2011 Fearless Forecasts

Florida, but not Jacksonville, will take a direct hit from a category 3 or higher hurricane.


A major earthquake (6.0 or higher) will rattle a major city on the West Coast.

The Tea Party will strongly influence the Jacksonville city council and mayoral elections. Rick Mullaney will not be our next mayor.

Sarah Palin will decide not to run for President.

Inflation will be above 5% by year-end, primarily due to higher food and gas prices. Gas will be $5/gallon or more.

A second round of foreclosures will cause further declines in the real estate market. Commercial real estate defaults will bring another banking crisis, although not as severe as the last one.

The stock market will decline during the first three quarters but rise slowly in the fourth quarter back to 11,500.

War will break out on the Korean peninsula. China will intervene to stop it.

Israel will take matters into her own hands and strike at Iran’s nuclear production facilities. Obama will be furious at Israel.

Terrorists will hit a train or subway in the U.S.

Osama bin Laden will be captured, thanks to a Special Ops. Unit.

A tornado will hit Godfrey, Brighton or Jerseyville in Illinois.

Hilary Clinton will resign as Secretary of State.

A dormant volcano will roar to life in Europe or Russia.

An earthquake in Afghanistan will kill and injure some U.S. troops, but the subsequent rush to bring aid to locals will help solidify U.S.-Afghan relations with local leaders.

Flooding from Spring runoff in western Colorado or Utah will take out a portion of the old D&RGW rail-line between Denver and Salt Lake City.

Unemployment will stay stubbornly above 9%.

President Obama will announce he will not run in 2012 due to revelations of the Chicago-style corruption throughout his inner circle. Indictments will be expected, if not delivered, by year-end.

Rahm Immanuel, Obama’s former chief-of-staff, will not be elected Mayor of Chicago.

A major art museum will suffer a truly stunning and audacious art heist.

Although Obamacare will not be repealed, Congressional Republicans will be successful in defunding major provisions. Federal courts will continue to hand down mixed decisions on its constitutionality. Eventually, the Supreme Court will declare the mandatory purchase of health insurance unconstitutional but not in 2011.

The news media will be abuzz with the “state nullification” movement as a way of reining in federal power.

2009 Fearless Forecasts

Another year, another set of fearless forecasts designed to prove psychics are no more reliable predictors of the future than anybody else. Here are my 2009 predictions. Please join in the fun and make your own. If you are having a New Year’s Eve party, get your guests involved. Write all their forecasts down and save the list to reveal the results at next year’s party.

· The economic downturn will be much worse by year-end. Some economists will say we are in a depression as predicted by the Elliott Wave Theory.
· Deflation will be a problem. Housing prices, in particular, will be in free fall again or still.
· The Dow will drop to 5,500 or lower, then rebound to around 8,000. Gold will go to above 1,000.
· Unemployment will be 9.9% or higher by year-end.
· The bailouts of the financial system will not work, and large banks, brokerage firms, etc. will fail because the Federal Reserve Bank cannot lend at less than 0% interest.
· Thousands of retail stores and restaurants, including national chains, will be forced into bankruptcy or will close to stop losses.
· Shortly after Barack Obama’s inauguration, he and/or his staff will be implicated in Chicago or Illinois political corruption. By year’s end, the media will have turned on Obama with vicious attacks.
· The Midwest will have flooding problems again this year due to higher than normal snowfall.
· A Montana earthquake will surprise people. It will cause little damage and no loss of life.
· We will be mired in an Afghan war where we will be unsure who our enemies and friends are. It will be compared to what the Russians experienced or Vietnam.
· Suicide bombers will come to North America, either in Canada or the U.S. If here, they will target Las Vegas.
· Jacksonville will continue to dodge hurricanes despite a very active hurricane season.
· Israel will attack Iran if we do not, and this will cause an explosive counter-reaction among Arabs. Russia, not the U.S., will intervene. Most of Europe, especially Germany, will side with Russia against Israel.
· Despite saber rattling, Pakistan and India will not go to war.
· U.S. troops will make repeated incursions into Pakistan’s northern areas to flush out Al-Qaeda.
· Mexican drug lord terrorists will continue cross-border intrusions into the U.S. The tragic death of an innocent child will galvanize public opinion and force a reluctant administration to crack down and counter-attack.

