- North Korean people arise and kick off the new leader. Army takes the rule. Civil war with the aid of South Korea.
- Cuban rulers give up and the country returns to a democracy
- Kurdistan is declared independent again in the territories of northern Iraq. Severe unrest among Kurds in Iran, Syria and Turkey
- Palestine is declared independent

What else?

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I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

-Iraq goes into total civil, sectarian war and ends up back where they were prior to the Bush invasion.
-Barack Obama wins a second term as President of the United States
-Democrats take back control of the US House of Representatives
-Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin divorce their husbands and become Lesbian lovers
-Newt Gringrich hears of it and asks them both out for a date, at the same time
-Mitt Romney hears of Newts offer and accepts as long as the girls don't join them
-Pakistan gets upset over the civil government trying to overtake the military and blows itself up with a nuclear weapon at a shopping mall
-Palestinians learn of the Estonian Singing Revolution and win their independence from Israel by singing their national anthem over and over and over and over and over again for the 10,000th time
-Peace and Good Will reigns the World and we all love each other and wish each other well

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"Always wash your hands and say your prayers for germs and Jesus are everywhere." -Naomi Judd

the usa gets rid of the united nations and builds a giant addition to central park that goes down to the water.

for creature comfort, the tsa is disbanded and people can now eat cupcakes while boarding a plane.

Same stuff, different date.

This was a popular song 50 years ago, still holds true.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8-BI89mb9A

WOW! Some so optimistic and some so pesimistic.
I guess the answer is blowing in the wind.

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Though lovers be lost, love shall not, and Death shall have no dominion. - Dylan Thomas

Did somebody Fart?

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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle

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I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

While I disagree with much of T.L. Hobbs' political philosophy, I do agree that his post showed class - at least as it relates to a positive sense of humor. But JJ's contribution, boys and girls, is an example of a post with no class at all.

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“Arrogance is a creature. It does not have senses. It has only a sharp tongue and the pointing finger.” Toba Beta

More serious UFO sightings around the earth.

I. On the Bright Side:

1. The world does NOT end in December of 2012. (Never mind that the Mayan prophecy is for the end of an era or a recurring period of time...not the world itself).

2. Agree with earlier prediction that Obama will win re-election. The social conservatives and Tea Party types can win Republican primaries and possibly the nomination, but they are the minority view in a minority party. They cannot win a general election. As for those of a somewhat more moderate (read that as "grounded in reality") persuasion: Gingrich has a lot of baggage, and Romney has a long record of changing his mind to suit the political expediency of time and place.

Caveat: if the world economy tanks again, even things beyond Obama's influence, like a European collapse, the door will be open.

3. Democrats take the House of Reps.

4. Europe will stabilize. Hopefully with some concrete and long term steps to give markets confidence.

5. The USA will begin to take halting steps to address its own long-term debt. This is no accomplishment really. If Obama wins, he need merely allow the Bush tax cuts to expire, and trillions are saved over the following decade. More steps like changes to entitlements to follow.


II. On the Not-so-bright side:

1. Confrontation with Iran: it may be triggered by toughened sanctions from the West and the Iranian's closing the Hormuz Straits, an Israeli or a US/NATO strike on their nuclear program.
At best: increasingly tense standoff At worst: limited war.

2. Mirroring some predictions listed above: there will be continued sectarian strife in Iraq...will it lead to civil warfare? If so, Iraq becomes another Lebanon, divided by her more powerful neighbors into spheres of influence....or...a new strongman emerges: there were the Assyrians, the Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Parthians (Persians by any other name), Caliphs, Ottomans, British Mandate, Monarchs, dictators, Saddam....and so we go, full circle, back to the New Saddam. Nature despises a vacuum.

3. Related to #2 above: Republicans will accuse Obama of "losing Iraq". Nevermind that if the USA made it plain that we were going to stay, Al Sadr would have resumed the insurgency....nevermind that if the USA stayed for 50 years, or for 100 years, the power struggle would resume on the 51st year, or the 101st year...internal tranquility or chaos is in the hands of Iraqis, not the hands of Americans. Republicans wanted to stay for their own reasons (hint....oil).

4. More elements of the Syrian army will defect to the protest movement. The Syrian economy will falter under increasing pressure from the Arab League and other international pressures. Civil war is likely.

5. Republicans take the US Senate.

6. Oil prices will rise as the world economy starts to grow faster. North Americans will learn to live with as high as 5.00/gallon gas. This is just the beginning...



III. Same-Old, Same-Old:

1. No progress towards peace in Israel/Palestine. "Settlements" to continue to grow. A fascinating, if deadly experiment. The one thing that all sides agree is that the status quo cannot endure...yet no one knows how to remove the fuse from the powder-keg.

2. Some new dark prediction of "the end times" will replace the Mayan fiasco.

3. The world will not act aggressively to halt global warming, in the face of mounting evidence (like the methane hydrate gasification in the Russian Arctic) that we are nearing the point-of-no-return.

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"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless, and do no wrong". (Knight's Oath, Kingdom of Heaven)

For you, HWNN:

Buffalo wins the Superbowl.

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"The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program." - Ronald Reagan

Leonard knows...

The Future

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Sanity is not statistical

jacobusmaximus wrote:


Actually you are right (don't tell anyone I said so!)

There is the matter of UDI - but look what happened to Rhodesia!
(Historical note: Rhodesia declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain, somewhere around 1960 if I remember rightly.) It is strange talking about things I remember as 'history'.
Rhodesia did not do well after that (Conservative British Understatement) and no longer exists as a country.

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Though lovers be lost, love shall not, and Death shall have no dominion. - Dylan Thomas

I have just seen a Discovery channel program about this. The conclusion drawn from the assorted boffins was that the likeliest effect is a disruption to communications caused by the sun entering one of its active periods.
Of course, the threat of volcanos, collisions etc is always with us, but no more likely this year than in any year.
Make your plans for Christmas and the New Year now.

Someone might do that, but only over my dead body.

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I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

(...laughs) ...no, not too late!

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*It's wonderful to know that all languages are Greek if not understood.*

I think some hints would help:

¿ = R
£ = T
^ = Y

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*It's wonderful to know that all languages are Greek if not understood.*

Oh, Jeech, you gave it away!

There would probably be a lot of dead bodies - not just Jyrkkä Jätkä's.

A sort of Universal Soldier you mean?

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Though lovers be lost, love shall not, and Death shall have no dominion. - Dylan Thomas