1. US & coalition partners win Operation Iraqi Freedom, commonly called The Iraq War, and nobody notices because it doesn't fit the conventional wisdom and it could cause people to question the idea of voting for an anti-war candidate when the war he was "anti" has already been won.
2. A harsh market correction caused by needed de-leveraging in the home lending sector is turned into a global financial crisis through government intervention. And... the intervention is just getting started.
3. A rookie, freshman US Senator from Illinois beats the Democrat field in proportionally awarded primary sweepstakes. Barack Obama then goes on to beat a Republican whose name escapes us.
4. Governor Sarah Palin, heretofore little known outside of Alaska, bursts onto the national scene and scares the crap out of Democrats and their handmaidens in the legacy media. Their vicious attacks on her are assuring to Conservatives since the Republican candidate for President, old whatzhisname, was a long-term darling of the same media and anathema to Libertarian-leaning Conservatives.
5. The bull market in oil trading ends just when "experts" are predicting confidently that oil will continue up to $200 pb. and gasoline to $10/ gallon. Before year-end oil will break under $40 pb and draw a chart that looks like someone fell in a mineshaft. And... a gallon of regular goes for $1.34 in my neighborhood where last August it was $3.97. Nobody seems happy about it-- at least not to the extent they were angry about it in August. Curious.
6. The UAW pimps out the CEO's of GM, Ford and Chrysler and the Detroit 3 go beg the US Congress to hand over taxpayer money to them. A handful of Conservative Senators block Congress from doing that so the President of the US whips out the people's wallet and drops the T.A.R.P. Visa card on the table--- with big strings attached. The UAW swipes the card, says a brief thanks to the POTUS and a loud prayer for the coming of Obama (a half billion dollars from unions making for a nice I.O.U.) and then says there will be no strings as far as they're concerned.
7. Russia invades Georgia and the West yawns. Before year-end Russia tells the Ukraine that their nat gas supplies will be cut off during extreme cold. Meanwhile, Israel responds to Hamas provocation and the world howls.
8. Mumbai, India is attacked by Islamic terrorists. Tension with Pakistan, already high, is ramped up.
9. Scandals: Liberal Democrat Bernie Madoff is nabbed for running a Ponzi scheme and most of his victims are other LibDems and their charities... Democrat Guv Blago of very blue IL is nabbed for running a pay-for-play scheme to fill Obama's old seat... Republican pork king Ted Stevens is nabbed for taking a bit of free work from a contractor without pay... Liberal Democrat Gov. Spitzer of deep blue NY is nabbed for fiddling with a pay-for-play call girl... Liberal Democrat John Edwards is nabbed for fiddling with a girl who isn't his wife-- but he seems to have been paying for his play too... Dodd, Schumer, & Barney Frank are up to their ears in causing the financial meltdown, yet are now the guys presiding over Congress's efforts to "get to the bottom of this scandal." I'm sure I missed a hundred or so other scandals. Oh yeah, the Chinese gymnast girls were only 14 years old and that mattered more to most Americans than any of the others just listed.
10. China hosts the Olympics and the world press attends and meekly peddles the Chinese government's PR packets to their home countries. The opening ceremonies are breathtaking and a bit unsettling.
