I’ve been doing my so-called “day job” and getting nutted-up whilst others around me were obstructionists, I was under a time crunch, and subsequently not getting sleep at night because the mind wouldn’t shut down. I’m sure you’ve all been there. Therefore, the dearth of posts.

In the meantime, a friend sent me a wonderful quote from President Teddy Roosevelt, which bears repeating here:

In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin.

But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American . . . There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all.

We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile.

We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language . . . and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.

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Even back in 1907, Teddy had it right.

Ever try to write whilst a cat refuses to get off the damn laptop keyboard?

My cat — eh, excuse me, kitten, Mose (after jazz/blues pianist Mose Allison) just won’t leave me alone tonight and has taken it upon himself to attempt to delete most of the train photos I’d taken earlier today by walking across a succession of seemingly-random keys primarily revolving around “delete.”23———-
Sorry. Cat across the keyboard again. I put him down and he came right back up again, not only onto my lap but thence onto my shoulders, where he is now, purring like crazy. I must admit that his motor, as issued by the factory, is without peer.

Simultaneously, I am listening to a wonderful jazz recording, recently reissued, only 3 days away from its original recording date (though 49, almost 50 years ago) of 11-29-1957. This is the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall. Some reissues are noteworthy for their performance but not the recording itself; this copy, on Blue Note, stands head and shoulders above others for the performance itself and the recording, which has great emphasis on the highs and midrange. You can hear Shadow Wilson really working the cymbals on “Epistrophy.”

In any event, I was reading over comments on a recent post and came across that of Rebecca’s where she said:

Blo,Great post, and yes it was a setback, not a catastrophe. The GOP nationally is not going down the tubes. I think we are regenerating, and the dems may even find a ‘further right’ conservative in office in 2008. In 2006 it is highly probable that the liberal republicans will get voted out of office.

For whatever wacky reason (if you can translate the rational linkage, please let me know), that made me think of a recent article I read in the 11-18-05 issue of The Week regarding population.

Yes, yes, I know, The Week can be said to be a large repository of the Left Wing though they would heartily disagree. But I subscribe to a number of what might be termed “left” leaning publications if for no other reason than to discover what the issues and topics of the week have become for a certain thrust of the culture. I receive The Nation, and the UK version of The Economist as well as The Guardian — though none of this stuff is cheap — the Economist subscription runs $100 a year (at a discount!) and the other very important magazine (though not leaning necessarily to port) I subscribe to, Janes Intelligence Review, is a paltry $450 a year.

“Go to the library!” I can hear you say now. “Stay away from publications beginning with the word ‘The’ ” (that would necessarily and rudely deal me out of my subscription to The Weekly Standard). Except the library won’t have what I want. Nice try, though. All they cover are the Left Leaning MSM and DEM papers. And I can easily crank them up over the internet via sophistry, lies and purposely-skewed demographics I’ve provided to acquire their passworded access. Depending on which website you choose, I range from a one-legged black lesbian UAW worker named Burt to a displaced transgender homemaker with “Paxil issues” generating less than $30,000 per year.

Go figure.

In any event, on page 15 of issue 234 of The Week, the magazine attempts to explain the difference between what Paul Ehrlich forecasted in his book The Population Bomb and what is occurring today and what may actually occur in the future.

Portrayed in what is a smarmy, “accepting,” yet clarion call to those on the left:

Why Are Whites Having Fewer Babies?
Actually, not all whites are. Whites in the West and the South have more babies than those in the Northeast. People who describe themselves as socially conservative are having far more babies than those who consier themselves liberal. The political implications of the phenomenon have already been felt.

Continuing:

In What Way?
The segments of the white population that are growing are in the “red” states, and lean heavily Republican. “Conservative, religious-minded Americans are putting far more of their genes into the future than their liberal and secular counterparts,” says Phillip Longman, author of The Empty Cradle. “If Metros don’t start having more children, America’s future is Retro.”

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The clear but unstated conclusion here is that, unless the Left gets into the mix, an entire ideology is imperiled — as the Right will create nothing but future generations of genetic philosphic mutants.

But, my God, think of the conflicting implications: the Left, with its culture of death embracement, abortion, bereft of ideas, may actually have placed itself on the periphery due to something as simple as procreation.

Holy crap!

How ironic is that?

(If you were thinking something like “reap what you sow” — shame on you!)

My cat just put himself to bed — it’s almost 10 PM.

Following the November 8th Special Election in Fornicalia every major proposition went down to defeat with a resounding “no” from the electorate.

We as conservatives can either fold our tents and decamp, or we can regroup, coalesce and fight back. Tom McClintock is running for Lt. Governor of Fornicalia and, as such, I receive his campaign newsletter. Within this newsletter was an article that provided an absolutely sterling insight into the special election results and what it means for the GOP and the state.

I feel compelled to reprint a portion of the speech Mr. McClintock gave to the Los Angeles County Republican Central Committee on November 15, 2005:

Just days after leading England safely through World War II, Winston Churchill suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of British voters. As he watched the dismal results roll in, Clementine sat beside him, patted his knee and said, “Well, if you ask me, Winston, it’s a blessing in disguise.” Churchill growled, “Well at the moment, madam, it is very well disguised, indeed.”

Tonight I’d like to point out a few blessings in this election – however well disguised they might seem at the moment.

