Probably.

But I didn’t want to let auld lang syne slip by without at least one more feather…er…post.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp — and you can bet that I’ll be mine! (probably well a’fore midnight.)

So lefties and righties alike, let’s tak a cup o’ kindness yet…for auld lang syne.

Because:

We twa hae paidl’d i’ the burn,
frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
sin auld lang syne.

Whatever your political leanings…

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
and gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
for auld lang syne.

So may featherless comfort be upon you…

For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Really: What other reason would you need?

HAPPY NEW YEAR LADS and LASSIES!

Their news readers have such interesting backgrounds.

You wouldn’t think it to look at him.

Why is that white man so angry?

What is it with these white guys?  All angry and clinging to their guns and God.

I don’t like what I’ve seen of Obamacare, but you won’t find me going to town hall meetings wearing a red baseball cap with my camera slung over my shoulder like that.  For sure, it’s all about race.  Look at him getting all up in that young African-American man’s face.  You just know he’s packing heat…somewhere.

Can’t that white guy go to a townhall meeting and just have a civil discussion instead of getting all hand up and agitated.  I mean, is he about to slap that black guy or what?  And he probably wonders why liberals and minorities so don’t love him.

…reluctantly, and only in support of the principal of divided government.  More importantly, I believe we have a very good man on his way to the White House who will enjoy the advantages of both broad national support and a first class policy team.

I’m still terrified at the prospect of the (attempted) Europeanization of this country and the prospect of nearly unconstrained liberalism (I’m old enough to remember Jimmy Carter). 

I expect to see a massive over-reaction to the derailment of the capital market systems of the U.S. and Europe. 

I expect to see a partisan dismissal of the victory in Iraq and a foolish attachment to the debacle in Afghanistan (yet another country that never existed before British map makers got the itch to redraw the world in their own image) – the “good” war. 

I expect to see our strong but imperfect healthcare system repackaged as “universal coverage” without any serious attempt to address the real issues of medical delivery in this country.

But I also expect to see a new era in race relations and a concurrent revolution in the perception African-Americans (and other minorities, for that matter) perceive their roles and opportunities in the U.S.

Further, I expect to see the end of Pax Americana and the shouldering of much more security responsibility by Europe and Asia in maintaining the peace.  It will be a lot easier for the U.S. to avoid “quagmires” like Iraq in the future if we can have a modicum of confidence that our “allies” truly will stand shoulder-to-should with us when it counts.

Overall, we’re going to be OK.  Things are going to go OK.  Maybe not in the months immediately ahead but in the foreseeable, near future, we’ll see things through the lens of American optimism once again.

And, if you happen to find yourself in a conversation with a European (as frequently happens here in NYC) who begins a sentence with “You Americans…” don’t even bother to listen to the inevitable criticism to follow.  Just interrupt and say: “Shut the fuck up.  We elected a black man to the Oval Office.  It’s time for you to do something about your marginalized African and Muslim minorites.”  God, that will feel good.

But I am slowly regaining it.