2008 Prognostication Challenge

As the new year is upon us, it's time to look back to 2007, say goodbye and begin anew. Many people like to make predictions for the new year, so here are some of mine (in no particular order). Please don't think that I have special inside information. Most of these are just plain guesses, sometimes informed but mostly not. (Note also that these are predictions, not necessarily wishes.)


In the Church
* Pope Benedict XVI will promulgate an encyclical letter on faith.
* The pope will celebrate Mass in the extraordinary form, either in St Peter's Basilica or in his own Cathedral of St John the Lateran.
* Legislation to allow for women to be consecrated as bishops will not be passed in the Church of England (the process will take longer).
* The Lambeth Conference will be postponed until it can consider the Covenant with more bishops present. An alternative and informal consultation may take place in its stead.
* Two more dioceses will leave the Episcopal Church, and at least two more will begin the process before the end of the year.
* No bishop will be deposed for "abandonment of communion" in the Episcopal Church in 2008.
* Bishop Bennison will be deposed in 2008.
* I will not be elected a bishop in 2008 (I thought I should include at least one accurate prediction).


In the Nation
* Hillary Clinton will be elected President of the United States.
* The housing market will rebound in 2008.
* Hannah Montana will be involved in some kind of scandal.
* This season of Lost, though shortened by the writers' strike, will be the best yet.
* It will be announced that the George W. Bush Presidential Library will be located at Baylor University.
* The continental United States will not be attacked by terrorists in 2008, although news will be released that some threats were stopped before they could be carried out.
* The New England Patriots will go to the Super Bowl, but will not win (or at least not cover the spread).
* The half-time show will be half-way decent.
* David Beckham will be released from his contract.
* Brangelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) will break up.
* Paris Hilton will announce that she is engaged to be married.
* A major politician will use the phrase "Don't tase me, bro!" in a speech or debate.
* O J Simpson will go to jail.


In the World
* Chinese athletes will not perform as well as expected in the Beijing summer Olympic games.
* A major catastrophe will hit in the South Pacific or Indian Ocean.
* Britain will not switch to the Euro.
* French President Nicolas Sarkozy will make a significant speech in the United States (either to congress or the United Nations).
* The war in Iraq will show steady improvement, while the war in Afghanistan will either maintain or continue to loose momentum. There will be no large scale withdrawal of US troops from either theater.
* President Medvedev of Russia will prove to not be the figurehead for Vladimir Putin, and thus there will not be the expected shift of power from the Russian office of president to prime minister.


I welcome your predictions for 2008 on any topic. Please leave them in the comments. At the end of 2008, I will repost them to see how we did.