Happy New Year!

Last January 1st, I came out with some predictions for 2006 -- it's time to see how I did. In reverse order:

6) Britney Spears and Kevin Federline will have marriage problems.
That one was too easy.
5) With all the documents being leaked, among those that won't be leaked will be the initial OPLAN for Operation Iraqi Freedom, since it would show that the current timetable for the drawing down of the occupation is essentially following the original plan.
I kinda got this one wrong, although it wasn't "leaked" -- it was put out in the Iraq Study Group Report. No one really noticed, though.
4) The Democrats will gain a few seats in the 2006 mid-term elections, which will be the most expensive and nasty mid-term elections ever. Despite the fact that the party in power essentially always loses congressional seats in the 6th year of an administration, the MSM will portray it as a referendum on Iraq.
Another one I didn't really get right, although I think the effect of conservatives voting against Republican candidates for reasons other than Iraq was more important that it was made out to be. I was right about the Dems gaining seats, and the nastiness and expense, but those were pretty much givens.
3) Despite the dire warnings of the German press, the U.S. will not invade Iran.
Not only was I right, I'm making the same prediction for 2007, and I'll still be right.
2) Despite the hopes of moonbats everywhere, President Bush and Vice President Cheney will not be impeached.
See #3 above.
1) Somewhere, a submarine will make national news. It won't be for something good.
This is another one in the "not really right" category, but it requires some explanation. The hazing scandal on USS Columbus and the recent tragic deaths of submariners on the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul weren't good, but they didn't really last in the national news more than one news cycle. (Surprisingly, the USS Columbus story didn't really hit the national press at all, which was nice.) The two stories about submarines that seemed to make the biggest impressions on the national media were the commissioning of USS Texas (SSN 775) and the Chinese submarine getting close to the USS Kitty Hawk. The story about the Texas' commissioning was undeniably good, and the Kitty Hawk story put the Chinese submarine and her crew in good light, so I'd say I wasn't completely right on this one either.

For 2007, in addition to predicting (again) that the President and Vice President won't be impeached, I'm staying with my prediction that we won't go to war with Iran. (For the last one, I do need to add a supplemental prediction: if we do start fighting Iran, someone will come up with a novelty song called "Bomb Iran" that's sung to the tune of "Barbara Ann" by The Beach Boys.) For another easy one, I predict that the 35% of people who apparently think the draft will be reinstated this year will be wrong. On the local front, I'm pretty sure that newly-elected Idaho 1st District Congressman Bill Sali will say something stupid that makes the national press. On the submarine front, I predict that no major publication will pick up on the importance of the upcoming shift of a large number of LANTFLT submarines to PACFLT -- namely, that this is a tangible indication of the evolving national recognition that as the 20th Century was dominated by our relationships with our Europeans allies and adversaries, the 21st Century will be similarly defined by how we relate to our allies and rivals across the Pacific.

Have a great New Year, and thanks for continuing to visit TSSBP.