Predictions for 2007 Just Top 50-50

A year ago, this journal made some predictions about the events of 2007. The crystal ball was rather cloudy it seems. Six out of 11 is nothing to be pleased about, but then, being right about no nation attacking Iran is worth being wrong on all the others.

• “Scotland’s elections in May will result in the Scottish Nationalists returning as the largest party with talk of independence offering a constitutional crisis for the UK.” And so it was.
• “Iran will formally withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.” Apparently, there is no military nuclear program, and so no reason to withdraw.
• “No military action will be taken against Iran by any western nation.” Correct.
• “Microsoft’s Vista Operating System will not sell as well as the company has predicted.” Moreover, the computer that runs it fastest is made by Apple.
• “Helen Mirren will win the Oscar for best actress in ‘The Queen’.” Dame Helen may deliver next year’s Christmas speech to give Elizabeth II a day off.
• “Peter O’Toole will get his for best actor in ‘Venus’.” Forest Whitaker’s win for “Last King of Scotland” was entirely deserved. However, one might have thought the Academy would address the fact the Mr. O’Toole has no Oscar while Ben Affleck does.
• “The Fed Funds rate will drop from the current 5.25% as the US economy will grow slowly in 2007.” Fed Funds stands at 4.5%.
• “Barry Bonds will break Henry Aaron’s career home run record of 755 in June of 2007 unless he quits over steroids.” He did it in August after several cold streaks in the first half of the season. This has to be counted wrong.
• “Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will not be in office on December 31, 2007.” Half of his ministers either boycotted cabinet or quit, and in any normal country, he’d have resigned. Iraq-Nam isn’t a normal country, which this journal forgot.
• “The COROT project, an effort from the European Space Agency, will detect an extra-solar rocky planet much more like Earth than any found to date.” Nope.
• “The ‘surge’ in US troops in Baghdad that’s coming will result in higher US casualties rates than this year with no change in the violence to Iraqi civilians.” This year saw more US dead than any other in Iraq-Nam. There was even more violence against Iraq-Namese civilians. The Mahdi Army’s six month ceasefire probably kept things from getting even worse. That ends in March.