A Prediction Ahead of Its Time

Ronald Bailey | January 2, 2007

In my annual crytal ball gazing column last week, I bravely predicted:

Saddam Hussein will be executed for his crimes. Apparently quite soon. In any case, he will go to Hell, if it exists.

Well, as you know, it happened in 2006. A point which fark.com makes for me. I just didn't take into account the, huh, efficiency of the Iraqi government in this matter. 

I will add that at a New Year's Eve gathering, most of my friends who oppose the death penalty could summon little outrage over Hussein's execution. Good riddance! 

Comments

|1.2.07 @ 11:06AM|#

The U.S. rape rate will continue to fall from its height in 1992.
Oh yes, who cannot forget horror that was the great rape fad of 1992?

|1.2.07 @ 11:23AM|#

Using my incredible psychic powers, I have looked forward into 2007 and predict the following:

1) There will be a scandal in Congress.
2) President Bush will state that "progress is being made in Iraq."
3) A well-known Hollywood star, beloved by millions, will pass on.
4) Congress will pass a new spending program.
5) There will be a coup in a third world country. The new leader will denounce American interference.
6) Within 48 hours after denouncing the US, the leader mentioned in #5 will demand US aid.
7) New York will ban something.
8) Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, will make an anti-American statement.
9) Rush Limbaugh will state that evolution is 'only a theory.'
10) Space Aliens will kidnap Arnold Schwarzenegger and trigger an earthquake that sends all of Southern California sliding into the ocean.

I should point out that in previous years, 9 out of 10 of my predictions have been correct.

|1.2.07 @ 11:25AM|#

2007 will do to global warming denial what 2006 did to Iraq War boosterism.

|1.2.07 @ 11:35AM|#

11. The killer of Dean O'Dell on Veronica Mars will turn out to be Tim Folye
12. The honeymoon phase of the Wii will wear off and developers have a hard time coming up with ways to make the controler gimmick work. The only thing stopping Nintendo from falling into third place is the fact that the PS3 is the lesser system. I'm going out on a limb and predicting a mini-crash in the video game industry.

Sam Franklin|1.2.07 @ 11:43AM|#

You will consume less HFCS at year's end than you do now.

|1.2.07 @ 12:41PM|#

I am perhaps alone here, but I don't think that the execution was wise. One of the (libertarian) objections to the death penalty is that it gives government too much power. Many feel that really bad behavior trumps that objection, so they are all right with its use. But, as guilty as we all know he was, S.H. most surely didn't get a fair trial, appeal, etc. and the court system is run by a government that doesn't even have control of its own capital city. We watched this and forked him over for the hanging. A victory for moral justice, perhaps, but not for the rule of law that we are trying to say is important.

|1.2.07 @ 12:56PM|#

2007 will do to global warming denial what 2006 did to Iraq War boosterism.

If the trend for the last few years continues, 2007 will be cooler than 2006 (which was cooler than 2005, which I believe was cooler than 2004), so I kinda doubt it.

Frankly, I think the best analogy to global warming is passive smoking. Both consist of very weak science (at best) in the service of bigger government.

Warren|1.2.07 @ 1:09PM|#

1. A libertarian author will be referred to as a "far right conservative" for publishing a book or article critical of conservatives.

2. Democrats in congress will pass lots of new spending bills.

3. Democrats in congress will pass lots of new regulations.

4. Democrats in congress will do nothing whatsoever to decriminalize drugs or immigration.

5. joe will defend all of 2-4

|1.2.07 @ 1:17PM|#

RC,

The fact that you still believe in the Iraq War makes your opinion of climate science less than compelling.

Warren,

Why would I start defending the drug war now?

|1.2.07 @ 1:22PM|#

Also, an immigration bill much like Bush's, but without regulations binding "guest workers" to their initial employer in a serf-like relationship, will be passed by the Democratic Congress in 2007 and signed by Bush.

We seem to have a difference of opinion about what the Democrats will do with immigration, Warren. Care to make it interesting?

|1.2.07 @ 1:25PM|#

Come on, joe, you know better than to say "serf" on this forum.

:)

|1.2.07 @ 1:37PM|#

I have one prediction, waaaaay out on a limb...

Same corrupt shit. Same players. Different day.

|1.2.07 @ 1:50PM|#

I predict that since Saddam Hussein has been executed, he will be brought back to life as the Anti-Christ like Rudy Ray Moore in "Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil's Son-in-law," since clearly the only hope for Iraq is a Dolemite like intervention.

|1.2.07 @ 1:54PM|#

Prediction?.................pain

(my obligatory response every time someone asks for a prediction)

As for the hanging of S.H. After watching the grainy cell phone footage on Drudge I thought "that was the only thing I could possibly think of that would lend sympathy to an otherwise unsympathetic man."

