thinking they were handed a mandate by the electorate – began gunning for Specter’s hide. Rather than stand up under fire, Specter spent this week kissing up to fellow Senate Republicans and then announced he would make a statement – properly vetted by the leadership – to say he wouldn’t block anti-abortion court nominees, even though he never said that he would in the first place. Until now we backed Specter on this one. But this action now renders him far too biased to carry out the chairmanship. How could anyone possibly believe that he wasn’t given a judicial candidate with other flaws a pass simply because of an abortion stance. —
Scowl: Pennsylvania’s other senator Rick Santorum isn’t looking too pristine either. Santorum announced this week that he and his wife will now home school their children in their $750,000-plus Virginia home. This came after the Penn Hills School District in Allegheny County questioned why the district has paid out $100,000 for five of Santorum’s six children to attend the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. The Santorums own a two-bedroom home in the district, and claim they spend some time there, although the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette found another couple living there and registered to vote from that house. Santorum has offered no details of his alleged stays in Pennsylvania. We can understand the senator’s desire to have his family near him while tending to Pennsylvanians’ business in the U.S. Senate, but we would also expect that our senator would actually reside in Pennsylvania on a regular basis.
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Wow: When 84-year-old Mary Burnsworth wandered away from her Messmore home in German Township Wednesday evening, darkness had already set in. It didn’t take long before 75 rescue workers from nine fire companies, along with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Tactical Search and Rescue team arrive to begin scouring the woods for the woman who suffers from Altzheimer’s disease. They kept at it, expanding the search area, until they found the woman at nearly 2 a.m., some two miles from her home, huddled in an abandoned home deep in the woods. Most of the people searching for Burnsworth were volunteers who could have just as easily given up and gone home to a warm, dry bed. That they didn’t, and that they continued on until they found her is worth a heaping dose of praise.
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Scowl: It’s time for the Clintons to trot out the “vast rightwing conspiracy” again. The wing at Bill Clinton’s presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., devoted to the Monica Lewinsky affair and other Clinton-era White House scandals is labeled “The Fight for Power.” There’s a section called “Politics of Persecution.” A hundred years from now, school groups touring the library might be persuaded to think all these scandals were foisted upon Clinton by his political foes. That is what the library is hoping will occur. We sure hope that future students will be smarter than that.
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Wow: The Community Foundation of Fayette County announced this week that it will receive $3 million from Robert E. Eberly’s estate. It is not surprising that the late philanthropist would make arrangements to continue his life’s work following his death. He was involved in helping to start the 5-year-old Community Foundation, that pools together donations from individuals and foundations to work toward bettering the community.