The best and brightest talent

I leave tomorrow to travel with my parents to Dad's ancestral town. His brother still lives in the area. We'll be joined by my brother and his family, including his first grandchild, all of 4 months. All of us will be staying at a B&B and probably spending lots of time at my uncle's house. Because of the baby not much is planned. I'll be taking my netbook but I don't know if I'll want to burrow in my room to blog when there are a dozen relatives to talk to. We head home on Friday morning.



Meanwhile, in the news…

Utah is getting a new Attorney General. The previous one resigned during investigations for corruption and responding to the same-sex marriage case has fallen to the interim AG. It looks like the first act of the new AG will be to go before the state legislature to request $2 million (of taxpayer money) to pay for outside legal counsel to properly file a stay with the Supremes, then take the case to the 10th Circuit. Though the request isn't official yet, lawmakers are telling the new AG to go for it. This is an important case to defend states' rights. Find the best and brightest talent you can.



Pope Francis may be giving the Vatican a new image and a new emphasis, but the old demons are still there. The Bishop of Malta had a discussion with Francis and a part of that was to explain to the Pope that Malta is considering a new Civil Union bill that would include adoption by gay couples. Francis was "shocked" to learn that part. He urged the Bishop to speak out against it.

So, yeah, this pope is a welcome change in style. But no substantive change yet.