Signs and Wonders 12.05

It’s a baby. We don’t go for tabloid journalism here at WORLD, so this will likely be the first and last time you’ll hear us report that Prince William and Kate Middleton are having a baby, but I couldn’t resist noting that one liberal website slipped up and called the baby, well, a baby. Pro-abortion folk typically resist recognizing the humanity of the unborn child, but the liberal news site Gawker did just that when it tweeted: “CONFIRMED: THERE IS A HUMAN BEING GROWING INSIDE KATE MIDDLETON #baby #baby #baby.”

Bungee jump. John Podhoretz writes in the New York Post: “Republicans have a bad hand to play when it comes to the ‘fiscal cliff’ coming up Jan. 1. Did I say a bad hand? Make that a terrible hand. It’s like getting a 3, a 5, a 7, a 10 and a Jack in poker. Only in this game, you can’t trade in any cards—or fold.” He goes on to say that “polls show Republicans will take the blame if fiscal-cliff negotiations fail.” All of which is why some folks are talking about a “bungee jump” off the fiscal cliff. In other words, Congress will allow the country to go over the cliff but then immediately write legislation to mitigate the worst effects. Ethan Harris, an economist with Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, has called that the “most dangerous idea in Washington,” in part because no one can guarantee what will be in the mitigating legislation. If going over the fiscal cliff is bad, there’s no guarantee that this dysfunctional Congress won’t make it worse, not better, with subsequent legislation.

Dirty little secret. The New Mexico Medical Board (NMMB) filed a suit against a late-term abortionist alleging she committed gross negligence for aborting a 35-week-old preborn baby outside a hospital. The NMMB is accusing abortionist Shelley Sella of ignoring the woman’s medical history, which would have disqualified her from having the induction abortion. Sella, according to the NMMB, also overused a uterine stimulant to increase the severity of the woman’s contractions until her uterus ruptured, according to Operation Rescue. A hearing in the case was held last Thursday in Albuquerque. Full-term abortions are currently legal in New Mexico, a practice Operation Rescue president Troy Newman describes as a “dirty little secret.” Even worse, Newman says, “The government often pays for these late-term abortions.”

Unemployment decisions. According to a Rasmussen survey released this week, more Americans than ever, 39 percent, think people who can’t find work for an extended period of time should be dropped from the unemployment rolls. Only 8 percent feel their unemployment benefits should be extended indefinitely, down 4 points from October and tying the all-time low finding in over two years of regular surveying. Thirty-two percent of adults believe the government should pay for their retraining, tying April’s high. Just12 percent think the government should hire the long-term unemployed.