The Working File

So we’re in a recession, at least, where one of the biggest problems is that people with money won’t lend it. Then the President stiff-arms secured creditors to pay off his union buddies, overturning basic law to do so. Who will lend money now, without seeking potentially high rewards with higher interest rates?

Scott Grannis at Calafia Beach Pundit predicts:

Rising interest rates are thus likely to be driven by a) an avalanche of Treasury supply and b) rising inflation. These are going to be the critical issues to focus on in coming years. I don’t think they mean that the economy will collapse. Instead, I think it is a good reason to expect that economic growth will be subpar (averaging less than 3%) for many years.

Here is the chart of Obama deficits that’s been making the rounds for a while:

Obama's Budget Deficit Projections

And it’s already out of date, and getting worse:

The White House on Monday projected 2009 and 2010 federal budget deficits far higher than it forecast just two and a half months ago, even as it continued to defy most experts and predict that the economy is headed for a strong comeback starting late this year.

Economists scoffed at the latest administration predictions.

“Deficits soar even with rosy assumptions in new Obama budget” at McClatchey
Heaven help us, but I don’t see how we avoid low growth and high inflation unless we change course soon.

“If you don’t know who the mark is, you are the mark.” Good advice for any poker game. Sometimes you might think somebody else is the mark, but an elaborate ruse has been created to fool you. This mostly happens in movies, like The Sting. Other times your partner might double-cross you, and after you and he previously conned other marks, you become the mark without realizing it. Think White Men Can’t Jump. Current events have me trying to remember if there has ever been a movie in which one player is an insider on one con, while simultaneously being the mark in another con, involving some of the same players. I don’t mean a fake con, but 2 simultaneous real cons happening at the same time.

Instapundit has been asking “who is the rube” a lot lately. Very recently, Shannon Love at Chicago Boyz argued it’s time to play who is the rube on the issue of gay marriage. It’s clear that many gay marriage supporters believe President Obama has been lying about his opposition to gay marriage, and therefore believe that everyone who believed him has been the rube — but since Obama hasn’t tipped his hand on that issue yet, we don’t know. Assuming, for now, that the gay marriage supporters are right, that might explain how they could be “idiots” at the same time regarding another issue. Tigerhawk criticizes wealthy Obama supporters who are horrified to find out he really is a class warrior:

If you are going to be “rich,” be proud of it and only vote against your own pecuniary interests to achieve some collateral objective. You know, because you want to treat our traditional allies more respectfully or some such reason (bwahahaha!). Do not, please, be a moron and claim to be surprised when the dude’s actions in office closely mirror everything he stood for his entire life up until the last five months before the general election.

I think it is pretty clear that many of the rich, and even the working affluent, voted for Obama for just such collateral objectives, including culture war issues like gay marriage. Figuring that they had spotted the rubes in one context, they thought they couldn’t be the rubes on economic issues. But candidate Obama talked from both sides of his mouth on such issues. Somebody had to be the mark, and it turned out to be the folks with the cash.

Wow. This episode had a very big event at the end. Good episode, although in some ways it seemed a bit by-the-numbers. Plus, there was a revelation about “Sam,” with its own fallout. There really is only one story this week, with some interrelated subparts.

Exploding SUV

Jonas, Mack and Bob are chasing Russian terrorists in Los Angeles, and while doing so, they are contacted by Sam, who informs Jonas he is holding Molly hostage. Bob is dealing with an attractive Russian informant, and Kim and Tiffy call the police when they discovery Molly is missing and they do not believe Col. Ryan takes it seriously. Also another week with no Charles.
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Sometimes I blog something just so I can find it more easily in the future.  This is just for me (JFM).

Madrid’s solution to this lack of knowledge is to encourage Catholics to read one chapter of the Gospels and three paragraphs of the Catechism of the Catholic Church daily, noting that within one month people will notice a marked improvement in their understanding of the faith.

via Ten Reasons: Madrid’s solution.

A delightful must read.

Conversion Diary: A name for baby Joy – The diary of a former atheist.

I cannot read such things without my faith being strengthened.  Thank you Jennifer.

A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon a Facebook group prodding Sean Hannity to keep his promise to undergo waterboarding for charity. They describe themselves as follows:

Sean Hannity recently volunteered on his show to be waterboarded to raise money for the U S Troops and their families. I think this is a laudable cause and I, for one, appreciate his patriotism. Let’s all support Sean in this noble endeavor. I suggest that he make the funds he raises available to Fisher House, a highly rated charity that makes lodging available to 10,000 troop’s families every year. Go to Sean’s contact page and let him know how much you appreciate his volunteerism. And Please: Spread the Word! If Blogoshere [sic] can help Sarah Palin onto the Republican ticket, we can use it for the benefit of the troops as well.

via Facebook | Waterboard Sean Hannity for Charity.

This is why I have stayed away from the torture debate. In brief, I believe we did things that are terribly wrong, in particular by Catholic rules of ethics that I try to live by. But I also think some valid distinctions can and should be made, and have found that discussion of this subject is nearly impossible without being demonized by one side or the other.
This Facebook group is just one symbol of how low this debate has sunk. Among my friends on the left, most believe that we have tortured, that waterboardng is torture, and that George Bush and others in his administration are war criminals. This Facebook group, while somewhat light-hearted, is also clearly of the left, and I suspect its founders and many members also believe waterboarding to be torture.