Here’s one much longer-term prediction: If Obama fulfills his campaign promise to raise taxes on the wealthy, it will guarantee a depression, and he will become the 21st century’s Herbert Hoover. It will also assure the return of Republican control of the House in 2010 and his defeat in 2012.

Invitation to Pray & Fast

Two weeks from today is Election Day. Many Americans are voting already in early voting and via absentee ballots. There is still much electioneering to do. I plan to devote every spare moment to the effort to get John McCain elected President. However, there is more to be done by Christians than the usual blogging, emailing, phone calling, letter writing, pamphlet distribution, and sign waving.

The Bible recommends prayer and fasting for the nation in times of trouble. The Lord advised Solomon: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (1 Chron. 7:14).

The prophet Jonah went to Nineveh and prophesied that the city would be destroyed in forty days. The people of Nineveh “declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth” (Jonah 3:5). The King ordered, “Let everyone call urgently on God” (Jonah 3: 8). Thus, God chose to withhold his anger and the city of 120,000 was saved from destruction.

God promised Abraham that whoever blessed Israel would be blessed, but whoever cursed Israel would be cursed (Gen. 12:3). National security is an important issue in this election. The Bible instructs, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May those who love you [Jerusalem] be secure’” (Ps. 122:6).

Please join me during the next two weeks in praying and fasting for our nation. Ask God that our new President be a true man of Christ and a follower of the Bible. Please join me in begging God that we remain faithful to our promises of protection to Israel. Plead that the next President will be the one who will appoint judges who will end the holocaust of abortion. Our nation needs spiritual revival; ask God for an outpouring of His Spirit upon us.

Should Jews Worry about Barack Hussein Obama?

Let’s put to rest once and for all the false rumor that Barack Hussein Obama is a Moslem. He is not. There is no evidence that he has ever been a Moslem even though his father and paternal grandfather were. His mother and his maternal grandparents raised him. He did attend a Moslem school in Indonesia briefly after his mother, an atheist, married another Moslem. However, he also attended a Catholic school as a child. He has been a member of the United Church of Christ for over twenty years. He says he is a Christian and prays to Jesus “every night.” I take him at his word.

Jews do not need to worry that a Moslem may soon be President. However, Jews have plenty to be nervous about if Barack Hussein Obama is elected President. They should be concerned about his church membership, his financial backers, his advisors, and some of his public statements. Marc Zell in The Jerusalem Post on February 21, 2008, wrote the facts about Obama “should switch on a big red light in most peoples' minds.”

First, we have to look more closely at that Christian church, Trinity United Community Church, that he has belonged to for over twenty years. He joined it when he was a community organizer, and he was married there. Located in Chicago’s predominantly black Southside, its pastor is the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. Its motto is "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian" and has 8,000 members, making it the largest black church in Chicago and the largest church in the United Church of Christ. Wright will retire effective May 2008 and has been on sabbatical since February 10, 2008. His successor will be Rev. Otis Moss, III.

This pastor is a former member of the Nation of Islam and is famous for “his anti-Israel rants,” according to Ed Lasky in an American Thinker article. Wright traveled with Louis Farrakhan to Libya to meet with Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi who is a known Israel-hater. Libya has been a state sponsor of terrorism. Farrakhan was honored recently with the Trumpeter Award from the church’s magazine, edited by Wright’s daughter, and has endorsed Obama. For those who have forgotten, Louis Farrakhan named Judaism a “gutter religion” and Jews, “bloodsuckers.”

