TWO friends of mine who are financial analysts have been following the polls closely since last summer. They believe the polls are wildly wrong because they overestimate voter turnout among Democrats. My friends have made two predictions:

1. Romney will win in a landslide,

2. Obama will become a talk show host.

I have tried to convince them that their predictions are overly optimistic, but have not succeeded.

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DANIEL S. writes:

It has been widely reported in the liberal press that discussion between the Vatican and the traditionalist Catholic group, the Society of Saint Pius X, has irrevocably broken down, with blame being placed on the SSPX for being retractable and reactionary. Reports of the demise of the ongoing dialogue have been greatly exaggerated. Indeed the Vatican is now awaiting the response from the traditionalist society concerning a doctrinal preamble submitted for their consideration. The SSPX has requested more time to review and consider the preamble, with the Vatican stating that the ongoing process must be met with patience and perseverance. It would seem neither side has abandoned dialogue. (more…)

P. SMITH writes:

Your recent articles on clothing piqued my interest. I’m an American who’s been living in Germany for many years. My wife and I have put four children through the excellent Bavarian school system.

I’m attaching two photographs which summarize the change in attitudes that has occurred in the West in the past century. The newer photo may be familiar from the recent strike in Chicago. The older photo, taken in 1925, is of the teaching staff at a Gymnasium (college prep high school) in Osnabrueck, in northwestern Germany. The painting behind the teachers, The Announcement of the Peace of Westphalia that ended the Thirty Years’ War, was destroyed by a bombing raid in 1942. On the wall at the right are the names of the school’s teachers and pupils who had been killed in the First World War. (more…)

THE GREAT Miami Hurricane of 1926 would cause $180 billion of damage if it were to strike today. Katrina cost $85 billion. Sandy is expected to cost $20 billion. Roger Pielke Jr., of the University of Colorado, argues that the U.S. has actually been extraordinarily lucky in recent years, contrary to alarmist statements by politicians eager to worsen fears related to global warming. Andrew Cuomo said this week,  “I think at this point it is undeniable but that we have a higher frequency of these extreme weather situations and we’re going to have to deal with it.” He is wrong.

Pielke writes in the Wall Street Journal:

While it’s hardly mentioned in the media, the U.S. is currently in an extended and intense hurricane “drought.” The last Category 3 or stronger storm to make landfall was Wilma in 2005. The more than seven years since then is the longest such span in over a century. (more…)

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LYDIA SHERMAN writes:

One of my concerns about the appearance of the advanced West is the clothing. In all fairness, it is not entirely the fault of the people. They buy what is manufactured and put on the rack in the stores. In the photograph you posted of the people in the city, well, some of them may have paid a lot of money for a pair of jeans and a hoodie. Others bought something very cheap or practically free at a big box store. These clothes are easily available, in great quantities; very visible in ads and store windows, in movies.

There are better styles but sometimes relegated to catalogs or more expensive stores, which can hardly survive the competition, which puts out tons of dull, puffy, stretchy, baggy, shapeless, androgynous, colorless clothing, and makes it visible from the windows of the stores.When people are not informed or educated about whether clothing is in good taste or not, they buy what is easiest to attain. (more…)

THE REV. James Jackson writes:

Here is an epitaph from an English headstone that I put in the bulletin for this coming Sunday; thought you might like it.

Here Lie I, Martin Elginbrodd;
Have mercy on my soul, Lord God,
As I would do, gin I were God
And thou wert Martin Elginbrodd.

A blessed All Souls Day to you.

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JAMES P. writes:

Elizabeth McBride writes:

Are you serious about the way New Yorkers are dressed after the worse storm in recorded history? Should they dress up in suits for the men, gowns and heels for the women?

I encourage everyone to search for images of past hurricanes — e.g., 1938, 1944, or 1954.

Here are images from the 1938 New England hurricane and its aftermath. How did they find time to dress?

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MEREDITH writes:

I too am saddened by the extreme casualness of our society’s dress. Just this past weekend, my daughter and I traveled to Dallas for a baby shower that was a tea party theme. Since we were going to Dallas (which tends to be much dressier than my city) I had assumed that the women would be better dressed than I, so I was sure to wear a nice, albeit homemade, dress (brown calico with a floral print) and my daughter who is six and a half years old, wore a bishop dress that I’d just finished sewing and smocking.

I nearly made myself blind to get the thing done in time for the shower, but it turned out beautifully. I was dismayed to see that most of the hostesses were wearing jeans, or short skirts and leggings with boots … only one was in a dress, but it was a leopard print and she wore it with black tights and four-inch heel pumps, which she complained were hurting her feet. (more…)

DON’T miss the extended discussion in this entry of ecclesiastical marriage and the rejection of state marriage licenses. Especially see these comments by Jeremy, who argues that Christians can no longer with good conscience participate in the civil institution of marriage.

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  JANE S. writes: Dennis Prager writes: “Same-sex marriage is the only social movement to break entirely with the past, to create a moral ideal never before conceived. . .. After all, you need a lot of self-esteem to hold yourself morally superior to all those who preceded you.” Dennis Prager doesn’t get it. To wipe out the accumulated social knowledge of the past is the goal of totalitarianism, not an incidental byproduct. That is what makes it so irresistible. Few people, it turns out, can pass up the opportunity to style themselves morally superior to every person who has ever lived.

AT Galliawatch, the writer Tiberge theorizes that Yoselyn Ortega, the Dominican nanny who killed two children in New York last week, was acting upon powerful, partly subconscious feelings of envy that emerged in sudden violence against the two children. In that case, the murders would not be, as I said, “incomprehensible” psychotic or demonic acts. Tiberge speculates that the nanny’s envy may have been worsened by the kindness of the Krims, who even went so far as to visit Ortega’s family in the Dominican Republic and gave her expensive gifts.

Tiberge makes an interesting comparison. When she worked as a city public school teacher, her students, whom I believe were largely nonwhite, had more, not less, hostility toward her when she was especially kind to them. She writes:

One thing I learned in the public schools is that the kinder and more familiar you are with the kids, the more they hate you. They hate your kindness because in their mind you are supposed to hate them so that they can hate you. When you remove any justification for their hatred they may get even. Crazy, but true.

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