STRANGER THAN SCIENCE: Republicans sighted in New Jersey!!!

As a staunch conservative, I've long considered myself an oddity here in New Jersey - sort of a dinosaur looking for a "deposit layer" to become part of.

If there were other dinosaurs of a similar breed, there were sufficiently few of us between the Atlantic Ocean and Philly, High Point and Cape May to ever make a difference in a state populated by the roving herds of screeching screaming ultra-liberal Tyranno-taxasaurusses that have run rampant through State, county, and municipal governments....as well as local school boards and neighborhoods...to say nothing of college campuses! (Often I would catch glimpses of these voracious pack feeders, peering hungrily at me through my electrified fence as they power-walked by my yard on the weekends....hoping I would guess, to catch me outside my protective sanctuary, where they could tear me limb-from-limb for flying my BUSH CHENEY '04 pennants!)

Last night, I accompanied my wife to her annual dinner gathering of Human Resources professionals at Don Pepe's Restaurant in the Iron Bound section of Newark, NJ. These are 6 of my wife's former colleagues who get together once a year to share a good meal and compare career notes. 3 of us spouses also attend, and sit quietly by as "the colleagues" discuss who's alive, who's dead, who's still with the company after 40 years, who's not...etc. I suspect the spouses are there to support the "significant" part of the union, or simply because we drive.

As I sat there last night, quietly pushing the remains of my green beans from one side of the plate to the other, I heard....."So what do you all think about the election?" My head shot up defensively and I looked around, because this was usually the first "rustle" of sound preceding an attack by a band of feeding tyranno-taxasaurusses!

I froze in place and said nothing........I waited for the next question usually designed to allow "the pack" to home in on an unwary dinoconservataurus like me......"You were a BUSHY supporter last time, weren't you Ken???" This was usually followed by a clicking of teeth and a licking of lips as the taxasaurrusses got ready to pounce!

Imagine my surprise when first one, and then another, and then still another of those at the table said, "God, I hope McCain and Palin win!" Until I found myself sitting at a table of 8 McCain supporters and only one Obama supporter! WOW!!! 8 dinoconservatauruses among 9 Human Resources practitioners! There's a record!! I even noticed that at a couple of nearby tables, heads were bobbing up & down in agreement at our overheard conversation!

Imagine that!!! In New Jersey of all places - in Newark - of all the most unlikely places to find a safe watering hole where dinoconservatauruses could spend at least one evening safely among their own kind!!! Secure in the knowledge that at least for a few hours no pack of shrill screeching tyranno-taxasaurrusses would try to eviscerate us!!

As we left the restaurant and started the drive home, my smile and calm slowly faded as I realized that all too soon we would once again be walking beside dangerous feeding tyranno-taxasaurrusses. I was bolstered in the knowledge that at least there was a small, formerly unknown breeding colony of dinoconservatauruses left in New Jersey. We'd have to work hard to keep the species going!!!

Dum Spiro Spero!