Going on Record: 2005

What the heck, I'll jump in with the rest of the crowd and put my reputation "on the line" and try to predict what trends are going to be seen for 2005. Well, first off I'll admit to no expertise in this area, and that a lifetime of marching to a somewhat different beat has not given me any great ability to predict the movements of the rest of humanity.

Let's start with the obvious:

• The MSM and Democrats will continue picking nits wherever they can, raising baseless and innumerate claims to try to discredit the White House
• Several sports celebrities will be caught using drugs (performance enhancing or just illegal).
• We just had a Mom acting as surrogate mother for her granddaughter. Ethical challenges (oddities) presented by the medical community will give us new "wonders" to behold.
• The left/right split in this country will remain annoying and get more pronounced. Few, if any, will put any effort into understanding the issue preferring to rub salt/worry the wound compounding the problem.

And then I'll go out on a limb:

• Al Qaeda and the insurgency will dwindle and fail in Iraq. By the end of the year, Iraq will be a different place than today, quiet and optimistic. With few exceptions the MSM and our "loyal opposition" will never say they were wrong, but just dive in on some other "burning issue" and never admit to their mistaken view of the situation.
• The Iranian mullah's will take a tumble or at least be required to re-trench.
• Bush will push his SS reform through, but the compromises required will hamstring it so it will be as bad or worse than doing nothing. This hamstringing will be thought by the "loyal opposition" as a moral victory. The idea that bad national policy is not good for anyone will not occur to them.