In another stunning effort to spin negative publicity, City Councilwoman Darlene Harris claims that she did not order a smoke eater machine to de-stuffify her office.  Ms. Harris simply wanted some box fans and now she is outraged, outraged I tell you, that someone mistakenly spent $1200 on the smoke eater.

"I wanted a little square box" with a ventilation fan, she said. Gesturing at the 2-foot-by-4-foot Trion Eliminator Series SE 800E mounted in the ceiling above her desk, she said, "When I came in and saw that thing, I couldn't believe it."

Harris, along with Student Body President Doug Shields, was featured in a recent Post-Gazette article about illicit smoking in the City-County Building.  Both admitted that they smoke in spite of a smoke prohibition rule going back before our new county-wide ban.  Neither seemed the least bit penitent which doesn't bode well for them to follow the new law. 

To summarize thus far, Harris has completely missed the point that this is about SMOKING not a smoke eating machine.  Her umbrage is matched only by her ridiculousness.  Not only is she refusing to take responsibility for breaking the law, but she's now pointing fingers at her political enemies whoever they may be:

She said she has asked Public Works Director Guy Costa why the device was ordered and installed when she only wanted a ceiling fan.

"I'm still trying to find that out, and I don't know if I ever will," she said. "I'd like to know, is this politics, or what?"

Yes, Darlene, it is politics at its most sad when an elected city leader openly violates the law because she's too lazy/proud/arrogant to go outside like the rest of the city employees.  It is politics at its lowest when an elected city leader shifts responsibility for her own stupid choices onto the shoulders of said city employees.  Public Works gets enough guff without having to ante up for your mistakes.

It is politics at its most disgusting when an elected city leader assumes we are foolish enough to be distracted from her illegal activities by other issues.

Ms. Harris said she has occasionally smoked in the office on nights when she was working late. She said she's been working hard to get more plainclothes police in North Side neighborhoods, catalog abandoned houses, identify drug and prostitution hot spots and write legislation to govern absentee landlords.

Let me get this straight --- according to her logic, if we want a more lawful community, she's going to have to break a few laws.  If we want healthier communities for our families and children, she's going to have to compromise the health of her staffers and others who visit the building.  If we want absentee landlords to take responsibility for their property, she's going to need the freedom to place responsibility on others.

She should have left well enough alone after the last article.  Doug Shields came off like a giggling schoolboy with a big man-crush on Luke, but that's nothing to the political harridan that is Darlene Harris.

Back in March, we reported on the West Virigina Sheriff who denied CPR to a dying gay man under the pretext that the man was HIV+.  The man, Claude Greene, died later that evening at a local hospital.  Greene's friend was present at the scene but was physically prevented from performing CPR by Robert K. Bowman, Sheriff of Welch, West Virginia.  Greene's mother filed a federal lawsuit claiming her son's civil rights had been violated along with a myriad of other chages, including a violation under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In late December, the federal court ruled that the case could move forward:

Significant issues remain to be sorted out in this litigation, but at this initial stage, Faber's ruling permits the case to go forward on the basis that the estate may have a valid federal civil rights claim against the city and Bowman for the way in which Green was treated on the day of his fatal heart attack.

It is a complicated situation and far more legalistic than I can pretend to understand.  Bowman's folks claimed that since Greene was dead, there was no reason for a civil rights case. Bowman's folks also seem to claim that he prevented bystanders from performing CPR out of concerns about HIV transmission.  The federal judge noted that there is no record that performing CPR on an HIV+ person would present a transmission risk. 

The bastard was willing to let the wrongful death move forward.   Fortunately, the judge cleared the way for the whole kit and kaboodle.

Did I mention that Greene was not HIV+?  Nope, he was just gay. And, thankfully, the idiot responsible for his death could pay the price for his bigotry and hate. 

Sadly, Claude Greene has already paid the ultimate price for it.

Kudos to the District 2 School Board Coalition for endorsing Heather Arnet to run for the school board seat being vacated by Highland Park resident Patrick Dowd.   Arnet, also a Highland Park resident, is the Executive Director of the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania. 

The Correspondents (and the Lesbians) are long-time fans of Arnet for her great work on behalf of women and girls throughout the region, including women and girls in the queer community.  As we are city residents, we are especially pleased that Arnet is turning her tremendous talent to the oversight of one of our most important resources - the public schools.

Go Heather!

Lawmakers in Massachusetts are in the midst of a Constitutional Convention and a vote today paved the way for a constitutional amendment barring gay marriage to move forward.  To make it onto the ballot, the amendment must pass in another legislative session.

You might recall the Massachusetts is the only state in which gay marriage is legal.  Existing marriages would be intact, but no further marriages recognized.  Ahem.

This has been a highly contentious issue of late with anti-marriage proponents insisting that legislative refusal to vote on the matter was undemocratic.  Even the high court weighed in on the matter, chastising lawmakers for not voting while acknowledging that there was no way to compel a vote.

Since when have "the people" been the best-suited to determine civil rights issues for minorities?  This is just bullshit back-of-the-bus politics that will decimate the existing rights of gays in Massachusetts to appease yet another interest group with more power.

The courts and the lawmakers completely wimped out on this matter.  They have made it clear that the gay community cannot simply sit around and wait for those in power to recognize and honor our rights as citizens and human beings. 

The PG ran an interesting commentary by Slate's William Saletan who contemplates the oft-cited but never actually proven claim that homosexuals are not fit parents.

The 30-year search for proof that gay parents are destructive looks a lot like the hunt for WMD.

Saletan uses the conception and pregnancy of Mary Cheney to illustrate his point that there's simply no proof that gays make bad parents.  There's a lot of date however, that heterosexual men do a lot of damage to children than lesbians.  If you want to rely on averages to make parenting decisions as in who should and should not parent.

If you're going to base family policy on averages, the chief problem isn't stepparents; it's men. That's what "pro-family" groups keep covering up. According to Focus on the Family, "increased risks of physical and sexual child abuse at the hands of non-biological parents are another serious concern for same-sex families." Nope, not for lesbians. The latest study the group cites actually concludes that the "key risk factors are living with a stepfather or the mother's boyfriend." Of 55 child deaths reviewed in the study, the number caused by a stepmother or by a biological mother in a stepfamily or live-in relationship was zero.

I don't think Mary's pregnancy warrants all this attention. The fact that she is a dyke is more than mitigated by the fact that she's the daughter of an incredibly rich and powerful white man.  I'm sure she'll be able to raise a child of privilege in a manner befitting any other uptown chic.  Now what would be interesting is if Heather were to be the biological parent b/c then Mary would have no legal relationship with their child (they live in Virginia).  Regardless, Mary and Heather could spawn a dozen children between them and still have no clue of what life is like for the average homosexual parent.  And as long as they support a President who embraces the wingnuts, they deserve no kudos for gay milestones.

Back to William's piece ...

You want to protect kids? Here's my proposed constitutional amendment: "Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union involving at least one woman."

Or you could just let Mary Cheney raise her child in peace.

Amen.