The first is that we didn’t lose any ground in this election. Propositions 73 through 77 were attempts to move us back in a conservative direction and although they failed, we’re not any the worse off. And don’t forget, the Left tried to move us in their direction with Propositions 79 and 80, which would have socialized the pharmaceutical and energy markets. Both of those measures were ALSO soundly defeated – and they were defeated by a greater margin overall than the Governor’s
measures. In fact, the two most conservative measures – 73 (parental abortion notification) and 75 (paycheck protection) did the best, and the two most liberal measures – 79 and 80 – did the worst.

The second blessing is the fact that to defeat the Governor’s initiatives, the Left had to outspend the Governor by well over $50 million. They can’t keep outspending us by that kind of margin, and when there’s a level playing field, the result will be dramatically different.

The third is that although the specific measures were all defeated, every poll that asked whether voters favored the general principles of the initiatives reported overwhelming public support. It was not the underlying philosophy that the people rejected. That’s why the left had to resort to a “Tsunami of lies and distortions,” as Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Weintraub observed. For example, they attacked the redistricting reform for giving the final say over district lines to judges when in fact, that measure gave the final say TO THE VOTERS. Empires built on lies don’t last very long. My favorite was the last two days, after they had spent over $100 million on negative ads, they went back to voters and asked, “Tired of all the negative ads? Then just vote NO.”

Fourth, although the Governor’s approval rating has been forced down – there is one political institution that consistently fares even worse: the liberal Democratic state legislature.

And fifth, in San Diego, voters overwhelmingly elected the Republican candidate against the Liberal Democrat in that city’s mayoral election – beating her by six points in her own district.

I’m not going to pretend that Tuesday’s election was anything for us to celebrate. Voters rejected some of the most sensible propositions ever put to a vote: that government should live within its means; that politicians shouldn’t chose who gets to vote for them; that teachers should demonstrate sustained competence before they’re granted lifetime tenure; that public employees have a right to decide for themselves what candidates they’ll support with their own money; and that parents have a right to know if their teenaged daughter is being spirited out of school to have an abortion. The rejection of these measures was a major setback in the cause of reform and a major victory for the government unions that are now ascendant, emboldened and unchallenged in their domination of our political and legislative process.

But I do make these points to illustrate that the situation is far from hopeless. And as we review the election results and re-assess the political landscape, we need to keep things in perspective. In the grand scheme of things, this was a setback; not a cataclysm.

Tom is correct; this was not a cataclysm but a temporary setback. Doomsayers are predicting a total crash and burn of the GOP, in Fornicalia and nationally. I don’t believe this is true at all! There are already plans being made for 2006. And last Friday was a very bad day for the Democratic party when they indicated, en masse, their fear of alienating the voting public.

We’ve taken some body blows but we have not even come close to putting down a knee.

And the award goes to:

Congressman John R. “Jack” Murtha (D), Pennsylvania’s 12th District.

For a “nobody” Democratic congressman, the 73-year-old Murtha (ever hear of him before?) certainly made a stir this past week, suggesting that the United States totally pull out of Iraq in 6 months. Period.

But wait, there’s more. This is a former Marine, decorated, and at one time considered a Hawk amongst Democrats.

From his own official website, Murtha says “The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion.” Further, he writes:

Our military has done everything that has been asked of them, the U.S. can not accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. IT IS TIME TO BRING THEM HOME.

Wrong, Congressman Murtha. Literally: dead wrong.

I’ll honor your past; I’ll honor your serving in the Marines. And that is where my honor ends. I will not honor, however, your lack of stomach or balls for staying the course in a Presidential strategy that will determine the future security of our entire nation.

I do not know why you have chosen your path. But your fellow Democrats have left you hanging in the breeze. In fact, the entire Congress has left you, and rightfully so, you callow defeatist, because even the most left-leaning socialist realizes this is a failed strategy and will not play with the American public.

The Democrats Fold When Actually Opposed:

After folding themselves earlier this week, another Republican mustered the cojones to make a proposal to the Dems: put up or shut up.

In a 403 to 3 vote, the Democrats elected to shut up.

From Worldnetdaily.com:

Following three hours of intense debate, the House voted this evening 403-3 to reject a non-binding resolution to immediately withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

Responding to a call yesterday by Democratic Rep. Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania to withdraw troops from Iraq, House Republicans had scheduled a quick vote this evening to settle the issue and put lawmakers on the record.

The Republican alternative read: “It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately.” It was proposed by Rep. Duncan Hunter of California.

During the House session late Friday afternoon, Democrats erupted in anger when Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio quoted Ohio state Rep. Danny Bubp, a Marine Corps Reserve officer. “He asked me to send Congress a message: “Stay the course,'” she said. “He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message, that ‘Cowards cut and run. Marines never do.’ “

The House went nuts. But a return message was sent. And these overpaid assholes stayed in their seats until midnight.

Murtha is still a Chamberlain Moonbat, and his military record won’t extricate him from this, nor should it.

And the Republicans are finally, finally, starting to fire back.

I hope it isn’t too little too late.

Those nations wishing the UN to take control of the entire internet had their hopes deflated as the recent World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) concluded:

Negotiators from more than 100 countries agreed late Tuesday to leave the United States in charge of the Internet’s addressing system, averting a U.S.-EU showdown at this week’s U.N. technology summit.

Under the terms of the compromise, the new group, the Internet Governance Forum, would start operating next year with its first meeting opened by Annan. Beyond bringing its stakeholders to the table to discuss the issues affecting the Internet, and its use, it won’t have ultimate authority.

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A smattering of common sense has been upheld in the world.