Any PREDICTIONS for the New Year???

Here is one from the Wall Street Journal front page. It is for 2010. The following is copied from the beginning of the article, with a link at the end to read the whole news item:

MOSCOW -- For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. For most of that time, he admits, few took his argument -- that an economic and moral collapse will trigger a civil war and the eventual breakup of the U.S. -- very seriously. Now he's found an eager audience: Russian state media.

Igor Panarin

In recent weeks, he's been interviewed as much as twice a day about his predictions. "It's a record," says Prof. Panarin. "But I think the attention is going to grow even stronger."

Prof. Panarin, 50 years old, is not a fringe figure. A former KGB analyst, he is dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry's academy for future diplomats. He is invited to Kremlin receptions, lectures students, publishes books, and appears in the media as an expert on U.S.-Russia relations.

But it's his bleak forecast for the U.S. that is music to the ears of the Kremlin, which in recent years has blamed Washington for everything from instability in the Middle East to the global financial crisis. Mr. Panarin's views also fit neatly with the Kremlin's narrative that Russia is returning to its rightful place on the world stage after the weakness of the 1990s, when many feared that the country would go economically and politically bankrupt and break into separate territories.

A polite and cheerful man with a buzz cut, Mr. Panarin insists he does not dislike Americans. But he warns that the outlook for them is dire.

"There's a 55-45% chance right now that disintegration will occur," he says.....

To see more of the article click here. Anyway i thought this might inspire some comments.
My own personal prediction that i borrowed is: The next 20 years will be different than the last 20 years.

Christmas Letter 2008

Christmas Eve

You may have your own plans for Christmas Eve and given how certain clans are expanding and getting more complex that would be understandable, but for those who are willing and free consider yourself invited to Christmas Eve at the Lindstrom's. The only requirement is to think of something to bring to eat. More info to come.