“We follow the approach of the United States Supreme Court and the many other jurisdictions which have found such appointments proper as an essential means to vindicate the courts’ own authority,” wrote Chief Justice Thomas Saylor, in his opinion…
Month: March 2015
Documentary celebrates history, future of Geisinger
“We’ve learned by changing our approach to healthcare, we can capture 30 to 40 percent of value that has been lost,” said [Dr. Glenn Steele, president and chief executive officer]. “We are changing behaviors on the part of patients, providers and insurance.”…
Toughest Issues in Iran Nuclear Talks May Be Deferred
NEW YORK TIMES: With a deadline just hours away, negotiators from the United States, Iran and five other nations appeared on Tuesday to move closer to a preliminary political accord to limit Tehran’s nuclear program. There were signs, however, that several of the most difficult issues would be deferred for a final agreement in three […]
Indiana Companies Press Pence: Take ‘Immediate’ Action To Ban Discrimination
NEWSMAX: Indiana-based companies including Eli Lilly & Co. and Anthem Inc. pressed state leaders to enact legislation clarifying that the state’s new religious-freedom law can’t be used to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity. “All our companies seek to promote fair, diverse and inclusive workplaces,” the companies’ chief executives wrote in a letter […]
What Lancastrians should know about LGH / Penn merger. What LGH can learn from Geisinger.
‘Increases in hospital market concentration lead to increases in the price of hospital care,’ reported the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a respected healthcare think tank that had just finished an elaborate survey of hospital pricing. The report also stated that ‘at least in some procedures, hospital concentration reduces quality.’
Capitolwire: On Keystone Exams, ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water’ PDE secretary tells Senate lawmakers
And while he agrees Pennsylvania’s assessments — the Keystones, in particular — may carry too much weight, Acting Department of Education Secretary Pedro Rivera says superintendents across the state don’t want the General Assembly to turn back now.
Woman Killed in Kabul Transformed From Pariah to Martyr
NEW YORK TIMES: … Over a family dinner, the student, a 27-year-old woman named Farkhunda, vowed to return and speak out against what she deemed superstitious and un-Islamic behavior… When she returned there last week and began chastising people for their ignorance, an attendant at the shrine countered with a far more dangerous accusation: This […]
Iranian Defector: US Working ‘On Behalf’ of Iran
NEWSMAX: An Iranian journalist and top media aide to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani defected while covering the nuclear talks in Switzerland and has accused the United States’ team of acting on Iran’s behalf in the negotiations. Amir Hossein Motaghi defected late last week, saying he no longer saw any point in his profession in a […]
Partners in budget posturing
WASHINGTON POST COLUMN: When it comes to the federal budget, what consistently unites Democrats and Republicans is their common capacity to lie to themselves, lie to the public and postpone any serious discussion of the central issues of government spending and taxes. I use the word “lie” reluctantly because it is an unforgiving moral marker. […]
Don’t Blame It on Depression
SLATE: ….The patient with bona fide depression will benefit from treatment with antidepressants or proven psychotherapies. For the lonely great-grandmothers, the junk food addicts, and the violent paraplegics, there has to be another form of intervention. We must turn from the inappropriate use of the disease model of emotional distress and understand that individuals’ psychological […]
If Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán can survive the broker scandal, he can survive anything
NEWSLANC EDITOR: Apparently billions of euros were looted from the life saving accounts of everyday people as a result of government connivance. The public is enflamed. BUDAPEST BEACON: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán acknowledged on Wednesday that he himself ordered ministries to withdraw their money from brokerage firms. If the decision was based on inside […]
Meaning of My Morning Prayer
“Blessed is the Eternal our God who has awoken me to another day of life.” I am fortunate to still be alive. “Blessed is the Eternal who wakes me to a new day, made me a Jew, calls me to be free, and forms me in the divine image.” Here is a transition from the […]
Kane’s troubles could haunt her hopes for second term in ’16
PHILLY.COM / AP: … Sworn into office in January 2013, [Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen] Kane tangled with Corbett – by then governor – by refusing to defend the state’s same-sex marriage ban and nixing a contract to outsource management of the state lottery to a British firm. She also went public with details about a […]
Post Mortem on Winter; Fifty Shades of Whips, Tyrants, and a Bond parody
Like the critically reviled novel on which it is based, “Fifty Shades of Grey” elicited a virtual tsunami of bad reviews; only 25% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. But the grousing about nudity and perverse sex did little to discourage the books’ massive fan base; if anything the static only raised the movie’s profile.