Notes to self

 

1.  If you find an old bottle of Miralax, don't assume that just because it's old, it may not work as well as a fresh product would.

2.  Having taken a dose of the old Miralax that morning, don't assume that just because nothing is moving by that evening, it's definitely not working properly.

3.  Even though you think the Miralax isn't working properly, don't unthinkingly take two stool softener tablets that same evening to "hurry things along".

4.  When you wake earlier than usual next morning, and spend the next half-an-hour or so disgorging quantities of the usual, you have nobody to blame but yourself.

5.  When this is repeated later that morning, with even more disgorgement, you still have nobody to blame but yourself.

6.  Notwithstanding your despair, don't even think about buying a cork or a plug, because it would probably end up dislodged with about the same chamber pressure as a firearm cartridge (producing equally explosive, albeit less sanitary results).

7.  By evening, sad and sore, engrave the memories of this day upon your mind so that you don't do it again!

That is all . . .

Peter

Diesel fuel and overall inflation

 

Ed D'Agostino points out that skyrocketing diesel prices will impact our entire economy.  It's not the President's fault, nor the Republican Party - it's conditioned by many events all around the world - but it's going to affect all of us.

Unless you own a trucking company, run a farm, operate heavy equipment, or drive a really big pickup truck, you may not have noticed how expensive diesel has become.

On September 15, AAA’s national average diesel price was $6.27 a gallon, compared with about $3.69 a year ago— a roughly 70% increase ... a 70% increase in a single year is an enormous shock to the economy.

Even if diesel prices were to fall from here, the shock will be working its way into grocery bills, freight charges, construction costs and home heating bills for many months.

. . .

What is unique about diesel, and why is its price outpacing oil and gasoline?

EIA expects U.S. distillate inventories (the category that includes diesel and heating oil) to fall below 100 million barrels in October, for the first time since 2003, and remain below the five-year range through the first quarter of 2027.

At the same time, refiners were already running at about 98% of capacity in late August, the highest utilization rate since 2018. In one sense that’s good news: refineries are responding to high prices by making more fuel.

The problem is they are already running near full capacity. That leaves less room to offset another supply disruption: an outage, a hurricane, a refinery accident or a further escalation of conflicts in the Middle East and Russia/Ukraine.

There may not be much relief coming. Several refiners have delayed planned maintenance to keep their refineries operating. At some point, they have to do the maintenance or risk an unplanned failure. Industry executives warn that diesel and heating-oil markets could remain tight well into next year, even if the Iran conflict ends.

. . .

For millions of households, winter means heating oil bills. Heating oil and diesel come from the same distillate pool. The differences are minimal, coming down to dyes for color and additives to help with either engine combustion or tank storage. You can run a diesel engine on heating oil, and you can fire your oil furnace with diesel.

. . .

Last winter, I relied primarily on oil to heat my New England home. It was a cold winter. On many days the electric heat pump did not make economic sense. Oil was the cheaper option.  A typical monthly oil delivery was about 150 gallons and cost around $550.

A 60% increase would put a delivery to my home at roughly $900. Ouch!  Thankfully, I can pay it.  It won’t change my lifestyle.  But for many, it will force hard decisions and uncomfortable compromises.  If you are on a fixed income or living paycheck-to-paycheck, an increase like that is a serious problem. 

For them, from their very real perspective, inflation will be sky high.

There's more at the link.

I'm worried that many voters will blame the Republican Party and President Trump for this, and punish them at the polls this fall.  Sure, some of the blame is undoubtedly theirs, but a great deal also belongs to the Democratic Party and his predecessor, who "kicked the can down the road" for four years before his inauguration and did little or nothing to stop Iran's adventurism (particularly using Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis as proxies in their ongoing war with Israel).  If President Trump was right about the threat Iran made to him concerning nuclear weapons, he had no choice but to act right away, without delay.  A nuclear threat from intransigent religious fanatics can't be dealt with in any other way.  However, people with hurting bank balances and empty wallets won't stop to consider that - they'll vote their pain, not something they can't directly and immediately feel for themselves.

I think we're in for a rocky ride until the elections . . .

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 329

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

The Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal claims yet more victims

 

Thanks to the damage wrought to its finances, the Fresno Diocese of the Catholic Church has just told its pensioners that they're screwed - financially, this time.

Retired Fresno Diocese employees will no longer receive retirement benefits starting next year.

Hundreds of former employees are now left scrambling over what to do with their financial future now up in the air.

In a letter to retirees last month, the diocese said the retirement plan was frozen at the end of June.

The church says they contributed the agreed-upon amount negotiated in employee contracts,

But the diocese says Christian Brothers Services, the company responsible for managing the money, is the reason there isn’t enough to continue payments.

The diocese says it explored legal options to transfer the money into a retirement plan of their own. But said that plan would not be possible with the church filing for bankruptcy.

The church is facing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit involving more than 150 claims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

There's more at the link.

