Was 2011 Really Worse

In a posting on January 4, 2011 entitled "Can 2011 Be Worse" TNB lamented how terrible a year 2010 had been and predicted (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) what might happen in 2011, which of course couldn't possibly be worse than 2010, or could it?

Unlike many other prognosticators who never revisit their predictions TNB is going to "man up" (don't you love those ads?) and expose those forecasts one year later.

• Republicans will fail to repeal the Obama health care bill. This was accurate but TMB failed to foresee just how obstructionist the GOP could be, almost totally paralyzing the country on several occasions all with one goal in mind--defeat the President for reelection and to hell with everything else. How delicious would it be if this didn't happen in 2012? Too close to call.


• Clarence Thomas will resign from the Supreme Court. Sadly, this didn't occur but hope springs eternal.


• Rahm Emanuel will be elected Chicago mayor. This was sort of a no-brainer but once Rahm moved into his own house (reclaiming it from his tenant) he also scrapped his plans (?) to move City Hall to Manny's Deli. But he's off to a great start and watch out for him on the 2016 presidential ticket.


• Christine O'Donnell (remember her?) will pay off her campaign debt by autographing Halloween witch hats. Does anybody know if this happened? Delaware is pretty obscure (sorry, VP Biden).


• Colin Firth will stammer through his Oscar acceptance for The King's Speech. He of course did win and spoke perfectly--Brits always do.


• Brett Favre will finally retire from the NFL (he did) and will become a spokesperson for feminine hygiene products (you didn't actually believe this).


• The Chicago Cubs will finish 6th. They tried but "thanks" to the Houston Astros were 5th again. However brighter days appear ahead with the new management team headed by Theo Epstein. No more predictions--don't want to put a curse on them.

All in all, not a bad record. But TNB did fail to predict the tsunami in Japan, NY representative Anthony Weiner showing his on You Tube (that's what it means?), the deaths of Osama Bin Laden and Muammar Gaddafi, the rise (and fall) of Herman Cain and worst of all, the very recent passing of North Korea's "Dear Leader" who among other feats reported to his people, bowled a 300 game on his first try, made 11 holes in one on his first round of golf and dunked a basketball while blindfolded and chained (OK, TNB made up the last one).

You be the judge if 2011 was really worse. TNB predicts that 2012 will be better--why not?