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2009 Prognostication: Post 1 of 14


The press release from Freedom House has come out. Sadly, freedom retreated in 2008. There were 90 "free" countries in last year's report, but that dipped to 89 in this year's report. That means the answer to Question 1 of the 2009 Prognostication Quiz is B.

What was the country that declined? It was Senegal, on the west coast of Africa. Senegal's democracy has had two smooth transfers of power in recent history, allowing it to move from "partly free" up to "free" in the 2003 report. President Abdoulaye Wade (pictured above) was reelected in 2007, but came under some criticism last year with a series of scandals (corruption in his cabinet, nepotism on behalf of his son, and needlessly divisive confrontations with the opposition). That, presumably, plunged Senegal from "free" back to "partly free."

Twelve people picked B. Here they are, listed in order of predicted score for the remainder of the quiz:

1. Leanne
2. Ted
3. Jeremiah
4. Stephanie
5. Peter M.
6. Tina
7. Adrian
8. Heather
9. Rachel F.
10. Valerie
11. Grant
12. Ryan

The twelve who chose B (minus one) made it the most popular answer, followed by the eleven who picked D (plus one). Interestingly, only 8 picked C (no change). It seems that people were inclined either to be optimistic or pessimistic, with very few feeling that things were about the same.

We've also had the first round of the NFL playoffs, affecting question 3. There were quite a few upsets, making losers out of the 30 people who picked answers A-C. Remaining are the 13 who picked one of the remaining teams: D. Pittsburgh Steelers (Gloria, Pamela, Leanne, Zoe and Tina), E. Philadelphia Eagles or Arizona Cardinals (Pete C.), and F. Baltimore Ravens (Cameron, Marcus, Janet, Valerie, Peter M., Jan, and Ben). Two days of football remain: the two conference championship games this Sunday and the Super Bowl on February 1.

Next up is the Miss America Pageant on January 24. One person picked Miss Kansas to win. (Her talent is singing whilst accompanying herself on the piano.) Will she win?

Comments

  1. MT9:12 AM

    Damn! Couldn't just *one* more country be less free this year??!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MT2:56 PM

    by the way, I think it is highly unlikely that Miss Kansas will win. Her hair is about an inch long! http://www.missamerica.org/competition-info/national-contestants.aspx?state=Kansas&year=2009&GO=GO%21

    ReplyDelete

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