PREDICTIONS!!!

As everybody else is doing it, I guess I need to post some predictions for the New Year.
Let's start with the serious ones:

1. Defunding the War; As much as they might want to, the Democrats in congress cannot simply call the troops home. It would be political suicide for those "moderate" Democrats who either got reelected because they looked and sounded tough on the war or got elected for the first time when voters held their noses ad pulled the switch marked "Dem" instead of "Rep". Look to see the House Democratic leadership talk like they are tough on defense but in fact the money they will appropriate will be for "non-combat related" issues. This will be to force President Bush to start a pull out of combat and support troops. Frankly I am of a mixed mind on this one; I thought the war was necessary when we invaded Iraq much as invading Italy in 1943 was necessary when the Soviets wanted a second front and insisted we invade northern Europe but we weren't ready to attempt that. I still think we will be fighting Islamic fundamentalist Jihadists (funny but one of the words that MS Word wants to replace Jihadist with is "Nihilist" and that might be more appropriate) but I fear we will be fighting them here and not overseas. In the end I hope we don't abandon the Kurds like we did the Vietnamese hill tribes when be bugged out in 1975. As far as a pull out is concerned, if we don't revamp our strategy to win and go on the offensive then we should get the troops out. Simply being a bulls-eye for Shiite snipers and suicide-bombers is guaranteed to destroy their morale and we will need the military again elsewhere some time in the near future.
2. Along with the congress defunding the war overseas, look to see the mainstream media ratchet up what I am terming "sympathy for those poor victims; the soldiers". We will start to see more and more press that emphasizes how terribly we are treating those poor soldiers who come home injured and distraught. There will be a number of stories on "post-war syndrome" soldiers who cannot reenter our society with out thinking of the war and how unjust it was. The fact that this military is overwhelmingly for the war and behind President Bush won't matter. They will find a few soldiers who will parrot the lefty line and we will see them splashed all over the TV. We are already hearing Rep. Rangel's outcry about how the military is overwhelmingly minorities (a falsehood that has been disproved a number of doesn't but the truth doesn't seem to matter with this one). The intent of this effort will be to convince the civilian populace that "the only moral thing to do is to Bring Those Poor Kids Home". I'm not sure how well this will work with the internet and the number of military bloggers who are telling a much different story than the one the mainstream media is telling.
3. If we start to pull combat troops from Iraq look to see the war in Afghanistan to get much hotter as Iran will push more money to the Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants. There will be a resurgence of "insurgents" there and we will start to see stories about how our troops there are fighting for the wrong side. There will be expose style stories about how unpopular Hamid Kharzi is etc...
4. Once the number of combat troops reaches a low enough level in Iraq the "insurgents" will stage an offensive similar to the 1968 Tet offensive. They will be soundly beaten militarily but the mainstream media will push it otherwise. Look to hear Katie Couric state that "the war is lost" or something ridiculous that can be repeated ad naseum. Again this one might backfire on them as there are too many people who will disprove this statement with blogs.
5. I was going to say that Charlie Rangel was going to introduce a "restore the draft" resolution but I think this will only happen if the military actually asks for more combat soldiers. He is too crafty a politician to pull that stunt twice. He knows it will fail.
6. Look for discussion of impeachment hearings before March 15.
7. One of the things I meant to add earlier was that the Democrat controlled congress will attempt to grant terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay constitutional rights and remove the threat of military tribunal proceedings from them.
8. Look to see a start of all sorts of "Green Laws" that will supposedly make our environment cleaner and safer. Whether they actually do make things cleaner or safer will be debatable but they will make things much more expensive.
9. Gas will hit $3.00 per gallon by November '07. (It's currently at $2.07 / gallon on the Indy west side 12/31/06).
10. By December '07 we will be talking about the impending recession for '08. I don't have any sort of hard facts on this one, only a gut feeling that Wall Street will take a breather soon.
11. Mortgage interest rates will climb towards %10 by December '07. (currently a 30 year fixed w/ zero points is %5.75 to 6.75 in Indianapolis on 12/31/06).
12. The House will push a bill that essentially does not change anything on immigration except for creating an amnesty/path to citizenship for millions of illegal aliens. Sadly the Republicans will do NOTHING to stop this fiasco. This will be the single worst effect of electing Democrats to power in '06. As a nation, we will regret not getting tough on our borders for years to come.
13. All of this will mean a resurgence of conservative Republicans by the end of '07 heading into the election year.
14. The elections will heat up and actually be fun to watch. I am betting Hilary will make a huge mistake next year and cause all the pundits to switch their "support" to Obama. Watch out though, she is way to smart to fail that early. I have always said that she would switch to become a conservative republican if she thought that would get her elected.
    
    Ok, now for some lighter but still important one.

1. The Colts will not make the Super Bowl in '07. They will win a first round playoff game but they won't make it past the second round (Baltimore?) and certainly will not beat San Diego if they get that far. I predict that next year's version will be all about the defense and will bury people through the season. Final record: 14-2 and will earn a first round bye and home field advantage. They will sweep the playoffs with a 14 point win advantage and be heavily favored in the '08 Super Bowl.
2. Not that I really care but the Pacers will not make the '07 playoffs. Someone on the team will shoot someone else (not on the team) and get arrested. Man this team in embarrassing.
3. The IU/Purdue basketball games might actually be enjoyable again.
4. Butler will make the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tourney. They will be the ONLY Indiana team to do so.
5. For the 17th year in a row, I will successfully boycott Major league baseball. I won't even read the box scores (I don't get a daily paper any more so I would have to look it up online and I won't go to the trouble). I will visit our local minor league ball park a few times though, that is way too much fun.
6. I will lose 20 pounds this year (hopefully I won't immediately find them again and place them back where they were.)
7. I predict that I will blog more but less seriously than last year.
8. My parents will successfully celebrate 50 years of married bliss in June. Hopefully we will have a successful blow-out party.
9. I will be proud of my daughter in all she does.
10. I will love my wife more than this year.