Diary and Commentary
Page 29
Call Me Nostradamus
It is that time again when we think about the year just passed. It was one year ago today while in Guatemala that I made all kinds of predictions based upon...well, mainly beer and Chinese food. How well did I do? Let's take a look. In the order that I wrote them, here they are.
Bush will win re-election in a landslide. Done deal. His victory goes beyond any electoral counting, as both House and Senate swung further into the Republican camp. There are also more Republicans at the state and local levels, a good harbinger of things to come in American politics. Compared to 2000 the Democrats lost votes among their usual hard-core constituency of blacks, Jews and women.
The Democrat Party will continue on its path to self-destruction. Done deal. Right now Democrats are trying to figure out why they lost. The leadership is yet clueless. It believes the American voters---at least those who voted for Bush---to be idiots. Democrats think that part of the problem is that they could not get their message out. Well, no, their message got out just fine, and the voters rejected it. To understand the magnitude of the decline of the Democrat Party you must see the county-by-county voting patterns for 2004. Red counties went for Bush, blue counties for Kerry.
Bush counties total 2,540,000 square miles (2,432,603 in 2000) and 160,000,000 (148,000,000 in 2000) in population. Kerry, 592,000 (577,029 for Gore in 2000) and 130,000,000 (133,000,000 for Gore in 2000) respectively. Bush counties much more so than Kerry counties attend church services, own firearms and send their sons to the military. Bush counties are against abortion, sodomite marriage and burning the American flag. They distrust the mainstream media, despise the UN and want prayer put back in schools. Bush counties are Bible Belt for sure.
And the Kerry counties? Well, they purchase most of the pornography consumed by Americans. Let's call Kerry counties the Porn Belt. This was written in 2000, but it is just as true now:
A porn popularity map of the US is almost identical to one showing which states
Al Gore won in the recent presidential elections.
The map shows that the Democrat-friendly West Coast, New England and Middle Atlantic states
have the highest appetite for video sex movies.
As many as 40% of the home video market in Gore's winning states is sex-related, according to the Wall Street Journal data.
The Republican George W Bush, on the other hand, dominated the Bible-Belt which has the lowest number of porn viewers.
Experts who analyzed the two maps say that morality and culture are reflected in both; conservative married couples wanted Bush,
not Gore, who they associated too closely with Bill Clinton's impeachment troubles.
Americans see the Democrats as the party of abortion, sodomy, licentiousness, immorality, Hollywood, treason and pornography. Simply stated, it is not fit to rule, and its candidate was not fit to be president. Vox populi.
There will be war with Iran and Syria. Well, not yet---but the check is in the mail. Syrians and Iranians are pouring into Iraq to confront and---they hope---defeat America there. Most of the foreign fighters captured or killed in Iraq are from these two countries. Syrian dictator Bashir Assad and the mullahs who rule Iran, like Belshazzar of old, have seen the writing on the wall. If the Americans succeed in bringing a stable democracy to Iraq, the dictatorships in the Middle East are finished. The war will go on until the home of the terror masters, Iran, is defeated. Most experts believe that Iran will get a nuclear bomb this year. When---if---it does all bets are off. The US cannot allow this, of course. So hang on, this will be a fun ride. Ceterum censeo Iranem esse delendam.
The Culture Wars in the US will continue. Done deal. Glance at any newspaper, read any blog, listen to any talk radio, and you will find the following issues take up most of the space and time: abortion, the war in Iraq, sodomite marriage, the vulgarity of US culture---MTV, Hollywood, TV---stem cell research, euthanasia, gun ownership, school vouchers, religion in the public square, and so on. Americans have been here before, and the culture wars then were centered around slavery. The Democrat Party was on the wrong side of that issue just as it is on the wrong side of the great moral issues of today. These culture wars will continue until: 1) One side wins, or 2) Christ returns. Either outcome is fine with me, as the Red States have the guns and the military. Let's roll.
There will be a second Great Awakening in the US. Done deal. Church attendance up. Number of Americans who say they believe in God, up. Number of abortions and teen pregnancies, down. And so on. America is the last great Christian nation, and from her will issue missionaries to re-Christianize Europe, and bring the Word to the rest---starting with Iraq.
Palestinians will continue to murder Israeli schoolchildren. Done deal. Palestinian culture, like Islamo-fascism, is death centered. It concerns itself with killing Jews and not much else.
Pakistan's Musharraf will be assassinated. Not yet, thank God, though the killers have tried at least twice this year. May they always fail.
Arafat will at last be brought to justice---of one type or another. Done deal. This grotesque killer finally died---and of AIDS no less. He was Egyptian, not Palestinian, and his sodomite leanings were always know to his inner circle. He murdered all whom he could, but it was always the Palestinians who suffered and perished more than the rest. The culture of death in the Palestinian lands is Arafat's legacy. May he find a permanent rest playing cards with Ted Bundy and Joseph Stalin.
NATO's center will move east to Poland. Deal in process. The US is relocating its bases from Germany to areas, shall we say, more strategic and welcoming. Poland is both.
Colin Powell will retire. Done deal. Truth be told, Powell was never a member of Bush's inner circle, and often found himself a lone voice crying in the wilderness against the policies of his boss. He is a good and decent man, but his presence and advice will not be missed.
North Korea will implode leading to an astronomical refugee problem for China and South Korea. Not yet. But the pressures mount upon the North Korean regime. Simply put, as it is the regime cannot continue. There is not enough outside support or domestic production. This problem will be solved one way or another this year. Anyway, it mainly concerns South Korea, China and Japan. Let them handle it. America is a little busy right now.