Yet they urge that Sean Hannity undergo this ordeal. Hannity invited it. He is a blowhard and a self-promoting idiot. He seems to have made this pledge in an off-guard moment and is trying to slink away. I would not be surprised either way, if he decided to quietly back away or to stand up to his pledge. Of course, the more public attention is focused on his pledge and his failure to live up to it, the more pressure he will face to undergo waterboarding.

So this is where we are: the anti-waterboarding faction, the anti-torture partisans, are trying to convince a man to voluntarily experience what they denounce. If he backs off, they win. But if he caves to their pressure, what have they accomplished, and at what cost to themselves, to their souls? I am anti-torture, and of the right. I would welcome a chance to stand with those on the left for a common cause, but I cannot stand with such a group.

Another week with no Charles, and Mack stays home. Our 3 story lines are (1) Jonas and Bob undertake a 2-man mission in Hong Kong, (2) Molly and Susan Gillum get kidnapped by the Leon Drake gang, and (3) Mack and Tiffy discover that their older daughter is dating an older man.

Angry Mack Daddy

This is Witness.

A commencement, however, is supposed to be a joyous day for the graduates and their families. It is not the right place, nor is a brief acceptance speech the right vehicle, for engagement with the very serious problems raised by Notre Dame’s decision—in disregard of the settled position of the U.S. bishops—to honor a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church’s position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice.

Finally, with recent news reports that other Catholic schools are similarly choosing to disregard the bishops’ guidelines, I am concerned that Notre Dame’s example could have an unfortunate ripple effect.

It is with great sadness, therefore, that I have concluded that I cannot accept the Laetare Medal or participate in the May 17 graduation ceremony.

First Things » Blog Archive » Declining Notre Dame: A Letter from Mary Ann Glendon.

This is considered torture, and by some a constitutional violation:

In this procedure, the individual is bound securely to an inclined bench, which is approximately four feet by seven feet. The individual’s feet are generally elevated. A cloth is placed over the forehead and eyes. Water is then applied to the cloth in a controlled manner. As this is done, the cloth is lowered until it covers both the nose and mouth. Once the cloth is saturated and completely covers the mouth and nose, air flow is slightly restricted for 20 to 40 seconds due to the presence of the cloth. This causes an increase in the carbon dioxide level in the individual’s blood [that]… stimulates increased effort to breathe. This effort plus the cloth produces the perception of “suffocation and incipient panic,” i.e., the perception of drowning. … The sensation of drowning is immediately relieved by the removal of the cloth. . . .
We also understand that a medical expert with SERE experience will be present throughout this phase and that the procedures will be stopped if deemed medically necessary to prevent severe medical or physical harm to Zubaydah.

This is a constitutional right:

The primary form of abortion used at or after 16 weeks’ gestation is known as “dilation and evacuation” or “D&E.” 11 F. Supp. 2d 1099, 1103, 1129 (Neb. 1998). When performed during that stage of pregnancy, the D&E procedure requires the physician to dilate the woman’s cervix and then extract the fetus from her uterus with forceps. Id., at 1103; App. 490 (American Medical Association (AMA), Report of the Board of Trustees on Late-Term Abortion). Because of the fetus’ size at this stage, the physician generally removes the fetus by dismembering the fetus one piece at a time.3 11 F. Supp. 2d, at 1103—1104. The doctor grabs a fetal extremity, such as an arm or a leg, with forceps and “pulls it through the cervical os … tearing … fetal parts from the fetal body … by means of traction.” Id., at 1104. See App. 55 (testimony of Dr. Carhart). In other words, the physician will grasp the fetal parts and “basically tear off pieces of the fetus and pull them out.” Id., at 267 (testimony of Dr. Stubblefield). See also id., at 149 (testimony of Dr. Hodgson) (“[Y]ou grasp the fetal parts, and you often don’t know what they are, and you try to pull it down, and its … simply all there is to it”). The fetus will die from blood loss, either because the physician has separated the umbilical cord prior to beginning the procedure or because the fetus loses blood as its limbs are removed. Id., at 62—64 (testimony of Dr. Carhart); id., at 151 (testimony of Dr. Hodgson).4 When all of the fetus’ limbs have been removed and only the head is left in utero, the physician will then collapse the skull and pull it through the cervical canal. Id., at 106 (testimony of Dr. Carhart); id., at 297 (testimony of Dr. Stubblefield); Causeway Medical Suite v. Foster, 43 F. Supp. 2d 604, 608 (ED La. 1999). At the end of the procedure, the physician is left, in respondent’s words, with a “tray full of pieces.” App. 125 (testimony of Dr. Carhart).

Got that?

UPDATE: The Baseball Crank had a similar idea.

This episode seems to have left a lot of people scratching their heads, but I liked it. There were really just 2 stories, apart from the cold open, instead of the usual 3: Sam (Whiplash) attempts to rape Bridget (Red Cap), and flees; and Mack and Tiffy inherit a home in Western Springs, Wyoming, where Mack has a chance meeting with a troubled kidnapper in a local church. The opening shows the Unit — still minus Charles for reasons not fully explained — capturing an American Taliban in Afghanistan. Jonas, Mack, Bob and Sam each shoot one of his comrades, then easily take him into custody. As they load him into their truck, he boasts about how the unit is outmanned and outgunned and will never get away with him, just as a single US bomber destroys his base camp.

Bombing Run.

One note before continuing: the CBS site for “The Unit” calls this episode “Whipflash,” but most everyone else calls it “Whiplash.” I suppose CBS could make a mistake, but until there is confirmation of that I would consider CBS to be authoritative.
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