Wright has compared Israel to apartheid South Africa, advocating an embargo of business with Israeli firms. He has preached, “The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for almost 40 years now.” He has advocated a divestment program against Israel because of the "injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism." Wright also has called blacks “the chosen people.” He blamed 9/11 on America’ support of the state of Israel.

The United Church of Christ itself has taken anti-Israel positions as well. Jews have been very vocal in their criticisms of the denomination’s proclamations on the subject.

Is it fair to criticize Obama for the words of his pastor and church? I believe it is. As Lasky asks, “If a white candidate belonged to a church where the minister promoted an anti-black, anti-Semitic theology he would be roundly subject to criticism. Why should Obama get a pass?”

Speaking of Wright, Obama called his pastor “his spiritual mentor, his moral compass and his sounding board.” Obama took the title of his autobiography, The Audacity of Hope, from a Wright sermon. If you want to understand where Barack gets his feeling and rhetoric from," says the Rev. Jim Wallis, a leader of the religious left, "just look at Jeremiah Wright." Trinity United Community Church receives the bulk of Obama’s charitable contributions. Furthermore, Obama has never publicly criticized the United Church of Christ’s positions on Israel, although he has been a frequent speaker at its national gatherings.

In politics, it is always wise to “follow the money.” In Obama’s case, it leads straight to multi-billionaire George Soros. He has proven to be a lucrative “sugar daddy” to Obama. Soros, his family members and associates have funneled funds to Obama’s campaigns since he first ran for the Illinois Senate. In the process, they have manipulated, if not outright violated, campaign finance laws. What attracted Soros to an unknown Illinois civil rights’ lawyer? On Meet the Press on Sunday, February 24, 2008, Ralph Nader criticized Obama for being "pro-Palestinian when he was in Illinois before he ran for the state Senate."

Why should Jews care if Soros funds Obama’s campaigns? Soros is rabidly anti-Israel. He has funded 527 groups that bash Israel. He has supported Hamas, calling for concessions to this terrorist group. This caused other Democrats to condemn Soros. He wants America to cease support of the state of Israel. Soros believes Jews and the Israel Lobby have too much power over America’s foreign policy.

Another financial support of Obama is former Knicks’ player Allan Houston. He called Jews "stubborn" and that they had "blood on their hands" because of the death of Jesus. Obama refused to return campaign contributions from a gathering held in Houston’s home, despite the protests of the American Jewish Congress.

Obama is also linked to William Ayers, now a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago but once a leader in the Weather Underground, which declared war on the United States in the Seventies. “Obama visited Ayers’ home as a rite of passage when launching his political career in the mid-1990s,” according to an article in The National Review. The two served on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which gave money to Northwestern University Law School’s Children and Family Justice Center. Bernardine Dohrn, Ayers’ wife and former Weather Undergrounder, is its director. In Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, author Jonah Goldberg states:
“Ayers is unrepentant about his years spent waging war against the United States. ‘Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that’s where it’s really at,’ Ayers was widely quoted as saying at the time.”

Tony Rezko, the Chicago developer and slumlord, has been Obama’s neighbor and a donor for years. He was instrumental in Obama’s purchase of his Chicago home for $300,000 less than market value. Rezko is under indictment for his financial dealings; his trial began on March 3, 2008.

Obama’s choice of foreign-policy advisers is another cause for grave concern for Jews. The Jerusalem Post is correct to point out that a candidate’s choice of advisers has proven to be a reliable predictor of what his policies will be if elected. Lasky asserts, Obama “has assembled a body of foreign policy advisers who signal that a President Obama would likely have an approach towards Israel radically at odds with those of previous Presidents (both Republican and Democrat).”

Obama’s foreign-policy team includes Anthony Lake, Susan Rice, Robert O. Malley, Mark Brzezenski, and Scott Lasensky. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Mark’s father, has met with Obama and advised the campaign as has Ivo Daalder and Samantha Power. Martin Peretz of The New Republic and an Obama supporter has written that most will be part of Obama’s transition team, if elected. Who are these people?