The US military will add several new divisions. Nope, not yet. In fact some of the higher ups are contemplating the opposite, of actually cutting the defense budget.
The Pentagon plans to retire one of the Navy's 12 aircraft carriers, buy fewer amphibious landing ships for the Marine Corps
and delay the development of a costly Army combat system of high-tech arms as part of $60 billion in proposed cuts
over the next six years, Congressional and military officials said Wednesday.
The proposed reductions, the details of which are still being fine-tuned and which would require Congressional approval,
result from White House orders to all federal agencies to cut their spending requests for the 2006 fiscal year budgets,
which will be submitted to lawmakers early next year.
Memo to Congress: Just say no. We are at war. Defense spending should be doubled. Any future enemy will surely not be as incompetent or suicidal as the idiotic Islamo-fascists. Let's be prepared for them , OK?
India and Israel will greatly strengthen their military and political ties. Done deal. This diplomatic and military collusion is very much in America's interest. India, Israel and the US have the same enemies at any rate, and India is the largest democracy in the world.
American high school students will take to blogging in a big way. Nope. Not yet. Too bad.
Castro dies and takes Chavez with him. Nope. Not yet. Too bad.
The UN disbands or moves to Paris. Nope. Not yet. Too bad.
The EU disintegrates. Nope. Not yet. Too bad.
Pope John Paul II hangs in there. Done deal. The next pope will almost assuredly come from Africa or Latin America. Orthodox cardinals and bishops are hard to come by outside of those places.
The Catholic Church excommunicates most of the Jesuits. Nope. Not yet. Too bad. Whatever use these creatures once had, they have long since become of the world rather than in it. Get rid of the lot of them.
China becomes a Christian nation. Nope. Not yet. Too bad. God works in His own time.
Saddam keeps his long-waited appointment with the electric chair. Nope. Not yet. Too bad. But this year certainly---and not by the electric chair (Iraqi electrical generation is a bit haphazard)---but by hanging. He will not be missed except by the mullahs and Assad. Saddam will join his pal Arafat.
I get a job. Done deal. And work starts again Monday. So...
Bye.
I ended the year in an unusual way---at least, unusual for me. I was actually at home and relatively sober when 2004 headed for the history books. For the first time in a decade I was neither in a tent circling some Andean peak nor exploring the Central American jungles. I mourned this fact, but there was nothing to be done about it. I am at a new job with much to do and learn. The first opportunity I will have to head for South America will be in June. I will have 9 weeks at most, but that is enough. There are several possibilities for superb backpacking---solo, of course---in Bolivia, Chile and Peru. But more on these in due course.
And already I plan to spend next Christmas break in the jungles of Guatemala. It will be the dry season there, and time enough to explore the extreme northern areas where few have tread---for good reason. It is wild and hard to get to. There is only one road---a Jeep track, really---and even that is only passable between December and May. The few locals who inhabit the place still use the centuries old Mayan trade routes that wind among the many ruins there. Dos Lagunas, El Mirador and El Zotz ("the bat") are there, and I have seen none of them. I will need about two weeks or so to do all of this. (See here for details of my recent expedition to the region.)
I know it is yet one year away, but I began planning for my 'year of living dangerously' long before I actually began it. And I still must think out exactly where I will go this June and July. Some ideas are Lauca National Park in northern Chile, the Cordillera Blanca in Peru, and a return to Choquequirao using a different route. Why a return? This 12-day adventure was the toughest of my career. When I walked out of the Andes after it was done I was in the finest shape of my life and I thought myself invincible. To accomplish it again would be a good way to see exactly where I stand physically, mentally and spiritually---a perfect report card.
Ah...but first I must lose 20 pounds. Sounds like a fine New Year's Resolution to me. I made others as well, but most of those only God can know---He, and the priest who took my Confession January 1. It was a fine way to usher in 2005. And today Mass was superb. School begins tomorrow, and I will stand before my students without mortal sin. Bliss!
Oklahoma has been hit with a perfect storm, a rare convergence of three weather systems at once.
Moisture-laden storms from the north, west and south are likely to converge on much of America
over the next several days in what could be a once-in-a-generation onslaught, meteorologists forecast yesterday.
It began early yesterday. I awakened at 3 AM to a bone-cold morning and freezing rain. I walked out my door at 7:15 and discovered my beautiful Jeep covered in ice. Odd, I had been at Wal Mart the day before, and on a whim picked up an ice scraper and a can of de-icer for car windshields. (I know that God cares for me, but it seems He also cares for my Jeep.) Driving was hazardous, even in 4-wheel drive. School remained open, but half the students stayed home. All the day it rained ice.
School is canceled for today. I sit at home, coffee in hand and heater on full. Already my mind is busy with things: write, work on the school's web site, load a bunch of photos on my super fast 64-bit computer, catch up on some e-mails, finish reading a recent biography of Alexander, complete long-neglected chores. Nature abhors a vacuum and so do I. No sooner am I surprised with a free day than things arise to fill it. It is impossible to simply sit and wonder, something at which I became expert while solo backpacking South and Central America. Then I need only open the tent door to marvel at God's carpentry all around me; now, an open door reveals nothing but a cold darkness, an icy road, a black sky.
So here I sit. It is enough today to have escaped the frozen dreariness that begins just beyond my door.