Two Predictions

I am often wrong, especially when I try to predict the future. Recent examples are predicting that Georgia would roll over the Mountaineers in the Sugar Bowl and that USC would rout Texas by at least 14 points. I offer this peek into my inept prognostication abilities as a warning that the following predictions may be equally inaccurate. Read on if you like.

1. If the Ken Lay/Jeff Skilling trail results in the defendants being found guilty, Bush will pardon them before leaving office. I am not confident that they will be found guilty, especially since they have huge stockpiles of cash to buy the best defense that money can buy. But if the miracle of miracle occurs, they certainly will not spend a single day in jail, with all of the appeals that their millions will purchase. These appeals will keep them comfortably at home until Bush can push through the appeal.

2. If the conditions in the United States continue to erode at the rate that they have over the past five years, within the next twenty years there will be some kind of civil war. (I use this term for lack of a better one.) Maybe not the kind that pitted the Rebs versus the Yanks years ago, but some major upheaval that will make the planes crashing into the World Trade Center seem trivial. As our political process ensures that the gap between the haves and have-nots continues to grow, and they mask it with smokescreens ‘issues’ or 'non-crises' like abortion, gay marriage, immigration, our entire country loses. We lose focus on what really matters while wasting time, effort, and money that we could be using to help everyone pursue happiness.