Here are my quarters picks for this years Tournament (I didn’t list the first round matchups, only the quarters first round picks).

I think I like the Quarters final four better than my own.

Update 3/17: After 1 day, I’m tied with the quarter
Update 3/18: The quarter picked 22 of 32 games correctly.  I don’t have my bracket to see if I am beating it.
Update 3/19: The quarter was scary-good in the first day of round 2, correctly picking every game that it had a chance pick.
Update 3/20: The quarter lost one of it’s final four picks.  I’m doing better than the quarter, picking one more game correctly, and having more teams alive. 
Update 3/24: The quarter is pretty much done — The Duke and Gonzaga losses pretty much did it in.  Maybe next year will be better.

This little gem is from Greenville, SC

The theory of evolution does not and cannot explain so much about the universe that we know. For instance, when and how did water evolve? How does it happen that gravity can hold us to the Earth, and at the same time allow us to step up without any trouble? How did it happen that the Earth is spinning at the exact rate that keeps us from feeling that movement?

I find it much easier to believe that Genesis tells us the truth of the creation when we know from God’s own Word that nothing is impossible for him to do.
Carol Crooks, Greer

Water…evolve?  Can’t walk because of gravity?  Arrrggghhhh!!!!!!

Brenda and the girls went to girlscout camp yesterday, so it was me and Justin spending my birthday together.  Justin had a hockey game at two o-clock.  His team was down 3 - 0 in the first five minutes, but finished the period up 4 - 3.  The built the lead up to 6 - 3 in the second period, with Justin earning an assist by passing to one of the two big goal scorers 45 seconds into the second period, who in turn passed to the top goal scorer who buried it in the net.   The other team tied the game at 6 - 6 late in the second, but Justin’s team scored one more, plus 4 unanswered goals in the third to win 11 - 6. 

After the game we went to play golf at the pitch and putt course.  We each had some good holes and some bad holes.  Justin even got a par on one hole.  After golf, we went to 3 Margaritta’s for Chicken Fajitas.  They were quite tasty.  All-n-all, it was a pretty good birthday.

…A beer quiz…

I am Samuel Adams

I am fairly easy to please when it comes to beer - as long as it’s not too cheap. I tend to change favorite beers frequently, and I’m the type most likely to take a “beers of the world” tour. When I get drunk, I’m fearless. I lose all of my inhibitions. I’m just as likely to party with a group of strangers as I am to wake up in a very foreign place.

They should make cigarettes Mesquite flavored, so the rather than smelling like tobacco, smokers would smell like barbeque.

Side note: John said the problem with this would be that I would be licking people in the elevator.

I originally posted this elsewhere, but I get more readers here

The abortion debate has been ongoing for over 30 years with slight movements one direction or the other.  Very few politicians are looking for ways to reduce the number of abortions by any means other than banning them completely.

Susan Wood, the former assistant commissioner of women’s health at the Food and Drug Administration, wrote an interesting op-ed in the March first issue of the Washington Post - When Politics Defeats Science.

[W]hether it is the environment, energy policy, science education or public health, the American public expects our government to make the best decisions based on the best available evidence.

Yet, at a recent hearing of the House Appropriations subcommittee on labor, health and human services, we saw once again that this is not happening. Reps. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) questioned FDA acting commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach about the delay in approving the application to make Plan B emergency contraception available over the counter to women 17 and older. Von Eschenbach responded that the agency was carefully reviewing the thousands of comments received in response to last-minute concerns raised about the feasibility of making the same product available over the counter for most women but keeping it on prescription for young teens. This exchange confirmed my suspicion that, like his predecessor, von Eschenbach is unable or unwilling to let the science and the scientists guide FDA policy and decisions, and that the real answer as to whether the FDA will allow Plan B over the counter for those 17 and older is no.

Time and again in my travels I am asked, “What happened to derail Plan B?” I have to answer honestly that I don’t know. The manufacturer agreed to take the “controversial” issue of young teens’ access to emergency contraception off the table in 2004; now we are talking only about adult access to safe and effective contraception. Over 98 percent of adult women have used some form of contraception. So what is the objection?

Perhaps it is that posed by a small but vocal political minority that insists on labeling emergency contraception as abortion, or at least confusing the two. One of the main questions I hear is, “Does this pill cause an abortion?” In fact, the only connection this pill has with abortion is that it has the potential to prevent the need for one. Emergency contraceptive pills work exactly the same way as other birth control pills, and they do not interfere with or harm an existing pregnancy. Emergency contraception is simply a higher dose of daily birth control pills; it is not RU-486, the “abortion pill.” Indeed, emergency contraception has been used as a method to prevent unintended pregnancies for decades by women who had physicians advise them on how many pills in their regular pill pack to take. So people who are comfortable with oral contraceptives as methods of contraception should be just as comfortable with emergency contraception.

Wood finishes the article with a very poignant question:

It’s been nearly three years since the first application came in to make Plan B emergency contraception available over the counter, so that women, including rape victims, could have a second chance to prevent an unintended pregnancy and the need for an abortion. How many chances have we missed?

How many chances indeed?

Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science comments on his blog,

the Religious Right, […] has lots of influence over this administration.

For religious conservatives, emergency contraception equals promiscuity, and promiscuity equals immorality. Period. Coming from this perspective, Christian conservatives are perfectly willing to upend science and the administrative process in order to block access to drugs that they view as contributing to increasing sexual behavior among teens (despite the total lack of data that the drugs actually have this effect).

In my opinion, Mr. Mooney is being a bit cynical.  Although there are certainly religious leaders that are that extreme, most of Pro-life America is interested in reducing the number of abortions, whether it be through abstinence, education, pregnancy prevention, adoption, intervention or any other means.

Plan-B contraception needs to be legalized and made available immediately.  The science supports that it is safe and effective, and it will reduce the number of abortions in this country.

Two or three times in the past couple of weeks my laptop has prevented me from posting political blog entries.  I have been midway through typing a lengthy post when either the machine has locked up or IE has crashed.  I’m sure my family appreciates the fact that my laptop is silencing me and keeping me off of my soap box.