I don't have to tell you how sick to my stomach this news makes me feel.  I've written extensively about how I experienced the clergy sex abuse scandal, and how it's almost destroyed the faith of countless good people (see the partial list of my articles on that subject in the sidebar, particularly this one).  This is just the latest episode in a very sordid story.  However, the fact that the Fresno diocese is willing to throw their pensioners to the wolves - people who devoted years of their lives, if not their entire working career. to the service of the Church - is the clearest possible indication that many of the hierarchy are still protecting their own backside(s) (collectively and individually).  They don't appear to really, truly care who else suffers, just as long as their positions are protected.  The Fresno diocese's attitude - and remember, actions speak louder than words - appears to be, "Are our retirees going to starve, or be unable to pay their medical bills, because we've stopped paying their pensions?  Well, let them!  We have more important uses for that money!"

Analyzing the overall situation, the National Catholic Reporter didn't mince its words.

The legal processes accomplish what they are designed to do, exact a bit of retribution on behalf of victims. They do not, however, restore or transform survivors. They don't erase haunting, debilitating memories. And they do little to address the most searing questions for which the faithful still await an answer: How did this happen? How could the chief shepherds allow the most vulnerable in the flock to be preyed upon?

As Charles Nadeau, a court-appointed representative of survivors, explained: "Bankruptcy is not inherently unjust ... But when applied to clergy sexual abuse, it risks becoming something else — a substitute for moral accountability."

The San Francisco Archdiocese, faced with a $359 million settlement to hundreds of victims of sexual abuse by clergy, explained that its distribution of financial pain among its parishes was essential to "enabling our local church to emerge from bankruptcy and move beyond this difficult chapter in our history."

The wish to "move beyond this difficult chapter," entirely dependent on heavily taxing those who had nothing to do with creating the problem, is a telling sentiment.

. . .

... it wasn't "the church collectively" that did this. It was the clerical/hierarchical culture. That culture has yet to collectively square up with the reality that the abuse crisis in the church was a betrayal of the community at a sacramental level. It is a level of betrayal that can't occur in any other circumstance.

. . .

The cold reality is that the laity are left to foot the bill, financially and otherwise, for the depraved behavior of their bishops. They are left with struggling parishes, diminished resources for ministry, and the church's loss of credibility in the wider culture.

We know now that the coverup was not the work of an isolated bishop; it was not the province of liberals or conservatives. It was the result of a hierarchical culture that had developed in a way that allowed its members to think they were above reproach or accountability for even the most egregious behavior.

. . .

The bishops need ... a full-on, uncompromising, unadorned examination of the sinful and criminal activity of their predecessors, of the culture they've inherited that allowed such sin and crime to fester for so long.

Again, more at the link.

I get very angry when I hear anyone claiming to speak with or from the "moral authority of the Church".  Christ has all the moral authority there is, in this world and the next.  However, his Church on earth has, through the actions (and inactions) of its leaders, effectively so betrayed his moral authority, been so derelict in its duty to the people of God, that for many of the faithful, it has abrogated any claim to represent him.  Millions (literally) have left the Church over this crisis, and millions more will doubtless follow suit, unless and until its leaders "clean house".  So far, they've signally failed to do so.

May Almighty God have mercy on all our souls . . .

Peter

A new book from someone you already know well

 

My wife Dorothy has published several books as "Dorothy Grant".  They've been well received by her reading audience (which, of course, includes most of you . . . right?)

She's decided to tackle some books that are more adult-oriented than most of our previous output.  However, she doesn't want to put off those who are used to her previous style of writing.  They might object to the new, more "robust" tone of this book, so she's publishing it under a pseudonym, Summer Grayling.  There'll probably be more to follow under that pen-name.

Her first novel under this pseudonym, "True Colours", has just been published.  I think of it as a magical-fantasy tactically-correct quasi-romance, and I really like it!

The blurb reads:

Jan Van Der Vaart is a legend. The focus of his magical Talent is pain, and he's spent years in the military, then as a mercenary, making terrorists, cartels, and governments fear him. Finally, he carved out a safe haven for other Talents, and tried to retire... until one last job, cracking a black lab snatching Talents off the streets, went sideways. He's left staggering down a rainy coastal highway, thumb out and hoping he'll catch a lift before the kill team realizes they missed...

Aurelia Brinati is on the run. Having escaped five years of hell as an unwilling lab rat, she has a stolen car and a plan to hide from pursuers by taking passage on a cargo ship headed anywhere else in the world. When she picks up a stray sailor headed the same way, she rapidly discovers she's out of her depths... and safe in the heart of the storm.

The entire world fears him... except her. Powers are gathering to recapture Aurelia, but they'd best beware. Jan and his friends will do whatever it takes to keep her safe... whether it's murder, mayhem, or last-minute shopping runs to find something called cream of tartar for her snickerdoodle cookies.

I happen to think my wife is a better writer than I am.  I've really enjoyed all her books, and I'm very proud of her for achieving such success.  She was, I think, a bit nervous that I might be offended by some of the so-called "adult" bits in this book, but no, not at all.  She handles them with what I might call "enthusiastic restraint";  nothing excessively anatomical, if you will, but nevertheless real.  I'm already re-reading "True Colours" for the second time, and enjoying it all over again.

I hope you'll give this book a try.  I think you'll like it.  There are more coming from her in similar vein, so watch this space for details!

Peter

(P.S.:  Yes, I know she's chosen the name of a fish for her pseudonym.  It made us both giggle!  It's highly appropriate for this book, being set so much at sea.)