Good Monday, everyone, and I hope your weekend was enjoyable.  The weather here was really nice but now the temperatures are cooler (bordering on cold) with a bit of rain and snow.  What little snow we had melted on contact so no accumulation.  Let's see what is on the 'net today.

I only hope this NY Times article is on target.  I can remember about 20-25 years ago when the religious right was gushing about a rising membership among the Baby Boomers who were raising families and returning to the fold in large numbers.  Among my own group--not so much but then the results of too many elections over the years seemed to bear out the assertion.

Tom Englehardt posted a good run down on our 'fiscal cliff' at Tomdispatch this morning.  Yep-It's the politics, stupid.  The politics and nothing but the politics.

This is interesting.  The GOP in California is on the brink of extinction, at least for now.  I don't know if the condition will spread much beyond California or how future events may affect the process of extinction.  The last time a major national political party disappeared from the scene was in the 1840s and 1850s when the Whigs disappeared to be replaced by the original Republicans (you know, the party of Lincoln--not the Repthuglicans of today.)  Before that the Federalists committed political hari-kari in the wake of the War of 1812, which they vigorously opposed going so far as to threaten succession.  I wonder what would replace the GOP?  I don't see much on the horizon so I think the Repthuglicans will somehow redefine themselves.

Maureen Dowd posted an op-ed worth reading--another interesting post-mortem on the Republican loss.