Happy New Year

 

Happy New Year

 

The true auld tune:

The modern American version:

And the traditional Canadian version:

It brings a tear.

HOPPY NEW BEER!

Wishes for the New Year

Since I seem to be so bad at predicting things, let me instead concentrate on things I would most fondly wish to happen. Take it as a prayer; and perhaps it will be heard.

First and foremost, the critical issue of this era is abortion. May we see the start of laws against it, in Canada, the US, and elsewhere.

Second, an end to Quebec’s discriminatory language laws, so that Montreal can regain its rightful place as Canada’s metropolis. Now is the moment, with Ontario’s government making life impossible for business in old rival Toronto.

I would like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK to seize the moment and have a new customs union deal ready to go the day after Brexit becomes official. For Canada, good insurance in case Trump wants to weaken NAFTA.

I want a union of the Catholic with the Orthodox churches. There is no reason but prejudice for the split to endure. There are no substaantian theological differences. And all such conflicts within the Christian church are cause for scandal.

I want an end to no-fault divorce. Nothing is more harmful than the weakening of the family. I want legal penalties for adultery. Without them, marriage is an unenforceable contract. I support gay marriage—it discourages promiscuity, after all—but on the same basis. And I want it clearly spelled out that homosexual sex is not a human right. Pretending it is one is destructive to real human rights like freedom of conscience.

Other ideas to strengthen marriage: an absolute cap on the amount a non-earning party could take out of the marriage. Being married to c doctor is not, in principle, harder or more valuable work than being married to a steelworker. End predatory divorces! Similarly: the person paying child support should also, automatically, have legal custody. He or she may, of course, choose to allow the other party to raise the children, But he who pays the piper ought to be able to call the tune; otherwise, you have a decent functional definition of slavery.

I want a prohibition on affirmative action of all sorts, on grounds of human rights. Not just an end to the legal requirement, but make all hiring on the basis of race or sex illegal, as it should be.

I want an end to all “hate laws” and speech codes, on the same grounds. Prosecute the deed, not the motive. It is impossible to prevent “hate laws” from being used to discriminate—against any currently unpopular group. They violate equality before the law.

I want—here I am libertarian—an end to all legal penalties for possession of drugs of any sort. Again, this seems to me an obvious case of human rights. We have a right to do as we want to our own bodies. Pursuit of happiness and all that. Besides, as a practical matter, prohibition only feeds crime and lawlessness.

Speaking of libertarians, I want Maxime Bernier for the conservative leadership. Not Kevin O’Leary, not Kellie Leitch: both are disqualified as a practical matter by not speaking any French. Both are embarrassing “me too’s” for Donald Trump. We ought to be grown up enough not to ape older brother. Both would be divisive within the party. Nor do we want a Red Tory; that too would alienate a large part of the party. It would be electoral death in this era of populist insurgency. Bernier’s libertarianism seems a platform everyone could rally around.

I want unrestricted immigration for Christians and Yazidis from the Middle East. We are watching a genocide unfold, and doing nothing. After abortion, this seems to me the greatest scandal of our time. And no nonsense about having to let in Middle Eastern Muslims in proportionate numbers. No; we did not need to let in Aryan Germans or Austrians during the Nazi era to justify letting in Jews. Could we tell the difference? Of course we could, at least for Christians. There are baptismal records.

For some of the same reasons, I’d like an unrestricted “right of return” to Canada for Jews. Why not? It is pure self-interest to want to attract as many Jews as we can. They always produce a disproportionate benefit to the economy and culture wherever they go: they are a leaven to the nations. Where, for example, would Canadian culture be without Irving Layton, Leonard Cohen, Mordecai Richler, Wayne and Schuster, or Ed and David Mirvish? Let alone the Canadian economy, or Canadian academics. Not a lot of street gang action in Jewish nighbourhoods, either. Second, it seems to me it would be a safety valve for the continuing troubles in the Middle East. It gives Jews a ready second option in case things go South there. The Arabs too, would probably thank us.

That would probably be enough immigration. If not, might I put in a word for the desirability of Filipino immigrants? Christian, generally fluent in English, utterly non-racist as a culture, familiar with Anglo legal principles, and generally admiring of the culture. You do not find Filipino ghettos anywhere. They integrate within two generations.

New Year's Eve Music

The Year in Wild Guesses

It’s a tradition to make predictions at this time of year. It’s nonsense, of course—the thing that happens, in the news, will be the thing we did not expect. Otherwise it would not be news.

But what the heck, for the fun of it, here’s my best shot. I’ll just give opinions without the reasoning, to make it all seem more mysterious. A year from now, we’ll get together and have a good laugh about how wrong I was.

1. Republican John McCain beats Democrat John Edwards to win presidency of the US.

2. No federal election in Canada.

3. No US or world recession in 2008.

4. The government of at least one of the following countries implodes: China, Cuba, North Korea, Myanmar.

5. News of a demographic shift in the developed world—more babies being born.

6. A spate of books responds to the atheist books of the past year, and sells well. Militant atheism becomes a bit of a laughing stock.

7. More breakthroughs in biotechnology. At least one major cure.

8. Violence in Iraq continues to decline. Iraq is generally reevaluated as a success. Bush’s popularity rises.

9. Muslim militancy visibly on the decline.

10. Microsoft will lose profitability; Google will grow.