Predictions from the Gods
So, whacko Pat Robertson is now channeling predictions from "God" for 2007. I bet he thinks he's a bona-fide prophet now.
Fine. I'll play along. Here's mine, from my "sources":
Fine. I'll play along. Here's mine, from my "sources":
- Terror: Any terror attacks on US soil will be performed by domestic terrorists from either white supremacist or religious right (theocrat Dominionist) movements. They will be covered up in the mainstream press by the administration, who caters to them, but the brutal deaths of several thousand people (albeit all brown, gay, Jewish, or liberal) will come out. The targets will be in "godless liberal" areas.
- Quakes: There have been several "small" but noticeable quakes on the Hayward? fault near Berkeley. This will continue, culminating in a 7.0 around August. The fundies will call it "gods retribution on the godless liberal bastion of Berkeley". Few people will die, but lots of buildings will be shaken, stirred, and condemned. Other places in the world will not fare as well.
- Iraq: The war in Iraq will continue to escalate, with Iraqi factions shooting and blowing up each other and our troops. No one will have the political balls to pull us out and tell them to go to hell in their own hand-basket. Eventually, three states will emerge from the chaos, and probably merge with their neighboring compatriots. Iraq, as a nation, will be no more.
- Presidential race: In the already crowded field of presidential candidates, no one currently is a solid front-runner. This will change, in both parties, but who it is will actually surprise a lot of pundits and "experts". A person from a third party will switch to one of the big two, and bring his/her agenda and fans with them.
- Housing: The housing market bust will deepen and spread, leading to much crying among yuppies, but a lot of relief for the rest of us who are priced out of the market. The feds will try to shore it up, but fail miserably, making the true bottom even deeper than it would have been otherwise.
- NewTech: No new breakthroughs on the biomedical front, but a much ignored new fuel/power technology will start gaining stealth traction "under the radar", and go mainstream to a chorus of "duh" around November. The Bush administration and Congress will take "credit" for it, which will be bullshit, of course.
- Economy: Besides the bungling with the housing crash, the economy will act like a yoyo on crack. Buying and selling stocks in any short term will be like playing russian roulette.
- Petrochemicals: Gas will briefly hit $4 a gallon, and then the corporate Republican stooges will get caught with their hands in the cookie jar (and the consumers pockets). Trials will be scheduled for next year. In the meantime, about 100 people will die because of greedy bastards gaming the fuels market. They will never be acknowledged by the mainstream media
- Securitat: The "roundup" and incarceration of suspected "illegals" and "terrorists" will continue, to increasing, but ignored, outrage from liberal human rights advocates. The profits from this will continue to roll into the prison industry's pockets, and thence to lobbyists. It will only get blown wide open when a "sweep" picks up a few influential people's kids "slumming" - sometime in 2008.
- Religion: Non-Christian religions will continue to make strides in our society, including using the rabid Christians own "war for public religion" against them. The screaming from the theocratic Christians will get more shrill, as they are hoist on their own petards. They will also get more militant and violent. They will also find out that not all non-Christians are pacifists. Look for religious based skirmishes this summer.
- Health care: much sound and fury, but not much will change. The situation will continue to deteriorate, with the gap between the insured and the uninsured getting wider. People will start dying more noticeably, many more people will "know somebody" who died because of lack of insurance or inadequate insurance. A low level anger will grow, albeit slowly.
- Global warming: Like a thief in the night, little consequences will pile up, but nothing dramatic this year. The general shrugging will commence, but some people will get badly screwed by it, and will be ignored - for now. The snowball continues to roll.
- North Korea: House of cards. The wind that blows it down will come from an unexpected place. Afterward, it will still be a danger to its neighbors, and the world, but only due to chaos.
- Bird flu: Not this year. Yes, there will be a couple micro-pandemics, but not from avian flu. Something more familiar and ordinary will mutate and be a surprise killer. These will be hushed up by the government and the lapdog press to avoid "panic", and if allowed to be buried may turn into something bigger, not contained and thus more deadly.
- Rights: Not a great improvement. The slide will be slowed, but not stopped. There is still a lot of kick to the legislating morality crowd. Denying equality or any rights to those who are "different" - gay, poly, or liberal - by tyranny of the simple majority will still be popular.
- Supreme Court: The new supreme court will demur on a lot of things as it sorts itself out after the first politically motivated flush. The ideologues and the pragmatists will have some interesting arguments, and the Bush babies will be burning a lot of midnight oil reading and thinking about precedent and principles. The shifts and spectrum of rulings will surprise a lot of people, especially the 'conservatives' that thought they had tame lap dogs. One of the worst social conservative judges, not the oldest, will keel over suddenly, and the Democrat controlled congress will only pass a moderate.