Rhywun|1.2.07 @ 2:04PM|#

The honeymoon phase of the Wii will wear off and developers have a hard time coming up with ways to make the controler gimmick work.

Who cares as long as they keep making interesting games (i.e. anything other than FPS, which is all you get with the other guys).

I'm going out on a limb and predicting a mini-crash in the video game industry.

A mini-crash right after the release of two major consoles? If Nintendo and Sony get their supply problems worked out, I expect the opposite to occur.

Warren|1.2.07 @ 2:33PM|#

"We seem to have a difference of opinion about what the Democrats will do with immigration, Warren. Care to make it interesting?"

Hmmmm... hmmmmmm...
OK If an immigration bill that authorizes over one million guest workers, passes in 07 you win, if not I win.

Loser is forbidden from posting any comments regarding pending legislation for the whole of 08

so joe,
Deal?
or no deal?

|1.2.07 @ 2:39PM|#

Warren,

First, I don't want to pin down the number to a million. Let's say "equal to or greater than the number proposed in the Bush bill."

Second, let's make it January, not all year.

Warren|1.2.07 @ 2:47PM|#

joe,
You mean they're going to get this done in the next four weeks!? Oh no, you only wanna play for small stakes.

OK, I'm game. I'll even accept the weasel words 'equal to or greater than some unidentified number'.

Congress will not pass immigration reform authorizing as many or more "guest workers" than proposed in the Bush plan in 2007, or I will refrain from commenting on proposed legislation during the month of January 2008

Warren

|1.2.07 @ 3:04PM|#

Warren,

"Oh no, you only wanna play for small stakes."

I'm a fiscal conservative and a foreign policy liberal. OF COURSE I only want to play for small stakes!

Congress will pass an immigration bill authorizing at least as my immigration visas as were proposed in the bill the White House submitted, AND provide more leeway for guest workers to change jobs, during 2007, or I will refrain from commenting on pending legislation in January 2008.

Now what's the emoticon for spitting on your hand?

:-* 5

|1.2.07 @ 3:37PM|#

FinFangFoom:

I can't wait for the wacky hijinks as Hussein attempts to con his way out of marrying (The Great) Satan's daughter.

|1.2.07 @ 3:40PM|#

Who cares as long as they keep making interesting games (i.e. anything other than FPS, which is all you get with the other guys).
I was going to point out that it would go the way of the DS in which it would run out of uses for its gadgets and will only stand as a system with inferior graphics to its competitors, but then I realized that the way of the DS was paved with gold.
I was really excited about the system coming out, and hoping the Wii wins out in the end but now that I actually own it, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

A mini-crash right after the release of two major consoles? If Nintendo and Sony get their supply problems worked out, I expect the opposite to occur.
This one I'm more sure of. I guess to say that in this year, it won't happen, but I have a feeling in coming years the video game industry will at the very least plateu.

Warren|1.2.07 @ 3:48PM|#

Babalugats, we got a bet here.

|1.2.07 @ 4:07PM|#

My friends and I used to do dialogue from that movie in the hallway between classic. Those poor bosses, they need all the help they can get.

In another arena, the ROY will be Vince Young. But it should be Damon Hester.

|1.2.07 @ 4:35PM|#

Congress will pass an immigration bill authorizing at least as my immigration visas as were proposed in the bill the White House submitted, AND provide more leeway for guest workers to change jobs, during 2007....

And you think the unions will allow the dems to do such a thing? Payback *is* a bitch.

25 quatloos on Warren!

|1.2.07 @ 8:02PM|#

JW,

You might be surprised to find out what the unions are saying about immigration. It's not at all what libertarian pundits have predicted, at all.

www.afl-cio.org

www.unite-here.org

www.seiu.org

|1.3.07 @ 4:43AM|#

I should point out that in previous years, 9 out of 10 of my predictions have been correct.

If only your tenth prediction comes true, I'll forgive you a thousand times for all the other errors.

If you could figure out a way to make earth quakes ideologically selective, that would be even better. Just rumble the People's Republic types out into the pacific somewhere, stick them on their very own brand new island. Tell them they can now join the Kyoto Protocol as full members.

|1.3.07 @ 9:16AM|#

joe--Who's talking predictions? The unions have been fighting anything that would dilute their powerbase for years, and of course lobbying for that which will increase it. Immigration was one of those diluting threats.

They've finally changed their tune about immigration? They no longer believe that lower-paid immigrant workers are an imminent threat to their bread and butter? Palm-greasing, guile and deceit are no longer powerful enough tools and they've discovered that they need to actually expand their market reach to survive? Wow, they almost sound like a real business.

I may need to rethink my support for open borders if that's the case. And before you say anything: union member for 12 years.