Lake and the elder Brzezenski were members of President Jimmy Carter’s administration. Carter, in recent years, has made several statements that blast Israel, comparing it to apartheid South Africa. Formerly with the Clinton administration, Lake is an “ambassador to the Arab-American community,” according to Lasky. Brzezenski is one of Israel’s staunchest foes. His condemnations of the state of Israel go back decades. He has been especially critical of the Israel Lobby and its influence on United States foreign policy. He advocates negotiations with Hamas, the terrorist group sworn to Israel’s destruction. Obama is on record calling for the same, and Brzezenski accompanied Obama to Iowa, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. His son Mark has called for establishing diplomatic ties with Iran.

Rice was John Kerry's chief foreign policy adviser during his presidential run and served in the Clinton administration. She recommended the appointment of James Baker and Jimmy Carter as Middle East negotiators. Both have been so critical of Israel’s positions that Kerry had to distance himself from them during his campaign.

Malley was on the negotiating team that met with P.L.O. leader Yasser Arafat at Camp David. Since then, Malley has co-authored a number of articles for the New York Review of Books with former Arafat adviser Hussein Agha, blaming Israel for the failures of the Camp David Accords. Malley has pro-Palestinian sentiments and has condemned Israel as a “colonial state.”

Scott Lasensky is another vocal critic of the “Israel Lobby.” He called for the inclusion of “Islamists and Hamas” in the peace process. He decried Jewish settlement dwellers as “obstructionists.” Lasensky has backed Brit Tzedek v’Shalom and Americans for Peace Now, two anti-Israel groups, according to Lasky.

Ivo Daalder, another Obama advisor, spoke off the record about Presidential candidates and Israel to The Financial Times: "The plain fact is there is no upside for candidates to challenge the prevailing assumptions about Israel. The best strategy is to win the White House and then change the debate."

Perhaps this is why Obama, referring to his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, apologized to Electronic Intifada founder Ali Abunimah: “Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race. I’m hoping when things calm down I can be more up front.” Abunimah is a proponent of the “one-state solution” to Middle East peace.

Daalder singled out two Jews, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz, of “manipulating the levers of power to serve the interests of other countries.” He wants the U.S. to negotiate with Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran. He condemned Israel's bombing of Qana, where Hezbollah had missile batteries.

Samantha Power also believes the Israel Lobby has to lose power to cut America’s ties to Israel. She is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. She advised Obama on the crisis in Darfur. She believes the greatest threat to America will come from failed states such as Afghanistan, the Congo, and Sierra Leone.

Looking at these foreign policy advisors, Eric Trager in Commentary Magazine wrote, “Obama and his posse view American Jewry as a stumbling block in the way of promoting U.S. interests in the Middle East.”

Obama told Tim Russert on Meet the Press that support of Israel was "sacrosanct." He told 100 Jewish leaders in Cleveland that he had "an unshakable commitment to the security of Israel and the friendship between the United States and Israel." What other words has he spoken? What actions has he taken? Are they cause for concern for Jews? Readers can draw their own conclusions.

Obama is “proud of his pastor and his church,” according to the New York Times. When Soros was criticized for his support of Hamas, a campaign staffer quoted Obama, "Mr. Soros is entitled to his opinions."

As a freshman Senator, he has had a few opportunities to vote for bills of interest to Israel, such as foreign aid. When he has chosen to vote, he has supported most of them. "Senators Clinton, Obama, McCain and Governor Huckabee have demonstrated their support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship," AIPAC president Howard Friedman wrote to Newsweek.

However, Obama has a penchant for voting “present” or being absent on critical votes to avoid controversy. An example of one such vote was a bill sent to the Senate from the House to name the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terror group. They have been involved in terror attacks around the world, including against Jews in Argentina and Americans in Iran. Obama was absent on the day the vote was taken, but he vigorously criticized those who voted for the bill afterwards.

