Signs and Wonders 11.05

Brooklyn, Brooklyn, take me in. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg canceled the New York City Marathon because it would be a strain on the city’s police department and others involved in Superstorm Sandy recovery. But over the weekend he refused help from the National Guard, apparently because they carry guns. The dustup came when Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz asked for more help than New York’s finest could give. Markowitz praised the NYPD and FDNY as “brave—but overwhelmed.” Bloomberg disagreed. “We don’t need it,” he said last Wednesday at a press conference. “The NYPD is the only people we want on the street with guns.”

Final look at the polls. Nate Silver on his New York Times FiveThirtyEight blog this morning gives President Obama an 86 percent chance of winning. Real Clear Politics also gives Obama a narrow edge in electoral votes, 303 to 235 (270 is needed to win). Intrade, the online betting site, says Obama has around a 65 percent chance of winning. As of Monday morning, every major poll released in the past week has Obama ahead or tied with Romney. On Saturday alone, we saw four new polls in must-win Ohio. All four had Obama ahead. So, does all of this mean Obama actually will win? Of course not. But paying attention to these statistics is important because comparing them to the final results teaches a very important lesson: who we can—or, more importantly, who we cannot—trust. By the way, George Will and Michael Barone have predicted not just a Mitt Romney win, but a Romney landslide. Given the closeness of the polls, a landslide is an interesting call. Even conservative pollster Scott Rasmussen said that anyone who says they know the outcome is either seriously deluded or intentionally lying. On Tuesday night we’ll know if these guys have officially achieved legendary “wise man” status, or whether they’ve become partisan hacks.

Maryland marriage. A Maryland ballot initiative to legalize same-sex “marriage” has lost steam. For most of this campaign cycle, the initiative looked like it would pass. But in the past week the tide has turned, and supporters of traditional marriage now lead by a point. Apparently television ads from the Maryland Marriage Alliance have made a difference there. There’s also been a reaction to the suspension of Dr. Angela McCaskill, a Gallaudet University official who supported traditional marriage. Bishop Harry Jackson told CitizenLink, “A lot of people, including the African-American community, are saying, ‘Wait a minute, [the same-sex ‘marriage’ law] is going to have a lot of unintended consequences. The moral issues, and the backlash, and the persecution [of McCaskill] all make folks more engaged.”

Bragging about abortions. Speaking of Superstorm Sandy, a Falls Church, Va., abortion center bragged about not letting Sandy shut it down. The Falls Church Healthcare Clinic told supporters that in the aftermath of the storm “we got in around 5:30 a.m., [and] there [was] two inches of water in the surgery room, water on the carpets, two offices totally soaked, water leaking in from our large windows. We put out hundreds of towels and started mopping up. … We started seeing patients at 10 a.m.” The Live Action blog asked a sensible question: “On what planet is it safe to perform surgery under those conditions? Falls Church Healthcare Center does indeed perform first-trimester surgical abortions, presumably in their surgery room, which was flooded with two-plus inches of water.” Such conditions usually require more than a quick drying out. Issues of mold and other forms of contamination are common after such floods. According to the Live Action blog, “Operating rooms generally are supposed to be sterile. But apparently that’s not an issue when abortions need to be performed. Time and again, abortionists prove that they aren’t interested in the ‘safe’ part of ‘safe, legal, and rare’ mantra that they tout so frequently. If it comes between making their blood money and the safety of women, the money will come first each time.”