Moreover, Obama submitted a bill to prohibit President Bush from taking military action against Iran if they continue their pursuit of nuclear weaponry. If Iran develops an atomic bomb, Israel is its primary target. He has called for a ban on the use of cluster bombs, which Israel uses in its defense against Hezbollah’s attacks from Lebanon.

Obama acknowledges, "The biggest threat to Israel today comes from Iran.” Still, he says, “The time has come to talk directly to the Iranians.” Iran’s president has called the Jews "filthy bacteria" and desires to “annihilate Israel.”

In 2000, when Palestinians started the Second Intifada after Camp David, Obama called for an “even-handed approach” to the conflict. Obama wants "an honest discussion about ways to bridge the gap that grows between Muslims and the West," according to a Paris Match interview on January 31, 2008. According to Obama, "Nobody has suffered more than the Palestinian people."

Obama has made it clear that he expects Israel to make more concessions to the Palestinians. He opposes Israel’s building a wall to protect her people. At the same time, he has said negotiations with Palestinian leadership, which includes Hamas, are needed. Furthermore, Obama has called for “a Muslim world summit.” He has said, “I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel, then you’re anti-Israel, and that can’t be the measure of our friendship with Israel…” and “It is possible that my level of understanding will allow me to conduct better diplomacy in the Arab world.”

Obama has opposed the Iraq War from the beginning. He called our foreign policy in the Middle East " all bluster and saber-rattling and continued mistakes.”

Obama praised Reverend Al Sharpton as “a voice for the voiceless, and a voice for the dispossessed.” This was when Sharpton’s National Action Network was organizing a march against Jewish-owned Freddy's Fashion Mart in New York. During it, picketers and Sharpton himself “repeatedly screamed epithets about ‘bloodsucking Jews’ and ‘Jew bastards.’”

The Jerusalem Post wrote, “Barack's problematic and unrecanted public statements and associations raise enough serious questions that should cause Jewish voters and friends of Israel to think twice about supporting him in November.” I report. You decide.

Sources:

Marc Zell, “Obama and the Jews,” The Jerusalem Post, February 21, 2008 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1203589810710&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

Ben Wallace-Wells, “Destiny’s Child,” The Rolling Stone, February 22, 2008 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13390609/campaign_08_the_radical_roots_of_barack_obama

Wikipedia, “Jeremiah Wright”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Wright

Allison Kaplan Sommer, “’I Am Not A Muslim’: Obama Woes the Jews,” Pajamas Media, February 27, 2008. http://pajamasmedia.com/2008/02/i_am_not_a_muslim_obama_woos_t.php

Jonah Goldberg, “Radicals Never Say Sorry,” The National Review, February 28, 2008 http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZGJiYzMzNjY3NTlhNzI4MDFkMjAzOTI1ODY3OGI5MDk=&w=MQ==

Jonathan Weisman, “Obama Rebuffs Challenges on His Israel Stance,” The Washington Post, February 28, 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/27/AR2008022703512_2.html?nav=rss_politics&sid=ST2008022703658

Lynn Sweet, “Still Something to Explain,” Chicago Sun Times, February 25, 2008
http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/811251,CST-NWS-sweet25.article

Martin Peretz, “Can Friends of Israel-and Jews-Trust Obama?,” The New Republic, January 31, 2008
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=6bd11ed5-bf80-44a0-b683-a0563e11ab89

Michael Hirsh and Dan Ephron, “Good for the Jews?,” Newsweek, March 3, 2008
http://www.newsweek.com/id/114723

Eric Trager, “Obama and American Jews,” Commentary Magazine, January 29, 2008
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/trager/2123

Ed Lasky, “Barack Obama and Israel,” American Thinker, January 16, 2008
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/barack_obama_and_israel.html